Category Archives: Health

How to Stop Motion Sickness

Health, Travel
My Experiences of Travel/Motion Sickness

There are many theories about the cause of travel sickness, and as someone who has suffered pretty badly from it from the moment they were put in a car as a baby, I can testify that if you suffer from travel or motion sickness then it can really affect your life.

Some say it is psychological (say this to me and my hackles rise whilst I think of as many ways to inflict pain on you as I can!), others that it is an imbalance in the inner ear. I am not a medical person, all I know is that I have tried most things out there to help prevent motion sickness and some work better than others.

I personally suffer from travel sickness in pretty much any mode of transport that you can name, be it cars, buses, planes, boats, trains to the slightly more obscure lifts (elevators), rides in waterparks and in the IMAX screen at the cinema! I also had a problem when I once went in a Formula 1 simulator car and had to get out after about 30 seconds as I thought I would throw up!

I don’t know whether travel sickness is hereditary but I do know that my Dad also suffers very badly and cannot be driven anywhere so he is even worse off than me. People say that you grow out of it but I haven’t really found this to be the case – perhaps it has got a bit better or maybe more manageable with age as I am no longer as sick as I used to be as a child – I remember pretty much every holiday that we had I would have to stop on the way to be sick.

Anyway, the truth is there doesn’t seem to be any magic cure so us sufferers just have to do what we can to manage it.

Different Methods of Motion Sickness Prevention

So here are some of the methods I have found and tried to help prevent motion sickness:

Before You Travel
Try not to eat a really heavy meal before travelling, particularly greasy or friend foods. Have something light and have some water to take with you.

When Travelling
Make sure if it is at all possible, that you have plenty of fresh air when travelling. Wind down the window slightly in a car, go up on deck in a boat and make sure the air vent director is turned on and pointing towards you on a plane. Also if you are in a car or a bus then try and sit somewhere you can see where you are going and can see the horizon. Focusing in front of you and watching where you are going really helps to stop motion sickness.

When trying to prevent motion sickness, make sure that you do not read anything, or in extreme cases don’t even look down when you are travelling. As soon as you do this (for example to send or receive a text message) and your focus is taken off the horizon, you will probably start to feel worse and motion sickness will kick in. Trying to keep your head still and going with the motion of the vehicle helps so if you can, lean your head against a headrest. I have also found on a boat that when i felt bad, if I actually lad flat on the deck I felt better but this was a last resort!

One other thing that I have found to help prevent motion sickness is to chew gum whilst you are travelling. Whilst unfortunately this may be banned on some forms of public transport I have found that it really helps on things like short car journeys where I don’t want to take a travel sickness tablet.

Motion Sickness Tablets
I tend to take a motion sickness tablet only if I am going on a long journey or a particularly rough one – for example by sea. I have tried many types of motion sickness prevention tablets and most of them work pretty well but they do tend to have some side effects so it is worth trying different ones to see what suits you. I find a lot of travel sickness tablets give me a dry mouth and pretty much all of them make me drowsy, which is fine if I am getting on a long flight but not good if I only have a short trip and need to be alert at the end of it. Once I took a tablet and fell asleep at my boarding gate which was not a good idea!

Travel Sickness Wristbands

These can be bought from health shops and often from airports and chemists. The way that travel wristbands work is based on acupressure points on the inside of your wrists. Each band has a semi-spherical type bead that puts pressure on this point in your wrist and so is supposed to help prevent motion sickness. I use these wristbands quite often when I am travelling in a car and also combine these with tablets when on a boat or plane. I feel that they can help a little bit but if the motion gets extreme then only the tablets can help. They do have the obvious advantage though of not making you feel drowsy or to suffer from any other side effects.

Motion Sickness Patches
OK so this is one thing that I just discovered when researching this article. I have to admit I hadn’t heard of these motion sickness patches before.  However, at present I am not able to try then out as they appear to only be available in the US and I am in the UK. So if anyone has tried these out it would be interesting to hear from you. They say they are 100% natural so this may mean that they don’t make you drowsy like the tablets do, although they do appear to have some side effects. there are a few good reviews for them but when there are less than a dozen reviews I guess you have to take them with a pinch of salt.

Ginger Tablets
Ginger has for a long time been known to have properties that help with stomach upsets. For this reason I find that they are good to take if motion sickness has already set in – they can settle your stomach and prevent the nausea. I have used these on boats and planes and they have worked for me.

You can also take them before travelling which I recommend if you think it is going to come over you suddenly as sometimes I find I am too sick to take anything so it’s too late.

Hypnosis and Subliminal Suggestion

This is something that I have not tried and I would be interested to hear from others who have tried this – feel free to leave your comments below as to whether it has worked or not. I know that there are subliminal albums available that you should listen to for at least a few weeks, but again I have not experienced these yet, although think I might well try this soon, as I feel like I have tried everything else!

Tips for Good Teeth

Beauty & Personal Care, Health

So it’s a bit late for me as I’ve already had a shed load of fillings and even an extraction (and need another) but I have learnt a lot of stuff from the current TV series ‘The Truth About teeth’.

Most notably some of the things that I didn’t realise, that they have been talking about are this – after you eat, for about 40 minutes your tooth enamel is softened by the acid in the food that you have been eating – to the point where if you brush your teeth straight after eating you will be brushing off the enamel – how many people knew that? And to think that I have purposely been brushing my teeth straight after breakfast for years in order to clean off the food from them. In future I will try and do what the recommend and brush my teeth before breakfast.

The next thing which I am totally guilty off is continually snacking throughout the day. This never gives your teeth a chance to recover as they are constantly being attacked by food acid all the time. I need to get that one sorted too as I am a terrible snacker all day long.

They are also recommending that you brush your teeth for 2 minutes each time, twice a day. Now I tried this with a little kitchen timer that I have and 2 minutes feels like a really long time! Particularly when you have a small toddler demanding your attention. So I have allowed myself to only do one minute in the morning (and even that feels long!) and to do 2 minutes at night time. Hopefully that will at least help a bit as it is longer than I had been brushing for!

I noticed when I went to the app store today that a lot of people are taking note of this fact as the second most popular trending search was for a ‘tooth brushing timer’! At least people are taking note although like I say, for many of us it is a bit too late. But if I can get my toddler into the right habits then hopefully he won’t have such bad teeth as myself and his father.

The rpogram also shows some really innovative dental techniques that are starting to become available – like transplanting one tooth to replace a lost front tooth that has been knocked out. There could be many innovations like this in the future which means our children don’t have to live the with horror of bad teeth like we did in the past.

Another interesting thing was the test they did on home teeth whitening kits. I was interested in this as I had been thinking of getting one but the truth was that none of them (and they tested quite a few kits from the cheapest ones to more expensive ones) seemed to make any difference in the testing that they did. Only one kit came out half a shade lighter. Shame 🙁

Although they did a test on home tooth whitening kits and none of them seemed to get any results, I have to say that I am tempted still to try them for myself. There are so many available online for a reasonable price that i can’t help but think maybe there must be at least something to them. The one shown on the left has hundreds of reviews and still ends up with an average of 4 stars. Surely hundreds of people can’t be wrong. Maybe I’ll give these ones a try and come back with my own review. Watch this space!

‘The Truth About Teeth’ is currently showing on Thursdays 9-10pm on BBC1 and will be available on the iPlayer shortly afterwards.

Subliminal Messaging Albums

Beauty & Personal Care, Health

Subliminal MP3s – The Power to Change

If you have read the book “Think and Grow Rich” then you will know that the power behind getting what you want is the desire and the will for it. To quote from that book:

Repetition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.

This is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally, accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind, which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent, by the most practical procedure available.

Subliminal MP3s have been providing subliminal message albums that help with a variety of personal development areas. You can see on the right a selection of these. We have bought some of these albums and can personally recommend them. They are not a quick fix for your problems though, you need to keep listening to them on a regular basis. However, they do make the chances of you achieving your goals much more likely. For example, one of our editors likes to listen to the subliminals on an iPhone when just about to go to sleep. After playing through, the album will finish and this will give you a 12 minute blast of the messages that you can use every night.

Put simply, these mp3s are made up of messages that your conscious mind cannot hear, but your subconscious mind can. The key to subliminal messaging is that your subconscious mind is capable of picking it up, and storing it in your mind as normal.

You can listen to these mp3s while you work, study, relax and even while you sleep. The mp3s even come with a silent version so that you can play them without disturbing other people.

You can sign up to some free trial mp3s so that you can test them out for yourself.

Examples of Albums

These are just a few examples – there are over 200 to choose from!

Become An Actor Subliminal
Develop A Positive Attitude
Boost Self Confidence
Subliminal Weight Loss
Successful Children
Think And Grow Rich
Boost Your Memory
Law of Attraction
Attract Success
Become More Assertive
Sexual Confidence
Effective Public Speaking
Self Motivation
Organization Skills
Become An Extrovert
Think Yourself Thin
Make People Like You
Stop Smoking
Stop Nail Biting
Football Skills
Golf Skills Trainer
Martial Arts Training
Body Building Training
Get Ripped Abs
Save Money
Develop Leadership Skills
Stop Stuttering
Get Clear Skin
Stop Panic Attacks

Maca Root

Health,

The Maca plant or Lepidium meyenii, to give it its proper name, is a plant that is only grown in the high altitude and cold areas of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes, in soil that is quite barren and rugged. The key part of the maca plant that is sought after for its’ medicinal properties is the maca root. There are a number of different varieties of maca root which are differentiated by the color of the root – the most common colored maca root varieties are cream, black, red, purple, blue and green.

There are many reasons that people take maca root as a supplement today including: helping with fertility and libido, improving hair quality and increasing body curves.

For centuries the native Peruvians have used maca root as a medicinal plant in their traditional recipes and herbal concoctions. The properties of maca root are said to improve energy and to enhance strength and act as an aphrodisiac. This can be true for both men and women and today the maca plant is cultivated and produced in many forms for food supplementation. Maca root is also said to improve the quality of sperm and to enhance libido in men and women and this is where it has probably gained most popularity recently, especially as it is a completely natural product.

You can buy maca root supplements in different forms for example in the form of maca root powder or as gelatinized maca. As maca root is only harvested in the Andes, the supplement manufacturers have found ways of preserving the properties of maca root so that it is available all over the world in an ever increasing market.

Many couples take maca root for fertility issues – see below for further information.

There has been a limited amount of research carried out on maca, including one study on rats which showed in particular that it can help in FSH levels in women. FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) is a key factor in determining fertility, particularly in older women and the higher the level, the nearer menopause a woman is deemed to be. So the fact that the long term use of maca root can help this is great news. See the information at the bottom of the page for more details.

Believe it or not you can also buy chocolate bars containing maca, which could be a more tasty way of getting your daily dose of maca root. In addition to this you can get maca coffee and maca cream but by far the most popular way of getting your daily or occasional dose of maca root is by herbal supplements.

 

You can buy chocolate bars containing maca from Amazon in both the UK and the US:
UK US

What is Maca?

If you are wondering what is maca then you have obviously heard about it because of the benefits it can give to men and women who are seeking enhanced energy and strength . Maca is a plant whose roots are used as a vegetable and a medicinal herb. It resembles vegetables such as radishes and turnips where the main part of the plant is the enlarged root that is used as a vegetable.

Maca only thrives in certain environments and so you will really only see it grown in large quantities on the high Andes in South America, most notably in Peru. Although attempts have been made to grow it elsewhere, it has been found only to grown in harsh soils with cold climates and at high altitudes.

As maca only survives in these kinds of harsh climates, more often than not the maca that is harvested is organic as it does not need chemicals to repel the few pests that might have a chance to attack it. In fact it is naturally resistant to pests and is sometimes planted amongst other crops to protect them from pests.

Another answer to what is maca is that it is a supplement that is created from the maca root in a concentrated form and taken in either powder form or as pills to increase energy, libido, strength and endurance. Maca has really increased in popularity recently and many people are using it as it is a purely natural product. Native Peruvians have been using it for thousands of years and so they now grow it as a commercial crop to supply to the rest of the world.

Maca has also been used as a fertility aid not only to increase libido in men and women but also to increase the quality of sperm.

Maca Effects

Maca is an organic and natural product that has had great effects on people who take it for thousands of years. Some of the maca effects are as follows:

Increased energy – maca is taken by those who need to increase their energy levels and it has been shown to have a great effect in this area.

Increased strength – another maca effect is to increase strength. It is said that ancient warriors ate maca root before going into battle and they were often the strongest of all.

Increased libido – maca root can have an increase in libido for both men and women and this is one of the most desired maca effects.

Help Through the Menopause – because maca works with the hormones to create more balance within the body it has been known to help moderate the symptoms of the menopause for some women.

Helping with Fertility Issues – maca can help to improve the quality of sperm and also regulate women’s menstrual cycles as well as improve the quality of eggs so can help both men and women in fertility.

The reason that maca has such effects on the body are not completely clear but it is known that maca root has a large number of phytochemicals which are chemical compounds that occur naturally in plants and that may have some benefit to working with the endocrine system of the human body.

Unfortunately there have not been extensive studies done to check what maca effects there are but there is a long line of anecdotal evidence to show that maca helps in many cases. Whether you take maca in the form of the maca powder that can be added to food or take maca capsules you should be able to feel the effects of the maca after taking a regular dose but it depends on your body as to how quickly the maca effects take place.

Maca for Women

There are a number of reasons why you might want to use maca for women. Depending on what time of your life you are going through you may want to consider maca for the following reasons:

Increased energy – This is an option for maca for women of all ages – take a dose of maca or else taking daily maca supplements can increase your energy levels.

Maca for fertility – Maca can help women who need to regularise their menstrual cycles and in addition to this, even though it does not contain hormones itself, it can help with the level of hormones in women, including increasing the luteinizing hormone which is the one that makes women ovulate.  It is also classed as an adaptogen which means that it works on the parts of the body that need work – so for example if there is a lack of progesterone it will work on that.

As maca has been shown to give an increase in libido for men and women and so this means that it may help in fertility issues. When trying to conceive it is important that you have intercourse at the most fertile times (just before and at ovulation) but to try and continue to cover all of your bases during this time to have intercourse every day for what could be up to a week if you are not sure of your ovulation date, could mean that you need that extra boost in your libido to get you through those fertile times.

Maca for the Menopause – as discussed above, maca can be useful to regulate hormones and help deal with changes in the menstrual cycle and for this reason it has been shown to help women who are going through the menopause. Once again maca does not contain hormones so this is a completely natural treatment for menopause symptoms.

So overall there are many benefits of maca for women of all ages and it has been used for many years to treat women naturally and organically.

You can buy maca tablets from Amazon in both the UK and the US:
UK US

Maca for Men

There are a number of reasons to take maca for men from just using maca to increase strength and energy – whether that be needed on a regular basis or perhaps as a one off event every now and again – to using maca on a regular basis to help improve the quality of sperm.

Maca has been used as a herbal medicine for thousands of years by the Peruvians and it is said that their warriors would eat maca root before a big battle to increase their chances of winning. Nowadays there are many ways in which you can take maca root from the powedered form to capsules and maca coffee.

Maca for men could be beneficial for any of the following reasons:

Increased strength and energy – perhaps you need a pick me up or a boost to your energy in which case maca can do this for you.

Increased libido – maca has been shown to increase libido in men and women and has sometimes been called nature’s version of the little blue pill. However, it is a completely natural herbal supplement and so has no chemicals and is farmed organically in the majority of cases.

Maca for Men – Better Sperm Quality – maca has been shown to increase the quality of sperm in men. So if you have been found to have a low or below average sperm count or mobility then it is possible that maca can help you. There are a number of vitamins that are recommened to help improve sperm quality and it has been shown that taking a combination of male fertility vitamins over a period of 3 months (as this is the length of time it takes for the body to produce sperm) can significantly improve sperm quality. Obviously if you have these kind of issues you will need to speak to your doctor in case there are any other underlying fertility problems.

So maca for men can be of great benefit and can be taken on an ad hoc basis or as a daily supplement.

The Price of Maca Root

Maca is not a very expensive herbal supplement to buy. The maca price depends upon what type of maca you are buying and obviously in what kind of quantities you buy the maca. Maca powder is a little bit more expensive than buying maca capsules mostly because it comes in larger quantities, but you can still get hold of a large bag of maca powder for around $20. For maca capsules, these come in various different sizes, usually in multiples of 250mg, up to 1000mg but with the most popular dose being 500mg. Prices vary but for a bottle of 100 capsules of 500mg each you can pay anywhere between $5 and $20, depending on the quality of the brand.

You can also buy maca extract in small bottles with a dropper to dispense a small amount at a time. As this is a more concentrated form the maca price on this type is higher and can cost around $50 for a 4oz bottle. Obviously though at high concentrate this maca extract is going to last much longer and is more powerful. Buying maca in this form can be useful if you need to get through something like a long drive or need to stay up to complete work or studies. Just add a few drops of maca extract to your drink.

You can get a good maca price on a selection of maca products that are sold on Amazon. If you are looking for best price rather than quality then you can get low priced maca capsules in both the US and UK. This may be a good idea if you are looking to try out maca although you do need to check that you are getting good quality organic maca.

 

You can buy maca powder from Amazon in both the UK and the US and this is great to use in smoothies or just added to meals:
UK US

Maca Research on Rats

There have been limited studies into the effects of Maca on humans although some studies have been carried out, including some on rats.

One particular study looked into a variety of the claims that Maca can help towards balancing hormones and this study came up with some interesting conclusions with their results on treating rats with Maca.

One particular paragraph of interest from the published study* (which is quite long and comprehensive) concluded the following:

“In previous papers from this series (11, 12, 20) on Gelatinized Organic Maca root preparation (Maca-GO), its positive physiological effect in both, post- (11) and perimenopausal (20) women was demonstrated, as well as results from short- and long-term bioassays on laboratory animals (sexually-active adult female and male rats) were presented (12). The observed effects on animals were gender and dose dependent, with different responses observed during a short- and a long-term Maca-GO administration (12). In addition to, appropriate to the gender, balancing effects of Maca-GO on hormones FSH, E2 and progesterone, positive results were also recorded in terms of tendency to restrict weight increase, lowering triglycerides in blood plasma and an increase in calcium and phosphorus deposition in bone and muscle tissues. The obtained results suggested that Maca-GO may be of value as a potential substitute to HRT in alleviating perimenopausal symptoms, or reducing dependence on HRT programs. Laboratory assays on male and female rats demonstrated also that Maca-GO may also be considered as a non-hormonal energizing supplement, assisting not only physically-active people and sportsmen, but in those women complaining on lack of energy and stamina, often experienced by women entering menopausal stage of life (12).”

As you can see they did get some positive results from these studies – it seems that the longer the maca was taken, the better the results were, not only in balancing hormones (including FSH which is a key factor in female fertility) but also in restricting weight increase – something that has not been touched on a great deal by many of those promoting maca.

Also, in terms of helping menopausal women, the study compares the use of maca to soy, which has a steroid acting structure, as opposed to maca which is non-steroid based.

There was also evidence that confirmed the use of Maca by the Peruvians for hundreds of years in terms of giving increased stamina and energy.

The results also comment on the fact that some original research revealed that;

“alkaloids in the Maca root, produced fertility effects on the ovaries and testes of rats. She has further deducted that the alkaloids were acting on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis, which may explain why the effects in humans are not limited to ovaries and testes, but also acts on the adrenals, giving a feeling of greater energy and vitality and on the pancreas and thyroid as well.”

So, there are many conclusions that have been drawn from this study which confirm that maca certainly has an effect on hormones and energy.

*Further notes from this study can be found here

How To Take a Tablet

Food & Drink, Health, ,
Some pills can be hard to take...
Some pills can be hard to take…

It is surprising how many people struggle to take a tablet – swallowing them whole just seems impossible and a gag reflex kicks in whenever they try – does this ring true with you?

Doing what seems normal to most people and swallowing a tablet with a glass of water is not possible in many cases. And most of us will have to take some kind of tablets at some point in our lives so learning a knack to taking a tablet is pretty much essential.

Well there is a relatively easy way, which was told to me by my mother (who also suffered from the same problem so maybe it is a hereditary thing?). Anyway, the best way to swallow a tablet is to chew up some food (I usually have a large bite of a biscuit) – something that has a good amount of texture to it is best – when you have chewed it to a minimal level that will enable you to swallow it, put the tablet in your mouth and swallow it with the chewed up biscuit.

Depending on the size of the pill you may need a bit more of a mouthful but I have found this a great way to swallow pills. I also use mouthfuls of cereal and add the tablet to that and this works well too (especially with granola or muesli).

Anyway, give it a try and hopefully it will work for you too.