LIFETIPS - Health

• The best face cream (or moisteriser) by far is baby oil or baby skin lotion. This works far better than even the leading brands and keeps all types of skin soft and healthy. It is also much cheaper.

• If you suffer from spots there is no need to spend money of special spot lotions and cleaning agents. Find the cheapest brand of soap you can and use this every morning and night instead. Cheap soap dries out skin very well, cleaning up spots and achne yet leaving the skin undamaged. It is also important not to use face creams and moistureisers as well as this will just oil the skin again and lead to more problems.

• Hiccupping occurs when your normal breathing pattern gets interrupted. Your diaphragm sends an unusual gust of air to your lungs. At the same time, your brain sends a message to your tongue and upper part of your throat to clamp down to stop the rush of air. Bitters and lime will stop hiccups immediately, but if you can't do this, or holding your breath doesn't work, try this. Take a cup of water to your mouth, breath out completely and take a swallow. Breath in completely and take another swallow. Now repeat this a few times or until the cup empties, and as if by magic....

• Never stick anything smaller than your elbow into your ear! Even cotton wool buds only manage to push wax deeper and make it more compact and harder to remove. Instead, buy a bottle of eardrops or wax remover from a chemist and use a cotton wool pad to catch the wax on the way out. If you must use cotton buds, wait until after a long soak in the bath or shower when the wax will be at it's softest, then point your ear towards the ground and use a cotton bud to 'plunge' your ear in the same way as you would do to unblock a sink.

• Any dentist will tell you the best way to keep your guns healthy is to brush them then you brush your teeth. This will hurt for a while (and may cause slight bleeding) but will soon become painless. When all pain and bleeding stops, and the guns return to a light pink or flesh colour, they are in a healthy state. Red gums are a sure sign of unhealthy gums and teeth may start to wobble in their sockets if you aren't careful. You can also clean your tongue as well to remove unwanted buildup.

• If you smoke, there is little point trying to give up unless you are 100% sure you REALLY WANT to change your habbit. Any nagging doubts will only make you want to smoke again, especially at the first signs of trouble. Nicottine takes about a week (no more than 2) to clear from your system, but your habbit will keep your yearning for months after that. The good news is, these feelings will become noticably less frequent each day that passes. Just wait a minute or two and turn your mind towards something else and the craving will pass. Another way to stop would be to cut down to one or two after each meal, then you have a set time to look forward to each day without the feeling of having to stop all at once. It also means that you can instantly cut down to about 10 a day, then 5, then 3 (breakfast, lunch, dinner), then non at all. Stopping smoking is made easier if you can avoid the places where you usually light-up; like in bars, on the telephone, at a friends house, or as you sit in front of the TV.

• The longer you have your hair, the harder it is to keep it clean. If you only use shampoo the best way is to lather, rinse, lather and rinse again. You must also watch long hair for becoming too dry, as the essential scalp oils which keep the hair soft will take much longer to do it's magic (it has a much longer distance to travel from base to tip and revitalise the hair). Essential oils (or grease as some call it) is the hairs natural conditioner and defence against damage. All shampoos will remove this oil from your hair, causing it to go dry quickly unless you apply a conditioner to help the hair recover. To bring hair back to full health, many people suggest not using shampoos or conditioners at all. You hair will become very itchy and will tangle easily for the first two weeks without shampoo, but as you comb it, after a month your hair will have become used to the natural oils again and will be silky soft and managable.

• Split ends are caused because the last 5th of your hair is always dead. As you hair grows longer, the length of this dead region will also grow, and when this gets long enough the strands which make up your hair will unwind and frey - just like the ends of a rope. To stop this happening, aim to cut off the ends of your hair every two to three months. Not only will this cut off this dead region and save dry/split ends, it will also stimulate the hair to grow faster.

• If you feel tired or lethargic for no appearant reason it may be due to the way you breath. Breathing through the mouth is often too shallow to energize your system effectively so try breathing more slowly and deeply through the nose instead. Tiredness during the day can also be a problem for people under too little stress. Too much stress is obviously a bad thing but too little can cause people to loose interest and motivation, especially at work. To get your brain back into gear you could try a number of things. Any kind of learning, reading or eduction will help the chemicals in the brain flow and your mind and motivation will become healthier as a result. Lethargy can also be caused by eating too many foods with a low energy content (try salads, fresh fruit and veg, and filtered water to flush these 'heavy' foods from your system), too much sleep, too much time spent doing nothing (or watching the TV), lack of fresh air (try keeping your windows slightly open all the time), too little sunlight on the skin, not enough plans/goals for the future.

• Eyestrain may be due to a number of things. Wearing a collar too tightly is a common mistake leading to all sorts of eye problems. Computer screens are also very good at making you squint or strain to read text. First of all, turn the brightness and contrast down on your computer screen, making sure the white areas on the screen appear as a medium matt white rather than shining brilliant white. Also see if you can't make the text bigger or use a clearer font to make the text easier to read. Web browsers are a major culprit, so try changing the fonts and sizes around. Finally, if you need glasses or the ones you have are more than 4 years old, you may well get eyestrain as well as headaches. Headaches can also be caused by flourescent lighting in the workplace which are often too bright and unshaded - and may harm your eyes.

• The way you site in a chair or bend over can cause serious back problems. Try to sit with your back upright (but not forced bolt upright) with both feet flat on the floor. When bending, use the knees to squat if possible, or bend without causing the back to round over.

• If you need to stand in one place for a period of time your feet soon start to ache through standing still. You may be able to help this by standing with the feet at 45 degrees with one foot slightly behind the other - then swap over the stance at intervals.

• The most valuable vitamin they say is vitamin E. This will help prevent heart trouble, boosts the immune system, stimulates and regulates blood flow and even helps against memory loss. Vitamin B is also very valuable as it helps the body get more energy from the food we eat.

• If you suffer from memory loss or poor brain responce one of the best supplements to try is Ginkgo Biloba. This is available in pill form from health product shops and should be taken three times daily for no more than 3 months at a time. Ginkgo stimulates blood flow though the whole body as well, helping circulation and making sure blood gets into all the extremities and organs.

• Stomach acid and heart burn problems get worse as you get older. This is because the acid (which could dissolve the coins in your pocket) wears against the muscle seals which keep it in place, and as you get older these muscles are less likely to do their job properly. This effect gets worse when you lie down, especially when lying on your back as high acid levels can come in direct contact with the seals. Acid is produced in high quantities up to 2 hours after eating so for this reason you should avoid going to bed until two hours after a meal. To combat stromach problems, try chewing gum as this will produce saliva which neutralises acid. Also avoid fizzy drinks and rich foods. There are some effective antacid tablets on the market - but beware of anythings which looks too strong for your needs. Strong chemicals can burn holes in the lining of the stomach and cause ulcers.

• If you have ever lost your appitite, or can't be bothered to cook, your solution could be to drink fresh water about half an hour before eating. This will thin the contents of the stomach and make you feell hungry. Drinking water during a meal will make you feel less full afterwards and will help you digest the food, but too much will make you too full and in need of the toilet! Other causes of a loss of appitite include smoking, snacking between meals, too much sleep, too little sunlight on the skin.

• Water! We need to drink 2 - 3 litres of the stuff every day to function properly. That's four or five pints - 10 cups full!! Tea and coffee will help the body take in water (as this is the only thing the body takes from these drinks - everything else the body doesn't need), but avoid drinking to much caffeine or you'll feel like you're hard-wired to a mains socket. Fruit juice is a very good alternative as these also contain vitamins the body can make use of, and some contain anti-oxidents (like red grape juice) which purifys the blood.

• The problem with mens urinals is that it becomes harder to take a pee if you are standing next to someone else. If you ever have a pee delay problem, the solution is to take your mind off it by counting from 1 to 10. Put all your mental effort into slowly counting, and before you get to 10 you will be cured of your water retention.

• Talking to yourself can be a problem if you find you do it in public places. Everybody talks to themselves but usually only inside their own heads, so a good habit would be to develop silent thinking skills at home, and you would then be less tempted to talk aloud on the street. Unfortunately, talking in your head can lead to problems as well; arguing with yourself, going over events repeatedly, raking the past and continuous ego dramas soon mount up and lead to all sorts of phycological depressions. If you worry by nature it helps to study relaxation techniques and repeat words such as "calm down" or "let go" if things go crazy. Also, only allow yourself 5mins of worry thoughts at a time, then take a break and come back to it later if you need to.

• Women often complain of chest pains or cysts around their breast area. If this happens to you, there are two possibilities. One is too much caffeine, the other is a restricting bra. Why not try going without a bra for a 3 month period and see if this sorts out the problem. Remember, a bra is not a medical necessity, nor do they prevent the breasts dropping in later life, they are only fashion accessories. Many women who use less constrictive, all-in-one under graments also seem to find them not only more comfortable, but also more feminine.

• Top Ten Grocery items bought in America in 2000:
  • 1. Marlboro cigarettes
  • 2. Coke Classic
  • 3. Pepsi cola
  • 4. Kraft Processed cheese
  • 5. Diet Coke
  • 6. Campbell's soup
  • 7. Budweiser beer
  • 8. Tide detergent
  • 9. Folger's coffee
  • 10. Winston cigarettes

• To get your daily dose of Vitamin D, all you need to do is to go out into the daylight for at least an hour a day. Even on a cloudy day, the skin will soak up the suns full-spectrum energy, manufacturing Vitamin D and promoting health. You will also benefit from the fresh air, as indoor air contains dust and other irritants.

• S.A.D, or Seasonal Affective Disorder is a form of mind depression which arrises mainly through the winter months. You may feel 'down' or unhappy, less active than usual, less motivated and with a lower tollerance to stress. This condition, which affects thousands per year, is caused by lack of sunlight and Vitamin D. You see, when the sun shines on the skin, the body will produce it's own natural chemicals and Vitamin D, so when the sun is weak in winter, the body feels drained and starts to show 'unhappy' symptoms. This may also happen if you spend all your time indoors or in a dark environment. There are ways to cure this of course. As stated above, make sure you are out in the daylight for at least an hour a day. The brightest sun usually shines in the morning, so get into the habit of opening the bedroom curtains slightly at night, so the sun will shine on the bed while you sleep (you will learn to get used to this). St. Johns Wort is a plant remedy which can help, as will Vitamin D suppliments, regular exercise, and use of healing crystals. The Lifeschool also has a guide to Beating Depression .

• Surprisingly, butter is far less harmful than margarine. The main problem with margarene is that it has been processed with saturated fats in order to produce it, so although most margarines promote low levels of fat they actually contain more than most butters. Anything which also makes use of plastic containers will absorb the chemicals within the plasic as it gets poured into them - meaning you eat those plastic chemicals as well. Butter is usually safer, more natural, less harmful (so long as you don't go mad with it) and uses paper instead of plastic containers.

• Have you ever cleaned a stainless steel saucepan and found the water in the bottom goes grey with the colour of the metal. This is because the metal is quite soft and residues of metal will be absorbed into whatever you cook in them. Of course there are alternatives to steel, there are heavy cast iron pans, glass pans (such as the pyrex range) and others. Knives and forks are by far much less effected by this problem - but plastic cutlery should be avoided because of the chemicals they contain.

Health Related Links:-

• NHS UK

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