Archive for June, 2008

Heat Rash Treatment - Popular Techniques

Heat rash or prickly heat, as it is popularly known as, refers to the development of rashes on the skin due to excessive sweating after running, working out, aerobics and other similar activities. It is accompanied by the sensation of prickles all over the skin. It is caused due to deviation of sweat, which causes it to flow inside the skin, rather than escaping from the skin. This leads to blockage and inflammation of sweat ducts.

You can treat heat rash by following some simple treatment procedures. In order to understand how to cure heat rash, you must learn the techniques discussed below:

  • Ice cubes - In order to cool down the skin, you must apply ice cubes to affected areas. You may prefer to apply these cubes directly or wrapped up in a cloth. It is beneficial to repeat this procedure after regular intervals of 3-4 hours.
  • Hydrocortisone cream - It is advised to use products like hydrocortisone cream over affected areas of skin regularly. Also, dusting powder must be applied to these areas to ease out with rashes as well prickles. However, one must avoid oil enhancing creams and ointments.
  • Water - It is often advised to drink a lot of water during the appearance of heat rashes. This will enforce the sweat to move out of the skin pores and relieve the body from prickling sensation.
  • Backing soda - It is beneficial to use baking soda in the form of paste, prepared in water, to recover from heat rashes. You must apply the paste gently over affected area and wash after sometime. It will help the heat inside body to dissipate to the surroundings.
  • Antibacterial soap - It is advised to take a bath with antibacterial soaps. Also, you must use lukewarm water for bathing and may add little quantity of baking soda in it.
  • Fresh air - It is advised to expose your skin to fresh air, so that the blocked sweat ducts may get unplugged and release the sweat outside. It is not at all a wise act to apply bandage over the infected area.
  • Oatmeal - Just like baking soda, oatmeal powder also exhibits the quality to treat heat rashes over skin. You may also add this substance to your bathing water.
  • Cornstarch - You may also apply cornstarch over affected area of the skin. This will relieve the skin from rashes and also, help the sweat ducts to get unclogged.
  • Cotton clothes - It is also recommended to wear loose cotton clothes to keep your skin cool. You must also keep the cool surroundings around you to save your skin from heat and high temperature.
  • Cleaning - It is of great importance to clean your skin on regular basis to avoid regular blockage of sweat pores and formation of heat rashes.
No Tags

Fighting Swimmer’s Ear with Useful Home Remedies

Swimmer’s ear is the common infection of ear, caused by exposure to water for along time. This disorder mainly appears on the scene, due to swimming and other water-related activities. Bacteria and fungus are main contributors towards this ear infection. It affects the outer canal of the ear, when waxy substance of this portion is washed away by extensive exposure to water. The moist and damp setting created in the ear feeds the growth of microbes inside ear, leading to wrinkle formation on the inner skin. This completes the picture for swimmer’s ear or otitis externa, the other name for this infection.

The symptoms for swimmer’s ear include pain, itching, discharge of milky content, hearing inability, experience of humming sound and swelling and heaviness in the ear. It is possible to treat swimmer’s ear by following some of the most apposite home remedies listed below:

  • Apple Cider Vinegar - In case, you feel existence of water insider ear, it is advised to put few drops of apple cider vinegar inside the ear. You must add water or alcohol to this product before starting the treatment. This is the most admirable home remedy for swimmer’s ear.
  • Sweet oil - Addition of sweet oil to the infected ear is another great home remedy for swimmer’s ear. After pouring this oil in the ear, it is advisable to cover the ear with cotton ball to restrict the flow of oil out of your ear. You can try this remedy, only if you are fortunate enough to find rarely existing sweet oil.
  • Coarse Salt - In order to extract water out of the ear, it is recommended to prepare a sock of coarse salt and put it in the ear. This remedy is effective in reducing the pain and level of swelling. It is beneficial to keep the salt in microwave for few minutes, before applying it to the infected ear.
  • Rubbing Alcohol - A mixture of isopropyl rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide is a trusted home remedy for swimmer’s ear. This mixture forms bubbles inside in the ear, letting the water inside ear to evaporate.
  • Vinegar - Vinegar, specifically the white vinegar, must be poured in each ear alternatively in the form of few drops. You must keep it in one ear for 5-6 minutes and then, repeat the procedure for other ear. Keep in mind to remove the drops from ear, after accomplishing the procedure.

Apart from these remedies, you must follow the procedure to dry out the water present in ear. This could be achieved by using a hairdryer or exposure of ear to sun rays.

Also, it is of great importance to avoid the water from entering ears, while swimming or related activities. In order to do so, you can put oil in your ears before landing in a pool. You must swim in clean and clear water, free from contamination.

No Tags

Stress and Weight Gain

     

Stress and weight gain are often linked due to the effects of stress on the physiology of a person. Stress is an active part of our lives and hardwired into our biological make up allowing us to fight or flee from threatening and dangerous situations. What served our prehistoric ancestors well in situations involving evading a predator or a hostile enemy, leaves us tense with little sign of relief in a traffic jam at rush hour or standing in a long line at the grocery store.

Sometimes people cope with stress by eating. Eating doesnt just fulfill an emotional need, but a physiological one that is related to the hormone cortisol. When the body begins to experience a stress response, the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine are released into the body along with cortisol. The hormones work to speed up the heart rate, stimulate the liver to release more sugar into the blood stream for energy, perspiration to be released to cool the skin and to shut down digestion so that the energy can be redirected to more necessary systems. All of these are a part of the fight or flight response and after danger is passed the body reabsorbs the epinephrine and norepinephrine while cortisol levels remain elevated over a longer time period.

When stress is chronic, the cortisol levels can remain persistently high. So how does cortisol affect weight gain? Cortisol performs many actions in the body and the ultimate goal of it is the provision of energy. Much like encouraging the liver to release more sugar into the blood stream, cortisols prime goal is an energy source that will be needed for all of the fighting or the running. Cortisol stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy and stimulates insulin release and maintenance of blood sugar levels.

Does Stress Cause Weight Gain?

So what does this have to do with weight gain? The end result of all these actions is an increase in appetite. Thus people who are chronically stressed may eat two and three times as much as they need because their bodies are demanding the fuel. Because the weight gain is stimulated by cortisol, it tends to be stored in the abdominal area which is considered toxic fat because it can lead to cardio vascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes.

Is stress the sole cause for weight gain? No. A genetic predisposition plays a large part in how fat is distributed and how the body reacts to stress. If a program of stress management and reduction such as regular exercise, healthy eating, getting good sleep and relaxation can help a person cope with stress reactions as well as improve the hearts strength and resistance to disease.

People who suffer from poor coping methods with stress do not always gain weight. Some lose weight. Some do not have their weight affected at all, but because cortisol does play a role in stimulating appetite and it is released in persistent quantities when someone suffers from chronic stress the relationship between the two is very strong.

Sponsors (article continues below)

To improve your overall health and fitness as well as resistance to stress-induced diseases such as weight gain, depression, heart disease and ulcers employ a regular set of stress reduction methods.

Home remedies for stuffy ears

Painful at times, stuffy ear is very annoying thing that cause discomfort to its maximum. The major cause behind this stuffy ear is nothing but the impurities that start building up inside the ear due to lack of care. This helps the earwax to grow and swell. It is then that you find you ear to be stuffy.

There are a few home based remedies to this stuffy ear. If you ever encounter the problem, you can try these out. Probably, you may find them helpful. If they don’t, then the best way to get rid of it is to see a doctor and ask him to clean up the mess built inside your ear.

The remedies are listed below. A word of caution is important. Please don’t try those treatments if you are afraid of losing your hearing ability or even if you think that there is an infection inside your ear.

  • Ear-candling: This is an ancient method and is used to bring out the earwax and other impurities present inside the ear. In this method, a waxed cloth is rounded up to forma cone or a cylinder. One end of that cone or cylinder is placed in the ear canal and the other end is lighted. The vacuum generated inside the hollow of the cylinder or the cone pulls out the earwax and other impurities present inside the ear. This gives a relief from the stuffy ear. Caution is to be taken while doing this so that not even small amount of wax enters the ear. Normally, the hollow candle is stuck outside by a paper plate or an aluminum pie tin.
  • Another better option is to warm up some olive oil a little above the body temperature and pour a few drops in the ear. This will dissolve the wax that is built up inside the ear. You can then tilt your head so that the oil can flow out of the ear. Wash your ear using warm water (make sure that the water is just above the body temperature to avoid burning).
  • You can also use a solution of a spoonful of baby oil or hydrogen peroxide and warm water to wash off your ear wax. Make sure that there are no infections inside your ear because hydrogen peroxide can increase the infection and the situation can be worse.

Ear is a very sensitive organ. A little bit of neglect can lead to deep trouble and the days to come can be full of agony. Please ensure that you take care of your ear properly to avoid discomfort and pain which can actually hamper your regular lifestyle and day to day activities.

No Tags

5 Quick Ways To Relieve Stress

There are good stresses such as the stress of preparing for a new baby or a graduation and negative stress such as illness, financial worry or fear of failure. A by-product of stress can be a suppressed immune system. A person's stress increases, as they become ill at the most inopportune times: during exams, when a final project's presentation arrives, during the move from one house to another.

Finding a way to cope with daily stress works towards your health maintenance as regular services for your car. Employing a few of the following techniques allows a body to relieve stress can improve your body's physical, mental and emotional health.

Meditation

Meditation summons an image of a figure sitting cross-legged in front of incense and murmuring 'ohm' in pseudo-religious format. Take ten minutes and shut off the rest of the world. Using a method of controlled breathing, inhaling for a count of four, holding for a count of two and releasing the breath for a count of four. Closing your eyes and letting your mind blank for those ten minutes while you breathe allows your mind a respite from the day's tensions. Imagine as you inhale you are gathering all of the tensions of the day and upon exhaling they are expelled from the body. Ten simple minutes can help relax the mind, restore focus and ease the onset of a headache.

Exercise

Exercise often promotes physical health by keeping the body in good cardio-vascular and muscular health. It is also an outlet for the physical tensions that wind a body up. Understanding that stress triggers the fight-or-flight instinct in the body, tensing muscles so they are coiled and ready to run at greater speeds, increasing the heart rate and restricting blood flow to non-essential systems, also explains why physical exertions such as 15 to 20 minutes of brisk walking, biking or jogging can allow the body to relieve itself of the need for action. Exercise also releases endorphins, the body's natural chemical high.

Chunk Your To Do List

Chunk your to do list so that you are not looking at a list of thirty items that must be completed in a limited amount of time and begin to feel overwhelmed that you cannot complete everything on the list. Modifying your expectations so that as you check off each item, you allow that success to relieve tension can limit the distress to your body.

Laugh

Laugh, whether through social conversation or viewing a sitcom on television. Laughter is therapeutic and can temporarily elevate your heart rate, help digestion, relax muscles, ease pain and like exercise, release endorphins.

Massage

Sponsors (article continues below)

Massage, whether you make an appointment to visit a masseuse or use your finger tips to rub your temples and the back of your neck, using vigorous circular motions. The external pressure on the muscle works to relieve the tension within the muscles. A professional massage which can last anywhere from 25 to 50 minutes, promotes a time when you have nothing to do but relax.