Monthly Archives: November 2015

The Brain

Your Brain

Your brain isn’t just a grey mass where your memory reside in your head waiting to learn something new. Your mind is continuously making connections, forming new thoughts and processes, creating new neurons that either reinforce your old habits (behaviours) or the development of new ones.

 

It was once thought that the brain stopped producing new brain cells early in its development. And presumably brain power dimmed as cells died over the years

But in the past decade, researchers have found definitive evidence that the brain continues to generate new brain cells throughout life. Studies indicate that challenging environments, which include a number of components, such as pumped-up learning opportunities, social interactions and physical activities, are key to boosting the growth of new brain cells.

 

We can keep our brains healthy by entering into new situations, new games, and new social group activities. And if we can keep learning new things, and engage in physical activities, we can continue growing new brain cells.

 

Your brain is the only thing that can keep you healthy and happy. The brain is capable of being trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine.

 

Our ability to think and reason, our level of education, and the exposure we receive to outside input on a daily basis affects our entire environment, but especially our health.

So give yourself the space each day to train your brain. It works.

 

Let’s face it you either use it or you will certainly lose it! And the mind is a terrible thing to waste.

 

The good news is that you’re never too old to start boosting your brainpower, and it can be fun,  You can gain years of life that could otherwise be lost.

 

Get started now, and keep challenging your brain. It’s worth the effort.

 

Meditation

At-home Meditation

At-home meditation is the most convenient place to do meditation but it also is an environment that can introduce the most distractions. Brainwave entrainment products and other tips and techniques can help you stay focused.

 

Sleep

 

The biggest challenge for many of us is trying not to fall asleep during meditation. The best time to do meditation is after a few hours of sleep. It is no fun dozing off just as you see a tunnel that you believe is your escape into the astral world. You had planned on flying over ancient Greece and maybe even dropping in on a lecture by Plato but instead you are deep in a dream state and being chased by dragons. To avoid sleep, find the right time of day for you to practice meditation.

 

The mind is often the most at peace during early morning before the stresses of the day set in. Meditating with the sunrise is always a serene experience. An early meditation also helps you turn on a positive state and take on the world during the day with a positive mindset.

 

Brainwave entrainment products are one of the most effective ways of introducing discipline to at-home meditation. If you do start to fall asleep, a change in tone will often return you to a state of wakefulness. Many meditators do reality checks, especially those who engage in astral travel and lucid dreaming.

 

Most of us are less ambitious. We are focused on achieving a state of deep relaxation and entering the hypnogogic state between wakefulness and dreaming. Reality checks are useful at all stages of meditation. From time to time, press your thumb into the palm of your hand, or employ whatever reality check you choose.

 

Discipline

 

Most meditators find that the mind will wander more easily at home then in a more structured guided meditation class. Even experienced meditators appreciate doing guided meditation from time to time. There are many meditation recordings and brainwave entrainment products to keep your at-home meditation on track. Maintaining a regular daily meditation schedule will help you make the required adjustments to ensure the best meditation experience.

 

Place and Position

 

It is best to create one special place for meditation in your home environment. You will come to associate this place with a relaxed, tranquil meditative state and your state will begin to shift as soon as you enter the room. Be creative. Build a Buddhist alter if you so desire with icons that are meaningful to you. Or perhaps you want to recreate your favorite meadow land from childhood in your garden.

 

At-home meditation should be comfortable but not too cozy. Do not try and do meditation in your favorite lounge chair or hammock in the backyard. Your spine should be straight, allowing energy to flow up through the energy channels aligned with the chakras.

 

Do not confine your meditation practice to one place and one time during the day. You can take your at-home meditation with you during the day. When you reach a meditation state you like, anchor it. An anchor is any physical stimulus you choose. It may be as simple as touching your thumb and baby finger together.

 

The next time you are stressed out by a work task – before leading a team meeting or delivering a speech, for example – call up your anchor, relax, smile and remind yourself that you are going to do great.

 

Reduce Your Disease Risk

How To Reduce Your Disease Risk By An Astonishing 80 Percent

Is it really possible to live a disease-free life?
 
According to health and fitness professional Carolyn Hansen the answer is “most definitely”.
 
She says that long term studies have proven that you can rid yourself of up to 80 percent of the disease risk that plagues many people and ends up cutting their life unnecessarily short.
 
By decades, in some cases.
 
I am sure I don’t have to point out the benefits of being able to live a life free of the risk of disease.
 
Of course that’s not what she’s claiming here. Just the ability to reduce your risk to one fifth of what it otherwise might be.
 
But just to play Devil’s Advocate, what ARE the benefits of being able to lower your risk by such a large amount?
 
For one thing, your life duration expectation goes way up.
 
Instead of sticking around for just 70-80 years, maybe now you get to live to see your 100th birthday.
 
Even better than that – you get to live out the later years of your life without having to deal with the slow torture that failing organs inflict on the disease-ridden.
 
Kidney disease is no fun. Nor is pancreatic, throat, lung, bowel or skin cancer.
 
Even plain old diabetes can completely hobble you and cause the slow shutdown of organs and the necessity to rid yourself of the furthest extremities in a bid to just keep going…
 
No. Disease, if it can be avoided MUST be avoided if you are presented with any reasonable course of action that would allow it.
 
So what’s the secret?
 
What do you need to do to wipe the slate and regain the years that disease may get preparing to rob from you even as you read this page?
 
Carolyn says that by adopting just FOUR simple lifestyle habits you can eliminate 80 percent of the risk for the BIG diseases, the ones that claim the lives of millions every year and swell the ledgers of the “prematurely deceased”.
 
What are those magical four habits?
 
Well, you’ll need to read her ebook “Reduce Your Disease Risk By An Astonishing 80 Percent” to get the answers.
 
But the good news is that it is free:
 
 
Better still, it turns out that those habits are nothing outlandish at all. In fact you may be doing at least one of them already. But it’s missing out on the benefits of the other three that might end up killing you.
 
And that’s why I recommend you go read the book now. That and the fact that I’ve always wanted to be able to say “Go read this book now. It may just save your life…” and actually have it be true. In this case, it is! 
 

Reclaim Your Longevity

How To Live Forever – Well Almost!

It would be great, wouldn’t it? Being able to live forever?
 
Knowing that no matter how long it takes for the next greatest discovery to be made by mankind you’d be around to experience the wonder of it?
 
Suppose for example you’d been born just 150 years ago. What do you think the high points of your life might be?
 
Sure there would be the first kiss and all the unique personal experiences that no one else can fully share that we’ll remember until the day we die.
 
But then there are the sharable moments too. The ones that we can all experience together. The discoveries that remind us that we belong to an incredible species that has scarcely begun its ages of exploration and discovery.
 
Imagine being able to take a walk through the 1893 World Fair at night and see the newly invented Tesla alternating current power sources declaring their imminent victory in the race to light the world.
 
Imagine being able to attend the first “air shows” where eccentric but visionary inventors forced their flying machines off the ground in a risky but glory-promising bid to finally attain manned flight.
 
Imagine being alive when newspapers sounded the amazing triumph of an unknown scientist named Einstein who had correctly predicted the crazy ability of the sun to bend rays of starlight in a universe that warped and buckled because, as it turns out, mass and energy are equivalent and space and time are different manifestations of the very same thing.
 
Maybe you were alive when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and became the first man to walk on another world…
 
Wouldn’t you like to be alive when the next one is Mars? When we finally bridge the gap between planets for the first time?
 
I know Carolyn Hansen would. She is a health and fitness professional who thinks a lot about what it takes to get the most out of a life span. Your life span, if she has any say in the matter.
 
Carolyn recently came out with a new product she calls “Reclaim Your Longevity” and to help you get an idea of what it is about, and how it can benefit you, she is giving away an ebook of hers called “Switch Off The Aging Process Within You“.
 
So if you’re at all concerned with where you want to be 30 years from now, 40 years from now, or longer, I highly recommend checking out the book. It’s free right now for people who don’t need to be sold on the idea that living as long as you possibly can might not be such a bad idea if you can swing it:
 
 
And hey, if Mars isn’t your thing… Wouldn’t you at least want to stick around until they’ve introduced that flying car you always see in the old sci-fi movies?
 
That’s what I’m holding out for. That and non-fattening donuts.
 
If you want to put the aging process ON ICE – at least until we are in a position to exploit the developing SCIENCE OF LONGEVITY and seriously extend our life span then I urge you to take a look at “Switch Off The Aging Process Within You“ you’ll be glad you did

 

Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic Acid: The Fountain of Youth?

What is Hyaluronic Acid?

Hyaluronic acid (also called Hyaluronan, or HA) is a component of connective tissue whose function is to cushion and lubricate. Hyaluronan occurs throughout the body in abundant amounts in many of the places people with hereditary connective tissue disorders have problems such as joints, heart valves and eyes. Hyaluronic acid abnormalities are a common thread in connective tissue disorders. Interestingly, they are also common biochemical anomalies in most of the individual features of connective tissue disorders such as mitral valve prolapse, TMJ, osteoarthritis, and keratoconus.

The Importance of Hyaluronic Acid (Hyaluronan, HA)

Hyaluronic Acid is present in every tissue of the body. Retention of water is one of the most important biological functions of hyaluronic acid, second only to providing nutrients and removing waste from cells that do not have a direct blood supply, such as cartilage cells. With a lower than adequate amount of hyaluronic acid, nutrients cannot be moved into these cells and waste cannot be eliminated from cells. Hyaluronic acid is sometimes abbreviated as HA. Hyaluronic acid is found in the synovial joint fluid, the vitreous humor of the eye, the cartilage, blood vessels, extracellular matrix, skin and the umbilical cord.

Hyaluronic Acid ; “The Key To The Fountain of Youth”

Hyaluronic acid has been nicknamed by the press as the “key to the fountain of youth” because it has been noted that at least some people who ingest a lot of Hyaluronan in their diets tend to live to ripe old ages. ABC News had a show on a village in Japan and hyaluronic acid entitled, “The Village of Long Life: Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?”

Hyaluronic acid for use by humans has been derived from rooster combs. Rooster combs provide the purest form of hyaluronic acid (Hyalurinan, HA) available.

Benefits
  •  Hyaluronic acid moisturizes skin from the inside out, smoothing out wrinkles in the process
  •  Hyaluronic acid helps people who need to ease the flexing of their joints, especially their knees, by restoring cushioning to their joints
  •  Hyaluronic acid is suitable for men and women in their 30s and 40s who are beginning to see the first signs of aging
  •  Hyaluronic acid is suitable for seniors who have established joint conditions

facelift

Facelifts Explained

The rhytidectomy, or much more commonly known as a facelift, is a cosmetic surgery specifically designed to restore a more youthful appearance by removing major obvious wrinkles and sagging skin from the facial area. The procedure involves tightening of the facial and neck muscles, as well as actual removal of any excess skin. In doing so the patient should find his or her appearance to be several years more youthful than before. In some good cases, a patient may look as many as ten years younger!
 
The skin naturally begins to wrinkle and sag as a result of age, sun exposure, and genetics. Children and young adults have smooth, round faces due to evenly distributed tissues in facial contours. Over time, the skin sags and folds. This is particularly occurs around the chin, jaw line, and neck. Not only does a facelift improve facial appearance but also has a dramatic effect on the chin and neck, enhancing the patient’s profile. Though as dramatic as the end results are, unlike several other types of cosmetic surgery, a facelift is not a simple procedure, and requires anywhere from one to two weeks of rest to make a full recovery.
 
This is a procedure that does actually demand some work from the patient beforehand. Before going in, avoid drugs that contain aspirin for several weeks prior to surgery to minimize excess bleeding. You may be required to take antibiotics to prevent infection. Depending on the doctor, you may be instructed to shampoo your hair the night before surgery.
 
For the procedure the surgeon will make incisions inside the hairline at the temple, then around the earlobe and behind the ear, ending at the scalp area. Excess skin is removed and sagging muscles and connective tissues are tightened. In some cases, fatty deposits may be removed from beneath the chin and neck. Incisions are closed with small sutures. The surgery may take up to 5 hours, depending on how many other facial procedures are being done in conjunction with the facelift.
 
There will be a lot of swelling afterwards, but after about two weeks the patient should notice a steady recovery beginning. Scarring fades quickly. In the time following surgery the patient should avoid the sun for several weeks after surgery. The main thing to remember is that the healing process takes time. It is gradual, and so the final results may not be noticeable for even half a year. Keep patient, and soon enough the positive results will become clear.
 
Alternatives to Surgery
 
However, there is no need to go to those extremes.  While the anti-aging products of our mothers’ and grandmothers’ generations may have been little more than promises in a package, there are new products on the market that truly have the potential to repair and rejuvenate our skin, giving us a more youthful appearance.
 
 

There is acupressure facial toning – a face exercise program that women and men all over the world are buzzing about! It’s the face aerobics toning system that employs simple facelift exercises to remove wrinkles and tighten wrinkly, sagging skin.  An acupressure facial toning such as Facelift Without Surgery does away with the need expensive and painful cosmetic surgery, anti-wrinkle cream, face masks, eye firming formulas and skin firming creams.

Acupressure facial rejuvenation exercises, or facial reflexology, is the perfect method towards a non-surgical facelift that can easily be carried out in the comfort of your own home.
 
These facial exercise routines can be carried out in just a few minutes each day.  And within days of starting such a face flexing program, your face will be more toned, wrinkles will be shallower, sagging face and neck skin will have firmed and strengthened, and you will look younger – and that’s just for starters!
 
These facial exercises, being entirely natural, work far better than electrical toning and have been practiced in china for thousands of years.  All you really need to do is to practice them regularly.
 
 
Anti-Wrinkle Serums

 

Women who want to look younger don’t have to go through the drastic measures of going under the knife for a facelift or having Botox injected into their skin. Instead, they can opt for a serum that uses amino peptides that literally relax facial muscle contractions, bind water to the skin, and promote collagen synthesis. When antioxidants and botanical extracts are added, damaged skin is repaired and the serum serves to reduce both the depth and number of wrinkles, increase the skin’s moisture, and improve skin tone and smoothness.

Face Masks
 
Many women question whether facial masks simply give us the illusion that we’re helping our skin, or if they really have a lasting positive effect. Well, using the right facial mask can definitely make a long-term difference. For example, a facial mask that increases collagen production, oxygenates skin cells, and stimulates cellular regeneration will make fine lines less noticeable. In fact, it can even imitate the muscular response to facial exercises, so that you face literally begins to tighten and become firmer.
 
Eye Firming Formulas
 
We first show signs of aging around our eyes. That morning puffiness doesn’t seem to go away, and those shadows under our eyes get darker, not lighter. One of the culprits is fluid retention, and an eye firming formulation that has what can best be described as a decongestant effect while utilizing a polymer that bonds water to the skin can both ease the puffiness and make the skin around the eyes more elastic and smooth.
 
Skin Firming Creams
 
Unfortunately, signs of aging aren’t only apparent on our faces, but are evident all over our skin. Again, anti-aging peptides can do a tremendous amount to smooth and firm the skin, as well as to lessen wrinkles and to increase collagen and elastin – substances that make our skin suppler. Because our skin thins out as we age, ingredients that make skin thicker will also reduce signs of aging. To this end, trapping moisture in the skin is key.
 
While cutting edge beauty products can repair skin, reduce wrinkles, and less the signs of aging, we can also lend ourselves a helping hand by changing our behavior so that we don’t do further damage to our skin. Using sunscreen, eating anti-oxidant rich leafy green vegetables, and getting plenty of sleep can help Mother Nature preserve our most beautiful attribute – our skin.