Health | Living Healthy

Overcoming Obesity

August 21, 2011 Leave a Comment

OLDHAM, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 01: A woman eats t...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Let’s face it: our lifestyles are in the rubbish bin. We don’t exercise as much as we should. Adults and children eat too much processed junk food. Research shows that one out of every four people in the UK is overweight or obese. Obesity is the leading cause of heart problems and other healthcare issues. But there are ways to beat obesity.

Eat Less

Eating less doesn’t mean starving yourself. Any fad diet with a 48 hour fast will help you drop a small amount of weight quickly, but it’s unhealthy and has no lasting value. Eating less means choosing your foods wisely. Cut out the fast food, take a pass on dessert and rediscover fruits and vegetables. You can still eat like a king and stay healthy.

Exercise

Turn off the telly, log off the Internet and go for a walk. Exercise can be simple. Try a jaunty stroll around the neighborhood. Take the stairs at work. Take your dog for a walk in the park. Each of these will get your heart rate up, which means you are burning calories. It’s good for your heart and good for your body.

Medicine

Even those who eat right and exercise could use a little help. You can also try out xenical and stop the absorption of fat. Research shows a simple pill will work wonders in weight loss by adding it to a proper diet and exercise program. Knowing that you’re getting some help can make the fight against obesity easier to win. Plus, you can buy xenical at competitive prices.

An ounce of prevention, in this case, will turn into a longer and healthier life.

Filed Under: Health, Health Care Tagged With: Eating, Heart disease, Obesity

Exercise and Depression

March 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

Depression can be a severe illness. It is often only fully understood by those who suffer from it. People with depression can be considered lazy or chronic complainers. In reality, the mortality rate from depression is as high as that from heart disease. It can be a life threatening disease and should be taken seriously.

Often, people with mild depression do not even realize that they are depressed. For instance, waking up extremely early on a chronic basis is a red flag for low-grade depression. Insomnia is another warning. A lack of interest in things that formerly gave pleasure can be another indicator. Someone who does no housework and just watches television may be depressed rather than indolent.

It can help the symptoms greatly if the depressed person can force themselves to exercise. Such exercise can do wonders in treating depression that is mild or moderate. Rigorous exercise has been shown to greatly improve the symptoms of depression in such patients. Doctors advise that even ten minutes of exercise a day can help improve the mood of depressive patients.

Unfortunately, exercise will not cure those who are severely depressed, although it will definitely help their condition. More severe treatment will be needed. In most cases, the patients will need to take some form of antidepressant and see a counselor or therapist.

It is highly urgent that severely depressed patients seek help, since suicide is a common outcome of this type of depression. This is particularly true if firearms are present in the home. Studies have shown that there is frequently an impulsivity with suicide. Highly depressed people will often act impulsively if there is an option suddenly available to them. Attempts should be made to limit the person’s access to lethal weapons.

Filed Under: Health, Health Care Tagged With: Depression, Major depressive disorder, Physical exercise

Cholinesterase Inhibitors and Alzheimer’s Disease

February 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease have varied over the years. Until recently, cholinesterase inhibitors were the drugs of choice to minimize symptoms in patients. They were only used for patients with mild to moderate cases of this dementia. Also, the inhibitors of cholinesterase relieved some of the symptoms for a while, but they were not a cure. The patients continued their inexorable decline.

The reason for using this class of drugs is that the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease were hypothesized to be due to an insufficient supply of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Thus, signals were not getting passed properly between neurons. Cholinesterase degrades acetylcholine. The use of a gentle cholinesterase inhibitor should then cause an increase in the amount of acetylcholine and increased communication between neurons.

It was necessary to use a mild cholinesterase inhibitor, since some chemicals in this class are potent nerve gas poisons. Patients had to be closely monitored while on these types of drugs, and started on a low dose. The dose was gradually increased until an effect was observed.

Cholinesterase inhibitors have unpleasant side effects such as nausea and vomiting. It was decided that since the drugs did not appear to be working well, it was best to spare the patients these side effects. Some doctors do still prescribe inhibitors of cholinesterase, but it is becoming less common.

The current model for the cause of Alzheimer’s disease is thought to be beta-amyloid plaques that form in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Substantial amounts of research are being conducted on the mechanism and formation of the fibrils that make up the plaques and the plaques themselves.

Filed Under: Health, Medical Procedures Tagged With: Alzheimer's disease, Health care, Health insurance, Medicine

The Thyroid Gland

January 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

Did you know that the improper functioning of the thyroid gland can lead to many problems? The thyroid gland is the largest endocrine glands in the human body. If you don’t know what an endocrine gland is, it is a gland which would secrete its products like the hormones, directly into the blood stream. The exocrine glands on the other hand give it to the body through a duct.

The thyroid gland is the source of many types of hormones which are essential for the proper working of the body. These hormones are called the thyroid hormones and control the metabolism of the body. From your birth to your death, it is the thyroid which regulates various functioning of the metabolism and any deviation from its normal working pace can lead to a plethora of problems.

There are two main abnormal conditions of the thyroid, the hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. Both conditions can prove to be quite dangerous and affect the person who suffers from it. Both the conditions also affect the growth and development of the body from a young age. Thyroid also produces hormones that regulate the calcium content in the body.

The thyroid is controlled by two other main parts, the pituitary which regulates the growth of the body and the hypothalamus, which controls various other functions like the food intake and many others. The overactive thyroid functioning can cause hyperthyroidism and the under-active thyroid can cause hypothyroidism.

The thyroid is located in the neck, in the thyroid cartilage. This cartilage is very pronounced in men and is called Adam’s apple. Problems with thyroid can also affect your immunity power and make you weak and susceptible to many diseases. Other symptoms are weight gain, excessive sweating and many others which cannot be absolute indications but it would be worth checking the thyroid hormone levels regularly.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: Thyroid