Simple Tips to Caring Your Contact Lenses

Top 10 Tips for caring for your contact lenses

1. NOT wear your contact lenses to sleep – this practice increases the chance of infection by 10 times.
2. TAKE your lenses out of your eyes at night, after washing your hands. RINSE and RUB each one in the palm of your hand with a sterile multipurpose solution or hydrogen peroxide. This removes most of the microbes and particulate matter on your lens after wearing them so allowing the disinfectant to work.
3. Place your lens in your storage case with FRESH multipurpose solution or peroxide.
4. In the morning, REMOVE your lens from the solution in your storage case and place it in your eye (if using peroxide remember to neutralize it).
5. THROW AWAY the solution from your storage case (NEVER reuse it ) and shake the case until it is dry or allow it to air dry (a paper tissue may be needed to wipe it dry).
6. Leave the storage case DRY all day. This kills many contaminating bacteria.
7. CHANGE the storage case every month WHEN you change your ‘disposable’ contact lenses so that a FRESH new lens is used with each NEW storage case. Wearers of non-disposable contact lenses should CHANGE their storage case every month.
8. NEVER wash your storage case or lenses with tap water – this predisposes them to contamination which can cause infection. Only wash the lens or storage case with STERILE solutions.
9. NEVER store your lenses in fresh saline solution or tap water!
10. If you develop a sore red eye, STOP wearing the contact lens at once! The inflammation usually resolves itself but if pain persists for more than 24 hours, visit a doctor or eye-care professional and advise them that you have been wearing a contact lens. TAKE your lens, storage case and cleaning solution with you – it will HELP them establish what has happened. CAREFULLY follow the instructions that you are given.

If you have any of the following:

•  an eye disease
•  a dry eye
•  are using regular drugs for your eyes
•  diabetes
•  suffer from repeated infections
•  are aged under 15 or over 65

You must discuss your suitability for wearing contact lenses with your optician, optometrist or eye care doctor.

The Basic Information About Yoga

Why Yoga?

Patients, who are ill with terminal diseases or are having undiagnosed ailments, are assured of some relief with yoga. Since Yoga attunes the body to receive treatment in a better manner, a lot of people are adopting Yoga along with regular treatment which is healthy. This way the doctor can estimate the way a patient is getting better.

Yoga Class

Since the body gets adjusted to our habits, exercises, and diets, it may take time to the ways of the requirement of Yoga practices. But it should be heartening to know that any effort to incorporate yoga into one’s life is helpful and produces result. Yoga rejuvenates the body. But one has to keep using it. Once a habit is established, especially the breathing exercises, for which Yoga is famous for, the result will be visible to everybody around.

How Yoga works

It is a process which teaches how to stretch, relax, breath and then to workout. The process is so wholesome that it results in not just the physical endowments, but emotionally and perhaps spiritually, it is fulfilling too. You heal yourself when you love and the recipient also starts benefiting. It makes the mind focused

Secret of Yoga

The meaning of Yoga is to add. It defines the power of collectives and being a part of the community with a lot of harmony around. A thing of greater interest happens when it becomes a collective dream. Everyone can access it, has the wisdom to use and gets enlightened by sharing it. Stress is a result of limiting oneself with some kind of selfishness. The greater achievements cannot be realized without collectivity. In a class, one feels the connection with each soul. The processes arouse the innermost sentiments positively which can be felt as soulful.

Essence of Yoga demonstrations

Before our Yoga gurus made it popular, Yoga was understood to be something very tedious and was thought of impossible to practice without guidance. But now a day, Yoga teachers have been organized to conduct classes every nook and corner of any town or even in remote area. One needs to loosen the shoes and the dress and start out immediately.

Cardio Health – Adding Variety To Your Cardio Routine

Keeping up with cardiovascular exercise over a long period of time involves finding new ways to enjoy your workouts and to challenge yourself — both physically and mentally. In fact, pushing yourself to try new activities is critical to prevent plateaus in progress, boredom, and burnout. Varying your cardio routine ensures you’ll have more fun — and stay more consistent — with the habits required for lifelong health and fitness.

Cardio Health

Why “variation” is so important

Making fitness a lifelong habit demands a willingness to consistently “stretch” your comfort zone. Those afraid to “try something new” often get bored with the same old cardio routine and before long lose interest in maintaining their efforts.

Those who push their limitations grow from their experiences and enjoy the confidence, health, and success that come from new achievements. Varying your activity is a critical element to challenging your current limitations.

Top ten cardio activities

While the options are endless, listed are ten great ways to vary your cardio routine:

1. Wind sprints – nothing will get your heart pumping and your lungs breathing faster than some sprinting. On the track, grass, or road — choose what terrain is available to you.

2. Swimming – in the ocean, the lake, or the local Olympic size pool. Safe at any age, swimming is a great total body cardio routine and non-impact (good for joints) activity. Try alternating various strokes and pushing yourself for timed distances.

3. Cycling – if you’ve got a road bike, great; if not then an indoor model or “trainer” will work fine as well. Spinning classes also offer a fun environment to push your cardio limits

4. Rollerblading – a great workout that challenges your lower body in a way unlike running or biking. Great exercise for the thighs, glutes, and hips. Also great training for those who enjoy the winter sports of snow skiing, ice-skating and hockey.

5. Mountain biking – with the popularity of “off-road” cycling, miles of trails in local parks or wooded areas are now easily accessible these days. Be sure to pack your safety gear and pick a trail that matches the level of your expertise!

6. Running hills – depending on where you live, hills may or may not be readily available. Try challenging your self to sprint stadium stairs or a few flights in a local hotel or office building as a great substitute. Talk about a cardio routine blast — give it a shot and you’ll be amazed!

7. Jumping rope – you might think of double-dutch or one of the games you used to play when you were a kid, but simple, timed jump rope intervals provide a serious workout. There are also several different types of ropes available including “speed” and “weighted” ropes that provide the added benefit of an upper-body workout at the same time.

8. Rowing – most of us don’t have access to a rowing shell, but fortunately many local health clubs offer alternatives. Rowing is a great way to work your core, back and legs at the same time. Some rowing machines even offer video components to make the experience like a fun video-game – complete with a computerized opponent to race!

9. Kickboxing – if a martial arts class doesn’t interest you (or you’d prefer to work up to it), there are some great cardio kickboxing DVD’s available to turn your living room into a dojo. A brief search of Amazon.com finds sixteen options to choose from — give it a shot!

10. Yoga – for clarity of mind, a good sweat, and flexibility at the same time, yoga offers tremendous benefits as part of a balanced health and fitness program. Many local facilities offer trial classes or home DVD’s are also available to fit into your ideal schedule.

Conclusion

Challenging your body and mind with new exercise activities is essential to avoiding plateaus, boredom and burnout. Pushing your limits ensures fun while maintaining the habits required for lifelong health and fitness success.

Basic Information You Must Know About Flu

Flu is the popular non-medical term given to the influenza disease, also known as grippe. The flu is an acute, infectious and extremely contagious viral disease that comes on suddenly. The onset may be so sudden, a matter of few minutes, that it is a almost unbelievable that a person could feel so bad so quickly. It can afflict humans, birds and mammals alike.

Types of Flu

In addition, while these three strains of influenza viruses have the ability to mutate into newer, more powerful or cunning forms, type A influenza mutates constantly, producing new strains of the virus every few years. In other words, you can never be indefinitetly immune to flu. This means that the antibodies that you may have developed against the flu virus one year, are unlikely to protect you against a new strain of the flu virus another year.

The type A strain is the most damaging to humans, and the Spanish flu, Asian flu, Hong Kong flu, and the H5N1 avian flu are all type A strains. Currently, the world is facing a particularly deadly form of influenza known as the H5N1, or bird flu strain.

While major epidemics occurring from time to time are caused by type A mutations, types B and C are not so common, generally resulting in milder cases and local outbreaks.

Flu Virus Symptoms – How does influenza virus attack the body?

The flu symptoms are fairly well known. Influenza attacks suddenly with chills, high fever generally between 101° F and 102°F and uncommonly as high as 106°F, muscular aches, headache, prostration, weakness, loss of appetite, general aches and pains, sore throat, nasal congestion, sneezing, irritated eyes, extreme coldness (combined with shivers), severe coughing, and a general state of fatigue and nausea. Symptoms are similar to those of the common cold, creating some confusion that we clarify on the next article. On particular cases of flu, the symptoms may include vomiting, headaches, loss of smell, sore joints, heavy sneezing and so forth.
There may be abdominal pain and diarrhea.

While symptoms for most flu types are roughly similar, each new virus may bring additional effects to the body.

A main danger from this disease is that germs that may be hiding in the nose and throat will attack the weakened body causing ear infections, sinusitis, or other complications.

How long does the flu last

In general, the acute symptoms last for only a few days, followed by a gradual recovery of normal strength.

Incubation period: 1 to 4 days. An because influenza is excedingly infectious, the disease spreads quite rapidly. The infection enters thru the nose and moth and is transmitted to some extent by sneezing and coughing.
Danger of contagiousness: the disease is probably not transmitted by the infected person for more than a week after the onset. However, persons with an illness so light that are not manifesting its true nature, play an important part in spreading the disease.

Flu Seasons

As with most viral diseases, flu is favored by some external weather and season factors. The peak in the Northern Hemisphere is during January or February however, it needs to be taken into account that the winter season occurs at different times throughout the world. In relation to this fact, the World Health Organization (WHO), with the help of the National Influenza Centers (NIC) produce two anti-flu vaccines per year, in order to cope with both peaks.

Science is still unsure about what causes the seasonal influenza, but it is suspected that the cause is due to the fact that people are in close quarters more often during the winter time. Also, colder temperatures can provide a more stable environment for the virus to live, for example, it may stick around longer than usual when it is spread through things such as doorknobs.

Some strains of the influenza virus tend to find it more suitable to spread during the change from winter to spring. At the first sign of relative spring heat, clothing changes radically to lighter accessories and this radical change makes it easier for the virus to spread. In some areas that are close to the tropics, the flu peak is considered to be all through the year, so these are the most likely to be hit by a pandemic.

During an epidemic it is good advice to keep out of crowds.

Alcohol Can Affect Your Blood Sugar

The sugar in our blood, also known as blood glucose, is used for growth and energy. Blood glucose comes from the foods that we eat, the breakdown of the glucose stored in our muscles (glycogen), and it can also be made from other nutrients in the body. The primary hormones involved in maintaining a healthy blood glucose level are insulin and glucagon. Normally, when your blood sugar begins to drop, your body can respond by making more blood sugar or burning up stored sugar. And when your blood sugar begins to rise, additional insulin is secreted to bring your levels back to a healthy range.

alcohol

Alcohol is considered a poison by your body, and all efforts are made to excrete it, including the cessation of maintaining healthy blood glucose levels. Studies have shown that alcohol interferes with all three sources of glucose and the hormones needed to maintain healthy blood glucose levels. The greatest impact is seen in those who drink heavily on a frequent basis. Heavy drinkers deplete their glycogen stores within a few hours when their diet does not provide a sufficient amount of carbohydrates. Over time, excessive alcohol consumption can decrease insulin’s effectiveness, resulting in high blood sugar levels. One study showed that 45% to 70% of people with alcoholic liver disease had either glucose intolerance or diabetes.

Alcohol can also negatively impact blood sugar levels each time that it is consumed, regardless of the frequency of consumption. Research has shown that acute consumption increases insulin secretion, causing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), and can also impair the hormonal response that would normally rectify the low blood sugar. Drinking as little as 2 ounces of alcohol on an empty stomach can lead to very low blood sugar levels. This makes alcohol an even bigger problem for anyone with diabetes. Along with the impact on blood sugar, studies have also shown that alcohol can impact the effectiveness of the hypoglycemic medications, so extreme caution needs to be taken when consuming alcohol by anyone with diabetes.

There is also an increased risk of problems when combining exercise and alcohol. It is not uncommon for people to go out for a drink after playing sports (for example, hockey, soccer, tennis) or to consume some alcoholic beverages while playing. Your blood sugars naturally drop during exercise, and your body is working on replacing your glycogen stores once you are finished. Consuming alcohol during this time will halt this process and can cause blood sugar levels to stay at an unhealthy level.

Alcohol can wreak havoc on a system that is in place for your health and well being. Excessively low or high blood sugar levels have long-term consequences. If you choose to consume alcohol, here are some tips to help avoid this problem.

•   Never drink on an empty stomach.
•   Start with nonalcoholic beverages to satisfy your thirst and continue to have one available while you consume alcohol.
•   Limit the amount that you drink.
•   You can make a drink last longer and lower the impact that it will have on your blood sugars by having a wine spritzer.
•   If you have diabetes, speak with your physician about how alcohol will affect your medication(s).
•   Consume beverages without alcohol during and after exercise.

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