Archive for July, 2008

You might have seen many students taking up learning martial arts such as Tae Kwon Do or Karate right from their school days itself. Though it is always better to see younger people taking up such avocation for keeping their health, you can see further improvement in your health and flexibility if you can add up few stretching exercises and mind-body relaxing exercises such as yoga in your daily routine.

You can even see many of your neighbors taking up classes on yoga stretching and you can even find many such centers offering introductory classes on yoga stretching. Yoga is an ancient art being practiced for centuries and the yoga stretching forms an important part of the main yoga program. Yoga stretching is actually a non-arduous part of the main yoga, and due to the importance and the beneficial effects of stretching, the main yoga program is sufficiently interspersed with such types of yoga stretching.

In order to achieve beneficial results, you should do yoga stretching on a daily basis, preferably at the beginning of your day so as to make you fresh and agile all through the day.

There are many yoga postures that may twitch your limbs and muscles, but the yoga stretching is the milder form of exercise that helps you to relax and refreshed. Once you start and complete the yoga stretching, you can always get a refreshed feeling both at mind and body level and hence many people have made the yoga stretching as their daily routine for keeping fit and flexible.

Stretching Promotes Better Blood Circulation and Muscle Strength

While doing yoga stretching you need not exert much and hence you will not sweat out and lose energy in the process. Further yoga stretching is also known for its effectiveness in improving your physical and psychological health, as it aims at fine tuning whole of your body through its scientifically based exercise forms.

Once you start your yoga stretching you can immediately realize your blood circulating all through your body better and you can also get your muscles sufficiently toned up. And at the end you stand to gain better health and fitness out of your well-toned muscles and better blood circulation. In order to achieve tangible results, you should practice yoga stretching with devotion and with consistency and if possible you can even make it as your lifestyle change.

Yoga stretching done regularly can see your bones getting strengthened and you can also get your flexibility, focus and concentration improved dramatically through better mind-body coordination.

While you perform yoga stretching you can find your body and mind in unison and as this is the highest beneficial state it can confer you with maximum inner strength and flexibility. Once you make yoga stretching as a part of your life, you can find yourself with increased stamina and perform better in all your daily activities even without an iota of tiredness. With yoga stretching you can also derive many added advantages in the form lesser or no muscle injuries or problems, a fine tuned strong nervous system and a deep state of relaxation both at mind and body level.

[tags]Pilates, Muscle Strength, Relaxation, Stress Buster, Stamina[/tags]

There is none in the world who does not want to enjoy the fountain of youth and have a wrinkle free skin. This stupendous demand has created a wonderful market for creams and serums which are used as anti aging products for people who want to slow down their aging process.

At some time or other one should have used some cream or serum for anti aging. But more than the effect of these anti aging creams and serums, it is the way of life led by a person that tells upon the anti aging process.

Better to live a Good Life

Whether we have wrinkles or not on our skin, in later yeas of our life, there will be sagging of our skin. But the innumerable anti aging products available in the market may not be the best solution since most of them are just quick fixes.

Similar to losing weight suddenly and miraculously we want to live long with out growing old. It is better to take the right foods and take care of our skin properly. There is not much use of these anti aging products which may not perform any miracle and remove wrinkles and age lines.

Self acceptance is to be preferred to the search for an anti aging line of products. Beauty, after all is skin deep and it does not matter how many wrinkles one has on his facial skin when he leaves the earth.

A tight stomach muscle or a cosmetic wonder are also meaningless when one passes away. It is better for a person to live in pursuit of a noble ideal or a cause instead of hankering after anti aging line of products. It is only a kind of superficial enhancement with out any value except that it makes you a little less ashamed of your wrinkled skin.

You will be wondering what all these anti aging line of products can do for your face, skin, crow’s feet, worry lines, wrinkle lines etc., applied for day and night use. There products do not give you total cure, bur for a while make you feel younger.

Ensure, however, to use only anti aging products potentially effective and scientifically proven which will restore your youthful looks and remove the causes for skin aging.

The more we grow old the more we have to mind our health because all our bad habits, poor diet, and vitamin deficiency etc. will have a cumulative and disastrous effect on us. Yellowing or stained teeth from prolonged drinking coffee or smoking, painful, swollen gums and loose teeth roots are examples of poor diet and vitamin deficiency.

Senior dental care can be either easy or difficult according to the person concerned. If extra care is applied regularly, even seniors can have a sparkling smile, eat their favorite dishes obvious of their age. Some of the general problems faced by the seniors are darkened teeth, dry mouth, and root decay due to poor oral hygiene, gum disease, tooth loss and thrush caused by drugs taken for some existing disease. There should be treatment for each of these case to case according to age and the present state of health. The dental problems of health usually occur due to some other disease.

Dentures

In general senior dental care comprises replacing your own teeth with a denture. This is not only a long procedure but painful and expensive. This may be even year long as the gums keep shrinking and the dentures require constant adjustment to fix properly. Dental care insurance, here, is an absolute necessity as senior dental care is not only expensive but difficult to get. You can avail some discounts and partial coverage based on the work done. Oral hygiene is very significant, as its practice in youth will have a telling effect during old age. Health therefore should never be neglected as it may cause fatal diseases.

So brushing your teeth twice daily, rinsing your mouth after each meal and flossing once a day at least are absolutely essential. Though healthy, visit the dentist for regular check up. The dentist, at times can spot the ailment before it occurs. Clean your dentures by removing there regularly and daily.

The Upper Extremities

Examination of the Upper Extremities

Examination of the shoulders, arms, forearms and hands requires that the upper extremities and chest be unclothed, and that an adequate, stationary mirror and light be used.

1. Examine the movements of the hands and fingers. Note the joints with soreness or limited motion in flexing and extending the finger joints and wrist joints. Observe also any joint swelling or deformity about the finger joints, frequently indicating degenerative arthritis.

2. Examine the elbow motion. Observe any painful inability to straighten the elbows completely, or to completely twist the wrists. Such inabilities again point to possibilities of arthritis.

3. Examine the movement of the shoulder. In a standing position slowly raise the straightened arm outward from the
thigh to the horizontal position. Swing the arms forward to join in front and then backwards as far as possible. Note any pain in the shoulder joints during this action, as a probable finding of arthritis or bursitis.

4. Observe the degree of steadiness of the hands. Note especially any tremor of the fingers when held in a relaxed position, and also in a stiffened spread-out position. Tremors of the hands and fingers may mean neurological diseases,
such as Parkinsonism.

5. Examine the reflexes present in the hands. Place each hand in cold running water for a few minutes, then withdraw it and observe any severe continuous blanching of the skin, with a long delay in return of color to the hands. Severe blanching may indicate Raynaud’s Disease. Now determine the strength of the grip in each hand by squeezing the
opposite wrist in turn. A great discrepancy of strength be tween the right and left grip could be a first indication of
neurological disease.

6. Examine the hand for infection. Squeeze the palms and the back of the hands for painful swelling or redness of the skin in this region, or in the web of the thumb. These are the sites for serious hand-palm infection.

7. Examine the fingernails for infection. Observe any infected boil-like areas alongside the fingernail with any redness, swelling or pain in the fingers. Possible infections in the fingertips and about the nails are felons or nail infections.

Fig. 146. Arthritis in the hands and fingers may produce the gnarled and weakened appearance so typical of long-standing rheumatoid arthritis extending into later years of life.

The baby boom generation (generation born after the economic success after the world war II) is the cause for the doubling of the population of senior citizens. Anti aging methods or supplements are a major concern.

As senior citizens are to increase two fold, researchers are trying to take care of menopause and join, vision and prostrate health. We are happy that Mother Nature has provided certain anti aging natural supplements easy to get and cheap.

Fruits and Vegetables

We should know how to protect our health by natural means. Be eating vegetables and fruits we can have the anti aging natural supplements. Fruits are rich in vitamin C which is an anti oxidant that fights against aging.

Consumption of fruits is very helpful for anti aging process. Fruits considered as anti aging supplements are apples, strawberries, grapes, raspberries, rich in ellagic acid considered a natural repellent fame in different kinds of plants.

This acid blocks the growth of tumors in the body, by restricting the growth of harmful enzymes which can transform into cancer cells later. Other natural supplements are cantaloupes, peaches and apricots. These are anti oxidants and contain lycopene which prevents free radicals from damaging our body’s cells.

Vegetables are also anti aging natural supplements potatoes, carrots and spinach are also anti oxidants that replenish our body. Alfalfa Sprouts and soya beans fight against the enzyme called genistein which is said to stimulate and activate cancer genes eating these vegetables, we can easily prevent ourselves from the dreadful disease of cancer.

An apple a Day

It is highly comforting to think that we can fight the signs of aging by natural ways instead of anti aging artificial means. The statement “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” means that we can be hale and healthy by taking fruits and vegetables.

They give use a feeling of fullness and also have properties of anti aging supplements. They provide us, thus, more benefits than we imagine and make our life healthier and well rounded.

Sense of hearing is one of the most important gifts given by god to human beings. We have no sharp eyes like the eagle or the acute sense of smell provided to dogs. All of us prefer to live with normal hearing though we can get along with mild or total hearing loss. Man s hearing system is a bundle of complex physical system. A defect in any part of the system causes some hearing loss, conductive and sensory. The former is caused by the loss of easy conduction of sound waves from outside to the inner ear. The causes may be a simple obstruction like ear wax, infection, a stiffening of ossicles that should vibrate with sound, scarring tumors and the perforation of the ear drum. Hearing can be restored if the cause is diagnosed. But sensor neural hearing loss cannot be cured and restored.

Deafness of the Nerve

It is damage to the auditory nerve or to the hair cells of the inner ear that causes sensor neural or sensory hearing loss. The inner ear or the nerve running from the inner ear to the brain, or the brain itself is damaged in sensory hearing loss. Ageing is also a cause of this “nerve deafness”. Other causes for sensor neural hearing loss include tumors, frequent exposure to blaring noise, specific toxic medication, heredity or infection. Sensory hearing loss is irreversible unlike conductive hearing loss. It leaves hope for future treatment. Genetically causes for sensory hearing loss are related to guilty genes and they can be treated by genetic therapy in future.

Sensor neural hearing loss falls into two divisions, namely, sensory and neural types. Strictly speaking, damage to cochlea is called sensory hearing loss, the causes bring loud noise, infection, toxic medication or Meniere s disease. Neural loss is the effect of damage to the auditory nerve or the eighth cranial nerve. Tumors or neurological disorders are responsible for this type of damage. Critical, life threatening problems are caused by tumors on the eighth cranial nerve though they can be treated and cured. Hence any hearing disorder should get immediate attention of the doctor. Mostly, it is cochlear damage that is seen in sensory hearing loss and not the neural loss. It is rarely that hearing is due to damage to the auditory centre of the brain. Here, sound hearing may be at normal level though the sound is poor making the speech hard to understand.

[tags]Sensory Hearing Loss, Cranial Nerve[/tags]

Ingrown Toenail. In later years the toenails may become hardened, thickened, and sometimes very irregular. This, however, does not constitute an ingrown toenail. The ingrown process occurs only after the nail has been trimmed back too far, and then grows forward against the skin in front of it. The nail grows into this skin much as a needle would, and the penetration of skin in a contaminated region like the toe, often results in a painful infection, accompanied by pus formation and bleeding.

Ingrown toenails can be prevented by allowing the end of the toenail to grow beyond the end of the toe. Once a toenail has been cut too short, and it starts growing into the skin in front of it, the nail must be mechanically elevated from the skin, by cotton packing or other measures. These relief measures are undertaken frequently in an infected area, and should be attempted only by physicians or foot specialists trained in the treatment of ingrown toenails.

Hip Fractures. One of the unfortunate calamities of later years is fracture of the hip, incurred through accidental falls. The

BROKEN HIP

Fig. 144. The broken hip is the most feared fracture of later years. This is because of the brittleness of the bone and the fact that most falls are onto the hip area.

Fig. 145. Surgical repair of a broken hip is effective with the use of a “nail” pinning the bone together across the fracture line. This is a most satisfactory treatment in an otherwise very difficult fracture.

hip can be broken at any age, but is more liable to occur during later years when the bones become weaker. Youthful bones are tough and strong; they bend slightly and are hard to break. In age, however, the bones acquire a glass-like brittleness and shatter easily. The hip joint’s outer position makes it absorb considerable punishment in falls, and is therefore, a likely spot for a fracture. A broken bone at this site of course, means the entire leg is useless, since its sole body support must come through the hip joint itself.

Hip fractures can be nearly painless if the broken bones are rammed together and held impacted in a correct position. However, the usual broken hip renders the patient entirely helpless, because the bones are separated and there is severe pain in any kind of motion.

Treatment of a fractured hip, as in any fracture, requires the broken bones to be put together and held in place. There are several ways of doing this, but the most desired method today is nailing the bone fragments together. To do this, a special nail is driven down the inside of the bone through the bone marrow and through the line of fracture, threading the bone fragments together. This treatment has allowed many patients considerable relief of pain with early leg motion, and quicker return to normal activity. It must, of course, be undertaken by a physician with experience in repairing fractures.