Jen on Health, Fitness and Beauty

Imagine being in your mid-80’s and still mentally sharp: remembering your children’s birthdays and anniversaries and actually remembering details about your great-grandchildren’s full names and even their first words when they were just babies! Others might think this can be very far-fetched, as you might even be arguing- you wouldn’t even be able to live up to that age! But reality check, yes you still can!

The technology this generation has might have made most of the youngsters idle in doing work. They let calculators do the counting, the internet do data-gathering in an instant, vacuum cleaners do the cleaning. While these equipment greatly help us in your day-to-day chores, exercising your brain should be your top priority. Why? A study found that doing these things three to four times a week reduced the risk of developing memory problems later in life by at least 35 percent.

It’s not just your biceps that need flexing. Your brain needs it too to perform mental functions even at the later stages in your life. The best brain-boosting activities include reading, playing cards or board games and playing a musical instrument. They make you think real hard, which in a way lets all your neurons fire up and keep your brain real active!

When you were a child, you’ve always been told to hit the sack early. You might have thought, it was because you needed to be up early for school. While this may be true, you missed the whole point of why you needed to be early in bed. Eight to nine hours of sleep makes you healthy and you need all the energy to last the whole day through. Snoozing off that long makes your body rejuvenate stored energy, making you feel very enthusiastic in the morning. Sleeping this long also helps you control your hunger pangs, you crave for food less. The less time you sleep, the more you get your BMI or body mass index higher.

It’s not too late to train your body do the right thing. Try as best as you can- while still having a nice, fun life- to stick to a sleep schedule. Going to bed and waking up at set times will help train your body to fall asleep faster, so you’ll be more likely to get the eight to nine hours of sleep you need each night.

Give yourself a break and take a nice, long shuteye. After all, it is very beneficial to your health!

A monthly check-up will prove to be very beneficial to you. Not only do you get an update of how you’re fairing health-wise, you’ll also be informed of other risk factors you need to be on the look-out for.

Most people would only think of going to the doctor when they are feeling something out of the ordinary, and this should not be the practice. Going to the doctor shouldn’t be made synonymous to having problems and/ or defects on your health. There is such a thing called prevention, too.
You go for check-ups to consult your doctor on your well-being. If your doctor finds something not good, consider it as your first step to helping yourself out. You won’t know something’s really wrong when you don’t get to have yourself checked out.

If you’re feeling queasy, as you are not accustomed to doing this, bring a written list of your top worries to your appointment- and talk about your number-one issue within the first two minutes, that’s when your doctor is listening best. That way, your priority will be addressed first and foremost. Not that your doctor won’t be listening through the rest of your concerns. But he’ll surely be more occupied on other things as your appointment goes on.

It comes as a great surprise to most but stress is actually normal. This is the mind’s response to his constantly changing environment, especially those that appear suddenly and threateningly. Stress triggers adrenaline which braces you to either “fight” or to take “flight”. A small amount of manageable stress is beneficial; it keeps you alert and makes you think faster. The adrenaline enables one to put in more effort to face the challenges of everyday life. Stress could actually provide the needed excitement to make life more thrilling.

On the other hand, too much stress over a long period of time could get out of hand and leave you stressed out. Being stressed out leads to complications like eating disorders, skin rashes, peptic ulcer, high blood pressure, heart attack, it may even trigger or worsen asthma attacks in asthma-prone persons.

Recognizing and understanding stress is the first and most important step in stress management. Here are some stress-telling signs and symptoms:

1. Increased heart rate
2. Tensed muscles, especially round the neck and shoulders
3. Difficulty in concentrating
4. Insomnia
5. Loss of appetite or over-eating
6. More cigarette and alcohol intake than usual
7. Anxiety
8. Shortness of breath
9. Getting too aggressive or too defensive
10. Forgetfulness

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