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.” Read the rest of this entry »

The sunscreen industry should be very proud of itself: I can’t think of many other completely useless products that the vast majority of people are absolutely convinced that they need. But I suppose it was an easy sell: After a bad sunburn or two, the idea of preventing another one
with a simple slathering of lotion seems like a welcome solution – especially since the so-called experts have also been warning us for years that the sun will give us cancer.

Of course, you and I both know that there’s no proof that sunscreens prevent skin cancer. What they DO prevent is your body from absorbing the sun’s vitamin-D-producing UV rays. Now, though, it looks like there might be a way to get the best of both worlds – with broccoli.

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You don’t even have to eat broccoli to benefit from it
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Recent research from Johns Hopkins University showed that topical application of a broccoli extract can reduce the redness caused by UV damage (a.k.a. “sunburn”) by more than 37 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

1. 2 out of 3 adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.

02. 25% of your bones are located in your feet.

03. 35,000 people in the U.S. will die from the flu annually.

04. 40% of all indigestion remedies sold in the world are bought by Americans.

05. A fetus develops fingerprints at eighteen weeks!

16. A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it’s there, though!

77. A man once sued his doctor because he survived his cancer longer than the doctor predicted.

08. A person infected with the SARS virus, has a 95-98% chance of recovery.

09. A person will burn 7 percent more calories if they walk on hard dirt compared to pavement.

010. A sneeze can travel as fast as 100 miles per hour.

011. A toothbrush within 6 feet of a toilet can get airborne bacteria from flushing.

012. A woman’s sense of smell is most sensitive during ovulation.

013. About 400 different kinds of microbes live on and in the human body.

114. About half of all Americans are on a diet on any given day.

015. An average adult produces about half a liter of flatulent gas per day, resulting in an average of about fourteen occurrences of flatulence a day.

016. At age 70, more than 70 percent of men are still potent!

017. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

018. By the age of 60, most people have lost 50% of their taste buds.

019. Children are more allergic to cockroaches than they are to cats!

020. Children are poisoned most frequently by eating harmful plants.
Read the rest of this entry »

Allergest – Treats allergies.
Anesthesiologist – Puts patients to sleep before surgery.
Cardiologist – Treats heart ailments.
Dermatologist – Treats the skin and its diseases.
Endocrinologist – Treats the glands, such as the thyroid and adrenal, which secrete body hormones.
Gastroenterologist – Specializes in diseases and disorders of the digestive system.
Gerontologist – Treats diseases of old age.
Gynecologist – Treats the female reprodictive system.
Hematologist – Treats blood diseases.
Immunologist – Specializes in the body’s defense system against infection and disease.
Nephrologist – Treats kidney disorders.
Neurologist – Treats the nervous systems.
Obstrician – A doctor who cares for women throughout pregnancy.
Orthopedist – Treats disorders of bones and muscles.
Orthodonist – A dentist who specializes in straingthening teeth.
Otolaryngologist – Treats ailments of the nose, throat and ears.
Pathologist – Studies the cause,development and manifestations of disease.
Pediatrician – Specializes in the care and treatment of infants and children.
Plastic Surgeon – Repairs,restores or improves body parts.
Psychiatrist – Treats illness and disorders of the mind.
Radiologist – X-rays body parts and organs for medical diagnosis.
Rheumatologist – Treats diseases of body joints.
Urologist – Treats the urinary tract of the body.

Hand washing is a simple habit that can help keep you healthy. Learn the benefits of good hand hygiene, when to wash your hands and how to clean them properly.
By Mayo Clinic staff

Hand washing is a simple habit, something most people do without thinking. Yet hand washing, when done properly, is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick. This simple habit requires only soap and warm water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer — a cleanser that doesn’t require water. Do you know the benefits of good hand hygiene and when and how to wash your hands properly?

The dangers of not washing your hands
Despite the proven health benefits of hand washing, many people don’t practice this habit as often as they should — even after using the toilet. Throughout the day you accumulate germs on your hands from a variety of sources, such as direct contact with people, contaminated surfaces, foods, even animals and animal waste. If you don’t wash your hands frequently enough, you can infect yourself with these germs by touching your eyes, nose or mouth. And you can spread these germs to others by touching them or by touching surfaces that they also touch, such as doorknobs.

Infectious diseases that are commonly spread through hand-to-hand contact include the common cold, flu and several gastrointestinal disorders, such as infectious diarrhea. While most people will get over a cold, the flu can be much more serious. Some people with the flu, particularly older adults and people with chronic medical problems, can develop pneumonia. The combination of the flu and pneumonia, in fact, is the eighth-leading cause of death among Americans.

Inadequate hand hygiene also contributes to food-related illnesses, such as salmonella and E. coli infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 76 million Americans get a food-borne illness each year. Of these, about 5,000 die as a result of their illness. Others experience the annoying signs and symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Proper hand-washing techniques
Good hand-washing techniques include washing your hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Antimicrobial wipes or towelettes are just as effective as soap and water in cleaning your hands but aren’t as good as alcohol-based sanitizers.

Antibacterial soaps have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, these soaps are no more effective at killing germs than is regular soap. Using antibacterial soaps may lead to the development of bacteria that are resistant to the products’ antimicrobial agents — making it even harder to kill these germs in the future. In general, regular soap is fine. The combination of scrubbing your hands with soap — antibacterial or not — and rinsing them with water loosens and removes bacteria from your hands.

Proper hand washing with soap and water
Follow these instructions for washing with soap and water:

* Wet your hands with warm, running water and apply liquid soap or use clean bar soap. Lather well.
* Rub your hands vigorously together for at least 15 to 20 seconds.
* Scrub all surfaces, including the backs of your hands, wrists, between your fingers and under your fingernails.
* Rinse well.
* Dry your hands with a clean or disposable towel.
* Use a towel to turn off the faucet.

Proper use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers — which don’t require water — are an excellent alternative to hand washing, particularly when soap and water aren’t available. They’re actually more effective than soap and water in killing bacteria and viruses that cause disease. Commercially prepared hand sanitizers contain ingredients that help prevent skin dryness. Using these products can result in less skin dryness and irritation than hand washing.

Not all hand sanitizers are created equal, though. Some “waterless” hand sanitizers don’t contain alcohol. Use only the alcohol-based products. The CDC recommends choosing products that contain at least 60 percent alcohol.
To use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:

* Apply about 1/2 teaspoon of the product to the palm of your hand.
* Rub your hands together, covering all surfaces of your hands, until they’re dry. Read the rest of this entry »

Headaches are one of the most common of medical complaints. Most people experience headache pain at one time or another. Everyone, young and old, male and female, suffers from headaches from time to time. These may range from minor, nagging headaches to full-blown, incapacitating neurovascular migraines. Most headaches are not caused by serious medical conditions.

The most common classifications of headache pain are tension, cluster, and migraine. Another disturbingly common type of headache is the rebound headache, which appears to be the result of taking prescription or non-prescription pain relievers daily or almost daily.

The good news is that there are a growing number of natural alternatives to treat headache pain.

The powerful effects of your favorite essential oil seeps deep in to the nervous constitution to reduce the pain emanating from different lobes of brain. Head aches are known to originate out of many internal and external influences; deep strain inflicted in your mental constitution is known to be a major cause.

Several aromatic oils have the capacity to prevent and/or reduce the throbbing pain caused by emotional stress and rigors.

The following aromatherapy recipes can also be used as a preventative measure, and can even help ease your pain. Once you’ve guessed what is triggering your migraines, prepare the appropriate recipe mixture by pouring the oil essences into a 10-ml bottle, and adding vegetable oil to fill. Make sure that you are mixing this concoction very well.

If the pain persists even after trying the suggested remedies above, you are suggested to visit your physician for further consultations.

Hearble Treatment
Aromatherapy Blend #1 – Head aches due to negative emotions
3 drops Roman Chamomile
8 drops Lavender

Aromatherapy blend #2 – Head aches due to muscular tensions
4 drops Lavender
5 drops Peppermint
Massage the forehead, temples, neck and shoulders.

Aromatherapy blend #3 – Head aches due to nervous tensions
3 drops Roman Chamomile
3 drops Neroli
5 drops Marjoram

Massage the forehead, temples and solar plexus very gently. Breathe it in deeply and slowly. Pour 15 drops of this aromatic blend into the bathtub and soak for at least 15 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

How eating chocolate can help improve your maths
Eating chocolate could improve the brain’s ability to do maths, a new study suggets.

Hot chocolate drink: How eating chocolate can help improve your maths

Mental arithmetic became easier after volunteers had been given large amounts of compounds found in chocolate, called flavanols, in a hot cocoa drink.

They were also less likely to feel tired or mentally drained, the findings, presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference in Brighton show.

Prof David Kennedy, director of the brain, performance and nutrition research centre at Northumbria University, and a co-author of the study, said that chocolate could be beneficial for mentally challenging tasks.

The findings suggest students who binge on chocolate when revising for exams may gain a real benefit from doing so.

“For things that are difficult to do, mentally demanding things that maybe crop up in your work it could help,” Prof Kennedy said.

The flavanols, part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols, work by increasing the flow of blood into the brain.

For the study 30 volunteers were asked to count backwards in groups of three from a random number between 800 and 999 generated by a computer.

The findings show that they could do the calculations more quickly and more accurately after they had been given the drink.

However, the same was not true when the group was asked to count backwards in groups of seven, which the researchers described as a more complex task, requiring a slightly different part of the brain.

The findings also show that the volunteers did not get as tired doing the calculations if they had been given the cocoa drink, despite being asked to do them over and over for an hour.

The researchers gave the volunteers a total of 500mg of flavanol.

Although the amount was too great to be found naturally in the diet, researchers said that people should ensure that they have lots of flavanols, also found in fruit and vegetables, on a regular basis.
Read the rest of this entry »

A BEAUTY TIP

ACNE (Pimples) – Tips

Acne is a common problem faced by almost all teen-agers and youth.

What is acne and why do we get them??
Acne is actually caused because of hormone imbalance. Your skin breaks out because of a hormone called testosterone. Both men and women have testosterone in their systems. In fact, did you know that in order to make testosterone, boys bodies have to make female hormones first?

If you have acne, you haven’t got abnormal levels of testosterone. You’ve got skin that reacts abnormally to this hormone. You start producing testosterone around the time you start sprouting body hair. Testosterone tells glands in your skin, called sebaceous glands, to produce oily stuff called sebum.

To add to the problem the inside of the tubes that hold each hair become gummy and get partially blocked – giving you blackheads. Put together if sebum blocks the tubes — you have big acne.

So go to your pharmacist or doctor to get your acne treated. Here are a few tips that will help you know how to treat acne at home. If you have red angry looking acne, don’t touch it. If you squeeze now, all you’ll do is force the contents deeper into the skin that will make matters worst. And all you’ll end up with is redder, angrier acne than you had before. Don’t do it. If you have a yellow custard top? Go for it. These beauties CAN be squeezed but there’s an art to it. Here’s how. Wash your hands thoroughly to avoid trouble and infection. Put a tissue over your finger. Why? Because you want the contents of the spot on the tissue, not splattered all over the mirror. Using the side of your thumb and the end of your finger, very gently start to squeeze. Don’t whatever you do, use your nails as this will damage your skin. Stop when you’re applying a lot of pressure and nothing is happening and you see clear fluid, rather than yellow grotty stuff and the spot begins to bleed. When you’ve finished dab it with antiseptic. Once the custard bit is out, the spot will heal more quickly than an unsqueezed yellow top would, providing that you now leave it well alone. Now wash your hands again.

Whiteheads and blackheads. If acne is left untreated they may cause this problem. Here the rule is if they’re black, squeeze but if they’re small, white raised lumps leave them alone. All that stuff about clean hands, tissues and stopping if nothing is happening or you see blood, apply here too.

- Tips for acne treatment -
DON’T TRY TO WASH IT AWAY -
Acne isn’t caused by dirt. In fact people with oily skin have cleaner skin than average because they wash it more often. But it’s a fact that washing too much can make acne worse because it makes the skin dry and sore. So, wash no more than twice a day, using mild soap and water. If you have patches of dry skin, don’t worry about putting moisturizer on. It won’t make your acne worse. If you’re still concerned, use an oil free moisturizer.

DON’T NUKE ‘EM -
There are lots of over the counter creams, gels, lotions and potions. Most contain a powerful bleaching agent called benzoyl peroxide. You’ll find the strength written on the label. You might be tempted to go straight for the highest sort, working on the ‘let’s nuke ‘em principle. The likely result is that you’ll irritate your skin like mad. It may also go all dry and scaly on you. But if you still are willing to bleach then use the mild one.

MAKE A DATE – THE TWO MONTH RULE -
If you have been using over the counter remedies for two months and there is no real improvement in your spots, this is the moment to go and make an appointment with your doc.

YOUR DOCTOR – THE TWO MONTH RULE -
The thing you are most likely to be given by the doctor is a prescription for antibiotics. These will either be topical (which means something you put on your skin) or tablets you have to take every day. Whatever treatment your doctor or pharmacist recommends, follow the instructions carefully and keep using for at least two months. There should be a noticeable improvement by this time. If not, go back to discuss other possible treatments Antibiotics are perfectly safe to take. You should take them for at least two months and then go back to your doc. If they seem to be working, he will probably tell you to keep taking them and give you some more. If they aren’t doing their stuff, don’t despair – he has loads of other spot busters in his black bag.

YOU ARE NOT AN ALIEN – BUT JUST BE PATIENT -
Hundreds of thousands of teenagers seek help for acne. You are not alone. You are not an alien. And if people really care about you, they don’t even notice your acne, however bad you think they are. But you will need to be patient. Most treatments take time to work. At least two months. And some treatments, like antibiotics will work well but may have to be taken for months, or even years.

THE MONTHLY CURSE OR EXAMS -
Acne does tend to get worse just before a period. It’s because there is a surge in hormone levels at this time. But boys don’t get away lightly either. Being hot and sweaty (particularly after sports like football) makes acne worse. And for everyone, stress – particularly at exam times – is a cue for a mega breakout. This is normal – and of course, even more reason for feeling stressed. Go chill. They’ll get better – promise.

WATCH WHAT YOU PUT ON YOUR SKIN AND HAIR -
Some beauty products are big no-nos. These include pomades and defrizzing agents for hair that tend to cause an outcrop of blackheads along the hairline and some of the heavier cosmetics. And be wary of suntan oils. Not all will make you break out, but some may. Try a friend’s first before you buy. By the way, the sun might dry up acne and a tan might hide them, but your skin is still vulnerable in the sun and needs protection.

CARRY ON KISSING -
You can’t catch acne during kissing – go for it!

CARRY ON EATING CHOCOLATE -
It’s a myth that eating chocolate and fried foods causes acne. However, eating a good diet improves your general well-being and this is reflected in your skin.
Read the rest of this entry »

Proper sunglasses are most important during summer because it protects your eye from the harmful UV-rays that are the cause of blindness, cataracts etc.

Choosing the Right Sunglasses

# Always look for sunglasses that block 99 or 100 percent of UV radiation thereby protecting your eyes.

# Also see to it that the lenses are dark enough to filter out 75 to 90 percent of the powerful sunrays that makes you squint.

# The lenses should not cause eyestrain, headache, and, give ugly wrinkles.

# One way to ensure that the sunglasses will protect your eyes from harmful rays is to always put on your sunglasses and take a look in the mirror; if you can see your eyes, the lenses aren`t dark enough to screen out visible light.

# Use colours of your lenses that will help you see the world`s true colour, like grey, brown, or green. Avoid yellow or amber lenses they make it hard to distinguish the traffic signal.

# If you are buying plastic lenses then pick one that has a scratch-resistant coating.

# Try to go for wraparound frames since they offer the most protection by blocking light from the sides, top, and bottom.

# Go for frames that are strong, sturdy as well as light. Nylon or composite frames are light and strong; metal frames tend to be fashionable but are often heavy. Read the rest of this entry »

If I had to pick a single factor that I thought was most important in a successful exercise or weight loss program, it would be to exercise first thing in the morning – every morning! Some mornings, you may just be able to fit in a 10 minute walk, but it’s important to try to do something every morning.

So why mornings?…

1. Over 90% of people who exercise *consistently*, exercisein the morning. If you want to exercise consistently, odds are in your favor if you exercise first thing in the morning.

2. When you exercise early in the morning, it “jump starts” your metabolism and keeps it elevated for hours, sometimes up to 24 hours! That means you’re burning more calories all day long just because you exercised in the morning!

3. When you exercise in the morning you’ll be *energized* for the day! Personally, I feel dramatically different on days when I have and haven’t exercised in the morning.

4. Many people find that morning exercise “regulates” their appetite for the day – that they aren’t as hungry and that they make better food choices. Several people have told me that it puts them in a “healthy mindset.”

5. If you exercise at about the same time every morning, and ideally wake-up at about the same time on a regular basis, your body’s endocrine system and circadian rhythms adjust to that. Physiologically, some wonderful things begin to happen; A couple of hours *before* you awaken, your body begins to prepare for waking and exercise because it “knows” it’s about to happen. Why?

Because it “knows” you do the same thing just about everyday. You benefit from that in several ways..

a) It’s MUCH easier to wake-up. When you wake-up at different times everyday, it confuses your body and thus it’s never really “prepared” to awaken.

b) Your metabolism and all the hormones involved in activity and exercise begin to elevate while you’re sleeping. Thus, you feel more alert, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake-up.

c) Hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles, etc.

6. For many people, that appointed time every morning becomes something they look forward to. It’s time they’ve set aside to do something good for themselves – to take care of their body, mind, and soul. Many find that it’s a great time to think clearly, pray, plan their day, or just relax mentally.
Read the rest of this entry »