The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Weight

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Being overweight not only looks unsightly and makes you feel less attractive it also poses a far greater risk, a risk to your health. Therefore, there are many reasons why it is important that you maintain a healthy weight by eating well-balanced meals and getting regular exercise. Being over weight has been linked with many conditions affecting not only our physical health but also our mental health, studies have shown that those people who are overweight and don’t get regular exercise are more at risk of developing depression than those that exercise on a regular basis and eat a well balanced and varied diet. Experts have agreed that the more overweight a person is then the more likely they are to suffer severe health problems, however once the person takes steps to start losing weight and changes their lifestyle, then the percentage starts to drop. If you are overweight then even just by losing 10 or 20 pounds you can begin to reduce the increased associated risks to your health and make improvements. You should defiantly consider losing weight if you are overweight and any of the following conditions apply to you.

If there is a history in your family of certain chronic diseases – people who have relatives with heart conditions or diabetes have been known to develop these conditions if they are overweight.

There are any pre-existing medical conditions – high blood pressure, high cholesterol and levels of high sugar are all signs of illness due to being overweight.

Having an apple shape – if you carry more weight around your stomach then you are at a higher risk of developing diabetes, some forms of cancer or developing heart problems.’

Illness associated with being overweight

Problems with the gallbladder and especially gallstones

High blood pressure

Developing certain types of cancer

Developing diabetes

Developing gout

Developing problems with the breathing such as sleep apnea, which causes a person to pause when breathing while asleep

Chest problems such as asthma or bronchitis

Gallbladder problems

Although it is not clear why, being overweight can have an affect on the gallbladder, gallstones are a very common problem in someone who is overweight and causes severe problems with those who are obese.

Heart disease

If you are overweight you are twice as likely to suffer from high blood pressure that is the major cause of and a big risk factor in heart disease and strokes. Being overweight can lead to a condition known as angina, angina is felt as pain in the chest caused by a decrease in oxygen to the heart. If you are severely overweight or obese then this has been linked to causing sudden death without any warning signs from a stroke.

Diabetes

Being overweight has been linked to type 2 diabetes and is a known contributor to health death, heart disease and blindness; people who are overweight are twice as likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes as those people who are of normal weight.

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• CDC: Doctors Increasingly Prescribe Exercise (webmd.com)
• Gallbladder Problems and Diabetes (everydayhealth.com)
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• New Emory University and University of North Carolina Study Finds Nu Beginnings Weight Loss Program Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes (prweb.com)
• Childhood Overweight and Obesity (education.com)
• Even for the Overweight, Exercise Helps the Heart (ihafs.org)
• Even for the Overweight, Exercise Helps the Heart (nlm.nih.gov)
• Judgement, Paula Deen & Type 2 Diabetes (somebodyhealme.dianalee.net)
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• Gallbladder Problems - Are You at Risk? (everydayhealth.com)
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• Male gene increases risk of hereditary heart disease for one in five (independent.co.uk)
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Living with arthritis

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While arthritis is usually considered to be a condition that affects the older generation, it can affect people of any age. It can affect any part of the body and there are thought to be over 200 different forms of the disease. However, the three most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid and juvenile arthritis.

People who are affected by arthritis can go through many different feelings ranging from anger, frustration, worries for the future and concern about dependency. For the younger person affected by the disease feelings such as how other people will see you is a main concern, while the disease can be debilitating and so not easy to be positive about the outlook, people do come to terms with the condition. In order to come to terms with the disease you can

Talk about your feelings and fears – getting your feelings out in the open is essential to coping with your illness. Talking can relive the feelings of anxiety and stress you feel about your condition and how others see you. Your confidant can be your doctor, a friend or family member or someone that is suffering from arthritis themselves.

Learn how to relax and de-stress – many people who suffer from arthritis get stressed easily and are unable to relax. You should learn routines that allow you to relax quickly and easily or find an activity or hobby that you could take part in to ease and forget your stress.

Seek help from a professional – if you don’t feel you can talk to a family member or friend then seek help from a professional. This could be a counselor, doctor, social worker or your local citizen’s advice.

One of the most debilitating aspects of arthritis is the persistent pain it brings to the sufferer. However sufferers do seem to manage to keep the pain under control to a level where it doesn’t interfere too much with their day-to-day living. Here are some ways to help you deal with and manage the pain associated with arthritis.

Keep a note of the best time to take medication in order to get the best benefit

Notice when cold, heat and getting rest helps the most

See which form of exercise works best for you and when to do them

Keep practicing relaxation techniques

Take a pain management course

Purchase a device such as the TENS unit to help manage your pain

Consider hypnosis or acupuncture treatment

Attend pain clinics recommended by you Doctor.

These are just some of the ways that people have been known to successfully manage their arthritis and of course you should discuss ways to help you with your doctor. You doctor will also be able to advise you of clinics in your area that you can attend to learn how to deal more effectively with the disease and the pain that it brings.

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Are you at risk from Alzheimer’s?

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There is no one single cause of Alzheimer’s disease, Alzheimer’s is brought on by varying factors with each person affected being different. However, the biggest two factors which increase the risk of you developing Alzheimer’s are the advancement of age and heredity. Your degree of mental fitness and your environment are also thought to play a part to some extent - although this and several other theories have not yet been proven..

Who gets Alzheimer’s?

By the time you reach the age of 65, roughly 5 in 100 people have developed the disease, by the age of 80 the odds have jumped to 1 in 5 and almost half of all people at the age of 90 have some signs of dementia. Alzheimer’s isn’t strictly limited to those over the age of 65; much younger people have been affected by it. It is a disease that is thought to occur in women more than men, but the main reason for this is simply that women tend to live longer than men.

Alzheimer’s and heredity

There has proven to be a heredity link to Alzheimer’s in roughly 3% of all cases of the disease. Heredity is thought to occur when the onset of the disease has occurred at an early age, with about 40% of people who developed the disease before the age of 65 having family members affected by the disease. This does not mean that having a family member with Alzheimer’s will guarantee being affected by it. Quite the contrary, although those with affected family members are at a slightly higher risk than others, there are still measures that can be taken to help avoid the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Avoiding Alzheimer’s

Many believe that the environment in which you live can make a difference as to whether you are more susceptible to developing Alzheimer’s. Research is currently being conducted as to whether exposure to certain metals is a contributing factor to developing the disease. Many experts have tied aluminum as a possible cause of the disease and suggest that antiperspirant deodorants are avoided due to their high aluminum content.

Many doctors also believe that one’s state of mental health plays a large part in the onset of the disease. The sharper one keeps oneself, the less susceptible one is to the disease. However, there is not currently any evidence to suggest that staying mentally fit will make a difference one way or the other.

There are thought to be many other factors that could lead to the onset of Alzheimer’s, but additional research is needed due to there being a lot of conflicting evidence. Factors to consider include, head trauma, various viral infections, a history of downs syndrome in the family, smoking and thyroid disease.

The future of Alzheimer’s

Unfortunately, there is not currently any particular test that doctors can use to indicate who may be more susceptible of developing the disease. The primary goal in research right now is to understand better the mechanisms of the disease with the hope of one day being able to predict those people who are more susceptible to Alzheimer’s before the disease actually sets in. By doing so, scientists and doctors believe that it could lead to developments of treatment to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.

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