HART-Empire Network II - Health and Fitness Channel

Image: Hypnotic Seance, Richard Bergh (1887). Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Looks like it’s time to break out the dangling watch — a new article in the The Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports this week that women who participated in a brief hypnosis session prior to breast cancer surgery experienced fewer reported side effects such as pain, nausea, and fatigue. Also intriguing was that the surgical costs per patient were on average $772 less than for patients who did not undergo hypnosis prior to surgery.For certain types of cancers where surgery is the first line of defense like breast cancer or head and neck cancer, this mix of eastern and western medicine has the potential to make a wide impact.

As reported at the American Cancer Society website:

“Such findings argue strongly for making hypnosis part of standard care for breast cancer patients,” says lead study author Guy H. Montgomery, PhD, associate professor of Oncological Sciences at Mount Sinai.

“Breast cancer patients are going through a lot,” he explains.

“It’s a distressing and difficult period to get through. They’re worried about themselves, they’re worried about their families. So if there’s something we can do to make them feel better …we should translate this from a research protocol to actually doing something for breast cancer patients every day.”

Two hundred women participated in the study, each undergoing lupecteomy or excisional breast biopsy. Randomly assigned patients received either a fifteen-minute session of true hypnosis or a control intervention within an hour of their procedure.

Hypnosis, as practiced by the health care professionals within this scope of this study, included a series of guided imagery, visualization and breathing techniques. Montgomery hopes that the study will lead to more studies exploring the feasibility of medical staff conducting hypnosis sessions in person or whether instructional CDs may even help patients benefit from the effects.

Obviously, we’ve all practiced mild forms of self-hypnosis before, whether we take a few deep breaths before plummeting headlong into a task or we closing our eyes and picture a happy outcome to motivate ourself to finish. I think that extending these tips to surgeries look like a harmless but really promising way to reap on some major benefits. I’d be interested to see whether the benefits of hypnosis extend themselves to other non-cancer related surgeries.

Would you consider undergoing hypnosis prior to a procedure? Have you had it one yourself? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

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The title is something of a misnomer. There is no such thing as ‘the’ proper diet for every individual. Nevertheless, all humans are similar enough that there are broad categories, and many specifics, that are correct for almost anyone.

Despite all the fads of the last 30 years or more, it remains true - backed by a large amount and variety of nutritional research - that a good diet is the old-fashioned ‘balanced diet’ that has remained largely unchanged for 60 years or more. The keyword deserves repeating: balanced.

There are fad diets that emphasize protein over carbohydrates, or fruits one day with meat the next or eating vegetarian exclusively. All these may have valid elements, but they almost all tend to go too far in one direction or another.

Everyday, at regular intervals, a person interested in optimizing health should eat daily meals consisting of fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy and a protein source. Of course, there will be exceptions for those with special dietary needs. Some people, for example, can’t process dairy products. Others are sensitive to peanuts or other things.

But the four traditional food groups, in the proper proportion, remain the undisputed recommendation of every reputable nutrition scientist. The reasons are that studies continue to support the notion that these supply the compounds needed by the body. From those it can perform muscle maintenance, proper electrolyte balance, cellular repair and other essential activities along with the needed energy to carry out all of them.

Nature, as discovered by science, determines what the body needs - not marketing.

Insoluble fiber, for example, (as gained from fruit, vegetables and grains) isn’t readily digested. As a result it helps digestion and in cleansing the digestive system.

Certain vitamins (D, B, E, K) and minerals (lithium, calcium, postassium) are needed for carrying out the thousands of biochemical reactions critical to proper health. Sodium and potassium, in moderation, are used by the heart muscle in order to keep pumping blood through the body.

Proteins are needed so the body can lyse (split) them into essential amino acids. Those amino acids are then used to build up new proteins used for muscle and other important components.

Carbohydrates (chiefly those easily converted to glucose) are needed to supply the starting point of the cycle that generates energy to fuel all the other processes. This is a fundamental process called the Krebs cycle that converts sugars into ATP, which is then converted to ADP, releasing energy.)

Fad diets can supply many of these essentials, but typically do so in the wrong proportion or with too much at one time, not enough at another. They also frequently contain additional components that are not helpful, and - in excess - may be harmful, such as excessive fats or complex sugars.

In the world of diet, moderation and regularity may not sound glamorous, but it’s the key to good health.

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By Robert Grazian

Nail biting stems from a nervous condition. Usually the condition developed from childhood and ignited from emotional disturbances that have not been explored. Until the entity deals with the emotional reason by exploring the past, it is likely that person will continue biting his or her nails. The reasons for biting nails must be explained in order to find ways to resolve the problem.

Usually nail biting starts at a young age and it become habit-forming and continues to be a problem throughout the person’s life until that person finds ways to take control of his or her habit. When a person has nervous condition it is often, best to treat the condition first before considering ways to stop the habit. There is clear evidence that some sort of nervous condition is present. One of the best ways to find the source of the problem is to explore your past and find answers by asking, “Why, when, who, what, how,” when you the answers to these questions it helps you to find answers effectively.

It has been my experience when you know what the problem is, you can accept, and then you can move to resolve the problem. By exploring your mind, you can often find direct answers and details that sum up your problems.

You can also visit a neurologist to find answers. In the meantime, take a few hints and tips to help you take control of your nail biting problem.

One of the ways to stop nail biting is to keep stretchy bands about the wrist. Remember that nails have fungus and other harmless particles that build up. By keeping this in mind you will think about what you put in your mouth each time you start to bite your nails.

Some people keep their hands occupied. They may keep a tennis ball in hand, pencil, or some rubbery object to help them stop biting their nails. Some women I noticed will use false or acrylic nails to help them stop biting their nails.

The market has some nail biting products, which can offer you a solution for biting your nails as well. Some of the products involve that you paint your nails. When you start to bite your nails, the taste of the product is so intense or distasteful that you stop biting your nails.

Keep hard candy or gum in your mouth also. Your mouth will be busy and you will not have time to bite your nails. Since stress factors in to being part of the reasons for biting nails, you might take up some exercises to help you reduce stress. Set up a stress management plan also. Staying focused on what you are doing will help you stop biting your nails also. When you focus on what you are doing, it makes it easier to take control of the situation. Most people’s minds are preoccupied, which they will subconsciously bite their nails. Stay focused, and watches how this action will help you find the reasons for biting nails, as well as ways to resolve nail biting.

Robert Grazian is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about why you bite your nails visit Stop Nail Biting Now for current articles and discussions.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Grazian

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By Thomas Parker

High blood pressure is a very serious disease. It can cause damage to your vital organs and in the worst cases can be fatal. Sufferers of high blood pressure often do not show any symptoms and when the symptoms do show, the damage has often already occurred. Therefore, the best way to determine whether you have high blood pressure or not is to go and see a trained doctor and get it checked out.

Blood pressure is said to be normal if it is 140 over 85. However, it can differ between different races and geographic locations. Generally speaking blood pressure above 140 over 85 is said to be high. A few degrees above normal may not cause any significant problems but a significant increase can be dangerous.

As I mentioned above high blood pressure does not always display symptoms. However, there are a number of signs you can look out for. Severe headaches can indicate high blood pressure, especially if they occur more regularly than usual. If you find yourself breathless after a little exertion this is another sign that you may have high blood pressure, particularly if this didn’t seem to happen previously. A third sign is increased nose bleeds or increased bleeding from any other area of the body. Other signs of high blood pressure may include hyperventilation or tension. If you notice any of these signs, particularly an increased occurrence of any particular sign e.g. increased nosebleeds, you should seek further advice from your doctor immediately.

If left untreated high blood pressure can cause unwanted damage to a number of areas across your body. Your eyes receive blood through the optic arteries and if these are damaged by high blood pressure then your vision may be impaired. High blood pressure can also cause damage to the brain. The brain requires oxygen and nutrition which is supplied in the blood stream. If this supply is impaired by high blood pressure it can lead to a mini-stroke, a full stroke and even dementia in old age. High blood pressure can also cause serious damage to the heart including heart attacks and heart failure.

As you can see high blood pressure can easily go unnoticed and potentially cause a lot of damage to your body. However, if it is identified early enough then you are likely to never experience any of the consequences mentioned in this article. It’s a good idea to go and see your doctor right away and get tested for high blood pressure. As long as it is diagnosed early enough it can be managed using a combination of medication, diet and exercise.

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You can find more great information on High Blood Pressure and how to treat it by heading over to blog.freefitnesstips.co.uk/

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Parker

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My smarty-pants husband is a graduate of a dual MD/PhD medical scientist training program. Students in his program (ie, gluttons for punishment) start out by completing their first two years of medical school, followed by three to five years of doctoral work in a life sciences laboratory, then complete their final two years of medical school doing clinical work.

During my husband’s first two years in medical school, he learned how to complete procedures like taking patient histories, blood draws, and educating patients in preventative medicine. After he successfully completed his doctoral degree in cancer research, he traded his mad scientist uniform of jeans and a somewhat clean shirt back in for his white coat. His first week doing clinical work was at our county’s women’s health care clinic, and his very first tasks were to educate women who came into the clinic on how to properly administer breast self-examinations.

As he demonstrated the small, rotating circle technique that he had learned back during his pre-clinical studies three years earlier, the health care provider watching him stopped and corrected him — apparently, that breast self-exam technique had been replaced by a new longer stroke technique sometime during his stint in graduate school. While the patient he was instructing ended up getting the most up-to-date education available, he was embarrassed by his lack of sharp technique and it shook his confidence considerably.

I was reminded of this story when reading a recent post by PJ over at the My Breast Cancer Network, who recently reported another huge change in the long-standing practice of self-exams in breast cancer prevention. Apparently, self-exams have now been downgraded in status by the Canadian Cancer Society from being recommended as a monthly routine to merely optional.

“The Canadian Cancer Society last week followed the lead of the American Cancer Society, which last March revised its official stance on BSEs. In the past, the ACS recommended m monthly BSEs following a particular method: “Lie down and place your right arm behind your head. Use the finger pads of the three middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the right breast. Use overlapping dime-sized circular motions of the finger pads to feel the breast tissue…” Now, the ACS Web site says, “It is acceptable for women to choose not to do BSE or to do BSE occasionally.” Why the change?”

Apparently, the practice of breast self-examinations bore no correlation to a decrease in mortality due to breast cancer. Women are advised, however, to remain vigilant in any changes in their breast tissue.

See PJ’s article, Breast Self-Exams: No Longer Necessary?, for more details.

Women: Will this affect how often you perform breast self-exams? How often do you perform them now?

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The Tepeyac Project was a faith-based health care initiative aimed at encouraging Latina women in Colorado to have breast cancer screenings. The results of the project, which ran from 1999 to 2005, has just been published in the October issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

Over two hundred Catholic churches received culturally-tailored information about breast health either via printed packets or through on-site educators during the participation in the Teypeyac Project.  The study’s investigators at the University of Colorado’s Health Science Center Division of Health Care Policy and Research found that that the use of peer-counselors delivering on-site breast-health education significantly increased the number of mammograms in insured Latinas after adjusting for age, income, disability and location.

While the authors of the study admit that the information received in printed packets did not make a significant difference in the number of parishioners who claimed to receive mammograms, it is hopeful that faith-based health care initiatives focusing on prevention and education will make an impact on increasing awareness of early warning signs of breast cancer.

This study follows on the heels of a 2006 study published in the journal Health Promotion Practice from the University of Illinois at Chicago that reported that African-American women attending churches enrolled in faith-based cancer education programs that actively participated in educational activities were four times more likely to report having an annual mammogram than women who did not actively participate.

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By Nafa Danfad

Bipolar Disorder involves problems with the emotions that can deeply affect your mental and physical health. It is a disease that can be present in anyone who develops the signs and symptoms of it.

The symptoms are sub-categorized into two components: mania and depression.

Here are the following symptoms of mania:

1. A sudden growth in self-worth and the act of being lavish.

2. Little needs to have a good sleep. Someone with this symptom would feel that he or she had rested enough even with only three hours of sleep.

3. Becomes a bigger chatterbox than usual.

4. Develops a feeling that his or her mind keeps pacing up

5. Tends to get unfocused. He or she will pay more attention to things that are less essential rather than things that he or she ought to pay more attention to.

6. A sudden growth in involvement in activities that have an aim to achieve be it in school or work.

7. Tends to get too pro-active in too many activities, probably to preoccupy his or her mind from the sorrows and pains that he or she does not wish to think about.

Here are the following symptoms of depression:

1. Being moody and less cheerful throughout almost the whole day.

2. Does not find any keen interest to take part in any activity. He or she just

wants to lay down and do nothing except to ponder on anything that is causing this depression.

3. A drastic increase or decrease in weight and appetite.

4. Will either have little sleep or too much of sleep.

5. Tends to get easily irritated.

6. Tends to get easily exhausted and less energetic.

7. Develops a feeling of low self-esteem. He or she would feel useless and feel guilty over everything that surrounds him or her, even though it is totally not his or her fault.

8. Tendency to be fickle-minded. He or she would lack of focus in whatever that needs to be done, and would not be able to make decisions well.

9. Always have the urge to commit suicide.

Bipolar Disorder is a serious illness that can affect the way you live your life, as well as your dearest ones who would constantly have to worry about your condition. It should definitely not be taken for granted. Fortunately, it is treatable. So if you notice that you develop the following symptoms, you can still do something to prevent yourself from Bipolar Disorder.

It is advisable to relate your problems and emotional roller coasters to a professional and get yourself treated as soon as possible.If you have a loved one whom you think is facing this problem, you can do your part by getting him or her to seek professional help.

Some say that emotional illnesses are much harder to handle compared to physical illnesses. But no matter what, emotional illnesses can still be cured if you make an effort to cure them. Bipolar Disorder is no exception. Problems cannot be avoided, but you can make sure that these problems do not bring you down.

So get help today and start a new and better life.

Nafa Danfad

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nafa_Danfad

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Hi everyone!

I’d like to take this time to introduce myself as the new blogger for the Battling for Health: Cancer site.  My name is Lesly, and I’ve spent the last eight years as a research scientist in the area of cancer cell biology and chemotherapeutics. This certainly doesn’t make me an expert in the field, but it did give me a lot of insight on how the science of cancer – the uncontrollable growth of cells caused by faulty signalling within and between them – can unearth new targets for novel treatments.  Incidentally, my wonderful husband is also a physician who specializes in cancer therapies, so I also get to hear a lot about how the treatment of cancer is viewed in a medical setting.

Having this unique prespective has led me to being fascinated by many things — the overwhelming number of people whose lives are affected by cancer in one way or another, the lightning-fast rate of truly exciting discoveries in cancer research, and the perseverance of both the scientific and medical communities to discover, test, and administer new cancer treatments are among them.  But I’m also fascinated by how difficult it can be for the huge pool of people interested in learning about cancer to receive quality information on the newest and most exciting breakthroughs.

My life’s career goal is to help bridge that discrepancy by providing as much accurate information about cancer and its treatment to as many people as possible. As the new blogger for Battling For Health: Cancer, I’m really quite honored and very grateful to find my new home on the HART-Empire Network.

Thanks for having me here, and I hope to see you soon!

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Proper weight management is about much more than simply focusing on a single number, your weight. There are other, very important, objective measurements to add to your intellectual toolkit - BMI, waist circumference, body fat percentage, muscle-to-fat ratio and others - in order to achieve a physical result.

That physical result, too, should be more than just reducing a number. Your fundamental goals are to look attractive and optimize your health. Everything else is a means to those ends.

The first step to achieving those interlocking twin goals is to recognize that there are no short cuts, no easy and safe ‘miracle cures’. There are aids that modern nutritional and exercise science can supply. By all means, take advantage of them.

But along with proper nutritional supplements, appetite suppressants and the like, it’s still essential to have a proper diet and adequate daily exercise. Some appetite suppressants, when used under a reputable doctor’s guidance, can be a helpful short-term addition to the overall program.

But when you stop taking them, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the weight will quickly return unless they are only part of an overall strategy. That strategy has to include good nutrition and proper exercise.

There are hundreds of fad diets around. The ‘low carb, high protein’ diet is one of the latest. People following them often experience rapid weight loss, initially. But the long term benefits are few and the costs are high.

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for the body. When the body has a shortage of available carbohydrates (chiefly glucose) to use to produce energy, it turns to other sources. One result of that, though, is often muscle loss and not just fat consumption.

Low carbohydrate diets reduce the amount of glucose available in the muscles and liver. That leads to muscle fatigue and less tone. At the same time, that fatigue also makes exercise more difficult and less pleasant. It also leads to a lower basal metabolic rate, which means fewer calories will be consumed per hour than would otherwise be the case.

That’s an unhealthy trade off for a rapid, short-term weight loss.

What’s needed instead is a disciplined, long-term commitment to lifestyle change. That, admittedly, is much more difficult than simply changing a few things on the menu. It requires learning more about nutrition, and more care in the selection of things to eat. It may mean substituting whole grain brown rice for potatoes. It means substituting fruits for ice cream and candy as dessert.

At the same time a person is struggling to change eating habits, something very difficult to do when the body is urging a return to the old items, another hurdle needs to be overcome: beginning a regular exercise program. Regular exercise is the second factor essential to proper weight management.

It isn’t necessary to become a fitness fanatic, but a regular series of vigorous running or weight lifting or other form of age-appropriate exercise is critical. That requires great willpower, to be sure. Most people give up too soon, because they try too hard at first. That results in injury and abandoning the program.

Think long term, make changes slowly but permanently, and you’ll find that weight is the last thing you have to think about. Your general appearance and health will improve. Those are the ends to keep in mind.

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