Stress Relief Tips - Ways to Stay on Top of Stress

1. Exercise:-

Amen for endorphins.Believe me, they've helped me many days with my perspective. If you have to work out, then go take a brisk walk and get that blood flowing.It isn't about working out to lose weight -- it's about being healthy and staying sane.

2. Eat the real stuff :-

Crappy food (fast, processed, and loaded with sugar) doesn't help your chemical brain and body handle stress. Living food, real food, helps support your mind and body while it's trying to deal with the million things coming its way. Every time I reach for the chocolate, I'm looking to feel something from it.

Don't get me wrong -- if it's just a little here and there because I enjoy the taste of it, great. But if I'm using it the minute I feel overwhelmed, then that's when that food is no longer OK to eat. It doesn't make the problem go away, and then I just feel bad about eating the food to pacify myself.Grab green food instead. Put things in your mouth that are going to support your immune function and keep you levelheaded.



3. Notice :-

Try not to let the stress overtake you. Recognize the situations that cause the stress and notice them coming your way. You have a better shot at fending off the full effects of the stress when you can anticipate it.



4. Get it off your chest :-

Talk to a friend or partner about the stress.Sometimes just getting it off your chest can help unload some of the burden.

5. Keep your sense of humor:-

If you do have the chance to talk about it, try to see the irony and humor in the wacky bits. I think someone is dead in the water once they lose their sense of humor.



6. Stay grateful :-

My daughter has large lungs and verbal skills she likes to display. Just when I start to wishfully think about her being quiet,I remind myself to be grateful that she can talk to me at all. In almost all of our problems are boatloads of blessings. "Oh, I don't feel like going to the gym." Well, Amen that you have the means and the health to even be able to wrestle with the idea of going to work out. Make a habit of saying thank you. You will notice the sunny spots a lot more often, and not just the gray skies and storms.



7. Ask, "What's the hurry?" Have some fun.We're always so busy going somewhere, we miss just enjoying the moment. If an opportunity comes your way to do something fun, take it.



8. Take a deep breath :-

When you feel the stress getting to you, take a moment. Get away, even if it's just for an hour, to be with yourself and your thoughts. Some people like to take a walk, meditate, lock themselves away in a beautiful bath, or go to church. Find the peace and the silence.



9. Keep it simple :-

Simplify where you can. Does Junior really need to be in 78 activities at the age of 5? Do you have to go to every little party or gathering you're invited to?



10. Turn of the TV :-

A lot of it is bad news anyway, and it robs us of hours that we could use to be getting other things done. Since everyone complains that they have no time, get some by unplugging from the tube.



11. Sleep :-

If you're rested, you have a better shot at handling things. Not to mention, you may not stress out as easily if you have a chance to recover at night.



12. Drink water :-

I have said it before: Americans consume 21 percent of their calories through liquid consumption. Hydrate with water. Help you entire system function better just by drinking enough water. Oh, and by the way, if you don't think that weight loss and proper hydration have a relationship, think again. Shift the paradigm on its side -- don't think about exercise and nutritional eating just as something you have to suffer through to get into those jeans. Instead, think of them as armor that will protect you in this crazy world, with all of the bazillion details you deal with every day.

Skin Care Tips - Face Cleansing

The most important physical aspect of our body-it looks back at you looking dry, or oily or listless or the way you make it i.e.: glowing and radiant.

Start by giving yourself 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at bedtime.


Tips 1 :-

Take 1 tbsp of un-boiled milk, dip a small pad of cotton wool in this and rub on the face gently. Use circular movements, use upward strokes on the neck area.Leave this on for 15 minutes. Wash with cold water.

Tips 2 :-

Take a thick slice of cucumber. Don't peel the slice, rub in a circular motion all over the face and neck areas. Wash after 15 minutes.

Tips 3 :-

Halve a tomato, gently rub over face and neck and wash after 15 minutes.

Tips 4 :-

Take the half of a lime peel, from which the juice has been extracted, rub this firmly on the face and the neck. Using a Scrub-(once in 3-4 days).

After washing off the milk or juice - take a tsp of oat bran or wheat husk or gram flour (besan). Make a paste with a few drops of water and rub the face and neck gently with this. This sloughs away the dead cells and gives the face a glow.Don't use soap, just splash on cold water that will act as an astringent and close the pores.

Tips 5 :-

Use green gram powder or rice flour mixed with curds instead.

Oily Skin: If the face is oily,

After a bath as a base for make-up use some diluted limejuice to dab on before application of foundation or any other make-up.

Tips 6 :-

Diluted buttermilk dabbed on the face and left for 15 minutes, gently wipe with moist cotton wool before applying make-up.

Tips 7 :-

Rub the face well with an ice cube.

Tips 8 :-

Slice an Apple into thin slices. Place these on the face and leave for 15 minutes. These soak up the extra oil and helps to close pores.

Health Tips & Facts – About Improve Your Memory & Exercise Brain

Everyone can take steps to improve their memory, and with time and practice most people can gain the ability to memorize seemingly impossible amounts of information.

Whether you want to win the World Memory Championships, ace your history test, or simply remember where you put your keys, this article can get you started. Scientists believe that exercising your brain can create a ‘cognitive reserve’ that will help you stay sharp as you age.

(1) Convince yourself that you do have a good memory that will improve :-

Too many people get stuck here and convince themselves that their memory is bad, that they are just not good with names, that numbers just slip out of their minds for some reason. Erase those thoughts and vow to improve your memory. Commit yourself to the task and bask in your achievements — it’s hard to keep motivated if you beat yourself down every time you make a little bit of progress.

(2) Keep your brain active :-

The brain is not a muscle, but regularly “exercising” the brain actually does keep it growing and spurs the development of new nerve connections that can help improve memory. By developing new mental skills—especially complex ones such as learning a new language or learning to play a new musical instrument—and challenging your brain with puzzles and games you can keep your brain active and improve its physiological functioning.

(3) Exercise daily :-

Regular aerobic exercise improves circulation and efficiency throughout the body, including in the brain, and can help ward off the memory loss that comes with aging. Exercise also makes you more alert and relaxed, and can thereby improve your memory uptake, allowing you to take better mental “pictures.

(4) Reduce stress :-

Chronic stress, although it does not physically damage the brain, can make remembering much more difficult. Even temporary stresses can make it more difficult to effectively focus on concepts and observe things. Try to relax, regularly practice yoga or other stretching exercises, and see a doctor if you have severe chronic stress.

(5) Eat well and eat right :-

There are a lot of herbal supplements on the market that claim to improve memory, but none have yet been shown to be effective in clinical tests (although small studies have shown some promising results for ginkgo biloba and phosphatidylserine).

A healthy diet, however, contributes to a healthy brain, and foods containing antioxidants—broccoli, blueberries, spinach, and berries, for example—and Omega-3 fatty acids appear to promote healthy brain functioning. Feed your brain with such supplements as Thiamine, Vitamin E, Niacin and Vitamin B-6. Grazing, eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day instead of 3 large meals, also seems to improve mental functioning (including memory) by limiting dips in blood sugar, which may negatively affect the brain.

(6) Take better pictures :-

Often we forget things not because our memory is bad, but rather because our observational skills need work. One common situation where this occurs (and which almost everyone can relate to) is meeting new people. Often we don’t really learn people’s names at first because we aren’t really concentrating on remembering them. You’ll find that if you make a conscious effort to remember such things, you’ll do much better. One way to train yourself to be more observant is to look at an unfamiliar photograph for a few seconds and then turn the photograph over and describe or write down as many details as you can about the photograph. Try closing your eyes and picturing the photo in your mind. Use a new photograph each time you try this exercise, and with regular practice you will find you’re able to remember more details with even shorter glimpses of the photos.

(7) Give yourself time to form a memory :-

Memories are very fragile in the short-term, and distractions can make you quickly forget something as simple as a phone number. The key to avoid losing memories before you can even form them is to be able to focus on the thing to be remembered for a while without thinking about other things, so when you’re trying to remember something, avoid distractions and complicated tasks for a few minutes.

(8) Create vivid, memorable images :-

You remember information more easily if you can visualize it. If you want to associate a child with a book, try not to visualize the child reading the book – that’s too simple and forgettable. Instead, come up with something more jarring, something that sticks, like the book chasing the child, or the child eating the book. It’s your mind – make the images as shocking and emotional as possible to keep the associations strong.

(9) Repeat things you need to learn :-

The more times you hear, see, or think about something, the more surely you’ll remember it, right? It’s a no-brainier. When you want to remember something, be it your new coworker’s name or your best friend’s birthday, repeat it, either out loud or silently. Try writing it down; think about it.

(10) Group things you need to remember :-

Random lists of things (a shopping list, for example) can be especially difficult to remember. To make it easier, try categorizing the individual things from the list. If you can remember that, among other things, you wanted to buy four different kinds of vegetables, you’ll find it easier to remember all four.

(11) Organize your life :-

Keep items that you frequently need, such as keys and eyeglasses, in the same place every time. Use an electronic organizer or daily planner to keep track of appointments, due dates for bills, and other tasks. Keep phone numbers and addresses in an address book or enter them into your computer or cell phone. Improved organization can help free up your powers of concentration so that you can remember less routine things. Even if being organized doesn’t improve your memory, you’ll receive a lot of the same benefits (i.e. you won’t have to search for your keys anymore).

(12) Try meditation :-

Research now suggests that people who regularly practice “mindfulness” meditation are able to focus better and may have better memories. Mindfulness (also known as awareness or insight meditation) is the type commonly practiced in Western countries and is easy to learn. Studies at Massachusetts General Hospital show that regular meditation thickens the cerebral cortex in the brain by increasing the blood flow to that region. Some researchers believe this can enhance attention span, focus, and memory.

(13) Sleep well :-

The amount of sleep we get affects the brain’s ability to recall recently learned information. Getting a good night’s sleep – a minimum of seven hours a night – may improve your short-term memory and long-term relational memory, according to recent studies conducted at the Harvard Medical School.

(14) Build your memorization arsenal :-

Learn pegs, memory palaces, and the Dominic System. These techniques form the foundation for mnemonic techniques, and will visibly improve your memory.

(15) Venture out and learn from your mistakes :-

Go ahead and take a stab at memorizing the first one hundred digits of pi, or, if you’ve done that already, the first one thousand. Memorize the monarchs of England through your memory palaces, or your grocery list through visualization. Through diligent effort you will eventually master the art of memorization.

Health Benefits-Garlic-The Wonder Food

A clove of garlic a day keeps cancer away.

But it does more than that. It also keeps the possibility of a love life away! Take heart however. There's always Close Up to remedy the situation!

Garlic contains a chemical called Allicin, which has already proved to have numerous health benefits. A team of Israeli scientists recently used this chemical to successfully kill cancer cells as well as malignant tumors in mice.

Allicin is not present in an unbroken clove of garlic. It only gets released when the clove is crushed, so when using garlic in cooking, make sure you crush it and use it.

Don't add the entire unbroken clove in your food, as though this will give you the flavor of garlic, it will not provide you with the benefits of its anti-carcinogenic properties.

The clove needs to be damaged, so it is more effective crushed than cut.When crushed garlic is added to a dish, any parasites, bacteria or other microbes get killed even before the temperature kills them, so if you are worried about eating outside food - the safest option would be to order food with a strong garlic flavor.

Chances of food poisoning would be slim! Garlic, as we all know or should be knowing, is a natural antiseptic, and eating a clove of garlic a day also helps ward off most infections.

Italians and Chinese eat plenty of garlic in their food, and have very low incidences of cancer.

Pizzas and pastas,Italian dishes rich in maida and cheese, have liberal dozes of garlic, with the result that Italians seem relatively immune to other problems associated with such a diet such as high cholesterol and heart ailments.

Similarly, Chinese food is rich in garlic, and the Chinese too are statistically less prone to cancer and heart ailments.

How should you eat the clove?

Needless to say, crushing a clove of garlic and eating it raw would not be the most pleasant of experiences.Garlic has a very strong flavour, and it needs to be mixed with other foods in order to be enjoyed.The best way to eat garlic would be to add it in food while cooking it.

Allicin gets distributed throughout the meal, providing you with the benefits of its anti carcinogenic and antiseptic properties.

Make sure you peel the garlic before cooking it. Cooking garlic in its peel destroys its curative properties. Similarly, peeling the garlic days before and crushing and storing all the crushed garlic together to be used a little at a time may be very convenient as a time saver, but you lose many of garlic's potent health properties. The natural compound of Allicin as found in garlic loses its beneficial properties within hours because it begins to react with garlic's other components as soon as the clove is crushed.

Peel the garlic and let it sit for fifteen minutes before cooking. Just before cooking, crush it.

Consume soon after.

While you can get garlic supplements if you are looking for the easier way out, it is highly recommended that you get your daily doze of garlic the natural way - through the clove itself. As already mentioned, garlic has numerous other health benefits, and eating the garlic fresh would give you all these benefits.

If you can consume the garlic raw, there's nothing like it! Peel it, crush it fifteen minutes later and down it, followed by a little milk.

Do this every night - so you will not smell of garlic the entire day. Before long, you will see your health and immunity improve, and you needn't fear cancer again.