Health Care

By:Fred Salomon

We often hear women complaining about their aching feet after a long day of wearing high heels, but they keep on wearing these uncomfortable and painful shoes for the sake of beauty and fashion. Little do they know that they could be causing serious, long-term damage to their feet and lower body if they keep wearing this type of footwear on a daily basis.

The primary reason why wearing high heels can cause sharp foot pain is that human feet were not designed for high heels. Looking at the other perspective, high heels were not designed for comfort and pain-free walking either. People's feet were created to provide us with balance and strength while we walk or run. However, wearing high heels can change the structure and shape of the feet, which not only causes pain along the way, but may also inhibit proper functioning of feet over time.

Women experience pain when they wear high heels because their feet slide forward into the shoes, inevitably forcing their bodies to redistribute their weight while creating unnatural pressure points and disrupting the natural alignment of our body.

There are numerous causes for foot pain related to wearing high heels. Some of the most common ones are metatarsalgia (ball of foot pain), bunions, callous and corns, Achilles Tendonitis, hammertoe, and many others.

Metatarsalgia, the most common effect of wearing high heels for prolonged periods of time, occurs when one or more of the metatarsal heads become inflamed due to too much pressure. This ailment, which is also known as ball of foot pain, is a painful condition of the metatarsal area of the feet, which can be found below the toes.

People who suffer from this condition usually feel burning and tingling sensation on the ball of the foot. There is also an excessive accumulation of callous in the same region. Wearing high heels for long periods of time can worsen the situation.

Tips to Minimize Foot Pain When Wearing High Heels

-Buy shoes in the afternoon or at night allows a better fit.

- Save your high heels for special occasions instead of wearing them every day.

- Opt for high heels that have chunkier heels than stilettos.

- Buy leather shoes instead of synthetics.

- Stay away from pointed and extremely high heeled shoes.

- Wear orthotic insoles for high heels to correct foot mechanics and walk more comfortably.

- Stick to one height. Having many shoes of different heel heights can lead to inflammation of the Achilles tendon.

- Go for wider shoes instead of narrow ones.

- Always bring spare running or tennis shoes.

- Keep your feet and toenails clean all the time.

- Get regular foot massages to alleviate muscle soreness and improve circulation of blood.

- Do stretches before walking or before doing any strenuous physical activity.

- Seek medical attention if you feel constant pain in any part of your feet.

Wearing high heels seems like a euphemism to the ancient tradition of foot binding. Let us all remember, that more than beauty and fashion, health and comfort should always be more important.

About the Author:
Footminders orthotic insoles were developed by a group of podiatrists after years of research to correct posture and body biomechanics by providing longitudinal and metatarsal support. They greatly reduce over-pronation often caused by flat feet, and provide unmatched walking comfort.

By Caroline Radway

At the beginning of any fat loss programme, many people come to me feeling unfit and overweight but also low on energy and stressed. Exercise will increase your energy levels and reduce your stress levels, but at this very point in time, when you most need to reduce stress levels, the idea of taking on more tasks can seem daunting and likely only to increase stress levels further - it can become a catch 22, as you feel too stressed to fit everything in.

So how do you deal with this catch 22 situation? How do you make sure that adding an extra time commitment into your already busy life doesn't increase your stress levels even further?

Firstly, you need to take some time out of your busy life, and assess where you are and where you are going. Goal setting and analysing what you want from life as a whole can often make us see life from a slightly different perspective. A lot of the things we are busy doing are not the ones that we really want to be focusing on, or the things that are most important to us. It is this that makes us stressed - that nagging feeling that we are really busy, but not managing to do the important things.

You need to make the commitment to becoming healthier and remind yourself what the results will be - it's not purely about aesthetics and looking good, but it really is about being healthier and more energised. You need to prioritise your health in order to effectively deal with all that life throws at you and remind yourself that once you have made the time to fit in exercise, you will have more energy and be able to achieve more throughout the rest of the day.

Until your health and fitness is high enough on your priority list you will always find other things that get in the way. When you have fully accepted its importance you can then set about making time - as this is the key, time is not something that is just found!

Once you have acknowledged that you are going to make health and fitness a priority it is time to look into how you can create space in your life to fit it in. Are there things cluttering up your life? Are they all really that important? Could you spend 30 minutes less time on the internet or watching TV in the evenings and use that time to squeeze in a training session? Can you delegate certain tasks? We often feel that 'to get a job done properly I might as well do it myself' but sometimes we need to let it go, allow someone else to 'learn' to do it for us! It may not be perfect, but it will free you up some time!

Consciously looking at the way we respond to stressful situations can make a huge difference, too. Are you stressed because you are in a rush, or rushed because you are stressing? I practice a lot of yoga, and often have to remind myself when in traffic between clients that while a few good deep breaths won't make the traffic move any faster, or get me there any quicker, it certainly will make me calmer and the journey more enjoyable - I can't change the time I arrive by being stressed, but I can change the way I feel when I arrive!

Another important element is matching your exercise intensity to how you feel on a particular day. If you are truly frazzled, then a really intense session may just wear you out even further, so choose exercises that are more energising, or perform a strength training session with plenty of rest between sets, rather than an intense circuit style approach. There are days when I know that I need yoga, rather than anything else, in which case that is what I will do. My body and mind thanks me for it and I ensure I am ready and raring to go for my next intense training session.

This is not an excuse to slack off just because you can't be bothered, mind you, and you will often find that once you get started your energy levels increase! Just get started with your warm up and have a plan, but be prepared to alter it slightly if need be.

On the subject of recovery, you must make sure you get enough. With the correct training plan, you do not need to exercise for hours every day to get results. You are far better off training intensely for 3 hour long sessions a week (or 4-6 shorter sessions) than training for hours on end at a mind-numbingly boring level. This is perfect for the busy person in today's hectic world as you can rest and recover, safe in the knowledge that you are actually increasing the efficacy of your programme by recovering properly.

Exercise is a vital tool for reducing stress and increasing energy, so it is worth making the time to fit it in. You will soon wonder how you coped without it!

Caroline is a Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher and Kettlebell Instructor based in the UK.

For more exercise, fat loss and kettlebell secrets and tips sign up to my mailing list (and claim your free report):

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Caroline_Radway

By Simon Evans

Not too long ago, scientists believed that adults couldn't grow new neurons in their brain. However, work over the last several years has debunked this myth. We now know that adults continue to grow new neurons throughout life, a process called neurogenesis. Yes, new growth slows down after middle age but it continues. However, there are things you can do to help keep a higher rate of new brain cell birth, which we'll get into in a minute.

Continuing to grow new brain cells can help in a couple of ways. First, cells are mostly born into a region called the hippocampus, which is crucial for learning and memory. Maintaining neurogenesis helps maintain memory function. Second, keeping those new neurons coming seems to help with depression. The hippocampus is also crucial for stress regulation and neurogenesis is a necessary part of the way anti-depressants work. So, new brain cell birth is important for cognitive and emotional functions. We have referred to these in the past as your IQ and your EQ.

It's also been known for some time that exercise increase the rate of neurogenesis. Many studies show that lab animals who are allowed to exercise increase the rate of new neurons born into their hippocampus, relative to those animals that don't get to exercise.

Although these studies are difficult to do in humans (for technical reasons) several studies suggest that the same thing is going on. In human trials that compare groups who exercise to control groups, the exercisers consistently show improved cognitive skills and increased function of specific brain areas, including the hippocampus.

A new study by Wu et al. published in the September 18th, 2008 edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology also shows that exercise may increase the connectivity of new neurons. It's not enough to make new neurons. You also have to wire them up to other neurons to get them fully integrated into brain circuits so they can do their thing.

On average, every neuron in your brain makes about 10,000 connections. It's no good if a neuron is just sitting there talking to itself. It must become part of a network to have real value. When you learn things, you actually increase the connectivity between neurons, and that's what's most important.

In fact, the number of connections in your brain is probably much more important than the number of brain cells when it comes to retaining cognitive function. The new study by Wu shows that exercise increases both. It increases the number of new neurons being born and the amount of branching that each new neuron forms.

Neurons are shaped kind of like trees. The more branches they have, the more connections they can make. In Wu's study, exercise increased the number and length of branches on new neurons.

Finally, the most important part of the new study looked at how exercise affects the rate of new brain cell growth and amount of branching as we age. Essentially, the researchers confirmed that the rate of neurogenesis declines as we age and that exercising in early middle age has a large affect on boosting the rate of new brain cell birth. Exercising in older age also increases neurogenesis, although to a lesser degree.

However, here is the interesting part. In their experiments, the sedentary rats had about the same length of neuron branches in middle age and in old age. But the exercising rats had much longer branches. In fact, the old exercisers had longer neuron branches than the younger sedentary rats. This is great news since many studies show that branch length and connectivity may be a better indicator of cognitive health than the number of new neurons born.

We know that life-long learning is one way to promote more neuron branching and connectivity. Now this new study shows that exercising can also do this for older aged adult brains.

The bottom line: physical exercise is a great way to keep your brain fit.

Reference: Journal of Applied Physiology (2008) 105:1585-1594

Dr. Simon Evans is a brain scientist at the University of Michigan interested in lifestyle approaches to brain health and fitness. He is the author of BrainFit for Life: A User's Guide to Life-Long Brain Health and Fitness. Visit his website at http://www.brainfitforlife.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Simon_Evans

By: Christiene Bowden

When Christina Applegate discovered she had cancer in one of her breasts and results proved that regardless of chemotherapy and radiation treatments she would most likely have a recurrence, she did not hesitate to have both of her breasts removed. For most women, losing one or both breasts to cancer is not the preferred option, unless extremely necessary; but for Christina, who proved positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation, which oncologists have ruled as the primary indicator for a more likely recurrence of cancer, the least favorable option became her ultimate solution.

Between life and breasts, which one would you choose?

Most women would grapple for an answer, at least for a moment, desperately praying for another option. It is a tough decision to make with the grim reminder that death from this disease could be the worst case scenario if it is not arrested at once. However, some women define themselves by their appearance and losing their breasts are equally tragic.

Good there is breast reconstruction.

Oncologists across the country do not rally behind mastectomy for every breast cancer patient however when tests reveal the presence of the BRCA1 gene, they do not hesitate to recommend it. Prophylactic mastectomy remains as the most reliable assurance that the patient would have at least a 95% chance against a recurrence.

Breast reconstruction involves the process of creating fake breasts, depending on the patient’s preference. Based on the article written by Miranda Hitti and published at WebMD Health News, breasts reconstruction may involve transplant of fat from the patient’s belly or other parts of her body to the chest where the breasts were. Another is to opt for either saline or silicone implants. Both have been tried and tested on patients who have undergone mastectomy and so far the results have been encouraging.

Fake breasts may not feel and look as good as natural breasts but between adjusting to a flat chest on a woman’s body or having to maintain a good appearance with fake ones, most women stricken with breast cancer would surely opt for the latter. They may not have been so lucky to keep their natural breasts longer than they have wanted, but somehow breast reconstruction allows them to nurture what is left: their confidence and self-esteem.

For this reason alone, who would not say "yes" to fake breasts?

Christiene Bowden invites you to check on iwearitwell, a one-of-a-kind online store that sells head wraps, comfort wear and coordinates for cancer-patients and those suffering from hair loss or alopecia. You may also register to iwearitwell'snewsletter for updates on cancer research, latest news and issues.

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