cutest baby pictures Seen Ever

Photographs of babies are always cute, but this series of images by an American photographer take adorable to a new level.

Tracy Raver, who describes her style as simple and casual, captures newborns while they are sleeping.

Swaddled in soft woollens or nestled in baskets, the tiny infants are photographed when they are just weeks old.

Baby face: Tracey Raver captures a newborn's expression as it dozes in a spotted woolly hat

The mother-of-one says: 'It’s all about timing and giving your child the freedom and space to be themselves.

'Favourites are layered outfits, bare feet, and babies in their birthday suits!

'My style is simple and clean, with the focus on those precious little faces. I like to catch all expressions... serious, smily, sassy and silly!'

And the expressions do not disappoint. One baby, sporting a spotted woolly hat, pouts in its sleep, while another smiles, as if enjoying a lovely dream.

Raver, who is based in Nebraska, runs her photography business with her sister Kelley, a mother-of-two. Together the pair run 'baby posing' workshops, teaching parents how to use natural light, and making the most of fabrics and props.

'We go over positioning on the beanbag, prop transitions, camera setings, use of natural light and techniques to keep the newborn calm and asleep,' says Kelley.

Simple and casual: Raver uses a selection of props like blankets and baskets for the photographs, taken when the babies are just weeks old

Baby love: A newborn sleeping in a fruit bowl lined with fleece takes adorable to a new level

It's a wrap: Tracy and her sister Kelley also teach other parents how to make the most of their baby snaps

Sleeping beauties: A 12-day-old curls up on top of his feet, while another, with fluffy dark hair, smiles as he dreams

Snug as a bug in a rug: 'My style is simple and clean, with the focus on those precious little faces,' says Raver

Sweet dreams: This youngster, cradled in an adult's hands, appears to be having an amusing dream

Holding tight: These two cling to each other as they doze before the camera

Bowled over: This tufty-haired youngster catches 40 winks in what appears to be a fruit bowl

Most Dangerous Drug in the World

Meth Is the Most Dangerous Drug in the World
The World's Most Dangerous Drug - Meth really is the mother of all drugs. It's the cheapest, dirtiest and most powerful drug in existence today. It's also the fastest spreading. Meth doesn't kill its addicts immediately. The process is slow, during which it takes an extreme physical and psychological toll. Meth literally rots people's bodies—teeth, face and insides. Frankly, I was appalled by how ugly it made frequent users.

I explored the impact meth is having on societies in Portland, Omaha and Bangkok. The reasons

people start using the drug differ from city to city.
In Portland, I was shocked to learn that 80 percent of that city's prisons hold people on meth-related charges. Whether the charges are for drug dealing, identity theft or armed robbery, somehow they are connected to meth. Portland's hospitals are overwhelmed by patients admitted for meth abuse. I've always considered Portland to be one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S., but meth's impact on it has been tremendously ugly.
But there is hope. Addicts can recover. I had the privilege of meeting a man in Portland who is six months into recovery. His name is Kobe. Kobe was very good looking, smart and athletic when he got addicted. But meth nearly destroyed his life. I was amazed after I heard his story that he was even alive. The most poignant part of his story was that his parents, who are loving and middle class, told me what a relief it was to learn that he had been arrested and jailed ... because that meant they knew where he was and that he was alive."

Meth Lab

How To Manufacture Meth -- True Iodine Recipe

No lies here folks this recipe will manufacture methamphetamine this will get you into trouble if you do this BE CAREFUL!

First of all let's talk about supplies:

* 1 Case Regular Pint size Mason Jars ( Used for canning)
* 2 Boxes Contact 12 hour time released tablets.
* 3 Bottles of Heet.
* 4 feet of surgical tubing.
* 1 Bottle of Rubbing Alchohol.
* 1 Gallon Muriatic Acid ( Used for cleaning concrete)
* 1 Gallon of Coleman's Fuel
* 1 Gallon of Aceton
* 1 Pack of Coffee Filters
* 1 Electric Skillet ( If you don't know what iam talking about i will have pics later)
* 4 Bottles Iodine Tincture 2% (don't get the declorized it won't work)
* 2 Bottles of Hydrogen peroxide
* 3 20 0z Coke Bottles (Plastic type)(with Lids/caps)
* 1 Can Red Devils Lye
* 1 Pair of sharp scissors
* 4 Boxes Book Matches (try to get the ones with brown/red striker pads)
* 1 pyrodex baking dish
* 1 Box execto razor blades single sided
* 1 digital scale that reads grams
* 2 gallons distilled water \
* 1 Roll Aluminum foil tape

That's what you would have to go buy if you wanted to make meth.

First things first -- the Iodine Crystals. Take one 20 oz, plastic Coke Bottle and pour 4 Bottles 2% tincture into it.

Add Hydrogen Peroxide to this. Use only 1/2 a bottle of Hydrogen peroxide. After this you know, the gallon jug that the Muriatic acid comes in take the cap off and fill this cap level with the acid. Add the acid to the coke bottle (Place in a freezer for at least 30 mins).

While the Iodine crystals are being made we are going to extract the Phsuedo from the Contacts. You are going to need a towel for this so go get one. Take the pills out of one box, add it to one of the mason jars fill with rubbing alchohol just enough to cover the pills let set for 3 minutes. Remove pills and take the towel and wipe the top coating off the pills this will remove the wax. Do the same with the other box of Contacts as well, after this add those wiped off pills only 10 to a clean mason jar. On top of this add 1 bottle of Heat do the same for the other box of Contact. Let theese two mason jars with pills, heat stand for 30 minutes. Then shake the jars till pills are completly broke down then let the jars sit again for 4 hours or until the Heats is completly clear . Once clear cyphon the heat off (Not the powder stuff at the Bottom you don't want this it will fuck your dope up).

Well anyway syphon the heat off with a piece of the sergical tubing syphon this into a pyrodex baking dish place in microwave on high till the heat is almost evaporated. Take out of microwave. Now plug up your electric plate set the pyrodex dish on this on about 180 deg continue evaporating till you get a white powder on the pyrodex (Carefull not the burn the phsudo if it turns yellow it's burned) after you get it dried take a razor blade and scrape this powder up. (put this asside for later use)

Now we are going to get the red phosphorus from the book matches take a pair of scissors and cut along the edge of the phosphorus do the whole four boxes of match book matches then take 1 small coffee cup will work to this coffee cup add about 1/4 the way with Acetone dip the match book strike pads into the acetone for 10 seconds this will loosen the phosphorus so it will be easier to scrape with the razor blades. ( put the phosphorus in an empty match book box to let dry. Now it's time to get the iodine crystals get a clean mason jar on top of this place 1 coffee filter and pour the contents of the iodine +muriatic+Hydrogen Peroxide into the filter ( do it slowly don't over pour) well once you get though with the filtering on top of the coffee filter will be a black substance ( This is iodine crystals) dry them by wraping in more coffee filters till you get a pretty good thick pile around the original filter place on ground and step on it to get the rest of the liquids off save this for the cook.

next take your digital scales wiegh your pills first say you had 2 grams of pill powder then weigh out an equal amount of iodine crystals then for the phosphorus devide the total weight of pills by 3 3 will go into 2 1 time so if you had 2 grams pill powder you should have 2 grams iodine crystal 1 gram phosphorus Now its time to make the cook jars you will need 2 clean mason jars with lids 1 foot surgical tubing poke a hole in both jar lids place one end of the tubing into each jar lid and seal with foil tape (buy this at walmart for about $ 1.60 well anyway seal off the tubes as well as you can so you should have 2 mason jars with lids that have surgical tubing foiled taped and sealed. ok this is the cook in one mason jar add distilled water in it fill it half way close the lid on it. now get you hotplate hot first at 180 degreese F when the plate get hot then its time to add the Iodine+pill powder to the other mason jar not the one with water in it once you get both Iodine and pill powder to the jar add 6-10 drops of distilled water to this place it on the hotplate now add the phosphorus once you put this in the jar there is going to be a imediatereaction place the other lid with hose onto the jar screw on tightly then turn your hotplate up to 400 degrees f let this cook for 1 hour to an hour and a half the best way to tell when it is done is when the contents of the cook jar doesn't boil anymore once this has happened turn the hotplate off and let the jar cool so you can touch it now its time to see if we have dope once it has cooled open the lid and you should smell rotten egg like smell if it has this smell congrads you have dope now we have to remove the dope from the black goey substance to this jar add about 1/4 cup of distilled water and seal the jar with a lid that has no holes in it and shake the jar till all the substance on the botom of the jar has come off into the water

next take another clean mason jar and place a coffee filter and filter the cook jars contents though the filter now on the filter is your phosphorus save this for another cook later on just putt it in a dry coffee filter and put it somewhere dry and safe now you have a jar filled with a yellow honey looking substance if its this color you have done good at cooking the dope now to this add colemans fuel fill the jar about full just leave anough room for shaking now add 1-2 table spoons red devil lye let the jar sit for about 5 mins then place lid on the jar and shake the hell out of it then sit the jar somewhere to rest for about 30 mins Now we are going to pull the dope out of the coleman fuel and the product is going to be 90% methamphetamine to do this fallow what i say exactly syphon the coleman fuel into an empty 20 oz coke bottle syphon off much as you can trying not to get the substance off the bottom of the jar once you have the coleman fuel in the coke bottle add about 4-6 coke bottle caps of water to this now add one drop of muriatic acid to the coke bottle place lid on bottle and shake the hell out of it place upside down so it want fall and get your hotplate hot 400 degrees f on top of the hotplate place a clean pyrodex bowl on it now take the coke bottle still upside down and loosen up on the cap let the water drain into the pan don't get any coleman fuel into the pyrodex bowl now the water will evaporate while it is doing this take a coffee cup add acetone to it fill it 1/4 the way up now once the water has dried on the plate take plate off with gloves and add a small amount of acetone to the pyrodex bowl it will sizzle swirl it arouund and if all works out good ther will be cirle crystals all over the pyrodex bowl scrape up with a razor and enjoy Methamphetamine :-) This with 2 boxes of Contacts will make anywhere from 2-3 grams meth....

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables And Dark Red Fruits Help Prevent Skin Cancer

According to recent statistics the rising incidence of skin cancer is one of the main problems in United States. Considering that this condition appears to be becoming an epidemic, very critical is to develop new approaches to primary and secondary prevention. As consequences we can see many studies exploring the therapeutic value of natural ingredients and researches suggest that common fruit and vegetables extracts may have an important clinical benefits in lowering risk for skin cancer.

It is well-known that fruits and vegetables contain a variety of minerals and vitamins and other bioactive substances that include lutein, flavonoids, folic acid, vitamins C and E, and fiber. The folic acid has a key role in repair and synthesis of DNA, and all dark green leafy vegetables are very rich in it. So, new findings show with no doubt that higher intakes of green leafy vegetables may help prevent Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tumors among patients who have prior skin cancers.

Another new finding is that pigment that gives certain fruits their dark red colors has an antioxidant activity higher than that of green tea and red wine. Researchers evaluated that pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) is capable of inhibiting conventional as well as new biomarkers of TPA-induced tumors and they may have chemopreventive action in a wide category of tumor models.

Anitta Viali is a freelance writer interested in issues such as a skin formula to avoid diseases.

13 Things Your Waiter Won't Tell You

1. Avoid eating out on holidays and Saturday nights. The sheer volume of customers guarantees that most kitchens will be pushed beyond their ability to produce a high-quality dish.

2. There are almost never any sick days in the restaurant business. A busboy with a kid to support isn't going to stay home and miss out on $100 because he's got strep throat. And these are the people handling your food.

3. When customers' dissatisfaction devolves into personal attacks, adulterating food or drink is a convenient way for servers to exact covert vengeance. Waiters can and do spit in people's food.

4. Never say "I'm friends with the owner." Restaurant owners don't have friends. This marks you as a clueless poseur the moment you walk in the door.

5. Treat others as you want to be treated. (Yes, people need to be reminded of this.)

6. Don't snap your fingers to get our attention. Remember, we have shears that cut through bone in the kitchen.

7. Don't order meals that aren't on the menu. You're forcing the chef to cook something he doesn't make on a regular basis. If he makes the same entrée 10,000 times a month, the odds are good that the dish will be a home run every time.

8. Splitting entrées is okay, but don't ask for water, lemon, and sugar so you can make your own lemonade. What's next, grapes so you can press your own wine?

9. If you find a waiter you like, always ask to be seated in his or her section. Tell all your friends so they'll start asking for that server as well. You've just made that waiter look indispensable to the owner. The server will be grateful and take good care of you.

10. If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat in the restaurant. Servers could be giving 20 to 40 percent to the busboys, bartenders, maître d', or hostess.

11. Always examine the check. Sometimes large parties are unaware that a gratuity has been added to the bill, so they tip on top of it. Waiters "facilitate" this error. It's dishonest, it's wrong-and I did it all the time.

12. If you want to hang out, that's fine. But increase the tip to make up for money the server would have made if he or she had had another seating at that table.

13. Never, ever come in 15 minutes before closing time. The cooks are tired and will cook your dinner right away. So while you're chitchatting over salads, your entrées will be languishing under the heat lamp while the dishwasher is spraying industrial-strength, carcinogenic cleaning solvents in their immediate vicinity.

Deadly Secrets of the Restaurant Trade

How do restaurants make their food taste so good? Here is the unhealthy truth.

Butter. In the soup. In the sauce. On the meat. On the vegetables. Butter is the easiest, quickest way to make things taste rich and wonderful.

Oil. Another way to make foods taste richer is to use lots of oil (remember, oil is a fat). This is why fried foods taste good: They are sponges for the oil they are cooked in.

At a restaurant they may pour on salt for maximum flavor.Animal fat. Want to make anything taste better? Add bacon or other forms of pork fat -- to vegetables, soups, and mashed potatoes.

Salt. Cook at home, you shake a little salt in while you go. At a restaurant, you pour it in to extract maximum flavor.

Sweeteners. Ever have vegetables that tasted sweeter than a dessert? That's because the cook added lots of sugar.

A Bloomin' Health Bomb
With all this talk of unhealthy additives, do we even have to tell you to skip the Bloomin' Onion, cheese fries, cheese quesadillas, and fried mozzarella sticks that begin many chain restaurant menus?

Take the popular fried onion. When researchers at the Center for Science in the Public Interest looked at the nutritional content, they found the typical appetizer portion contains 1,690 calories and 116 grams of fat -- 44 of them saturated. And that's without the dipping sauce. You say you're going to share? Well, CSPI found even half gives you about a day's fat and saturated fat along with more than half a day's sodium.

Bottom line: Skip the fried appetizers and order a salad or a fat-free broth-based soup instead.

Breakdown of a Successful Cholesterol-Lowering Diet

To eat healthy you must learn what to look out for. Here are the essential parts of a cholesterol-lowering diet.

Calories. Calories matter because if you eat too much -- of any kind of food -- you gain weight. And being overweight is associated with increased LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and decreased HDL (high-density lipoprotein). Don't focus on counting calories. Rather, eat more fruits and vegetables (which are naturally low in calories) and cut back on many of the high-fat, high-calorie, nutritionally empty foods you've probably been eating -- so it's likely that you'll lose weight in the process.

If your body mass index is 26 or higher, you'll need to make a special effort to lose weight, particularly if you have metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or a high triglyceride level. One study found that losing 10 percent of your overall weight resulted in a 7.6 percent drop in LDL. The way to lose weight is simply by consuming fewer calories, burning more calories through exercise, or both.

Fat. All it takes is a stroll down any supermarket aisle to notice that we're a nation obsessed with fat. It's amazing that toothpaste isn't labeled low fat -- just about everything else seems to be. But as you'll learn later, while the amount of fat you eat does matter, the kind of fat you consume is far more important. You should get about 25 percent of your calories from fat, primarily unsaturated fat. You want to keep saturated fats to less than 7 percent of your total calories, and trans fatty acids to, ideally, nothing. By contrast, average Americans get about 34 percent of their calories from fat (13 percent of that fat is saturated and another 2 to 3 percent comes from trans fatty acids).

What amount of fat is 25 percent of your calorie intake? If you're getting about 2,000 calories a day, 25 percent from fat translates to about 56 grams of fat. To figure your target, take the number of calories you want to consume each day, multiply it by .25, and then divide by 9 (there are 9 calories in 1 gram of fat).

Protein. The Atkins, the Zone, or other high-protein diets are not the way to eat for lifelong health. A successful long-term, heart healthy diet does include a fairly generous amount of protein -- up to 20 percent of calories. But the source of this protein is every bit as important as the quantity. The bulk of it comes from plant foods and fish, with a bit of lean meat thrown in for variety. We'd like you to eat fish as often as three to four times a week and chicken one to two times a week. We'll tell you how to sneak more beans into your meals (they're a great source of fiber as well as protein). Aim to get three to four servings of beans and legumes, including soy, a week. And don't forget about eggs. Egg white is a perfect source of protein, and the cholesterol in egg yolk is probably less damaging to heart health than experts previously thought. If you substitute eggs for some of the high-fat meat in your diet, you're almost certainly lowering your cardiac risk. Enjoy them scrambled, fried, poached, or boiled (just not under hollandaise sauce) two or three times a week.

Carbohydrates. They really should come up with two names for carbohydrates. One would be for simple sugars and starches, like white bread, chips, packaged cakes and cookies, doughnuts, and french fries, which contribute to insulin resistance, pack on the pounds, and leave you hungry a couple of hours after eating. And the other would be for complex carbohydrates, which are full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals and are absorbed slowly by your body, minimizing blood sugar and insulin peaks and valleys while filling you up on less. We're talking about whole grain breads and cereals, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, barley, and oatmeal, as well as fruits and vegetables. You'll get about 55 percent of your daily calories from these foods.

Fiber. When it comes to lowering your cholesterol, fiber is king. Most Americans get only about 15 grams of fiber a day. However, you should aim for at least 25 grams a day from foods like vegetables, beans, and whole grains. To help all that fiber pass through your system, you'll need to drink at least eight glasses of water or other noncarbonated, nonsweetened fluid a day (herbal tea works).

13 Things Your Pharmacist Won't Tell You

What to bear in mind the next time you visit the pharmacy counter.

1. Don't try to get anything past us. Prescriptions for painkillers or sleeping aids always get extra scrutiny.

2. We're not serving fries in here. I'd think twice about using a drive-through pharmacy. Working there distracts us-not a good thing when it comes to pharmaceuticals.

3. We're human … and we make mistakes (about two million a year). Ask if we use a bar-code system to help keep us from pulling the wrong drug off the shelf or giving the wrong strength of the right drug.

4. Sometimes we can't read the doctor's handwriting either. E-prescribing can help, but as of 2006, fewer than 20 percent of prescriptions were being electronically transmitted.

5. I hate your insurance company as much as you do. "Even if something's working for you, the insurance company may insist you switch to something else," says pharmacy owner Stuart Feldman."I'm stuck in the middle trying to explain this to customers."

6. We can give flu shots in most states.

7. A less-qualified pharmacy technician may have actually filled your prescription. Currently, there is no national standard for their training and responsibilities.

8. Generics are a close match for most brand names. But I'd be careful with blood thinners and thyroid drugs, since small differences can have big effects.

9. I can give you a generic refill that's different from the one you started with. When in doubt, ask. Online resources like cvs.com let you double-check your pill.

10. We're not mind readers, and there's not some big computer database that tracks your drugs and flags interactions for pharmacists everywhere. Use one pharmacy. If you start using a new one, make sure we know what you're taking.

11. Avoid the lines. It gets busy Monday and Tuesday evenings, since many new prescriptions and refills come in after the weekend.

12. Look into the $4 generics offered by chains like Target, Kroger, and Wal-Mart. And it can't hurt to ask your pharmacy if it will match the price.

13. Yelling at me won't help. If I can't reach your doctor and/or insurance company to approve a refill, there's nothing I can do about it. “It's frustrating,” says pharmacist Daniel Zlott, “but I'd be breaking the law in some states if I gave it to you.”

Sources:
Dr. Daniel Zlott, oncology pharmacist, National Institutes of Health; Cindy Coffey, PharmD; Greg Collins, pharmacy supervisor, CVS/pharmacy, California; Stuart Feldman, owner, Cross River Pharmacy, New York

Defuse Stress for a More Enjoyable Day

37 ways to calm down fast.

An Unhealthy Burden

Some days it seems as if life throws you stress left, right, up, and down. It can drain your energy, destroy your good mood, and challenge your outlook. Those are the obvious mental repercussions.

But science has shown that stress is not merely a metaphysical thing. We have discovered that stress causes your body to release hormones that raise blood pressure, speed up your heart and breathing, halt digestion, cause a surge in blood sugar, and more. When stress is ongoing -- such as the stress caused by money problems, bad relationships, or an overburdensome job -- this constant physical reaction can significantly raise your risk of colds, diabetes, heart disease, back troubles, and almost every other major health concern. Indeed, stress is emerging as one of the principal contributors to poor health in modern countries.

There's more. On a daily basis, stress often leads to unhealthy habits. A really bad day pushes you to the nearest doughnut or ice-cream store. It saps your willingness to exercise or eat well or have fun. It causes you to tune out the world, to sit in front of the television and ignore your relationships.

And yet stress can be relatively easy to manage. All it takes is a mental commitment to it -- and an open mind. Old-fashioned thinkers scoff at things like deep breathing, positive thinking, and guided imagery. Some are also put off by the openness and public display of emotions involved in some stress-relief methods. But these are scientifically proven to work, doctors endorse and recommend them, and the benefits are fast and real. These proven approaches to stress management work. Give several a try.

1. Embrace the number one truth about stress: Only you create it. Stress isn't defined as a large workload, a difficult child, or a rise in terrorism. Stress is your physical and mental reaction to these external stimuli. Remember the truism about alcoholism? The one that says admitting you are an alcoholic is more than 50 percent of the cure? The same is true for stress: Embracing the fact that stress is your reaction to external stimuli -- and not the stimuli themselves -- is half the battle toward managing it. You can't change a crazy world. But you can learn to handle it with humor, humility, and hope. Not coincidentally, virtually every stress-relief method that follows is about how to improve your reaction to external factors.

2. Give your partner a hug every day before work. It's so simple, yet so often overlooked when you're trying to make your lunch, find your shoes and keys, and get on the highway before rush-hour gridlock. Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the few seconds it takes to hug your partner can help you remain calm as chaos unfolds around you.

3. Buy yourself flowers once a week and display them prominently on your desk. Women who sat near a bouquet of flowers were more relaxed during a typing assignment than women who didn't have flowers, according to a Kansas State University study of 90 women.

Relax Yourself

4. Take a deep breath and then try to see yourself in someone else's shoes. As for your dimwit boss and others who seem to try to annoy you, know that they are probably experiencing just as much inner turmoil as they are creating around them, says Jay Winner, M.D., a family physician, stress-management teacher in Santa Barbara, California, and author of Stress Management Made Simple: Effective Ways to Beat Stress for Better Health. "When people are rude, they are usually suffering in one way or another," says Dr. Winner.

5. Use the otherwise stressful time of waiting in line as a chance to relax. When you make a split decision about which line of cars to pull behind at a tollbooth or which line of carts to stand behind at the grocery store, chances are some other line will move more quickly. In the worst-case scenario, one of the customers in front of you needs not one, but two price checks -- and then comes up short on cash and must void out some of the items the clerk just rang up. Rather than sending your stress hormones into the stratosphere as you steam over your bad luck, think about how busy you usually are and recognize the time -- in reality, usually just a few minutes -- as a gift in which you can just relax, says Dr. Winner. "As you wait, think about things in life for which you are grateful, meditate on your breath, talk to one of the other customers, or look at a magazine."

6. Develop a ritual in the morning that focuses on calmness, beauty, people who support you, or anything that helps you feel a sense of peace. You might, for example, spend a few moments reminding yourself of your blessings. Joan Lang, M.D., chair of the department of psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, says she finds daily balance each morning by making a mental note to do something spiritual, something nurturing for herself and for someone else, and something physical. Your ritual might involve sitting outside (weather permitting), taking in your surroundings, and appreciating the sounds of the birds and the sights of sun glistening off the leaves and grass. If you can't sit outdoors, go to a room in your home that you find calming. Settle down, take a few deep breaths, and call to mind three people or things that make your life worth living. As your inner gratitude builds, pledge to commit one small act during the day that will help someone else -- either someone you know or a perfect stranger -- experience this same inner gratitude.

7. Twice a day, breathe deeply for three to five minutes. As you breathe, focus your mind on your breath and push all other distracting thoughts from your consciousness, suggests Rocco Lo Bosco, a massage therapist, yoga instructor, and author of Buddha Wept.

8. Walk the stress off. Stress hormones prepare your body for a physical response. A healthy way to respond to a rush of stress, then, is to get physical. Go for a brisk 15-minute walk and burn off your nervous energy. Use the time to think through the issue and return to a positive, peaceful frame of mind.

9. When you get out of bed in the morning, spend a few minutes consciously sensing your body from toes to head. Focus on the feet first. Notice how they feel from the inside out and mentally relax them. Then move upward to your ankles, then to your knees, on up your legs to your torso, chest, upper back, neck, head, and face. As you get used to the technique, you can bring your awareness inside your body and focus on relaxing each body part whenever you start to feel stressed, suggests Lo Bosco.

Count on a Friend

10. Designate one person to whom you can vent your frustrations. Complaining widely about your work or family frustrations is not a healthy hobby to have -- not only does it keep you in a negative frame of mind, but it's not very good for your professional or personal relationships either. The solution: Designate one trustworthy friend or family member to be your confidant. Someone who is discreet and knows just to listen and not to attempt to solve all your problems. Use that person to listen as you openly voice your stresses and how they are affecting you. Then, to the rest of the world, present yourself as positive and in control. Admit to stress, but don't detail it. You'll be amazed at how acting that way can make it a reality!

11. When you're ready to rip out your hair, phone a friend. People who have strong social ties live longer. A diversionary conversation with a close romantic partner, friend, or family member helps prevent stress hormones from triggering high blood pressure and other health complications.

12. Don't take the bait. If you really wanted to, you could spend your entire life angry at the world -- at the rude salesclerks, the bad bosses, the crazy drivers, the lousy politicians, the unfair prices for a good piece of salmon. Happy, low-stress people choose not to get angry, even when the opportunity is dangled right in front of them. Practice this. The next time someone does something that could -- maybe even should -- anger you, smile instead and say to yourself, "I'm not going to take the bait."

13. Don't respond to anger with anger. Confrontations tend to escalate. Next time you suddenly find yourself on the receiving end of aggression, don't automatically respond with the same. Take a breath, pause, then respond calmly and honestly, without undue defensiveness. If the other person won't engage constructively or is being irrational, then smile and excuse yourself, with the message that you'll be happy to discuss the issue when the person regains his composure or reason.

14. Carry around a lucky "rabbit's foot" that helps you feel calm. Your "rabbit's foot" might come in the form of a photograph of your grandchildren, a favorite poem, or a Bible verse. Carry it around and focus on it whenever you need to relax, suggests Scott Sheperd, Ph.D., author of Who's In Charge? Attacking the Stress Myth.

15. Every night before bed, take five minutes to look over your day. Instead of asking yourself, "How did my day go?" ask "How did I handle my day, and how does that compare with six months ago?" Focusing on what you can control -- your response to stress -- will help you feel more in control.

16. Decompress with a single alcoholic drink at the end of the day. Not only will it help prevent heart disease -- one of the side effects of stress -- but it will also disable your psychological inhibitions. "When we let our guard down a bit, we can ventilate some of our emotions and feelings that we would otherwise harbor within us," says James Campbell Quick, M.D., a distinguished professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. Just be sure to stop at one drink.

Surrounded by Calm

17. Each Sunday, plan out your meals for one week. Studies show that as late as 4 p.m., a majority of people don't know what they're going to have for dinner that night. Planning ahead prevents the end-of-workday stress of trying to figure out what to eat. "Knowing what's for dinner when you come in from work cuts down on stress and encourages better eating and family time," says Audrey Thomas, an organizational consultant and author of The Road Called Chaos.

18. Decorate your office walls with your children's or grandchildren's pictures. Studies find that viewing works of art -- and yes, children's pictures are art -- lowers stress hormones. If you don't want to hang up finger-painted stick figures, go to www.print-art.com to print out copies of works of art from the world's great masters.

19. Relax with a cup of basil tea. Thought to help induce a state of calm, this herb is easy to grow in a container garden and one of the easiest fresh herbs to find at your grocery store. Place three washed fresh basil leaves in a cup of hot water. Steep 10 minutes, then sip.

20. If exercise isn't helping to lower your stress level, switch from a repetitive type of exercise to a type that engages your mind. "Sometimes workouts are not effective at reducing stress because we use the time to think about all the stressful things we have going on," explains Larina Kase, Psy.D., president of Performance and Success Coaching and a psychologist at the Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania. Step aerobics, very active spinning classes (where you change positions a lot), and circuit training or interval training (where you alternate different activities) prevent your mind from drifting, providing the mental break you need. A good option at home is dancing. Play your favorite music, and really get into it. Involve your whole family to benefit one and all, and add a great "bonding" experience into the bargain.

21. Go somewhere blue or green. Cool colors, such as light blues and greens, help people to relax, feel calm, and relieve stress, says Dr. Kase. When you're at the end of your wits, sit in a room where you can surround yourself with cool colors or find a bench in a garden. Having lush green plants in your home or office can provide similar color-related benefits.

22. Take on just one new activity at a time. When you try to master too many new activities at once, you can easily feel overwhelmed, explains Edward J. Cumella, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and director of research and education at the Remuda Ranch Treatment Centers in Wickenburg, Arizona. "Both at work and at home, take on new commitments with care," he says. "When your job is pushing the envelope, don't do more at home. Don't buy a new house and simultaneously take on higher car payments. When your home life is stressful and changing, don't quit your job or change careers!"

Focus on Simplicity

23. Schedule six to eight hours of free time each week. Use the time to daydream, read a novel, take a nap, see a movie, or generally relax in whatever way feels best to you. This is your time. Guard it as closely as you do your PIN code for the ATM.

24. Drop in on a yoga class. Just one class is all you need to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, according to a study from Jefferson Medical College. Researchers took blood samples from 16 beginners taking their first week of yoga classes. Cortisol levels dropped after the first class.

25. Several times during the day, immerse yourself fully in the task at hand. Chew your food slowly and taste every bite. Notice the temperature and sensation of water as you wash the dishes. You can even just sit and breathe, noticing the temperature of the air as it travels in and out of your nostrils. This will help you let go of stressful thoughts and allow you to rest in the present moment. "When you are relaxed, you stop to smell the roses, taste your meal, and enjoy your grandkids. Your life then seems more full of wonderful things, and that in turns makes you more optimistic, which makes you calmer and happier," says Rob Goldblatt, Psy.D., author of The Boy Who Didn't Want to Be Sad.

26. Count your blessings once a day. Once every day, say to yourself (or to someone else): "I feel lucky to have ------ in my life" or "I feel privileged to have ------" Fill in the blanks with the names of family or friends, or with other positives, such as good health or a good career, suggests Dr. Winner.

27. Have a really good cry. By crying tears you were holding in, you can eliminate depression, make it easier to think clearly, heal old pain and hurt, and achieve a sense of inner peace, says Southern California psychotherapist Tina Tessina, Ph.D., author of It Ends With You: Grow Up and Out of Dysfunction. Plus, she says, studies find that crying boosts the immune system and reduces levels of stress hormones.

28. When you're stressed or tired and someone wants more of you than you can give, tell him you only have a few minutes to talk or that you are tired and not able to really listen right then. Believe it or not, he will trust you more because you are honest and you will not be taking on more issues than you can tackle, says Dr. Kase.

29. Practice some difficult assertiveness skills such as declining a project, telling someone that you cannot talk now, expressing disagreement or disapproval or recommending an alternative. Increasing assertiveness skills can greatly reduce your feelings of stress at work and increase your sense of self-confidence, says Dr. Kase. Be assertive in a friendly but firm way.

Remember the Good

30. Put Post-it notes on your bathroom mirror, on your car dashboard, and on your office computer that say "Slow down" and "What's your rush?" "Your brain takes many cues from your body, and sometimes it misinterprets the cues, so use that to your advantage," says Patricia A. Farrell, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and the author of How to Be Your Own Therapist. Slowing everything down -- walking instead of running, listening to slow music, speaking more slowly than normal -- will trick your brain into calming down your stress level too.

31. Think of your children or your pet. Sometimes diverting your thoughts momentarily to those who love you, who matter more to you, and who bring you pleasure helps you instantly put things in perspective during very stressful moments. You don't have a pet? Get one. Studies find that pets, particularly dogs, are one of the best stress-relievers and health promoters around.

32. Carry a small notebook with you everywhere. This is your "worry" journal. When you feel stressed, whip it out and scribble down everything on your mind at that minute. Close the journal. Close your eyes. Take 10 deep breaths. Now open the journal and read what you've written. You'll find your worries are not nearly as stressful as you thought now that you've gotten them out of your head and onto the page.

33. Spritz lavender scent into the air (don't forget to spray yourself). Studies find the scent is instantly relaxing.

34. Unclench your muscles. Until you do this exercise, you won't even know how tense you really are. It's called progressive relaxation and it works like this: Starting with your toes and working your way up, clench each muscle for 10 seconds, then thoroughly relax them. The whole exercise shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, and you'll feel as if you've just undergone a massage.

35. Deprive your senses. You've heard of sensory deprivation, right? That's the theory behind those tanks in which people float in body-temperature water in a dark, enclosed capsule. Well, you don't always have access to one of those. Instead, find the darkest room in your house or office. Turn off all the lights, pull the shades, and close the door. Slip an eyeshade over your eyes and stuff earplugs into your ears. Then lie back on the couch or a few pillows, get comfortable, and let the relaxation take you away. (You might want to set an alarm clock just in case you fall asleep.)

36. Slip in a CD of solo piano music from Chopin. Or Enya, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, or Hawaiian guitar. Soothing music, researchers find, actually produces slower brain-wave patterns, like those observed when people are about to fall asleep or are taking certain medications.

37. Find your own credo, or words to live by. It could be something as simple as the Serenity Prayer, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change ... " or as complex as the Rudyard Kipling poem "If," one of our favorites.

Achieve a Deep, Uninterrupted Sleep

Nighttime Habits
Blessed sleep -- the holy grail of health. Lack of sleep can send your blood sugar levels skyrocketing, contribute to weight gain, lead to depression, put you at risk for diabetes, and cause brain damage.


That's just the warm-up. Sleep deprivation can alter your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, potentially affecting everything from your memory to your immune system, heart, and metabolism. Of course, lack of sleep can kill you instantly -- as when you run your car off the road because you've dozed at the wheel (an estimated 71,000 people are injured in fall-asleep crashes each year). In fact, studies find that if you've been awake through the night, it's as if you had a performance impairment equal to .10 percent blood alcohol content, more than enough to get you arrested for drunk driving in most states.

Given the evidence, you'd think we'd all be hitting the pillow as soon as the sun dropped below the horizon. Ha! Today Americans get 25 percent less sleep than they did a century ago. Nearly 4 out of 10 don't get the minimum 7 hours of sleep necessary for optimal health and daytime functioning, while 15 percent get less than 6 hours most nights.

Since we're all in agreement that a good night's sleep is one of the best things you can do for your health and mood, pick three of these tips to follow each night until you get the night's sleep you so desperately crave.

1. Create a transition routine. This is something you do every night before bed. It could be as simple as letting the cat out, turning out the lights, turning down the heat, washing your face, and brushing your teeth. Or it could be a series of yoga or meditation exercises. Regardless, it should be consistent to the point that you do it without even thinking about it. As you begin to move into your "nightly routine," your mind will get the signal that it's time to chill out and tune down, dialing down stress hormones and physiologically preparing you for sleep.

2. Figure out your body cycle. Ever find that you get really sleepy at 10 p.m., that the sleepiness passes, and that by the time the late news comes on, you're wide-awake? Some experts believe sleepiness comes in cycles. Push past a period of sleepiness and you likely won't be able to fall asleep very easily for a while. If you've noticed these kinds of rhythms in your own body clock, use them to your advantage. When sleepiness comes, get to bed. Otherwise, it might be a long time until you are ready to fall asleep again.

3. Sprinkle just-washed sheets and pillowcases with lavender water and iron them before making up your bed. The scent is scientifically proven to promote relaxation, and the repetition and mindlessness of ironing will soothe you. Or, instead of ironing your sheets, do the next best thing: Put lavender water in a perfume atomizer and spray above your bed just before climbing in.

4. Hide your clock under your bed or on the bottom shelf of your night stand, where its glow won't disturb you. That way, if you do wake in the middle of the night or have problems sleeping, you won't fret over how late it is and how much sleep you're missing.

5. Switch your pillow. If you're constantly pounding it, turning it over and upside down, the poor pillow deserves a break. Find a fresh new pillow from the linen closet, put a sweet-smelling case on it, and try again.




Adjust Your Bedroom
6. Choose the right pillow. One Swedish study found that neck pillows, which resemble a rectangle with a depression in the middle, can actually enhance the quality of your sleep as well as reduce neck pain. The ideal neck pillow should be soft and not too high, should provide neck support, and should be allergy tested and washable, researchers found. A pillow with two supporting cores received the best rating from the 55 people who participated in the study. Another study found that water-filled pillows provided the best night's sleep when compared to participants' usual pillows or a roll pillow. Yet another study found that a pillow filled with a special "cool" material composed of sodium sulfate and ceramic fiber provided a much better night's sleep than one filled with polyester. The reason, the researchers suggest, is that the cooler pillow kept the subjects' head cooler during the night, improving their sleep. While you may not be able to find a sodium sulfate-filled pillow, you can buy a pillow made of natural fibers, which are better at releasing heat than polyester.

Other pillow tips: if you're subject to allergies or find you're often stuffed up when you awake in the morning, try a hypoallergenic pillow. And experiment with the pillow's thickness. While a thick, fluffy pillow might sound appealing, it might be too thick for you, leading to neck strain. Try a thin pillow.

7. Switch to heavier curtains over the windows, and use them. Even the barely noticeable ambient light from streetlights, a full moon, or your neighbor's house can interfere with the circadian rhythm changes you need to fall asleep.

8. Clean your bedroom and paint it a soothing sage green. Or some other soothing color. First, the more clutter in your bedroom, the more distractions in the way of a good night's sleep. The smooth, clean surfaces act as a balm to your brain, helping to smooth out your own worries and mental to-do lists. The soothing color provides a visual reminder of sleep, relaxing you as you lie in bed reading or preparing for sleep.

9. Move your bed away from any outside walls. This will help cut down on noise, which a Spanish study found could be a significant factor in insomnia. If the noise is still bothering you, try a white noise machine, or just turn on a floor fan.

10. Tuck a hot-water bottle between your feet or wear a pair of ski socks to bed. The science is a little complicated, but warm feet help your body's internal temperature get to the optimal level for sleep. Essentially, you sleep best when your core temperature drops. By warming your feet, you make sure blood flows well through your legs, allowing your trunk to cool.

11. Kick your dog or cat out of your bedroom. A 2002 research study found that one in five pet owners sleep with their pets (and we're not talking goldfish here). The study also found that dogs and cats created one of the biggest impediments to a good night's sleep since the discovery of caffeine. One reason? The study found that 21 percent of the dogs and 7 percent of the cats snored!




Lose Some, Gain Some
12. Sleep alone. Sure you love your spouse or partner, but studies find one of the greatest disruptors of sleep is that loved one dreaming away next to you. He might snore, she might kick or cry out, whatever. In fact, one study found that 86 percent of women surveyed said their husbands snored, and half had their sleep interrupted by it. Men have it a bit easier; just 57 percent said their wives snored, while just 15 percent found their sleep bothered by it. If you absolutely will not kick your partner out (or head to the guest room yourself), then consider these anti-snoring tips:

* Get him (or her) to stop smoking. Cigarette smoking contributes to snoring.

* Feed him (or her) a light meal for dinner and nix any alcohol, which can add to the snoring.

* Buy some earplugs and use them!

* Play soft music to drown out the snoring.

* Present your lover with a gift-wrapped box of Breathe Right strips, which work by pulling the nostrils open wider. A Swedish study found they significantly reduced snoring.

* Make an appointment for your sleeping partner at a sleep center. If nothing you do improves his or her snoring, your bedmate might be a candidate for a sleep test called polysomnography to see if sleep apnea is the cause. Better to help your partner -- and yourself -- than to exile the poor sonorous soul!



13. Take a combination supplement with 600 mg calcium and 300 mg magnesium before bed. Not only will you be providing your bones with a healthy dose of minerals, but magnesium is a natural sedative. Additionally, calcium helps regulate muscle movements. Too little of either can lead to leg cramps, and even a slight deficiency of magnesium can leave you lying there with a racing mind.

14. Eat a handful of walnuts before bed. Walnuts are a good source of tryptophan, a sleep-enhancing amino acid.

15. Munch a banana before bed. It's a great natural source of melatonin, the sleep hormone, as well as tryptophan. The time-honored tradition, of course, is warm milk, also a good source of tryptophan.

16. Drink water before bed, not fruit juice. One study found it took participants an extra 20 to 30 minutes to fall asleep after drinking a cup of fruit juice, most likely because of the high sugar content in juice.




Relax Yourself
17. Take antacids right after dinner, not before bed. Antacids contain aluminum, which appears to interfere with your sleep.

18. Listen to a book on tape while you fall asleep. Just as a bedtime story soothed and relaxed us when we were children, a calming book on tape (try poetry or a biography, stay away from horror novels) can have the same effect with us grown-ups.

19. Simmer three to four large lettuce leaves in a cup of waterfor 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add two sprigs of mint, and sip just before you go to bed. Lettuce contains a sleep-inducing substance called lactucarium, which affects the brain similarly to opium. Unlike opium, of course, you won't run the risk of addiction!

20. Give yourself a massage. Slowly move the tips of your fingers around your eyes in a slow, circular motion. After a minute, move down to your mouth, then to your neck and the back of your head. Continue down your body until you find you're so relaxed you're ready to drop off to sleep. Another option: alternate massage nights with your significant other. You get Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Your significant other gets Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. You do each other on Sundays.

21. Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. A research study published in the journal Sleep found that women with insomnia who took a hot bath during this window of time(water temperature approximately 105°F), slept much better that night. The bath increased their core body temperature, which then abruptly dropped once they got out of the bath, readying them for sleep.

22. Use eucalyptus for a muscle rub. The strongly scented herb provides a soothing feeling and relaxing scent. You can find eucalyptus oil to mix into a carrier oil, or even a eucalyptus-scented cream.

23. Spend 10 minutes journaling the day's events or feelings after tucking yourself into bed. This "data dump" will help turn off the repeating tape of our day that often plays in our minds, keeping us from falling asleep.

24. Keep a notepad at your bedside along with a gentle night-light and pen. Then, if you wake in the middle of the night and your mind starts going, you can quickly transfer the to-do list to the page, returning to sleep knowing you "caught" those thoughts.

Seven Myths about our Brain ....

1. We use only 10% of our brain

That is untrue. PET scans of the brain show that much of the brain is active. From an evolutionary point of view it does not make sense for the brain to develop 90% of useless brain either. It is established and proven that we use 100% of our brain, but not all of it at the same time, we use different parts for different reasons but overall the whole brain is used. Therefore do not be tricked by those adverts offering to tap into your unused brain power as you probably don’t have such a thing as unused brain.

2. When brain cells die they cannot be repaired.

Recent research has identified techniques for “growing” new brain cells when old ones are damaged

3. Our brain is like a computer.

That is untrue, first of all computers are digital while our brain is analogues, as the phone or telegraph, second our brain is much more complex then a computer, until molecular computers (and there are hopes) or some other device of that sort are developed comparing our brain to a computer is an oversimplification and an insult to the beautiful machine nature has given us.

4. The blanket-slate myth

This is the myth that the brain is like a clean blanket ready to be furnished. This is untrue also as genetics has a role to play in the formation and operation of our brain, nonetheless the environment has a great role to play also, genetics and environment perform and intertwined dance in the development and growth of our brain.

5. The brain matures by the age of 5

Much of the brain growth and reorganisation occurs between the ages of 5 to 20 but the brain has the capacity to grow throughout life.

6. The sponge myth

The sponge myth suggests that the brain can absorb so much information, when it’s full it’s full and the brain learn just by exposure to the world, therefore it is passive in its learning.
Both of the suggestions are untrue, it appears that the brains capacity to learn seems almost limitless, what limits it are only the priorities and motivations of the learner. Learning is a very active process which requires doing something on the part of the learner which might be just imagining something. The brain is its own teacher.

7. The mediation myth

Some believe that the brain learns better when relaxed which is why some buy a tape recorder and play it during sleep. Psychological experiments have shown that this is untrue, further the brain learns best in a state of arousal as you are focused.

Interesting facts about HUMAN BODY

1 ) HEART beats 1,03,689 times.
2 ) LUNGS respire 23,045 times.
3 ) BLOOD flows 16,80,000 miles.
4 ) NAILS grow 0.00007 inches
5 ) HAIR grows 0.01715 inches
6 ) Take 2.9 pounds WATER (including all liquids)
7 ) Take of 3.25 pounds FOOD.
8 ) Breathe 438 cubic feet AIR.
9) Lose 85.60, BODY TEMPERATURE.
10 ) Produce 1.43 pints SWEAT.
11 ) Speak 4,800 WORDS.
12 ) During SLEEP move 25.4 times


When was the last time you took a moment and celebrated your body? Not because it's well built or attractive by society's standards-- but because it's an impressive piece of functional art. We've assembled some interesting facts that will help you appreciate your body and keep you motivated to take care of it.

Boost your burning power. Did you know that for every 1 lb of muscle you gain, your body burns an extra 50 calories a day? If you can turn at least 5 lbs of extra "fat" into muscle, you will automatically burn an additional 250 calories per day.

A mini-Charles Atlas. Muscles are comprised of muscle fibers. Each fiber is thinner than a human hair and can support up to 1,000 times its own weight.

Use it or lose it. By age 65, people who haven't engaged in regular exercise may incur a decrease in their muscular strength level by as much as 80%.

Make your move. A muscle moves by contracting and by its motion, you move. As a machine for moving, a muscle is pretty efficient, using about 35-50% of its potential energy.

More than a few. The human body has more than 650 muscles.

Unique in its own way. No two muscles in the body have exactly the same function. When one muscle is paralyzed, either stability of the body part is impaired or some specific movement is lost.

Watch your step. Forward locomotion such as walking or running is actually the process of losing and catching one's balance.

The cellulite myth. There is no such thing as cellulite. The skin sometimes appears lumpy in fatty areas of the body because strands of connective tissue attach the skin to underlying structures. These points of attachment may pull tight where the fat is thick, making lumps appear between them. The fat itself is not different from excess fat anywhere else in the body. So, if you reduce body fat, you will begin to lose the lumpy appearance.

Spot reducing de-bunked. Spot reducing will not reduce the fat itself in a specific area of the body. Strength training specific areas of the body will strengthen the underlying muscle, but fat reduction is only accomplished by burning more calories than you take in.

The cardiovascular chain. Your body has approximately 60,000 miles of blood vessels that not only oxygenate the tissues of the body and unburden them of wastes, but also act as stringent regulators of the body's environment.

Stressful miles. If you are 25 lbs overweight, you have nearly 5,000 extra miles of blood vessels through which your heart must pump blood.

Taking a break. Your heart rests between beats. Over a normal lifespan, your heart stands still for about 20 years.

Now that's pressure. Your blood rushes through your arteries with enough pressure to lift a column of blood five feet into the air.

Safety valves. When you stand up, if you didn't have valves in your veins, all the blood in your body would literally fall downward, filling up your feet and leg

FACTS ABOUT BRAIN:

Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States.

The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.

From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain.

People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.

Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced.

It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.

A women from Berlin Germany has had 3,110 gallstones taken out of her gall bladder.

In America, the most common mental illness is Anxiety Disorders.

Your brain is 80% water.

Your brain is move active and thinks more at night than during the day.

TONGUE FACTS :

Close to fifty percent of the bacteria in the mouth lives on the surface of our tongue.

There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.

Your tongue has 3,000 taste buds.

85% of the population can curl their tongue into a tube.

EYES :

We should never put anything in or near our eyes, unless we have a reason to use eye drops. We would only do that if our doctor or parent told us to use them.

Blinking helps to wash tears over our eyeballs. That keeps them clean and moist. Also, if something is about to hit our eye, we will blink automatically.

Our body has some natural protection for our eyes. Our eyelashes help to keep dirt out of our eyes. Our eyebrows are made to keep sweat from running into our eyes.

Our eyes are very important to us, and we must protect them. We don't want dirt, sand, splinters or even fingers to get in our eyes. We don't want our eyes to get scratched or poked. That could damage our sight!

The study of the iris of the eye is called iridology.

The shark cornea has been used in eye surgery, since its cornea is similar to a human cornea.

The number one cause of blindness in adults in the United States is diabetes.

The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.

The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.

The cornea is the only living tissue in the human body that does not contain any blood vessels.

The conjunctiva is a membrane that covers the human eye.

Sailors once thought that wearing a gold earring would improve their eyesight.

Research has indicated that a tie that is on too tight cam increase the risk of glaucoma in men.

People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.

Men are able to read fine print better than women can.

Intresting facts:

In the United States, approximately 25,000 eye injuries occur that result in the person becoming totally blind.

All babies are colour blind when they are born.

A human eyeball weighs an ounce.

If the lens in our eye doesn't work quite right, we can get glasses to help us see. Glasses have lenses in them that work with our eye's own lens to help us see better.

Babies' eyes do not produce tears until the baby is approximately six to eight weeks old.

The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.

The most common injury caused by cosmetics is to the eye by a mascara wand.

Some people start to sneeze if they are exposed to sunlight or have a light shined into their eye.

The highest recorded speed of a sneeze is 165 km per hour.

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

The space between your eyebrows is called the Glabella.

Inside our eye, at the back, is a part called the "retina." On the retina are cells called "rods" and "cones." These rods and cones help us to see colors and light.

Just behind the pupil is a lens. It is round and flat. It is thicker toward the middle.

Over the front of our eye is a clear covering called the "conjunctiva."

The white part of our eye is called the "sclera." At the front, the sclera becomes clear and is called the "cornea

Around the pupil is a colored muscle called the "iris." Our eyes may be BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, GRAY OR BLACK, because that is the color of the iris.

Our eyes have many parts. The black part on the front of our eye is called the "pupil." It is really a little hole that opens into the back part of our eyes.

Your eyes blinks over 10,000,000 times a year!

Health Benefits of Ginger

Health Benefits of Ginger

In traditional Chinese medicine, ginger is used to calm upset stomachs, soothe nausea and stop diarrhea. Other traditional health practitioners also understood the health benefits of ginger ? it has been widely used in Europe to help relieve menstrual cramps, treat the symptoms of the common cold and ease headaches. One of the newest reports of the health benefits of ginger is that it may stop cancer from growing and spreading.

What Is Responsible for the Health Benefits of Ginger?
The health benefits of ginger come from chemicals called volatile oils, specifically gingerols and shogaols, that also give ginger its spicy, pungent taste. Those oils stimulate your body to produce more digestive juices and help neutralize the stomach acids that cause cramping, nausea and diarrhea. Ginger is also a natural decongestant and antihistamine, which makes it a natural treatment for head colds.

Research Supports the Health Benefits of Ginger
There are several studies that support the traditionally known health benefits of ginger. Those include:

* Two studies about the health benefits of ginger in helping pregnant women with morning sickness showed that ginger root preparations were more effective than a placebo.
* A clinical trial that proved that ginger root helped prevent seasickness better than a placebo.
* Preliminary results in animal trials show that ginger seems to prevent or slow the rate of tumor growth in cancer.

Children Needs A to Z

From A to Z

Appreciation, for all they bring into our lives

Balance, somewhere between too little and too much

Commitment, it's the little things we do each day that matter

Dreams, to touch the future

Empathy, remember what it was like to be a child

Family and friends, everyone needs someone to love

Guidance, actions speak louder than words

H ealthy habits, to nurture body, mind and spirit

Inspiration, to explore beauty, wonder and mystery

Joy, sprinkle laughter and happiness daily

Kindness, to learn to care for others as they are cared for

Limits, set boundaries and consequences together

Mentors, to give wings to their aspirations

Nature, to delight in rainbow butterflies and shooting stars

Opportunities, to discover what truly makes their heart sing

Play, the "work" of childhood

Quiet time, to recharge their batteries

Responsibilities, to build self¬ esteem and self-confidence

Security, feeling safe is essential for growth

Traditions keep the family tree alive and sprout new branches

Unconditional love, for who they are, not for what they do

Values live yours and encourage them to find theirs

Words of encouragement, "You can do it, I believe in you

Xoxoxo's, hug and kiss them each and every day

Your presence more than your presents

Zzzzzzzs a good night's sleep

Interesting Facts about the Brain

# Your brain uses 20% of your body's energy, but it makes up only 2% of your body's weight.

# Your cerebral cortex is about as thick as a tongue depressor. It grows thicker as you learn and use it.

# Your brain is about 1300-1400 cubic centimeters in volume, about the size of a cantaloupe and wrinkled like a walnut.

# The brain feels like a ripe avocado and looks pink because of the blood flowing through it.

# Your brain generates 25 watts of power while you're awake---enough to illuminate a light bulb.

# A newborn baby's brain grows almost 3 times in course of first year

# Humans have the most complex brain of any animal on earth.

# Your brain is divided into two sides. The left side of your brain controls the right side of your body; and, the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body.

# Toxins in commonplace items such as carpeting and shower curtains may be contributing to memory loss over time?

# Overexposure to aluminum compounds—in foil, cookware, deodorants, antacids, toothpaste—can affect brain function

# Lavender can help you sleep

# A cooked potato can jump-start your brain when you're feeling foggy.

# The essential oil of jasmine can quickly restore mental alertness

# Eating foods rich in vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C may help lower your risk of Alzheimer's disease.

10 FREE Healthy Living Tips

10 FREE Healthy Living Tips

Your health is in your hands, take responsibility for it, learn as much as you can, live healthy by following these steps:

You have the power to choose. Knowledge is the key to choice. Accept responsibility for your health and well being, gain knowledge to live healthy.

Identify any individual allergies or intolerances you have to certain foods and or toxins. Convention food allergy testing (modified RAST) is done by testing for IgE antibodies. Conventional food sensitivity tests (can be done by ELISA) for IgE, IgG, and possibly IgM and IgA antibodies. Other natural testing involves NATE testing available here.


Healthy living means empowering yourself to make healthy lifestyle changes by reading life changing books (and/or listening to CDs/attending seminars).

Live healthy by minimising exposure to all avoidable toxins. The first and easiest place to start is to change your personal care by using a brand that contains no harmful ingredients.

Eat certified organic/bio dynamic, whole, properly constituted, unrefined, raw food as possible and maintain a healthily alkaline/acid balance. Try to eat at least 2 servings of fruit and 5 vegetables a day. Fruit and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and photonutirents. The building blocks of life. Green vegetables are extremely good for you. Chlorophyll present in green vegetables is a natural chelating agent which can help remove heavy metals from the body.

To expect good health you need to drink adequate amounts of filtered water. We recommend Wellness Water filters. Drink 6-8 glasses per day.

Start to exercise. Movement is key to a healthy life. Muscle mass to fat ratio, flexibility and strength are key markers in the aging process. How well do your rate in each of these categories? 30 minutes a day walking is a good start. Include stretching in your weekly routine and you will improve your flexibility. Activities like yoga and pilates are great for the body mind and soul. Weight training or resistance exercise is the best way to increase your muscle mass. If exercising is painful due to spinal or muscle imbalances see a qualified chiropractor, osteopath or physio. Sacro-occiptal technique therapy is great way to sort out any spinal misalignments.

Sleep is really important. Your body needs time to recover, heal and regenerate. Get adequate amounts of sleep to ensure your body has plenty of time to re-energise.

Ensure your body receives an optimum supply of nutrients. A hair mineral analysis is one form of measurement. A healthy body needs an optimum supply of nutrients. For extra support we recommend supplementing your diet with a practitioner brand antioxidant, colloidal mineral, and vitamin C, plus immune support like allimax. Eat plenty of omega 3 rich fish, the best types are the naturally oily fish.

Healthy living also means feeling healthy both physically and mentally - you can assist your mental state by maintaining a philosophical approach to life and engage in healthy activities that let you relax i.e. walking, yoga etc.*

Ten Keys for Finding Happiness

Use these Ten Keys for Finding Happiness in Your Life

1. Live on purpose. Joyful aliveness connects you with your purpose. Learn the skills you need to create happiness. Discover the activities and pursuits that make your heart sing! These engaging activities provide clues to your purpose and will assist you in finding happiness.

If you want to maintain desperation and unhappiness, then believe that life has no purpose.

2. Find Happiness right now. No other time exists for experiencing happiness. Only the present moment contains the spark of life!

You may also create misery by constantly wanting to speed ahead to some other time. Most people live their lives wanting to exist elsewhere and elsewhen.

3. Accept total responsibility for your life! You create your reality and your emotions. Your power and focus exceed your wildest dreams. See this short video about finding happiness through creating reality.

You can choose to blame and whine, pretending that your life situation came from without, rather than from within. As within, so without. Accept total responsibility for all.

4. Act in boldness. Take on challenges and pursue lofty goals. Overcoming difficulties and obstacles provide some of the most exquisite joys in life.

To create misery, play it totally safe. Never do anything scary or risky. Follow your fears and let them guide your actions. For happiness and joy - feel the fear, and do it anyway!

5. Expect happiness. Hope consists of a perfect expectation of desirable things to come. Picture desirable things to come. You choose what to think about, and what to visualize in your mind's eye! Imagine yourself finding happiness.

Despair consists of a perfect expectation of undesirable things to come. To increase despair, simply imagine in detail terrible things that may happen to you. The better your imagination, the deeper the despair. You get what you truly expect, so expect happiness.

6. Increase your awareness. Feel your emotions consciously. Identify your core beliefs. Constantly learn and grow from the inside. Your unhealthy attitudes, habits, and behaviors will start to drop away like fall leaves. Watch this quick video on identifying emotions.

To maintain apathy and misery, just remain unaware. Allow clarity to flee from you like a deer from a hunter. Remain in unconsciousness and cloudiness - afraid to explore your beliefs.

7. Build your connections. Our relationships give life meaning and happiness. All of us truly connect to one another in the inner world. Building connections in the physical world builds on this inner reality and helps us in finding happiness.

To create misery, simply separate yourself from others. Think that you exist as an independent entity, and other people merely drag you down. Insist on separateness and division. Deny the truth of connectedness and pursue unreality.

8. Learn and read daily. We grow in large measure due to the people we meet and the books we read. Did you read 52 books last year? Did you foster more friendships? We create happiness when we grow and increase our wisdom.

To prevent happiness, try not to meet any new people this year, and don't read any new books either. Simply stay just the same person with the exact same ideas. For optimal joy, go for optimal growth and learning!

9. Serve other people. Truly recognize other people as real people, with needs and wants just like your own. Think how you can bring a smile to someone, and then do it! Give increased life in every encounter. Service is a huge key for finding happiness in your life.

To create misery, ignore other people and totally concern yourself with your own needs. Don't think of other people as real.

10. Prioritize your actions. Know your goals and purposes, and put power and faith into every action. Do each action with focus and purpose, and know why you choose the activities you expend your energy on.

If you want to decrease joy, simply do as many things as you can each day. Never think of which tasks connect with your goals, simply busy yourself with work.

Enjoy the Ten Keys to Finding Happiness!

Yeast Infection After Sex - Why It Happens & What To Do

If you keep getting a yeast infection after sex you need to stop sex until you are completely cured. It’s the best way, because sex can transfer the infection to your partner, and once that happens, it can be transferred back and forth. You’re then in a vicious cycle of yeast infection - sex - yeast infection etc. A proper cure is then very hard to achieve.

A condom doesn’t always prevent these recurring yeast infections. Some spermicides can actually help trigger an infection, and, latex can cause allergies, resulting in inflammation that is ideal for infection.

Stopping sex altogether until the infection has been completely eliminated is definitely the best solution. But any treatment must address the root cause and underlying conditions, not just the symptoms of yeast infection.

A fungus called Candida Albicans is the cause of yeast infections. It resides in us naturally, but is kept under control by our body’s ‘good’ bacteria. But under certain conditions it can ‘overgrow’ resulting in a yeast infection.

The following are examples of the type of conditions that can act as a ‘trigger’; antibiotics, steroids, pregnancy, diabetes, contraception, poor diet, and lowered immune system, etc.

Drug-based topical creams and pessaries etc., can be effective in getting rid of yeast infection symptoms. However, that’s all they can do, they don’t address the root cause and underlying conditions. This is why many women (and men) get a yeast infection when they continue sex after apparently being ‘cured’.

The other option you have is to go for completely natural cures for yeast infection, without expensive drugs and their side effects.

And this is what more and more sufferers are doing around the world, by using a more holistic approach to a permanent cure. And many have reported remarkably fast, permanent results

Yeast infection and sex don’t mix. By that I mean that if one partner has an infection, regular sex can transfer the infection to the other. It can’t ’cause’ yeast infection, but it can ‘transfer’ it. Another reason why they don’t mix is that the symptoms can make sexual intercourse very uncomfortable, even painful. In some severe cases intercourse is impossible. Here, we’ll look at why this happens and what you can do about it.

The cause of yeast infection is a natural fungus called ‘Candida albicans’ which resides in most of us without any problems, due to the friendly bacteria in our bodies. And it absolutely loves the warm, moist, dark areas of our bodies, e.g. the genitalia, mouth, anus, etc.

But oftentimes it can ‘overgrow’ thus causing the symptoms like a red / inflamed vagina and vulva, thick white discharge, pain when urinating, and many more. Men with penile yeast infection have similar symptoms.

So you can see right away why sex with a yeast infection can be very painful and how one sexual partner with an infection can easily transfer it to the other. Unfortunately, condoms aren’t the answer since some spermicides actually encourage the Candida albicans to grow. All this hinders your cure. The only sure way to arrive at a fast, permanent cure is to stop sex altogether. Tough, but true.

Your normal drug-based topical remedies which you get through prescription or OTC can help to relieve the symptoms in 7 to 14 days, more in some cases. But they are just attacking the symptoms of the yeast infection, not the root cause. And because the Candida can build-up a resistance to the drugs, they can eventually become ineffective, leading to repeat yeast infections. Of course this means even longer without sex.

So what thousands of sufferers are doing is using completely natural treatments to cure their infection fast, so that they can get back to a normal sex life in the quickest possible time.