Quick fixes which Dr. won't tell you

Feeling Anxious- Cover your mouth and nose with tissues or napkin, you'll feel calm.

Reduce Anxiety- Place your hand over your heart and breathe slowly and deeply. 

Stuffy Nose- Put an ice cube against the roof of your mouth.

Can't sleep- Blink rapidly for a minute.

Dizzy- Press the point between your eyebrows for 5 seconds.

Hiccups- Take a deep breath hold it for 10  seconds, then swallow twice.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

 

 

Why smoking is so addictive

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory problems and stroke. Even then approximately 120 million people smoke in India, out of which 10 million lose their life to tobacco use every year.

Most people start smoking in their teens. Teenagers whose parents or friends smoke are more likely to start this habit as compared to others. Some just start accidentally as others think it looks cool. But there is one thing that we all know for sure, that it is not easy to quit smoking once you get habitual of it. 

​Smoking an addiction

A large number of people try to give up smoking, but not all succeed. They try nicotine, seek professionals help, but still can't resist their temptation to smoke. Many even regret starting this habit at the very first place. But why is it so difficult to quit smoking? Have you ever thought about it?

Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. It interferes with the functioning of your brain by altering the balance of two chemicals- dopamine and noradrenaline. Changes in the level of these chemicals affect your mood and concentration level, which smokers find enjoyable. They start feeling happy and stressfree within minutes after taking the first puff.

Nicotine reaches the brain quickly leading to nicotine rush, which smokers enjoy and with time starts becoming too much dependent on it.

​Effect of quitting on brain

When you suddenly quit smoking, the scarcity of nicotine changes the level of dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain. This makes you feel anxious, depressed and irritated. Due to these issues, many people start smoking again after quitting it.
 
​How difficult is it to quit smoking?

2 out of 3 of smokers say they want to quit, but only 1 succeeds. This is because they become physically as well as emotionally dependant on cigarettes. Studies suggest that smoking is more addictive than using cocaine or opiates. In 2012, researchers closely observed 28 different studies carried out on people trying to quit the substance they were addicted to. It was found that about 18 per cent were able to quit drinking, and more than 40 per cent were able to quit opiates or cocaine, but only 8 per cent were able to quit smoking.
 
The bottom line

There are no health benefits of smoking. It can cause several health issues and if you are suffering from any disease, it will make the condition even more complicated. So, try to quit it. Taking professionals advice may help, but more that that, strong determination is important. 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
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Feeling Anxious? Here's a Quick Tool To Center Your Soul

Have you ever noticed how tough it is to be present? We spend so much time planning and worrying about the future or dwelling on the past.

"We're in a trance of thinking. We're time traveling," says Tara Brach, a world-renowned psychologist and mindfulness teacher. "We're in the future, we're in the past."

And all this ruminating gets in the way of enjoying life — we can miss out on the good stuff.

If you reflect on your life, Brach asks, how often can you sense that the fear of failing or not being good enough "was in some way dampening or contracting or pulling you away from real intimacy or spontaneity or enjoying a sunset?"

Life Kit host Allison Aubrey spoke with Brach about her latest book, Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN. The book outlines the mindfulness tool, RAIN, an acronym for a four-step process: recognize, allow, investigate and nurture.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is mindfulness at its core. Can you describe mindfulness in a sentence or two?

Mindfulness is paying attention to what's happening in the present moment without judgment.
What is the purpose? What is the benefit of paying attention to the present moment?

We step out of our thoughts about the past and the future, and we actually start occupying a space of presence that is bigger than the particular emotions or thoughts that are going on.

Mindfulness gives us more choice as to how we want to experience things, what we want to say, what we want to do. So instead of reacting, we can actually respond from more intelligence, more kindness. It actually lets us inhabit our best selves.

The "R" and the "A" in RAIN stand for Recognize and Allow — can you explain that?

So "recognize" comes when we realize on some level we're stuck. We're having a hard time. All we're doing with "recognize" is sensing whatever feeling is predominant in that moment. And it might be we simply say 'upset' or 'confused' or 'angry' or 'hurt'.

With "allow" you actually are pausing, saying 'it's OK.' Let's just let this be for a few moments. And that's the pause. That's the space we're creating that gives you the power and the freedom.

So the next step is "I" for investigate. What are some questions that you can ask to help yourself investigate?

Ask yourself 'what really wants my attention?' Ask what wants your attention right now and look into the body. Feel the throat, the chest, the belly. Another really good question is 'what am I believing right now?' Because I find for myself when I'm in a bad mood, usually I'm believing that in some way I fell short. I'm failing in some way.

And if I can identify it consciously, it doesn't affect me as much. The single most valuable finale with investigating is to ask the part of you that feels most vulnerable: 'so what do you need?' Is it love? Acceptance? Forgiveness? Feeling accompanied? Feeling embraced? Feeling safe?
The last letter in RAIN is "N," which stands for nurture. Explain this one.

This step is all about learning to be kind to yourself and offering yourself what is needed. Often, to fight through the feelings of shame or anxiety, we have to work at this. The way I often do it is I put my hand on my heart and I'll say, "it's okay sweetheart." Or you might just say to yourself, "I love you," or, "It's okay, I'm here. I'm not leaving."

Or, we can imagine that affirmation coming from someone else — a loved one, a spiritual figure, even a pet. The source doesn't matter as long as it's nurturing.

After RAIN, we can sense a shift in how we feel. We sense the quality of presence that's opened up from where we started to now.

For those of us not in the habit of nurturing ourselves, this can be a challenging step in the process. For instance, if I over-react to a situation, I later laugh at my lack of perspective. I realize that it wasn't a big deal, and I feel so much lighter when I'm able to laugh it off. Is this a form of nurturing?

Nurturing is any way that you create a larger, lighter, kinder space. And humor is fantastic. Often if I can laugh, I know the tangle is no longer dominating me.

And that's the thing with RAIN, it doesn't get rid of the waves of experience. It makes you more ocean-like. You have more perspective, more wisdom. Wisdom brings on humor. Wisdom brings on kindness. In other words, you're not suffering. What you're feeling is not pleasant, but you're not suffering.

So many of us are taught from a young age to be ambitious and aim high. How can we practice mindfulness and still achieve our goals?

What's interesting is that people have a fear that if they're mindful and present, they'll lose their motivation, that they won't be able to be so successful in the ways you're describing. But what I found is that anxiety actually leads to more mistakes, less empathy, less emotional intelligence and actually less effectiveness.

Where do you see this?

We train people in corporations and medical schools and they actually find mindfulness increases competency. Mindfulness doesn't remove motivation. It just allows us to be more centered and respond from our natural intelligence. Fear doesn't make us more intelligent.

Does mindfulness become easier the more you practice it?

Whatever you practice gets stronger. If you practice judging yourself every day, that gets stronger. If you practice recognizing, allowing, investigating, nurturing, that gets stronger and also quicker.

The real gift is that we start trusting our goodness. We start trusting the love and the awareness. Not only that, we start looking at each other and seeing that too. If we can trust the goodness, then we can help to bring it out in ourselves and each other.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement 

source-npr.org

14 Surprising Signs of Stress Harming Your Health

Living under constant stress is never good for you, but sometimes, the chronic stress you’re experiencing might emerge in surprising ways, slowly chipping away at your physical and emotional well-being. Unhealthy food habits, clenching jaw muscles at night, acne, irritability, and many other more serious health issues can all be a sign that you’re under too much stress, and it’s time to prioritize your health and dial down the stress in your life for a little while. Here 14 of such signs, some of which are guaranteed to surprise you.

1. Difficulty Remembering Things
Both short- and long-term stress can affect your cognitive capabilities, with memory being one of them. People who live under excessive stress often report having difficulty retrieving important information and even more issues with memorizing new things. Why this happens isn't certain, but it is suggested that the memory problems have both a psychological and a neurological cause.
On one hand, high cortisol (the stress hormone) levels in the brain were linked to short-term memory loss in seniors, so the hormone might be to blame. On the other hand, anxiety and depression, as well as sleep issues stressed people often experience likewise increase forgetfulness, so these, too, likely contribute to the issue. In any case, relaxing your body and mind may help you restore your true memory.  

2. Cravings for Junk Food
Stress eating is not a myth, it's a real phenomenon, one that's more dangerous than you'd think, too. When stress levels rise, the delicate hormonal balance can be upset, and often, the levels of hunger hormones are affected, too. This is why some people will not be able to eat while they're stressed, whereas others will tend to overeat and indulge in junk food.
The result - a terrible habit that contributes to weight gain and other health issues, as well as an emotional attachment to food.

3. Wrinkles and Gray Hairs
Increased hair and skin aging can be the result of chronic stress, and it's not only because we tend to do less self-care when we're stressed out. Studies have shown that high-stress levels decreased collagen production in the skin, and collagen is the building block of our skin cells and the substance that makes skin plump and youthful-looking.
As for gray hairs, the neurotransmitter called norepinephrine that's secreted during a stressful moment in the sympathetic nervous system seems to be to blame, as revealed in a recent study. As a result of the so-called fight or flight response to stress, norepinephrine drains the pigment from melanocyte cells in your hair, causing gray hairs.
Needless to say, stress is not the only cause of wrinkles and gray hairs, as is the case with many other signs on this list, but it is certainly one of the major factors contributing to these signs and symptoms.

4. You Catch the Cold and Flu More Often
Immune suppression is one of the most dangerous and least understood effects of stress on the human body. Several studies have shown that chronic stress affects the immune system, with one notable paper finding that people experiencing a lot of stress typically suffer 70% more respiratory infections and suffer from cold and flu symptoms for 61% longer than those who experience low levels of stress.
Some researchers believe that this is because people who suffer from stress are less sensitive to cortisol since they have higher levels of the hormone as a result of stress, and so their immune cells fail to activate when cortisol levels rise in response to an infection. Still, the precise mechanism is poorly understood, but you should definitely take extra care in protecting yourself from infections if you're under a lot of stress.

5. Rapid Heartbeat and Hypertension
A famous symptom of the fight or flight response is a rapid heartbeat, which is rather useful when your cortisol levels rise in response to a physical stimulus, like a rapidly approaching car when you're crossing the street, as it will help your muscles get more oxygen and will make running away from the dangerous situation easier.
Unfortunately, running away from most issues people face these days isn't a solution, but our bodies still react to emotional and work-related stress the same way, pumping up the heartbeat, and as a result, contributing to hypertension. Combine this with a stress eating habit, and you have a recipe for a cardiovascular disaster, so please watch your stress levels and diet to avoid heart issues and hypertension.

6. Difficulty Concentrating
Another cognitive symptom of stress is difficulty concentrating, or brain fog. While this symptom is often temporary, in some people, difficulty maintaining focus due to stress can significantly impair their work or school performance. These difficulties, in turn, can raise your stress levels even more and cause anxiety or depression, all of which are bound to further worsen your cognitive health.
If you're experiencing this symptom, try mental relaxation techniques, such as meditation, and try to maintain a healthy sleep schedule and activity levels to break the cycle.

  7. Changes in Libido
During times of intense stress, your libido, too, can and often does take a hit. This is because stress is a complex neuropsychological response that alters one's hormone levels and affects your emotional well being.
Stress, anxiety, and depression (the latter two can be caused by stress as well) can lower your sex hormone levels, with studies finding a correlation between low testosterone levels and stress, which can and probably does contribute to the sex drive impairment in both sexes. De-stressing and focusing on your emotional health is key to prevent and deal with these libido changes.

8. Shortness of Breath
Breathing problems, such as shortness of breath and even asthma are significantly more common among people who experience a lot of stress. These issues can also become worse if you're under stress, as your chest muscles and diaphragm can tighten in response to stress, making you breathe faster. As a result, this can cause anxiety, which fastens the breathing and heartbeat even further. In cases like these, it's important to make yourself breathe slowly and deeply to stop the vicious cycle.
Interestingly, in one study, researchers also found that women who were stressed out during pregnancy were a lot more likely to give birth to kids with asthma and other breathing difficulties, so stress can have very far-reaching health effects.

9. Fatigue and Sleep Issues
Chronic stress is among the main causes of insomnia, but trouble falling asleep is not the only sleep condition that can be caused by stress, as some people tend to be even more sleepy when they're stressed out. Irrespective of the condition, the majority of people experiencing sleep issues will also feel more tired throughout the day.
The causes of stress-related sleep issues are both hormonal and psychological, with high cortisol levels and the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (both hallmarks of the stress response) meddling with sleep hormone levels and one's ability to relax. Fatigue can also occur without sleep issues in people experiencing stress, as reported in a 2011 study.
This type of fatigue can become constant if stress persists, developing into a condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome.

10. Having Cold Sores Often
Skin rashes and the re-emergence of dormant conditions, such as the herpes virus or shingles is also common among people who experience stress or a traumatic event. As we mentioned earlier, stress can depress your immune system, and when your immunity is low, the different chronic conditions, including the herpes virus that's causing cold sores seize the chance to show themselves. If you happen to get cold sores more often than you used to, it can be a sign that you're under too much stress. 

11. Feeling Angry, Irritable, or Anxious
Emotional and psychological symptoms are hallmarks of chronic stress, with people who are under a lot of stress also suffering from anxiety or depression. When you're stressed out, you're also more likely to react harshly, be angry and more irritable than usual, likely because of other symptoms, such as tiredness and insomnia in particular, but also due to hormonal fluctuations in the brain.
When it comes to depression sufferers specifically, stress can increase the likelihood of getting a major depressive episode, as suggested in studies both in adolescents and adults, so make sure to compensate for stressful situations if you're suffering from depression.

12. Digestive Issues
We've written about the gut-brain axis many a time, which is essentially a tight link between your gut microbiome and the brain. When you're stressed out, the balance of microbes that live in your digestive tracts is upset, which manifests itself in bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and even heartburn. IBS, in particular, has been linked to stress. The fact that we often tend to eat fast food when we're stressed out doesn't help our digestive system either, of course.

13. Acne, Scalp Issues and Hair Loss
Chronic stress is practically synonymous with chronic inflammation because high cortisol levels have a very similar effect to an actual infection, as discussed above. These high levels of inflammation in the body combine with hormonal issues do often result in hormonal breakouts, which are more common among women, especially around their period. In addition, high cortisol levels also increase oil production in the pores, as suggested by the American Academy of Dermatology, which also causes acne. The same can also cause scalp issues, such as dandruff.

Hair loss can likewise be caused by stress. Traumatic life events can trigger temporary hair loss up to 3 months after the event itself. It was even observed that chronically stressed people, on average, have thinner hair than those with lower stress levels.

14. Clenching Your Teeth at Night
Do you often wake up with a tight or painful jaw in the morning? Many people with higher stress levels are known to suffer from bruxism - an often painful condition that occurs when you grind or clench your teeth. This condition can result in jaw pain, headaches, and even damaged teeth.
If you notice any signs of bruxism, it's necessary to discuss the issue with your dentist, as they can help you prevent tooth damage. Stress and anxiety management is the main preventative methods of bruxism.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement