Health and Fitness Tips

After days of plowing through online articles and printed materials for fat loss, I realise there are numerous ways used to determine a healthy weight. Basically, being heavy ain't bad if you are say a non drug abusing body builder or wrestler. Nobody would consider them unhealthy in their muscle clad bodies since muscle is good tissue!

It is the measurement of the amount of body fat that will tell us whether we are healthy or unhealthy. There are various ways to measure that. We have the popular body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist to hop ratio, skinfold, bioelectric impedence analysis (BIA), DEXA, near infrared (NIR) interactance, hydrostatic weighing and air displacement.


Body Mass Index

This is a weight to height ratio and the resultant index gives an indication of one's body fat percentage and one's risk to obesitiy related diseases. The formula is as follows:

BMI = Weight(KG) / ( Height (m) x Height (m) )


This is by far the most common form of measurement but it has its limitation since it assumes one has a "typical" build. Body builders and wrestlers ain't your typical build so the BMI is not useful in those cases. Children should refer to an age and gender specific BMI chart.


Waist Circumference

If you notice, different people store fat differently expecially between women and men. Men tend to store fat around the abdomen area and women around the hips and thighs. The measurement of waist circumeference provides information about the distribution of one's body fat and risks to obesity related conditions.

To measure waist circumference, a measuring tape of adequate length is required. The correct position for measuring waist circumference is midway between the upper hip bone and the lowest point of the rib cage. Measurement with the tape should be taken at this midway point. In cases where the mid point cannot be found (in very overweight people), placing the tape at the level of the belly button will have to do.


Waist to Hip Ratio

This is basically the ratio of the waist circumference to the hip ratio. In addition to measuring the waist circumference, the hip circumference is also measured and the resultant waist to hip ratio is used as an indication of risk to coronary heart disease.


Skinfold

This method is done by measuring a pinch of skin by calipers at serveral standardised points on the body to determine the subcutaneous fat layer thickness. An equation is then used to estimate the body fat percentage based on the measurement taken.


Bioelectrical Impedence Analysis

A common method used for estimating body composition. BIA measures the opposition to the flow of an electric current through the body fluids contained in the lean and fat tissue. Impedance is low in lean tissue and high in fat tissue. Hence the amount of electrical inpedance gives an estimate amount of fat in the body.


Near Infrared Interactance

This is based on the principles of light absorbtion , reflectance, and near infrared spectroscopy. A computerized spectrophotometer that has a scan and probe are used. The probe is placed onto a selected body site such as the biceps and it emitts an infrared light which passes through both fat and muscle and is reflected back to the probe. Differences in optical density as a result of difference in body composition, are measured to give an indirect measurement of body fat.

DEXA

DEXA uses two X-ray energies to measure body fat, muscle, and bone mineral. It takes approximately 10 to 20 mins for a full body scan. The results may be viewed as whole body estimates of body fat, muscle, and bone mineral as well as regional body estimates.


Hydrostatic Weighing

This method uses Archimedes principle which states that when a body is submerged in water, there is a buoyant counter force equal to the weight of the water which is displaced. Equipment for such measurement are usually found in research laboratories.


Air Displacement

This method is based on the same principle as hydrostatic weighing. Instead of using water to measure body volume, air displacement is used to measure body volume.

more info at Fat Loss

Maybe you have researched different ways to quit smoking and are ready to stop for good. Whatever aid you choose to help stop smoking, there are other things you can do to help you succeed.

For instance, if you think that the sight of cigarettes or related paraphernalia might give you the urge to relapse and take the smoking habit back up, it would be best to banish all such items from your sight. Habits like smoking can be in part triggered by visual cues, so get those cigarettes, lighters, matches and ashtrays out of sight.

There is a lot of truth to the adage "out of sight, out of mind", at least when it comes to quitting smoking. You'll make it that much easier on yourself by getting those reminders out of the way.

A common stumbling block that can lead to failure is keeping cigarettes around. It is far too easy to rationalize "just one" cigarette. Keep them away, and you'll be much less tempted to relapse.

No matter how well you manage to hide the reminders and temptations, you are almost sure to have withdrawal symptoms. Get ready for these; they may pass within the first week, or persist as long as a month.

The first few days will be the biggest hurdle, so be prepared for the worst. A stop smoking program may help prepare you for withdrawal, or at the very least let you know what to expect.

There will of course be cravings for cigarettes and increased appetite. These are typical withdrawal symptoms. Here are seven coping strategies for withdrawal to help you succeed:

1. Headaches and dizziness are common when you first quit. Over the counter pain relievers such as aspirin, as well as cold compresses are usually effective in managing these symptoms.

2. Fatigue during the first two to four weeks are reported by many who quit, but can be greatly reduced by maintaining an exercise routine and making sure to get enough sleep. Also, some have success with meditation. When you're trying to quit smoking, any strategy is worth trying.

3. Coughing will likely increase for a short time after you quit, while your lungs attempt to rid themselves of the residue left by smoking. The cough will disappear gradually over several days; be patient. It can be helpful to sip water or have a cough drop or piece of hard candy.

4. Tightness in the chest may occur during the first week. Breathe deeply and relax - it will pass soon enough.

5. Difficulty sleeping is common in the first few days without cigarettes. Try to avoid caffeine late in the day as well strenuous activity right before going to sleep, drink a glass of milk, or take a hot bath.

6. Constipation may occur. Make sure to get plenty of fiber (fruits, vegetables, and grains are good sources), drink lots of water, and get some exercise in daily, and you should have no problem.

7. Difficulty concentrating may occur during the first few weeks. If losing focus becomes a problem take a break and do something physical for a few minutes.

Use whichever of these seven tips you need to help you succeed and become a non-smoker. What better gift can you give yourself than to stop smoking?


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Grab lots of information about how to stop smoking at http://www.onlinestopsmokingtips.com. There is encouragement to help you quit smoking, information about how to stop, and facts on what cigarettes are doing to your body.

Many people who attempt to lose weight do so by trying to cut back on the amount of food they eat. Now while this may work to a certain extent in the short term, it certainly is not a long term solution and definitely not the best way to lose weight. There is even a chance that if you cut out too much food from your diet that it could have a negative effect on your health. On top of this a large drop in calories is associated with starvation mode, which will actually prevent you from losing weight successfully.

Crash diets are probably the unhealthiest ways to lose weight. When your body doesn't receive an adequate amount of calories, it slows its abilities to burn calories effectively. This can often lead to feelings of ill health, a weakened immune system and potential illness. If your body does not receive enough calories through eating, it will have to find them from somewhere else. Your body will take the calories from the protein in your muscles. This will results in your muscles becoming much weaker and smaller, leading to more tiredness. You may lose weight this way but most of it will be muscle weight and not fat weight. It is the fat that needs to be shifted and not the muscle. Nobody has ever felt bad or had low self esteem because they had too much muscle.

When it comes to changing your diet so that you can reach your weight loss goals there are 2 things that you need to do. Firstly cut out all the calories from unhealthy foods and replace them with calories from healthy foods. If you feel that you are consuming too many calories regardless of the source, and then simply cut out no more than 500 calories per day from your diet. Anything around 300-500 will be fine. Cut out too many and yes you've guessed it: you hit starvation mode. The second thing that you will have to do is to eat more often. This means instead of consuming your daily calories within 2 or 3 meals spread them out to 5 or 6 meals. This needs to be done because your body can only digest a certain amount of food. Any extra will be stored as fat. Smaller meals have less chance of being stored as fat because your body can digest and use most of it.

Exercise is a must if you want to lose weight. You should engage in cardio and resistance exercise. Resistance exercise involves training with weights. Training with weights will increase the size of your muscles. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn, so if you increase your muscle mass, you will increase the amount of calories you burn, and this equals fat loss. Cardio exercise is also required for fat loss. Apart from losing weight other benefits will include a stronger heart, better oxygen intake, more energy, and general all round health.

This last step should have actually been the first step but I left it until last because it only becomes a problem a few weeks after starting a weight loss program. This is the question of motivation and willpower. Many people fail to keep up the motivation to lose weight after a short period of time and give up trying. One of the main reasons behind this is due to having unrealistic goals. These probably come from the way many diets and weight loss products are advertised. If you expect to lose 30 or 40 pounds a month, you can forget it! Your body cannot lose this amount of weight in a safe and effective way.

You must set realistic goals, losing 2 or possibly 3 pounds of weight a week is a more realistic view. Your body can cope with this amount of weight loss and mentally so can you. This may not sound like a lot when you compare it to what some dubious weight loss products or diets claim. However it is precisely those people who use these types of products and diets, that fail to lose weight and give up trying. A realistic approach will ensure that you lose weight on a regular basis and ensure that the weight will stay off. All this can be achieved without having a negative impact on your health, and with testing your motivation and willpower too much.

You don't need diet pills, weight loss supplements or popular fad diets to lose weight. All you need is a realistic approach, a healthy diet, and a good exercise program consisting of cardio training and weight training. This without doubt is the best way to lose weight.


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It’s a known fact that too high of a percentage of American’s are overweight and many of these people have difficulty getting the best term life insurance rates. There are over 60 million Americans who aren’t just considered overweight but considered obese. Sure, it’s easy to say if someone is comfortable with how he or she looks and how he or she feels, others shouldn’t judge. Judging isn’t necessarily the issue but rather health is the issue. The media has begun to pick up on the negative effects that being overweight can have on the human body. Because of these negative effects, term life insurance companies, whether they are handing out term life insurance policies, or more permanent policies, have started to take notice.


Term Life Insurance and Health

Term life insurance companies are consistently looking out for trends that can be harmful to one’s health. The life insurance companies want their customers to live long lives. Whether you are applying for a term life insurance policy or a permanent life insurance policy, anything that may have an affect on your health will affect the amount that you’re paying. When an insurance company finds something that means you may have a shorter life span, your rates for insurance may be higher.


What is a Healthy Weight?

Being slightly over your “healthy weight” is not a major issue, and should not affect your life insurance premiums at all. Being significantly overweight cannot only hurt your health and your quality of life, but it can also affect your insurance premium and policy approval rate. According to research of obesity and being overweight, those who are between 35% and 40% overweight, are twice as likely to die prematurely. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Being overweight can cause issues for the entire body, including circulation and heart problems.

If you’re overweight, you may pay a higher premium for term life insurance as your health exam may reveal other health issues that you may not be aware of. This means that the more you weigh, you’re not only hurting your body but also your wallet. While this has become an epidemic across the nation, there are certain states that have made the so-called “top ten” for obese states in the US. These are the states that have the worst cases of obesity with their citizens. Being on this list may mean that the term life insurance premium hike caused by added weight could be even worse in your state.


Term Life Insurance With States Having the Highest Overweight Population

Mississippi takes the lead as the most obese state in the US. This is followed by West Virginia, Alabama and Louisiana. South Carolina and Tennessee are tied to round out the top five states as far as obesity is concerned. If you are in these 6 states, and are considering term life insurance, you will want to be sure to shop around for quotes from different life insurance companies, as they may take even closer note of obesity, since it runs rampant in your state. Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, and Oklahoma round out the top ten of the most obese states in the nation.


Term Life Insurance for the Healthy

For those who do not suffer from being overweight or obese, you are in luck. Because of the rising cost of insuring those who are overweight and obese, staying within your healthy weight range will help keep your insurance costs lower. Losing weight can actually help you lower the cost of your term life insurance, as companies look for incentives to get people to be healthier and live longer lives. Make sure that your life insurance company actually has these premium incentives. If not, and if you’re planning on losing weight, you may consider switching providers to take full benefit of your weight loss.

Being overweight can hurt you while trying to find affordable quotes for term life insurance. Try to lose weight, or find a plan that is willing to work with you. This can help you save money and still qualify for the best coverage with the lowest premiums.

Do you ever wonder why so many people are overweight and on a diet today, and why weight loss is on everyone’s mind?

Do you ever wonder what is triggering the physiology of so many people to store so much fat and feel like they have a food addiction or food compulsion?

If you struggle with your weight, this is a "must ask" question. Wisdom quickly reveals a timeless truth: we cannot change or manage what we do not understand. As you begin to understand what is driving the current obesity epidemic, you begin to see the "bullets" that must be dodged.

Current National Institutes of Health (NIH) reveal that sixty-five percent of US adults are overweight (above ideal body weight), and that thirty-three percent are obese (20% or more above ideal body weight). Further, we have watched these numbers climb consistently over the last fifty years.

Just a few short years ago, my grandparents' generation (born around 1890) enjoyed what seemed like an inalienable right to a slim and fit physique. Not so today. What is causing this relatively sudden obesity epidemic? An understanding of the answer to this question should reveal clues to the solution (hint: it has little to do with "willpower" - the current generation has not all of the sudden "lost its will"!).

What has changed in the last fifty to one hundred years? The most profound nutrition change is the introduction of high starch, high sugar, nutrient poor, explosive tasting … stuff in boxes, bags and packages (I cannot bring myself to call this stuff food - and your body agrees!) in massive quantities.

This type of food, for most of us, is like flipping the fat switch to "store". The good news is that if it can be flipped to "store", it can be flipped back to "burn"!

Are you interested in learning to flip your "fat switch" to burn? Of course you are! In the process you will likely achieve the following "bonuses":

- Decrease food cravings,
- Decrease drive to overeat
- Decrease carbohydrate difficulty
- Decrease emotional eating
- Decrease binge eating
- Decrease fatigue
- Decrease depressive tendency

There are four clinically proven nutrition steps that will achieve the above (which would be considered a miracle if a medication did it!):

1) Eat protein each time you eat (try one ounce for snacks and three to four ounces for meals).

2) Minimize (note: I did NOT write "avoid" - be cautious about triggering deprivation) intake of insulin stimulating - imagine turning the "fat storage switch" on - high glycemic carbohydrates (sugary foods, bread, cereal, pasta, baked goods, potato, rice, etc.) - save them for special occasions or important times.

3) Eat a minimum of five to six times per day. As hunger goes up, freedom to choose goes down; frequent eating tends to be healthful and is an effective technique to manage blood sugar and insulin (and the "fat storage switch"!).

4) Consume the supplemental nutrients and herbs that science has proven important for blood sugar regulation and insulin function (chromium, biotin, omega-3 fatty acids, vanadium, vitamin E, Zinc, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Cinnamon, gymnema sylvestra, bitter melon, to name a few).

To strengthen this response even more…

5) Live an active lifestyle.

6) Sleep eight to nine hours between 9:00pm and 7:00am, the earlier the better. Rule out sleep apnea; you can evaluate yourself with an online evaluation on many of the sleep apnea sites.

7) Engage some form of stress management (deep breathing, yoga, meditation, etc.).

That's the way it looks from here at the Weight Wizard University Castle!

Gary Avignon, a nationally recognized psychotherapist known as “The Weight Wizard”, specializes with the psychology of nutrition, compulsive eating and weight loss. He is the author of a revolutionary new book, Weight Wizardry 101: Introduction to The Psychology of Successful Weight Control. YOU can nab Chapter One, “The Single Biggest Secret That Causes Diet Failure”, for *FR*EE* for a limited time at http://www.theweightwizard.com.

The pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Aventis, has always promoted acomplia as achieving the best results when combined with a low-calorie diet and exercise. There is a simple explanation for this. People who are sufficiently motivated will lose weight if they reduce their calorie intake below their normal daily requirement and increase their metabolic rate through exercise. This forces the body to burn fat as stored energy to fill the gap. So why take acomplia? In the clinical trials, many of the people on placebo also lost weight.

There is another simple explanation. It is an application of the placebo effect. When people believe strongly enough that a medication is effective, it will produce the relevant healing effect. Even though a tablet is actually chemically inert, it can heal in the right context. More importantly, the placebo effect amplifies the therapeutic effect of all real medications. So back to the question of why anyone should use acomplia.

The answer depends on the precise effect that acomplia has. This medication is specifically designed to help people feel less hungry. Hunger is the psychological trigger to eating. Thus, if people feel only slightly hungry, they will naturally eat less leading to two opposing statements:

Acomplia should therefore not be seen as a weight reduction medication.

Acomplia should therefore be seen as a weight reduction medication.

Both statements are true consequences. Acomplia is not in itself a “fat buster”. The active chemical ingredients do not circulate through the body via the blood stream metaphorically killing fat cells whenever they find them. It is only a psychological prop to help people maintain their motivation to diet. The body will lose weight naturally if people consume more energy than they take in. If people feel less hungry, this is easier to achieve. Now let us go back to the idea of a placebo making a drug more effective. If everyone believes that acomplia is a fat buster, then it is more likely that people will lose more weight using it.

Now to add one further reason for following the formula of acomplia + diet + exercise. It is suggested that acomplia is associated with mood changes. In this respect, the research published in the April edition of Br. J. Sports Med. makes interesting reading. It has always been intuitively obvious that regular physical activity helps to improve mood, although no-one has ever been able to suggest exactly how much of whatever activity achieves this effect. All researchers have said is that if the physical activity is affecting the body positively, the body releases dopamine to reinforce the sense of pleasure or enjoyment and so encourage more of the activity.

The study focussed on some 20,000 adult Scottish participants using the General Health Questionnaire. If there is regular activity, there is a clear reduction in the levels of psychological distress after adjusting for factors of age, gender, BMI, smoking, marital status, social economic group, and the presence of any chronic illness. Less frequent activity has an effect, but it is less significant. The strongest effect was obtained through engaging in a sport, but there were also good results from gardening and other hobby activities involving physical exercise. Even twenty minutes per week had a good effect on mood.

Thus, whether by accident or design, the linkage between acomplia and physical exercise is genuinely valuable. If acomplia does potentially have an adverse effect on mood, this may to some extent be relieved if you are also exercising regularly. This article is not, of course, suggesting that physical activity will be a guaranteed cure for any looming depression. But whether you exercise to lose weight or to improve your mood, acomplia with exercise is obviously going to be better than acomplia without exercise.

Copyright (c) 2008 Duanphen Singhaphan

Somewhere around 25 million Americans are currently taking high blood pressure drugs of some kind. These medications consist primarily of diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium antagonists, and ACE inhibitors. But they tend to produce some serious side-effects if taken for too long a time: elevated blood sugar, depression, high cholesterols aggravated asthma, potassium deficiency, and cardiac arrhythmia.

An interesting report authored by M. Cohen, J. Josimovich, and P. J Lefebvre appeared in the scientific journal Clinical Science (81:739-42) in 1991. It was entitled, "Anti-Oxidants Show an Anti-Hypertensive Effect in Diabetic and Hypertensive Subjects." It demonstrated that such substances substantially lower blood pressure levels when used with consistency.

Spices are one important class of antioxidants. Besides garlic and onion, there are rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, and oregano. When regularly used in cooking, they hold blood pressure within safe limits. Besides this, there is the obvious benefit of making things taste better. If I had to choose another spice to go with garlic and onion, I would have to pick turmeric. This is ALA hair ingredient in curry powder. It has a decided therapeutic advantage in the liver. The Sabinsa Corporation of Piscataway New Jersey, market a product called Curcumin C-3 Complex, which is the only standardized turmeric extract of high quality currently available. Taking some of this everyday will help to bring stability to elevated blood pressure. (Call 1-800-248-7464 or write to Sabinsa Corp., 121 Ethel Road West, Unit #6, Piscataway, NJ 08854 for more information.

Within each of our brains, resides a tiny organ known as the pineal gland. It is about the shape and size of a single kernel of corn. Some consider it to be one of the body's "master glands" responsible for performing many multiple functions. One of these is the production of the hormone melatonin, about which much has been written of late.

As we become older, a number of vital hormones begin declining: testosterone, estrogen, growth hormone, DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), and, of course, melatonin. At one time the slow loss of these hormones was seen as a consequence of old age, but now their losses could actually contribute to the aging process. Which means that replacing them might just extend our youthfulness a little longer.

A lady judge (aged 54) I know of, discovered her blood pressure was 167 over 115, making her case extremely bad. She went to a local health food store (New Frontiers Natural Foods Market & Deli) and informed a clerk of her problem. The clerk suggested she try some melatonin, which proved to be helpful for her honor. She took two 3-milligram tablets every day for two months. By then, another check of her blood pressure showed it had dropped to borderline levels: 141 over 105.


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On first impression I'd say that it seems to be a quite an ordinary question that one would ask one self, but could you really tell whether you had a serious drinking problem, I ask myself.

The incredible truth is that in fact most people throughout the world are just not capable of owning up to their alcohol drinking condition. People just tend to remain blind to the fact and simply refuse to make an effort to change their sorry lives. You can take it for granted too that these sort of people are not the types for owning up to their addiction to alcohol.

Well we may just ask ourselves just what are the first signs of having a drinking problem. The answer is simple enough and it's just by analysing our own behaviour. It may appear that any diagnosis of alcoholism would be quite obvious, and it is if you follow a logical pattern as you would with an ordinary illness.

Let's now go over 11 questions that we should probably be asking ourselves. If you believe that you can associate yourself with any of these points then you shouldn't be in two minds about getting treatment urgently... 1 - Do my drinking habits get me into deep shite? 2 - Am I always happy to drink more even once I've reached my limit? 3 - Is this the first time I am considering quitting? 4 - Have I begun hiding booze around the house? 5 - Am I more forgetful after drinking?

6 - Does Alcohol turn me into someone else? 7 - Do I tend to be a pain in the but while drinking? 8 - When I get down or sad , do I start sniffing for booze with amazing speed? 9 - Do you tend to fall out with family and friends under the influence? 10 - Do you worry that drinking affects your health constantly? 11 - Have you actually ever asked yourself what life could really be like without alcohol?

The time has come to quite honest with yourself and admit to how many of these points are real in your life. If that should be three or more then you need medical help fast.

Is is quite incredible that most people who actually decide to take those initial steps do manage to quit drinking or just on special occasions. So don't waste any more time and get over to StopDrinkingAdvice.org and download their free report "Discover How To Permanently Stop Drinking Alcohol Within 21 Days Or Less. Guaranteed" This organisation has contributed in helping over 2000 alcoholics kick their habit.

Discover how to Stop Drinking Alcohol In 21 Days - Guaranteed by expert Ed Philips and find further guidance here to help you Stop Drinking Alcohol.

When stress overwhelms you chunk the task into smaller steps. Completing smaller tasks will make the stress more manageable and will increase your ability to reduce stress.

When everything happens all at once--this is stress. How do you manage the stress in your life?

Let's start by taking a deep breath and relaxing. Get your mind off the issue and try doing this for a change? Look what your reaction is to the problem. How does that sound? Before you think too hard about that, take a walk or do some kind of activity that will give you a fresh perspective on things.

Something else that is very helpful is to use a notebook of good thoughts that make you feel great. When you come across a statement that clears your head, write it down in the notebook and can carry it around with you. If you experience anxiety, open up your notebook and recall a postitve thought.

In addressing your anxieties, take one day at a time. Rather than centring on inflated assumptions that might or might not happen, concentrate on the present and rely on the realities of the present state of affairs.

Your anxieties can occasionally get the worst of you. They might take hard work and perseverance, but it is conceivable to find answers in managing your anxieties. It is important to realize that not all stress is bad for you. Some stress makes life interesting; it can force you to accomplish your goals. Because we cannot break loose every stress, it is crucial to learn to control stress.

Everybody has stress in his or her life. So, there is no one answer for addressing stress. For instance, someone who thrives on constant change would be bored in a job that is dull, while a person that avoids change would be full of anxiety and stress in a high-energy position.

Illnesses are directly related to stress. If you are always sick or fatigued, or you are anxious, it's time to learn to contend with your stress. Stress management takes practice. If you hold on, you will overcome the art of dealing with stress.

What things cause your stress? Is it your commute? Preparing for a public speaking engagement? Dealing with your kids after school? Most of these things are inescapable, but these stresses are still manageable. If your morning commute stresses you, try leaving for work a few minutes sooner. If speaking horrifies you, try thinking that the audience is in their underwear. If your kids disturb you, set up activities that you can all enjoy together. It's important to understand what causes your stress, and dream up ways that you can deal with them.

It's vital to reduce your emotional responses to your stressful situations. Stress can cause you to produce negative thoughts, and you will act accordingly. It may be better to think of stress as an opportunity for improvement. If you overreact to every situation, back up and evaluate every time you lash out, and dream up ways to cope. You might not be able to do anything about your stressors, but you can control how you respond to them.

What are your physical reactions to stress? Start deep breathing techniques to lower your heart rate. If your physical responses to stress are dangerous, seek a alternative health provider to help you avert high blood pressure or heart problems. Occasionally the best way to avoid stress is by taking a time out in order to reorganize and freshen up.

Another awesome way to battle stress is to do some kind of movement. Do some aerobic exercise and strength training. Those are powerful outlets for stress. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, and avoid all kinds of drugs. Get a good night’s sleep every night.

Following these great ideas will help you to reduce your stress.

For free stress information go to Reduce Stress

What is Dysentery?

Dysentery is an infection that usually causes diarrhea. The infection is often passed on through improper hygiene. One of the most common causes of dysentery is not washing the hands after using public toilets.

It is a condition characterised by inflammation of the bowels. The inflammation results in severe stomach pains. Dysentery also involves severe diarrhea that is often associated with bood in the feces. Diarrhea can be fatal too if the body dehydrates completely.

It is a disease involving the inflammation of the lining of the large intestines. The inflammation causes stomach pains and diarrhoea.

Dysentery is spread from person to person. It is very common for one person in a family to pass it on to the rest of the family members. From there, it can be passed on to numerous people in the general public. The infection can last and be spread for around four weeks.

It is a more serious form of diarrhea, where the stools are tinged with blood and mucus. The diarrhea can be quite severe, characterized by colicky pains and frequent urging. Stools can be passed as often as fifteen to thirty times per day. The onset is typically sudden, accompanied by a high fever and thirst. The illness causes great fatigue and depletion of strength. Dehydration is a serious side-effect, especially if the person becomes too weak to drink enough liquids.

There are two main types of dysentery: bacillary and amoebic dysentery.

Bacillary Dysentery It is estimated that in some parts of the tropics 80% of the children acquire bacillary dysentery before the age of five; the mortality rate is high among infants and the aged if the infection is not treated, preferably with a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Amebic Dysentery Amebic dysentery is prevalent in regions where human excrement is used as fertilizer; in some such regions over half the population probably harbors the amebic cyst. The cyst is the inactive, resistant stage in which the ameba is transmitted from one host to another; the active form is that which causes damage.

What are the main causes of Dysentery?

The condition is caused by bacteria which usually enter the body through the mouth in contaminated food or water, or by physical contact with a person who has already been infected.

The bacterium Shigella dysenteriae type 1 (Sd1) causes a particularly severe form of the disease known as epidemic dysentery.

The Shigella and Campylobacter bacteria that cause bacilliary dysentery are found all over the world. They penetrate the lining of the intestine, causing swelling, ulcerations, and severe diarrhea containing blood and pus.

most cases are spread through families and where people are in close contact, such as schools, nurseries, military bases and day-centres. The disease can be spread up to four weeks from infection into the body.

Dysentery is also spread through food that has come into contact with water contaminated with human sewage, such as in countries with poor sanitation systems.

Dysentery is rarely caused by chemical irritants or by intestinal worms.

Having sex that involves anal contact may spread amoebic and bacilliary dysentery.

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