Exercises for a Healthy Spine

It doesn’t matter if you currently have back pain or not. You should be looking at undertaking some basic exercises to keep your spine healthy for years to come. There are approximately 3.7 million Australians with spinal issues; you don’t want to be one of them.

Your spine is an essential part of your body; it supports your neck, head, shoulders and the rest of your upper body. As well as supporting your body it enables you to bend and twist easily. Doing this and offering protection for your spinal cord is a complex job; that’s why you need to take care of your spine and visit a spine surgeon if you experience any issues.

This is too important to take chances with. To help protect your spine and keep it healthy you should try doing some of these exercises:

Back Flexing

Lie on your back, bend your knees above your body and bring them into your chest. They should touch your chest as you lift your head forward. You’ll feel a gentle stretch in your lower back and neck.

Chesty Knees

Again you’ll need to lie on your back. However, this time you want your legs to be stretched out with your heels on the floor. Then lift one leg and bend it at the knee. Bring it towards you until the knee touches your chest. You can use both hands to get it there.

Let your knee return to normal and then repeat with the other leg.

Chin & Chest

Stand up and slowly lower your head forward; your chin is supposed to reach your chest if possible.

You’ll feel the stretch at the back of your neck. In fact it’s great for alleviating the pain that you get in the neck after sitting all day staring at the computer.

Ear & Shoulder 

This is a great one to do while you’re at work and taking a minute break from staring at the screen.

Slowly move your head to one side; the aim is to touch your shoulder to your ear or to get as close as possible. You stop the movement as soon as you feel the stretch in your neck.

Hips

Stand up again and place your feet shoulder width apart. Now step back with your right foot only. It only needs to be a small step.

Next you can bend your left knee, moving your weight onto your right hip as you do so. You’ll then need to keep your right leg straight as you slide your hand down your right leg. You’ll feel the stretch in the outer hip.

The Press Up

This is actually a cross between the press up and the plank.

Lie on your front and place your hands flat on the floor below your shoulders. Then slowly push yourself upwards; bending at the waist. You’re aiming to get your arms straight although don’t be surprised if you can’t do this on the first attempt.

You’ll feel it pulling at the bottom of your back, don’t overdo it.

With a little exercise you can prevent or even get rid of back pain; try these today!

This is a guest blog entry.

3 Reasons to Regularly Visit a Holistic Wellness Center

With regards to your well-being, you need to do whatever you can to improve it and keep it that way for a long time. Being proactive is basic in accomplishing ideal well-being and health. Neglecting to have good habits and checking in with health or holistic professional institutions could put you in danger for both minor and real health challenges that could have been stayed away from. By going to a holistic wellness center, you will have amazing results on your health and mental state in the long term. Here are 3 reasons why you should visit Holistic Wellness Centers on a regular basis.

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1. Regulars visits to Holistic Wellness Centers improve your general health.

By visiting Holistic Wellness Centers, you improve your present well-being, and can likewise distinguish any potential issues in the future, before they turned out to be more serious not far off. In the event that your blood pressure is winding up strangely high, for example, your wellness professionals can separate the absolute best approaches to bring it down, for example, exercising and eating less sugary types of foods. This will help keep your well-being in good shape and may even counteract future issues, for example, strokes and heart-attacks.

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2. Fixing health issues internally, doesn’t fix symptoms.

One of the advantages of going to holistic centers regularly is its commitment to finding the wellspring of an issue by surveying a patient's physical condition, as well as his or her psychological and enthusiastic state. This is different from automatically prescribing a medication that doesn’t really settle the issue and continues to result in regular symptoms.  In case you start to experience headaches, for instance, you may basically depend on over-the-counter medications as a cure. Be that as it may, when you visit a holistic wellness center, you may find out that your headaches are really being caused by a back issue you need to manage. So as opposed to taking meds, you get chiropractic care and needle therapy to enable yourself to get back on your feet again.

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3. Holistic Wellness Centers offer so much more. 

On top of everything, these centers have so many other things to offer. So, you’ll find something else that is beneficial. If you have any issues with your skin, for example, there will be an aesthetician there to help you with that. Confidence is a huge part of good well-being. If you have any issues regarding your body or your looks, holistic centers can take care of that as well.

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Looking for a Hope Therapy and Wellness Center? Look no more and click on the link!

Holistic Wellness Centers are something you should visit regularly. Just remember, when you say that you don’t have the time, you work a lot and you deserve it. Everybody should have some time to pamper themselves, inside and out. So, take the time to care of yourself before anyone or anything else. 

This is a guest blog entry.

Microdosing Using Cannabis for Sleep

Microdosing with cannabis is becoming an increasingly popular way for people to finally get the sleep that they’re craving!

Across North America, more and more people are turning to cannabis to solve a myriad of health concerns. As the legalization of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use increases across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, more and more health professionals are looking at cannabis as a safer alternative to pharmaceutical sleeping tablets and pain medication.

Microdosing takes what you think about using cannabis and reverses it. Instead of utilizing large amounts of cannabis high in THC and CBD, microdosing involves using the least amount of cannabis possible. It may seem odd at first, but microdosing is rapidly gaining popularity among medical marijuana users.

Microdosing with Cannabis To Help Improve Sleep

Most strains of marijuana contain both CBD and THC cannabinoids. They are the two most predominant cannabinoids found in cannabis. THC is responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis, while CBD is more therapeutic.If you suffer from sleep problems, then you’re going to want to try and focus on using strains which are high in THC and low in CBD.

Indica strains of cannabis are the preferred strain for people looking to sleep more as Sativa strains often come with a boost in energy levels not ideal for sleep. While cannabis has been used for thousands of years as a medicinal substance, being classified as a narcotic in the early 20th century has slowed down a lot of research into cannabis. Researchers around the world are scrambling to discover more about cannabis and unlock all its secrets.

ScienceDirect.com published a study in 2006 called “Cannabidiol, a constituent of Cannabis Sativa modulates sleep in rats” which studied the effects of both CBD and THC and their correlation to sleep. Cannabis science is a very fluid area of science at the moment, with hundreds of studies currently underway into the effects of cannabis and cannabinoids on the human body.

One of the most interesting discoveries is that strains of cannabis which are high in cannabinol (CBN) can produce better sleep results. CBN is found in higher amounts of cannabis which is older or aged. According to Steep Hill labs and other groups, CBN has five times the level of sedation compared to either THC or CBD. Unfortunately, cannabis dispensaries often have very high turnovers of their products. This means that cannabis isn’t sitting around on their shelves aging which results in lower levels of CBN.

Cannabis and Microdosing

Microdosing with cannabis is a growing trend which involves using as little cannabis as possible to get the medicinal benefit you’re looking for. It isn’t the easiest method to get used to, but so far, the results look promising. Many people utilize cannabis-infused edibles for microdosing with cannabis as it can be easier to measure dosages. It’s important that you start off with very small dosages and then increase again until you begin to feel the cannabis effects. The goal of cannabis microdosing is to achieve the desired results without using excessive amounts of cannabis which can sometimes be counter-productive.

This is a guest blog entry.

Common Concerns for Elderly People Staying at Home

If being able to stay at home is important to you as you grow older, then there will no doubt be quite a few concerns that you have about safety, getting around, and other daily life activities. However, as long as you plan in advance, there is no reason why you should not be able to grow old at home. Here, we are taking you through some of our resolutions to common concerns many people have about growing old at home.

Getting Around
One of the main concerns that many people have about whether the home they are currently in will be suitable for them in their old age is simply getting around it. If you are already having trouble walking, you can always invest in either a walker or an electric chair or scooter. There are also services out there that will help you get around outside of your home town, for example, if you need someone to go with you to the doctor or to go shopping with you. You may also want to look into what public transportation is near your home if you no longer drive a car or won’t be able to in the future.

Activities and Social Life
For many older people, they can quickly become lonely at home, especially when living alone. It is a good idea to check out any local community centres to see what range of activities they have to offer as this is a great way to meet new people and hopefully develop some new friendships too. If it is too hard for you to leave your home, then you can always look into volunteer organizations who are able to stop by or call a few times a week to keep you company or discuss any problems that you may be facing.

Safety
When living at home as an elderly person, one of the biggest concerns that many people have is the safety aspect. Not every neighbourhood will be the best and so some elderly people may be scared of crime, physical abuse or even losing money because of a scam. Another common concern for those who live alone is becoming sick and not having anyone around to help. An emergency alert system can help with this and all you need to do is push a special button that you wear and an emergency medical personnel will be called.

Housing
When it comes to your actual home, there are a few changes that you can make which will make things easier and safer to live in. This can include putting a ramp at the front door and installing a stairlift if you struggle to get up the stairs, fitting non-skid flooring, and adding more comfortable door handles to turn. The bathroom is always the biggest challenge to adapt and make suitable for an elderly person and you will need to change things such as adding grab bars in your bath or shower. To make life easier for you, there’s a recent article by Mobility Plus that details the many different options available to you with your bathroom.

Daytime Help
If you live with someone else but they are not always around to take care of you, for example if they are out working, then you may need some help from others. There are services that will send someone to your home during the day to help you with any daily tasks that you may need to do.

This is a guest blog entry.

The Tell-Tale Signs You Are an Addict

Alcoholism and drug abuse results in the accumulation of toxins in your body and can have devastating effects. If you are currently suffering from drug addiction, you need to take the necessary steps to get the best drug detox assistance. That might involve checking into an alcohol rehab facility.

But how do you know that you are a drug or alcohol addict? It's important to understand the signs that show you are an addict so you can seek assistance. Even if you neither use alcohol or drugs, knowing the signs of addiction might assist you to help your family member or your friends and any other person you care about.

The main signs of drug addiction

1.    Craving

A person addicted to drugs experiences an intense urge for using drugs. Such cravings may be an indicator that you have a substance abuse disorder. Substance abuse disorder is a disease that affects a person's brain making it more difficult to control the use of a drug. It matters not whether the drug in question is legal or illegal. Since drugs are addictive, whenever you stop using them, you start experiencing an intense urge to use the drug. Such cravings are an indicator of withdrawal symptoms, and so you need to seek help.

2.    Physical Dependence

Physical dependence on drugs is caused by the chronic use of drugs to which the withdrawal results in an intense, unpleasant feeling. Physical dependence might as well be as a result of the low-dose therapeutic use of some known medication drugs such as benzodiazepines, opioids, antiepileptics, and also antidepressants. Misuse of recreational drugs such as alcohol can also result in physical dependence.

3.    Tolerance

Repeated use of drugs such as Heroine may cause a person to develop a tolerance for the drug. Tolerance is a pharmacological concept that describes reduced reaction to a drug over time. The drug user in most cases increases the dose to feel the drugs effect. Though the development of tolerance is not an addiction, most drugs that cause tolerance also have addictive potential.

4.    Withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawal symptoms occur when a person abruptly stops using a drug. Such abrupt withdrawal may cause altered mental state as well as sympathetic overdrive which might as well result in cardiovascular collapse. Hence, it is advisable to consult a medical doctor to get professional assistance during your withdrawal period. Many addicts who withdraw from drugs without following a healthy detox program have a high chance of relapse. Also since detox is the first step in the treatment of drug addiction, its proper management may create a strong foundation and a smooth progression to the subsequent step.

5.    Poor Judgment

Drug addiction is associated with risky behavior since a drug addict can indulge in any activity to get drugs. Thus, they may lie, steal, or even engage in unsafe sex. Drug addicts may also drain their bank accounts, while others neglect their responsibilities. Other traits of drug addicts which should raise red flags include associating with fellow drug addicts, as well as withdrawing and isolating themselves to hide their drug use.

In conclusion, we'd say that though the above list is not conclusive, it provides the primary signs that can reveal the possibility of a person being a drug addict.

This is a guest blog entry.

Three Herbs and Spices That Have Powerful Healing Properties

A good number of herbs and spices have been associated with medicinal properties and health benefits throughout history. It can be recalled that a whole lot of them had attained popularity because of their medicinal properties way before the current age and time.

These assertions on the medicinal properties of some of these herbs have also been given credence by researches conducted in modern science.

Find below 3 very healthy herbs and spices that come with significant and remarkable health benefits based on modern research.

1. Cinnamon

Cinnamon has been established as one of the lot that lowers blood sugar levels whilst having a very remarkable anti-diabetic effect. It is a very popular spice which is usually found in a variety of baked goods and recipes.

The spice contains a compound known as cinnamaldehyde and it is responsible for the spice's medicinal properties. It can also act as an antioxidant and helps fight against inflammation. It is also known to reduce triglycerides and cholesterol in the blood.

Its effects on blood sugar levels are remarkable and are the most pronounced. It lowers blood sugar levels, and one of the ways it does this is by breaking down the carbohydrates in the digestive tract and boosting the sensitivity of insulin.

Studies have also shown that it can reduce fasting blood sugars by a significant 10% to 29% in a diabetic patient. It can be administered effectively in a dosage of 0.5 to 2 teaspoons per day.

2. Sage

This name is derived from the Latin world Salvere and it means 'to save'.  It was used for many healing processes in the middle ages and is also believed to have played a part in preventing the plague.

Recent studies have shown that sage may improve brain function and memory, with regards to patients suffering from the Alzheimer's disease.

The disease is caused by a drop in the level of acetylcholine and sage is known to inhibit the breakdown of this chemical messenger found in the brain.

Further research has also shown that the herb can be used to improve memory functions in both young and old folks. I bet sage will be a very good consumable that may provide players with winning instincts whilst playing at an online casino.

3. Peppermint

This has been established as a reliever of IBS pain and may also aid in the reduction of nausea. The oil components in peppermint contain the agents which are responsible for its health benefits.

Peppermint oil has been shown to improve the management of pain in irritable bowel syndrome, IBS.

It functions by ensuring the relaxation of the smooth muscles in the colon, and this relieves the pain that is likely to be experienced during bowel movements. It also ensures the reduction of the common digestive symptom which is known as abdominal bloating.

Peppermint has also been used in aromatherapy for women in labor as it reduces nausea in the process. It also reduces nausea after births that involved surgeries and C-section.

This is a guest blog entry.