Baldness is a distressing problem for many men and women. While not every case of premature baldness can be prevented, it is possible for some people to avoid losing their hair. Here are five ways you can potentially prevent hair growth problems:
#1 Know Your Family History
It's important to understand your family history regarding premature balding. Many cases of hair growth problems are genetic, which means there is little you can do to stop your hair from falling out. What you can do is be on the lookout for the first signs, and head to your dermatologist for treatment options as soon as possible.
The sooner you begin treatment, the better. You might not be able to reverse your genetics, but you can reduce the severity of your premature baldness by giving the problem prompt attention.
#2 Avoid Stress
Stress is a leading factor for non-genetic baldness in both men and women. When people are under severe physical or emotional stress, their hair often falls out at an accelerated rate. Therefore, make an effort to reduce stress in your life.
This might be by meditating, exercising, or simply cutting back on your work schedule and taking more time for yourself.
#3 Eat a Healthy Diet
Diet can play an important role in hair health. If your body is deficient in certain vitamins or minerals, it can lead to hair growth problems.
This is why many anorexics experience hair loss in patchy clumps. You don't have to be anorexic to be deficient in vitamins, however. Even healthy eaters may not get the right amount of nutrients. That's why it's a good idea to take a daily multivitamin to make up for any diet deficiencies.
#4 Avoid Harsh Chemicals
It's a common practice for women (and even some men) to color their hair and use harsh treatments like permanent waves and relaxers. Many types of hair color, perms and relaxers are made with harsh chemicals which can damage the hair and lead to breakage and loss.
If enough hair breaks off close to the root, it can lead to serious thinning and balding. So to avoid this type of premature balding, limit your use of these products or avoid them altogether. If your hair is already damaged, hot oil treatments and deep conditioners can help.
#5 Keep Your Hormones Balanced
Women are especially susceptible to hormonal hair loss. The best example of this type of hair loss is that which occurs following pregnancy. Menopause and perimenopause may also lead to balding problems in some women.
Make sure you are getting annual checkups and having your thyroid checked at each visit. Keeping your hormones in proper balance, at least for women, can help prevent unnecessary hair loss.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
5 Ways to Prevent Hair Loss
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Dengue Fever: The Cause, Symptoms & Preventions
As we entered the raining season and that with widely spread of the dengue fever occurring in and around Medan, known as Demam Berdarah (DBD) in Indonesia, we would like to create some awareness of this infectious disease. Although Dengue may not be a deadly a disease, it is dangerous and is vital to take precautions especially for the elderly and young children.
“1 child die of Dengue Fever every 20 minutes in the World” – World Health Organization
What is dengue fever?
Dengue fever is a flu-like illness spread by the bite of an infected mosquito.
How is dengue spread?
Dengue is spread by the bite of an Aedes mosquito. The mosquito transmits the disease by biting an infected person and then biting someone else.
Where is dengue found?
Dengue viruses occur in most tropical areas of the world. Dengue is common in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Australia, and the Americas. It is widespread in the Caribbean basin. Dengue is most common in cities but can be found in rural areas. It is rarely found in mountainous areas above 4,000 feet.
The mosquitoes that transmit dengue live among humans and breed in discarded tires, flower pots, old oil drums, and water storage containers close to human dwellings. Unlike the mosquitoes that cause malaria, dengue mosquitoes bite during the day.
How soon after exposure do symptoms appear?
The time between the bite of a mosquito carrying dengue virus and the start of symptoms averages 4 to 6 days, with a range of 3 to 14 days. An infected person cannot spread the infection to other persons but can be a source of dengue virus for mosquitoes for about 6 days.
Symptoms of Dengue Fever
The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Dengue fever includes the 21 symptoms listed below:
· High fever – up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit
· Severe headache
· Retro-orbital pain – pain behind the eye
· Severe joint pains
· Muscle pains
· Muscle aches
· Swollen lymph nodes
· General weakness
· Nausea
· Vomiting
· Rash
· Children get non-typical symptoms
· Fever
· Weakness
· Prostration
· Severe headache
· Pain behind the eyes
· Severe muscle pain
· Slowed heart rate
· Enlarge lymph nodes
· Maculopapular rash
How is Dengue treated?
Dengue fever is a severe, flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults. There is no specific treatment for dengue fever. Dengue haemorrhagic fever is a potentially lethal complication but early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management by experienced physicians and nurses often save lives.
How can dengue be prevented?
There is no vaccine to prevent dengue. Prevention centers on avoiding mosquito bites when traveling to areas where dengue occurs and when in U.S. areas, especially along the Texas-Mexico border, where dengue might occur. Eliminating mosquito breeding sites in these areas is another key prevention measure.
Avoid mosquito bites when traveling in tropical areas:
· Use mosquito repellents on skin and clothing.
· When outdoors during times that mosquitoes are biting, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants tucked into socks.
· Avoid heavily populated residential areas.
· When indoors, stay in air-conditioned or screened areas. Use bednets if sleeping areas are not screened or air-conditioned.
· If you have symptoms of dengue, report your travel history to your doctor.
Eliminate mosquito breeding sites in areas where dengue might occur:
· Eliminate mosquito breeding sites around homes. Discard items that can collect rain or run-off water, especially old tires.
· Regularly change the water in outdoor bird baths and pet and animal water containers.
By Medan Indonesia
Filed under Information
Swine Flu Precautions
What Is Swine Flu?
Like humans, pigs get the flu. Four different type A swine flu strains commonly circulate among pigs. Most recent swine flu viruses have belonged to the H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes. Pigs typically get sick but usually don’t die from swine flu.
The new swine flu virus infecting humans is very unusual. It’s somehow acquired genes from swine, bird, and human flu bugs. And it’s also got genes from Eurasian swine flu viruses that aren’t supposed to be in North America.
Do Humans Get Swine Flu?
Normally, swine flu bugs don’t infect people. Historically, there’s a case every year or two in the U.S. among people who have contact with live pigs.
But from December 2005 to January 2009 there was an uptick in swine flu cases. There were 12 human swine flu infections during this time. Eleven of these people had direct or indirect contact with pigs; in the twelfth case it was not known whether there was pig contact.
It’s possible this uptick was due to improved reporting systems, but the CDC says “genetic changes in swine flu viruses and other factors might also be a factor.”
The new swine flu virus is different. It’s not yet clear that it’s here to stay. But it is infecting humans, and that has world health officials keeping a close eye on it.
Can Swine Flu Spread From Person to Person?
The U.S. residents infected with swine flu virus had no direct contact with pigs. The CDC says it’s likely that the infections represent widely separated cycles of human-to-human infections.
Have There Been Previous Swine Flu Outbreaks?
If swine flu sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you remember or have read about the 1976 swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, N.J., among military recruits. It lasted about a month and then went away as mysteriously as it appeared. As many as 240 people were infected; one died.
The swine flu that spread at Fort Dix was the H1N1 strain. That’s the same flu strain that caused the disastrous flu pandemic of 1918-1919, resulting in tens of millions of deaths.
Concern that a new H1N1 pandemic might return with winter led to a crash program to create a vaccine and vaccinate all Americans against swine flu. That vaccine program ran into all kinds of problems — not the least of which was public perception that the vaccine caused excessive rates of dangerous reactions. After more than 40 million people were vaccinated, the effort was abandoned.
As it turned out, there was no swine flu epidemic.
I Got a Flu Shot. Am I Protected Against Swine Flu?
No. There is currently no swine flu vaccine.
It’s possible that the seasonal flu vaccine might provide partial protection against H3N2 swine flu bugs. But the strain that appeared in California is the H1N1 swine flu strain. It is very different from the H1N1 human flu strain included in the seasonal flu vaccine.
It’s not known whether previous infection with human type A H1N1 flu might provide partial protection against the type A H1N1 swine flu in the current outbreak.
However, the CDC has made a “vaccine seed” from swine flu isolated from an infected person, and has begun the process of developing a vaccine should the need arise. Whether a vaccine could be produced in quantity by next flu season is a huge question.
How Serious Is the Public Health Threat of a Swine Flu Epidemic?
Any flu epidemic is worrisome, especially when a new strain of flu bug is involved.
“Influenza A viruses new to the human population that are able to efficiently transmit from person to person and cause illness may represent a pandemic threat,” the CDC warns.
It’s worrisome that, unlike seasonal flu, the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is attacking healthy young people. That’s a hallmark of pandemic flu bugs.
But it takes more than a new virus spreading among humans to make a pandemic. The virus has to be able to spread efficiently from one person to another, and transmission has to be sustained over time. In addition, the virus has to spread geographically.
Is There a Treatment for Swine Flu?
Yes. While the swine flu bug is resistant to older flu medicines, it remains sensitive to Tamiflu and to Relenza.
Can You Get Swine Flu by Eating Pork?
No. You can only catch swine flu from being around an infected pig — or, if it’s the new swine flu virus, from an infected person.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Top 20 Benefits of Exercise
- Elevates your metabolism so that you burn more calories everyday.
- Increases your aerobic capacity (fitness level). This gives you the ability to go through your day with less relative energy expenditure. This enables a "fit" person to have more energy at the end of the day and to get more accomplished during the day with less fatigue.
- Maintains, tones, and strengthens your muscle. Exercise also increases your muscular endurance.
- Decreases your blood pressure.
- Increases the oxidation (breakdown and use) of fat.
- Increases HDL (good) cholesterol.
- Makes the heart a more efficient pump by increasing stroke volume.
- Increases hemoglobin concentration in your blood. Hemoglobin is part of the red blood cell that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.
- Decreases the tendency of the blood to clot in the blood vessels. This is important because small clots traveling in the blood are often the cause of heart attacks and strokes.
- Increases the strength of the bones..
- Causes the development of new blood vessels in the heart and other muscles.
- Enlarges the arteries that supply blood to the heart.
- Decreases blood levels of triglycerides (fat).
- Improves control of blood sugar
- Improves sleep patterns.
- Increases the efficiency of the digestive system which may reduce the incidence of colon cancer.
- Increases the thickness of cartilage in joints which has a protective effect on the joints.
- Decreases a woman's risk of developing endometriosis by 50%.
- Increases the amount of blood that flows to the skin making it look and feel healthier.
- Exercise, in addition to all the physiological and anatomical benefits, just makes you feel GREAT!
Author and exercise Physiologist, Greg Landry
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Weight Loss Online – Using the Internet to Lose Weight
Whether you need to lose 10 pounds or 100 you will find amazing weight loss support online. For example if you want some great weight loss tips to get you started on your diet, Weight Loss Center has many at a click of a mouse: Weight Loss
If you want to get one on one support and have experts answer your dieting questions, why waste your time at Jenny Craig or LA weight loss when you can just go to a weight loss forum and get answers within minutes without ever leaving your house? Weight Loss Forum You can even start your own blog and have people post helpful suggestions to it.
Indeed the evolution of weight loss is taking place right before our eyes on the internet. It is an exciting time for dieters because there are many more options available. These new options should help bring about a decrease in obesity in the near future.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
12 Keys To Super-Charging Your Metabolism For Weight Loss!
"Basal metabolism" is the metabolic rate or caloric expenditure needed to maintain basal body functions such as your heart beating, breathing, muscle tone, etc. It's how fast your "motor" is running when you're still in a reclined position or sleeping. Basal metabolism accounts for about 75% of the calories you expend on a daily basis!
The good news is that there are 12 ways you can "boost" your metabolism! The more of these you're able to incorporate into your life, the more you'll boost your metabolism. That means you'll be expending ("burning") more calories 24 hours a day!
1. Always eat breakfast! Skipping breakfast sends the message to your body that you're starving because you haven't had food in 18+ hours. As a protective mechanism, your metabolism slows down. Food, especially complex carbohydrates, fuels your metabolism.
2. Eat earlier in the day! Research has demonstrated that you can lose weight simply by eating a substantial breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner. Dinner should be eaten as early as possible, preferably at least four hours before bedtime.
3. Never eat less than 1200 calories per day! Less than 1200 is usually not enough to support your basal metabolism and thus will slow your metabolism.
4. Snack frequently! Complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and grains) fuel your metabolism. Also, snacking prevents you from becoming too hungry. The hungrier you are, the less control you have over what and how much you eat.
5. Eat more carbohydrates (food from plants), and less fat (food from many animals and other food with added fat)! Carbohydrates boost your metabolism and have fewer calories per weight than fat.
6. Do some type of aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, stationary cycling, aerobic dancing, etc.) on a daily basis (preferably in the morning)! Forget this twice-a-week stuff. Our bodies were designed to be active on a daily basis! When we are, our metabolism soars!
7. In addition to your regular aerobic exercise, take a brisk 10 to 15 minute walk at lunch or in the evening. This serves to boost your metabolism even more!
8. Tone your muscles with weight training three days per week. Toned muscles send your metabolism through the roof. Do it!
9. Look for situations to be active. Park as far from the store as you can rather than looking for the closest parking spot. Use the stairs rather than the elevator, a broom rather than a blower, etc. Look for the "hard" way to do things!
10. Avoid alcohol! Alcohol depresses your metabolism and stimulates your appetite.
11. Drink 60+ ounces of water a day. Your metabolism needs plenty water to function properly. Carry a bottle of water with you and drink frequently throughout the day.
12. Avoid the"3 P's".....pills, powders, and potions! There are NO quick fixes!
Get started today! You'll feel better and your metabolism will be in "great shape"!
Author and exercise Physiologist, Greg Landry, offers free weight loss success stories and articles, and unique weight loss programs.
