How Our Skin Relates To Our Health

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Researchers from the universities of Bristol and St. Andrews in the UK have found that the color of a person’s skin affects how healthy and therefore attractive they appear, and have found that diet may be crucial to achieving the most desirable complexion. The work will be published in the December issue of Springer’s International Journal of Primatology.

Using specialist computer software, a total of 54 Caucasian participants of both sexes were asked to manipulate the skin color of male and female Caucasian faces to make them look as healthy as possible. They chose to increase the rosiness, yellowness and brightness of the skin.

“Most previous work on faces has focused on the shape of the face or the texture of the skin, but one of the most variable characteristics of the face is skin color,” said Dr. Ian Stephen who is now at the University of Bristol.

“We knew from our previous work that people who have more blood and more oxygen color in their skins looked healthy, and so we decided to see what other colors affect health perceptions. This has given us some clues as to what other skin pigments may relate to a healthy appearance.”

Skin that is slightly flushed with blood and full of oxygen suggests a strong heart and lungs, supporting the study’s findings that rosier skin appeared healthy. Smokers and people with diabetes or heart disease have fewer blood vessels in their skin, and so skin would appear less rosy.

The preference for more golden or ‘yellow-toned’ skin as healthier might be explained by the ‘carotenoid pigments’ that we get from the fruit and vegetables in our diet. These plant pigments are powerful antioxidants that soak up dangerous compounds produced when the body combats disease. They are also important for our immune and reproductive systems and may help prevent cancer. Continue Reading

What A Burgular Won’t Tell You

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The information for this comes from crime experts and convicted burglars in North Carolina, Oregon, California, and Kentucky. Here’s what a burglar won’t tell you:

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.
2. Thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.
3. Love the flowers — they tell me you have taste, and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.
4. I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.
5. If it snows while you’re out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house.
6. If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set.
7. A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there too.
8. It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door — understandable. But I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.
9. I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters — don’t take me up on it.
10. I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet. Continue Reading

Wireless Health Hazard

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In the video above, ElectromagneticHealth.org founder Camilla Rees presents an overview of an emerging public health issue — excessive exposures to microwave radiation from wireless technologies.

Illness linked to electromagnetic radiation exposure inclufiede many cancers, neurological conditions, ADD, sleep disorders, depression, autism, cognitive problems, cardiovascular irregularities, hormone disruption, immune system disorders, metabolism changes, stress, fertility impairment, increased blood brain barrier permeability, mineral disruption, DNA damage and much, much more.

Source: Electromagnetic Health

This is becoming a highly studied health concern. Cell phones in particular are causing much havoc on peoples health. It’s important to be aware of them, as well as letting other become aware of it. Being conscious to the situation will benefit your health in the long run.

Yoga For Breast Health

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I found this article in Body and Soul awhile back. It talks about how the therapy of yoga can be beneficial for woman who suffer with breast cancer.

Yoga may help ease pain and replenish energy in women coping with breast cancer, suggests a small study from Duke University Medical Center.

For two months, 13 women with cancer that had spread beyond the breast practiced gentle poses, meditation, and breathing exercises regularly. On the days after they did yoga, the women were remarkably more relaxed and experienced less pain and fatigue.

Yoga’s ability to lessen stress is key to its positive impact on the body, says Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Integrative Medicine Program. “When they’re diagnosed, many women still have to be active mothers and continue to work,” Cohen says. “Doing an activity that lets them focus on themselves is really useful.”

Source: Whole Living

Beat Stress This Holiday Season

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Find time to clear your head. Finding tools like yoga, tai chi, or meditation can help bring balance to your life. These practices can help control your bodies stress response, calm tension, and reduce blood pressure. They also help make you become more grounded which helps to keep your mind clear.

Learn to prioritize. Multi-tasking can be very tedious especially around the holidays. The best way to make sure you get things done is to make a list. This will help you remember what needs to get done, and what can wait to get done. Often we have to do everything, and forget to realize that not all tasks are imperative.

Make sure you get some R&R. Life is hectic when we have to pick up the kids, work, make dinner, and find time to do the other things that need attending. Make sure you set time everyday aside for just you. If you feel that everyone gets in the way of you making R&R time then stand firm and tell them that you will get to it when you have time. Don’t forget that you have the authority to say yes or no.

Unwind with music. Promising studies show that listening to music can help you relax. Such music as classical soft music, and therapeutic cds show promise as a means of calming the mind and body. These recordings work by projecting two tones of similar frequencies into each ear. This creates a “beat” at a certain frequency in the mind, say proponents, and your brain falls in sync with it; different frequencies call forth different moods.