Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Worlds AIDS Day



Every day, more than 1,000 children are infected with HIV. It doesn’t have to be this way. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is challenging the global community to cut pediatric HIV infections in half over the next five years by improving access to lifesaving HIV prevention and treatment services. Join us today by sharing a special moment in your life and become part of the movement to create a generation free of HIV.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection - Topic Overview by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS

What is HIV? What is AIDS?

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the immune system, the body’s natural defense system. Without a strong immune system, the body has trouble fighting off disease. Both the virus and the infection it causes are called HIV.

White blood cells are an important part of the immune system. HIV invades and destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+ cells. If too many CD4+ cells are destroyed, the body can no longer defend itself against infection.

The last stage of HIV infection is AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). People with AIDS have a low number of CD4+ cells and get infections or cancers that rarely occur in healthy people. These can be deadly.

But having HIV does not mean you have AIDS. Even without treatment, it takes a long time for HIV to progress to AIDS—usually 10 to 12 years. If HIV is diagnosed before it becomes AIDS, medicines can slow or stop the damage to the immune system. With treatment, many people with HIV are able to live long and active lives.

What causes HIV?

HIV infection is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. You can get HIV from contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids.

* Most people get the virus by having unprotected sex with someone who has HIV.
* Another common way of getting the virus is by sharing drug needles with someone who is infected with HIV.
* The virus can also be passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding.

HIV doesn't survive well outside the body. So it cannot be spread by casual contact such as kissing or sharing drinking glasses with an infected person.

What are the symptoms?

HIV may not cause symptoms early on. People who do have symptoms may mistake them for the flu or mono. Common early symptoms include:

* Fever.
* Sore throat.
* Headache.
* Muscle aches and joint pain.
* Swollen glands (swollen lymph nodes).
* Skin rash.

Symptoms may appear from a few days to several weeks after a person is first infected. The early symptoms usually go away within 2 to 3 weeks.

After the early symptoms go away, an infected person may not have symptoms again for many years. Treatment usually keeps the virus under control and helps the immune system stay healthy. But without treatment, the virus continues to grow in the body and attacks the immune system. After a certain point, symptoms reappear and then remain. These symptoms usually include:

* Swollen lymph nodes.
* Extreme tiredness.
* Weight loss.
* Fever.
* Night sweats.

A doctor may suspect HIV if these symptoms last and no other cause can be found.

How can you prevent HIV?

HIV can be spread by people who don't know they are infected. To protect yourself and others:

* Practice safe sex. Use a condom every time you have sex (including oral sex) until you are sure you and your partner are not infected with HIV.
* Don't have more than one sex partner at a time. The safest sex is with one partner who has sex only with you.
* Talk to your partner before you have sex the first time. Find out if he or she is at risk for HIV. Get tested together and retested 6 months later. Use condoms in the meantime.
* Don't drink a lot of alcohol or use illegal drugs before sex. You might let down your guard and not practice safe sex.
* Don't share personal items, such as toothbrushes or razors.
* Never share needles or syringes with anyone.

To Read the entire article by Maria G. Essig, click the link below.

http://health.yahoo.com/hiv-overview/human-immunodeficiency-virus-hiv-infection-topic-overview/healthwise--hw151411.html


Help fight the fight, educate yourself, inform others, support the cause, LIVE FOREVER

Thursday, October 29, 2009

H1N1 Flu Virus - Knowledge is your best Defence

Recognizing the Symptoms

Almost Always - Sudden onset of Cough & Fever

Common - Fatigue, Muscle Ache, Sore Throat, Headache, Runny Nose, Decreased Appetite

Sometimes - Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea


Severity Indicators


Shortness of Breath
Chest Pain
Rapid, or difficulty breathing
Bluish/greyish skin colour
Bloody/Coloured mucus/spit
Dizziness & Confusion
Severe/Persistent vomiting
High Fever lasting more than 3 days
Low Blood Pressure


Those with Higher Risks of catching/or having the flu develop into something more serious.

1) Children under the age of 5
2) Women who are Pregnant
3 People with chronic conditions such as :


Heart Disease
Kidney Disease
Diabetes
Asthma/Chronic Lung Disease
Liver Disease
Blood Disorders
Obesity
Immunosuppressed - people taking cancer drugs or those living with HIV/AIDS
Neurological Disorders


Protect Yourself


Wash your hands frequently, with soap under warm water for 20 seconds
Use an alcohol based hand sanitizer
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth
Cough/Sneeze into your arm, NOT YOUR HAND
Keep common surface area clean & disinfected
If you're sick, STAY HOME!


CONTACT YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER RIGHT AWAY if you develop severe symptoms, or if you have flu symptoms and are at risk of complications

Plan Ahead

Speak to your family/friends about how you can help one another during flu season

Stock up on essentials such as pain/fever medication and easy meals(that way you won't have to leave the house)

Have important telephone numbers on hand ex) Doctor, local public health clinics, information lines

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Pharmacology Corner

Pharmacology Corner will be a new addition to 'THE HUMAN BODY PROJECT" websites. It will be a blog that will inform readers on everything there is to Pharmacology. Please check it out and support the site by signing up. Its a great educational website designed to help promote health and healthy living styles.

http://pharmacologycorner.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Controlling Nervousness


We've all heard of the Flight or Fight response. All living creatures experience this survival mechanism when confronted with perceived danger. We can either defend ourselves or run away from this danger. Fear is a natural feeling everyone encounters. EVERYONE!

Flight or Fight symptoms.


* Acceleration of heart and lung action
* Paling or flushing, or alternating between both
* Inhibition of stomach and upper-intestinal action (digestion slows down or stops)
* General effect on the sphincters of the body
* Constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body
* Liberation of nutrients (particularly fat and glucose) for muscular action
* Dilation of blood vessels for muscles
* Inhibition of the lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation
* Dilation of pupil (mydriasis)
* Relaxation of bladder
* Evacuation of colon
* Inhibition of erection
* Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing)
* Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision)
* Acceleration of instantaneous reflexes
* Shaking


The Physiology of Fear

When dealing with a form of danger, the body enters a state of physiological arousal due to the release of Adrenaline hormone. Some common feels as a result of fear caused by adrenalin are:

Increase Breathing & Heart Rate

An increase in breathing and heart rate allows the body to exchange oxygen in certain areas, specifically large muscles and major organs.

'Butterflies in my stomach'
This feeling of 'butterflies in your stomach' actually is caused by blood flowing away from the digestive system. As a result, the stomach is slightly deprived of oxygen.

Upset Stomach
As mentioned above, blood flow is diverted from the digestive system, and the elimination of wastes helps lighten the body so that it can run faster from the danger

Dizziness
Occurs because of an increase of OXYGEN in the body due to increase RESPIRATION

Dry Mouth
Increase breathing and sweating causes dehydration

Sweating
Increase blood flow to large muscles creates heat in your body and you begin to sweat

Tremmors/Shakes
Blood flow is diverted away from the fine motor muscles and are sent to the large muscles and major organs. Lack of oxygen to the motor muscles causes the shakes as those muscles are deprived.

Dilated Pupils
Your pupils enlarge to allow more light to enter the eye

Slurred Speech
Blood is diverted away from certain brain areas - specifically the section that controls speech

Monday, October 5, 2009

Article by Dr. Ni

Here's an article by Dr. Maoshing Ni
Dr. Mao is an anti-aging expert, doctor of Chinese medicine and the author of the best-selling book, "Secrets of Longevity." Merging the ancient wisdom of Eastern medicine with the modern advances of Western medicine, Dr. Mao has spent years studying centenarians in China and combing through archives of Taoist longevity classics. He is also a Tai Chi master.

Here's a link to his book, check it out its pretty good read for those who may feel stress pouring onto them like rain due to these troubled times.




Lifestyle habits that age you most quickly
The culprits that will most quickly age you and negatively affect your health are:

1. Poor diet
2. Lack of exercise
3. Stress and worry
4. Exhaustion
5. Unhappiness
6. Lack of love
7. Toxic overload
8. Blockages and congestion of the transportation highways within our bodies.

Healthy habits to live long
It takes 14 to 21 days of repetitive behavior to form a new pattern in your brain. Once the pattern is formed, it becomes an automatic behavioral response. As you develop new healthy habits, they will begin to replace bad habits. Here are some of the most transformative longevity habits:

1. Drink more water
Drink 8 glasses of fresh, filtered water every day. Water is very important for proper lymphatic drainage and hydrating the cells to prevent buildup of toxic waste products. Your safest bet is filtered water. The best kind of filtration processes for removing contaminants use activated charcoal, which removes the impurities but leaves the water-soluble minerals. Avoid water softeners, which take away essential minerals. To learn about a high-performance filtration system that I recommend, click here.

2. Eat like a centenarian
The rural community of Rugao, four hours north of Shanghai, enjoys the reputation as the "longevity county of China" because there are over 200 centenarians in the small region -- the highest number per 1,000 residents anywhere in China. Rugao residents eat mostly fish, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, corn and buckwheat. There was virtually no meat or poultry present in the majority of their diet. Scientists have confirmed the health benefits of a diet high in fish and vegetables and low in animal products.

Know what foods to enjoy and what to avoid:

• The very best thing you can do for your health is to eat a wide array of colorful fruits and vegetables every day.

• Eat fish and cut back on meat and poultry.

• Choose the right fats. Cut back on saturated fats like butter and avoid all trans fats. Instead, choose mono-saturated fats: olive, sesame, canola, flax, and fish oils.

• Avoid all refined sugars.

3. Restore with regular rest
Get 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep every night.

4. Take the stairs!
Take a walk. Go for a swim. Join the gym. Find an exercise activity that works for you and stick to it, practicing at least four times a week for thirty minutes a session. Regular exercise can strengthen your immune system, uplift your mood, maintain joint mobility, increase energy - the list goes on and on!

5. Manage your stress.
Stress is the root cause of most of the diseases that shorten our life span. Meditation is a powerful way to manage your stress level. For the best results, meditate every day. Start with five minutes and work your way up to fifteen or twenty minutes. (See 3 Easy Beginner Mediation Techniques.) For a guided CD that is filled with meditations for living to 100, click here. Another option? Get your exercise and stress-management all in one by beginning a tai chi practice.

6. Detoxify your surroundings.
With environmental factors causing ever more damage to our well-being, it is important to know what to look out for and avoid. For starters, you can avoid many dangerous chemical compounds if you buy organic foods and use glass and recycled paper products. In addition, it is beneficial to undergo periodic detoxification treatments with special dietary and herbal regimens to lower your body's toxic load. An herbal blend that is specially formulated for helping your body detoxify is Internal Cleanse. Also learn how to eliminate the toxins with this 5-Step Detox to Revitalize You.

I hope you found the answers to get you started on your own longevity quest! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Solution to Relieve Back Pain

If you're suffering from back pain, here are a few solution to help alleviate the muscles

REST
The most important thing to do is rest, try to rest for at least 24hrs

Over the counter Anti-Inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen and aspirin

ICE
Apply an ice pack or some frozen peas packet in the area for 15 - 20min. Reapply it every hour or so. Ice will numb the pain in the area and help reduce inflammation.

NOTE - Make sure you do remove the ice pack, and do not keep it for more than 20min as it will constrict the blood vessels which will prevent blood flow to the area. A lack of blood flow will decrease the transport of nutrients and wastes at the cellular level, and will disrupt the flow of oxygenated blood reaching the cells in that area which can lead to cell death *Think frost bite

STRETCH
Stretching will help to relieve the pain and tension in that area of the back. Attempt them at slow and gentle pace. The muscles are tensed and contracted, and require some stretching to alleviate the tension

Here are some stretches

Lower Back Pain




Rotator Stretch

Weak Back - Muscle Imbalance


When someone mentions muscle, most people often tend to think of Pecs(chest), Biceps(arms), or Abs. What you'll notice here is that these muscles are the ones we can see, I call them the vanity muscles. People, especially newbies to exercising, tend to over-train these muscles which causes the physical problems for the body



The muscles that we can see in the mirror tend to be overly developed and the antagonist(opposite) muscles in the back(the ones we can't see) tend to be weak and underdeveloped. This is usually a result of just over exercise of the vanity muscles, or even slouching forward over a computer at work.

Examples of muscles that are underdeveloped, are the hamstrings, muscles in the upper(trapz) and lower back(erector spinae), triceps. What occurs is that the developed muscles become tight and start pulling the body forward.


If someone just focuses on just working out on their pecs, and neglect their back(trapezes), then the the shoulders will start to pull forward, your chest begins to sink down, giving you a nice hunchback or slouch. The traps and other back muscles struggle to regain their proper posture. The muscles start competing against themselves like a tug of war, which ulitmately leads to pain and tightness in the back.



The picture above is an exaggeration of what can occur, but I wanted to depict the point I was trying to get across. Postural Kyphosis is very common and is usually caused by slouching in both young and old patients. Its very easy to treat this condition in younger patients by correcting muscular imbalances. In older patients, the condition is called HyperKyphosis and can cause vertebral fractures.

Underdeveloped leg and pelvic muscles can also lead to back pain. Specifically underdeveloped hamstrings will lead to pain. If they're not stretched, loosened, or normal(developed), exercise/activity/daily routine that requires the use of the hamstrings will struggle...as they will require other muscles like your lower back muscles to assist and put strain on them.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Back Pain - Fear of Motion, Fear of Pain



I'm going to be blunt, pain in your back can be a real bitch. I'll share one experience with you about how much I hated it. I wake up to the sounds of birds chirping on my balcony, and I thought...today's going to be a great day. I grabbed my iPhone to check some emails/texts while lying in bed and pondered my plans for the weekend, as I reached over to place the phone on the dresser a sudden piercing sensation rocks my mid back(between the shoulder blades, the Thoracic region of my spine)...it was so painful I couldn't get out of bed. It was the worse feeling ever, as I am relatively young to be getting pain in my back.

Human beings have advanced over millions of years or so. Our primitive ancestors spent long days hunting for meat, more active than what many of us are stuck doing at the moment - in a cubicle sitting in front of the computer. Since hunting for food is not the 'norm' for today's modern man, and how easily food is prepared/stored/accessible to us, the modern man has become a bit...lazy(compared to our ancestors)

As a result of this sedentary lifestyle, we've gained more pounds than we really wanted and reminisce over the good ol' days when pain was tolerable. Back pain has many different sources of origin, our muscles are not as strong as they should be, the shape of our upright spine, fat protruding from our mid section forcing the lower back muscles to work harder to account for this weight, and I'll even add heavy lifting(but this isn't common as most people make it out to be the cause of their pain).



This week's topic will be pertaining to 'Back Pain', and how to deal with it. I will briefly discuss

- Spine and the Muscles of the Back
- Exercises that will help strengthen the back muscles
- Stretches

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Swimming



The video above, created by AnyBody Technology, uses biomechanical softwares to depict which muscles are activated during different swimming techniques - Front Crawl, Back Stroke, Breast Stroke & the Butterfly.

Here's a link to their youtube webpage, they've done some awesome work...



http://www.youtube.com/user/anybodytech

Gotta get into the pool

Backstroke
Muscles that can be seen contracting include

The abdomens, Hip Flexors, Glutes

Thighs - Quadriceps(pushing towards the surface), the Hamstrings pushing down away from the surface during the flutter kick.
Legs - Tibialis Anterior, Soleus

* The flutter kick doesn't help a swimmer with speed during the backstroke, it helps to balance the swimmer and stabilize their body during movement

Arms - Deltoids(post. & ant.), Triceps, Biceps

Torso - It looks like your chest also is contracting, but a majority of the power will come from the back - specifically the Latismus Dorsi(which gives the V shape, it function is to bring the arm back to normal stance(The Anatomical Position)

The Rhomboid, Teres Maj. & Min, Erector Spinae