Wellness Archives - Page 2 of 35

3 Ways to Manage Asthma and Allergies

March 2, 2020 by Mandy

Asthma and allergies can lead to problems with your breathing. Knowing some tips to manage your asthma and allergies can help you have a healthier life. Allergens such as pollen and dust can trigger asthma attacks, but so can other stimuli. Some asthma triggers are biological and others are the result of poor health habits. Here are a few ways you can manage your asthma and allergies:

What Are Some Factors That Worsen Asthma and Allergies?

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Smoking, secondhand smoke, and smoke particles in the environment through third-hand smoke. Third-hand smoke is smoke particles that have settled into painting on the walls, onto furniture, carpet, flooring, clothes, and objects in the environment. These can trigger asthma because the particles contain the same toxic chemicals as in tobacco smoke. Vaping can trigger asthma episodes as much as smoking, whether the vaping is tobacco or flavored juice-based vaping. The chemicals in vaping can disable immune system cells in the lungs, causing lung inflammation that creates asthma attacks.

Infections such as colds, flu, or pneumonia can set off asthma. Allergens such as food allergens, dust mites, pollen, mold, and pet dander can trigger asthma. Exercises that are too vigorous can cause shortness of breath. Drugs such as aspirin and NSAIDs can contribute to asthma. Other triggers are emotional stress and acid reflux.

Often, triggers are in the environment. Some asthma triggers are air pollution, perfumes, sudden changes in weather, and humidity levels in your house. Too high humidity can grow mold. Humidity in your house that is too dry can make it difficult for you to breathe.

Ways to Manage Asthma and Allergies

The main way to manage asthma and allergies is to avoid the things that trigger them.

Avoid Smokers

Avoid people who smoke, including vaping. Avoiding places where it is smoky is one of the primary ways you can protect yourself against asthma attacks. Avoid smokers and smoke-filled places to prevent respiratory illnesses such as colds, flu, or pneumonia that can trigger asthma.

Biological Asthma Avoidance

Another way to manage your asthma and allergies is to avoid food and drug allergens. Your health care provider can help you learn what foods or drugs you are allergic to via allergen testing. Find a way to deal with stress. Emotional stressors can make managing asthma difficult. Ask your health care provider for tips on managing emotional stress, and seek referrals from your care provider for emotional or psychological support.

You can also talk to your health care provider about exercises that won’t trigger your asthma. You don’t have to give up healthy exercise because you have asthma. Appropriate exercise can help you stay fit so you can fight off asthma triggers such as colds and flu.

Your Furnace

Have your furnace inspected, and frequently change your air filter to have clean indoor air. If you have questions about your furnace or air quality, a certified HVAC person can help you. Talk to a trustworthy HVAC company, such as Custom Air Inc., to find ways of reducing asthma-inducing factors in your home.

Managing asthma and allergies mainly means being aware of your surroundings and the situations you find yourself in. Know what causes your asthma and allergy problems, and take steps to avoid those causes.

4 Ways to Reduce Stress

February 28, 2020 by Mandy

Everyone experiences stress to some degree throughout life, and finding ways to deal with it is important for our mental health and overall well-being.

That’s why finding ways to reduce stress in our everyday lives is one of the best things we can do to ensure we live happier, healthier and more productive lives.

Here are four ways you can reduce stress in your life to become the best version of yourself.

1. Create a Fitness Habit

Exercise is a great way to relieve stress, and partaking in various physical activities on a regular basis provides the most benefits. It can also help reduce anxiety and improve the quality of your sleep. Not to mention, exercising can help you feel more confident and competent in your body, which helps improve your mental well-being.

Additionally, exercise naturally helps lower your body’s stress hormones, thereby releasing endorphins that make you feel happier and which act as natural painkillers. So, look for easy ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. You can start by simply walking, jogging, dancing or doing simple yoga exercises.

2. Create a Cleaner, More Organized Space

It’s no secret that keeping a cleaner, more organized home or workspace will allow you to find things much easier when you need them, instead of scrambling last-minute to find said things. Beyond keeping things tidy, this practice is a great stress reliever and can help you feel more empowered and excited about new events and situations.

So, do whatever is necessary to create a cleaner, more organized space. Perhaps this means buying more furniture or creating more organizing strategies (or both). Bottom line: The most important thing to consider is to help make your home feels less cluttered, allowing you to feel better about the space you live and sleep in. In other words, make sure everything you own has a home so that you know exactly where items are located. Ultimately, you’ll find yourself feeling happier and less stressed.

3. Keep a Journal

Keeping a journal can help reduce stress by allowing you to get things out on paper that you might not normally or otherwise say aloud. Plus, this practice not only allows you to release your inhibitions to work through your feelings, but can also help enhance your sense of well-being, improve your memory, boost your mood, and reduce symptoms of depression.

Indeed, writing down your thoughts and feelings can make you more self-aware and allow you to discover unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors to work on and improve. With that in mind, consider keeping a journal to help you relieve stress and put things in perspective.

4. Meditate

Meditation can help relieve both short- and long-term stress in your life, and there are a few different kinds of practices to consider. One form of meditation requires developing a mantra to repeat in your mind while taking slow, deep breaths. You can also try mindfulness, spiritual, focused, movement and/or transcendental meditation.

Additionally, using meditation as a form of stress relief can help lower blood pressure, improve sleep, decrease pain, reduce anxiety, and ease symptoms of depression. So, find the meditation technique that works best for you, and make an effort to practice it every day.

Improving Your Mental Well Being

Dealing with stress is a normal part of life, but finding ways to manage your emotions and improve your mental well-being is essential. By using the above tips, you can find a way to a happier, healthier and more productive version of yourself. Find what works for you — and stick to it — and you’ll be on your way to better mental health in no time.

Choosing Life Insurance as a New Mother: Things to Know

February 22, 2020 by Mandy

Life insurance may not have been on your radar prior to becoming a mother; you’re not alone. Most people don’t consider life insurance until they are a parent; once their baby is born, they want to make sure that he or she is financially protected if anything were to happen to them.

Life insurance can be an overwhelming topic to understand in full, there are a lot of aspects to get to know and there are a lot of different things to consider. A life insurance attorney in Philadelphia summed up exactly how life insurance works for new mothers that may not be familiar with life insurance, “Life insurance is a promise between an insurance company and the insurance policyholder that states after he or she passes away, the insurance company will pay the beneficiary listed on the insurance policy a designated amount of money.”

Here are some other pointers for new mothers to keep in mind when beginning to look into purchasing a life insurance policy:

How Much Life Insurance Should I Buy?

In order to best determine how much life insurance you should buy, consider your family’s financial situation and potential needs. The answer to this question is different for every family, but consider these points in order to determine the appropriate amount to spend on life insurance:

Determine how many years of income you want a life insurance policy to replace
Think about what financial obligations you want this policy to take care of for your children; such as college tuition, counseling, and medical bills
What services do you provide your child with that will have to be replaced? Health insurance? Daycare? Car insurance? Any/ all living expenses?
Do you have money in your savings account? Designate where that will go and what it will cover

Decide on Beneficiaries

If you are married, it’s common and recommended that you name your spouse as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. Your spouse will get the death benefits from your policy and will be able to take care of your children with it and spend it accordingly. If your child is eighteen or older, you can name him or her as the beneficiary and he or she will receive the payment from the life insurance policy.

However, on a life insurance policy, you can’t name your child as the beneficiary if he or she is under the age of eighteen. Similarly, if you are not naming your spouse as the beneficiary, you are able to set up a life insurance trust fund that will hold money for your children. In other words, the trust is the beneficiary. With this trust, you will also have to select a trustee in order to manage the trust according to the instructions you give.

How Life Insurance is Priced

The price of a life insurance policy is different for every policy and different for every insurance company. Insurance companies take into consideration your age, your gender (women usually pay less than men), your health and habits- good and bad.

In order to get a life insurance quote, you can look online prior to working with a financial advisor.

Stay At Home Parents Need Life Insurance Policies

This is a crucial point for new mothers to keep in mind. Both parents, even stay at home moms need life insurance. Many new mothers that decide to stay at home moms don’t consider purchasing a life insurance policy because they aren’t bringing in a steady income. However, stay at home moms provide valuable services such as child care services that will need to be replaced if anything happens to her.

Protect Your Children by Purchasing a Life Insurance Policy Today

Purchasing a life insurance policy will make the legal process easier and less painful for your family if something were to happen to you. Knowing your family is financially stable is important. Be proactive and protect your children from financial hardships, look into life insurance policies and options today.

Tell-Tale Signs You Need Root Canal Treatment

January 17, 2020 by Mandy

Ask any dentist and they will gladly confirm that tooth extraction really is a last resort, and root canal treatment is often the preferred option that allows the tooth to remain in place. If you are wondering why it is so important not to extract teeth unless absolutely necessary, once a tooth has been removed, the teeth on either side have now lost the critical support and this means they will loosen over time.

Here are a few of the signs that tell you root canal treatment might be required.

Sensitivity To Heat & Cold– If you wince when drinking hot or iced coffee, this is because of exposed nerves, which might be due to a cracked or chipped tooth, or possibly gum disease that has reached the nerve section of the tooth. The best solution if you are experiencing this kind of discomfort is to make an appointment with a local dentist, who can carry out a thorough oral examination to determine the cause of the sensitivity. Sensitive teeth are a problem for many Australian people, although root canal treatment is not always the answer, and the only way to know for sure is to visit your dentist and ask them to examine you.

Constant Pain– If you are suffering with a constant pain at the base of a tooth, this could well be due to a serious infection, and in some cases, root canal treatment is recommended, and by making an appointment at a Brisbane endodontics clinic, an expert can give you a diagnosis. Of course, toothache can be caused by many things and in a lot of cases, other forms of treatment are advised.
Swollen Gums– Swollen gums signify that something is wrong under the surface of the gums and it is usually accompanied by pain, which might be due to a deep infection. In many cases, the tooth is fine and the inflammation will clear up with some medication, yet there are times when the root is damaged, and rather than losing the tooth, root canal treatment is the best option.
Dark Tooth Discolouration – This could be due to root damage, which affects the small blood veins and causes a dark discolouration, and this is often because of extended periods of tooth decay, due to poor oral hygiene. If you notice a dark discolouration at the base of one of your teeth, make an appointment with your dentist and he or she would carry out a thorough oral examination to determine the cause and recommend a treatment.

Without root canal treatment, many people would have no choice but to have teeth extracted and this can cause a whole new set of issues, as the teeth on either side will soon work their way loose and this is a very difficult thing to treat. Only a qualified dentist can perform root canal treatment, which involves removing the substance in the root canal, cleaning out the space, then filling it with a special composite material that retains the tooth’s strength.

Benefits of Hydrating Aloe Vera Juice For Your Skin

December 11, 2019 by Mandy

Aloe vera is a plant with a well-deserved reputation for healing properties. The juice of the aloe vera plant is included in many natural skin care treatments, such as the best organic face wash, because of its superior hydration properties. Discover what sets aloe juice apart from other lightweight moisturizers and makes it ideal for daily use on acne-prone skin.

Lightweight Hydration

Aloe is a go-to ingredient for quenching thirsty skin, particularly after cells sustain sun damage. The juice of this plant has a unique ability to smooth over the epidermis, locking in moisture without leaving behind a greasy residue that could clog pores. These properties make aloe vera juice an effective counterpart to an oil based acne treatment. The juice of this succulent is also rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin C and folic acid, all of which are essential for skin health.

Reduced Irritation

The juice of the aloe vera plant can also reduce reactions such as pain and visible redness while working to repair damage on the cellular level. Aloe suppresses the triggering enzymes for inflammation with compounds such as acemannan, which may be helpful for acne as well as skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis.

Aloe vera juice is also a source of polysaccharides, which are compounds that support cell turnover and damage repair. This plant-based product also contains the pain-relieving enzyme carboxypeptidase. The regenerative properties of aloe juice are most potent when the leaves have been cold-pressed and minimally processed.

Improved Absorption

Aloe vera juice and gel both contain lignin. These organic polymers promote the penetration of other treatments through the epidermis and deep down into the dermis. This is another reason why the juice of the aloe plant is recommended for topical use with the best acne oil treatment. Aloe vera juice also features antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral agents such as plant phenols, salicylic acid and sulfur.

Clarification and Exfoliation

Most acne sufferers are familiar with salicylic acid. This acid naturally occurs in aloe, which enables the juice of this plant to function as a gentle exfoliant. The high rate of absorption makes it possible for aloe vera juice to thoroughly clarify skin. Other compounds present in aloe can limit the production of tyrosinase, an enzyme that triggers the formation of skin discoloration. Antioxidants such as glutathione peroxide may also help to fade existing skin damage. As aloe vera juice is absorbed into skin, it also increases collagen and elastin production while promoting fibroblast activity.

Two distinct products, gel and juice, are sourced from the leaves of Aloe Barbadensis Miller and other common varieties. The juice referred to as Aloe Latex is a yellow sap found between the inner skin of leaves and the gel. This liquid drips from cut leaves and has a bitter taste and strong smell. Aloe vera juice is effective at hydrating skin without clogging pores or provoking irritation. Whether you apply juice directly to skin or look for natural products that contain active botanical compounds, you shouldn’t overlook the nourishing properties of this effective, lightweight moisturizer.