Young Shark Blog

Archive for August, 2011

People are turning more and more to natural products for remedying all sorts of health problems and this is seen in the case of allergy sufferers as well. The chemicals found in many plants make them ideal agents for natural allergy relief.

Topping the list of natural relief agents is Blue Tansy, a plant commonly found in North Africa. Blue Tansy flowers contain a chemical known as azulene which gives it a deep blue color. Azulene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon, with a high degree of anti-inflammatory properties. Azulene containing essential oils are as such effective natural allergy relief agents since it has the ability to prevent inflammation and control pain by its effect on the nervous system.

Blue essential oils extracted from Yarrow and Chamomile are also used for aches and pains and allergies, but Blue Tansy is more popular among users for natural allergy relief. It has got a delightful aroma to which users get easily hooked and this complements its natural healing abilities in endearing it to users.

Besides controlling the inflammation and itching resulting from an allergy attack, this herbaceous plant that provides natural relief has also got the ability to relax a person and calm his mind. This means that besides controlling the physical symptoms of an allergy, it also neutralizes the tension and anxiety that naturally results from an allergy attack.

Whether the allergy is caused by environmental agents like dust or pollen, or it is a reaction to an edible object, Blue Tansy extracts work as an effective natural allergy relief agent. Besides its ability to soothe the nervous system, the chemical contained in it also helps in dilating the bronchia. This further enhances its powers in providing natural relief because bronchial constriction is a major problem in people whose allergy leads to an asthmatic condition.

Injections or oral medicines prescribed to combat allergy does give some relief. However, as in the case of all natural therapies, treatment methods that provide natural allergy relief are completely devoid of side effects that drugs like antihistamines may produce. Those who are under routine allergy medication can try to gradually lessen the dose of medication when they start using Blue Tansy essential oils for allergy relief.

Long term use of conventional drugs is not recommended for most illnesses, though people are often forced to do so when they do not have choices. Blue Tansy offers that choice to allergy sufferers by providing natural allergy relief.

Anti Cellulite

Cellulite is not just an ugly skin problem. The presence of cellulite when left untreated has been known to cause tightness and stiffness in the legs. It can also feel tender and painful when touched or massaged. Knowing that 95 percent of women suffer from cellulite, you won’t be wrong in assuming most women know what cellulite is and what it feels like. But many have no idea how to cure and prevent cellulite. It can happen to anyone young, old, fat or thin and it can happen anytime. Luckily nowadays there are ranges of anti cellulite treatments available to help reduce this ugly eyesore of a skin problem.

Along with using anti cellulite products it is essential to take steps to diminish the appearance of cellulite by keeping an active lifestyle. In addition to exercise, simply eating right reduces the amount of available body fat, around problem areas like thighs, buttocks and abdomen that may later convert to cellulite.

The most common anti cellulite products on the market today is the cellulite cream. Some of them don’t cost quite a lot and can be considered a cheap bargain. It’s the active ingredients in the cream that reduces cellulite appearance by breaking down the fat deposits. Some of the ingredients like caffeine even prevent fluid retention another factor for uneven skin. Do your researches before you choose a cream and don’t expect results instantly. It might take at least a month before you see a noticeable reduction in cellulite appearance.

Well, many women in America are diagnosed with pre-ovarian cancer. Pre-ovarian cancer back pain is a common symptom of the disease which is many-a-time treated as a normal back pain mistakenly in the initial stage of cancer. Yes, your doctor can miss it, so you need to be cautious if suffering from chronic and stubborn back pain problem.
Just look at some statistics now. According to a recent study, close to 30,000 women of US will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the year 2006. It is also stated that between 15,000 to 16,000 deaths due to ovarian cancer are likely to happen this year. It accounts for 5 % of all the types of cancer deaths.

What encourages this silent killer to go on mercilessly? What are the doctors doing? How is that, that by the time this disease is detected, it is too late! Why it could not be detected at the first stage?

There is dispute among the researchers. British doctors did not make the correct survey when they arrived at the conclusion that symptoms came to the fore at the late stages of the ovarian cancer. So, when they detected the cancer, it was too late.

But, contrary were the findings of the University of California researchers. They concluded that some definite symptoms could be detected four months before and some even before one year. Hence, better treatment was possible.

“The most common symptom is back pain, followed by fatigue, bloating, constipation, abdominal pain and urinary urgency. These symptoms tend to occur very frequently and become more severe with time. Most women with ovarian cancer have at least two of these symptoms.”

-American Cancer Society

Most of the back pain treatments are frustrating. They provide temporary relief here and there. So, you get fed up with the treatment that does not work.

Can Ovarian Cancer be found early? Why ovarian cancer? Every disease tends to cause some symptoms- some specific and some vague. In case of ovarian cancer, it could be abdominal swelling, vaginal bleeding on a high scale, pressure in the pelvic region, leg pain, problems related to digestion–gas trouble, continuous bloating, chronic indigestion and recurring stomach pain and most importantly, the back pain! So, if you take disease by disease treatment, without knowing about the root cause- ovarian cancer will take control slowly, steadily but firmly. After some months, your doctor will find the situation out of control as it is a belated diagnosis!

Researchers are now suggesting that neuroplasticity could be the answer to treating eating disorders. They are of the view that our own brains, thoughts and emotions are not rigid or fixed in place. But can be changed in order to treat and even cure eating disorders.

So what is neuroplasticity? Let’s define it. The first part neuro is for neurone (which are the nerve cells in the brain) and plasticity means plastic or changeable. Neuroplasticity is the property of the brain that allows the brain to change itself.

These changes occur in four ways:
(1) By responding to the world in a certain way
(2) By perceiving the world in a certain way
(3) By acting in the world in a certain way
(4) By thinking and imagining in a certain way.

All these activities can change the brain and the way it functions. With “directed Neuroplasticity” scientists and clinicians can pass onto the brain a calculated sequence of input and/or specific patterns of stimulation to make desirable and specific changes in the brain for the better.

For example, under certain kinds of stimulation the brains of eating disorder sufferers can be made to stop focusing on food and weight issues and start focusing on other things. By focusing on other things (which is called focused attention) the brain develops new connections between neurons and rewires itself. The old neuronal connections (connections responsible for their eating disorder) will became less and less active and eventually completely replace themselves with the new connections. This is how neuroplasticity works: by deleting old defective neuron connections and developing new healthy ones.

To make it easier to understand, the brain is made up of many chains of neuronal connections. These chains are responsible for producing certain feelings; thoughts and actions that make people do things. And by changing these connections we can change how they feel and act.

Some eating disorder sufferers may say: “Oh well, I’ve been suffering for so long so I have probably done some damage to my brain which is irreversible.” But according to neuroplasticity principles the damage done does not matter and it can be fixed.

Even if some parts of the brain are damaged, other parts of the brain can take over the function of the damaged parts; by developing new brain connections (or neuronal pass ways) and re-routing them.

Having worked with eating disorder sufferers extensively, I have noticed that many sufferers are aware that what they are doing in terms of eating and dieting does not make sense, and is even doing harm to the bodies.

But they still continue their erratic behaviour because they can’t resist the continuous “voices” in their head telling them that they are fat and must continue with their starvation, dieting, or continue to binge and purge.

When you ask them “What do you think the voice is?” They normally answer that it is their brain telling them to do what they do. But when you tell them that it is not their brain, it is their ED (the faulty wiring) telling them to starve themselves or binge and purge: their thought processes start to change. And when they start focusing on the fact that their eating disorder is something separate from their brain, the changes in their behaviour became more profound.

To conclude, neuroplasticity is a great tool in the treatment and in the cure of eating disorders: simply because the brain is not static, but is dynamic and always changing. It undergoes many changes throughout one’s entire life; you do not have the same brain you were born with.

By influencing and directing these changes with the correct program it is possible to change peoples eating behaviour, body image and self-esteem. Neuroplasticity is the solution to all eating disorder sufferers’ problems: change the way you think and you change your life.

It might look slightly odd to put stress and acne together as if this is something new. In fact, everyone who has suffered acne knows all about stress. No matter whether those around us were considered friends or enemies, the appearance of acne converts everyone into a potential enemy to self-confidence. It can be a look that lingers just a little too long, or looks exchanged between people as you pass by, and that’s before you start hearing the comments. It would not be so bad if it happened to everyone at the same time. That way everyone would be the same. But some people start young. Others seem to have avoided the problem only to find it coming on years after everyone else has finished. These differences mean there is a steady supply of targets for cruelty. Those who recover the most quickly have the longest time to take their revenge on all those who follow them.

Yet look beyond the obvious connection and there are some very important questions. Suppose there’s a real link so that stress of anticipating the arrival of acne encourages it to come. Or that the stress of all the taunting slows down the recovery and makes the whole problem last longer. If either or both of these links was real, all children and teens would benefit from learning relaxation techniques. Yes, we can all smile and say there would be resistance. But if there was clear medical evidence that stress-busting was a cure for acne, this might encourage your children to be a little more calm and pleasant to live with.

Unfortunately, we now come to a major conflict of interest. There has been no significant research into proving or disproving the link. When you think about it, this is an extraordinary failure. Yet it’s easily explained. At present, Big Pharma and the cosmetics industry make several billion dollars a year out of selling drugs and various products to “help” those with acne. If all people had to do to cure acne was to meditate and relax, just think what would happen to all those profits. So we have to be sold the message that it’s medically necessary to treat acne as if it was a major disease and spend vast amounts of money on covering up the problem until it goes away.

Perhaps this criticism is unjustified. Perhaps there’s no link between stress and acne. But it would be better if there was proper research into proving cause and effect. The only “evidence” comes from a few unscientific tests. For example, one university monitored some twenty students and found they had more obvious acne before and during examinations. Although such findings are interesting, they are scientifically useless. Proper clinical trials require hundreds if not several thousand people for the evidence to be credible. Ironically, the only real scientific evidence comes courtesy of the FDA’s approval of Accutane which is proven highly effective in eliminating acne. Yes, there are problems if women of child-bearing age take the drug. Others have unwisely ignored the manufacturer’s warnings and have been injured. But millions of people have found Accutane effective. Respect the drug and it’s safe.