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• back to school
• back to sleep
• school sleeping schedule
• sleep per night

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Does your snoring prevent you from sleeping at night? Do you wake up tired and restless? If you answered yes to these questions, you may have a sleep disorder, which is preventing you from getting a good night's sleep. Do not worry, you are not alone. It is estimated that 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women snore while sleeping.

Find out why you are Snoring

The most important thing for you to realize is that there is help available and there are tips that can help you sleep better. The first step that you should take is to try to find a reason for your snoring. You should monitor your snoring to see what your sleep patterns are. Try to note things like, do you sleep on your back, do you sleep with your mouth open or shut, and do you seem to stop breathing while you are snoring. These are important answers to know.

You can make an appointment with your doctor and take along the answers to the above questions. He will be able to completely examination you and rule out any health problem besides your sleep disorder. Your doctor may be able to pinpoint the cause for your snoring. More importantly, he may be able to help you find a treatment plan the will work for you.

Tips to Alleviate Snoring

There are some things you can do at home that may be able to keep your from snoring or reduce your amount of snoring. You should also try to avoid certain foods close to bedtime like dairy products, soymilk, caffeine and alcohol. You should also refrain from taking sleeping pills or antihistamines right before bedtime.

If you sleep on your back, some people have suggested putting a tennis ball down the back of your shirt while you sleep. The idea is that you when you roll over, it will be uncomfortable forcing you will roll back over on your stomach. Some studies have suggested that doing throat exercises and singing throughout the day can reduce your snoring at night.

If these tips are not working for you, there are several medical treatments that are available for you to try. There is the CPAP machine, where you put a mask on while you sleep and it helps you breathe better. There are also several types of nasal strips that you wear while you are sleeping to also help you breathe better during the night. Surgery is another option that many people with sleep disorders try when other options are not working.

Benefits of a Good Night's sleep

The number one benefit of getting a good night's sleep is that it will make you more productive during the day. Studies show that there is a direct link between sleep and a person's productivity throughout the day.  Without a good night's sleep, a person has less energy and they are not as alert and focused. These are the three key ingredients to productivity and without them a person's performance may be at their best level.

The benefits and necessity of sleep was obvious even to Shakespeare 400 years ago and has been recognized by human cultures throughout time. The U.S department of Health and Human services today recommends that most adults get from 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. A more typical amount however, is 6.5 hours, which is plenty enough to function but you should realize that higher amounts of sleep are correlated with

• decreased chance of sickness
• healthier weight
• lighter mood
• healthy skin
• not having bags under your eyes

All of these are essential to looking your best, but the healing power of sleep is not limited to your complexion. Sleep is also associated with:

• clarity of thought, better grades, and higher quality work
• lower risk of blood pressure and diabetes
• lower risk of injury "drowsy driving" is responsible for thousands of deaths every year

The amount of sleep recommended varies across age groups; kids need even more than 7-8 hours. The Government endorsed values, backed up by research conducted by the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, are: 9 hours for teens, 10 to 12 hours for school aged and preschool children, and for the koala-like newborns, around 16 to 18 hours of sleep every day. For these youngsters, sleep is safest when it is done on their backs- if you let them sleep on their bellies that will increase the occurrence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

There are other benefits that you will receive once you start having a good night's sleep. Since you will not be tired anymore, any depression or anxiety problems may diminish. Your mood will lift and your attitude is likely to become more positive.

Spending your nights not able to sleep and your days being tired can be a stressful way to live and over time it will wear you out. But once you begin getting a good night's sleep, you will be amazed at the difference it will make in your life.

• avoiding dry skin
• dry skin care
• itchy skin care
• help dry skin
• help itchy skin

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Anybody can suffer dry and itchy skin any time of the year but these skin conditions occur more frequently during the winter season. But there's no reason to get concerned over it anymore. We can't control the weather but there are simple things we could do to keep our skin healthy and protected from cold weather conditions.

In this article we will try to explain why our skin is more prone to drying during the cold winter season and how we can prevent it. Below are a few effective tips on how to treat dry skin and how you could keep your skin healthy the rest of the year.

Why does our skin dry during cold days?

Lesser humidity in the air and strong chilly winds during winter strike our delicate skin leaving it dry and itchy. This chips away at our skins natural protective layer exposing it to the elements. The skin is stripped of its oil or lipid layers making it dry and itchy. Little skin moisture is also transferred to the air aggravating dry skin conditions.

Use lukewarm water when taking a bath or washing your face

Avoid using cold water or even hot water when taking a bath or washing your face. Hot water only strips your skin's moisture and only makes it drier. For those who can't stand lukewarm baths during winter, make your baths a bit shorter to avoid exposing your skin to extreme temperatures.

This should be kept in mind even when merely washing your hands or feet. If your skin turns red then this is an indication that the water is too hot. It could only make the condition even worse.

Exfoliate regularly

Sometimes, no amount of preparation could adequately protect our skin from harsh winter conditions. Exfoliating regularly removes dead skin and helps rejuvenates tired skin. This prevents itching caused by dead, dry skin. This should be done at least twice a week since skin is more likely to suffer during the winter.

Natural ways of exfoliating includes using sugar or salts. These could be used to scrub dead skin off without the use of chemical based commercial products that could only irritate sensitive skin. The benefits of moisturizers are enhanced when skin is exfoliated regularly. You could also use coconut oils as a natural moisturizer to add that extra layer of protection and keep moisture trapped in the skin.

Moisturize

Moisturizers preserve and protect oils and moisture to keep the skin healthy. It's like an extra skin layer that keeps cold air at bay. Be sure to moisturize after taking a bath or washing your hands. Because there is less humidity in the air, skin moisture is easily lost in the air.

Get a Humidifier

You can't do much about the weather outside but there are few things you could do inside your homes to protect your skin. Humidifiers help maintain the level of moisture in the air. Low humidity makes it easier for moisture to escape the skin. You could use a humidifier or close doors and windows to prevent warm air from escaping.

Low moisture conditions are not only found in cold climate conditions but also in extremely hot desert conditions. If you feel that your home is too cold and there is not enough moisture then getting a humidifier prevents skin from further drying.

Proper hand and feet care

The best way to prevent dry and itchy skin is proper skin care. Use moisturizers at the first signs of dryness to prevent further skin damage. The feet are often one of the most neglected areas and many fail to notice this because they are hidden from the sight of other people. Using the same amount of attention to hidden skin areas like the feet helps maintain overall skin health. Simply moisturizing the feet and hands after washing could go a long way in preventing the occurrence of dry and itchy skin.

Avoid using strong and chemical based soaps

More emphasis should be placed in maintaining your skin's health than simply cleaning your skin by using strong soaps. Opt for soaps that are gentler and contain a good amount of moisturizers. There are also a lot of natural based soaps that don't contain harmful chemicals that only strip your skin of nutrients and moisture.

• diet soda drinkers
• depression diagnosis
• drink diet sodas
• diagnosed with depression
• stressful life
• coffee drinkers
• history of depression

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

While many people enjoy the taste of a diet soda now and again, new studies have shown that people that drink diet sodas or fruit drinks on a regular basis are more likely to be diagnosed with depression.

The study, which took place over more than a decade of time, looked at more than 263,900 U.S. adults who answered questions about the beverages that they drank.  Ten years later, these same people were questioned whether or not they had been diagnosed with depression.

Men and women who regularly drank four or more cans of any type of soda were 30 percent more likely to have been diagnosed with depression than those who did not drink soda at all.  Diet soda drinkers had a higher risk of depression : a 31 percent risk versus a 22 percent risk of regular soda drinkers.

If a diet soda drinkers, drank more than four cans of diet soda a day the percentages of depression skyrocketed to 51 percent.

In contrast, people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were 10 percent less likely to be diagnosed with depression than non-coffee drinkers.

While a family history of depression and stressful life events are some of the biggest predictors of depression, the study focused primarily on frequent beverage consumption of sweetened drinks.

More research will continue to be done on diet and fruity drinks, but in the mean time anyone diagnosed with depression should always continue to follow their doctor's orders and prescriptions.

• prostate cancer
• vitamin e
• amazing avocado
• guacamole
• benefits of avocado
• carotenoid lutein
• folate
• overall health

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

We've all seen the avocado at the grocery store or at your favorite Mexican restaurant, but doctors are now stressing the importance and benefits of the avocado that go far beyond being just an ingredient in guacamole.

Some of these benefits include:

- Avocados have been shown to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer.

- Avocados have more of the carotenoid lutein than any other popular fruit. Lutein protects against macular degeneration and cataracts, two age-related eye diseases.

- The high levels of folate in avocado are also protective against strokes. People who eat diets rich in folate have a much lower risk of stroke than those who don't.

- Avocados are the best fruit source of vitamin E, an essential vitamin that protects against many diseases and helps maintains overall health.

- Avocado is high in oleic acid, which has been shown to prevent breast cancer in numerous studies.

- The vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, and glutathione in avocado are great for your heart.

• new year's resolution
• alleviate stress
• physically active
• winter workouts
• get your workout in
• time is of the essence
• mini workout sessions

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Even though nearly everyone makes a New Year's Resolution to get healthy and exercise more, with the hustle and bustle of the New Year many people often lose track of time and don't stick to either of these resolutions.

Fortunately, there are plenty of exercises that you can do if you only have a little bit of time in your day to do them.

These “mini workout sessions” not only allow you to be physically active during your busy day, but they also help to alleviate stress and provide consistency in your sometimes crazy life.

If you have 10 minutes,

Warm up with one to two minutes of brisk walking, then alternate two minutes running with 30 seconds walking.

If you feel good, gradually increase the speed of your run segments. Repeat three times. Jog easy for one minute to cool down.

If you're stuck in the house, walk briskly from room to room and up and down stairs. Every minute, jog in place for 20 steps.

If you have 15 minutes,

Walk gently up and down a flight of stairs two or three times to warm up.

Then run up one flight and walk back down. Repeat four times, take a one-minute walk break on a flat surface, then continue the sequence as time allows.

If you're in a stairwell, run up two flights of stairs, walk down, repeat, then take a walk break.

If you have 20 minutes,

On an out-and-back route, walk for one minute, then alternate 30 seconds walking with 30 seconds running for three minutes.

For the next six minutes, run/walk using any ratio you wish. At the 10-minute mark, turn around.

For the next nine minutes, run/walk whatever ratio you'd like, but pick up the pace during the run portion.

Cool down for one minute.

If you have 30 minutes,

Walk for two minutes, then alternate 30 seconds walking with 30 seconds running for six minutes.

For the next 20 minutes, alternate jogging for one minute, running a faster pace for one minute, jogging one minute, walking one minute. Repeat the sequence five times.

Walk or jog two minutes to cool down.

Good luck with these “mini” winter workout sessions and here's to keep at least one of those New Year's Resolutions!