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12 Weekend Habits of Highly Successful People

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Source: lifehack.org

I’ve read countless articles about what successful people do on their weekends. Do you want to know the secret? It’s the same thing that they do every other day. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Here are 12 weekend habits of highly successful people:

1. Robert Iger: Get up early

This Disney CEO is not the only executive claiming to rise at 4:30 every morning. Successful people do not stay in bed until 2 p.m. on a Sunday. Or even 11 a.m. Research shows that our brains are sharpest two and a half to four hours after waking. Get up early on a weekend and you’ve got a head start on the rest of the world.

2. Benjamin Franklin: Have a plan

Apparently, this founding father asked himself every morning, “What good shall I do today?” Successful people know the importance of even daily goals — the weekends are no exception. Sure, they can be a time for (planned and purposeful) rejuvenation, but you don’t have to be President to know that general slacking off is not an option.

3. Timothy Ferris: Don’t multi-task

Multi-tasking is so 2005. It may be tempting to maximize your weekend productivity by running on the treadmill while calling your mother and trolling your newsfeed, but successful people know that this just reduces efficiency and effectiveness. Instead, be present for each single activity. Ferris recommends a maximum of two goals or tasks per day to ensure productivity and accomplishments align.

4. Anna Wintour: Stay active

Vogue’s editor-in-chief commits to playing tennis for one hour every day. And she’s not the only big-shot making time for exercise. Richard Branson stays active with kite surfing and India’s fourth-richest billionaire is a serial marathon runner. Successful people know the importance of an active body for an active mind — weekends included. If nothing else, it will also counteract that glass of wine and cheese platter from Saturday night.

5. Steve Jobs: Prioritize what’s important

“Things don’t have to change the world to be important.” Weekends are the time to remind yourself of the forgotten little things — to keep your work-life harmony (the new ‘balance’) in check and reset if needed. Spending time with your friends, children or partner might not directly increase profits that day or propel you into the limelight, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Even the current US President famously makes time to sit down for dinner with his family.

6. Warren Buffet: Make time for hobbies

He may be considered the most successful investor of the 20th century, but in his “spare” time Buffett likes to play the ukulele. Successful people are often interesting people — and their hobbies have a lot to do with that. Sure, golfing on Saturdays can be a great way to network and source business opportunities. But, even solo hobbies — knitting like Meryl Streep or oil painting like George W. Bush — can aid success through fostering creativity and relieving stress.

7. Oprah: Practice stillness

Forbes’ most powerful celebrity of 2013 still finds time to sit in stillness for 20 minutes — twice a day! This once-best-kept secret of the yogis is now common knowledge. Even the corporate world is acknowledging the benefits of meditation and mindfulness for reducing stress, improving productivity, facilitating creativity and maintaining general well-being. The weekends can often be busier than week days with attempting to cram in chores, exercise, family commitments, social engagements and more into a 48-hour period. The most successful people take daily time out for stillness, weekends included. They don’t call it a meditation “practice” for nothing.

8. Randi Zuckerberg: Forget FOMO, Embrace JOMO

We’ve all done it — posted a tastefully filtered snap of our weekend antics or checked in on social media to elicit “likes” and envy from our friends/followers (#bragging). Enter, the era of FOMO (fear of missing out). On weekends, we’re even more prone to FOMO. But the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media (and, you guessed it, the sister to Facebook’s creator) says people should be focusing on JOMO (the joy of missing out) — the mantra that “there is nowhere I’d rather be than exactly where I am.” Successful people are often competitive, high achievers by nature — practicing an attitude of gratitude and resisting social-media-induced FOMO is key for a happy weekend. And isn’t happiness the real marker of success?

9. Bill Gates: Take time to reflect

The founder of Microsoft famously said, “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” Reflection should be a daily practice but the weekends are a perfect opportunity to step back and reflect on the lessons of the previous week and to make improvements for the next. Author of “The Happiness Project,” Gretchen Rubin, suggests starting a “one sentence journal” to encourage daily reflection. Make Saturday or Sunday your day to flick back through the week’s entries!

10. Richard Branson: Give back

This billionaire entrepreneur says that “it is amazing how focusing your mind on issues like health, poverty, conservation and climate change can help to re-energize your thinking in other areas.” Successful people agree with Anne Frank: “No one has ever become poor from giving.” Tom Corley studied the rich for five years before writing his book “Wealthy Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.” He found that 73% of wealthy people volunteer for five or more hours per month. Nothing helps put things in perspective and reduce stress more than helping those less fortunate. Weekends are a great time to get involved in local and community volunteer events.

11. Jack Dorsey: Get ready for the rest of the week

The Twitter and Square co-founder is notorious for 16-hour work days from Monday to Friday but says, “Saturday I take off. I hike. And then Sunday is reflections, feedback, strategy and getting ready for the rest of the week.” Forget Sunday blues, let’s call it “Sort-Your-Life-Out Sunday.” Laura Vanderkam, author of “What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend,” says successful people know that weekends are actually the secret weapon in professional success: “You need to hit Monday ready to go.”

12. Jay Z: Keep up the momentum

He’s made an empire as a highly successful rap artist and entrepreneur, and the secret is right there in his lyrics: “You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip. You can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.” (Decoded) Jay Z didn’t become worth $520 million by only wanting it five out of seven days of the week. If you want to eventually spend your weekends on a luxury yacht in the Caribbean with Beyoncé, unrelenting grit and persistence might just get you there. Well, we can always dream, right?

It’s settled then. Success is a 24/7 lifestyle choice — weekends included!

How Exercise Keeps Us Young

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Source:  well.blogs.nytimes.com

Active older people resemble much younger people physiologically, according to a new study of the effects of exercise on aging. The findings suggest that many of our expectations about the inevitability of physical decline with advancing years may be incorrect and that how we age is, to a large degree, up to us.

Aging remains a surprisingly mysterious process. A wealth of past scientific research has shown that many bodily and cellular processes change in undesirable ways as we grow older. But science has not been able to establish definitively whether such changes result primarily from the passage of time — in which case they are inevitable for anyone with birthdays — or result at least in part from lifestyle, meaning that they are mutable.

This conundrum is particularly true in terms of inactivity. Older people tend to be quite sedentary nowadays, and being sedentary affects health, making it difficult to separate the effects of not moving from those of getting older.

In the new study, which was published this week in The Journal of Physiology, scientists at King’s College London and the University of Birmingham in England decided to use a different approach.

They removed inactivity as a factor in their study of aging by looking at the health of older people who move quite a bit.

“We wanted to understand what happens to the functioning of our bodies as we get older if we take the best-case scenario,” said Stephen Harridge, senior author of the study and director of the Centre of Human and Aerospace Physiological Sciences at King’s College London.

To accomplish that goal, the scientists recruited 85 men and 41 women aged between 55 and 79 who bicycle regularly. The volunteers were all serious recreational riders but not competitive athletes. The men had to be able to ride at least 62 miles in six and a half hours and the women 37 miles in five and a half hours, benchmarks typical of a high degree of fitness in older people.

The scientists then ran each volunteer through a large array of physical and cognitive tests. The scientists determined each cyclist’s endurance capacity, muscular mass and strength, pedaling power, metabolic health, balance, memory function, bone density and reflexes. They also had the volunteers complete the so-called Timed Up and Go test, during which someone stands up from a chair without using his or her arms, briskly walks about 10 feet, turns, walks back and sits down again.

The researchers compared the results of cyclists in the study against each other and also against standard benchmarks of supposedly normal aging. If a particular test’s numbers were similar among the cyclists of all ages, the researchers considered, then that measure would seem to be more dependent on activity than on age.

As it turned out, the cyclists did not show their age. On almost all measures, their physical functioning remained fairly stable across the decades and was much closer to that of young adults than of people their age. As a group, even the oldest cyclists had younger people’s levels of balance, reflexes, metabolic health and memory ability.

And their Timed Up and Go results were exemplary. Many older people require at least 7 seconds to complete the task, with those requiring 9 or 10 seconds considered to be on the cusp of frailty, Dr. Harridge said. But even the oldest cyclists in this study averaged barely 5 seconds for the walk, which is “well within the norm reported for healthy young adults,” the study authors write.

Some aspects of aging did, however, prove to be ineluctable. The oldest cyclists had less muscular power and mass than those in their 50s and early 60s and considerably lower overall aerobic capacities. Age does seem to reduce our endurance and strength to some extent, Dr. Harridge said, even if we exercise.

But even so, both of those measures were higher among the oldest cyclists than would be considered average among people aged 70 or above.

All in all, the numbers suggest that aging is simply different in the active.

“If you gave this dataset to a clinician and asked him to predict the age” of one of the cyclists based on his or her test results, Dr. Harridge said, “it would be impossible.” On paper, they all look young.

Of course, this study is based on a single snapshot of an unusual group of older adults, Dr. Harridge said. He and his colleagues plan to retest their volunteers in five and 10 years, which will provide better information about the ongoing effects of exercise on aging.

But even in advance of those results, said Dr. Harridge, himself almost 50 and an avid cyclist, this study shows that “being physically active makes your body function on the inside more like a young person’s.”

16 Tricks To Help You Eat Healthy Without Even Trying

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Source: buzzfeed.com

One hour of food prep on Sunday = healthy eating so easy you don’t even think about it.

The secret is to take some time on Sundays to prep a LOT of healthy food for the week. Then when you’re done, you’ll have so much good stuff stocked in your fridge and freezer that you’ll eat well all week without even trying, really.

BuzzFeed Life reached out to Abby Langer, RD, a registered dietitian and owner ofAbby Langer Nutrition. She heartily endorses this style of plan-ahead-to-be-lazy kind of healthy eating, and gave some suggestions that you might want to try out.

1. Chop celery and carrots into sticks, and create little hummus and veggie snack jars.

“Snacks! They’re so important!” Langer says via email. Each weekend, “get everything for snacks together and make sure you replenish what you don’t have.”

For these cool little veggie snack jars, stash them in your fridge and grab one each morning on your way out. Hits the spot.

2. Or package a few baggies of nuts + berries.

Like 1/2 cup blackberries with 2 tablespoons of raw, unsalted pistachios, for instance. Another great snack option that takes like 0.4 seconds to pull together, and even less time to grab on your way out the door in the morning.

3. Prepare a big batch of black beans for protein.

“Always make one or two proteins — I love black beans,” Langer says. “I pretty much always keep them in the fridge and use them on salads, in wraps, and in bowls with rice or quinoa and veggies.”

Get the recipe for those healthy sweet potato, black bean, and egg white breakfast burritos here, via Ambitious Kitchen. And here are 27 of the most delicious things you can do with beans, if you need some more inspiration.

4. Or roast a chicken or a tray of chicken breasts.

Great for salads, sandwiches, or just general veggie- and grain- dishes. And so easy to just grab and re-heat anytime throughout the week. “Protein seems to be the big barrier for a lot of people — they get home late and they don’t want to cook chicken or whatever, so having the protein part of the meal already done I think increases the likelihood that they won’t give up and order in instead of making something for themselves,” Langer says.

Here’s how to make the most delicious roast chicken of all time, if you’re looking for some guidance.

5. Or boil half a dozen eggs (or more).

Slice them up and toss them in salads, on sandwiches, and more. Each egg is under 100 calories and has over 7 grams of protein to help you feel more satisfied.

Read How to Make the Perfect Boiled Egg, Every Time, Every Way, on Greatist, for more info.

6. Wash, chop, and prepare a bunch of different veggies for the week, and store them in tupperware containers.

Get some pointers on what to do with them from Jess at Girl Walks Into A Barbell.

7. Or ignore the whole chopping and washing veggies thing and just buy a veggie tray for the week.

“If you know that you’re not going to have the time, energy, or motivation to prep vegetables for snacks during the week, buy a veggie tray at the supermarket and get over it,” Langer says. “Some of us need to buy prepared vegetables and there’s no shame in that.” No shame in the veggie tray game indeed.

8. Make a tray of egg muffins for quick and easy breakfasts all week long.

“Scrambled eggs with vegetables, poured into muffin tins and baked,” Langer says. “Freeze them, then pop into the microwave for breakfast on the go.”

Get the recipe for those vegetable and egg muffins here.

9. Or pull together some slow-cooker oats.

“A big batch of oatmeal done in the slow cooker with apples and cinnamon, for example, and made with milk (for protein, or protein powder if the person is vegan) is something that’s good for breakfast for days,” Langer says. You just need to heat it up when you’re ready to eat it. “Overnight oats work as well — soaking the oats in yogurt and milk or milk alternative, and adding fruit and nuts, hemp hearts, chia; it’s all good.”

Get the recipe for that chia seed breakfast bowl here, via Oh She Glows.

10. Roast some veggies to use in all of your meals throughout the week.

Langer recommends veggies that roast well, like asparagus, zucchini, and peppers, which you can make in batch and then use them all week in pretty much every one of your meals. Get the recipe for those gorgeous roasted veggies here.

You can also just roast or barbecue cauliflower or broccoli whole, and then just heat them up when you’re ready to eat them.

11. And roast some potatoes while you’re at it.

Get the recipe for these garlic ranch potatoes here.

12. You could also prepare a few cups of quinoa or rice, and then set it aside to use throughout the week.

Quinoa is another fantastic source of protein, and you can basically put it in anything, from salads to granola to pudding and more. Get the recipe for this quinoa, fennel, and pomegranate salad here, and then check out 32 Ways To Eat Quinoa And Succeed In Life for some more ideas.

Rice and quinoa can be used in like a million dishes, Langer says: “For sides. For bowls. For fried rice (yes, dietitians eat fried rice).” Good options to have, without having to worry about it.

13. And if you have the time or inkling, batch-prep a few actual meals while you’re at it. Like these quinoa breakfast bars.

14. Or these burrito bowl Mason jar salads.

15. Or these grilled chicken veggie bowls.

16. Or this mac and cheese with squash.

Happy healthy eating!

Daily Diet Soda Triples Risk of Strokes & Alzheimer’s

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Soft drinks – soda – pop; whatever you call it, is multi-billion-dollar business in the United States. Burger, fries and soft drink are the foundation of the fast food industry. Sporting events rely heavily on the sale of soft drinks to help pay their costs. Go to a city park in the summertime, or a local lake and you’ll undoubtedly find ice chests full of soft drinks, and possible more.

However, look at the American people and you’ll see the direct effects of abundant soft drink sales and consumption. We are the most overweight people in the world. America also has a higher degree of childhood obesity and diabetes, part of which has been linked to drinking too many soft drinks. Diabetes has also become an epidemic in our nation.

I humbly admit that I am guilty of what I write. I am overweight and have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. For many years, I enjoyed a Dr. Pepper with my lunch and dinner and am now paying for it. However, I know that my weight and diabetes is directly linked to my diet and lack of exercise. How do I know that? Last July (2016) my A1C (the measure used to diagnose diabetes) was 11.5. Since 6.0 and below is considered normal, my 11.5 was dangerously high. I went on a strict sugar and BAD carbohydrate free diet plus I began exercising. In December, barely 5 months later, my A1C was only 5.2, much to the surprise of my doctor. I also lost 82 pounds during the same time period. If I can keep my A1C this low, it’s possible that I will no longer be a diabetic.

When I met with my doctor, I was told that if I really wanted to continue to drink Dr. Pepper to switch to diet Dr. Pepper, but no soft drink was what was really recommended. Many other Americans have been told by their doctors to switch to diet soft drinks to help them with their weight and blood sugar. Dentists also believe that soft drinks are a leading cause of tooth decay due to the sugar and acid in the carbonation that eats away at the protective enamel of your teeth.

If you are among the millions of Americans who have switched from regular soft drinks to diet soft drinks for whatever reason, you may be shocked to find out that diet soft drinks have its own evil consequences. 

You may have heard about aspartame an artificial sweetener used in many diet soft drinks. There is evidence that the chemicals in aspartame do cloud the mind and interferes with the thought process. Many people who stopped drinking diet soft drinks found that they suddenly were able think more clearly than they had in some time:

“It turns out the headaches you expected from a diet soft drink withdrawal didn’t materialise. And now that you’ve quit the stuff, you probably find yourself thinking clearly for the first time in a while.”

“That’s because the chemicals that make up the artificial sweetener aspartame may have altered brain chemicals, nerve signals, and the brain’s reward system, which leads to headaches, anxiety, and insomnia, according to a review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.”

“And a 2013 animal study found that rats that drank diet soda had damaged cells and nerve endings in the cerebellum — the part of the brain responsible for motor skills.”

 Another effect of diet soda is that it masks the taste of many foods. Stop drinking diet soft drinks for a couple of weeks and you’ll find that foods have stronger flavors. The artificial sweeteners in diet soft drinks are up to 200 times sweeter than table sugar, causing your taste buds to be overloaded with sweet.

Heather Bainbridge, RD, from Columbia University Medical Center Weight Control Center, commented, saying:

“We often see patients change snack choices when they give up diet soda.”

“Rather than needing sugary treats or something really salty like pretzels and chips, they reach for an apple and a piece of cheese. And, when they try diet soda again, they find it intolerably sweet.”

Did you know that mixing diet soda with alcohol can get you drink faster? The diet soft drink causes your stomach to empty faster, which then leaves it more vulnerable to the alcohol.

Additionally, diet soft drinks have been found to impede kidney function.

“One study looked at 11 years of data and found that women who drank 2 or more servings of diet soda doubled their chances of declining kidney function.”

If all of the above isn’t enough to cause you to put down your diet soft drink, then consider this:

“The team of researchers from Boston’s University School of Medicine, said people who consume a can of artificially-sweetened soft drink a day were at three times the risk of suffering the most common form of stroke compared to non-drinkers.”

“The US study also indicated that diet soft drink fans were 2.9 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. But after accounting for all lifestyle factors, the researchers found the link to dementia was statistically insignificant, however, the impact on stroke risk remained…”

“‘Drinking at least one artificially sweetened beverage daily was associated with almost three times the risk of developing stroke or dementia compared to those who drank artificially sweetened beverages less than once a week,’ the research read, which was published in Stroke, the journal of the American Heart Association.”

Face it, like or not, there is not one redeeming thing about drinking soft drinks or diet soft drinks other than to satisfy one’s addiction to sugar and sweets. Switching to diet soft drinks may be better for your weight and diabetes, but in the meantime, you’re exposing yourself to a host of other health risks, especially strokes and Alzheimer’s. Next time you pop the top on a can of diet soft drink, think of the sound it makes as ‘STROKE’. It won’t take for you to stop drinking them.

10 Amazing Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey

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10 Amazing Health Benefits of Apple Cider

Source: healthyandnaturalworld.com

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) and honey are two amazing natural substances. When you consume them in their unprocessed, raw forms, the health benefits abound. If you put the two together, the results become even more positive. In addition, the use of sweet honey makes the taste of the drink more pleasing.

Fight joint pain, inflammation, digestive problems and sore throat in a natural way by consuming a concoction of ACV and honey on an empty stomach, and observe for yourself the great offerings of nature.

Health benefits of ACV and honey mix

Raw honey and ACV are both praised for their abilities to ward off infections and treat different conditions that have an impact on your quality of life. If you consume them together, you’re likely to experience the following benefits:

1. Better joint health and joint pain alleviation (good for arthritic pain)

2. Acid reflux and heartburn relief

3. Improved digestive health, including help with constipation

4. Weight loss

5. Reduced cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure

6. Sore throat relief

7. More energy

8. Youthful appearance and better condition of the skin

9. Remedy for bad breath

10. Reducing inflammation

Why is the combination of ACV & honey so successful?

The overwhelming benefits of the mixture can be explained by looking at their chemical properties and interactions with the body. Many experts believe that we become ill when our bodies turn overly acidic (pH below 7). Vinegar is naturally acidic, but when consumed, it turns alkaline. Honey, too, has a low pH, but raises the alkalinity of the body once eaten.

The two substances are a perfect way to get rid of excessive acidity (resulting from stressful lifestyle and unhealthy foods and drinks) and building an internal environment with a protective pH. Our bodies function at their best and healthiest when the body’s pH is between 7.0 and 7.4, so slightly alkaline.

Further reading: read more about the body’s pH in my articles How to Balance Your pH and Find Out If You’re Too Acidic and 5 Things to Avoid If You Want to Get Your Body Alkaline.

How to make ACV & honey healing drink

Make sure you get the ingredients that are unfiltered and in their natural forms. Honey and ACV that have not been processed, thus have maintained all their nutritional properties, appear cloudy. Also, check the label and go for ACV with the ‘mother of vinegar’, which can be seen as a pulp on the bottom of the bottle.

Mix together:

  • 1 teaspoon raw honey
  • 1 teaspoon ACV (if you can tolerate the taste, increase the dosage to up to 1 tablespoon)
  • 8 oz. warm water (1 glass)

You might initially struggle with the potent taste, but once you experience the benefits, you’ll most likely want to stick with the concoction.

When to drink a mixture of ACV and honey?

It’s best to drink the mixture on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning. Consume it about 20-30 minutes before you eat. Be consistent and drink it on a daily basis.

Some suggest increasing the intake to two, or even three, times a day, depending on your needs and tolerance for taste. As with many other natural remedies, it is best to test it for yourself and see what works for your body, although high consumption of ACV may cause low potassium levels and lowers bone density. Also ACV may interact with diuretics, laxatives, and medicines for diabetes and heart disease, so if you’re planning to use it on a daily basis make sure to consult your doctor to avoid interactions with the medicines you’re taking.

Obesity in Early Pregnancy Increases Risk of Epilepsy in Offspring

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For many young families getting started, pregnancy is or should be a very joyous time. Despite the annoyance and unpleasantness of morning sickness, the very thought of a new human life developing and growing inside a woman’s body is a very special time for the mom and dad. It should be a time of joy, bonding, togetherness and anticipation.

Unfortunately, it can also be a time of worry and uncertainty, mainly about the health of the unborn child. It’s important for pregnant moms to have checkups with their family physician or a good obstetrician – gynecologist (OB-GYN). They can prescribe the right vitamins and supplements and monitor the health of the baby and the mom. They can also issue warnings of things to avoid such as smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc.

One thing that so many expectant moms have in common is gaining weight during pregnancy. A common excuse given is that she is eating for two, which in some ways is true, but can also have dangerous consequences if not controlled.

One of those consequences is that many overweight and obese moms give birth to big babies that are easily prone to growing up overweight and obese. These can lead to many complications in life such as diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease and stroke, even at an early age.

But did you know that the more overweight or obese a pregnant mom is, the greater the risk is of her baby having epilepsy. The more obese the mom, especially in the early stages of pregnancy, the greater the risk is of her child developing epilepsy, according to a new study:

“Kids are more likely to develop childhood epilepsy — a seizure disorder — if their mothers were overweight or obese early in pregnancy, a new study suggests.”

“The risk of epilepsy in children goes up as a mother’s weight goes up — reaching as high as 82 percent among kids of severely obese women, the researchers said.”

“‘This means more severe grades of obesity correspond to increasingly higher risk,’ said study co-author Dr. Eduardo Villamor. He’s a professor of epidemiology with the University of Michigan School of Public Health.”

The study took place in Sweden where researchers studied the medical histories of 1.4 million babies born between 1997 and 2011. Of those, over 7,500 developed some form of epilepsy by the age of 16.

From there, they linked the odds of a child developing epilepsy to the body mass index (BMI) of the mothers at around the 14th week of pregnancy. Body mass is a ratio of a person’s height and weight and often used to determine the amount of fat someone has. A normal BMI is generally thought to be between 18.5 to 24.5. People with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered to be overweight and anything 30 and above is obese.

Based on their study, the risk if childhood epilepsy compared to BMI were as follows:

  • 11 percent increased risk with overweight.
  • 20 percent increased risk with grade I obesity.
  • 30 percent increased risk with grade II obesity.
  • 82 percent increased risk with grade III obesity.

The effects of a pregnant mother’s weight on her developing child were listed as:

“There are several potential ways a mother’s excess weight could increase risk of childhood epilepsy, Razaz and Villamor said.”

“Excess weight increases the risk of preterm birth and birth defects, which in turn increase risk of epilepsy, the researchers said. The baby also is more likely to suffer from trauma or low oxygen levels during birth with an overweight or obese mother. These factors might raise epilepsy risk.”

“Overweight or obesity also spurs on general inflammation in the mother’s body. This could possibly have an effect on their baby’s developing brain, Villamor added.”

“Dr. William Bell is a neurologist with Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. He agreed that inflammation could be the culprit behind this increased risk.”

“‘Pregnancy is already an inflammatory state, and so is obesity. When you add those two together, a lot of bad things can happen,’ Bell said.”

Before every overweight or obese woman begins panicking and taking extreme measures to reduce their weight, Dr. Stephen Wolf, director of pediatric epilepsy at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, says that the overall risk of childhood epilepsy is still relatively low.

If possible, it is better on the mom and the baby if excess weight can be lost, but don’t panic and do something drastic out of fear that may end up harming you and your baby. Consult with your doctor and follow his or her advice.

Key to Post-Stroke Recovery

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If you think strokes only happen to elderly people, think again. Strokes can hit anyone at any age, but the older one gets, the more susceptible one becomes for having a stroke.

About 15-years ago, my daughter worked as a certified-nursing-assistant at a senior daycare center. Although most of the patients or clients were elderly, 60 and over, she also had several that were younger. She had one male patient who had a debilitating stroke around the age of 30. When I was in college, I worked as a night orderly in a nursing home and we had several patients, mostly female who were between 40 and 50 years of age.

Not the long ago on our local news, they featured a woman who, at the age of about 40, was recovering from a stroke. She was married and had a handful of kids. I remember thinking how tragic at this stage of her and her family’s life.

According to Stroke.org:

  • Each year nearly 800,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke.
  • A stroke happens every 40 seconds.
  • Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S.
  • Every 4 minutes someone dies from stroke.
  • Up to 80 percent of strokes can be prevented.
  • Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in the U.S.

First of all, what is a stroke?

A heart attack is generally caused by the blockage of blood flow to an area of the heart, resulting in the heart muscle tissue dying for lack of oxygen. Likewise, a stroke is a ‘brain attack’ caused when the blood supply to an area of the brain is blocked and brain cells begin to die.

There are two main types of stroke – hemorrhagic and ischemic.

A hemorrhagic stroke is caused by the hemorrhaging of blood vessels in the brain. In most cases, it’s associated with a ruptured aneurysm – a swelling of a blood vessel that weakens the vessel wall and then bursts open.

An ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot the cuts off the blood flow to part of the brain.

There is a third, generally less severe form of stroke known as a TIA or transient ischemic attack. They are defined as a temporary, generally less than 24 hours, where there is a blockage of blood flow due to a clot that in a short time releases and allows blood flow to resume.

The severity of a stroke depends a lot on the location and how soon treatment can be started. Knowing how to recognize a stroke is important for you and your family or those around you. Here are ten general symptoms of a stroke:

  1. Trouble seeing – sudden blurred or dimming vision.
  2. Loss of balance – having trouble walking or sitting without falling. Generally caused by one side of the body being affected by the stroke.
  3. Difficulty speaking – speech becomes slurred, words hard to recall.
  4. Weakness – A very common symptom when the arm and/or leg on one side of the body become weak and possible unable to move.
  5. Facial paralysis – not always, but one side of the face can become paralyzed, often accompanied by slight pain in the face, dizziness, difficulty speaking, drooling out of one side of the mouth, tearing of eye and inability to smile or frown.
  6. Pain – while most people don’t associate pain with a stroke, it can range from a dull ache to a constant or sudden sharp pain.
  7. Loss of understanding – a stroke victim sometimes is mentally confused and bewildered, unable to put a thought together.
  8. Severe headache – many illnesses can be accompanied by severe headaches, but coupled with many of the other symptoms, a severe headache can be a sign of a stroke.
  9. Loss of senses – could include vision, smell, hearing, tough and taste.
  10. Fatigue – by itself, fatigue may be a sign of many other things, including fevers or just staying up too late the night before. However, when fatigue is accompanied with many of the other symptoms, it’s nothing to just sleep on.

We hear all the time that high blood pressure and stress are some of the leading causes of strokes. That’s why so many doctors are concerned about their patients’ health as they want to take measures to help reduce the possibility of having a stroke.

Another key to reducing the risk of having a stroke or increasing the chance or recovery is you have a stroke, is watching your weight and regular exercise. Pamela Rist, of Harvard University just authored a study and reported:

“The new study involved more than 18,000 people with no history of stroke who were followed for an average of 12 years. During that time, nearly 1,400 of the participants suffered a stroke but survived.”

‘Three years after their stroke, those who had exercised regularly before their stroke were 18 percent more likely to be able to perform basic tasks — such as bathing on their own, the researchers found.”

“The fitter individuals were also 16 percent more likely to be able to perform more complex tasks, such as managing money on their own, compared to those who did not exercise before their stroke, the findings showed.”

“‘We also found that a person’s body mass index was not a factor in predicting their level of disability after stroke,’ Rist said in a journal news release. Body mass index is an estimate of body fat based on weight and height.”

“Two experts in stroke care who reviewed the findings said the study highlights the importance of exercise.”

That’s one of the reasons my wife and I are buying a treadmill. We have found that our life has become more sedentary than it used to be. With the crazy weather where we live, it’s not always possible to get out and walk or jog, so we decided to invest in a good quality treadmill that has adjustable speed, incline and a shock absorbing system to take some of the impact off of our knees.

With the treadmill, we can take turns getting our cardio exercise while watching some of our favorite television programs – sewing and quilting for her, sports for me and many shows we both like. We have also invested in some exercise strength bands and inexpensive equipment that will help make it easier for us to do strength building exercises which is vital for bones and the prevention of osteoporosis.

It’s important to do something to reduce the weight and fat and get some exercise, depending on your abilities or limitations.

Whooping Cough and Vaccinations – Baby or Pregnant Mom

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Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is caused by a bacterial infection that usually starts in the nose and throat. Regardless of how old a person is, whooping cough may be life threatening and require hospitalization. It can also be mild and mistaken for a common cold or bronchitis. Likewise, severe cases of bronchitis can be mistaken for whopping cough and require a test to determine the difference.

Early symptoms of whooping cough, according to the CDC, generally begin to show 5-10 days after being exposed to the bacteria – usually from someone else infected with the disease. Those early symptoms may be just a runny nose, low-grade fever, mild cough and in many babies – apnea – which is a pause in breathing. It’s during the early stages of pertussis that it is often thought to be just a cold or mild case of bronchitis.

After about 1-2 weeks of the early symptoms, whooping cough, the later and more severe symptoms begin to appear. These include severe or prolonged coughing fits, also known as paroxysms. In true whooping cough, the coughing fits are frequently followed by a high pitched ‘whoop’ sound, hence its name. This is caused by the coughing fit emptying all of the air from the lungs which causes the person to ‘whoop’ or gasp for air. Vomiting may accompany coughing fits, either during or afterwards. Fatigue and exhaustion also follows the coughing fits. 

The coughing caused by whooping cough can persist for 10 weeks or longer. In parts of China, it’s often referred to as the 100-day cough.

As stated before, bronchitis is sometimes thought to be whooping cough and vice versa. In my younger days, I used to get severe bronchitis twice a year and my cough was quite severe and lasted for at least a month. One doctor, who saw me for the first time swore I had whooping cough was ready to put me in the hospital and quarantine the family. After my mom shared my bronchitis history, the doctor ran some tests and determined that I had a severe case of whopping cough. He then told us that it’s easy to confuse the two.

Treatment for whooping cough consists of antibiotics. Over-the-counter cough medicines generally have little to no affect or relief for whooping cough and many medical professionals advise using them, especially on younger children. However, it is best to talk to your doctor or pediatrician and ask questions.

For decades now, many newborns receive a myriad of vaccines to prevent illnesses like whooping cough as the disease can be extremely dangerous for babies under the age of 1-year. Some believe that vaccines can lead to other health conditions including autism, so a growing number of parents opt not to vaccinate their infants.

A study was conducted on nearly 150,000 babies born in California between 2006 and 2015. According to a source reporting on the study:

“The study included nearly 149,000 infants born in California between 2006 and 2015. The percentage whose mothers received the Tdap booster vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (‘whooping cough’) while pregnant rose from less than 1 percent in 2006-2008 to more than 87 percent by 2015.”

“In early 2013, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended the Tdap shot for pregnant women regardless of prior Tdap vaccination. The vaccine can be given at any time during pregnancy, preferably between 27 and 36 weeks’ gestation.”

“Babies whose moms got the Tdap shot during pregnancy had a 91 percent lower risk of whooping cough during the first two months of life. That’s the critical period before babies get their first whooping cough shot, the Kaiser Permanente researchers said.”

“Babies whose moms got the vaccine during pregnancy also had a 69 percent lower risk of whooping cough in their first year of life, the findings showed.”

Whooping cough is can be quite serious, especially for babies. If you are hesitant about having your newborns vaccinated, then seriously consider getting vaccinated while you’re pregnant. It just may save your child’s life and protect them from spending a month in the hospital racking up huge medical bills.

Panic Attacks and Anxiety Linked to Low Vitamin B and Iron Levels

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“Patients undergoing a panic attack (PA) or a hyperventilation attack (HVA) are sometimes admitted to emergency departments (EDs). Reduced serotonin level is known as one of the causes of PA and HVA. Serotonin is synthesized from tryptophan. For the synthesis of serotonin, vitamin B6 (Vit B6) and iron play important roles as cofactors.”

On the off chance that you experience the ill effects of tension or get occasional panic attacks marked by episodes of hyperventilation, you could only be encountering the symptoms of a basic supplement inadequacy that is effortlessly correctable, as per Jonathan Benson of Natural News.

This unquestionably seems to have been the situation with 21 individuals who took an interest in a late study based out of Japan, which recognized an absence of both vitamin B6 and iron among members who experienced panic or hyperventilation episodes.

The generally small study assessed supplement levels among a gathering of members with fluctuating degrees of uneasiness and frequencies of panic and hyperventilation episodes, some of which brought about emergency room visits. A control gathering was additionally assessed, and its members’ supplement levels contrasted with those of the essential gathering.

Upon assessment, scientists noted that both vitamin B6 and iron were inadequate in the subjects with nervousness and hyperventilation issues, while those in the sound gathering had sufficient levels of these critical supplements. B vitamins and iron are especially essential for the amalgamation of tryptophan into serotonin, a neurotransmitter that manages not only disposition and mental soundness, but rest and cardiovascular capacity.

“These results suggest that low serum concentrations of vitamin B6 and iron are involved in PA (panic attacks) and HVA (hyperventilation),” said the creators in their research conclusion. “Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms involved in such differences.”

Supplementing with entire nourishment based vitamins may advance better mental wellbeing. Despite the fact that this specific study did not recognize a connection between general insufficiencies of other B vitamins like B2 and B12 and high recurrence or power of panic attacks, all B vitamins are essential for sound mind and real capacity. A lack in any B vitamins, as it were, can prompt mental wellbeing issues, which is the reason it is critical to hold your levels under wraps.

 

“Chronic stress, poor diet, and certain medical conditions can deplete the body’s stores of vital nutrients,” explains one source about the important of B vitamins. “

Many of those who suffer from agoraphobia (fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public places) are deficient in certain B complex vitamins, and this may be the case for other anxiety-related conditions as well. Symptoms of vitamin B deficiency may include anxiety, restlessness, fatigue, irritability, and emotional instability.”

In the event that you are looking to supplement with B vitamins, make sure to buy entire food-based varieties like those delivered by organizations like Megafood and Garden of Life. Entire nourishment based supplements of any sort are not just preferable consumed by the body over their synthetic counterparts,however they are likewise healthier than standard, common vitamins and better fit for giving ideal restorative advantage.

“Vitamins are made up of several different components – enzymes, co-enzymes, and co-factors – that must work together to produce their intended biologic effects,” explains Dr. Ben Kim. “The majority of vitamins that are sold in pharmacies, grocery stores, and vitamin shops are synthetic vitamins, which are only isolated portions of the vitamins that occur naturally in food.”

Ageing & Sleep: The Good, Bad and Ugly

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Have you noticed any changes in your sleep habits as you move past 40-years of age and older? Some of the those changes are perfectly normal and non-harmful, but other changes in sleep habits with age, can be detrimental to physical and mental health.

How many times have you heard older people say ‘early to bed and early to rise’? For many of us past the age of 40, that has become so true. We tend to go to bed earlier and get up earlier and there is nothing wrong with that as long as you get a good restorative sleep.

What about finding out that the older you get, the less sleep you seem to need? There may be a perfectly natural explanation of that and again, this is normal and not necessarily harmful.

As we go about our waking activities, the brain builds up amyloid-beta proteins. If these proteins are not cleaned up or eliminated, they can create conditions like dementia. Over years of research, it has been found that a good sound (restorative) sleep helps to clear the amyloid-beta proteins, keeping the brain healthier. In this way, you can think of a deep sleep as acting like the night janitor for your brain, cleaning up and getting rid of the day’s waste.

However, when a person does not get a good restorative sleep for whatever reason, the amyloid-beta proteins tend to build up. A person who wakes frequently or a number of times throughout the night generally never gets into a long enough deep sleep to allow the cleaning of the amyloid-beta proteins, thus making them more susceptible to conditions like dementia. Reading this caused me some concern as I wake frequently at night due to being in constant pain. I hate think how much amyloid-beta sludge has been building up in my brain.

A recent study revealed that as some of us get older, we lose the ability to get a good sound or restorative sleep. Sometimes that failure to get a good sleep is due to a vicious and harmful cycle. According to the report:

“Sleep ‘fragmentation’ has been linked to a number of medical conditions, including depression and dementia, Mander said. People with fragmented sleep wake up multiple times during the night, and miss out on the deep stages of sleep.”

“It is true that medical conditions, or the treatments for them, can cause sleep problems, according to Mander. But poor sleep can also contribute to disease, he added.”

‘Take dementia, for example. Research suggests there is a ‘bi-directional’ link between sleep disruptions and the dementia process, said Joe Winer, another Berkeley researcher who worked on the review.”

“That is, dementia often causes sleep problems; poor sleep, in turn, may speed declines in memory and other mental skills. According to Winer, animal research suggests that deep sleep helps ‘clear’ the brain of the amyloid-beta proteins that build up in people with dementia.”

“So, there may be a ‘vicious cycle,’ Winer said, where dementia and poor sleep feed each other.”

“Similar vicious cycles may be at work with other diseases, too, Mander said.”

If you find that you are having more trouble getting a good sound (restorative) night’s sleep, see your doctor. Perhaps there is a simple solution to help, like sleep medication and possible, it could be a sign of something more sinister, that can be addressed or at least more controlled or the affects lessened. Don’t hit the snooze button and put off seeking help, as the longer you put it off, the worse or uglier it can get. No one wants to become senile or suffer from dementia and now that they have linked it to lack of good sleep, by taking action, you may put off the ugly and stay good longer.

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