Have you ever found yourself experiencing lower back or leg pain when walking or when standing up tall? Do you find that your back pain feels better if you lean forward on a shopping cart, your kitchen counter, or when sitting?
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Read More25 excellent ways to improve your health today
Each day is an opportunity to do at least one thing to improve upon your health. It doesn’t have to be anything major – unless you want it to be. But just little things you can work into your everyday life that sooner or later, will become a habit, sort of like automatically brushing your teeth at night before you go to bed without even thinking about it.
Below are just a few ideas that incorporate different aspects of achieving overall health – physical, mental, and dietary habits. Try a new one out each day and eventually they can become your new healthy habits and a permanent part your daily life.
1. Pay attention to your posture. Pull your shoulder blades back holding the position for a few seconds. Do this several times a day to become more aware of how you are standing or sitting.
2. Add healthy fats to your diet. Have a handful of almonds, walnuts, pistachios, peanuts or cashews. Add sliced avocado to a salad. Drizzle olive oil over veggies such as Brussel sprouts, broccoli or asparagus and roast them in the oven.
3. Take breaks from sitting at the computer. Every 30 to 45 minutes, get up, walk around, stretch, or go outside for fresh air.
4. Make your love life a priority. Being intimate has both physical and emotional benefits.
5. If possible, use generic medications which are cheaper than brand-name drugs and are just as effective.
6. Do Kegel exercises every day. Kegels help strengthen weak pelvic floor muscles along with reducing urinary incontinence.
7. Don’t ignore signs of sudden cardiac arrest – chest pain, breathlessness, or palpitations. Seek medical help immediately if any of these occur.
8. Add spice to your meals – doing so may help fight inflammation, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Try out turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon or ginger.
9. Practice yoga or Pilates to help improve range of motion, joint mobility, and for relaxation.
10. If you want to buy organic, focus on fruits and veggies. Produce such as peaches or tomatoes with thin skin may have more pesticide residue than produce with thicker skin.
11. Maintain a healthy back by keeping it feeling young. Do exercises to strengthen, lengthen, and stretch the muscles that support your spine.
12. Get a yearly flu shot along with checking on updating other important vaccinations such as the Tdap vaccine (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis).
13. Invest in a good pair of walking shoes for proper support for your feet and knees.
14. Use those walking shoes several times a week – preferably daily – to get in a brisk walk.
15. Have a fruit and or vegetable at each meal every day.
16. Practice mindful eating by having few distractions at a meal. Allow no computer, iPad, or cell phones when eating. Pace yourself paying attention to the first sign of fullness you feel and stop eating soon after that to prevent overeating.
17. Make water your main beverage of choice.
18. Always wear a seatbelt when driving or as a passenger.
19. Wear sunscreen with a SPF of at least 30 every day year round to prevent skin cancer.
20. Maintain muscle mass by lifting free weights 2-3 times a week.
21. Get out in nature. Most of us underestimate how important this is. Being in nature reduces stress, makes you more creative, improves your memory, and makes you a better person.
22. Spend time with family and friends. Relationships are one of our biggest sources of happiness and health. The longest live people on earth place a strong emphasis on social engagement with others.
23. Laugh every day. Humor helps us cope better with stress, pain and may reduce risk of heart attack or strokes.
24. Challenge yourself by learning something new each day. Whether it’s learning a new language, taking music lessons, or reading a book, anytime we absorb new knowledge, we sharpen our mind and increase our intelligence.
25. Meditate – it increases our happiness and attention span while reducing anger, anxiety, depression and fatigue.
Once a person reaches that 5-year survival benchmark, it does not mean you are necessarily free and clear from cancer ever returning but it is a good sign. The more years that go by of being cancer free, the more likely your odds improve of staying that way.
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Read MorePancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. This condition can occur for several reasons with a variety of symptoms. The inflammation can be acute, meaning it develops very suddenly lasting only a few days or it could be chronic in which the condition can occur for many years.
Read MoreEvery single day there will be people across our nation receiving a diagnosis of a serious health condition. Hearing “you have…” can be very scary and unsettling feeling like your world has stopped.
Read MoreThese changes could include noticing blood in your urine, incontinence, overactive bladder, or painful urination. In order to determine the cause and how to treat it, your doctor may need to do a procedure called cystoscopy.
Read MoreWhat causes healthy kidneys to start working abnormally? Were you even aware you were at risk for this condition?
Read MoreGraves’ disease, named after Robert Graves, an Irish physician discovering the condition about 150 years ago, has the distinction of being the most common form of hyperthyroidism. This disease runs in families and is 7-8 times more common in women than men.
Read MoreHere are six evidence-based steps to take reducing the risk of colorectal cancer:
Read MoreBack pain is one of the most common and agonizing conditions found among Americans. Approximately 8 out of every 10 Americans will have back problems at some point in their lives.
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Read MoreA U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee voted last week to recommend, for a second time, FluMist, a nasal spray version of the influenza vaccine for use during the 2018-2019 flu season.
Read MoreAnyone who is experiencing blind spots in their field of vision may have a condition called glaucoma. Glaucoma is a condition resulting in progressive damage to the optic nerve due to high pressure in the eye (intraocular pressure).
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