As a psychologist friend of mine once told me if you don’t feel stress in your life you’re not paying attention. Everyone experiences stress, even pregnant women. What is not clear, however, is whether stress can have harmful affects on pregnancy.

High levels of stress may pose special risks during pregnancy. Pregnancy presents a unique set of circumstances that can mean joy and bliss in some, but overwhelming anxiety and stress in others.

The physical effects of pregnancy (such as hormone-related mood swings, nausea, fatigue, frequent urination, swelling and backache) can be stressful. In addition, many have emotional stress due to concerns about the baby’s health and parenting responsibilities.

Minimize your exposure to worrisome issues and you’ll minimize your stress. Sometimes, too much information about pregnancy complications and problems can cause unnecessary stress. If your pregnancy is proceeding along normally without any complications, reading about these possible problems can make you stressed for no real reason.

Maternal stress during pregnancy is also found to cause of asymmetry in coordination of ears, fingers, feet, elbows, etc. Stress doesn’t have to be bad especially when you take care to manage the stress you experience during your pregnancy. Eat a healthy, well balanced diet. Eating well will provide you the energy you need to get through the day, especially when you feel tired or overworked. Exercise has huge stress reducing qualities. Walking is another activity you can do in order to keep fit and reduce stress.

A good relaxation CD will not only prove useful to alleviate stress during pregnancy and make you feel better, but can also be very beneficial in preparing you to relax your mind and your muscles during labour and birth.

meditation can help to reduce stress, relieve pain, lower both your blood pressure and your heart rate, and improve the quality of your sleep. When you’re ready to meditate, simply find a comfortable, distraction-free place to sit; set a timer for five minutes (you’ll gradually want to work up to 20 minutes); place your hands on your belly; close your eyes; and focus on the sound of your breathing until the timer goes off.

Talk to others about your emotions and how you’re feeling. You can talk to your partner, family, friends or your own doctor. Communication with others and knowing that you have people who are on your side willing to help can go a long way in reducing stress while you’re pregnant.

Be prepared to give up some control over the life-style you have worked so hard to attain. Many things about pregnancy are not in your control. You may experience severe morning sickness. You may have overwhelming fatigue. You may develop a pregnancy complication requiring hospitalization or home bed rest.

Go for a massage. Not only does having a massage help to relieve backaches, leg cramps, headaches, and other pregnancy-related aches and pains: it also soothes and relaxes the nervous system by releasing endorphins into your body. Just make sure the person doing your massage has been trained in prenatal massage.

As most of us are aware one of the major focuses in our society today is anti aging and anti aging remedies, and anything we can get our hands on to retain a youthful look.

Of course aging is inevitable but we’d all like to do so gracefully and find ways to retain of our youthful appearance and presence. There are many products to assist in this quest including many herbs and nutrients that we can use to restore and keep our healthier and more youthful looking skin. Following an anti aging skin care strategy and an overall health strategy can not only help you look better but also add years to your life.

If we look at the approach of a herbalist and use a more holistic, or whole body approach we can approach this issue by not only treating the symptom but also look at the cause. A herbalist will usually recommend herbs or the parts of plants that would treat any condition from the inside out. This same principle can be applied to problems of the skin since your skin will typically reflect the issues from within.

As we age our age skin starts loosing elasticity. We also start developing wrinkles and the skin starts to look dull and not as vibrant as it did when we were younger. Although there are many factors to contribute to this including the stress put on our skin by the sun and other factors, we can significantly reduce the signs of aging and in some cases even reversed them.

If we are paying attention to our nutritional intake we will know how essential that is to any anti aging strategy. One must realize that since we, as a society, need to product large quantities of food for the masses that commercial growing practices are not producing products to provide us all the nutrients your body needs for optimum health. That is why I believe that additional supplements are necessary to ensure adequate nutrition for your body and your skin.

There are many important nutrients that you can add to your nutritional intake that can aid in helping your skin and body look and feel better. Some of the anti-oxidants nutrients you can add to your any anti aging skin care program are Vitamins A, C, and E. These anti-oxidants, in correct proportions and sufficient quantity, will restore elasticity and give you a smoother, softer appearance to your skin. Zinc also plays an important role, in optimizing the assimilation or absorption of these nutrients.

Many of these same nutrients can be applied topically. Appling vitamin E oil topically to crows feet, your forehead, lip lines, and other problem areas for remarkable results. Because vitamin E is sticky, it is best to apply at bedtime, and will be fairly well absorbed by morning. There are also many other products that contain these other anti-oxidant that can be applied directly to the skin to keep your skin nourished and moisturized. Cocoa butter and coconut oil are also excellent anti aging moisturizer. Appling these nutrients to your skin on a daily basis will bring you wonderful results.

The other suggestion I’d make is to stay active and exercise regularly. Exercise increases your oxygen intake and improves blood flow and circulation. Theses bodily effects will have a positive effect on your health and its anti aging effects will be visible on your skin. Appling these anti aging strategy are not difficult or time consuming and in just a few minutes each day it can works wonders and end up adding to better health and better looking healthier skin.

Copyright 2006 Douglas Alp

Smoking: Advice for Parents

Although parenting advice to kids and teems is difficult and many times ineffective, there are some tips in order to persuade them to stay away from tobacco. To increase the chances that your child does not start smoking, it is important that you begin to start sharing with your child the dangers of smoking as early as possible. Kindergarten is not too young to begin. It is often during this time that your child may be learning about basic safety in regards to drugs, strangers and fire. You speaking to them about smoking will fit right in. It is believed that nearly 20% of adolescents smoke in the United States. This is an alarming figure and puts millions of adolescents, teens and their family’s at risk for smoke related diseases. To curb this, it is important for parents to take an active role in their children’s life. This means paying attention to them, spending time with them and being involved in their world. The Center of Disease Control believes that these simple acts will help your child overcome peer pressure and will enable them to say no to at-risk, dangerous behaviors. Speaking with children, no matter how old they are about the illnesses and dangers associated with smoking can help them to not ever start smoking. If your child has already started smoking, you should still remind them of the dangers, not allow it in your home and provide them with help and support when they express that they are ready to quit. If a family member or friend has suffered from some sort of smoke-related illness, be sure to discuss this with your children. Having a child that smokes can be very distressing to a parent who understands the dangers of smoking. If your child is underage, do not allow them to smoke at all and especially not in your home or around you. Be sure to make sure that they understand the dangers of smoking, a field trip to the hospital to see patients that are hospitalized for smoke-related illnesses might be in order. If your child is older and no longer lives in your home, you may not have as much control. However, you can forbid them from smoking in your home and when you are around. Also be sure to be supportive when they express an interest in giving up smoking.

Are Doctors Paying Attention to EMR Software?
by Robert Bell

Electronic Medical Records got a ringing endorsement from Senator Hillary Clinton at a January campaign stop, which may be an omen of increased discussion between now and November.

Many of the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) increase the complexity of operating a paper-based office. With the burden of compliance landing squarely on the shoulders of the medical establishment, many practices are turning to electronic medical records software, automating functions that once required physical paperwork. Since technology drives public policy, a new concern has made its way onto the federal radar: theft of electronic medical records.

In the interests of ensuring the security of patient records, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last year began a process of unannounced HIPAA audits; this forces offices and hospitals to be consistently up-to-date in policies and practices involving patient records. In this environment, its easy to contract with an EMR software company, assuming that theyve handled everything in the complex world of medical legality.

Offices who turn to EMR software should be advised: be doubly certain any system you purchase is HIPAA-compliant, since any legal action is likely to be directed at you. Things to look for in ensuring HIPAA compliance from your EMR software include:

- Digital signatures and encryption on all patient information.

- An intra-office database (rather than one stored on another server).

- Safe, secure backup capability.

Since the inception of HIPAA and the takeoff of the EMR trend, there are now many agencies in the business of independent HIPAA audits. In your search for EMR software, look for software that has already been certified as HIPAA-compliant, preferably by multiple independent organizations.

Your nose is running. Your body aches. You know you got that cold from your seven-year-old. The work project you’ve been struggling with is due Friday, and you keep telling yourself, “I just don’t have time to be sick.”

No career-committed mother wants to give up her precious time to illness. But the truth is if you don’t make time for your health, you will have to make time for illness. And, illness, we all know throws a curve ball at our balance.

This is not meant as a finger-wagging “I told you so.” Sometimes even the very healthiest of us gets the flu. But you have a much better chance of staving off the germs that your child brings home, the headaches and backaches that you might be prone to, the fatigue that has plagued you in the past, if you pay attention to your health.

Unfortunately, most of us spend more time taking care of other people and other things than we do taking care of our health. We make sure our children eat nutritious foods, yet we skip meals. We let our exercise routine go because it clashes with another family member’s schedule. We sacrifice our sleep staying up late to get things done. But part of taking care of other people, particularly our children, is to model healthy living. So how do you fit in exercise, relaxation and all those fresh carrots and green vegetables when time is so limited in your life already?

Start by reclaiming ownership of your health. Good health is about integrating all aspects of your life—body, mind and spirit. It’s more than adding three hours a week at the gym to your schedule. It’s about obtaining a general sense of well-being. Take a step back and look at your health from a more holistic perspective—exercise is just one part of the equation. Examine how you are treating your body. Are you respecting it in terms of nutrition, movement and rest? Are you tuned in and paying attention to how you feel?

See Your Doctor(s) Regularly

If you haven’t seen your general practitioner lately, make an appointment for a full physical exam. That includes checking your cholesterol and blood pressure levels and, if you’ve been feeling particularly stressed or tired, having your thyroid and adrenal gland checked as well. This will give you a base measurement from which you can go forward.

While you’re looking after yourself, schedule an appointment or medical screening with your dentist and optometrist as well. You’d do it for your car, so why not your body? In particular, if you’re experiencing any unusual symptoms, don’t ignore them. Lumps, bumps, knots and fatigue are your body’s way of saying that something requires your attention. Tell the appropriate health-care provider about them.

Become a Strategic Eater

The fuel you put into your body can make all the difference to your health and energy levels. Practicing good nutrition means learning about food. It does not mean dieting. Understanding which foods give you energy and which rob you of your vitality is essential to keeping you at your best. Different metabolisms call for different combinations of fat, protein and carbohydrates, and through being aware of what you’re eating and how you’re feeling you will know what foods combine to bring you maximum energy.

While becoming clear which foods work best for you, start thinking about the size and frequency of your meals. Eating small amounts five or six times a day has proven to be better for us than three large meals. It is easier on the digestive system and provides a more constant, even flow of energy to the body, avoiding the hunger peaks and valleys. You’ll be less tempted to grab that chocolate bar or bag of potato chips to get you through the afternoon, and you’ll arrive home with better energy to face the evening.

Water is the elixir of life. The problem is most of us don’t get enough of it. If you experience fatigue or headaches in the afternoon, it could be a sign of dehydration. If you work in front of a computer, you are even more susceptible to dehydration. So how do you get those six to eight glasses of water a day that we’re supposed to have? Try buying a case of water bottles and kept them in your office. To keep track of how much you are drinking, stack the empty water bottles on your filing cabinet throughout the day. Keeping a box of bottled water in the trunk of her car, along with your gym bag is another solution. When you go to work out, you can easily grab a bottle of water as you grab your gym bag. If you drive to work, keep two bottles of water in your car in place of that morning coffee mug. Then you’ve got one for the drive in, and one for the drive home.

Why is it that some people can eat whatever they want, never exercise and still look slim and trim? Then, there’s the rest of us who have to watch every crumb we put in our mouths, have to exercise daily and still never reach the weight we want? It’s not fair, is it?

Most people who struggle with their weight have their ancestors to blame. Their ancestors are the ones who passed on their “fat” genes. (Thanks, Grandma!) They can lose weight but they have to work harder at it.

Overweight people are historically looked upon as lazy and gluttonous. In reality, they don’t necessarily eat more than thinner people; they just have family genes working against them. Research has shown this to be true.

In studies with identical twins who were raised apart, researchers found that both twins gained approximately the same amount of weight regardless of what they ate or how much - or little - they exercised.

Hispanics, Native Americans and African Americans seem to gain weight more easily than other ethenic groups.

Although research is just beginning to discover how our genes work to make us fat, scientists believe that a few different fat genes could have survived from past generations who had to struggle through times of starvation. Those genes allowed them to eat and store calories when food was plentiful. When food was harder to find, the genes helped people burn fewer calories so they could survive by using their stored fat.

You may have inherited your fat genes, but you may also have inherited your cravings, your appetite and your metabolism. Here are a few ways to beat your fat genes:

1. Look to your appetite. Paying attention to whether you are “really” hungry or not can help you get a handle on your food intake. When you are eating, it takes your brain a while to catch up to the signal that your stomach sends out that it’s full. Savor your food. Eat more slowly so that your stomach’s signal more closely meets your brain’s.

2. Eat more fiber. Eating foods that contain more fiber will depress your appetite and keep your insulin levels more even. Your insulin levels normally rise quickly after a meal but soluble fiber keeps these levels lower.

3. Forget crash diets. When you try to drastically cut calories and perform grueling exercise routines, your fat cells mount a defensive. Instead, slow down and take smaller steps to change your eating and exercise habints.

Go ahead and blame your ancestors for your chunky body. But don’t think that there is nothing that you can do about it. Eat healthier foods and get adequate exercise to win over the fat genes.

How to Achieve Vegan Weight Loss

If you’re looking to find a healthy diet to help you achieve weight loss, a vegan weight loss diet might be right for you. Focusing on fruits and vegetables, and removing animal fats, is a fast weigh to lose weight.Make Sure your Diet is BalancedHowever, to enjoy vegan weight loss, you need to follow a balanced vegan diet. This can be achieved by paying attention to getting the right amount of servings from each food group, to keep yourself healthy and energized.It can be hard to find a vegan diet that is designed specifically for weight loss. Many weight loss products are not vegan, and neither are meal deliver based programs. And not all vegetarian food are vegan.Should I Get Help?If you are a vegan trying to balance your diet for vegan weight loss, there are plans that can work well for you. Weight watchers, because it allows you to eat whatever food you like, is perfect for vegans who need support.Vegan Weight Loss can be ChallengingIt can be very difficult to lose weight, even with vegan weight loss. Many people need a strict program. You must also be sure that you have an exercise program that will help you to stay active while you are eating healthy.

Should You Purchase Dental Insurance Or an Individual Dental Plan?

A Fact: Seventy-five percent of Americans do not have any type of individual dental plan coverage. For those who haven’t been paying attention, procedures are getting more expensive everyday. If you are in a position to purchase any type of discount dental plan, or insurance you will be money ahead to cover rising dental costs.Having dental insurance is the best scenario, period. Mainly, it covers many of your costs based on a fee schedule, usually excluding cosmetic procedures. For example, if a dental cleaning is $100.00, the insurance company may pay anywhere from seventy to one hundred percent of the cleaning bill.Another example, if you or a member of your family needed a crown and the cost was $1000.00, the insurance may pick up fifty percent of the cost. However, most people are not in a position to have insurance. Mainly, because it is usually only offered through an individual’s place of work, or if available through some other source, and the cost is usually prohibitive.On the other hand, what is called a dental discount plan is readily available to anyone. And, the best part is; it’s very easy on the pocketbook.A quality discount plan works just about the opposite of insurance. Dentists that participate in any given plan offer discounts on procedures. A good comparison is; that very similar to Costco or Sam’s Club. You purchase a membership card and that entitles you to buy products or services at discounted prices.An example, the normal cost of a crown maybe $1000.00, a participating dentist of a discount plan may agree to a 20 percent discount. This would mean that you would save $200.00 on that procedure. In some cases, you can save up to sixty percent depending upon the procedure.Another thing to consider is cosmetic dentistry; dental insurance usually doesn’t cover it. If you are in the market for denture implants, braces, porcelain veneers, a discount plan may be a better bet.Based on your financial situation, purchase the type of plan you can live with. Will it be dental insurance, or will it be a individual dental plan? In short, you don’t have to be among the seventy-five percent that do not have any type of dental coverage.

Heartburn and How To Advoid It

The burning agony which begins in your chest is the first indication of problems. You have to be careful right now, because misdiagnosis could be the difference between life and death. What you are feeling could be a heart attack approaching on. But knowing the symptoms quickly rules this out. No, you’ve felt this way before. The biggest clue? That hearty meal you’ve just gorged yourself on. That’s right, the burning in your chest is the returning of your old curse heartburn.Or, perhaps it wasn’t the large meal causing the fiery blast in your gullet. Maybe it was the two cups of coffee after breakfast which lit up your esophagus. Or the chocolates you just couldn’t pass up at lunch. Not to worry, you think to yourself. You’ll just reach for the antacids and be done with it. It may surprise you that you’re doing more harm than good, and this could lead to more lasting damage in the long run.With all of the myths and misconceptions surrounding heartburn, a clear discussion as to its cause is in order. As stated above, heartburn usually begins suddenly in the chest, and typically this condition occurs at some time just after we’ve eaten. The burning sensation, near the heart, is due to the fact that the stomach juices can sometimes get backed up, gurgling into the gullet, with acid rising up the esophagus, burning and irritating its lining along the way. It’s easy for the stomach to handle this sever liquid, its lining is designed to resist stomach acid. Our gullet lining, unfortunately, is not. Therefore, when the acid lets loose in the esophagus, trouble follows right behind it. Heartburn is born and you might as well put on an old movie, because you are going to be awake for a while.We all have a part in our body to which we can point the finger of blame. You can call him LES, or Lower Esophageal Sphincter. When this guy is on the job and paying attention, stomach acid stays where it belongs, in the tough-lined stomach. But, when LES has gone to sleep on the job, and is no longer paying proper attention, the mischievious stomach acid loves to sneak past LES and go running rampant in the Upper Esophageal hall around the ticker.This would explain why almost half of us roll through life, arriving at the end without ever having had so much as an indication of heartburn. LES is more alert and on the job in some of us than others. Lucky them. The rest of us become well familiar with over the counter antacids and acid-reducers, without ever finding out that by using these medicines we might possibly be doing ourselves more harm than good.So, if popping over the counter pills and other similar cures aren’t going to work, what is? Is it best to just focus on working through the irritation, putting up with the problem and wait for it to lessen? What kind of life would that be to lead?The point is, don’t give up on finding relief for your heartburn aggravation. No matter how sever or frequent your heartburn, believe that a cure, a lasting cure, is available to you. And what you discover may surprise you.Living with your heartburn is precisely the wrong thing to do. In fact, following this strategy could lead to serious consequences. Then there is the vital knowledge of being able to tell if what you are suffering is heartburn or a heart attack.Really, you can live a normal life again. But you must work out the problem LES is causing, permanently. And you must arm yourself with the knowledge needed to get this done. There is more to your heartburn than meets the gullet. Take this situation seriously now, or face the consequences down the way.To learn more about this and many other topics please visit www.theshoppboxebookreviews.com

Do You Need Chigger Bite Help, Tonight?

Chigger season is here and the search is on again for a cure for chigger bites .Every spring brings an infusion of chigger mites. And the victim makes their annual pilgrimage to the local drug store to collect their useless chigger remedy. Such is the blessings of spring and the infamous chigger. Many people have lived with chigger bite most of their lives and still wonder how to get rid of chiggers.I always contend the best possible cure for chigger bites is not to get them. But that is not going to happen, so how do you get relief from the chigger bite? First off, it helps to know the enemy. The chigger is not in the skin. They are on the skin. They are biters, not borers. They are not true insects that sting. (Now, isn’t that bit of news some worth while information?). Tip. To repel chiggers, tape Bounce drier sheets to your trouser cuffs. To repel deer tape a sheet on each front corner of your truck. To repel ants from your house place Bounce dryer sheets around the perimeter of your house. The idea is to keep chigger larvae off your body. Chigger larvae like to crawl all over the place. As fast as the chigger moves, it does take it a while to locate a suitable location to latch on. IF you are paying attention you just discovered a clue to protect yourself from chigger bites. Since a chigger does not attack immediately like a mosquito, it gives the host (you) a chance to knock the chigger off before he/she starts biting.Usually those places are in areas where clothes are tight fitting, in dark, moist and warm areas, but not always. The male chigger seems to like to the groin area where as female chigger likes to go for the leg and arm pits. That sounds pretty normal.How to get rid of chiggers, you ask? During chigger season, change clothes (preferably someplace where you don’t want chiggers to bed down). Get them (chiggers and clothes) into a nice hot wash and yourself into a very hot shower or bath. Preferably a bath with no bleach or other chemicals added. Scrub yourself down with soap and a wash cloth for about 15 minutes or so. You might also want to add water.If after a few hours you realize the State’s champion has lanced you, apply some direct heat from a hair dryer for about 2 minutes. Direct the hot air at the bite and keep the heat on for as hot as you can stand without burning. Another handy household chigger treatment, if you have a baby in the house, apply diaper rash ointment to the chigger bite.There is other more permanent chigger remedies that are natural chigger bite remedy. Would-be remedy for chigger bites are as plentiful as the people looking for the one which works. You do not have to be hapless victim in this game of man against beast. You can win it, if you are smarter than the beast.———-