Here are some tips to lift heavy objects safely
1. Stand close to the load and center yourself over it with your feet shoulder width apart.
2. Tighten your abdominal muscles. . Keeping your back straight, bend your knees and squat down to the floor.
3. Get a good grasp on the load with both hands
4. Keeping the load close to your body use your leg muscles to stand up lifting the load off the floor.
5. Your back should remain straight throughout lifting, using only the muscles in the legs to lift the load.
6. Do not twist your body when moving the load. Instead, take small steps with your feet turning until your are in the correct position.
7. Again bend at the knees using only your leg muscles and place the load in the appropriate spot.

Here are five simple ways to reward yourself and lose Weight

If you observe the eating habits of people (including you) you will find most of us eat, not only for nourishment, but for a variety of emotional reasons. Emotions like sadness, fatigue, nervousness, boredom or stress may result into an overdose of eating. Another reason people eat is for the reward. I’ve had a bad day and now I deserve that ice cream, pudding, etc. While the optimal solution would be to retrain your mind to think of food as only nourishment, it is not a practical one. Read the rest of this entry »

Hugs and Cuddles Have Long-Term Effects

How often do you hug? Do you like to sit close and hold each other’s hands? Recent research shows it’s good for your health. Between loving partners, between parents and children, or even between close friends, physical affection can help the brain, the heart and other body systems you might never have imagined.

For centuries, artists have examined love through poetry, painting, music and countless other arts. In the past few years, scientists supported by NIH have begun to understand the chemistry and biology of love.

At the center of how our bodies respond to love and affection is a hormone called oxytocin. Most of our oxytocin is made in the area of the brain called the hypothalamus. Some is released into our bloodstream, but much of its effect is thought to reside in the brain.

Oxytocin makes us feel good when we’re close to family and other loved ones, including pets. It does this by acting through what scientists call the dopamine reward system. Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a crucial part in how we perceive pleasure. Many drugs of abuse act through this system. Problems with the system can lead to serious depression and other mental illness.

Oxytocin does more than make us feel good. It lowers the levels of stress hormones in the body, reducing blood pressure, improving mood, increasing tolerance for pain and perhaps even speeding how fast wounds heal. It also seems to play an important role in our relationships. It’s been linked, for example, to how much we trust others.

Dr. Kathleen C. Light of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studies oxytocin in married couples and those permanently living together. She and her colleagues invite couples into the laboratory and ask them to spend at least 10 minutes holding hands and talking together about a happy memory, usually about how they met and fell in love.

“What we’re trying to do in a lab situation,” Light explains, “is recreate some of the experiences in real life where they felt close.”

The couples then get their blood drawn and fill out a questionnaire about the quality of their relationship. When the researchers compared their responses to the levels of oxytocin in their blood, they found that people who have a more positive relationship with their partner have higher levels of oxytocin.

Light and her colleagues are now trying to understand how conflict and other factors in relationships affect a couple’s oxytocin levels. The results of those studies aren’t yet in.

One thing researchers can say with certainty is that physical contact affects oxytocin levels. Light says that the people who get lots of hugs and other warm contact at home tend to have the highest levels of oxytocin in the laboratory. She believes that frequent warm contact may somehow prime the oxytocin system and make it quicker to turn on whenever there’s warm contact, even in a laboratory.

The same holds true for mothers and infants: they both produce higher levels of oxytocin when they have lots of warm contact with each other. “Those women who hold their babies more at home have higher responses when they hold their baby in the lab,” Light says.

Much of what we know about oxytocin has come from research in animals. Mother rats, for instance, can stimulate oxytocin in their pups by licking and grooming them. This loving care has long-term effects.

When researchers separate pups from their mothers for 10-15 minutes a day and then reunite them, many mothers are so glad to see their pups that they lick and groom them intensively. If the separation lasts for several hours, however, it can have the opposite effect; the mother won’t lick and groom her pups. Some mothers just never lick and groom their pups when they come back.

Pups that are groomed a lot when they’re reunited with their mothers become more comfortable exploring new environments. The ignored ones develop more anxiety disorders, produce higher levels of stress hormones and have higher blood pressure.

Research from other animals, including monkeys, confirms that the quality of care a mother gives her offspring can have long-term effects on their personality characteristics and mental health as well as physical problems like heart disease.

Animal research is also shedding light on oxytocin’s role in other social bonds. Mice that lack oxytocin can’t recognize other mice, even after repeated encounters. When they’re given oxytocin, however, they can recognize other mice again.

Dr. C. Sue Carter, co-director of the Brain Body Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been studying oxytocin in prairie voles, which form strong bonds with their mates. When the researchers block oxytocin, the voles don’t form such bonds. Oxytocin is especially important for females to form bonds with their mates. In males, a related hormone called vasopressin also plays a role.

Oxytocin and vasopressin aren’t miracle compounds, however. Giving these hormones to other animals—even other types of voles that don’t normally form social bonds—doesn’t suddenly cause them to form loving bonds. Animals must have the proper genes to respond to these hormones in the first place.

“Most of us are genetically programmed to form social bonds,” Carter explains, relating the results back to people. But the ability to form close bonds, she says, is shaped by early experiences. In the end, a complex interaction of genes and experience makes some people form social bonds more easily than others.

We may not yet fully understand how love and affection develop between people—or how love affects our health—but research is giving us some guidance. Give those you love all the affection you can. It can’t hurt, and it may bring a bounty of health benefits.

Some advice to all new mothers

* Mothers should have as much warm contact with their infants as possible, especially during the first few weeks of life. If you can’t do this, though—because of illness, a premature birth or other reason—just give all the love and affection you can.

* Mothers who’ve had a cesarean section may need even more warm contact time, because they haven’t had the increase in oxytocin that labor produces.

* Couples that have warm contact several times a day—hugging, holding hands, sitting close, etc.—have higher oxytocin levels than those that don’t.

* Some studies have shown a decrease in stress hormones with massage, for both the person getting the massage and the one giving it.

* Light thinks that anything that helps you feel a sense of support and a bond with someone—even by phone or email—may help activate your oxytocin system.

What factors increase a woman’s risk of heart disease? What tests do women need to find out if they have heart disease? How can women better talk with their doctor about heart disease? What do they need to know about postmenopausal hormone therapy? What’s a heart-healthy eating plan?

The answers to these and many other questions can be found in the newly updated edition of The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women. Published by NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, the popular handbook has 100-plus pages packed with the latest information about heart disease and its risk factors, as well as “action steps” women can take to protect their heart. It tells how to eat for heart health, aim for a healthy weight, learn to become physically active, kick the smoking habit, and even prepare for a heart attack. Further, it includes personal stories from women who have had a heart attack or changed their lives to lower their risk of heart disease.

As the handbook notes, most American women aren’t aware of the health threat posed by heart disease. It’s the #1 killer of American women — 1 in 2 women in the United States will die of heart disease or stroke. By comparison, 1 in 30 American women will die of breast cancer.

The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women offers women an easy-to-use, one-stop source for the latest information about how to lower their risk of heart disease. Often, all it takes are some lifestyle changes. So don’t wait to check out the handbook and begin taking steps to keep your heart strong.

You can download this book in pdf format free of cost from here

or alternatively you can order a printed copy of this book for just $3.75 till 31st May 2007 from here

• Keep a regular sleep and wake schedule.
• Avoid caffeine and cigarettes in the late afternoon and don’t drink alcohol to help you sleep.
• Avoid going to bed on either a full or an empty stomach.
• Use your bedroom primarily for sleeping. Sleep in a dark, quiet, well-ventilated space with a comfortable temperature.
• Relax before going to bed. Take a warm bath, listen to soothing music, meditate or try relaxation or breathing exercises.
• Face your clock away from the bed to avoid focusing on time if you awake before morning.
• If you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed or wake early and can’t get back to sleep, get out of bed and try a relaxing activity such as reading until you become drowsy.
• Regular exercise can help improve certain sleep disorders. However, don’t exercise within 2 hours of bedtime.
• Avoid household chores, paperwork or other stimulating activities for at least 2 hours before bedtime.
• Use over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids only for short periods of time and under the direction of your doctor. Some sleep aids can make you drowsy during the day and cause other side effects.

Here are some simple things you can do to eat better:

• Start every day with a healthy breakfast.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables.
• Choose whole grains like 100% whole wheat bread, oatmeal or brown rice instead of refined grains like white bread and rice.
• Choose low-fat or nonfat milk, cheese and yogurt.
• Don’t let sugary soda or other sweets crowd out healthy foods and beverages.
• Go easy on mayonnaise, creamy sauces and added butter.
• When you eat out, consider a salad with grilled chicken and fat-free or low-fat dressing. Even take-out and high-fat foods can be part of a balanced diet if you don’t eat them every day and don’t eat too much of them. For example, eat only a child’s order of french fries or one slice of pizza.
• Watch how much you eat. Even if you eat a healthy mix of foods, if you weigh too much you’re at a higher risk for diabetes, heart disease and other health problems. Value-size servings aren’t a bargain if you’re eating more than your body needs.
• Remember that food with labels that say “low-fat,” “reduced fat” or “light” aren’t necessarily low in calories. Fat-free or low-fat muffins or desserts can have even more sugar than the full fat versions.
• Don’t eat in front of the TV or in other situations out of habit. Instead of reaching for that cookie, do something else like call a friend or take a walk.
• Be aware of when, where and why you eat, and try to eat balanced meals throughout the day.

Acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. Originating in China more than 2,000 years ago, the term acupuncture describes a family of procedures involving stimulation of anatomical points on the body by a variety of techniques.

Here is a fact sheet to provide you with detailed information on acupuncture. It includes frequently asked questions, issues to consider, and a list of sources for further informatio

Read the fact-sheet here

• Eat breakfast every day. People who eat breakfast are less likely to overeat later in the day.

• Choose whole grains more often. Try whole-wheat breads and pastas, oatmeal, brown rice, or bulgur.

• Select a mix of colorful vegetables each day. Vegetables of different colors provide different nutrients.

• Have low-fat, low-sugar snacks on hand at home, at work, or on the go, to combat hunger and prevent overeating.

• At restaurants, eat only half your meal and take the rest home.

• Visit museums, the zoo, or an aquarium. You and your family can walk for hours and not realize it.

• Take a walk after dinner instead of watching TV.

• Get plenty of sleep.