Home Tests and Observations Part 2 – test your own urine
Please remember these are just indications.
Urine-reagent strip can tell you a lot about your health. They can easily be bought at any good pharmacy or from the internet without prescription. When you take a urine sample – make sure the container is clean and at first wee a little into the toilet bowl, then wee the rest into the clean container. Check that the urine-reagent strips you buy include the tests you are looking for as they do vary a little. There are various colours on the strip and on the container, if all is well they will not change after dipping into your urine. However, if one or two colours change compare them with the chart provided. Redo the test later and if you have any doubts see your doctor.
So what can you test with your urine-reagent strips?
Sugar – this detects sugar in your urine, especially if you suspect you might be pre- diabetic.
Ketones – can be in the urine without any disease being present if you are on an Atkins type diet – restricted or low or no carbohydrates and high in protein foods. Otherwise ketones can appear in the urine of diabetics who are not controlling their diabetes very well.
pH – this simply tells you how alkaline/acidic your urine is. Just to remind you the number 7 is neutral, lower numbers are more acidic and higher numbers are more alkaline. Certain diets and metabolic conditions may lead to the production of various pH levels. As diets can affect the reading a one off change in colour might mean nothing. If you test your urine on a regular basis and the reading is consistent too high or too low then you should visit your doctor and explain your consistent readings, it might be a low grade chronic urinary tract infection?
Protein – this is also known as albumin in the urine. To find a small amount of protein in the urine is quite normal for some people, but larger amounts could mean kidney disease.
Blood – in the urine could come from the kidneys, bladder or any of the tubes? Passing kidney stones could cause some bleeding when they scrap the ureter. Blood may appear in the urine after an injury for instance from a collision during a football game or a car accident. Even if you cannot see blood in your urine sometimes blood can show up on your urine reagent strip.
Test your urine on a regular basis and don’t ignore any changes and signs redo the test and see your doctor.
Read MoreHome Health Tests and Observations – you can do yourself
Test for an over-active thyroid
Stretch your arm out, palm facing down, fingers stretched out as much as possible. Now lay a letter size piece of paper over your hand. The edges of the paper with move a little that is normal in most people. However, if you have (and this is only if) an over active thyroid the paper will move quite violently.
It must be stressed that hand tremor could be due to a number of reasons and have nothing to do with the thyroid. If and the other hand you have also lost weight for no reason, your eyes are bulging a little, and you are beginning to feel more nervous and anxious then coupled with the hand tremor – maybe you have hyperthyroidism. Get tested.
Test for underactive thyroid
Did you ever wonder why the doctor hit your knee. Why he would want to see your knee jerk (a quick sudden movement of the leg up and then quickly relax again). He was testing to see if there are any indications of hypothyroidism. After the knee has been hit and the lower leg jumps up – the important thing is the lower leg will quickly return to normal. When the thyroid is underactive and the hormone production is deficient the will slowly move back into position. This sluggish movement could indicate a sluggish thyroid. Get tested.
How do you know if you smell okay?
Get someone to do a blind smell test. Take products like coffee, mint, ginger, cloves, pepper, vanilla etc and without seeing the product smell each one and see if you can identify all of them. If you have difficulty identifying them, then do a blind tasting with food. If this is a problem you could be short of zinc. Take 25mg of zinc a day.
Observations for D vitamin shortage
The elderly could be a great risk as they don’t get out that much, but can be a problem even to the not so elderly. If your hearing is okay listen to your joints – the sound of snap, crackle and pop, the sound of snapping, crackling and popping are only general indicators that these noises could indicate a vitamin D deficiency. Get more UVs get out more in the daylight.
Observing the Gums
Bleeding gums when you brush your teeth is not normal, there could be some degree of gum disease or other problem. Also look for any swollen, puffy or red gum area, if the gum is an angry red and inflamed it is unhealthy. See your dentist.
Bathroom observations
Hemorrhoids can bleed which is a bright red, this bleeding is not dangerous (unless it was excessive and continuous) and haemorrhoids don’t degenerate into other diseases. However, what you do need to watch for is black tarry stools. This could indicate bleeding higher up somewhere in the digestive tract and needs investigating.
More self-help tests and observations part 2
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Laughter is healthy
LAUGHTER is another important activity to combat aging. A happy person looks younger and much more attractive. Our general attitude to life will have a direct effect on every cell in our body. It will have a direct effect on every aspect of our lives. Make laughter a bigger part of your life and try to make other people around you laugh. Laughter is a true gift, no other living creature on this earth is so lucky, even the laughing hyena really doesn’t laugh.
What does the research reveal about laughing –
Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine and adrenaline. All of these hormones, when they reach chronic levels, are destructive and will increase anxiety, pain, irritability, speed up the ageing process, and slow down healing and repair. At the same time laughter will increase levels of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters. This means generally that you will feel better, look better, look younger, be in a better mood, and this speeds up healing and repair, and slows down aging. Also you will be a person other people want to be around. Being lonely is also aging.
Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T-cells. All this means a stronger immune system, and is a really pleasant way of protecting ourselves from the viruses and ‘bugs’ that are around us all the time. The safety valve – I am sure there have been times when you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Though, they both provide physical and emotional release its more fun to laugh. A good ‘belly laugh’ exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. This means less aches and pains in the neck and shoulder areas that are so common today. When a person is in pain, it is draining and makes one look older. Laughter even provides a good workout for the heart – known as a ‘hearty laugh’.
Laughter connects us with others, it is a very sociable thing to do and it’s wonderfully contagious. That’s why parties can be so much fun as people are generally chatting and laughing. Bring more laughter into your life and you can help others around you to laugh more so everyone’s a winner. By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels, and perhaps improve the quality of the social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more!
Laughter moves the focus away from anger, worry, guilt, stress and negative emotions. Studies show our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a ‘threat’ or a ‘challenge’. Humor can give us a more light hearted perspective and help us view events as ‘challenges’, thereby making them less threatening so we are able to deal with them more effectively. If we feel better we are able to deal with situations much better.
I wonder how and why we lose the ability to laugh so much? A recent study showed that pre-school-aged children laugh up to 400 times a day!!!! That is enviable. Wouldn’t you love some of that? How many times a day do you laugh now you are a sensible ‘grown-up’? Especially if you are in pain, you are probably thinking there is not much to laugh about. You do need to break this viscous cycle.
Make a conscious effort to
1) Buy or rent funny DVDs – you will have laughter on tap.
2) Socialize more, it’s a great way to laugh and it’s contagious. Dump the miserable friends. Have friends over for a meal, or a funny movie or a friendly card game for a laugh.
3) Try to find the funny side of situations that frustrate you. Often these situations when retold to friends later are amusing, so try to see this amusing story in your mind at the time.
4) Pretend at first. Until laughter becomes second nature. This may sound silly but really, practice laughing and certainly smile more. It works.
5) Spend more time with your children or grandchildren, they say the funniest things, and ask some very amusing questions.
Laughter Decreases “Stress” Hormones Other research indicates a general decrease in stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity. Many negative affects were shown to decrease in the study group exposed to humor. For example, levels of epinephrine were lower in both the anticipation of humor and after exposure to humor. Epinephrine levels remained down throughout the experiment. In addition, dopamine levels were also lower. Dopamine is involved in the “fight or flight response” and is associated with elevated blood pressure. Laughing is aerobic, providing a workout for the diaphragm and increasing the body’s ability to use oxygen. Laughter no doubt brings about positive emotions that can enhance our quality of life in so many ways hence it is another tool in the anti-aging ‘tool kit’. Yet most of us would rather have a moan than a good laugh! So remember you need more smiles, more laughter, and much more of a positive outlook in general. Not only will you be a better person to be with, you will have a much improved quality of life. Everyone’s a winner. Remember laughing also exercises the face muscle, laughing and smiling also disguises those wrinkles, they don’t look like wrinkles they look like laughter lines! You look just like anyone who is screwing up their face with smiles and laughter.
Music – research reveals that 20 minutes a day of relaxing music can greatly enhance our good chemicals – reducing inflammation, aging etc.
Read MoreLosing Hair, 10 possible reasons
1) Hair follicles can be affected by some drugs. Check with your doctor or research for yourself the side-effects for your medication. Some cancer treatments, immune suppressants, some arthritis treatments can affect hair growth.
Solution – talk to your doctor.
2) Bold patches could be caused by ring worm, causing inflamed areas.
Once the ringworm has cleared up the hair will return.
3) Bold patches without inflammation and irritation could be alopecia areata.
Solution – see your doctor
4) Having a baby can affect some women, as the hair thins due to hormone imbalances. Generally the hair loss is temporary.
Solution – this situation resolves itself in a few months when the hormones have settled.
5) Feeling tired, sensitive to cold, gaining weight for no reason? This could be due to an under active thyroid (hypothyroid) and hair loss can be another symptom.
Solution – get some tests done and once treatment starts, hair growth returns.
6) Home perms, over coloring, bleaching or harsh shampoos could be effecting healthy hair growth. They are full of toxic chemicals.
Solution – go to a good hair dressers they can advise on kinder milder hair products.
7) Maybe you are too aggressive to your hair, with vigorous brushing, braiding, pulling, over styling with a hot hairdryer, heated tongs, heated straighteners, heated curlers etc
Solution – go to the hair dresser and discuss with them a more natural style.
8) Stress can affect different people in different ways, maybe for you it is hair loss.
Solution – find better ways of coping
9) Nutritional deficiencies can affect hair growth.
Solution – make some dietary changes and take a Vitamin B complex and zinc
10) Some women lose hair during the menopause, due do to hormonal imbalances.
Solution – look at taking some herbal support like red clover, dong qai, or chase berry (agnus castus), black cohosh, and make some healthy dietary changes.
Read MorePolluting your home with poisons!
Everyone wants a pleasant fresh smelling home, but it should not be at the expense of your health. People are filling their homes with artificial chemical laden plug-ins and/or sprays that are a real health hazard. 75 percent of house holds use these synthetic smells, spending nearly $2 billion, all that money to pollute your home!
These sprays, plug-ins or solid air-fresheners have some very alluring names like Tuscan breeze, summer meadow, who could resist? However, these products (some worse than others) contain phthalates that are absorbed into our systems and cause hormonal imbalances. They will not necessarily be listed on the ingredients list. They can cause asthma and upper air way irritation. Then there are the chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene, helping to encourage cancer. If you are prone to breathing problems of any description, any sensitivities stop using all these products immediately. If you have children, throw these products out.
What are you going to use instead? Change to natural therapeutic aroma that will fill your home with natural scents and enhance your health.
Research shows people who live and work in naturally scented environments are happier, and work more productively! Many stores sell essential oils, there is a huge variety to choose from. The practice of using essential oils is called aromatherapy and dates back a very long time. You can choose essential oils to suit your family’s needs, calming, mood enhancing, energizing, cleansing and refreshing etc etc.
When you buy essential oils make sure they are 100% pure and are the real thing, no synthetic substitutes. Only a few drops at a time are needed to fill a room with a wonderful therapeutic atmosphere. In your kitchen you might choose lemon as its fresh and cleansing, lavender in your bedroom as it would help to relax you and encourage peaceful sleep. Maybe mandarin in the study for a clear head. Citronella as an insect repellent, or eucalyptus so you can breath better.
How to use the essential oils
a) an oil warmers with a little bowl that holds some water and a few drops of essential oil, the oil and water is heated up by a tea light that sits under the bowl
b) there are oil warmers that use electricity instead of teas lights
c) there are rings that fit on a light bulb, so when the bulb warms up it fills the room with aromas
d) little containers that fit on the radiators, warming the oils
e) make you own sprays – distilled water or rose water, add a few drops of essential oils, place in an atomizer, shake well each time before you spray the room, linen or pillow (avoid polished furniture).
f) some people put a few drops of essential oil on the filter of their vacuum cleanser filling the house with a cleansing smell, as they vacuum.
g) you may have some pot pourri that has lost its potency, refresh it with a few drops of essential oils.
Top 10 essential oils to make your rooms small heavenly and enhance the health of the whole family and are reasonably priced.
1) Lemon – cleansing, refreshing ideal for the kitchen
2) Eucalyptus – any breathing problems
3) Lavender – for bedrooms, relaxing and enhancing sleep
4) Mandarin – help to enliven the mind
5) Geranium – lifts the spirits
6) Cedar wood – instill a sense of peace
7) Lemongrass – refreshing for the bathroom
8) Citronella – to keep the insect away in summer
9) Tea tree – good for breathing problems, especially with mould/damp type conditions
10) Rosemary – enhances brain function
Read MoreSafe as Houses
Once the front door is closed we see our home as a safe haven from the outside world.
Certainly if asked, we would consider our homes to be less polluted than the outside
world. In fact quite the opposite is true. Over the last five decades many new materials have been introduced into our homes and offices, most of which are made from synthetic materials.
A long study carried out monitored 355 people by means of an automatic pump attached to their bodies. These people were found to breathe at least two to three times more hazardous chemicals when inside their homes and offices than when outside. Inside air pollution comes in many different categories, one being volatile compounds, known as VOCs, derived from petrochemicals. They readily release their vapors at room temperature. VOCs are found in a multitude of materials such as: plywood, chipboard, adhesives, paint and vanishes, carpets and synthetic fabrics. The main two are formaldehyde and benzene. Indoor formaldehyde is gradually been recognized as a health hazard, and benzene is a known human carcinogen. Benzene levels are high in homes of smokers.
To minimize the risk
a)Allow new modern furniture to release their gases outside or in the garage or in a spare room that is well ventilated for a few weeks.
b)Limit your use of synthetic and treated carpets and fabrics.
c)Use water-based paints and sealants, easy to find these days.
d)After decorating, leave the room well ventilated for a few days.
If you have just bought a new car I suggest while it is parked at home under cover, leave the windows open for a few weeks.
Another type of indoor pollution is combustion gas from gas heaters and gas stoves/cookers – mainly nitrogen oxide or dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. Findings have shown that a gas oven set at 350 F, after an hour or more causes levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide 3 times higher than levels found inLos Angelessmog!!!
To minimize the risk, cook with an electric oven if possible. Or make sure the room is very well ventilated while the oven is on, as carbon filters only recycle the deadly fumes.
Electromagnetic stress has recently become a cause for concern. In animal studies electromagnetic stress has shown to alter cellular protein synthesis, disrupt RNA synthesis and reduce immune response.
To minimize the risk
a) Avoid placing electrical clocks, radios, etc too near your head while in bed a sleep.
c) Watch TV from a reasonable distance.
d) A distance of four feet is recommended while the microwave is on, due to possible leaks of microwave radiation.
Then there are the naturally occurring pollutants- mainly house dust mites and moulds (a problem here especially in the rainy season). Mites are a major cause of allergies. They feed on dead skin cells and breed in mattresses, pillows, upholstery and carpets/rugs.
To minimize your exposure
a)For easy cleaning, uncluttered rooms.
b) Its very important to vacuum mattresses on a regular basis.
c)Replace pillows every two years, in the mean time wash them regularly.
d)Vacuuming removes the dead cells, droppings and decomposing body parts.
Increasingly more people are using air fresheners of one description or another, which are made from mainly synthetic substances these further pollute our homes.
The most important thing to remember is to keep all rooms well ventilated and to allow plenty of fresh air to circulate.
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