Health Specialist » skin care

The Importance of Shape

Health Specialist — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:42:21 +0000

You may think you know when you look in the mirror, or you may be too busy trying to cover up unshapely areas to really see yourself as you are. Do you know how much fat youre carrying, compared to how much muscle? Do you know where you tend to gain weightupper body, lower body or around the middle? Until you know the answers to these questions, you are not ready to make your personal plan for losing weight and keeping it off. Understanding your body is the first step to reaching your best personal shape. As someone who teaches both doctors and the public about obesity, I believe weight loss has been overemphasized and body shape underemphasized. You have probably read about the Body-Mass Index BMI, which is a weight-to-height ratio. If your BMI is greater than 25, you are considered overweight in the U.S., and if it is greater than 30 you are obese. This ratio has been a powerful way for scientists to document the obesity epidemic in this country and its effects on health and disease. However, when it comes to you as an individual, it can be misleading. A football player can be considered overweight on the BMI scale, but if the extra weight being carried is muscle, he is not really fat. A thin woman can have a normal BMI, yet still be over-fat. So shape counts.

Shapes are personal and go beyond the usual apple and pear. Women can have three typical body shapesupper body fat, lower body fat and both upper and lower body fat. Men usually only get upper body fat. The upper body stores fat in times of stress and some people can lose and gain weight rapidly in the upper body. The lower body fat in women responds to female hormones such as estrogen and progesterone and stores fat for breastfeeding a newborn baby. Women who have both upper and lower body fat will lose their upper body fat first. Women with more upper body fat tend to have more muscle than women with lower body fat and will need more protein in their diet to help control their hunger. Losing weight is harder if you have lower body fat rather than upper body fat, but the medical benefits of losing your upper body fat are greater. Losing weight around your neck, face, chest and waist usually goes along with losing fat on the inside as well. So as you look better, you are also improving your health tremendously.

Finally, there are two more body shapes to consider The shape you can change and the shape you cant change. It is important to know the difference and work on the shape you can change, while adjusting your wardrobe and attitudes to the shape you cannot change. Due to low metabolism, many women with lower body fat cant lose weight just by cutting calories. These lower body-fat cells are resistant to both exercise and diet. Only a personalized program can help make sure you get enough protein to control cravings and build or maintain lean muscle.

What Is Arthritis?

Health Specialist — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:10:57 +0000

Arthritis is a general term used to categorize over 100 different conditions and diseases. What these 100 diseases and conditions all have in common is a problem with a joint inside the body. The human body has joints in the spine, shoulders, knees, hips, elbows, wrists, fingers, ankles and toes. Arthritis pain and inflammation can affect any of these joints at any time during life, although these symptoms typically begin to appear after age 40.

A joint is the area where two bones come together. In order to move freely, the ends of the bones are covered with a substance called cartilage. Surrounding each joint is something called a synovium. The synovium also produces a lubricant that is primarily responsible for limiting joint wear and tear. It accomplishes this by reducing friction. Ligaments, tendons, and muscles give bones power and help the two bones stay together.

Arthritis strikes as a result of damage within the joint. The damage is typically the result of age, as over time the cartilage simply begins to break down. However, arthritis can also result from an injury or other health condition. When a joint becomes damaged or diseased, inflammation in the form of swelling, pain and stiffness can result.

In addition to the symptoms of pain, stiffness and swelling, an affected joint may not be able to move freely. Other symptoms can include flu-like symptoms, a fever, the appearance of nodules, and fatigue.

If you have painful joints and the pain does not seem to be getting any better after a few weeks, you may be experiencing symptoms of arthritis. Schedule a visit to your doctor. Proper diagnosis can be made after completing a physical exam, discussing your medical history, taking x-rays and ordering lab work.

If you do have arthritis, unfortunately there is no cure. There are however, a number of treatment options that can be prescribed. Hotcold compresses, moderate exercise, and pain relievers are some options as is surgery. The doctor can prescribe the best treatment for your type of arthritis.

Natural Home Remedies For Oily Skin

Health Specialist — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:54:24 +0000

There are many reasons for your skin to become oily for e.g. hereditary, pregnancy, environment, food we eat and many others. Our body secretes oil to keep our body smooth and supple. It also avoids wrinkles which becomes a cause of worry for many.

- Measures to avoid Oily Skin

Drink plenty of water at least 8-10 glasses per day.

Avoid smoking.

Have a healthy and balanced diet.

Use baby powder to dab your face as it works better than many other products.

You can rub oily areas with apple cider vinegar for a neutralizing effect.

Use of hot water more often as it is a great solvent.

To avoid oily skin apply fresh smashed tomatoes on your face.

The first step of having an oil-free skin is to clean your face with gentle face wash to remove excess oil and dirt. Wipe your face with astringent lotion as it is a fat and grease solvent. The astringent should have acetone and should also be alcohol free. Later apply a watery moisturizer to keep your skin smooth. Remove excess moisturizer by dabbing a tissue over it.

Blend 12 cup cooked oatmeal, 1 egg white, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 12 cup mashed apple into a smooth paste. Apply this paste on your face for 15 minutes, later rinse it.

You can apply mud packs or clay masks on your face which helps in soaking oil from the skin. This may provide a temporary relief as the long term effects is inconclusive.

Egg Mask Blend 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon camphor spirit, 1 tablespoon skim milk powder and a drop of mint essential oil. Before applying the mask, apply odorless castor oil. Apply the mask, keep it for 15 minutes; wash it off with warm water to be rinsed by apple cider vinegar and water witch hazel solution.

Grate a cucumber and keep it in the fridge. Apply this grated chilled cucumber on your face for 15 minutes. Use this at least twice a week for a clean and clear face.

Cucumber can also be used in juice form mixed with lemon juice. Apply this mixture half-an-hour before you take a bath. The proportion would be 12 a tsp each of cucumber and lemon juice.

Get a facial sauna by using herbs such as lemongrass, licorice root and rosebuds. Keep it in simmer, 2 to 4 tablespoons of fresh or dried herbs in 2 quarts of water. Once you see the steam cover your face over it. To entrap the steam, cover your head with a damp towel and be in that position for 15 minutes. Later wash your face with cold water and dab it dry.

Warning The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.

Battling With Freckles

Health Specialist — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:12:54 +0000

Freckles are small red spots found on your body which comes in the small sizes. Due to over exposure of sun these small spots are formed. People with lighter skin are more prone to this condition. They come in different colors like red, yellow, brown, light-brown or black. Increased amount of melanin in your body gives you the tanned look. Light-complexioned people have less melanin but due to the uneven distribution instead of getting a tan they get freckles. It is mostly found on your face as it is the most exposed part of the body. Predisposition of freckles is genetic disorder and such people are more prone to skin cancer or sun burn. They can be stated as a very rare genetic symptom. There are two types of freckles ephelides which are flat spots found either in red or light brown color. Mostly seen in summers and disappear during winters. Lentigines freckles are found mainly on children which are brown, tan or black in color, and these do not fade away during winter. After a certain age freckles fade away and adults start developing age spots.

Preventive Measures

Reduce sun exposure

Wear SPF-15 sunscreen regardless of your skin color. Wear the sunscreen at least 20 minutes before you leave your home. Apply it after sweating and swimming too.

The sun’s ultraviolet rays are the strongest during 10 to 4, so avoid venturing out during those times.

You can use skin lighteners and peels to remove the darker skin layer.

Wear a cap or a hat when you are stepping outside your house.

Home Remedies for Freckles

You can wash and clean your face with sour milk as it is one of the most natural peeling agents. The lactic acid present in the milk helps to do the peeling.

Apply lemon juice all over the freckled area to make it disappear.

You can wear fruits and vegetable masks such as apricot, strawberries, cucumber and red currant.

Wear a sour cream mask. If you have oily skin, apply lemon juice before wearing the mask. Do not rinse away the entire mask, wipe it with facial tissue and then apply moisturizer.

Apply parsley juice mixed with equal amounts of lemon juice, orange and red currant juice. On top of that apply a cream which allows freckles to disappear.

Increase vitamin C in your daily diet by having citrus fruits, apples, green onions, black and red currant as well as rosehip tea.

Try rubbing fresh cut eggplant over your freckles everyday.

Skin Care And Prescription Oral Medicines

Health Specialist — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:16:33 +0000

Several types of prescription topical medicines include benzoyl peroxide, tretinoin, adapalene, and azelaic acid. Some people develop side effects from using prescription topical medicines including stinging, burning, redness, peeling, scaling, or discoloration of the skin. Prescription Oral Medicines

Oral antibiotics are thought to help control acne by curbing the growth of bacteria and reducing inflammation. Examples are clindamycin, erythromycin, sulfur, or isotretinoin. Some people experience side effects when taking these antibiotics, such as an increased tendency to sunburn, upset stomach, dizziness or lightheadedness, changes in skin color, and dry skin.

Your skin also stretches when you become overweight and after a diet, and loosing weight, you will need to exercise to tone your skin into shape again. A younger person has more flexible skin but when you are older your skin is not as flexible and it becomes harder to tone your skin after loosing weight. You have probably heard of dry skin, oily skin and combination skin.

Proper acne skin care also involves shaving and using the right razor. Choosing and testing for a comfortable safety razor is influential when you have acne. Before applying the shaving cream, the beard can be softened by washing it with soap and water. Using a sharp blade and shaving lightly helps avoid cuts and rupturing pimples.

Many acne skin care products and medicines for treating skin diseases can make your skin more prone to sunburn. Exposing your skin for a while to the sun may help dry up acne blemishes in the surface. Too much exposure to the sun can cause rapid skin aging, skin cancer and can make your skin drier. If you have acne, you may have decided that your skin type is either oily or combination.

But actually, it’s neither of these. Acne prone skin falls into a completely different category problem skin. Poser skin. The answer is not to try and put on weight in the first place but that is not always easy especially as we get older. Acne can be irritating for most people since it can almost be unpredictable and uncontrollable once it strikes.

The exact causes of this skin disease are not known and there have been no guaranteed measure in averting it. Diet, hereditary reasons, vitamin deficiency and stress are among the factors that have been closely attributed to acne infections. Still, it is best to find a good acne skin care regimen to ease and control its growth. An average person can make use of typical acne skin carefulness methods. However please try to keep weight gain off your skin care program as the two do not go together.

Unwind With Natural Bath And Body Products At Home

Health Specialist — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:04:30 +0000

After a long day, who doesnt love to indulge in a warm sudsy bath lightly scented with stress relieving essential oils? Pampering bath and body products are widely available, but many contain chemicals, perfumes and dyes that are often harmful to sensitive skin. There is an alternative for people who choose to go the natural route. Natural bath and body products, including skin care products for men and children have become increasingly popular as the population demands better products and more options.

Why should we consider natural bath and body products over commercial synthetic products? Natural products are more easily recognized, absorbed and eliminated by our bodies than products containing chemicals. Also, natural products can usually be used by the whole family since they do not contain harmful ingredients.

There are quite a few natural bath and body, along with, skin care products available online. Bath and body recipes also make it possible to create quality, effective, natural skin care products right at home. Here are a couple of natural bath and body recipes to try. Keep in mind that these recipes are most often meant to be used immediately and shouldnt be stored for more than a couple of days.

Natural Moisturizing Bath Bomb

1 cup citric acid
2 cups baking soda
1 tsp. fragrance oil
1 tsp. olive oil

Mix the first 2 dry ingredients together. Next, mix the 2 wet ingredients together, finally, mixing both wet and dry and forming into balls. Let dry for 24 hours before using.

Natural Shower Exfoliating Body Scrub

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 cups of sea salt
3-4 drops of peppermint oil

Combine all of the ingredients, and use in the shower. Do not use on children as scrubs can cause harm to sensitive skin.

Natural bath and body and skin care products are easily found online with a simple Google search. Many online natural bath and body product companies do not carry large quantities of stock and actually make the products as they are ordered to ensure freshness.

Chlamydia- Complications You May Face If Chlamydia Is Not Treated In Time

Health Specialist — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:13:45 +0000

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease. It is caused by a bacterium that is transmitted by sexual contact. Any sexual contact that causes your mucous membrane to get in touch with infected secretion may cause chlamydia. The complications of chlamydia are bad if it is left untreated. Please learn more so that you can prevent them.

Chlamydia – early symptoms

The early symptoms of chlamydia include- painful intercourse in women, vaginal discharge, penile discharge, difficult urination, etc. Sometimes these symptoms are very mild and are ignored. These symptoms appear after about two weeks of sexual contact. If chlamydia is left untreated it can cause serious complications. In the early stage antibiotics can clear chlamydia within a week or two and you are free of the disease. Afterwards, it becomes a long drawn process to get treated. Therefore it is important that you get treated immediately as soon as you see any symptoms described above. Your doctor will take a swab and test you. If the test is positive, you will be prescribed antibiotics. Let us find out about the later complications.

Chlamydia and women-

Women may lose fertility if chlamydia is left untreated. Untreated chlamydia leads to Pelvic inflammatory disease PID in women. This is an infection of the reproductive organs of women. She may get her ovaries, cervix, and uterus, fallopian tubes infected. If the diseases progresses, she may lose her ability to be fertile. Many times PID develops without showing any outer signs. Some women may have lot of pelvic pain with PID.

Chlamydia and men-

Men may develop swelling and pain in the testicles. This is an inflammation that is quite painful. Men may also develop complications of the prostrate gland.

Chlamydia and eye infection-

If you touch infected fingers to your eyes, you may infect your eyes. Please consult your doctor immediately if you suspect anything like that.

This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.

Online Pharmacy

Health Specialist — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:16:33 +0000

Information on this site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication. You should read carefully all product packaging. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, promptly contact your health care provider. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Customer reviews are provided for informational purposes only. Customer reviews reflect the individual reviewer’s results and experiences only and are not verified or endorsed by drugstore.com, inc. Actual results may vary among users.

Seeking and Buying Effective Antiaging Products in Today’s World

Health Specialist — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:47:57 +0000

If you are like many women and not a few men in the 21 st century, you regularly are on the hunt for effective antiaging products. Each and every week, there literally are a number of different antiaging products being introduced onto the marketplace. As a result, as you search for antiaging products, it can be a rather confusing and complicated process in many instances.

If you are seeking an effective antiaging product at this point in time, there are a number of factors and pointers that you should keep and bear in mind. First of all, products that contain antioxidants are valuable for their antiaging properties. Therefore as you seek an antiaging product for your own skin care needs, be on the alert for those antiaging products that do contain antioxidants within their makeup.

In addition to looking for antiaging products that contain antioxidants, you need to keep some other facts in mind as you seek antiaging assistance. In this regard, you need to remember that you will need to develop an antiaging regimen if you really want to reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles. To this end, you will want to obtain a number of different types of effective antiaging products.

You will want to ensure that your regimen includes cleansers that are designed to include antiaging properties. In this regard, you will want to avoid cleansers that dry the skin or that are too harsh.

In addition to cleansers with antiaging properties, obtaining an effective exfoliating product is also in order. If you want to keeps your skin as youthful looking as possible, it is important that you remove accumulated dead skin cells with regularity.

As part of your antiaging, you will want to include a moisturizer. Keeping your skin supple is a vital step in combating the effects of aging. Finally, you can avail yourself of some of the other antiaging products that are available on the market such as toning and firming gels and creams.

By adopting a thorough skin care and maintenance program that you utilize on a daily basis, you will have developed a true antiaging routine. Further, you should start such a routine early in life for the maximum benefit. In the long run, your skin will be far healthier. Additionally, you will be able to better control the look and appearance of fine lines and wrinkles through such a regular skin care regimen.

Of course, in the end you need to understand that there is no Fountain of Youth. There are no skin care products that have antiaging qualities that will reverse the sands of time. Rather, the best you can hope for when it comes to the antiaging products that are available on the market today is to reduce some of the appearances that are associated with the aging process. Specifically, and has been mentioned, through a comprehensive antiaging regimen, you will be able to reduce the look of some fine lines and wrinkles.

Rosacea – The Red Blush That Becomes Permanent

Health Specialist — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:00:51 +0000

Rosacea- what is it?

Rosacea is also called adult acne or acne rosacea. But it has nothing to do with acne. In rosacea what happen is this. You will notice that you show red blush or flushing of the center part of your face in the beginning. That may happen after sun exposure or after eating spicy foods or drinking alcoholic drinks etc. But slowly this blush will become permanent and your face will always look red at the center. Slowly the color may spread to other parts of the face and acne like papules may form.

Rosacea- Am I prone?

No body knows the cause of rosacea. Nor it is known about who may be prone to rosacea. It is thought that it is a disease of the blood vessels of the face. When it develops further, you may notice red veins like spider veins on your face. Most of the men develop red big nose because of rosacea.

Rosacea- are there any complications?

Your eyes may get involved if you don’t get roseasea treated. You will feel gritty in the eyes and must consult your doctor immediately. As said earlier, men may develop very bad looking red big noses that may need surgery to correct the shape.

Rosacea- what should I do?

If anytime you notice that you are getting red color easily on your face, watch if it is becoming permanent. Please consult your doctor immediately if it does and bring your rosacea under control. Knowing more about what triggers your rosacea will help you.