As we move towards yet another world’s health day, do we really understand what a healthy living is? If we start to count for all those individual who are fit to be called healthy in respect to mind and soul we would find one among thousands or even millions of people.

For living in a metropolitan city, stressful life has become the first and most common feature in everybody’s daily schedule. Most of us honestly agree to the fact that fitness plays an important role in improving our life style. So, when we know how much importance it holds, why not practicing some easy and effective ways to be healthy.

Studies have proven that exercise is best tool to start with. Exercise not only reduces the risk of heart diseases, lowers blood pressure levels, decreases bad (LDL) cholesterols level and increases (HDL) cholesterols level, reduces the risk of osteoporosis, promotes weight loss but also helps to improve postures, immunity level and de-stresses

A well structured human body attracts positive and right stimulus towards it. Regular exercise with a little effort rewards us with a leaner, fitter and refreshing body .Glowing skin, shining eyes and a good physical appearance can make our day even more wonderful. When the negative aspect is negligible why not get started today!

Opening your eyes to a beautiful day and scrabbling about for an inhaler to counter a sudden attack is not a normal way to start yet another day of awe and amazement.Not only asthma patients but people who are suffering from abdominal disorders, arthritis, backache, bronchitis, cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, varicose vein will agree to the harsh fact that living in constant fear and always depended upon inhalers, medicines and substitutes affects the mental health first.

Yoga as the solution of the problem was given by Indian tradition centuries ago. The word yoga means “union” in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India where it took birth. We can think it as the union occurring between the mind, body and spirit. What is commonly referred to as “yoga” can be more accurately described by the Sanskrit word asana, which refers to the practice of physical postures or poses.

But how does yoga help? Do bending your hands and legs to an inappropriate state helps fighting diseases as deadly and painful as abdominal disorders, arthritis, backache, bronchitis, cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, sinusitis, varicose vein.

Benefits from yoga not only help curing the disease up to a large extent at physical level but perpetuate an overall mental well being, balance in life style and rejoicing the soul from inside. Yoga through meditation works remarkably to achieve the harmony and helps the mind work in sync with the body. Increasing flexibility, increasing lubrication of the joints, ligaments and tendons, massaging of all organs of the body, complete detoxification, excellent toning of the muscles are some of the key features of yoga and meditation - rather most effective than any other medicine in the whole world.

Yoga positions or asanas provides the complete fitness with the least metabolism or stress and meditation in turn provides the strength and will to perform these asanas effectively – a virtuous cycle of cause and effect. This mutually symbiotic relationship may help you as it has done to thousands in their path to healthy living.

Do you also wonder why do you need to do stretching before and after workouts?  Here are few reasons why a warm up and cool down are necessary.

“Warming up is a preliminary exercise as a mental and physical preparation for the strenuous exertion”. All educationalists advocate that a warm-up is very necessary before you put your body through a workout session. Warming-up increases the blood flow in the body and avoids injuries like tearing of muscles or cramped muscles. It tones up the muscles and improves their speed. Proper warming up can boost the strength of a human body and can also lend flexibility to the muscles. An effective warm-up for 10 to 15 minutes also amplifies body endurance. Warm-up tones up the muscles and neuro-muscular coordination reduce their reaction time to the external stimuli. Also an effective warm would also bring second wind more readily.

Cooling down your body after a workout session is equally important for the body and your health. Also known as limbering down, this exercise relaxes the body bringing it back to the normal position. It reduces the rate of blood pressure and circulation and also loosens the muscles.

Still in double minds?

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In the last few decades if any of our celestial bodies has acquired a repute of being a truant it is Sun. Our life giving source of energy has been linked with sun burn, cancer, pigmentation and tens of other cosmetic skin ailments by skin companies. We forget that the Sun has for centuries been a source of healing and power.

In an article titled Healing Sunlight in Mindpowernews writer Andreas Moritz says very few people know that not getting enough sun kills 50,000 people from cancer deaths every year in the US alone. As shown later, these are deaths that are easily preventable through the Vitamin D produced by the body in response to regular sun exposure.

Unfortunately, it is the ultraviolet portion of sunlight that is the most easily eliminated by windows, houses, spectacles, sunglasses, sun lotions, and clothing.

Before antibiotic drugs were discovered in the 1930s – penicillin having been the first one – the healing power of sunlight was favored by the medical community, at least in Europe.

Andreas Moritz is also the author of a book Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation. This article is a must read and you can read it here.

A routine warm up before you start on your exercise is important. You may do it only for 10 minutes just before exercising. A typical warm up includes, stretching. Slow stretching can help your muscles increase its blood flow, preventing injury to them as well as tendons (strong tissue connecting bones and muscles), and ligaments (a tissue holding the bones together). Major muscle groups like the chest, abdomen, shoulders, arms, and legs should always be warmed up before you start your work out. During the process, remember to go easy on each muscle without jerking yourself out. Stretching also improves your flexibility.

The traditional stretches for your body are head and neck curls, arms and shoulders, shoulders and chest, hips, trunks knees and calves. It’s always a good idea to follow your body pattern from top to toe for the best effects. A good warm up should last you at least 20 minutes.

A number of questions continue to circle around the flu shot or the influenza vaccine. According to an estimate by the CDC, 5-20% of Americans catch flu every year among which 200000 people end up in hospitals and 30000 even die. Getting an influenza vaccine is the best way to prevent being laid down by the flu.

The best time to get the flu shot is in October or November since the flu season may begin as early as October and run through till May. There are two main types of influenza vaccines. The traditional one consists of an inactivated virus that is given with a needle. This does not contain a live virus and will not cause the flu.

The second type of flu shot is given as a nasal vaccine and is called the FluMist. It can sometimes cause flu and is thus recommended for people who are healthy and aged between 2 to 49 years. Generally this is not given to pregnant women.

Every year, the flu vaccine includes different kinds of virus. The strains selected are those which researchers say are most likely to spread that year. even though a flu shot cannot provide blanket protection against all types of influenza, if the choice is right, the vaccine is 70-90% effective in preventing flu among healthy people below 65 years of age.

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