International Health Partnership

Archive for the ‘Healthy lifestyle’ Category

People with depression are more likely to be smokers and vice versa, those who smoke are more likely to be depressed, according to a study of the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics conducted with 5,000 people.

43% of adults 20 years and older who smoke suffer from depression compared to 7% of the general population. 55% of male smokers aged 40 to 54 are depressed, 50% of smokers aged 20 to 39 would be.

And more than half of men between 40 and depression 54 are smokers compared to 26% of men who are not depressed, 43% of women of similar age depression are smokers compared to 22%.

The more a person suffers from severe depression, the more it is likely to be a smoker. But even people with depressive symptoms in the diagnostic threshold are more likely to smoke.

More than half of depressed smokers smoke their first cigarette of the day within 5 minutes of waking. They are also more likely to smoke more than one pack per day. These characteristics are important indicators of smoking and greater difficulty in stopping.

Depression in Women who smoke do the same amount as men, while those who are not depressed tend to smoke less than men.

The stretching or stretching (from English to stretch, stretch) is a kind of gentle exercise, aiming to stretch and relax the whole body.

The series of exercises all designed to make it more flexible body segments: once they were called stretching exercises.

Stretching mixing various methods gymnastics, gestures of traditional gymnastics and others who come from Eastern techniques like yoga.

Despite their apparent simplicity, the stretching gestures are relatively complex and must be implemented rigorously to avoid pain and injury (including tendons). If you have no experience, it is advisable to take courses. Wait a few months before you start one in a series of exercises. It must first understand the value and purpose of each gesture.

Everyone is capable of stretching, and, moreover, this method is recommended for all gymnastics, you are completely stiff or football champion. If you do not realize any progress, do not despair, you always get results if you persevere. But be patient, it often takes several months to obtain a visible result. Stretching has two main objectives: the relaxation and relaxation

The basic principle is passive stretching. All exercises are conducted smoothly. It is not necessary, contrary to what we used to learn in physical education classes at school, give repeated blows on a motion by thinking that we will go further.

For example, when you lean your torso forward to touch the ground with your fingers, it is no use of force in spurts. It is better to remain motionless, bent, focus on the position, conducting a series of forced expiration, and try to go a little further with each exhalation. It’s the gesture that controls breathing, and everything must be accomplished smoothly. If you focus on your breathing, you soon realize that relax muscle tension quickly (muscles of the neck, shoulders, back, legs). You will also see that you can achieve a surprising degree of extension, provided you take your time.

It should settle in a quiet area with, if possible, soft music. It is very important to be relaxed and focused on himself and his own breathing: for example, avoid watching television or listening to the radio at the same time.

Dress in loose clothing, preferably wool to get the muscles warm. The shorts are not recommended. You can safely use of tight clothing (stockings, shorts cyclists), provided they are in stretch (Lycra) and they do not interfere in your movements. Do not wear shoes, so you can better control your actions and ankle joints.

The soil does not matter: you can do your exercises on a floor, carpet, rug, floor, or even in your garden. If you can work window is preferable. In fact, breathing exercises have a fundamental role in the stretch. It is therefore necessary to have a fresh and renewed permanently.

Do not suffer from sleep disorders and sleep better are the targets of an increasing number of people, especially in a modern era where the use of everyone’s time is often overloaded. Nowadays, professional life and personal life are conducted mostly at a frantic speed, with objective stressors, and may cause sleep problems among many of us. Fortunately, there are solutions to food sleep, to sleep better.

What is the impact of sleep disorders in France?
Various surveys and studies estimate that more than 10 million French people suffer from sleep disorders (insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, parasomnia, Dyssomnia, sleep apnea syndromes, etc..). The French consume more than 60 million boxes of sleeping pills annually.

Furthermore, sleep disturbances are for the governments of most industrialized countries (the most affected by these problems) a public health priority. Among the adverse consequences of sleep disorders, there is weight gain (in addition to mood disorders, lack of energy, a lack of productivity, etc..).

What are sleep disorders most frequently?
Sleep problems most frequently encountered are:

* Insomnia: sleep deprivation caused inter alia by an illness, grief, anxiety, overwork, etc..
* Excessive daytime sleepiness: involuntary sleepiness during the day, more or less controllable (you must then struggle to resist the urge to sleep)
* Parasomnia: all events accompanying sleep, which may be pathological as physiological (confusional arousal, sleepwalking, night terrors, sleep paralysis with hallucinations, nightmares, etc..)
* Dyssomnia: alteration of the quantity and quality of sleep (insomnia, excessive sleep, circadian rhythm disorders),
* Apnea syndromes: pathology causing decreases sleep (known as hypopnea) or stops the flow of breathing (apnea). These syndromes affect approximately half of those suffering from hypertension and the majority of obese people.

Before knowing how to strengthen your immune system, reprécisons what it is. Your immune system is a group of elements that decides whether or not molecules using the extracellular space intended for them. That way your immune system acts as a defense mechanism that distinguishes what belongs to your body which does not belong.

2 tips on how to strengthen your immune system:

1) Pay attention to fat to strengthen the immune system
Diets high in fat can make your immune system operational less and slower. A U.S. study compared the effects on the immune functions of a typical Western diet (containing 38% fat) to those exercised by a diet to reduce cholesterol (containing 28% fat). This study found that diet lower in fat intake improves the functioning of T lymphocytes (T cells), which helps remove infections.

So try to compose your diet of only between 25 and 30% fat. Try to eat mostly good fats: monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil, avocados, peanut butter, etc..), Polyunsaturated fats (found in sunflower oil, corn oil , salmon, nuts, etc..). Limit your intake of saturated fats (found in whole milk, butter, meat rich in fat, etc..) And trans fats (listed on food labels as “partially hydrogenated oil”).

2) Eat lots of protein to strengthen the immune system
The amino acids found in proteins are the construction groups of cells in your immune system. These amino acids help to create white blood cells and protective antibodies. These cells then block the invading pathogens.

Women should consume about 50 grams of protein per day (between 60 and 75 per day during pregnancy) or for at least 10 to 15% of their daily calories from protein. Choose lean protein like fish, skinless poultry, eggs, beans, slices of beef with no fat, soy products.

Whether we realize it or not, the holiday season is always difficult to health. We commit many abuses, we eat less and we do not take enough rest. Such a situation requires a lot of difficulties in the organization. Yet it is possible to avoid abusing our body by applying some simple remedies. Here are the main ones:

Abuse Support

Almost everyone eats too much during the holidays. Often foods are consumed more fat than usual. They tend to clog the liver. This applies, in particular, fatty meats, sauces too rich, fried foods, creamy desserts and sweets like chocolate. To enable the organization to get away and to prevent the liver is overworked, it is wise to use four specific plants found in light bulbs, such as BLACK RADISH in combination with artichokes, CHARDON MARIE and BOLDO.

Taking a light bulb in half a glass of water on an empty stomach in the morning, it significantly eases the work of the liver and avoids the feeling of heaviness and bloating after meals. These plants activate the liver and gallbladder, allowing them to better withstand the abuse. If necessary, you can also take a light bulb after a meal.

Alcohol

Do not consume some alcohol during the holiday season is almost antisocial. The opportunity there lending, many people clearly abusing alcohol. The plants mentioned above will therefore help the liver to fare better. But alcohol can also cause several deficiencies in the body.

We must therefore remember to bring the body certain nutrients that are destroyed by alcohol. This applies among other B complex vitamins, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium.

Take 5000 mg of ginseng in the early evening will help more fans and keep the mind clearer e ginseng facilitates the work of the liver and can neutralize toxins. According to the British biologist and geriatrician Stephen Fulder it is now proven that ginseng accelerates the decomposition and elimination of alcohol.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word, derived from another Sanskrit term, yug, which means “binding together”. Yoga is a broad term covering the idea of linking to unite the body (physical life) and mind into a single entity, so they follow a similar direction.

Some authors go so far as to give the meaning “unity of opposites”, approaching, thus, the Chinese principle of Yin and Yang. The word yoga also has the sense of physical and mental discipline.

The origins of yoga

Yoga is a technique dating back more than four thousand years and is deeply in the Indian tradition. Originally, it was primarily regarded as a spiritual discipline. But soon, fans will realize it is also a source of health and peace, where a mixture of exercises spiritual, intellectual and physical, which is based on a philosophy.

This is the eighth century AD that Indian sage, Patanjali, undertook a synthesis of all the knowledge acquired over the centuries by yogis. The result was a book: the Sutras of Patanjali, a sort of code of Yoga, where he established the Astanga Yoga, Yoga or eight steps.
The role of Patanjali

This is the eighth century AD that Indian sage, Patanjali, undertook a synthesis of all the knowledge acquired over the centuries by yogis. The result was a book: the Sutras of Patanjali, a sort of code of Yoga, where he established the Astanga Yoga, Yoga or eight steps:

- Yamas, control rules and discipline;
- Niyama, principles of observance of a certain lifestyle (physical and moral cleanliness, contentment, self-study);
- Asanas, postures of the body with beneficial actions on the health and mind. These are asanas that allow, first, breath control and mind;
- Pranayama, breathing techniques which, combined with asana, the Yogi can have a near-total control of his body (and his mind);
- Pratyahara, detachment of the mind, which frees itself from the domination of the senses and matter;
- Dharana, concentration;
- Dhyana, meditation;
- Samadhi, the ultimate step of the spiritual journey of yoga, rather difficult to explain in a rational context. The best approach (and translation) appears to be the word “liberation”, recalling the state of grace, Christians, Buddhists enlightenment, or satori zen.

These eight steps form the framework of different yogas. In the West, and particularly in Europe, only the Hatha Yoga is practiced and taught. Indeed, it is the most concrete way, the closest and most accessible to the Western mind.

The wine and other alcoholic beverages have been delivered to the honor because of their medicinal properties. The wine, or more exactly it contains alcohol, has a protective effect against heart disease.

The population of wine consumers are better protected than others. This protective effect was more marked in the elderly or people with metabolic syndrome (abdominal obesity + diabetes + hypertension). Keeping in mind that alcohol consumption has remained moderate.

The protective effects of wine

Alcohol is primarily responsible for this protective effect, and as beer and spirits are also beneficial. However, wine is a product rich in various components, in addition to alcohol, and each year we discover new molecules benefactors in wine, particularly red wine. This indeed has a positive role in lipid metabolism, has anti-oxidant, vasodilator, decreases platelet aggregation and inflammation are the main factors of atherosclerosis. Those responsible for these effects are flavonoids that are also found in chocolate, tea and pepper, polyphenols (in particular procyanidins that are found mostly in the wines of south-west), resveratrol , quercetin and many other components being identified. The revestratol is a natural antibiotic that is found mainly in grape Tannat and Merlot, and lesser amounts in the Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The real or supposed virtues of wine have little impact on French consumers are witnessing an annual decline in consumption, which was 43 liters per capita per year in 2007, an consumption three times lower than in 1960.

This disaffection for wine (but not distilled spirits, which, however, are up) accompanied by a debate on the supposed benefits of wine consumption or abstinence. For oncologists, alcohol has more disadvantages than advantages, and its consumption, the first glass, increases the risk of cancer disease. Whenever possible alcohol in all its forms, must be avoided.

This position is not unanimously, including the world of medicine, where alcohol, in small quantities daily (equivalent to 2 glasses of wine) has incomparable virtues to the cardiovascular system and metabolism due to its anti-oxidant qualities. Wine consumption also protect against the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Different effects depending on context

The effects of wine would be different depending on the food environment: a diet rich in omega-6 as Powered through the current increase production more carcinogenic free radicals that diets rich in omega-3. Similarly, among women, a diet rich in vitamin B12 (green vegetables) protect against the potential effects of wine on the risk of breast cancer. The association between smoking + alcohol is particularly harmful for cancers of the throat and esophagus, while the wine itself does not increase the risk. Finally there are many cases where one might think that the wine has a protective role against cancer, as in the case of prostate cancer.

The ideal is to consume wine in small quantities with meals, especially during a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables and omega-3.

Sleep is probably a positive role in memory and learning skills. Some studies have shown that when one makes memorizing lists of words earlier in the day a group of individuals, and just before bed to another, we see that it is the second group it remembers best the next day.

We must therefore admit that sleep is a factor of integration of knowledge.

It is estimated that sleep would be a slow phase during which knowledge is reinforced and REM sleep serve to increase storage capacity, which explains that memory is better when there is a sleep phase after phase of learning. Finally, some experiments have shown that there is indeed an increase in REM sleep after learning.

The only certainty is that sleep time is sufficient aid to memory. To prepare a review should not only have the requisite knowledge, but you also sleep well.

The opposite is not true: he does not sleep well for accumulating knowledge, as have tried to make out the methods of learning “while sleeping”, now abandoned.

You can search for bacteria or fungi in many organs. The most frequent charges are made in the throat and urine. The search for germs and antibiotic susceptibility testing are not performed routinely, but only if infection is severe or repeated, or if you suspect an outbreak with a particular germ.

The throat swab

The throat swab is a review of current practice for the isolation of germs, especially in children, in cases of angina, to search for the streptococcus that can cause heart or kidney complications. However, some doctors would go and deal systematically as angina.

The urethral

The urethral (named after the excretory duct of the urine, urethra) must be the morning after the first void. It is useful if you suspect a sexually transmitted disease, to isolate the causative agent of urethral infection.

In women, gynecology is the sampling done by the doctor before the gynecological examination.

The reactions to stressors may be manifested by nervousness, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, headaches, anxiety. But the answer is sometimes a more acute when there is abdominal pain, myocardial infarction, hypertension, and even tumors.
Two main systems involved in these reactions

The nervous system: its stimulation leads to the secretion of hormones, catecholamines, and particularly one of them, adrenaline. This reaction is very fast and very brutal.

The endocrine system at a much slower response, it secretes cortisone.
The implementation of these systems may induce cardiovascular, digestive and metabolic

The cardio-vascular events are characterized in particular by accelerating the heart rate and increased blood flow. The release cortisone will result in a malfunction of the immune system or certain stomach ulcers.

Stress has an action whose significance we are not yet well known, the mechanisms of host defense, immune resources. Studies show that highly stressed individuals (death of spouse, unemployment ,…) have a significant decrease in blood lymphocytes, cells responsible for producing antibodies. Therefore, being under stress makes it more vulnerable to infections. You can easily notice about yourself: when you are wrong in your skin, you catch the flu more easily, sore throat or sinusitis. Conversely, if you’re fit, you will not be affected by viral infections, even if everyone around you is sick.

Heart disease, respiratory, digestive, but also anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, headaches, infections, not to mention accidents more common among people anxious in fact, it would go around talking to the pathology of stress symptoms, and is true that it by changing the nervous and hormonal balance of the body can cause many diseases.

But this does not mean that stress is the universal cause of disease: it would be too simple, and it is completely false. Influenza, for example, is caused by a virus, but the decline in natural immunity caused by stress makes them more sensitive. Similarly, we now know that the head of the ulcer of the stomach, while the stress has long been alleged, is actually a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori: the stress is not the cause of the disease at most a contributing factor.

It is especially important to realize that it is illusory to try to cure diseases one by one, without taking into account the situation where you are. If you have recurrent headaches, it is perhaps not necessary to constantly dangerous and expensive drugs. It is often useful to resolve the conflicts of daily life, sometimes the cause of this headache. Please talk to your doctor: you will see that many diseases disappear like magic when you feel better about yourself.