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Fitness Health

Refrain From The Pain! Exercising When You Have An Injury

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If you are an avid gym-goer, it becomes part of your life. You can’t imagine yourself without it. Even something simple like walking turns into a rapid sprint. But if you have this enthusiasm for hitting the gym, there will be times when you do too much, even though you think you can push it that little bit more than normal. By all means, pushing it in the gym is what helps us in the long run, but if we do it too much we could end up with an injury. It’s something we’ve all had on occasion, overdid it and got sidelined for a while. And while we need to give our body the chance to heal, we have to remember that there are ways around exercising with an injury. So, how can we do this?

Listen To Your Doctor

If you’ve been going to a shoulder surgeon, and there’s been a constant issue with this over months, if not years, you must listen to the medical advice. Sometimes your shoulder can feel okay, and as shoulder injuries are one of the most common because the muscles in the shoulders are the least developed, understanding when to cut back is crucial. Your doctor can help to guide you with relevant training to keep you strong while recovering. A lot of people choose not to listen to medical advice. But you have to do the exercises for as long as they recommend.

Make The Relevant Modifications

With a specific injury, you have to learn to train around it. If, for example, you have a knee problem, it may be recommended you avoid any cardiovascular or lower body strength activity. But this doesn’t mean you can’t work on your upper body. It’s about making those modifications to ensure that you are exercising around the issue. You can switch to a workout routine that involves you sitting down, rather than standing up and running around. This means no squats or deadlifts for a while. And while this may sound limiting, consider it to be an opportunity to figure out a different routine so that there is no pressure on the offending muscle or joint.

When There’s Pain, Stop

We can feel that, after a couple of weeks, there are minimal or no pain anymore, so we feel that we can go back to 100% exertion. But avoid the temptation to go back into your normal routine. We are constantly told that pushing through the pain is crucial to building muscle and strength but if the pain starts to get worse before you begin to develop new pains in a related area, go back to the doctor. If the pain carries on while you are doing a modified workout, play around with routines and try something else. But unfortunately, it may be best to stop, especially if you are using the improper form to get the reps.

Reducing pain is crucial, and this means you need a good time to recover as well. It’s worth trying the POLICE principle which can help you to reduce sports-related injuries, but it’s not just about protection. You have to remember that maintaining is as important especially after you’ve made a full recovery.

This post was a collaboration.

Health

Keeping Yourself Safe and Healthy Over Winter

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Across the country, people are getting ready for the holiday season. They are planning presents and scouring their attics searching for decorations. The holiday cheer is undoubtedly in the air. 

While this is an excellent time of year to reconnect with friends and family and enjoy not just the end of the year, but the end of the decade, you also need to make sure that you look after yourself. There are a lot of things that could affect your safety and health over the winter, so knowing what to look out for will allow you to navigate the season confidently. 

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Some of you may live in the sunnier parts of the country (like me!), but those who need to deal with several hundred pounds of white nonsense every winter understand that it is nothing to take lightly. 

With the cold comes snow, and with snow comes ice, which can be dangerous to everybody from you to your grandma to your postman, and even your car. The risk of injury increases exponentially over winter with harsh conditions, so make sure to equip yourself with snow boots and snow tires.

These may not be enough, though, so if you suffer an injury while out and about, a personal injury law firm can help ease the pain and help you afford any medical bills your insurance may not cover. 

Illness In the Air

With cold weather also comes illness. Flu season is ready to strike, and if you spend a lot of your time with children or the elderly, you put them at risk as much as you do yourself. 

A flu shot now is essential to keep you at your best over the holidays, but you should also make sure that everyone you hold near and dear gets theirs, too. 

However, you can’t just keep yourself hidden away inside in hopes that you’ll stay healthy, as this can affect your immune system, so exposure to these potential illnesses will give your body the ability to overcome them later. 

Overwhelmed With Responsibility

It’s not just injuries and illnesses that can affect your holiday happiness. You also need to watch out for doing too much for too many. 

There are so many things to do over the Christmas period that you’ll find little time in the day for some essential self-care. So, it’s crucial that in between work, shopping, seeing people, and other preparation that you manage to make time for yourself. 

This can be a quick soak in the tub, reading your favorite book, or fitting your hobby in while the kids are busy doing homework. It won’t take long, but the benefits will astound you. 

Personal Health and Safety

It’s too easy around the winter months to take on as much responsibility as you can, but doing too much could end with you getting hurt, injured, or overwhelmed by it all. This time of year is something you should embrace and enjoy, and also take the chance to give yourself some time to recharge. When you do, you can stride into the new year and the new decade with renewed energy ready for whatever 2020 has in store. 

•How are you keeping safe and healthy this winter?

This post was a collaboration.

Health

5 Symptoms Of Serious Health Problems You Should Not Ignore

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We all want to be healthy, and a big part of that is not allowing any serious illnesses to develop. Of course, there is only a certain amount that any of us can do about that, but we should do whatever we can. One of the most important things is to pay attention to the body, and in particular to know when a symptom has appeared which you should not ignore. In this post, we are going to look at some of those very symptoms, and what they might signify.

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Dry Mouth

As is often the case, this is an example of a symptom which can either be indicative of nothing at all, or of a very severe problem. In the worst case scenario, a dry mouth can be an indication of medication misuse, a bad response to illicit drugs such as methamphetamine, or Alzheimer’s disease. Clearly, a persistent dry mouth should not be ignored, as it could be any of these things. It could also be nothing at all, so the first thing to do is to try and treat your dry mouth – you can get hold of lozenges for dry mouth for instance, or see if you are merely dehydrated. If it persists, you know to go to the doctor.

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Weak Limbs

If you ever experience suddenly weak limbs, you should be careful not to ignore it, as it might be an indication of something quite serious. Most importantly, it might be a sign that you are having a stroke, which is obviously something that you will need to go to the hospital for straight away. If you have heart-related conditions, you should pay careful attention to this in particular, as they can make a stroke much more likely.

Shortness Of Breath

Shortness of breath may indicate nothing particularly important at all, especially if it only lasts for a short time. But if you have persistent shortness of breath, or if it is sudden, it could be a much more serious problem. In some cases, it may even indicate that you are having a heart attack, especially if you have other symptoms present at the same time, such as pain in your chest. Never ignore serious shortness of breath.

Indigestion

Everyone has had the experience of indigestion from time to time. But if you are not expecting to have it, for instance, because you have not just eaten, then it is a symptom you should be very careful about, and be sure not to ignore. That’s because indigestion seemingly out of nowhere and very suddenly can be an early warning sign of a heart attack.

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Chest Pain

Speaking of heart attacks, here’s another sign that you need to pay attention to, should it occur. Chest pain is the primary signifier of a heart attack, and if you find that you’re experiencing pain, you should take yourself to the hospital or call 911 as soon as possible. If it is a heart attack, you will want to catch it early.

•What are some health symptoms you suggest shouldn’t be ignored?

This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!

Health

Keeping Yourself Healthy When Going Through A Tough Time

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Tough times can often lead to a sense of stress, and this can wreak havoc with your emotional health. However, it’s important to recognize that keeping yourself healthy when going through a tough time is not only something you should focus your mental health towards, but also your physical health. In fact, they inform one another in various ways. For example, caring for your mental health will make you much more likely to exercise, while exercising can help you reduce stress and anxiety, and help you live the rest of the day with optimism.

It’s impossible to separate your physical and mental health efficiently, because you are not separated into two distinct categories yourself. However, keeping yourself healthy when going through a tough time often calls for a worthy approach. Sure, you may be working on your stress and mental struggles by taking forthright action and relying on the support of those closest to you, but are you also maintaining your physical health in the best way you can?

It’s these questions we hope to answer, and we hope to answer them as follows:

Superfoods

Superfoods are extremely worthwhile measures of ensuring your body is able to restore itself, as high levels of nutrition and the replenishment of vitamins and minerals can mean plenty for energizing you, and helping you fight off issues relating to a tired immune system. You may learn how to make v8 juice at home, providing you with that necessary health kick you may be after each day. Eating kale, drinking green tea, nuts and seeds and ginger can be jus tthe start, but a thoroughly worthwhile start at that.

Plenty of Sleep

You need to sleep when under intense stress. It’s your body’s way of being able to refresh and replenish its systems, and without a good snooze you may find yourself unable to comfortably or rationally think your way through a situation as you may have. Sleep requires great sleep habits, and while eight hours is often the recommended maximum, for certain difficult periods of your life even nine to ten hours may be customary to help your body adapt to the expanded sense of exhaustion it may be going through right now.

Getting Out In Nature

There’s a sense of real peace in nature, because to some extent it doesn’t care what your emotions are. That tree you walk past may have been there two hundred years ago, and is still sat there, living, calm, blowing in the wind. There’s a timeless aspect to nature. It was here before you and it will be there after you are gone. This sounds scary upon first analysis, but it’s simply a fact of life. Keeping yourself healthy then, can often mean stress reduction, and a safe natural environment is perhaps the best way to bust stress. You’ll look at things differently after walking in the park for an hour, and you can trust us on that point.


With this advice, we hope you can stay healthy when going through a tough time.

•How do you stay healthy when you’re going through a tough time?

This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!

Health

Sneaky Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight

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When it comes to losing weight, everyone struggles. Although it might seem like others drop pounds without trying, that just isn’t the case. After all, the body isn’t happy about weight loss. Instead, it fights back, so even if you can lose weight quickly at first, it gets harder before long. Regular workouts and food journals will only get you so far. When weight loss begins to slow down, you must reassess. With that in mind, here are six reasons why you aren’t losing weight. 

Staying Up All Night

Quality sleep is necessary for good physical and mental health. Even if you’re happy staying awake all night working or playing video games, your body likely isn’t. Lack of sleep is linked to many harmful health conditions, including obesity. Because of this, you must make sleep a priority. Get yourself into a sleep routine, as well as other healthy habits, like avoiding caffeine.

Eating The Wrong Foods

Everyone knows you must avoid overeating to lose weight. However, this will be difficult if the foods you eat aren’t filling you up. Rather than ingesting empty calories, you should add more Umami foods to your diet. Umami is one of the basic tastes and is often found in high-protein foods. Just remember that eating these foods won’t help if you’re also indulging in junk food.

Missing Out On Weights

Many people, when trying to lose weight, stick to cardio workouts. After all, this is known to burn calories and fat. Nonetheless, you must spend time strength training too. Lifting weights is an effective way to reduce body fat, as well as maintain muscle mass. Without weight training, you might lose some muscle mass too. Lifting weights will also help to prevent metabolic slowdown. 

Drinking Too Little Water

The 8×8 rule might be outdated, but you must still keep yourself hydrated. Drinking water is incredibly important when it comes to shedding pounds. Not only does it help with portion control by suppressing your appetite, but it can improve metabolism too. If you have trouble drinking enough water, then carry a water bottle around with you. This will remind you to take sips. 

Letting Stress Build Up

Trying to lose weight can definitely be a stressful process. Along with this, you might have other problems to worry about in your life. The trouble is, this stress can make losing weight more difficult. Stress hormones affect your body in many ways, but will directly impact fat storage. For this reason, you must learn ways to tackle your stress and keep it from overwhelming you. 

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Accepting Drug Side Effects

Every medication has side effects. The trouble is, most people don’t pay attention to them. If you’re having trouble losing weight, or, worse still, have been gaining weight recently, then look at the drugs you take. One might impact your energy levels or increase your appetite. Thankfully, there are often alternatives you can try, so speak to your doctor for advice. 

Losing weight can be difficult, but the advice above should make the task much easier!

What do you do to lose weight? Comment below!

This post was a collaboration.


Thank you for reading!

Beauty Health

How to Improve Your Look- Without Focusing on Fashion

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If you feel as though you don’t look good in whatever you wear, then you will know how debilitating this can be. You may feel as though nothing you do works and that your confidence is going to suffer as a result. You have to know that it doesn’t need to be this way, in fact, there are plenty of ways for you to improve your look without focusing on fashion at all.

Posture

Putting on nice clothes is only half of the formula. You also need to adjust your posture, as this will transform the way that the garment fits you. It will also help you to have a bigger impact on those around you, too. There’s a high chance that having a good posture won’t come naturally to you and this is understandable, but it is possible for you to change this. Stand in front of the mirror, lift your head up and line up your shoulders, hips and ears. When you are standing completely straight, you then need to curve your lower back and pull your stomach in. This will give you a new-found level of confidence and over time, you will start to do it naturally without even thinking about it.

Hair

Before you pay a visit to your local stylist, think about what makes you feel good. Your style will change as you age, and you need to take this into account if you want to get the best result out of your style. A collarbone-length haircut can be versatile and it can also work wonders for your natural weave. Bangs can add an element of precision, too. If you are stuck as to which look you want to go with, then chat with your stylist and channel your personality as much as possible.

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Smile

Researchers have found that forced smiles can increase happiness, and they can also decrease stress.  A smile can go a long way in the workplace too, as it can indicate positivity and openness. Even if you aren’t feeling great, try to force yourself to smile anyway. This will improve the way that other people view you and it will also boost your self-confidence! If you don’t feel comfortable with your teeth or your smile for any reason, then you may want to pay a visit to your dentist. When you do, they can then advise you on the best way to fix your problems. You can also find out what you need to know about adult retainers if this is something that you are interested in.

Make-up

If you are not one for wearing make-up, this is understandable. But also, it can work wonders for your look. If you want to help yourself here then it is a good idea for you to wear make-up that compliments your natural skin tone. Don’t go too overboard and cover the features you don’t like, instead, try and bring out the features you do like. This will really help you to get the most out of your look and your style in general.

This post was a collaboration.

Health

Finding Yourself And Loving Who You Are

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It can be hard to look at ourselves and like everything that we see. We all struggle with image issues from time-to-time, but for many people, it can be a near-constant problem that takes over their whole lives. If you are not happy in the skin that you are in, it can kill your confidence. You may not want to leave the house, or look another person in the eye properly. You may not push yourself in your career, and you may be terribly depressed as a result. 

Coming to terms with the way that you look can be a challenge, and it will take a lot of strength and courage to build up your confidence for you to start appreciating the way that you look again. There are things that you can do that can help you. 

Treat Yourself To A Treatment

Getting a makeover, or going to the hairdresser may be something that you have always shied away from doing. You may feel as though you were getting judged whenever you are sat in the chair. And having somebody prod about you can make you feel even more self-conscious. But if you can find somebody that can help in a way that lifts you up, it can be helpful. Look for someone caring and positive to help give you a makeover or haircut. They will know what to say to you so that you start to feel better about yourself. 

You may want to look at a range of medical aesthetic services that may help you to create a look that you feel more comfortable with. Or having a new wardrobe of clothes may be precisely what you need to give yourself a confidence lift. 

Look At The Positives

When you look at yourself, might be consumed with the negatives about your appearance. There may be a whole heap of things about yourself that you don’t have a problem with, or that you might even like. But these will get overshadowed by negativity if you’re struggling with body image.

It’s important to pay attention to the positives. The positives are getting smothered with the negatives and the things that you dislike. Though they may be all that you see, they won’t be all that others see. Learning to look at the things about yourself that you do like is essential. 

Make a list of your best features and start to tell yourself every day that those things are BEAUTIFUL. Take selfies that highlight that aspect of yourself. Try and dress, or wear your hair in a way that lifts up that part of you.

Soon, you will start paying more attention to these parts of yourself. The more that you tell yourself that something about you is beautiful, the more natural it will feel.

Everybody is beautiful in their own way, and we all have hang-ups. Finding confidence in yourself is about learning to not focus on the things that you don’t like, and think of the things that you do!

•Do you struggle with low confidence? What do you do to help bring it up?

This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!

Health

Making The Most Of Your Senses

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Often we find that we take our senses for granted. We are gifted with potent tools, and we are so used to them simply working, that often it isn’t until something happens that we realize how much we have taken them for granted. Over time they will deteriorate, simply with age, if you aren’t taking steps to protect them you will likely find you need a hearing aid, glasses or need more regular testing – click here for more information about that. 

If you want to keep your senses sharp and really enjoy them, then here is a list of fun things that you can do. 

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Sight

There is nothing as enjoyable as watching a great movie, soaking in the sights on vacation, looking at the faces of the people you love. But how often so you glance, rather than soak it in. Next time someone says to you ‘look at this’ really take the time to look. Pay keen attention to the details both big and small. But take care of your eyes too. Know that like the rest of your body they will need to rest. You can purchase warming eye masks that will help the muscles around your eye relax. Massage your temples often. Don’t force your eyes to focus when you’re already tired, this will lead to straining them. 

Hearing

Your hearing is something that will deteriorate over time, but you can take preventative measures to keep it in good condition for as long as possible. You should enjoy your hearing as much of your life as you can. If you happen to have hearing impairments, then you might consider having implants or a hearing aid to improve it. Enjoying your hearing can come in the form of listening to your favor of music via your favorite method. For example, if you listen via headphones, you should listen for no more than 60 minutes and at only 60% of the volume possible. Another thing you can enjoy is the silence. Listening to the peace and quiet in the early hours of the morning is a joy that you can indulge in as often as you like. 

Smell

Taking a deep breath of the coffee that is brewing in your kitchen, the smell of autumn in the air, the perfume your nana used to wear as it wafts by on the street. Smell is truly the thing that takes us back to points in time. Doctors call this scent therapy. Regularly taking deep nasal inhales of things like coffee grounds, dried herbs, and citrus fruits are great for really working those nose muscles. A keen sense of smell offers even more taste from your food too. 

Touch

The ability to feel hot and cold, the pattern on lace, the softness of silk and event he stingers on nettles. It is all about touch. Holding hands with your children or partner. Are all things that you love to do but how often do you consider how cool that sense really is. Next time you are doing something like putting on your seatbelt, making bread, of getting dressed, then take a moment to absorb how that really feels. 

Taste

Give your taste buds a party, simply try different foods. Spicy, sweet, salty, and sour. Research umami too. Try and eat fresh ingredients, things that have been pickled, and have a range of different textures. Consider the flavor as you are eating. Cheese is often smooth, but when you really pay attention, you might find salt crystals, and the creamy texture varies based on the age and location. Imagine not being able to taste your favorite food!

When it comes to making the most of your senses, it is all about enjoying what you have.!

This post was a collaboration.

Health

From The Surface To The Core: The Aspects Of Our Health We Need To Protect

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Getting older can result in a lot more anxiety and general unease, especially when our health is concerned. But from the surface of our skin to the core of our bones, the real solution in maintaining health as we age is about protecting, rather than preventing. It’s really all about the fundamentals.

Your hearing and eyesight

Do yourself a favor and go to an audiologist to have a check-up on your hearing. As you get older you might find that you miss certain words. Ultimately, as we get older we need to maximize our capabilities, and if hearing aids or contacts do this, then so be it! We need to function at the best of our abilities, and this means the most basic of senses being in tip-top shape.

The importance of a healthy gut

As more people look to probiotics and prebiotics, and fiber as a way of maintaining gut health, we are only now beginning to see just how much of an impact it has on our entire body. Having a healthy gut is about minimizing sugar but also eating the right things. There is such an abundance of processed foods that we need to get into the habit of eating well, not just for overall health, but as the gut has such a control over our mental health as well as our physical health, it needs to be a priority.

Exercising (but not too much)

A lot of people love running, but it’s a high impact exercise that can severely damage joints, as such as you get older it’s worth getting stronger because you’ll feel the benefits in your bones, but what is the best way to do this? There are plenty of low impact, high intensity exercises out there, like using resistance bands, as well as yoga and pilates. Strength training is a wonderful thing just as long as you do it right. A lot of people feel that in order to be supremely healthy, they have to exercise every single day. But strength training and some mobility two or three times a week is enough for overall health.

Your brain health

Arguably the most complex of all health problems can stem from the brain. We all have concerns about cognitive decline and illnesses like Alzheimer’s, but when we look at treating our brain as a muscle, this is when it will benefit the most. Keep practicing, do things that stretch your brain, like learning languages, and this will keep your mind in good shape. If you find yourself prone to depression or anxiety, it could very well be due to worries about getting older, or fear of isolation, and it’s these things that you should aim to rectify as soon as possible. Getting older should mean getting happier. And when we live in a world that’s full of stress, the one thing that we have to look forward to is retirement, and this means that we have to protect our health now so we can get the benefits later on in life.

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