The 'SUNSHINE' bath for Skin

Covering up in the sun to protect against skin cancer could harm our health in other ways, say experts. Here’s how to get it right. For years we’ve had it drummed into us that we need to cover up and slap on the high SPF sunscreen in hot, sunny weather. But experts fear some people are taking it too far.

While it’s vital to protect your skin from damage, including skin cancer, a recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) revealed that vitamin D deficiency is rising. People are getting far too little sun exposure, which the body needs to produce vitamin D, according to the study led by Professor Simon Pearce and Dr Time Cheetham.

It seems that years of sun-safety warnings have made us so terrified of skin cancer, we’re overcompensating by covering up too much – or staying out of the sun altogether. But this can cause bone problems – in extreme cases rickets and osteoporosis – depression and even weight gain.

That’s not to say we should ditch the sun cream.Whether you’re fair skinned or have olive skin that never burns, you should always wear at least factor 20 when you’re in the sun for longer than an hour, and never allow skin to burn.

However, it’s important to remember that small doses of unprotected sun exposure are vital. Experts say we need about 20 minutes a day to help bodies produce enough vitamin D, known as the “sunshine vitamin”. 

Here’s why you should get enough sun...

It strengthens teeth and bones
One of the main reasons vitamin D deficiency causes diseases like rickets and the brittle bones in osteoporosis is because it helps to regulate the amount of calcium in the body, vital for keeping teeth and bones strong. A lack of vitamin D often results in a lack of calcium, no matter how much milk or yogurt you have.

It reduces your risk of cancer
People with optimum levels of vitamin D have a 40% lower risk of getting cancer compared to people with very low levels, according to a study in the BMJ. That’s particularly breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancers.

It helps you lose weight
Low levels of vitamin D are also associated with obesity, say researchers at the University of Minnesota. “Our results suggest the possibility of the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss,” says Shalamar Sibley, who led the study.

It found people starting a weight-loss diet have better results if they include plenty of vitamin D in their diet and get a bit of sunshine. Just remember: keep sun exposure safe by making sure it’s in small doses and not in the hottest part of the day.

It lifts mood
As the sun gets brighter and the days longer, our mood lifts. That’s because there’s a link between vitamin D from the sun and feel-good hormones in the body. This explains seasonal affective disorder and why gloominess often hits in dark and cold months.

Here's how to get what you need

Get a little sun
Make sure you step outside for 10 to 20 minutes every single day. Staying cooped up indoors is depressing for a reason – you get absolutely no vitamin D, which lowers the number of feel-good hormones in your body and brain.
If you’re worried about over-exposure, wear a hat and keep your shoulders covered.

Tweak your diet
Vitamin D is mainly found in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel, eggs, dairy products and breakfast cereals.
It can also be found in fortified margarine's, liver and cod liver oil.
Try to include these foods in your diet, but if you’re struggling, then try a supplement.

Is your Contact Lenses is perfect

We all know very well that, contact lenses are the preferred means of vision correction. They are far superior to glasses, in more ways than one. Over the years contact lenses have established themselves, and are now used by more than a million people throughout the United States. Although contact lenses are great to wear if you need vision corrections, there are some things you should know.

Before you put your contact lenses in your eyes, you should always inspect them for tears or defects. Sometimes, contact lenses can get tears in their material, resulting in serious problems if you put them in your eyes. You should also inspect your lens for debris or smudges as well, and clean them thoroughly if you find anything wrong. If the lens is torn, you should immediately discard it and replace it with a fresh contact lens.

No matter type of contact lenses you use, you should always inspect them. Depending on how you handle them, you may sometimes scratch the material. Scratches on the contact can be very serious, especially if you aren't aware of it and put the contact in your eye. It can cause you serious trouble, such as an infection or even scratch your cornea. The easiest way to prevent this is to examine your contacts before you wear them.

Before you put your contacts in your eyes, simply let them rest on your index finger and look them over. Once you have inspected that side, simply put them in the palm of your hand and give them a thorough inspection. You should always do this one contact lens at a time, before you plan on wearing them. If you wear contacts, you should always make inspecting them a part of your daily routine.

Along with inspecting your contact lenses, you'll need to keep them clean. You can clean your contacts after you have inspected them by putting a few drops of your solution in the palm of your hand and gently rubbing your contact around. This will help to remove any dirt or debris that you find on the contact, and keep them clean. If you don't clean your contacts on a regular basis, you may end up getting an eye infection.

Contact lenses are a great investment for anyone who needs vision correction, although you'll need to take care of them. Whether you wear soft or hard contacts, you'll need to clean them on a regular basis and examine them for defects, dirt, or tears. Contacts can get torn or damaged rather easily, and the only way to tell is to examine them. If you catch the defect before you put the contact in your eye - you should be able to replace it with a clean lens before it can do any damage.

Be careful while doing YOGA

Wrong breathing technique while doing yoga can cause blackouts and hernias
walking and yoga are probably the safest exercises for a beginner. The practice of yoga is thousands of years old, with innumerable techniques, breathing manoeurves and asanas. Walking comes with few safety caveats, but yoga, long considered a method of relaxation requires caution.
A major determinant of injury in the beginner is the skill and experience of the instructor. Experienced practitioners achieve high levels of flexibility and breathe control. Many universities and organizations in India train yoga instructors, but many unqualified find work as instructors anyway. Unqualified find work as instructors anyway. Unqualified instructors tend to offer misleading advice to beginners with special needs and health problems. The result is often injury sometimes worse.
Do warm-up exercises before doing yoga especially in winter. Cold tissues are prone to injury. Wear the right kind of clothes – loose fitting cottons are best.  Learn to breathe correctly. Get this right before you worry about asanas and movements. Maintaining a position with the wrong breathing technique can cause blackouts and hernias. On the other hand, if you are breathing correctly you will find exercises easier to do, you can maintain a position for longer and you can stretch further.
Yoga is not a competitive sport. Do not try to match your instructor or out – do your fellow students. Doing a full movement with bad form or incorrect breathing is dangerous because repetition will increase your risk of injury. If you suffer from back or spine problems, have a detailed conversation with your doctor about what exercise and postures you should avoid. Let your doctor and not your instructor is the final judge of what is safe or unsafe exercise for you.
Stop exercise when you develop pain. Avoid that particular posture or movement in future sessions. Discuss the matter with your doctor yoga may simply have unmasked an underlying health problem. Drink lots of water during and after a session. Remember that yoga may make you sweat but it is not a substitute for walking and other aerobic exercise. It is not a good aerobic exercise and is poor at burning calories. The good news is practicing yoga will make you feel better than any form of exercise.

Bodybuilding Knowledge for Your Muscle

Most people who are not successful in gaining weight and muscle accumulation due to genetics. Skinny people are born with very high metabolism so they cannot gain muscle and put on weight efficiently compared to those who have normal metabolic rate. However, there are still ways to help in muscle building for skinny people.
The first course of action is to see a physician. It is important to make sure that the body is running properly and can handle the intense training of bodybuilding. Some people skip right over this step and assume that they can handle anything and eventually become ill or injured. This is one of the most important bodybuilding tips.
It can be tempting to head to the nearest gym and just get started working out. This is not the best idea. Anyone suggesting bodybuilding tips will strongly urge a beginner to meet with a personal trainer or find someone who is already training and see if they will partner up.
Muscle building Supplement enough will not assist you to to free kilos or acquire muscular tissues; very first thing you will have to change your lifestyle, like changing your eating habits, your weight-reduction plan and your nutrition, your sleeping habits, it’s important to curtail your stress and exercising or work out recurrently , then these muscle building supplements won’t be able to do much.Protein is key to building muscle, and even beginner bodybuilders will tell you this. However, it is important to understand that not all proteins are alike, even though they have the same basic makeup. So, when it comes to body building gain mass muscle supplements.Grab muscle supplement and best muscle supplement
Obviously, you need protein, but not just any protein. Of the 22 amino acids that are contained in protein, there are eight that are not produced by our bodies. This means that we must get those proteins through food or supplements. Of those 22 amino acids, there are also seven that our bodies do produce, but which cannot synthesize when certain conditions exist.

Body Building Exercises To Sculpt Body Without Supplements

Many bodybuilders firmly believe they can add muscles and tone their bodies without the need for illegal substances. While some may opt for certain legal supplements, others strictly use bodybuilding exercises to sculpt their body, whether they are attempting to gain admittance for competition or simply to make their body look better.

One of the natural exercises used for bicep strengthening is dumbbell curls. The bodybuilder stands straight with the dumbbells in their hands, palms facing inward. In one slow, fluid motion the dumbbells are raised towards the chest with the elbows remaining in a position close to the body. As the arms rise up, they rotate so that when the hands reach the chest they are facing inwards. Reversing bodybuilding exercises on the way back down will help strengthen the biceps.

Hammer curls, another of the bodybuilding exercises for bicep strength, are essentially the same as dumbbell curls, except when the hands reach the level of the chest they are in the same position as they were when starting. There is no rotation to the curl. For alternate curls, the weights are lifted from the standing position and the hand rotates 90 degrees to face the chest when it reaches the top. The difference is, the curls are done one arm at a time, and hence the name alternating curls.

Leg Squats The Most Versatile of the Bodybuilding Exercises Perhaps the most common of the bodybuilding exercises is the squat, during which a person stands with their feet shoulder-width apart or slightly further and squats down towards the floor. Once reaching the lowest point, simply stand back up. This exercise will work the leg muscles and slight variations to the stance will work different muscles. For example, standing with the toes pointed slightly out, it will work the muscles of the inner thigh. Conversely, if the toes point inwards, the outer thigh muscles get the workout.

There are a couple of common tips when it comes to bodybuilding exercises, and the first is to know the muscles that will be worked. Not just the names of the muscles, but also their primary function and what will need to be done to give them strength. Understand what bodybuilding exercises will give it strength, and make sure all the muscles in that group are worked for an even distribution of strength. Working one arm more than the other could make the appearance seem lopsided.

The rules of thumb for bodybuilding exercises are to workout hard and then rest hard. Muscles will rarely grow faster if the exercises never end. The body needs rest as much as it needs activity.

YOGA - A Physical exercise for Peace and Natural Healing

Yoga as a system of physical exercise has been in existence in India since very ancient times. According ot our ancient sages, there are eight stages of Yoga, namely Yama (Social Discipline), Niyama (Individual Discipline), Asana (Postures), Pranayama (Breath Control), Pratyahara (Mental Discipline), Dharana (Concentration), Dhyana (Meditation) and Samadhi (Self-realization). If an aspirant, after observing the disciplines of Yama and Niyama, practises Yogic exercises, his tubular channels are cleansed, he achieves excellent health and his mind becomes alert. This enables him to experience mental ecstasy.
 

INTRODUCTION TO YOGA
Man has made tremendous progress in almost every walk of life. We have now achieved objects once considered impossible to be achieved. What we have achieved and accomplished today could not have been imagined in their dreams by our past generations. Modern scientists and researchers have absolutely changed our life-style. Science has beenincessantly pouring on us new materials and devices to make our physical life more happy and comfortable.

However, pollution of air, water, body and mind is also the result of science. We witness despair and disappointment on the faces of our young generation. Signs of restlessness are apparently visible in the dry and dull eyes of our young men and women. Sloping shoulders, flat chests and bulging stomachs have become their characteristics. Why?

Today, we can claim that we are modern and civilized but cannot claim that we are genuinely happy. We, today, use tranquillizers for sleep, pills for purgative and tonics for vigour. Tranquillizers and sedatives are in vogue in our modern society. Charmed by and then, addicted to intoxicative drugs, our youth is led to the path of disgrace and self-destruction.

Longing for material wealth has hardened our heart. Human values are declining. Work to time, competition and commotion have made us suffer from stress and strain. Mental tension or strain produces undesirable consequences. Stress and strain are the causes of physical as well as psychological diseases such as diabetes, cancer, acidity, ulcer, migraine and hypertension.

How can we prevent ourselves from being strained and degenerated? Should we return to the cave-life and live as the aborigines lived?

As a matter of fact, to do this is neither practical nor necessary. Yoga has the surest remedies for man's physical as well as psychological ailments. Yoga makes the organs of the body active in their functioning and has good effect on internal functioning of the human body. Yoga changes for good man's views on, and attitude to, life.

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj meaning to bind the yoke. It is the true union of our will with the will of God.

Our ancient sages have suggested eight stages of Yoga to secure purity of body, mind and soul and final communion with God. These eight stages are known as Ashtangayoga.

The eight stages of Yoga are as follows :

1. Yama (Social Discipline): Yama means restraint or abstention. It contains five moral practices. They are: Non-violence (Ahimsa), Truthfulness (Satya), Non-stealing (Asteya), Celibacy (Brahmacharya) and Non-acquisitiveness (Aparigraha).
2. Niyama (Individual Discipline): Rules of conduct towards oneself consist of certain disciplines which are both physical and mental. These are five in number:
   Cleanliness (Shaucha), Contentment (Santosha), Austerity (Tapas), Self-Study (Svadhyaya) and Surrender to God (Ishvara Pranidhana)
3. Asana (Postures): Asana means holding the body in a particular posture to bring stability to the body and poise to the mind. The practice of asana brings purity in tubular channels, firmness to the body and vitality to the body and the mind. There are many asanas, but keeping in view a comman's health, 65 asanas have been in practice and will be soon available at this website.
4. Pranayama (Breath Control): The literal meaning of Pranayama is Breath Control. The aim of practising Pranayama is to stimulate, regulate and harmonize vital energy of the body. Just as a bath is required for purifying the body, so also Pranayama is required for purifying the body. Just as a bath is required to purifying the body, so also Pranayama is required for purifying the mind.
5. Pratyahara (Discipline of the Senses): The extroversion of the sense organs due to their hankering after worldly objects has to be restrained and directed inwards towards the source of all existence. This process of drawing the sense inwards is Pratyahara or putting the sense under restraint.
6. Dharana (Concentration): Dharana means focusing the pure mind on one's personal deity or on the individual self. The practice of Dharana helps the mind to concentrate on a particular object.
7. Dhyana (Meditation): When one sustains and maintains the focus of attention through Dharana unbound by time and space, it becomes Dhyana (Meditation). Deep concentration destroys the Rajas and Tamas Gunas of mind and develops the Satvika Gunas (qualities).
8. Samadhi (Self-Realisation): The eight and final stage of Yoga is Samadhi. At this stage, one's identity becomes both externally and internally immersed in meditation. The meditator, the act of meditation and the object meditated upon, all the three shed their individual characteristics and merge with one single vision of the entire cosmos. Supreme happiness, fee from pleasure, pain or misery, is experienced. Samadhi is the climax of Dhyana.

The group of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi is called "Samyama" (the internal Yoga) in the Science of Yoga. The first five stages - yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara - Constitute the External Yoga. If all these five stages are practised and followed in life, virtues like morality, morally sound conduct and good character are develope3d in man. Besides, there is all-round progress in human life, physically, intellectually and spiritually and man attains physical fitness and mental equanimity.

Thus, asanas are only one of the stages of Yoga. Most of the aspirants practising Yoga practise, in fact, these asanas. However, all the eight stages of Yoga are of importance. the practice of all the stages together and Pranayama bring a good deal of permanent benefits.