No matter how many ton of make-up you apply or how many costly products you buy or spend huge money in beauty parlors for expensive skin treatments, the skin troubles are deeper than you think. Working on the periphery is definitely not the solution. By knowing what are the remedies or rather the preventions, you can bestow yourself with a healthy feeling flawless looking skin.

Well balanced diet and healthy lifestyle are the main mantras that shouldn’t be forgotten. Mandatory! Any distortion in the sleeping pattern will be immediately reflected on your skin. While we are in sleep, all the damage caused by pollution, dirt etc is repaired. So, good amount of sleep is required. Water,again works as a magic potion. Daily eight glasses of water can wash away harmful toxins from the body. Intakes of vitamins are really essential. Where vitamin A can prevent you from dryness and ageing, vitamin B improves blood circulation and skin color while vitamin C can also do wonders by providing essential component collagen which heals the skin very quickly. Alcohol, drugs and smoking are a big no.

Well! There is a reason why it is always said beauty refinement starts from inside.

On an average of more than 16 women per minute die out of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes. According 2005, roughly half of the 17.2 million victims of heart diseases (world’s biggest killer) were women. Women are more likely to be underdiagnosed and untreated. They are considered as the pillars of society and family, hence their health should be given utmost priority. Many foundations are working and taking actions to reduce the number of deaths and disabilities from cardiovascular diseases.

With the speeding and distorted lifestyle, huge intakes of junk foods, inefficiency towards health, smoking and other unhealthy ways of living has undoubtedly increased the number of affected victims. The symptoms usually seen are chest or stomach pains, nausea, breathlessness and unexplained tiredness. But by daily exercise, drinking loads of water, eating proper diet,reducing salt intake,controlling and monitoring cholestrol and quitting smoking can bestow you with a longer life. Maintaining healthy weight is essential. Obesity and overweight can pump up the heart risks. Staying on right track is important.

We are given one life, why to waste it.

Women are more likely to develop breast cancer a second time if they are obese, smokers or take over seven drinks a week, results of a new study shows.

The study followed 1000 patients from Seattle area who had ER-positive or Estrogen Receptor-positive breast cancer. Among these 365 patients eventually developed a second cancer in the other breast. After all the subjects in the study were questioned about their lifestyle, it was found that women who were current smokers faced the biggest risk at a whopping 120% of developing a second breast cancer while similar risks for obese women stood at 505 and for those who consumed more than seven alcoholic drinks each week the risk was 90%, according to researcher Christopher Li, MD, PhD. Li is also an associate member of the public health division of the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Results of the study were published in the advance online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study included only patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer which is a condition where the tumor grows when exposed to the female hormone estrogen. This is the most common type of breast cancer among patients around the world. The study

Support groups across the globe observed World Suicide Prevention Day on Thursday and strove to spread the word on supporting those who struggle with depression and mental ill-health.

Counselors and volunteers who work with suicide prevention groups say that even untrained people can pick up certain warning signs which might indicate that a person is contemplating suicide. If friends and family members learnt to recognize these signs then the risk of a depressed person taking the extreme step could be substantially curtailed.

Some of the most telling signs that a person might be contemplating suicide are:
• Behavior related to deep depression such as loss of appetite, insomnia or oversleeping, excessive crying or carelessness about appearance.
• Frequent talk of dying or wanting to die, obsession with death and especially previous suicide attempts.
• Unusual behavior like giving away favorite possession, inappropriate farewells and sudden happiness after a long period of depression.
• Purchase of guns, drugs or pills.

If a friend or family member displays any or several of the above signs, you can help by listening actively and expressing support in a non-judgmental way. However if you feel that the matter is too serious, do not hesitate to take professional help as it may mean the difference between life and death.

The US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK.

Smoking cigarettes, we all know, is one of the surest ways to wreck our own bodies from within and harm our loved ones from without. Still many of us find difficult to kick the habit. Here are a few tips that are sure to motivate you to fling away the cancer stick.

Find a strong personal reason why you would like to quit. If the charge that “it’s bad for you” seems to vague, try considering the health of your own lungs or the safety of your children from secondhand smoke.

The surest way to stop smoking is to take recourse of therapy or medication. This is because a smoker’s brain is addicted to nicotine and going cold turkey can result in severe withdrawal symptoms with greater chances of relapse.

Involve others in your efforts to quit smoking. Family, friends and co-workers or members of a support group can offer powerful motivation to keep away from cigarettes. If possible seek behavioral therapy which will greatly help you to identify and stick to quit-smoking strategies besides enabling you to deal with situations that compel smoking like stress and depression.

Finally, refuse to give up. If you have a relapse, consider the emotions and situations that led you to it. Remember that many smokers try to quit several times before finally giving it up.

A Mediterranean style diet low in carbohydrates may prove to be more effective in management of Type-2 diabetes as compared to low-fat diet according to new study from Italy.

Results of a four-year long study conducted by researchers from Second University, Naples compared the impact of a Mediterranean as well as a low-calorie diet on 215 patients with Type-2 diabetes. At the end of the study it was found that those on a Mediterranean diet achieved better blood sugar control as compared to those on low-fat diet, thus delaying the need for medication which lowers blood sugar. Moreover the Mediterranean diet also helped subjects to cut down on several risk factors for heart disease like weight gain.

The typical Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables, fruits and whole grain but uses red meat and processed foods sparingly. This type of diet includes a relatively high amount of fat from sources like olive oil, nuts and a few carbohydrates. The typical low-fat diet on the other hand prohibits the intake of all kinds of dietary fats. Both kinds of diet have been conventionally recommended for weight loss in diabetes patients but the results of the new Italian study suggests that the Mediterranean diet is more effective in overall type-2 diabetes management.

Anorexia is a potentially fatal eating disorder which compels the affected person to believe that he or she is not thin enough. As a result the subject seeks to deprive his or her body of food while subjecting it to excessive workouts. This may eventually lead to physical and mental breakdown and even death. So if you find your teenaged kid getting obsessive about food and body size, watch out for these symptoms of anorexia.

The most obvious sign is a significant amount of with loss in a short period of time. This may happen if the person continues to avoid food or goes for unnaturally severe workouts with the aim of slashing his or her body weight. A much more dangerous form of this obsession is to indulge in binge eating and then using laxatives to throw up all the food. If you find your teenager indulging in this behavior it is time to seek professional help.

Other symptoms of anorexia may not manifest in physical terms but have more to do with what a person thinks. An anorexic person will keep thinking he or she is getting fatter when in fact the person may be losing weight at an alarming rate. This unhealthy obsession with body size and self-image may manifest in repeated checking of weighing scales, sinking self esteem and unsocial behavior.

The American diet is increasingly becoming loaded with added sugars and thus more prone to associated health risks, the American Heart Association has warned.

Added sugar is increasingly finding its way into the regular diet of the American people – sometimes sprinkled on food but more commonly processed in packaged beverages and foods. According to an estimate the average American takes in as much as 355 calories per day of added sugars, mostly from sugar-sweetened drinks. but over the years more and more food options have been flavored with sweetening agents and the AHA estimates that between 1970 and 2005 the prevalence of added sugars in foods and beverages has shot up by 19 percent. Even foods which are conventionally thought to be fat-free like flavored popcorn or “healthy” like granola bars contain substantial amounts of added sugars.

The AHA has expressed concern is this increased intake of added sugars may disturb the normal metabolic rate of the human body and result in health risks like obesity and hypertension. Keeping in mind the associated health risks, the American Heart Association has now recommended an upper limit on daily intake of added sugars. The group suggests that women keep their daily consumption of added sugars within 100 calories while men restrict their intake to 150 calories.

If you thought you knew all that there was to know about the adverse effects of a high-fat diet, here is more. Researchers now say that prolonged intake of fatty food can affect memory in the short term and make exercise difficult. In other words repeated snacking on those burgers and chips can make you stupid and lazy.

The results were reported in the FASEB journal after a new study conducted by American researcher Andrew Murray and his team. The study noted the impact of fat in diet on two groups of rats. One of these was given a high-fat diet over a ten-day period at the end of which they took longer to complete a maze and made more mistakes as compared to the other group of rats who had been fed a low-fat diet.

However the impact on human memory of a high-fat diet can be confirmed only after wide-ranging research involving human subjects. Even though rodents are thought to be standard analogues in studies like this, rats typically live for a much shorter time and hence study effects on humans may differ because of longer time scales in the latter.

An average human being needs at least eight hours of sleep every night. A good night’s sleep is not only essential to refresh the mind but also to let the body go through a necessary healing process. Here are a few ways to make sure that you get your dose of restful slumber.

Start by checking your sleeping environment. Make sure the bedroom has the right temperature and is comfortably darkened. Keep out distracting noises. More importantly restrict the use of bedroom for sleeping and resting and do not turn crowd it with TV, computer and other equipments.

Developing soothing bedtime rituals will go a long way in helping you to sleep better. See what works for you – a warm shower, a cup of hot cocoa or slow breathing practices like in meditation or prayer sessions. Practicing these rituals will induce a feeling of regularity and disengagement from day’s activities and thus help you to unwind sooner.

Proper nutrition and exercise regimens help the body to keep fit and consequently prepare it to receive its due rest. However avoid eating and exercising right before your bedtime. Stay away especially from greasy, spicy food, caffeine and alcohol if you want a restful sleep.