When life gets hectic and there are other things to worry about like taking care of children and getting work done, it can be easy to lose sight of the importance of looking after yourself. Often, we take our health for granted. If you’re keen to start putting your health first, here are some steps you can take to make your health and well-being a priority.

Move More

Inactivity is one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer. Living an active lifestyle offers benefits for both physical and mental health. If you don’t hit the weekly target of 150 minutes of moderate exercise, it’s a good idea to try and increase your activity levels. You don’t have to join a gym or spend hours running around the park or lifting weights to get fitter and reap the rewards of regular exercise. You can try all kinds of activities, from golf, tennis, swimming and cycling to dancing, climbing, kayaking, hiking and home workouts. If you’re new to exercise, try and build up your fitness gradually, increasing the duration or the intensity of your sessions as you get stronger.

Have fun with exercise, get friends and family involved and try and make physical activity part of your daily routine. If you don’t feel confident joining an exercise class or going to the gym, you can follow online workouts at home, invest in home gym equipment, or tune into virtual training sessions. As well as making a concerted effort to exercise more, you can also make simple changes to your everyday life, including walking or cycling instead of taking the car out and using the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.

Watch What You Eat

Your diet is crucial for optimum health and well-being. We tend to get carried away talking about our diet in relation to weight loss, but the numbers on the scale are not the only outcome of planning menus and deciding what to eat every day. The most important concern should always be nutrition, as your body is reliant on the food you consume to provide essential nutrients. When you draw up a shopping list, or you think about what you’re going to eat in the coming days, prioritize nutrition. Make sure your diet is healthy and balanced. Aim to eat plenty of different types of fruit and vegetables, cut down on processed, fatty foods, increase your fiber intake and try to stick to main meals. If you tend to live on takeouts, or you eat on the go, and you often rely on snacking, make meals in advance. You can batch cook at the weekends and prepare lunches the night before work.

If you are considering making changes to your diet to try and lose weight, it’s critical to seek medical advice and to take great care when looking at diets and eating plans. If you’ve been looking at juice fasting tips, or you’ve read about celebrity diets or new fads and trends, it’s wise to get a professional opinion. In many cases, fad diets can lead to significant, swift weight loss, but the results are unsustainable, and the diet isn’t healthy. Cutting out food groups can also make you experience cravings. The best way to lose weight safely if you want to drop a couple of pounds is to adopt a healthy, balanced diet and increase your activity levels. These are long-term changes, which will benefit you for years to come.

Understand The Importance of Mental Health

If somebody said the word ‘health’ to you, what kinds of images or phrases would pop into your head? For many of us, it would be images of running or tucking into a fruit salad. We tend to automatically think about physical health, but mental well-being is equally important. Mental health should be a priority for everyone. Just as you can take steps to protect and nourish your body, you can also adopt preventative measures to shield and boost your mental health.

Try to reduce and manage stress, take time out to recover and rest, exercise frequently, make sure you get enough sleep, and surround yourself with people who have a positive influence on you. If you have a hectic lifestyle, or you struggle to unwind or switch off, it’s also beneficial to devote time to hobbies and interests. Creative activities can be particularly cathartic if you have difficulty expressing or managing emotions, or you find it hard to wind down. It’s also crucial to understand that there is help out there for mental health conditions in the same way that treatments and therapies are available for physiological illnesses and injuries.

Get Enough Rest

In the US, around 70% of adults don’t get enough sleep. Most of us can cope with the odd restless night, but if you experience sleep troubles on a regular or an ongoing basis, it can take its toll on your health and your mood. Sleep is vital for enabling the body to heal, rest, and recover. If you don’t get enough sleep, you may be more susceptible to illnesses and infections, you might feel irritable or emotional, your performance at work might suffer, and you may also be more prone to anxiety and stress. One of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your sleep quality is to adjust your routine. Spend part of your evening doing something you find relaxing, set times for going to bed and getting up and avoid checking emails or scrolling through social media feeds late at night. If you get into the habit of going to bed at 11pm and getting up at 6am, for example, your body clock will soon adapt and you should find it easier to get to sleep.

Many of us feel like we’re juggling a lot of balls at the same time. If you’re working, you’ve got kids, you care for relatives, or you’re studying, it can be difficult to ensure your health comes first. The reality is that taking your health for granted can be hazardous. It’s not possible to prevent every illness, but there are steps you can take to look after yourself and reduce the risk of developing health problems. Make time for physical activity, ensure your diet is balanced and nutritious, prioritize your mental well-being and make sure you get enough rest to allow your body to recover and heal.

Have you struggled to kick bad habits and build healthier habits in their place? If so, chances are you may have blamed this on a lack of willpower and felt like a failure when you didn’t break a bad habit or successfully build a new one into your life.

You may be tackling it from a less than ideal perspective. What if you approached it differently with a new angle?

To break bad habits and build healthier new ones, it’s helpful to understand how habits work. Habits are not formed instantaneously. They require thoughtful, inspired action to make them stick and become a natural outgrowth of your life. Did you know it can take up to 21 days of doing something before it can be established as a habit you do automatically?

Start Small

Don’t dive in thinking you can do amazing things from day one. Chances are it will be a tough task to do. Start with something small and see how you get on. Once you’ve successfully created one new habit, then build your way to other, more significant, patterns you want to establish.

Motivation

Motivation comes in different forms to different people. Some like the feel of constant congratulatory recognition from others and thrive off the positive feedback. Others may prefer to keep it personal and track their new habits in more discreet ways. Do whatever works for you.

Share on your social media accounts to keep yourself accountable and have others as your witness. Keep a record or a journal of the changes you are making, how you feel day to day, and what has made things easier or harder each day. This will give you an indication of when you form the habit and don’t have to keep reminding yourself to do it.

A visual habit tracker that is clearly visible in your home or workspace could be an extra incentive to hit those targets and build those new habits. Fill it in each day to see how well you are getting much in the same way as a child’s reward chart. Or even use an app on your phone to help you stay on track to hit your target. There are many apps available these days to help you do this.

Build On Small Steps

Once you have the small details in place, the more significant steps will naturally fall in line. Let’s take exercise. You started small by adding a 15 minute walk in your local neighborhood five times a week. Once you have formed this habit and are making good progress with it, then look at adding slightly longer walks once or twice a week or one workout class.

Use this method to form all of your habits no matter what they are and set yourself up for success by creating the lasting foundations for sticking to better habits. Doing it this way will enable you to break down your goals until they are in more manageable chunks and more natural to accomplish.

Health and wellness is now an issue of nationwide importance.  The majority of Americans are obese or overweight. Fast foods, as well as processed foods, are primary culprits. Similarly, insufficient time to exercise is yet another factor. Lastly, in some parts of the country, excessive junk meals, particularly those comprising of fried foods, place the majority vulnerable to not just obesity problems but heart problems too.

Weight Loss Programs

To fix the issue, health organizations have created a market for weight loss programs. These programs have knock-on benefits, such as more energy, improved confidence, and better oral health. Dentists near me have spoken out about the benefits of eating right in terms of fighting plaque and having better breath too!

Below, I am going to take a look at some health programs, providing an honest assessment. While a lot of people will say you shouldn’t follow programs like this, some people need the discipline they provide. There is nothing wrong with that so long as you choose with care.

21-Day Fix Extreme Review

The 21-Day Fix Extreme gives you the majority of similar attributes as its predecessor (the 21-Day Fix) had. This more recent version is a more intense course.

Is the 21-Day Fix Extreme Plan Best for you? 

If you are seeking a quick-fix workout plan built to transform your already fit physique into the best body that it can be, you’ll benefit from acquiring 21-Day Fit Extreme, produced by BeachBody.

This workout plan includes workout routines that provide sufficient variety and scope to help you stay inspired, and these kind of challenging exercises are accessible in a hassle-free DVD format.

Additionally, this extreme workout plan, which triggers impressive upgrades in barely three short weeks, offers beneficial and realistic meal plan instructions, along with plastic containers, which ensure the right portion sizes. Portion control (together with routine workouts) is vital for weight reduction!

This program is simple because it shocks the body system into being toned, fit, and lean. It’s not a long-lasting fitness/diet plan, though you will likely plan to continue making use of these fitness guidelines for a long time. This plan is intended to provide tangible outcomes, which promote personal satisfaction using total body reliance, without having to take several months to finish. You can use this as a kickstart basically.

So, who would fare the best with the 21-Day Fix Extreme? 

This program is perfect for anybody trying to shed weight. However, the same is valid for almost all legitimate weight loss programs. Therefore, listed below are a few sets of people that the 21-Day Fix could be ideal for.

• Those that have failed at losing weight before this.
• Those not able to maintain long-term diet plans.
• Anyone who requires results quickly.
• Anyone who hates visiting the gym.
• Those who do not like determining and also weighing meal portions.

PROS: 

• Effective Workouts: The 21-Day Extreme makes the most of your time and effort, and also focuses on all parts of your body.
• Meal Control: Keep healthy and balanced, and quit guessing at mealtimes.
• Meal Schedule: Keep to the plan of six meals per day, and ignore the treats that may weigh you and your body down.
• Customized Moves: I want to emphasize, this program is not for newbies, however, the modifiers do offer you some flexibility.
• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee: In case the 21-Day Fix Extreme is not for you, then simply return it within one month.

CONS: 

• Challenging: Some individuals aren’t quite prepared for the challenges that the 21-Day Fix Extreme demands from them. Always keep your personal expectations as realistic as possible, and also don’t carry out this workout until you are totally devoted.
• Short-term Preference: It’s good to look good for one day, but the majority of us would like to look good at all times. Carrying out the 21-Day Fix only once each month or two will help keep you in shape and toned, however, many people struggle after the first round or after a couple of days.
• Boring: The meals along with the workouts combined means you will end up denying yourself regularly. It could get dull rapidly if you’re not accustomed to it.

All in all, this is a good option to consider if you are looking to go for an intense workout program that will give you great results. You are only going to sustain these results with a continued effort, though. There is no magic fix! There are two diet plans featured in this system. The standard 21-Day Fix Extreme meal plan provides you with useful suggestions regarding how to get the most from your containers. And there is the competitor’s meal plan, which happens to be a personal favorite, and is based upon the way you gear up for an important event.

VEGA Review 

Lots of people in today’s modern society are concerned about their well-being more than they have ever been before. In terms of health, bad and good carbohydrate foods are an essential focus.

Good quality carbohydrate foods provide the body with nutrients and include:

• Whole grains
• Meats
• Fruits
• Vegetables

Bad carbohydrate foods are foods that do not give the body nutrients, and they include: 

• Carbonated and alcoholic beverages
• Cookies
• Chips
• Candy

Lots of people want to know more about the Vega One dietary shake simply because they wish to shed weight and enhance their quality of living. When greasy and fatty meals are ingested, the body experiences digestion problems. It feels sluggish and processes slow down. When this occurs, the entire body is vulnerable to storing fat. Extra fat leads to many medical problems, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity. Lots of people have an interest in Vega One reviews, as they are curious about how previous consumers received this product and whether it will benefit them.

What’s in Vega One Shakes?

Vega One dietary shakes are derived from whole food ingredients:

• 160 calories per portion
• 20 grams of multi-source protein, which is plant-based
• Six green servings
• Up to 20% of the daily required dietary fiber
• 50% of required minerals and vitamins
• Probiotic
• 1 .5 grams of Omega 3
• Anti-oxidants
• Virtually no sugar is added

Everyone is attracted to Vega One shakes because, out of the numerous nutritional shakes on the market, Vega One is totally free of:

• Soy
• Sugar
• Gluten
• Dairy
• Synthetic sweeteners
• Synthetic colors and flavors

Vitamins & Minerals In Vega One Nutritional Shakes

• 15g of Proteins:
• Hemp seed proteins
• Sagi-seed proteins
• Sprouted whole grain brown rice proteins
• A signature-blend of plant-based proteins, which contains essential amino acids
• 6g of Fiber: Fiber consumption aids in sustaining normal sugar levels and bowel health. Fiber likewise helps individuals feel satisfied and lessen hunger, which helps with healthy weight regulation and weight supervision.
• Inulin
• Pea
• Flax

Anti-oxidants:

• Acai berries
• Grape seed extract
• Pomegranate seed
• Mangosteen
• Vega One includes 2.7 cups of anti-oxidants of well-known 1000 ORAC 4, 200mg mix.
• Greens
• Broccoli
• Spinach leaf Alfalfa grass
• Kale
• Vega One’s green mix consists of three portions of veggies in each scoop.

What do these shakes taste like?

Vega One dietary shakes come in many different flavors, such as:

• Berry
• Natural
• Vanilla Chai
• Chocolate
• French Vanilla
• Coconut
• Mocha

The texture and consistency

The consistency and Vega One nutritional shakes are extremely smooth. A lot of nutritional shakes have a grain-like texture and a thicker consistency as a result of the ingredients that are used. However, these shakes are natural, meaning they are not processed and are free from foods that have been refined, thus helping the shakes to possess an even texture.

How long can you expect your hunger to be cured for?

Our study shows hunger is curbed for at least two hours, and potentially up to four hours. As opposed to other dietary shakes we have tested, the Vega One shakes eases you to a hungry state rather than making the person feel they are starving after two to three hours of ingesting the shake.

Our degree of satisfaction regarding Vega One is high. We really like that this shake offers the things they say they will. This nutritional shake is a pleasure to drink due to its fantastic taste and an excellent range of flavors.

Pros 

• Excellent nutritional base
• All natural
• Probiotics and anti-oxidants are included
• Fair price
• Low-calorie
• Excellent taste
• Good assortment of flavors
• Support by way of recipes

Cons

• Expensive compared to most alternatives
• Not natural

Final words

Absolutely no workout plan can guarantee success. Particularly if you don’t adhere to the plan. A high level of self-discipline is essential for these products to perform. These are just two examples of many that are out there today. If you do decide to go down one of these routes, do choose with care and make sure you look at the ingredients. This is always going to be the most telling sign and you need to be aware of what you are putting in your body.

When you get sick or have some sort of health issue, your instinct makes you reach for the medicine cabinet. You pop a couple of pills and hope that they solve the problem. In many cases, you get relief from your issues, and it genuinely helps. However, should you automatically opt for medication when you have a health problem?

Full disclosure, I’m obviously not a doctor so don’t take anything in this guide as medical advice. If you have a health issue, always see a medical professional to get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. Still, here are a few reasons you might want to consider avoiding medication or trying other ideas before you reach for it.

There may be natural alternatives

In a lot of cases, you can find natural alternatives to prescription medication. This is obviously preferable as natural things can improve your overall health, while drugs fill it with chemicals. There aren’t natural alternatives in some instances, but it pays to do some research to make sure. However, look at something simple like nausea or stomach pain. A lot of people suffer from these health issues, particularly pregnant women. The instinctive reaction is to get anti-nausea tablets and take them. But, you can use ginger to provide natural relief instead!

Sometimes, natural alternatives to medication can be employed to avoid needing to take medication. If you have high blood pressure, changes to your eating and lifestyle habits can naturally lower it to a safe range, preventing the need to take any medication. So, don’t always assume drugs are the answer; you could find a more natural, chemical-free alternative.

Medication can be addictive

It’s far too common for someone to become addicted to medication. You see this a lot with opioids and other pain-relief drugs. People get into a habit of relying on drugs to ease symptoms, making it impossible to live life without them.

Unfortunately, drugs also have secondary effects on your body that can be very damaging. It’s also far too easy to become addicted to prescription medication. So, you may want to consider avoiding it if you have addictive tendencies or are worried about depending too much on a particular drug.

If you feel that you’re addicted to prescription medication, it’s worth taking steps to tackle your addiction. The first step is to discuss the issue with your doctor. But, you should also seek help from a specialized drug addiction treatment center.

If you search for outpatient drug treatment near me on Google or ask your doctor for a referral to a local center, you can start taking positive action to curb your addiction.

Medication fills your body with chemicals

As mentioned previously, medication can put chemicals in your body. Some of these work to provide relief from your problems, but others cause more harm to other regions of your body. Adderall is a great example as this drug is commonly used to treat ADHD and other conditions. The problem is that it causes havoc to your hormonal system and can create lots of chemical imbalances. To make matters worse, you can have Adderall in your system for a few days following ingestion. So, these effects can linger and cause further problems.

Some pain-relief meds are also a prime example of how chemicals can harm the body. Yes, you get relief from pain, but a lot of this medication damages the stomach lining and can cause ulcers with constant use. Even if you need medication for your health issue, it can be helpful to avoid it as much as possible, preventing too many chemicals from building up.

You don’t always tackle the problem head on

The biggest issue with a lot of medication is that you rarely tackle the health problem head-on. I’ve mentioned pain-relief drugs a lot, mainly because they’re so common. But, if you have chronic back pain, taking medication will hardly help. Sure, you get temporary relief, but the cause of your issue hasn’t been tackled. If you underwent rehab therapy and did corrective stretches/exercises, this would attack the cause of your back pain. In the long run, you’ll be pain-free without any medication.

Sometimes there are health issues that cannot be solved. In these instances, medication is the only way you can treat the problem. As such, you should obviously take it if it’s the only way to help! Still, it’s worth considering why you have a health issue before you jump to the medicine cabinet. Is this a problem that can be solved with natural remedies or lifestyle changes?

That’s as good a place as any to wrap up this article! Overall, the message is that you don’t have to use medication to treat a lot of your health problems. Of course, make sure you follow the advice of your doctor or another health professional before doing anything. In fact, if you automatically self-prescribe medication for any health issue, you’ll be surprised at how often a doctor will provide alternatives that have longer-lasting effects.

Hearing loss can happen to anyone, at any age, for all kinds of reasons. Hearing loss can be caused by illness, genetics, or lifestyle factors like loud noises. Here are some of the most common causes of hearing loss.

Otosclerosis

This is a disease of the middle ear that makes it harder for the tiny bones in your middle ear to move. This then causes a conductive hearing loss. The condition is usually treated with surgery.

Meniere’s Disease

This is an inner ear problem. Meniere’s disease doesn’t have a known cause but usually starts in people between the ages of 30 and 50. If you have this disease, you will experience sensorineural hearing loss. You may feel dizzy or experience ringing in the ears or become sensitive to loud noises. The hearing loss comes and goes at first, but some loss will become permanent over time.

Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease

An autoimmune disorder is a disorder that causes the body to attack itself. This kind of hearing loss can come on very quickly. If you suddenly lose your hearing, you should see a doctor as soon as you possibly can so medical treatment can be applied to keep the loss of hearing to a minimum.

Medications 

Some medications can cause hearing loss. Talk to your doctor about the medicines that you take. Medicines that can impact hearing include:

• Aminoglycoside antibiotics, such as streptomycin, neomycin, or kanamycin
• Large amounts of aspirin
• Loop diuretics, like lasix or ethacrynic acid
• Some chemotherapy drugs

Loud Noise

Very loud noises can cause permanent damage to your hearing. Noise-induced hearing loss is painless and usually progresses over time. This kind of loss is common in those who work in loud environments, such as on building sites or in music venues. Always wear noise protection to protect your ears. Hearing a very loud noise, like an explosion, can cause sudden hearing loss. Loud noises can also contribute to conditions like tinnitus. Treating tinnitus usually focusses on managing the problem, not curing it.

Acoustic Neuroma

This is a kind of tumor that can cause hearing loss. You may also experience a full feeling or ringing in the ears. If you have an acoustic neuroma, you will need to seek medical treatment for help.

Physical Head Injury

A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, a hole in the eardrum, or damage to the middle ear can cause hearing loss. If you’ve been in an accident that has damaged your hearing, seek help from a doctor as soon as possible to limit the damage done.

Presbycusis

This is a sensorineural hearing loss. It usually happens as you get older. You start to notice that speech sounds muffled or unclear. You might also start to have to ask people to repeat themselves or turn up the TV much louder than before in order to hear it. There are several options for this kind of hearing loss, such as learning sign language or lip-reading or wearing a hearing aid.

Attitude is powerful. If you’ve got a good one, you can empower others. However, a bad attitude can undermine your credibility and likability factor in a flash. So, how do you keep yourself in check when someone or something gets under your skin? 

First, let’s consider this quote on attitude: 

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” — Maya Angelou

Change of attitude

When I think of the effect of attitude, I think back to an experience I had in a restaurant. A friend and I treated ourselves to dinner. I don’t get out often because of my busy schedule. So, I looked forward to the night out. I couldn’t wait to indulge in great food coupled, of course, with great service. I set my expectations high because I always received great service at this restaurant.

Well…

From the moment that we entered, my gut told me to get set for a different experience.

Firstly, you see, the hostess ignored us. We stood in front of her and she continued to chat with a server. So, when a solid minute passed, I decided to interrupt. Not wise! She could’ve poked my eyes out with the daggers she tossed my way. She snapped at me, “I’ll seat you in a few minutes.”

Oh my.

Well, then. Yeah, my good attitude faded instantly. In a flash, my heart pumped, throat burned, and pulse quickened. Anger bubbled up inside of me. Nothing boils me like rudeness. 

My friend shrugged. “Let’s just sit over here on this bench and wait.”

I followed her, breathing deeply and trying my best not to make a scene. Several minutes later the hostess ordered us to follow her. Yep, ordered! Oh boy…

As a result, I needed a little zen lesson from my character, Yvonne, in Sandcastles. She’d know how to tame the wild beast brewing in my mind at that moment.

My Attitude Flared

First of all, she sat us at a table in the back next to the kitchen. Furthermore, dishes clanked and waitstaff rushed past us every few seconds with angst written all over their faces. Finally, after several more minutes, our server arrived. She cradled a pen and paper and stared at us with a look that told us we’d better order now or plan to suffer inconceivable consequences.

I don’t know. Maybe some strange attitude-killing vapor seeped into the restaurant that night? Anger and bitterness hung in the air, choking the life out of the chance of a good time. The server looked down and just pointed her pen to the pad.

The good attitude I walked in with died.

I sank right into line with her bad mood and glumly ordered a summer ale and calamari. My friend, who never seems to derail, egged her on by hesitating. The waitress hung her head to the side in obvious annoyance. Finally, in my friend’s most exuberant, friendly voice, she asked, “Can you give us a smile?”

Oh no. I sank deeper into my seat. 

The server mumbled, “I’m not in the mood to smile today.”

My friend chided on further, “Oh, come on, that frown isn’t doing anything to help you feel better.”

I kicked my friend under the table.

The server would surely spit in my summer ale if she didn’t stop! I looked up in time to see a set of softer eyes peering down on us paired with a weak smile. A long sigh followed. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long day. I’ve been here twelve hours and haven’t had a chance to take a break.”

My friend warmed up to her through empathetic banter. Consequently, within minutes, the server smiled. Even her eyes sparkled.

I’m glad to report that we enjoyed a superb dinner after that. Our server joked with us and the other guests. Also, she even walked around the restaurant with a bounce to her step. As a result, her rejuvenated vibe filled the restaurant with life.

My bold and optimistic friend, God love her, had proven the power of a smile and its effect on attitude. A smile is a very simple gift that can have exponential results. It erased the bad attitude, reminding me that such negativity takes much more effort and energy to sustain than positivity.

4 Ways to Shift Your Attitude

Use Positive Words

Talk to yourself the way you’d speak to someone you admire. Also, speak with affirmative words and use statements like “It’s going to be okay,” or “This is temporary,” or “I am hopeful.”

Surround Yourself with Happy People

You are a reflection of the people you are around the most. So, set yourself up for success by hanging out with those who will lift you and help you grow in positive light.

Say a Daily Affirmation

Write out a list of positive affirmations. When feeling blah, read one of them. Then, let it sink in. Finally, find a way to apply it to your current circumstance.

Think about How Your Attitude Affects Others

Emotions are highly contagious. So, this begs the question – do you want others to catch your bad vibe? This sobering question can help center you quickly. When you realize how powerful an attitude can be, you’ll be more careful with the one you release to the world.

Sometimes, the simplest action leads to the most powerful reactions. Is your attitude worth catching?