Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Lifestyle’

How to Increase Productivity: Stop Working, Go to the Gym

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Brain Exercise
Exercise your body to exercise your brain.

How to Increase Productivity

I know some of you out there work 60, 70, 80 hour weeks. I know some of you also work 14,16,18 hour days. Hell, I’ve put in 36 hours straight writing computer code day and night to meet a deadline before. We all do it: we work too much!

Experts are finding out now that the best way to increase productivity, is to work less. That’s right, people who work 35-40 hours a week get the most out of their time. After the first 40 hours efficiency, speed, and quality all begin to deteriorate.

Companies that limit their employees’ working hours to 35 a week, typically have to employ less Quality Assurance (QA) testers, because their employees make far fewer mistakes. That is a multi-directional savings plan – save your employees health and save money by getting rid of half your QA staff (or just don’t hire them to begin with).

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A Coffee a Day Keeps Head Cancer Away

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Healthy Coffee
Healthy Coffee

OK, I might be stretching it a little bit with that post title, but the facts are the facts: coffee does have positive health benefits, the most recent being that coffee may cut down the risk of developing head and neck cancer.

The results were pooled from 9 other studies done throughout the years, and scientists feel confident in saying that the risk of developing head and neck cancer was 12 percent lower in people who drank coffee compared with those who didn’t.

In this case more is better, as people who drank more than 4 cups of coffee a day had a 33% less chance of developing the cancer. Now, I’m not trying to drink 5 cups of coffee a day, but I won’t feel too bad if I have 2 or even 3 cups.

Decaffeinated coffee and tea had no measure effect on decreasing the risk of head and neck cancer.

Read the research article here: Coffee and Tea Intake and Risk of Head and Neck Cancer

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Meditation with NFL Running Back Ricky Williams

Friday, June 11th, 2010

You might think it’s kookie or wacky if you’ve never put any time into learning about the benefits of meditation. I am here to tell you now, that judging or making assumptions about things before you really understand them, is totally ignorant. I implore you now to open your mind and be introspective.

Today I want you to read an article posted on ESPN about meditating with Ricky Williams – the running back for the Miami Dolphins.

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Why You Shouldn’t Drink Alcohol if You’re Serious About Losing Weight

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

The following guest article is written by Christine Howell of DNP Programs, a guide to doctor of nursing practice programs and careers.

Want Beer

When you are trying to shed those few extra pounds it is very important to watch what you eat and drink. One thing you should try to avoid, when possible, is the consumption of alcohol beverages. It is said that in moderation alcohol can help to maintain a healthy heart, but when it comes to weight loss efforts, alcohol has many negative effects on your dieting attempts.

Some of these negative effects include:

  1. Having a direct link to the body’s increased fat levels.

    The human body will use the carbohydrates in the alcohol first. This means that the fat from the food that you have consumed is laying in your stomach turning into sugars that are absorbed and deposited as fat.

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Melatonin Helps You Fall Asleep

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

I found this article today that talks about a lack of ‘blue light’, which we get from early morning exposure to sunlight. When teenagers are not properly exposed to ‘blue light’ for one week, their bodies release melatonin 30 minutes later in the day, which causes them to stay up later and fall asleep in class the next day. The release of melatonin is often also responsible for lack of sleep due to insomnia.

Insomnia
Insomnia

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How to Increase Water Absorption

Friday, February 5th, 2010
Woman Drinking Water
Woman Drinking Water

I am always recommending athletes to drink a gallon of water a day. That is all fine and well, but apparently there is a better way to calculate your hydration needs.

Based on a post over at FormerFatGuy.com, we should be drinking half of our body weight in pounds, in ounces of water each day. That means if you weigh 150 lbs you should be drinking 75 oz of water each day.

Use this chart to make your conversions from liters to ounces.

For those who use the Metric system, divide your weight in kilograms by 30. For example, somebody who weighs 70 kg is going to need 2.3 liters per day.

You can drink all the water you want, but if your body can’t use it you will still be dehydrated. Here are some tips to help increase body’s ability to absorb water.

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11 Reasons to Supplement With Omega-3

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Fish Oil Benefits

Healthy PeopleThe essential Omega-3 fatty acids are alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The human body cannot synthesize Omega-3 fatty acids, but it can form 20 and 22 carbon, unsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids from the 18 carbon Omega 3 fatty acid ALA.

Both the Omega-3 ALA and Omega-6 linoleic acid are essential nutrients which must be obtained from food or supplements.

Synthesis of the longer Omega-3 fatty acids from linoleic acid within the body is competitively slowed by the Omega-6 analogues. This is why it is very easy to end up with a deficit of Omega-3 fatty acids if additional Omega-3s are not ingested through Omega-3 supplementation.

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