Spend time outdoors; the fresh air cleanses your lungs and the vitamin D from sunshine is great for general health. Even on a rainy day or at night, the fresh air is beneficial. Not only does escaping into the fresh air give you a break from all those germs circulating inside, but going for a stroll can actually boost your immunity. A 2010 Appalachian State University study showed that people who walked briskly for 30 to 45 minutes a day five days a week during the winter had fewer illnesses than their sedentary counterparts.
Exercise increases your resistance to disease. It stimulates the cleansing blood flow and increases your natural stress reducing hormones. Exercise doesn't have to be strenuous to be beneficial. Science has shown that walking daily is good for your health and well being. “Exercise leads to an increase in natural killer cells, neutrophils, and monocytes, which ultimately increases immune function,” says Ather Ali, assistant director of Complementary/Alternative Medicine Research.
The fundamental principles of H.I.T. are that exercise should be brief, infrequent, and intense. Exercises are performed with a high level of effort, or intensity, where it is thought that it will stimulate the body to produce an increase in muscular strength and size.
As strength increases, HIT techniques will have the weight/resistance increased progressively where it is thought that it will provide the muscles with adequate overload to stimulate further improvements.
There is an inverse relationship between how intensely and how long one can exercise. As a result, high intensity workouts are generally kept brief.
Research by Prof Jamie Timmons at Nottingham University showed that using 3 sessions of HIT per week can substantially decrease insulin resistance, and also increase VO2 max (an indication of overall cardiovascular fitness).
His research suggested that three 20 second bursts of HIT, using a cycling machine, three times per week is substantial enough to see a change in obesity releated disease markers, such as insulin resistance and VO2 max.
This controversial research therefore suggests that it is not in fact necessary to have lengthy exercise sessions in order to improve health and decrease the risk of mortality.
However, this research also showed that some people will not respond to the HIT programme as well as others in terms of improving the VO2 max, and overall suggested that the amount of exercise a person takes should be personally tailored.
Near the close of the 19th century, a medical doctor by the name of Gustav Zander developed a complete set of machines similar to Nautilus and also a workout method remarkably close to that promoted by Arthur Jones in the early 1970s.
US Navy Seals Physical Fitness Guide available upon request
Being stressed will increase your susceptibility to catching a cold for instance.
That may be because, over the long term, it leads to the ongoing release of stress hormones, such as glucocorticoids.
These impede your body's ability to produce cell-signaling molecules called cytokines, which trigger a disease-fighting response from your immune system.
An occasional restless night is nothing to worry about, but a continuous lack of sleep can hamper your immune system's ability to function, not to mention increase your risk of all sorts of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and depression.
Though experts often say that sleep requirements vary by individual, a 2009 Carnegie Mellon study found that anything short of seven hours nearly triples your odds of catching a cold — and that means seven straight hours, with no middle-of-the-night wake-ups.
Make sure you're relaxed when going to bed; instead of taking your troubles with you, spend a few minutes before you turn in to jot down your concerns.
Alternatively, try this relaxation technique: while lying, stretch your toes forward, tense your muscles as tight as you can, hold for a few seconds, and then relax and sleep soundly.
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Cold and flu can spread easily, especially through surfaces like tables and doorknobs, where viruses can survive for two to eight hours.
Make sure you wash your hands with soap and water, especially after coughin or sneezing. Germs can grow on bar soaps, so use the pumped kind (or better yet, a hands-free dispenser), and choose regular soap over antibacterial (the overuse of which may contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant germs).
Make sure to dry your hands thoroughly (damp hands are far more likely to spread bacteria than dry ones), but not on your clothes to avoid germs.
Keep your fingers away from your eyes, nose and mouth as much as possible.
The word antioxidants always comes up when people refer to "superfoods". However, people would be better off trying to avoid oxidants in the first place.
Pollution, chemicals, processed foods and smoking are all oxidants. Women in particular are whacking on lots of oxidants on a daily basis in the form of make-up and perfume for instance.
based on:
- article by J. Moninger on Health.com (2 November 2011)
- inputs by Melanie Grimes on naturalnews.com
- miscellaneous sources on the internet
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