Dabbling Divas

Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

The American Cancer Society has recently updated its instructions for monthly breast self-exams to reflect new scientific data.

Follow these steps to perform your own breast self-exam:

Lie down to perform the exam. When you’re lying on your back, the breast tissue spreads evenly over the chest wall and becomes as thin as possible. This makes it easier to feel all of the breast.

Move across the breast in an up-and-down pattern. There’s evidence that this is the most effective technique for covering the entire breast.

Use different levels of pressure; light to examine breast tissue closest to your skin, medium to feel a little deeper, and firm to reach the tissue closest to your rib. A firm ridge in the lower curve of each breast is normal.

Sit or stand and slightly raise your arm to probe the underarm area. Go deep into the armpit.

Check your breasts at the same time every month to increase your chances of finding any lump that shouldn’t be there.

A great resource for breast cancer questions and answers is http://www.komen.org.

The earlier breast cancer is detected, the better chance we have of beating it.

Please feel free to leave a comment or discuss this on our message board.

Need a nap?

Whether you are a stay at home mom, work at home mom, or work outside of the home mom, we can all use a nap occasionally, right? I know I could! Besides being a busy mom of two teenage girls, having my own home based business, I also work full time outside of the home, so I can’t just take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. I don’t think my boss would appreciate that! Anyway, while I was driving into work this morning, I heard the DJ’s talking about a company in New York City that offers 20-40 minutes naps, at a cost of $12-24.

I just had to do some investigating on this one! I can’t tell you how many times late in the afternoon, I’ll get so sleepy! Especially if I’ve had a big lunch. I’ve tried all the regular remedies… drinking caffeine, getting up and walking around my office, stand by a window with bright light, turn the temperature down, eating a snack, and even splashing cold water on my face! But sometimes, you just need that nap.

So, I did some checking and I found the company that offers the naps. They are located in Manhattan and they are called Yelo. They offer reflexology treatments and power nap sleep therapy. Of course, a power nap is not going to be a long-term substitute for proper nutrition and good sleep habits, but it can leave you refreshed in the middle of a hectic or stressful day.

So how does it work? You enter your private YeloCab (short for cabin) and recline in a special chair that elevates your legs above your heart. The chair comes with 500-thread count linens and a soft cashmere blanket, making it very comfortable. The YeloCab itself is personalized, based on your preferences for light and sound, your preference (or not) for aromatherapy, and the duration you’ve selected for your nap. Naps run 20-40 minutes in length (in five minute increments). Less than 20 minutes and you won’t get enough rest; more than 20 minutes encourages deep REM sleep that will leave you groggy.

So, who’s ready for a nap?

Please feel free to leave a comment or discuss this on our message board.

Everyone has a biological and a chronological age. Unfortunately, through lifestyle choices, many people have a biological age that is older than their chronological age. With a few, simple lifestyle changes, anyone can decrease their biological age to the same or younger than their chronological age.

Be Happy

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that optimistic people had a 50% decreased risk of early death compared with those who leaned more toward pessimism. The results, published in the August 2002 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, make sense: Those with a positive outlook on life are probably less stressed, better equipped to deal with adversity and, consequently, healthier. Optimists also tend to have lower blood pressure than pessimists, which, again, is most likely related to how positive thinkers respond to stress.

Exercise

Maintaining aerobic fitness through middle age and beyond can delay biological aging by up to 12 years and prolong independence during old age, concludes an analysis published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Aerobic exercise, such as jogging, improves the body’s oxygen consumption and its use in generating energy (metabolism).

Have More Sex

There’s decent evidence that sex helps keep us healthy, and thus increases longevity. But according to researchers, it’s not necessarily an actual biological response generated by sex that makes us live longer. What’s more likely is that having intimate sex means you are less stressed, happier and better rested–all factors that can lower blood pressure and protect against stroke and heart disease.

Eat Healthy

Five Healthful Tips (according to Dr.Michael Roizen on Oprah.com)

1. Use nine-inch plates: Eating on a smaller plate can add three years to your life.
2. Use paper coffee filters: Caffeine makes you younger. Drinking coffee every morning made with a paper filter—which raises good cholesterol and cuts down on bad—can add six months to your life.
3. Take aspirin every day: Check with your doctor first, but if it’s okay, taking an aspirin every day can make you two years younger. This simple addition decreases the age of your arteries and reduces the risk of breast, colon and prostate cancers.
4. Eat chocolate!: Only chocolate with real cocoa (dark chocolate) will do, but if you eat one ounce every day, you increase the level of healthy fat in your diet.
5. A little fat before dinner: Whether it’s nuts, dark chocolate or olive oil on a piece of bread, a little fat before you eat slows down your stomach and makes you feel full longer.

Please feel free to leave a comment or discuss this on our message board.