Archive for » July, 2011 «

What is Cardiovascular Health?


We all remember our days in gym class of running laps and climbing ropes. We treasured playing dodge ball and running under a giant parachute. Aside from delighting our childlike desire to play, these activities were designed to accomplish an important purpose. Gym class and sports practices were developed to get our hearts pumping and to improve our cardiovascular endurance.

What is cardiovascular endurance?

Cardiovascular training involves exercises that recruit both our cardiovascular and respiratory systems. When you think of activities that cause your heart to beat faster or you to breathe rapidly, these are activities that improve your cardiovascular endurance. Cardiovascular training is often referred to simply as “cardio” or “aerobic” training and includes exercises such as cycling, running, walking, and swimming.

Why is cardiovascular endurance important?

Cardiovascular training engages both your cardiovascular and respiratory systems, or more simply, your heart and your lungs. Stressing these systems and organs through exercising teaches them to become stronger and more efficient. For example, the stroke volume (amount of blood that is ejected in one heart beat) of a trained athlete will be much higher than the stroke volume for an untrained individual. As a result, a trained athlete’s heart at rest will be required to beat fewer times per minute than an untrained individual’s. Improving the efficiency of these systems allows the body to maintain health with less strain and difficulty.

How do we measure cardiovascular endurance?

While many activities are outstanding methods to improve cardiovascular health, measuring the intensity of these activities is an important way to assess both effectiveness and improvement. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that individuals train between 64 – 94% of their maximal heart rate to improve health and endurance. The following equation is used to determine individual maximal heart rate:

Maximal HR = 220 – age

Using the maximal heart rate an individual can determine his or heart ideal training rage by multiplying maximal heart rate and target percentage.

Target HR (lower) = [maximal HR] x 0.64

Target HR (upper) = [maximal HR] x 0.94

For example, a 35 year old individual with an estimated heart rate or 185 (220 – 35 = 185) would want to exercise with the range of 118 – 174 beats per minute.

How do we measure our heart rate?

There are several methods for measuring your heart rate. We are all accustomed to the stethoscopes that health professionals utilize to clearly hear our heart beat, but it is unlikely that you will be carrying a stethoscope with you the next time you go out for a walk. Finding your pulse on your neck or on your wrist is an effective way to count your heart beats. After you find your pulse you can watch a clock for 15 seconds as you count the number of times that your heart beats. When you determine the number of beats in 15 seconds you can multiply this number by 4 to establish your heart rate, or beats per minute. You can also purchase a heart rate monitor to wear while exercising to ensure that you are training within the target range.

Improving your cardiovascular health and endurance is a key aspect in developing your overall wellness. A healthy heart will undoubtedly lengthen your life and the types of activity that you are able to enjoy as you grow older. As you fondly recall your days of recess and gym class, remember the activities that you once enjoyed with great enthusiasm, and try those activities again. You will get your heart pumping and improve your health!

Proven Acne Medications


There are a plethora of acne medications currently on the market. Some of these are prescription medications, such as accutane. Others are over the counter chemical compounds, such as benzoyl peroxide. There are even herbal based acne medications, such as tea tree oil. However, many of them are not as effective as advertised.

Part of the problem with finding the right acne medication is that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to acne. Different people respond differently to the various medications and treatments. However, there are several acne medications that have been clinically proven to be effective in treating acne, and these are the medications that will stop acne for most people.

Prescription Acne Treatments

Of the prescription medications, Accutane is one of the best. It is a chemical derivative of vitamin A, and is often referred to as the “miracle drug” for acne. Accutane is most effective in the treatment of severe cystic acne, and not to be taken lightly. For some people, the many side effects can be worse than the acne itself. However, this is one treatment that works.

Retin A and Renova are also prescription medications. These are topical derivatives of vitamin A, and are also good at clearing up fine lines, wrinkles, and slight skin discolorations. One of the biggest downsides is sunlight and other topical acne treatments must be avoided while using either of them. However, they are proven to reduce acne.

Birth control pills and antibiotics round out the acne medications most commonly prescribed. Birth control pills are used exclusively by women to help regulate hormones, and therefore lessen the hormonally related acne that many women experience. Antibiotics work by attacking the acne causing p.bateria as it grows deep in skin pores.

Over the Counter Acne Treatments

There are some over the counter acne treatments that work well. The two best are benzoyl peroxide, and salicylic acid.

Benzoyl peroxide works by penetrating the skin pores, and eliminating the acne causing bacteria that grows deep in the skin. Benzoyl peroxide is the most commonly used acne treatment because it is affordable, easily available, and nearly as effective as most prescription medication.

Salicylic acid works by removing the top layers of dead skin cells. This helps the skin renew itself faster, and decreases the chance for pore blockage and a subsequent acne breakout.

Herbal Acne Treatments

The vast majority of acne treatments fall under the heading of “herbal” acne treatments. The reason is because of the lack or regulation for herbal products. This can be very frustrating to the general consumer, because it is impossible to tell which herbal treatment will work to stop acne, and which ones will do very little at all.

Of every herbal treatment available, there are only 2 that are currently proven to stop acne. Tea tree oil will help get rid of acne, and so will green tea cream.

Tea tree oil is an oil derived from one tea tree plant that is unique to Australia. For several hundred years it was touted as a cure all, until penicillin was introduced to fight bacteria. However, tea tree oil has seen a recent revival due in part to study conducted in 1990 that proved it is as effective in treating acne as 5% benzoyl peroxide. Furthermore, it had none of the side effects that benzoyl peroxide does.

Green tea cream has been validated more recently, at the 2003 American Academy of Dermatology conference. It was proven that green tea is as effective in treating acne as a 4% benzoyl peroxide solution. Though the study has not been corroborated yet, it demonstrated that there is another herbal treatment besides tea tree oil.

These are some of the acne medications proven to work. For those who are experiencing acne, any of the aforementioned treatments would be well worth trying.

Self Hypnosis Yesterday, Brainwave Entrainment Today


Self hypnosis is actually the power to enter into the subconscious mind and try as best as we can to speak to the powerful subconscious mind. Hypnotism has been around for a long time, and it even has been used in ancient times to measure some sort of mind control. Many hypnotists have been on TV and what you see is really perhaps a glamorised version of the real thing. There are no beautiful assistants and there are no advertisement breaks, what you need to understand is that you should think about more advanced techniques like brainwave entrainment. Now I am sure that you have heard about it and now, we will tell you how to effectively use brainwave entrainment.

For one thing, you need a really quiet space, and if you can find one in your house, then that is really great, but if you cant then, you need to be able to find one. The good thing about this is that you can actually induce silence through the use of music plugged into your ears, and make sure that it is really relaxing and soothing music. Either method is fine, as along as you are able to concentrate and reflect inwards to be able to start the self hypnotism process. So this is the first factor that you need to think about and gain.

The next thing you need to do is to actually be able to make sure that you can learn about your own breathing techniques. You need to keep them under control and gain some sort of rhythm when you are doing this. Breathing is one of the most important things when you are talking about the ability to actually control your breathing and relax your mind. This is one of the most important factors when you are talking about self hypnosis, because when you are able to control your breathing, you would be able to induce your own peace and time of zen.

The other thing you might want to do is to actually tap into the power of the brain. If you did not know, the brain has its own mechanism to actually induce its own super states and hypnotism, and these are down to the brainwaves that are being produced by the neurons in the brain as well. So when it comes to this, all you need to do is to reverse engineer this situation with the use of some available technology and there are plenty of these that can be found online for your own usage. This is where brainwave entrainment comes into the picture.

So this is the good news about how you can induce your own mental improvement episode – all from the power of brainwave entrainment technology, and as you can see, it is not as difficult as you think it is. All you need to be able to do is to get the right sort of environment, the right sort of mental control and sometimes, the right kind of technology.