Tips To Put Your Insomnia To A Rest

Tips To Put Your Insomnia To A Rest
Tips To Put Your Insomnia To A Rest

Do you feel tired and un-refreshed on waking in the morning?

Do you stay that way throughout the day?

Do you have difficulty concentrating during the day?

The World Health Organization says that one-third of the world’s population experience insomnia at some stage in their lives, with approximately five per cent needing medical treatment!

To avoid medical intervention, try these natural techniques and remedies, and help put your insomnia to rest.

1. Relaxation

Relax before going to bed. Do some deep breathing, listen to soft music. According to Dr. Timothy Sharp from Sydney University, avoiding caffeine, alcohol and nicotine will also help.

2. Bedtime routine

Develop a bedtime routine so your body knows it’s time to go to sleep. By winding down your physical activities and following a set routine prior to bed, your body will start to associate some of these actions with going to sleep. Start with a cup of hot milk. Milk contains a protein called tryptophan, which helps to promote sleep. This can be substituted with chamomile tea, which is known to calm the nerves. Follow this with a hot bath or shower, the heat will help to lower your internal body temperature, again telling your body to go to sleep.

3. Your bedroom is for sleeping only

Make your bedroom your sleep-room. Turn the lights off as soon as you get into bed. Don’t read, eat or watch television in your bedroom, or do any activity that is not sleep related. Make sure the room is dark and cozy; include extra pillows on the bed and even some teddy bears. Make your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary, a room that you will instantly feel secure and comfortable in, and best of all, a room that you will crave to sleep in.

4. Calm down and clear your mind

Clear your mind of the day’s activities or things that are due to be done tomorrow. Write a ‘to do’ list for the following day. Organize uniforms, lunches, etc … the night before. Make arrangements earlier than usual so you don’t worry.

5. Give time back to yourself

Instead of trying to cram as much as you can into the day then find you haven’t left much time to sleep, try to find short cuts or solutions to give a little time back to yourself. Make a double casserole and freeze half for another night. Spot clean the house as you go. Have more barbecues, using paper plates (less washing-up). Offer to pay the kids, or the neighbour’s kids, to do some extra chores.

6. A balanced diet helps to make a balanced mind

If you’re lacking in essential vitamins and minerals your body cannot operate at its best. Throw out the junk food and fizzy drinks, and make a new start to good physical and mental health. Add in some regular exercise and watch your body respond with some improved sleep.

7. Don’t lie in bed if you can’t sleep

If you don’t feel sleepy enough to drift off, your mind will probably anguish over the fact that you can’t get to sleep. This will only make it harder to get to sleep each time you experience this. Get out of bed and go into a different room. Do something to distract yourself until you do start to feel sleepy and then try to sleep again later.

8. Medications may interfere with your sleep

It has been shown that some of the medications below may cause sleep problems. Check with your doctor if you are experiencing insomnia and are also taking any of these medications – amphetamines (diet pills), antidepressants, beta blockers (heart and blood pressure), cimetidine (ulcers), clonidine (blood pressure), cortisone, diuretics (fluid), levodopa (parkinsons), methyldopa (blood pressure) and ventolin (asthma).

9. Above all: de-stress

Sharp says that stress is the worst cause of insomnia. Use some of the techniques above and try to remove as much stress out of your life as possible, and finally put your insomnia to rest.

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A Look At Allergy Products

A Look At Allergy Products
A Look At Allergy Products

Do allergy products really make a difference? Plenty of specialty products exist, and if you are looking, you can you find products for every room in the home and practically every part of your body. HEPA air filters and filters for your vacuum cleaner; 100% pure cotton bedding and pillows; masks that you can wear at work, at play and at home; cleaning supplies; cases to stuff your mattresses in; throat moisturizers; cosmetics; dehumidifiers; toys that can be washed; the list goes on and on.

Take a peek on the Internet and you’ll find pages of websites offering allergy products of all sorts and all price ranges. Allergy products are big business and to allergy sufferers, these products look to be the answer to all of their suffering.

If you suffer from allergies, you too might be tempted to jump on the allergy products bandwagon. Before you do, it’s important to realize that the answer to whether any of these products work or not is a bit more complicated than it seems on the surface.

Several allergy-related issues need to be addressed before you whip out your credit card. Otherwise the allergy products you select might not be the great deal you had expected. First of all, be certain you know what it is you are allergic to. Are you allergic to pet dander, dust mites, food, grass, or what? If you know, that’s great. If you don’t, you might want to first go through a round of allergy tests to determine your nemesis.

Once you know what it is you are allergic to you then need to spend some time reading the descriptions of the allergy products before you purchase any. Why? Because the allergy products you may be interested in might not be designed to alleviate the allergens that cause your problems. For example, the purpose of an air filter is to remove airborne allergens, the ones that spend the majority of their time suspended in air, like pet dander.

Dust mite droppings are only in the air a short time, when they’re first released or when a vacuum cleaner stirs them up from their resting place on the ground. An expensive air filter won’t benefit you if you are sensitive to dust mites. However, a casing to enclose your mattress or your pillows will, as these are designed to keep the allergens from coming into contact with you.

Getting back to air filters, most are not effective for dealing with plant-based allergens, even though these are considered airborne allergens. In the case of ragweed, grass clippings and other such irritants, it is better to keep these from entering the home in the first place by closing doors and windows and running an air conditioner.

Are you beginning to understand what is involved with selecting the right allergy products? When in doubt, the best advice is to discuss the subject of allergy products with your allergist. You’re more likely to get an accurate, unbiased answer to your questions about allergy products.

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How To Overcome The Symptoms Of Gout

How To Overcome The Symptoms Of Gout
How To Overcome The Symptoms Of Gout

Gout is one of the oldest and most painful diseases known to man. In the middle ages a gout patient was described as someone who was rich, corpulent and aristocratic, particularly one with enormous appetite for food, drink and women. And it is almost and always associated with men.

The symptoms of gout are irregular, excruciatingly painful attacks that are felt in the joints although typically each gouty episode affects one joint at a time. The most commonly affected joints are those of the big toe, which becomes red and swollen, hot and painful so that even the weight of a bed sheet seems unbearable. Other joints such as the knees and elbows are also affected, but one at a time.

The attacks usually last for about two weeks and then subside, recurring at some time in the future. The reoccurrence of the attacks varies

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Can Flaxseed Prevent Heart Disease

Flaxseed and Heart Disease!

Did you know that some research on statin drugs show only a 1% reduction in arterial plaque? Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a prescription drug, you should at least consider a healthier and far less expensive dietary supplement like flax seed.

The American Heart Association found that women with increased dietary intake of the isoflavones and lignans found in soy and flax decreased their risk for atherosclerosis and arterial degeneration. Flax is by far the richest source of lignans, according to the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Can Flaxseed Prevent Cancer too?
Recently small studies of cancer patients in America who consumed flaxseeds have produced some encouraging results. In one study men with prostate cancer who ate an ounce of ground flaxseed a day as part of a very low fat diet were able to slow the progress of their cancers between the time they were diagnosed and the time of surgery. A similar study of women awaiting surgery for breast cancer found that those who ate a flaxseed muffin daily had a slower tumour growth rate. Various studies of animals, too, suggest some anti-cancer benefit from flaxseed.

How Do I Store Flaxseeds?

Whole golden flax seed which is clean, dry and of good quality, can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. For optimum freshness, ground flax seed should be ground as needed. Unused ground flax seed can be refrigerated in an airtight container if it will be used in just a matter of days, or it can be stored in the freezer for about a month.

Ground flax can be added to your morning juice or chocolate milk – usually a heaping tablespoon or two with your favorite beverage. Or you can sprinkle ground flax on cereals or yogurt.

Understanding why you eat certain foods is essential in maintaining life-long health habits. Certainly, pleasing taste and visual appeal is one reason we make food choices. Yet, choosing foods that keep our body working as a finely tuned machine is also the goal that healthy-minded individuals strive to achieve.

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Remedies For Colic

Remedies For Colic
Remedies For Colic

Any parent will tell you that colic is one of the most excruciating experiences of early parenthood. The baby cries as if in dire pain, and there just seems to be nothing for a parent to do. A baby is suspected to have colic if, around the age of three weeks, the baby starts crying inconsolably for hours at a time. The condition is termed ‘colic’ because it was assumed that babies were crying due to stomach pain. Doctors are no longer sure that a stomach ache causes colic, but the term continues to be in use.

The first step is to ascertain the cause of distress. Newborn babies often cry because of hunger, earache, wetness or cold. If these factors can be safely ruled out, crying can be attributed to the mysterious colic. Sometimes little tummies do not agree with the protein in traditional baby formula or from a mother’s milk. After consulting your doctor, change the formula. Switch to a soy-based formula. Even in breastfed babies, an excess of cows’ milk products in the mother’s diet can cause tummy aches. Root vegetables and highly acidic food products like chocolates, tomatoes, or grapefruit in the mother’s diet can also upset the stomach of a feeding infant. Gas producing food like broccoli, cabbage, onions, cauliflower, peppers, and citrus fruits may all become suspect at such a time. Your doctor may advise you to go on an exclusion diet for some time. Most newborns outgrow their sensitivity to food and become naturally vigorous and robust within three to six months.

If the baby is being breastfed, it is necessary to feed on demand. The evening hours see a decline in production of milk. Feeding the baby often during these hours will ensure an abundant supply of milk. If the baby is being bottle-fed, care must be taken to hold the bottle properly, so that there is no swallowing of air. Patting the baby gently on the back after each feeding is another effective method of releasing gas. With the increasing incidences of cot deaths, doctors advise parents to put their babies to sleep on their back. However sometimes babies with colic like to lie on their stomachs. This is safe, so long as you are awake and vigilant.

Doctors sometimes attribute colic to maternal stress. It’s only natural for mothers to get stressed when little babies cry until they are red in the face. But babies are very sensitive to stress and a mother whose nerves are frayed cannot calm a distressed baby. At such a time, mothers should get extra help and spend some time away from the scene. Take a warm bath or go for a stroll.

Traditionally, colicky babies have been fed with gripe water approximately half an hour before feeding. But these products should be checked for their ingredients. Some may contain artificial ingredients and preservatives. Sensitive digestive systems of colicky infants can definitely do without such irritants.

A warm aromatherapy bath calms and soothes the baby. Add a few drops of lavender to warm bath water and gently massage the tummy. This will help relieve painfully trapped gas. Babies also like to be in water.

Small babies need a lot of warmth and security. Swaddling the baby in warm clothes and holding it against the steady soothing rhythm of a parent’s heartbeat can sometimes soothe the baby’s pain. Walking, rocking, and repetitive movements also have a calming effect. Applying gentle pressure on the abdomen will help relieve stomach ache. This position is known as the ‘colic hold.’

Finally, remember colic is a stage in the growth of your baby. This too will pass.

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