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We have the ability to emote our in-depth feelings in many forms – like by being happy, sad, angry, or by exhibiting tens of other emotions. These varieties of emotions do have an impact on our mental and physical state, more so, the heart, which is considered as the seat of emotions.

In our modern day life, we experience all kinds of stresses that make us vent out negative emotions in form of irritation, frustration, disappointment, remorse, aggression, contempt, rage, or envy, and even lead us to states of depression that give a heart sinking feeling, creating erratic heart rhythm patterns. It only makes sense to conclude that practicing the opposite with positive emotions would lead to heart wellness or heart-uplifting feelings with harmonious heart rhythms.

A clinical research by the Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey as published in the European Heart Journal concludes that heart diseases can be prevented by increasing positive emotions, which indirectly help us in improving our sleep habits, heart rate regulation, and even cause cessation of negative influences like smoking. People who are usually happy, and habitually experience emotions like enthusiasm, excitement, happiness, and joy have less chance of developing heart diseases in comparison to those who generally are unhappy and resort to negative emotions.

Positive emotions service and cleanse our heart and mind of all the negative energy that obstruct our personal growth and make the heart unhealthy. People who make positive emotions a part of their mental set, attitude, habit, and as a default emotional state in everyday life are less venerable to stress. In fact, such people are able to cope much better with any stressful situation and use positive emotions as a protective shield effectually to diminish the chances of developing a heart disease.

Dr. Karina Davidson of Columbia University in New York, the co-author of this research emphasizes that everyone should include some amount of pleasurable activities in their day-to-day life routine. It could be something which gives you peace of mind and a sense of contentment like indulging in hobbies like gardening, reading interesting novels, listening to favorite music or even socializing with friends and relatives, and having a great laugh and time together.

While more research and experiments are underway to establish and prove relationships about how positive emotions affect and service our heart or cardiovascular system, we already have in place many stress management and control programs that teach us the ways to reduce negativity. There are workshops and life coaching skills that address the concerns of home-work life balance to root out the resulting stress factors and induce effective strategies to pursue positive emotions.

The ancient civilizations had come up with techniques like meditation to counter negative feelings and sprout happiness from within, thus negating the factors responsible for increase of stress hormone levels, blood vessel constriction, and higher blood pressure. No matter whether you follow the ancient or the modern approaches, one thing is sure that practicing good attitude with a positive outlook creates positive emotions that can service and protect your heart.

Most people take their eyes for granted. They don’t pay much attention to eye health, assuming that as long as they can see, everything is all right. That’s a dangerous assumption to make. The truth is eye care is just as important to maintaining your health as anything else. And if you don’t give your eyes proper attention, you could develop vision problems and other eye issues.

Thankfully, it’s easy to take care of your eyes. It doesn’t take much time at all. Here are 5 simple tips for ensuring your eyes stay in optimal health.

1. Get your eyes examined regularly—It’s recommended that you gets your eyes checked at least every two years. This goes for you too, Mr. 20/20 Vision. The truth is that even if you’ve always had perfect vision, your eyesight can start to decline. And because vision changes occur slowly, you may not even realize that you can’t see as well anymore. A routine exam will ensure your eyes are in good health, and if you need glasses or contacts, you can get them so you won’t strain your eyes. For kids and older adults, it’s best to get eyes checked even more often, perhaps yearly.
2. Don’t squint or strain your eyes—Squinting and forcing your eyes to work hard can take a toll on your eyes. They may not cause your vision to change, but these acts can lead to eye fatigue. When your eyes are tired, you could experience headaches and other similar symptoms. Straining your eyes is usually a sign of poor vision, so if you have tired eyes on a regular basis, it might be time to get an eye exam.
3. Pay attention to warning signs—The great thing about the human body is that it normally gives us little indicators whenever something is wrong. This goes for your eyes too. There are a lot of warning signs you need to pay attention to. I already mentioned eye fatigue…that’s one warning sign. Other signs to look out for include blurry vision, trouble focusing, headaches, red eyes, sudden loss of vision, and general eye pain. Take any and all of these symptoms very seriously, and go see an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) immediately.
4. Know what you’re putting in your eyes—Do you use eye drops on a regular basis? If so, you need to take some time to read the label before you continue using the product. Some eye drops aren’t meant to be used while you’re wearing contact lenses. Other eye drops can actually stop working or cause problems if you continue use for too long. Always read the label before putting anything in your eyes.
5. Eat your veggies—It’s not a myth: Carrots and other vegetables really are good for your eyes. That’s because carrots are chock full of beta carotene which helps you enjoy healthy eyes.

Are your eyes healthy? When did you last get an eye exam?

Until now you have only heard of computer hacking and that can be quite scary, with hackers able to easily break into PCs and corrupt them by damaging or erasing important files and information.

What would you say if I told you that our brains may soon be hacked too?

Researchers are having sleepless nights just at the thought of the human brain being hacked. Their fears are not unfounded. They have a reason to be concerned that something like this could happen in the future.

Some of you may have read about the technology that makes it possible to operate computers through thoughts – using a wheelchair, operating a computer or accessing Twitter – all without touching anything. This is done with the use of complicated neural devices.

While advancing technology is a boon for scientists, it also bothers them. They fear that the same concepts can be used to hack the human brain, if this technology falls into the hands of wrong people. Hackers now hack computers for their pleasure. But what happens if these nefarious elements start focusing their energy on neural devices, such as electrode systems that control prosthetic limbs or deep brain stimulators that are used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease?

A computer security expert at the University of Washington, Tadayoshi Kohno, says, “Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and hold tremendous promise for the future. But if we don’t start paying attention to security, we’re worried that we might find ourselves in 5 or 10 years saying we’ve made a big mistake.”

Scientists have published these concerns in Neurosurgical Focus. They revealed that although, the devices that exist today are not much of a security risk, what worries them is the potential for the mushrooming of security breaches as neural engineering becomes more and more complex and widespread.

A human brain is made up of cells, including neurons. Neurons are cells that perform the function of sending and receiving electro-chemical signals to and from the brain and nervous system. Our brain consists of about 100 billion neurons.

Neural engineering is an interdisciplinary research area that uses neuroscience and engineering techniques to understand, enhance, repair, replace or treat the diseases of neural systems.

Scientists are aware that the next generation of implantable devices that control prosthetic limbs will most certainly be having wireless controls to help physicians remotely adjust settings on the machines. They feel that if security checks such as access control are not built-in, it would become very easy for an attacker to hijack the device and take control of the robotic limb.

Kohno says, “It’s very hard to design complex systems that don’t have bugs. As these medical devices start to become more and more complicated, it gets easier and easier for people to overlook a bug that could become a very serious risk. It might border on science fiction today, but so did going to the moon 50 years ago.”

For the question as to why anyone would want to do something like hacking a human brain, experts already have the answer. They reveal that PCs have been used recently with the sole purpose of causing neurological harm. In 2007 and in 2008, some malicious programmers managed to vandalize epilepsy support websites by inserting flashing animations, which affected many photo-sensitive patients, causing seizures.

If a person can do this knowing fully well that the site is dedicated to patients and how it would affect and harm them, what is to stop them from going further into the human brain tomorrow? Malicious people have no qualms and would go to any extent to harm others to derive some sort of sadistic pleasure.

According to a computer science graduate student, “It happened on two separate occasions. It’s evidence that people will be malicious and try to compromise people’s health using computers, especially if neural devices become more widespread.”

In fact, experts are not ruling out the possibility of this being done by the patients themselves, by hacking into their own neural devices. By hacking into these devices, patients will be able to “self-prescribe” pain relief by increasing the activity of the brain’s reward centers. When one is suffering and there is a possibility to end that pain, patients have been seen to go to any extent to seek relief.

Earlier, we memorized passwords to avoid storing them on our computers, lest they be hacked. What do we do now?

Image by Plasticseargent.com (via Flickr)

The most popular way of increasing the size of breasts is implants; either silicon-gel or saline-filled. But there are many risks associated with these implants and some of them as identified by the FDA are, leaking or hardening of the implants; rippling, sagging or lack of sensation of the breasts.

Although, silicon implants are approved by the FDA, many women have noticed a variety of complications including fibromyalgia with pain in the muscles, joints and tendons. Some women even complained about arthritis, nausea, muscle cramps and chronic fatigue.

Now, there is a reason to rejoice for people who have been looking to enhance their assets. There may no longer be a need to use artificial implants and take health risks. This enlargement can be done naturally with a new stem cell therapy developed by scientists. This procedure kills two birds at the same time; that of increasing the breast size and reducing the stomach fat.

What is the connection between stomach fat and breasts?

How about cutting some of that excess fat and storing in your assets?

That’s what this is all about. The process involves isolating the excess fat cells on the stomach or thighs, after which concentrated stem cells are mixed with another batch of fat, and then injected into the breast.

For those of you who wish to know what exactly stem cells are – they are undifferentiated cells with a unique potential to produce any type of cell in the body. We know that our body is made up of a huge number of cells. All the cells in the body with their various functions originate from a single cell – the embryo. These cells are named “stem cells” because all other cells in the body “stem” from these cells. This means they have the super power to self-repair damaged parts and even create a whole organism. Stem cell research is creating waves in medicine. Researchers strongly believe that these super cells can revolutionize medicine, enabling doctors to grow new organs, cure several diseases and repair tissues in the body.

Using these wonderful stem cells for this procedure sounds wonderful, and most women should not object to something like this, as this will give their assets a completely natural look, unlike the artificial implants that mostly tend to look artificial.

The only drawback with this process is that it takes time, as many as several months, to achieve the desired shape and size. Scientists say that since this is still in the initial stages, an increase of one cup size is possible, and in the future, the size can be larger with improvement in technique.

The research team is led by Professor Kefah Mokbel, who is a breast surgeon at the London Breast Institute. According to him, “Implants are a foreign body. They are associated with long-term complications and require replacement. They can also leak and cause scarring. This (new technique) is a very exciting advance in breast surgery. The breasts (treated with stem cells) feel more natural because this tissue has the same softness as the rest of the breast.”

Currently, ten breast cancer patients who underwent mastectomies are part of a trial that has started in Britain. This technique is also being tested on healthy women undergoing this procedure purely for cosmetic reasons.

Researchers feel that the stem cell treatment may work only for small increases in size, and they will have to conduct further research to see if it is possible for larger augmentations. Mokbel said, “We are optimistic we can easily achieve an increase of one cup size. We can’t say yet if we can achieve more. That may depend on the stem cells we can harvest.”

This is not a new procedure as it has been used in Japan for around six years to treat cancer patients. The British team is confident that after it conducts about 30 procedures, the London Breast Institute will also be able to offer this to private patients, and the cost may be anywhere around 6,500 pounds.

The results in cancer patients have been impressive. Although, there is a lot of excitement in the research circles about the use of this procedure in healthy women, several medical bodies have opined that it is not advisable to offer this to healthy women until several more trials on cancer patients show that it is completely safe and effective.

It is also felt that while breast cancer patients attend regular follow-ups without fail, young women who get this done for cosmetic reasons are less likely to do so, making it possible to miss out on any complications.

Image: Shawn Kelly

It is nothing short of a miracle for blind people to regain their vision and see again, and this may become a reality sooner than you think, thanks to a microchip the size of a small grain – or should we say, thanks to the researchers who spend years on research just to make this happen.

Researchers are exploring the possibility of using microchips to bring back sight for the blind. They are closer to creating a retinal implant that will have the capability of bypassing all the damaged cells and offer visual input directly to the brain.

This eye-implant is meant for people with retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, which are the two main causes of blindness.  This retinal implant takes complete control of the damaged retinal cells by providing electrical stimulation to the nerve cells that normally carry visual input to the brain from the retina.

This microchip may not be able to restore vision to normalcy but it would help blind people navigate a room or walk down a sidewalk more easily.  Even a blurry picture of their loved one or the ability to maneuver on their own, is a blessing for a completely blind person.

This research is being conducted at MIT by a team consisting of scientists, ophthalmologists and engineers. According to one of the researchers, Shawn Kelly, “Anything that could help them see a little better and let them identify objects and move around a room would be an enormous help.”

Image: Shawn Kelly (Side View)

Patients who received the microchip implant will have to wear special glasses fitted with a tiny camera that sends images to the microchip implanted in the eyeball. The glasses also come with a coil that transmits power to the coils surrounding the eyeball.  When the microchip receives visual information, it activates electrodes that stimulate all the optical nerve cells near the retina that carry signals to the brain, totally bypassing all the damaged layers of the retina.

The one thing that perplexed researchers was to understand the kind of vision this direct electrical stimulation can produce. This research team started to work on answering this question about ten years ago, by fixing electrodes to the retinas of six blind patients for many hours.  On activation of the electrodes, patients could see several “drops of blood” or “clouds,” and this number corresponded exactly with the number of electrodes that were stimulated.  Without this electrical stimulation, the six patients could see nothing.  These tests proved to be a turning point in the research and helped researchers understand that stimulation of the retina does actually produce some vision in blind patients.

This is what motivated researchers to go ahead and create an implantable chip.  Their ultimate goal is to create a chip that would work for at least 10 years.

The road was full of hurdles and researchers had to face several issues trying to come up with an implant and procedure that does not harm the eye.  Initially, they attached the electrodes directly to the top of the retina from inside the eye, but they soon realized that this carried the risk of damaging the delicate retina.  Now, this implant is attached to the outside of the eye instead of inside, and the electrodes are implanted behind the retina.  This location reduces retinal tearing and also does not need extensive invasive surgery.

Human tests have not begun yet and this has only been tested on Yucatan miniature pigs, which have the same sized eyeballs as humans.  They have been implanted in these pigs for about 10 months successfully, and now researchers are ready for human clinical trials.

The prototype is scheduled to be tested in blind patients within the next three years.

This latest quest of MIT will be of interest to thousands of people like Rob Spence, who is a Canadian film maker.  He has been looking to put a tiny wireless video camera into his empty right eye socket, in order to see the world around him.  A retinal implant may just prove to be the perfect solution for him and many others like him.

The most important thing for blind people is to be able to recognize faces.  Kelly says, “If they can recognize faces of people in a room, that brings them into the social environment as opposed to sitting there waiting for someone to talk to them.”  Hopefully, millions of blind people will be able to very soon.

If you are pregnant, this is a must read. You want to give birth to a healthy child and you eat the healthiest of foods but there may be other things you are doing unknowingly that could be harming your child.

This is unlike any precautions your mother or grandmother has told you about. Scientists have found that the most commonly used and seemingly harmless things can prove to be dangerous for your unborn kid.

The quintessential hairspray! Can you believe that a simple hairspray can cause defects in your unborn male child?

Scientists revealed that they found there to be a link between hairspray and a genital defect in boys. Women who are exposed to the hair product during the first trimester of pregnancy have more chances of giving birth to a child (son) with a genital deformity called hypospadias.

What is Hypospadias?

When the penis of a fetus is forming normally, the urethra extends from the bladder to the tip of the penis. In hypospadias, the urethra does not develop properly as it should and may end along the shaft, with the urinary opening being on the underside of the penis. In some severe cases, this opening is also seen near the rectum or the scrotum. Imagine how horrible it would be for a male baby to pass urine from below the penis.

In the UK, this defect is supposed to affect more than 250 boys, causing the urinary opening to be shifted to beneath the penis. It may be corrected in the baby’s first year but in severe cases, it leads to urinary problems, sexual and fertility issues.

How does a simple hairspray that goes on the hair affect the unborn child?

These hairsprays contain phthalates, which disrupt the normal workings of the endocrine system hormones) and which directly affect reproductive development.

This study was conducted on 471 women who have given birth to sons with hypospadias and 490 mothers of boys who do not have this defect. It was found that a high percentage of mothers with exposure to hairspray in the first trimester of pregnancy gave birth to sons with hypospadias. However, this risk was reduced greatly in mothers taking folate supplements during the same period.

While this condition is not life threatening, it has to be corrected surgically both for cosmetic and functional reasons. Doctors say that any surgery on a small baby can be traumatic to both the child and the parent. It is certainly better to be safe than sorry.

In case you are about to deliver and you have used hairsprays during pregnancy, then don’t panic. You will need to understand what hypospadias is and how to get it treated. For all you know, your baby may be completely normal and fine.

How is the surgery for hypospadias performed?

Learning about this surgery can help. It can last anywhere between one to four hours, depending on the amount of repair needed. In mild cases that are not complicated, all that needs to be done is to form a new opening at the tip of the penis and close the old one underneath. In more severe cases, a thin tube is inserted to carry the urine from the bladder to the tip of the penis, where a new opening is created. After the surgery, the penis will be bandaged and perhaps an IV placed on the baby’s arm. The baby will be under observation and then the IV removed later. The baby should be allowed to urinate at least once before leaving the hospital. Don’t worry as the baby in most cases will find the first urination painful and cry. This pain will go away in a couple of days and he will be normal soon.

Researchers say that women who are in jobs with high exposure to hairspray chemicals, such as hairdressers, factory workers, beauty therapists, researchers working on hairsprays are at high risk.

But it’s not all bad news as researchers have also found that folic acid intake reduces this risk by almost 36%. So, if you’ve already used hairsprays, the best thing for you to do now is to take folic acid and stay away from any further use of hairsprays. With research revealing new things every day, it may seem that these revelations don’t really matter, but would you want to take such a risk on your baby? My guess is NO!

Heath Ledger’s cause of death was “prescription drug toxicity.” We all know of it because he is famous but what about thousands of others that die from taking prescription drugs. Who is to blame? The prescription drug manufacturers? The FDA for having approved the drugs? OR the consumers for having taken the medicines?

Before we blame anyone for this, let us delve deeper into why this happens. If we take the example of Heath Ledger, he was killed by a deadly combination of OxyContin, a painkiller; Xanax, an antidepressant, Valium, Unisom, Vicodin and Restoril – all FDA-approved pharmaceuticals prescribed legally by doctors.

His is not an isolated case nor is it rare. This problem is far more serious than you could ever imagine; with at least 100,000 Americans dying from FDA-approved medicines each year. This fact is known since the 1960s, with studies revealing that more than 5% of hospitalizations are due to drug toxicity and one of every 20 drugs administered in hospitals results in some adverse reaction, with 10% of the reactions being life-threatening.

The problem here is the toxicity of the chemicals prescribed and the fact that consumers consider all FDA-approved medicines to be completely harmless and use them without any apprehensions – as and when they like. They are completely safe, right? Wrong – if you are one of those people who pops the “safe” pill for everything, you may be putting yourself at risk.

Are consumers ignorant? What makes them believe that prescription drugs can be harmless? OR if drugs are harmful, they why are they approved by the FDA?

I know you must be having all sorts of questions popping up in your mind.

Pharmaceutical Advertising

This casual attitude towards prescription drugs stems from the fact that consumers are made to believe they are safe, not because they are ignorant. The pharmaceutical industries advertise their pills as the best pills for health and consumers believe them and start considering them as food supplements. The nasty business of television advertising does the trick for pharmaceutical companies. As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. The unsuspecting consumer, who is no physician, tends to buy these ads, where healthy people are featured to push the drugs. These companies are conniving and come up with names that make them sound very healthy, such as “Restoril: that implies “restorative” function.

Prescription Drugs Are Toxic

The reality is that most of these prescription drugs cause liver toxicity; sometimes severe. This toxicity is multiplied a million times when these drugs are combined. Imagine several toxic substances combined to form a lethal cocktail. That’s exactly what happens and that’s what is said to have killed Heath Ledger and thousands of other consumers too. Heath had come under a lot of flak after death with many people blaming him for taking too many medicines. But why not if he needs them? Aren’t all the advertisements claiming that their drugs are FDA-approved and completely safe? Aren’t all the doctors prescribing all these drugs together? Is he a doctor to understand the “unspoken” words?

Most consumers may not take so many pills if only they knew the dangers of consuming a combination of drugs. Nobody wants to die. People take these pills to safeguard themselves from their illnesses, certainly NOT to kill themselves.

How Can Things Get Better?

Things can be improved by improving physicians’ prescription practices, identification of contraindications and potential drug-to-drug interactions and providing better consumer education regarding proper use of medications. These recommendations from numerous sections of the society remain just recommendations with nothing being done. In fact, with more and more powerful drugs being released into the market, the deaths may certainly have increased over time. There seems to be no easy way out and it is not easy to change the ways of the unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies making millions of dollars at the risk of people’s lives, and we as consumers must do everything possible to keep ourselves healthy and safe. The stage has come where many people now believe that going to a hospital or a doctor can be dangerous.

Role of Doctors

Doctors can change things by being more knowledgeable about the drugs they prescribe; especially understanding the interactions with other drugs. They should question patients about all the medicines they are already taking; including health supplements, herbs and anything they are using. Patients on their part should not rely completely on the doctors who don’t always warn them of the complications of using deadly combinations. Think of what you, as a consumer can do, to prevent this from happening. Do your own research or ask a pharmacist about drug interactions.

Natural Medicine

Prevention of prescription drug toxicity is the only cure to this widely spread disease. It just requires doctors as well as consumers to be more conscientious. They can also start thinking on the lines of using natural medicine for some of the health problems that are not critical in nature. For example, for a person with acute bronchitis, vitamin A, vitamin C and Echinacea can be wonderful as long as the patient is watched carefully. There are many other health problems where natural medicine eliminates the need for potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Natural medicine is completely safe and serious adverse reactions are very uncommon.

Do your due diligence and keep yourself safe. Don’t follow all those thousands people to an early grave.

What is the world coming to? For me, emotions have always been something not in our control. Wonder what to think now!

These scientists are surely God-sent. They can take nature into their hands and successfully mould things the way they want. We all experience various emotions; happiness, sadness, grief and a million others every day of our lives. Bad memories bring on negative emotions, and we suffer the pain of recollecting the events.

Did you know that illnesses of the mind are the worst culprits for our general health? They can show their impact on us physically, leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia and many other health issues. From ancient times, we have been told that the miracle drug to cure all diseases is “happiness.” But frankly, how many of us can say that we have complete control over our mind or emotions?

I remember seeing a friend frequently wake up in the middle of the night and cry. The reason – this friend was unfortunate enough to have undergone some traumatic events in the past, and those thoughts used to play on the mind at night. Each one of us has a tale to tell but not all of us are strong enough to take in our stride what fate has in store for us.

The good news is that now you can. You can now control your thinking, completely erasing the bad memories and retaining only the happy ones. No more wallowing in self pity, remembering the past. Scientists have recently discovered that they have the capacity to erase certain memories by playing around with a particular substance in the brain. They can make you forget a traumatic event, a constant fear or even a bad habit. Any smokers or alcoholics here?

Brooklyn has taken the lead in this research, where researchers have proudly announced their achievements. They revealed that a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory; such as spatial knowledge, motor skills or emotional associations, has the power to actually erase them.

The drug that is sent to the brain, blocks the activity of a substance that helps the brain retain the information it learns. If used in higher doses, it has the potential to ward off dementias and other memory problems.

So far, scientists have done their studies only on animals but they say since memory problems work similarly in humans, they are confident of identical results in their future human tests.

Research suggests that brain cells activated by an experience keep one another on biological speed-dial, just like a group of people that are joined together by witnessing a traumatic or unforgettable event. You just call on one and word quickly goes to the larger network of cells, each cell apparently adding some detail, like the smell, sound, sight etc. The brain retains this memory by making sure the connections and communication between these cells is more efficient.

PKMzeta is a molecule that is found to be present and activated in cells when the cells create a lasting communication or connection with a neighboring cell. These PKMzeta molecules are found to stick to themselves, just like troops occupying a small peninsula, and strengthen the connection between brain cells. Then they stayed there indefinitely as sentries guarding our mind.

After finding out how PKMzeta works in our brain, scientists, then checked how it worked in living animals. Andre Fenton, who studies memory in mice and rats, had found that once these animals were taught certain things like avoiding a mild electric shock for their feet by moving around their room, they never forgot these teachings and always remembered how to avoid the shock. But when these same animals were injected with a drug called ZIP directly into their brain, they forgot everything they were taught almost immediately.

The rats and mice forgot what was taught to them because ZIP interfered with PKMzeta molecules. One dose of ZIP also made these rats forget a strong hatred for a particular taste that made them sick just a few months earlier.

Todd Sacktor, a neuroscientist leading the team at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn says, “If the molecule is as important as it appears to be, you can see the possible implications.”
All these findings make the scientists confident that it is not long before humans can be injected with a drug to forget forever whatever bad memories are haunting them, while retaining all other memories in perfect condition. Even if it actually takes years for us to be confident about using such drugs, they can actually help millions of people suffering from trauma panic attacks and other mental illnesses.

People vow to ring in the New Year with resolutions to change. However, most of them fail to follow-through on the promises made to themselves. Are you one of them?

If you are, you would know that this happens because sweeping resolutions are very easy to make but hard to stick with. Most large-scale resolutions only add to the stress levels and become another obligation one “has” to do, rather than something that becomes part of your life.

If you have decided to bring about a change in your lifestyle for the sake of your mental and physical health – and stay fit for life, then all you got to do is make small changes – take one step at a time. Piecing together all these smaller steps makes achieving goals possible.

If you have small children, remember, they are going to follow suit. A healthy parent develops health consciousness in their children. It is all about leading a healthy lifestyle.

Follow these small changes for a month and see how your entire life changes for the better:

Diet

You will find most diet plans targeting fat, sugar or carbs. However, the main problem with people who want to reduce their calorie intake is the serving sizes.

“However little one may eat, one always overeats,” said Napoleon Bonaparte, who was given to moderation in eating and drinking.

When you go to a restaurant, you are served platefuls of food that contain more calories than you should be consuming in a single day. Since you cannot ask for half, the next time you want to enjoy Chicken Parmesan, order to get half of it packed in a takeaway bag even before they serve you. Even at home, use smaller serving dishes. You can even start using salad places for the main dishes to make them look full and give you a feeling of contentment. Most people tend to eat a lot of comfort food, especially during winter. Avoid this!

Exercise

An effective exercise is one that is intensive. Showing intensity while exercising means you are going to the next level. It is easy to boost your metabolism and this can be done by going up the stairs at home, a few times a day. You can walk, cycle or run to jump-start your metabolism. It will also help to add simple short one-minute bursts. In those short but intense moments, your body burns many more calories.

Stress Less

Observe yourself and look for tension in your mind and body. For example, if you notice yourself clenching your teeth or holding the steering wheel tightly when driving, that is an indication of tension within you and a rising level of aggravation. Another clear evidence of stress is if you keep having repetitive thoughts about something you hate; it could be a task or a person. This is a dangerous thing, which can aggravate if not stopped in the initial stages. It is very crucial to drive this tension away as soon as possible. Do some yoga or breathing exercises. Exhale deeply and slowly and hold your breath for as long as you can. Then inhale slowly, letting your lungs fill up with air completely. Pause with every exhalation and inhalation. Do this for 10-15 minutes every day. Once you are able to do this once, increase it to twice a day. This is a great way to combat stress, if done without fail every day.

Be Thankful

We get so caught up with the struggles of day-to-day life that we tend to overlook the good things life has to offer. Psychologists say that it works wonders to find one thing in a day – to be thankful for. It refocuses you on the positive aspects of life. You can post a reminder on the bathroom mirror, so that you see it every morning when you are getting ready.

Do not disregard this as something you already know. Most of know everything but we fail implementing them. Follow this simple achievable plan that can make a world of difference in your life. Through this, you are inculcating a habit for a healthy lifestyle, which will see you in good stead for years to come. Many of us just need a starting point – a plan to follow initially, and we can take it from there.

Prevention is better than cure! This may very soon become true for thousands of patients with chronic conditions. Next generation healthcare revolves around new technologies that make it possible for patients to receive healthcare from anywhere, without the need for proactive intervention.

Today, there are blood pressure cuffs that enable us to take our readings without having to visit a doctor’s office. There are home cholesterol monitoring devices, home ECG units, swallowable devices, embedded devices and shirts.

Let us take a look at some of the latest trends that bring us convenience, comfort, safety and security.

Externally Placed Health Gizmos

Wearable gizmos that track your health at all times of the day or night is one of the latest trends. Some of these devices even have the capability of sending data to other devices. A blue-tooth enabled biosensor wristwatch from Exmocare tracks the pulse of the wearer, monitors the heart rate changes as well as skin conductance. As if these features are not enough to make it an excellent life saver, it can also monitor the location and the activity level of the user through an accelerometer and GPS.

Another company that is currently coming up with wearable technologies for health is BodyMedia. Their SenseWear armbands can track the level of physical activity, energy used, number of steps taken and the sleep and awake states. This device creates easy to understand graphs on a computer.

Delivering Drugs Internally

Imagine the beauty of being able to deliver drugs internally. Something like this could make a huge difference and improve the quality of life. Debiotech is a Swiss company that has come out with an Insulin Nanopump that is placed outside the body but is designed in such a way that it delivers the required amount of insulin to a diabetic on a regular basis.

This device has an insulin reservoir but is small enough to be kept hidden under clothes. Researchers hope that it functions as an artificial pancreas when used in conjunction with a proper glucose monitoring system.

Diabetics also have the choice of an implanted chip, the size of less than a quarter, that controls the release of all types of drugs into the body over long periods of time. This has been developed by MicroChips. This chip can take remote wireless signals that work as cues to deliver drugs.

Prosthetics That Understand

Prosthetic legs and arms have been around for a long time but the convenience of using them has never been better than it is now. While previously, the device would not be under the owner’s control, today technology has infused intelligence into prosthetic devices.

The Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine in Rhode Island and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which is under the control of the federal government, are both in the process of funding research on artificial limbs that can actually receive and implement orders from their owners.

Currently, there are artificial legs that work with microprocessors and hydraulics but in the future, all it will take is to “think” to directly control prosthetic devices from the brain of the owner. These prosthetics are said to fuse to the bone.

The Nanobot

Researchers are predicting that nanobots that understand all about our genes, will be able to repair and reengineer our bodies. These robotic devices may be tiny but have the potential to extend life. They also believe that diseases such as heart disease and cancer may be eradicated in fifteen to twenty years.

Most of us take the web for granted for providing all sorts of valuable technological resources. However, if there is one area that is not as well-known as others is the health field. You will find dozens of archives of surgeries as well as live surgeries such as craniotomies that can be viewed online. You can learn all about the latest and major breakthroughs in medicine that can help save millions of lives throughout the world.

There are hundreds of emerging health technology trends that can change patient’s lives and the face of medicine. The best part is that most of them are affordable and can be used by a large number of patients.