The rise of social media has meant that we as a global population are more connected than we have ever been in the history of time.
However, our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect
For Starters…It’ll improve your personal health and that of your relationship!
Kissing is an intimate gesture and helps deepen the love and connection between two people.
Whether we were 15 or 25, we all for the most part remember our first kisses. And a first kiss with anyone new is always – or at least it should be – exciting, with sparks flying and a feeling of fizzy potential.
But as relationships progress and the honeymoon period passes, it’s all too common for couples to kiss less than they used to.
Kissing, however, whether a snog or a peck, actually has lots of benefits both for your personal health and the health of your relationship.hormones like dopamine and Oxytocin get released when we kiss, especially kissing in a sensual way – think French kiss (some research suggests for at least 15 minutes at a time).
Together these hormones make us feel good, as they decrease stress levels and increase relationship satisfaction. Collectively it makes kissing a pretty healthy thing to do.
Our lips contain blood vessels which dilate when we kiss, and according to Ryan Neinstein, M.D., a plastic surgeon in New York City, “the blood is then directed toward the face and away from the rest of the body, so the demand on the heart goes down, resulting in lower blood pressure.”
What’s more, as your heart races from the excitement of a passionate kiss, our blood flow increases which also contributes to reducing high blood pressure. You want to decrease blood pressure? kiss more often.
Although you may think the sharing of saliva through kissing may be unsanitary – we share about 80 million bacteria during a passionate 10 second kiss – But, truth is ,we’re actually more likely to become ill by shaking hands than kissing.
In fact, a study has found that kissing increases a woman’s immunity from Cytomegalovirus, which, if she is pregnant, can cause birth defects.
Kissing can be effective at calming you down when you are going through a lot of stress, it reduces anxiety and makes you feel less stressed because it decreases cortisol and increases serotonin levels in the brain.
In fact, some people even claim kissing has similar benefits to meditation, helping us feel calmer.
Swapping saliva with someone else increases the flow of your own saliva, which helps keep the mouth, teeth and gums healthy.
What’s more, having more saliva in your mouth helps you get rid of bits of food in your teeth.
We use up to 30 muscles while kissing which tones the facial muscles. So while you may hit the gym to build your biceps, all you may need is some passionate snogging to tone up your face. Kissing helps your facial muscles.
Kissing with tongues comes from an evolutionary urge to find a genetically compatible mate. “Kissing – like touching and smelling – is an emotion-driven act that allows us to identify the most compatible and ‘evolutionary advantageous’ partner,” says Fulvio D’Acquisto, professor of immunology at Rohampton University.
“Humans don’t have strong olfactory skills and kissing allows you to smell and taste a person and see if you have different immune responses as we tend to feel more attracted to someone with a different immune response,” adds Dr Sarah Johns, an expert in human reproduction and evolutionary psychology at the University of Kent.
There’s also the fact that kissing will allow you to tell whether the spark is there in the early stages of seeing someone.
Learning to love your body is no easy task nor is it a walk in the park.
We now live in a world where thinness is most times equated with value and from a young age, we’re taught that fat is ugly and unattractive, which obviously affects our attitudes to relationships and dating.
But this notion that thinner is better is, slowly, changing as the body positivity movement has suddenly gained speed.
See top tips for loving your body and being more confident in your own ‘skin’ while dating.
Learn to appreciate the softness of your body, rather than feeling bad about it.
It may be your stomach that seems to have a lot of ‘flesh’ and it bounces when you walk or try to make a first good impression. you will hate that part of your body.. yes! but that does not make it go away. look for reasons to like it, make jokes about it to yourself (after all feeling bad about it and raining curses on it hasn’t changed it), then perhaps you will begin to appreciate it yourself.
Actually just touching yourself with kindness – spending a little bit of time before you go to sleep to say the nicest things to yourself , being thankful, loving your self,thinking softness or this fat is lovely – and just getting used to being kinder to yourself in that way will go a long way in lifting your spirits.
The miracle of that mirror! The mirror does have a way of showing you what you are or what you choose to see. I know its hard but learn to stand in front of your mirror, firm up and force your lips to say the nicest positive things about yourself. indeed, what you constantly say to yourself, in time,your mind and body will begin to believe and respond to. when your mind and body begins to believe, you will feel a whole lot better and have a more positive approach to life and your self.
Curating your Instagram feed with people who make you feel good about your self can have a huge effect on your relationship with your body. It’s the easiest thing in the world and it can make all the difference. I think people don’t realize how learned our idea of beauty is and you can actually change your perception of what is beautiful and what bodies are worthy and lovable. Follow only those that help your self esteem and would not criticize you unjustly or unfairly.
It’s fairly common for people to pack extra weight around their midsection. Call it a beer belly, a gut, or just plain fat, but the presence of a little extra weight around your middle probably doesn’t have you winning any shirtless competitions. The sad truth is that you’re not alone. Both men and women are substantially heavier today than they were in the 1960s.
The good news is that with some time and dedication you can reduce that belly ‘load’. While you can’t funnel your fitness and healthy eating efforts to one part of your body, the various strategies outlined below can help you lose weight and beat back the bulge.
See some of them:
To burn belly fat, you don’t need to train for a marathon or spend hour after hour on the elliptical. It turns out that if you’re trying to flatten your stomach, experts say that the most effective method is interval training. Interval training incorporates intense periods of work with short recovery segments to increase intensity and minimize recovery time. If you’re a runner, this means sprinting for several minutes and then slowing to a jog for a short recovery period before sprinting again. You can apply this method to whatever you typically do at the gym. Interval training is great because not only does it provide a hard, but short, workout, you’ll keep burning calories for up to 16 hours post-exercise, which is hard to beat.
If you have a little extra weight around your middle, refined sugar should be avoided like a plague. When you eat a lot of refined sugar, the liver gets flooded with fructose and will be forced to turn it into fat. Numerous studies have proven that excess sugar, particularly fructose, can lead to increased accumulation of fat in the belly. Don’t just avoid candy and cake — sugary drinks like fruit juice, sports drinks, and of course, soda, are some of the worst things you can consume.
It may seem counter intuitive at first, but sleep is one of the best things you can do for your body shaping goals. Aim for a healthy seven hours of sleep a night to keep yourself well-rested and healthy. It turns out that when you’re tired, your body produces more ghrelin, which triggers cravings for sugar and other fat-building foods. Not getting enough sleep can also alter your hormone production, which will impact your cortisol levels and lead to insulin sensitivity, a major cause of belly fat.
When you get rid of those fat-building sugary drinks, replace them with cold water and green tea. Both have proven to help your body burn fat. Cold water increases the metabolic rate of your body, which leads to more calories burned. Squeeze in a half a lemon for an immune system boost and an aid to help your body flush out any unwanted materials or toxins. Green tea is another magic beverage that should become your go-to. The tea contains several compounds, including caffeine and polyphenols. The compounds are able to actually boost your metabolism to speed up the rate at which your body burns calories.
Who would’ve thought that your stress levels could impact your waistline? It turns out over time, your body’s response to insulin decreases with regular exposure to cortisol. Increased insulin levels cause your body to store more fat. Beat the stress bulge by using your breathing to regulate stress levels and calm the body. When most people are stressed, they hold their breath and take sharp, short inhales or rapid shallow breaths. Try to become aware of your own breath and consciously relax your belly and slow down your inhalations and exhalations.
There are a few things that you can eat to help reduce belly fat. Start by adding more protein to your diet. Protein helps reduce cravings and in some studies, the consumption of protein is directly linked to reduced stomach fat. Aim for protein to make up 25-30% of your daily calories. You can also reduce your daily carb intake and focus on eating more fiber. The best and most natural form of fiber is found in plants, so stock up on your fresh veggies and fruit.
It’s bad news for expecting couples, as experts reveal that there could be severe consequences for women who have oral sex whilst pregnant.
Due to their compromised immune system, pregnant women are at a greater risk of contracting STIs, particularly in their third trimester.
The biggest risks become apparent if the expecting mother or her partner contracts genital herpes, a nurse practitioner and author of The Good News About The Bad News: Herpes: Everything You Need to Know told Vice.
If an expecting mother contracts the disease whilst pregnant, the baby has a 50 per cent chance of being born with it, she explained.
However, the risks are reduced with babies born by ceasarian section (CS), obstetrician Natalie Greenwold explained.
“If they are born through vaginal delivery and the mother has contracted herpes, it is far more dangerous for the unborn child, who will likely enter the world with an STI,” she told The Independent.
There is even a possibility of infant death if there is further infection at birth.
Thus, for mothers who do have an STI a ceasarian birth is the far safer method of delivery.
STIs can be transmitted even if a condom is worn, therefore, the safest way to avoid infection of the pregnant mother is to abstain from engaging in oral sex all together, STI experts advise.
The amount of information regarding safe sex for pregnant women is limited, with some arguing that it comes down to the stigmatisation that expecting mothers are not sexually active.
Doctors are urging expecting partners to seek help regarding the practice of safe sex from the outset, to ensure that both parents are fully aware of the possible dangers and can subsequently take the necessary precautions.
Some report having seen light at the end of a tunnel, while others claim to have floated above their body, watching as medics save their lives.
But the reality of near-death
Tattoos can cause infections 15 years after they were drawn, doctors have warned after a woman was admitted to hospital suffering enlarged lymph nodes.
The 30-year-old Australian feared she had cancer after noticing painful lumps in her armpit. However, when doctors at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney removed the tissue, it was found to be harmless.
Experts concluded that the lumps were caused by a reaction to tattooing which had been done 15 years previously, and have urged doctors to ask about tattoos when patients are suffering from lymphoma.
The new case study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, notes that doctors have known for some time that tattoo ink travels to the lymph nodes – which are used by the body to clear out toxins in the body – because the nodes can change to the same color of the ink.
But the new study shows the effect can still happen more than a decade after a person gets a tattoo.
Recent research by the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility found that toxic nano particles of titanium dioxide found in tattoo ink can travel through the body and become lodged in the lymph nodes where they can cause problems.
‘When someone wants to get a tattoo, they are often very careful in choosing a parlor where they use sterile needles that haven’t been used previously.
“No one checks the chemical composition of the colors, but our study shows that maybe they should,” said Hiram Castillo, one of the authors of the study and scientist at the ESRF.
There are few studies which have looked at the toxic impact of tattoo ink, which can contain preservatives and contaminants like nickel, chromium, manganese or cobalt.
“We already knew that pigments from tattoos would travel to the lymph nodes because of visual evidence: the lymph nodes become tinted with the colour of the tattoo,” said Bernhard Hesse, one of the two first authors of the study and ESRF visiting scientist.
“It is the response of the body to clean the site of entrance of the tattoo. What we didn’t know is that they do it in a nano form, which implies that they may not have the same behavior as the particles at a micro level.
“And that is the problem: we don’t know how nanoparticles react.”
Prolonged sitting is bad for your health. That’s the verdict of experts.
Whether you’re a heavy sitter or a binge-sitter, racking up prolonged sedentary time increases your risk of early death, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
That conclusion held up even after researchers took account of mitigating factors, such as time spent exercising. Even for people who hit the gym after a long day in a desk chair, sitting can be deadly.
The findings led the study’s authors to suggest that people who sit a lot should get up and move around every 30 minutes to counter the health risks that come with prolonged sedentary behavior.
The study team, led by Columbia University exercise researcher Keith Diaz, tracked the movements of close to 8,000 Americans older than 45 by asking them to wear an accelerometer on their hip.
Over a period of 10 days, sitting or lounging behavior took up the equivalent of 12.3 hours over a 16-hour waking day — about 77%, on average.
That’s a whole lot of sitting. But subjects differed in the extent to which they hunkered down for long stretches without getting up and moving around.
When researchers measured the “bout length” of subjects’ sitting spells, they found that 52% lasted less than a half-hour, 22% lasted between a half-hour and just under an hour, 14% lasted 60 to 89 minutes and 14% went on for more than 90 minutes.
After tracking subjects for four years, the researchers found that subjects who racked up the most time sitting were most likely to have died during the study period, and those who spent the least time sitting were least likely to have died. That was no surprise.
But when they looked at the death rates as a function of how often subjects went long hours without getting up, they saw a similar pattern: Those whose sitting bouts tended to be lengthier were more likely to have died than were those whose sitting spells tended to be shorter.
Make no mistake, the authors of the new research cautioned: “Accumulation of large volumes of sedentary time is a hazardous health behavior regardless of how it is accumulated.” But logging sedentary time in shorter bouts of sitting “is the least harmful pattern of accumulation.”
Study participants who racked up the most time in a chair tended to be older, were more likely to smoke, and were disproportionately African-American. They tended to be teetotallers, to have a higher body-mass index, and were less likely to get much intentional exercise. They were also more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, worrisome cholesterol readings and a history of stroke, atrial fibrillation or coronary heart disease.
Such findings, of course, beg the question of which comes first — the immobility or the illness that leads to death.
“Observational studies, no matter how well designed, cannot imply causality,” University of Toronto cardiologist Dr. David A. Alter warned in an editorial.
But the findings of this prospective population-based study do fit with those of experimental studies. In trials involving humans sequestered in research labs, scientists have shown that racking up prolonged, uninterrupted bouts of sitting and lounging cause more worrisome short-term changes in metabolic and cardiovascular function than sedentary behavior that’s interrupted by periods of physical activity.
It only makes sense that those short-term changes translate over time to more profound changes in the risk for diseases linked to sedentary behavior, said Dr. James A. Levine, an obesity expert at the Mayo Clinic who studies the health effects of sitting.
“If you’re sitting too much, you need to do something about it — like right now,” Levine said. “Unless you get moving now, you’re in trouble later.”
The finding that a workout will not undo the harms caused by prolonged sitting is unsurprising, Levine added.
LATimes
Credit: Punch
Though water is the healthiest thing anyone can drink, science suggests that drinking from plastic water bottles might not be the best thing for you or the environment.
Here are reasons you should avoid drinking from plastic water bottles as much as you can:
• They can release potentially harmful chemicals into your water. When you expose plastic bottles to heat (such as in a hot car, dishwasher, ultraviolet radiation from the sun or microwaves), the outer layers can break down. In response, plastics marked with recycle codes 3 or 7 can release a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA), while BPA-free plastics can release bisphenol S (BPS). These can contaminate your water, says Dr. Cheryl Watson, a biochemist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, who’s done extensive research on human exposure to BPA and BPS.
The problem: When you ingest even small amounts, they mimic oestrogen, which can change the way your endocrine system functions. In humans, exposure has been linked to chronic diseases, including diabetes, asthma, and cancer. Animal studies suggest in utero exposure can ultimately impair development of the brain and immune system of a growing baby, with effects that could be passed down to future generations.
Plastic chemicals might make it harder for you to have a baby. Researchers found that men and women undergoing in-vitro fertilization who had high levels of BPA in their blood, urine, and work environment were less likely to have a successful pregnancy, according to a 2013 review of 91 studies published in Reproductive Toxicology.
The problem: Although more research is needed, the results suggest that when BPA imitates oestrogen, it interferes with different stages of pregnancy, such as fertilization and implantation, says Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, adjunct associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington.
• Plastic chemicals could raise your risk
A glass or two of wine every evening could cut your risk of developing various life-shortening diseases and illnesses by 25 per cent, a new study has found.
It claims that those who regularly consume moderate amounts of alcohol lessen the likelihood of early death and developing cardiovascular disease.
Naturally the study was quick to assert that heavy drinking is incredibly detrimental to our cardiovascular health and can increase the risk of early death over time.
A delicate balance exists between the beneficial and detrimental effects of alcohol consumption, which should be stressed to consumers and patients, the study’s lead author explained.
The research accounted for 333,247 participants between 1997 and 2009, during which time patients were regularly required to divulge details on their alcoholic consumption.
The study classified a “light drinker” as someone who consumed less than three drinks a week, whilst a male “moderate drinker” will have between three and 14 drinks each week. A female will have between three and seven. Anything above that is considered “heavy” by drinking standards.
The research found that male heavy drinkers were 25 per cent more likely to die early than those who drank more moderately. They were also 67 per cent more at risk of dying from cancer.
A glass of wine a night might also increase creativity, a similar study conducted in Austria found. Exploring the links between creativity and mild alcoholic consumption, the research published in Consciousness & Cognition by Dr Mathias Benedek revealed that a moderate amount of alcohol can enhance the brain’s ability to think laterally and consequently boost capabilities for creative activities such as writing.
So tonight, Just one glass of fine Wine will do.
