The Power Of Emotional Health

 Man's obsession with physical fitness is evident wherever you go.  

There is a phenomenal increase in the growth of fitness clubs and gyms.  

People have become conscious of their body image that they are willing to go the extra mile just to have the same sculptured body like those that are usually splashed in the pages of magazines, billboards, TV, and movie screens. 

People try to find sensible and sustainable ways to achieve and maintain a physically fit body, yet tend to overlook another important aspect of their well-being: their emotional health.

It has always been said that a healthy body cannot be divorced from a healthy mind or a healthy spirit. 

Emotional health is considered an integral part of man's overall wellness.  

Neglecting your emotional health can damage your physical health in the process. 

Research has shown that one of the leading contributors to illness is stress caused by unresolved emotional issues. 

Psychologists believe that emotions, such as fear, joy, sadness, and anger are mental responses to events, circumstances, people, or our own thoughts and memories.

 They course through our conscious and unconscious mind at critical junctures or during seemingly inconsequential moments of our lives. 

Biologists, on the other hand, tell us that our emotions are rooted in self-preservation, triggering physiological reactions that enable us to find food, escape danger, and reproduce. 

In his work entitled "Emotional Intelligence", author Daniel Goleman pointed out that, “...all emotions are, in essence, impulses to act, the instant plans for handling life that evolution has instilled in us." 

Emotions have also evolved into facial expressions and body language so that each member of the group can signal his or her wants and needs to other members. 

As John D. Mayer, a leading expert in the study of emotions has remarked: "Emotions convey information...about relationships." 

Emotions are so powerful and actually possess the ability to make us sick, as well as provide healing.  

Emotions are relayed to the immune system through the autonomic nervous system. 

When people experience anxiety,  depression, and other painful emotions, the immune system can be affected and may cause a risk for a whole host of illnesses.  

In the same way, having a healthy emotional outlook in life can boost the resistance against disease. 

Mayer has emphasized, "People can reason with emotions in the same way they reason with cognitive information. 

So you can solve emotional problems just as mathematicians solve math problems." 

However, he also acknowledged that some emotions, such as grief and anger, can be harder to control or reason with.  

The interplay of various emotions makes that form of “reasoning” very difficult. 

Not all experts agree that human beings are born with a full range of emotions.  

Instead, some theorize that people were born with instincts and urge, along with an innate capacity for feeling. As people grow older, they develop personalities and nurture relationships with others, which are valuable experiences that help them expand their feelings into full-fledged emotions. Having a complete range of emotions is important for overall health and well-being.

Emotional health consists of five key components: 

1.Being is aware of your emotions. 

Emotionally healthy people are in touch with their emotions and can identify and acknowledge them as experience.

2.Being is able to process your emotions. 

After connecting with their emotions, emotionally healthy people develop appropriate ways of expressing them.

3.Being sensitive to other people and their emotions and having the ability to empathize. 

The ability to identify their own emotions enables emotionally healthy people to identify emotions in others and to have an intuitive sense of what it feels like to experience them.

4.Being self-empowered. 

Emotionally healthy people honor their emotions, which empowers them to fulfill their goals.

5.Being in healthy relationships. 

Using their emotional intelligence and empathy, emotionally healthy people build and maintain strong, functioning relationships. 

Just as emotional health can affect a person's physical health, the same is true with one's lifestyle making a direct impact on emotional health.  

Vitamins and minerals stimulate the production of chemicals in the brain.  

These are known as neurotransmitters that regulate our physical and mental health functions, including the way we process emotions.  

Minor deficiencies of these nutrients can lead to depression and irritability, as well as hamper our ability to concentrate and stay motivated. 

Definitely, unhealthy foods can adversely affect emotional health. 

Excessive intake of caffeine demonstrates many of the same physiological and psychological symptoms as people suffering from anxiety, while a diet with too much sugar has been linked to depression, aggression, and impaired judgment. 

Many experts believe that people with strong spiritual fervor tend to have healthier immune systems and are less prone to depression and high blood pressure.  

It can be surmised that the faith of religious adherents gave them an enhanced sense of well-being which helped reduce their levels of stress.

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Prove Your Power: Take Action Now and Achieve Your Goals

 TAKE ACTION!

I swear, it seems as if there are more opinions regarding fat loss than there are people. 

It's amazing. 

What's even more amazing (and frustrating), is that most of them are wrong, if not downright dangerous.

There is just way too much information for you to even get started with a successful program, sometimes known as "information overload".

There are so much information and so many differing opinions that you never even get yourself started. 

Or, you get started, but never give any particular program a chance, instead of going from one to the other, in a "shotgun" approach, never giving anything a chance to make progress.

You need to pick a sensible program and decide to stick with it for a long enough period of time that you can measure your results or lack thereof.

If you're like most people, fear, doubt, and confusion are preventing you from moving forward and tackling your fat loss goals. 

This prevents too many people from achieving their goals in life, whether it be a successful career, or building their body.

Everyone feels fear and doubt. 

The difference is that successful people move forward anyway and use these things as motivators to help them achieve their goals.

Do something! Hit the gym. 

Eat that nutritious meal.

You don't have to know everything to get started. 

Do a few weight exercises a couple of days a week, drop one thing in your diet that you know you shouldn't have. 

You can fine-tune your program as you go, doing more and more of the things you need to do.

Forget about whether supplement a is better than supplement b or if a turkey is better than chicken or should you have whey protein with casein or take them separately.

If you aren't doing the fundamentals correctly, these things just don't matter. 

This goes back to a previous article I wrote where I stated that things such as narrow grip, wide grip, etc. won't mean a thing if there are major flaws in the fundamentals of your training program.

Forget about which supplement is better for what, whether you should be riding the bike or hitting the treadmill if the turkey has less fat than chicken.

Master the fundamentals first!

The fundamentals of fat loss include:

Perform high-intensity weight training,

Burn more calories than you consume

Eat 5-6 small, frequent meals and never skip meals,

Taken in a few tablespoons of good fats such as flaxseed or sunflower

Eat natural foods; avoid processed & refined foods

Drink a lot of water

Eat more fibrous carbs, fruits & vegetables,

Consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass

Perform high-intensity cardio

If you're not doing all these things, and you're looking for the perfect supplement stack or the optimum periodization plan, then you are just setting yourself up for failure from the beginning.

Fitness Is A Lifestyle, Not A Diet

Do you know what is the biggest fat loss mistake made by beginners?

As many of you are aware, gym memberships always shoot up in January and February. 

All of the sudden, you can't get the equipment you want without a long wait. Don't worry, as you move into March, most of the newcomers will be gone because they've quit.

Results may come slowly for most of you unless you are genetically blessed.

But if you stick with it long enough, if you resolve to make it a lifestyle and not a quick fix, you will get the results that you want. 

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Be Your Boss: Taking Care Of Inner Health

 Inner health is a very important subject because 95% of life-threatening diseases start inside our bodies where we can’t see what is happening. 

By ignoring symptoms we often allow the problem to increase until treatment becomes difficult or, in the worst cases, impossible. 

It is also true that one hour of prevention is far better than one year of treatment. 

In this article, we will look at the main source of “body fuel” – the food that we eat and, more importantly, how we eat it. 

But before going into that subject there are other things we should not be doing:

1. No smoking.

2. No drinking alcohol to excess.

3. No taking of unprescribed drugs.

This article is written on the assumption that you abide by the three rules above.

What we eat is the starting point. 

There is no point in eating foods that are saturated in fat as your basic diet and complaining that you are overweight and/or feel unwell. 

Of course, you do because this is self-inflicted by an inadequate diet. 

Small meals are taken regularly (even six meals each day) are better for you than long periods without food followed by a heavy meal.

Large, rich, meals late at night should be avoided, especially for older people. 

A cooked meal at midday is digested better than a late-night meal.

You should drink at least one and a half quarts (1.5 liters) of fluid each day; much more if the weather is hot.

 If you become ill you should double your fluid intake. Water is the best.

Improving your diet is not as difficult as most people claim. In most instances, it is simply a case of adjusting the balance of what we eat.

 Here are a few tips:

Eat more fiber in the form of fruit, vegetables, and whole-grain bread. 

In addition, add two tablespoons of coarse bran to your breakfast cereal. 

This provides bulk, or roughage, that your digestive system depends upon to function properly.

Cut down on fat, normally taken in fast foods and fries, etc. 

Eat more lean meat, fish. Grill rather than fry foods where possible.

Eat less sugar (This means no soda’s because the average can of soda contains an equivalent of 20+ Tablespoons of sugar equivalent) 

Do not drink beer with meals because beer stops your body from breaking down fats.

 Water is the best drink followed by low-calorie drinks and unsweetened fruit juices.

Walk for at least half an hour each day. Park your car at the furthest parking space from the supermarket; the exercise will increase your lifespan. 

If possible use stairs rather than escalators. 

All of these small things, together with your balanced diet, will increase your health and lifespan.

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OCD Victim: Why we do what we do?

 Where does an OCD sufferer begin to start? to explain what compels them to do the things that are slowly destroying them inside or the people around them.

Do you suffer in silence to please your loved ones or show them the door?

Being an OCD sufferer for as long as I can remember has left me a dedicated addict to Temazepam.

"The tablets will help" were the doctors' very words. 

I also recall him saying, how I would kill myself if I carried on doing what I was doing.

Those life-threatening rituals regardless of those words of wisdom from my local GP are still being carried out.

Prescription prescribed by one psychologist.

How could he help?

 Questions raised by the psychologist were that of my childhood. 

Questions like was I abused as a child. Well if that being the case I certainly was not going to confide in or tell a complete stranger.

Some things stay hidden in the closet and are taken to the grave.

Most OCD victims may have suffered at some stage in their life some form of abuse. 

In a way this makes sense, but what of our fellow-sufferers with no abusive upbringing where do the answers lie?

So severe is the urge to cleanse ourselves, we enter into another world where we find contentment in releasing our energies in habitual rituals that we no longer have control over.

Is there a cure? Yes, of course, all we do is stop what we are doing, how? 

By not committing ourselves to listen to those little voices in our heads any longer.

Demon's who cast an opinion on how we run our lives. 

What right have they to enter our heads uninvited? 

Rid of these devils and we have the antidote for the poison inflicted upon us.

For an invisible force, they win hands down every time.

Help comes in many forms in i.e. medication relaxation classes, herbal tonics, etc. 

Depending on the individual and of course how severe the symptoms

Therapies differ and do work with high success rates for many sufferers. 

Recommending what is best for you is out of my jurisdiction we all differ greatly in our needs to find the cure.

The first step on the road to recovery is to face up to the problem. Will this cure me you ask?  

No, but it will certainly slow down the process of putting yourself into an early grave. 

OCD is about speed, the quicker one job or task is done; it is time to move onto the next. 

This death sentence that I have imposed upon myself is challenged each day by slowing down. 

Do a little research on the illness to find how you can help yourself; this helped me greatly in my search for freedom 

Finding the time to read was another step forward because to have done this. 

I knew I had then put another chore on the back burner.

Half the battle is won for a victim of OCD if they can be heard in the way that they want to be understood. 

A move in the right direction is to talk to fellow sufferers of this self-destroying disease. 

2% of the population are victims of this uncontrollable force behind why we do what we do.

Alienate these aliens by becoming a force with other OCD victims in the battle against self-destruction because that is exactly what it is, Self Destruction.

And the most dangerous accomplice on this mission is YOU.

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How To Get A Good Night's Sleep!

 Do you remember when you were little and it seemed as though sleep overcame you as soon as your head hit your pillow? 

And you slumbered through the night until morning time? They call it the sleep of the innocent, but don't you wish you could sleep like that again? 

Adult responsibilities, stress, lifestyle, and other worries often result in poor sleep habits, and once the cycle of tossing and turning begins, it is difficult to return to a decent night's sleep. 

Many adults rely on prescription drugs to fall asleep and quite a few are addicted to them! 

Others 'self medicates' and use alcohol and other recreational drugs to try and fall asleep. 

If you are regularly struggling to sleep well, then you probably need to learn to fall asleep again!

So let’s go back to basics! 

And who better to consult than babies! 

After all, babies are the experts at sleeping so why not learn a little from them! 

Apart from their age and body clock, there are specific reasons that babies fall asleep so well. 

Let’s have a look at a few of them and see if we can’t borrow some of the tricks! 

ROUTINE: Most parents try very hard to get their children into a routine. 

Regular bedtimes, bath times, and mealtimes are something to strive towards. 

Of course, one cannot be too rigid, but a child on a regular routine will feel secure and will be able to ‘predict’ his environment more easily. 

It also helps his body clock to start the process of winding down before he actually gets to bed. He knows that after supper comes to his bath, a story, a prayer, and a good night kiss. 

When his head hits the pillow, he is ready to meet the sandman!  

So try and follow this example. 

Start a nighttime routine. 

Make your evenings more or less predictable along the lines of supper, bath, and bed.  

For at least three weeks try and follow this simple routine and go to bed at the same time each night – about 8 hours before it is time to get up.

 Wear soft comfortable and cozy nightwear, specifically for sleeping (remember flannel pajamas?) 

EXERCISE: This is something kids do lots of! 

They don’t stop running around for a minute! Now I am not suggesting that you start running around wherever you go, but regular exercise is one of the best sleep aids around! 

It’s also free and healthy and has lots of good side effects. 

Take up a sport, go to the gym, or start regular walks. You won’t regret it! 

HAVE PEACEFUL EVENINGS: 

How many times don’t you hear parents saying to their kids “Calm down now, it’s nearly bedtime”. 

Or “You’d better stop running around – you won’t be able to fall asleep!” 

Perhaps you say this to your own children – with good reason! Do you follow your own advice? 

Or do you sit up watching thrillers (or even worse the news!) or finishing off the day’s work that you brought home from the office? 

Sound familiar? Try a different approach. 

Never watch TV while trying to fall asleep. 

Rather dim the lights while you get into a hot bath and put on some soothing music. 

Use aromatherapy in your home – in particular, lavender for its soporific properties. 

Be quiet and peaceful for the hour before you go to bed and your body will start to get the message! 

OTHER HINTS

Avoid all products with caffeine or sugar after 6pm. That means coffee, cola chocolate, and all 'soda pops' (fizzy drinks). 

Also, stay away from heavy meals at night. 

Your tummy will be too busy digesting to allow you to sleep well! 

Don't eat red meat, refined products, or lots of cheese. Go for pasta, grains, pulses, potatoes, and rice. 

Good evening or bedtime drinks are warm milk, lettuce extract, and chamomile tea (sleepy tea) - all safe and proven sleep aids. 

If you are really struggling, some herbal remedies to aid sleep are Valerian, Passiflora, and Kava Kava. 

Try to put these simple hints to the test for three weeks only. You will be surprised at the difference they make! 

Good night!

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Prove Your Power: For A Long Life - Keep Your Life Simple!

 It may be too unsophisticated, but keeping your life simple is an important key to longevity. 

Aside from prolonging life, it makes a long life happy.

What is the purpose of a long life, if you spend most of it in illnesses?

A short life is better than a long life of being bedridden, medicine sustained and pierced by dozens of intravenous tubes.

In all the perplexities that are going on around, many people have forgotten how simple “simple” really is. 

They have forgotten that one key to a healthy life is being downright simple.

Simplicity is oftentimes so profound to other people that they do not believe it unless someone complicates it for them.

They find it hard to imagine that once upon a time, people lived comfortably and very happy — that satisfaction exists even without TV, air conditioners, or phones. 

They lived much longer and healthier lives long before the discovery of Science and Medicine. They don’t need some social science experts to tell them that needs are proportional to progress, and that needs cannot stay as they are while progress goes on, especially at a fast pace.

Well, some people have found the secrets to keeping simple while progress goes on running a crazy race around them..... 

We will see this later in this article....

This thing about life being complicated (and should be made complicated to enjoy it) has been impressed on people by media and by a “metropolitan culture” that says life is all about competing and coping up.

Daily, from every possible angle of attack, we are bombarded by manufactured suggestions that we cannot be simply simple — that you got to have this and that, and you got to be this and that — or be left behind by the majority and be worlds apart from the rest.

This is mostly the spirit of modern commercialism. 

Though not actually said, the mindset of “being simple is a sin” has become rampant.

In case you haven’t noticed, commercialism has become the strongest life pressure, and the strongest life killer! 

The pressures brought about by stressful competition can kill!

Recently, Australian health experts discovered that too much emotional and work-related pressures produce chemical reactions in the blood that later develop into fatal diseases like cancer.

According to physical therapists and massage therapy experts, pressures build up lumps in the body that constrict smooth blood flow. 

These constrictions produce your unexplained body aches that can later weaken your body defenses. They are harmful to your health.

Advocates of simple living say that Commercialism is blowing surface-deep physical and vain emotional needs out of proportion by tricking the conscience of people into believing that non-conformities to suggested and highlighted commercial needs are bad.

Simply put, it is saying, “You’re a loser if you don’t have this!”

Commercial needs are often for physical beauty, trendy accessories, fame, prestige, fashion, and other mundane, temporal, and non-essential things, all of which man can live without. 

These things excite and resurrect the spoiled brat in people. So, stop wasting time, trying to be like or have and go for a walk in a park, meet nature, and be grateful for yourself. Because in the end,

You only need you to be happy!

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From the Couch to the Deathbed: Dr. Freud's approach to science

 In many Western countries, going to a psychiatrist for therapy and counseling is well-accepted as a means to maintain mental and emotional health.  

For most patients, the psychiatrist is considered a source of calmness, reason, and understanding.  

Seen as a professional counselor who possesses the right knowledge and skills about handling life problems and personal conflicts, the psychiatrist is often seen as the “last straw” of an emotionally disturbed and desperate patient. 

However, not too many people see psychiatrists as normal people who also encounter difficulties and struggles in life.   

In truth, at the very core, they are also vulnerable to pain and frustration.  

Known as the Father of Psychoanalysis, the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud was widely acclaimed for his writings and theories of psychology. 

Freud became an instant celebrity in different medical and psychological associations for his theory about the unconscious mind and how he believed that sexual desire was a strong determinant or motive for human thought and action. 

 Credited with such remarkable psychological concepts such as the id, ego, and the superego, Freud became a highly respected yet controversial figure in the European scientific community.  Even today, pictures of Freud are used in pop culture are symbols of human intellectual intricacy and discernment.  

In real life, according to his biographers, Freud also faced stress and anxiety in the same manner that his patients did.  

After carefully studying his early life, biographers believe that they have unlocked the secret to Freud's own secret fears and frustration, which would later become anchors to his theories. 

 As a young medical practitioner, Freud dissected hundreds of eels to look for “eel testicles.”  At that time, the origins, reproductive processes, and migratory behavior of eels were still mysteries that challenged the scientific community. 

 After failing to locate the reproductive organs of the eels, Freud abandoned his study and chose another field on which he could pour out his complete devotion as a man of science.  

His biographers often refer to this time in Freud's life as the starting point for the psychiatrist's focus on human sexuality. 

 In his writings, Freud conveyed his belief that sexual desire was somewhat a “motivational energy for life” and viewed psychosexual development as the explanation for specific human thought and behavior. 

 Aside from his work on psychosexual development, Freud was also concerned about overcoming depression through the use of cocaine.  

It is not widely known that the psychiatrist was a user of cocaine, a substance that he believed to be useful as a stimulant and cure for depression.  Long before antidepressant prescriptions were formulated and sold in pharmacies as doctor-prescribed drugs,  Freud was already convinced about the use of chemicals and other drug formulas to address emotional problems.  

Surely, if he were alive today, Freud's use of cocaine would be frowned upon and will be considered illegal.  In fact, recent journals have focused on the correlation between Freud's cocaine use and his preoccupation with sexual desire as a motivating factor.

Far from the pop image of the psychiatrist as a stable, rational dispenser of reason and understanding, Freud himself came to a point where he found no more reason to live.  Perhaps like many of his patients who came to him out of despair,  Freud also reached a point where he thought that no more help was available to him --- whether it was from the field of medicine or psychiatry. 

On September 23, 1939,  Freud asked his doctor-friend to assist him in committing suicide.  After almost a lifetime of helping other people deal with their own problems,  Freud chose to escape his own troubles through a morphine overdose.

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