Handling the Cost of Physician Services If You Do Not Have Insurance

If you do not have insurance that covers physician services, you should be thinking of how to get the services for free or at a reduced rate.
Sources of Free Care
There are various establishments that provide free physician services. These include schools, job sites, medical university centers, and community centers.
Many schools have health centers where any member of that establishment can go in and get a checkup for free. While some of these centers do not provide very comprehensive care, they provide decent enough care that might be sufficient for the needs of the individual.
A lot of employers also have health centers at their job sites. Some employers who do not provide health insurance for their workers do provide a facility for employees to get routine care and immunizations. These centers can handle some of the basic healthcare needs and follow-up care.
While medical university centers do not routinely provide free services, they are involved in medical studies and are always looking for volunteers. As part of getting involved in a study, you will be given a thorough physical exam and workup, for free. It is important to note, however, that this is not recommended as a way to get routine care, since this method provides no continuity of care—when the study is over, you have to move on or find another study. Also, medical studies, while a necessary part of medicine, carry risks. Be sure you thoroughly understand what you are getting into and are fully informed of the risks involved.
Community centers and churches often hold health fairs where physicians perform various services for free to the community. Again,while this might be a good short-term solution especially for those who have not been to a doctor in a while and might be worried about a condition but do not know where to start, it is still necessary to establish a long-term relationship with a physician or health center.
Physician Services at Reduced Fees
In trying to save on the cost of physician services, it is always good to remember that specialists charge more than generalists, so the more specialized the physician, the greater the chance of the fees being on the high side. To any extent possible, stay with PCPs, especially general and family physicians, because they cost less than internists. So first call around and inquire about their rates. Also inquire about payment plans. If you are afraid that the doctor might not agree to a plan ahead of time, visit the doctor and get the help you need. After that, tell him or her you can’t pay but would like to arrange for a payment plan. As long as you stick to the plan, you are not going to be sent to a credit collector. However, do this only when you are really desperate and need to see a doctor.
It is important to be able to communicate openly and trustingly with your physician, and this includes talking to him or her about the cost of any medical intervention. For those who are embarrassed to talkto their doctor about the cost of treatment, it may be comforting to know that the American Medical Association states the following in its Fundamental Elements of the Patient-Physician Relationship:
The patient has the right to receive information from physicians and to discuss the benefits, risks, and costs of appropriate treatment alternatives. Patients should receive guidance from their physicians as to the optimal course of action. Patients are also entitled to obtain copies or summaries of their medical records, to have their questions answered, to be advised of potential conflicts of interest that their physicians might have, and to receive independent professional opinions.

Saving on Prescription Drugs When You Have Drug Coverage

If you have insurance that covers prescription drugs then you don’t have to worry about medication cost, right? Well, maybe or maybe not. Most probably, when you get a prescription from your doctor, you take it to your local pharmacy, and if you have managed care insurance,
you pay a copay—your share of the cost. The pharmacy then deals with the insurance company to get paid the other part of the medication cost. Most individuals have health coverage through managed care plans, and these plans provide prescription drug coverage with copays.
The copays are usually fixed amounts, between $10 and $30, depending on what the plan designates in your contract. Usually the amount is fixed for a year, and that is how much you pay, regardless of the actual cost of the medication. So, if the medication costs $100 and your copay is $10, you pay $10. If your doctor prescribes another medication that costs $200, you still pay only $10. Your insurance pays the difference to the pharmacy. Many managed care plans are now developing different copays for members based on the plan’s cost for the medication. So, for example, a member might be charged a copay of $10 for the generic version of a drug but will have to pay a copay of $30 for the brand name.
There is a catch to the copay system, however. For you to pay only the copay, your doctor must prescribe a medication that appears on what is called a formulary, which is the list of medications that the insurance company has decided it will pay for. If your doctor decides that the medication that is the most appropriate for you is not on the formulary, he or she has to call the insurance company to justify its use. If the insurance company is not satisfied with the explanation, you will have to pay the full price of the medication.
If you have indemnity insurance that covers prescriptions, you pay for the medication and then submit a claim form to the insurance company to get reimbursed for all or part of the medication cost.
In all of the above cases, the out-of-pocket costs are usually small and most people who need medications for an acute condition can easily manage the cost. It starts to be a bit more complicated and expensive, however, when an individual has several chronic conditions and/or is on several medications. Even when you obtain your medications with copays alone, if you have several chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, and are on several maintenance drugs, these copays can add up pretty fast.
The first step in managing the cost of prescriptions is to determine if the disease is an acute condition or a chronic condition. Acute conditions are illnesses that usually come on suddenly and whose treatments require relatively short periods of time, from a one-time therapy to a month or two of medications. Examples of acute conditions are pain after you see a dentist, an infection such as a strep throat or an ear infection, or a cold. Managing these conditions is not as expensive because once the treatment regiment is completed, the disease is usually cured.
Chronic conditions, on the other hand, usually develop gradually and when diagnosed, have to be treated for longer periods. Chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure have to be treated for longer periods of time, even for life. It is important to realize that with these conditions, you have to continue treating the disease even when you do not feel any symptoms. Many of these diseases have to be “managed” because we do not yet have cures for them. When patients fail to follow treatment directions like taking their medicine every day, the disease can become more complicated and more difficult to manage. The result is an even greater expenditure on healthcare.
There are two strategies for managing the cost of prescriptions when you have coverage: mail order and samples.

A Healthy Mind for Health and Long Life

What has your mind to do with health and long life? Far more than the majority of men and women realize! Think of your thoughts as powerful magnets, as entities which have the ability to attract or repel, according to the way they are used. A majority of people lean either to the positive or the negative side mentally. The positive phase is constructive and goes for success and positive achievements, while the negative side of life is destructive, leading to futility and failure. It’s self- evident it’s to our advantage to cultivate a positive healthy mental attitude. With patience, persistence and living The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle this can be accomplished.
There are many negative and destructive forms of thought which react in every cell in your body. The strongest is fear, and its child, worry – along with depression, anxiety, apprehension, jealousy, ill-will, envy, anger, resentment, vengefulness and self-pity. All of these negative thoughts bring tension to the body and mind, leading to waste of energy, enervation and also slow or rapid poisoning of the body. Rage, intense fear and shock are very violent and quickly intoxicate the whole system. Worry and other destructive emotions act slowly but, in the end, have the same destructive effect. Anger and intense fear stop digestive action, upset the kidneys and the colon causing total body upheaval (diarrhea or constipation, headaches, pains, fever, etc.).
Fear, worry and other destructive habits of thought muddle the mind! A crystal clear mind is needed to reason to your best advantage, enabling you to make sound, healthy decisions. An emotionally clouded mind often makes unwise and unhealthy decisions and might be unable to reach any positive conclusions at all!
What are the positive healthy mental forces or expressions? They are the ones that lead to peace of mind and inner relaxation, as opposed to the destructive habits which cause a tightening up of the entire system. This 65 very second, let your mind take over your body.

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body

Shakespeare, almost 400 years ago, anticipated the dominant psychology of our time when he said, It is the mind that makes a body rich. It’s true that the mind guides the body. Likewise, the body helps the mind and links us to the Infinite Spirit of Life! When we are truly healthy, we are brim full in body, mind and spirit. (3 John 2) Our body relates us to the Universe in which we live – the Earth. We are related to Mother Earth through the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe and the sun that warms us with its all-pervading power. All are essential for a healthy body and to the continuance of our life! All these nurturing things we need in as pure a form as Mother Nature and God have provided them, without depleting or denaturing them. The food we eat is related to our health. Our bloodstream’s system carries essential nutrients that provide the energy and vitality for the functioning of every part of the body. What we eat at this hour today will be nourishment in our cells within 24 hours. If we eat organic foods as Mother Nature prepared it with her own unmatched chemistry – without losing essential elements – then it will meet our requirements for the growth, health and chemical balance of the body. It will build a powerful, long lasting heart for you. It will give you an alert and active mind. Healthy food will add life to your years – and years to your life!

Healthy Benefits from Eating Onions and Garlic

Ancient Egyptians and Romans prized the extraordinary healing powers of garlic and onions. Recent research supports these claims. According to studies done by the nutrition department at Pennsylvania State University, consuming one medium onion a day may lower your cholesterol by 15 percent. The sulfur compounds in onions help lower dangerous levels of blood fats and help keep plague from adhering to artery walls. Onions come in many varieties: yellow, red and white. Sweet onions like Vidalia, Maui and Walla Walla have a lower sulfur content than other more pungent varieties. To minimize tears, chill onions for half an hour before peeling and chopping. It’s best to eat them raw for their full health benefit in salads, dips, spreads, soups, sandwichs and most foods. When cooking onions, lightly sauté them, for over-cooking can destroy important enzymes. As for garlic’s health role in protecting your heart, the cloves contain natural anticoagulants that help thin the blood, and they help protect against platelet stickiness – thus lowering the risk of clotting and even a stroke! Plus, garlic has potent immune-enhancing properties, it may eradicate many types of bacteria and fungi, including salmonella and candida; as well as inhibit gastrointestinal ulcers. Remove garlic’s outer papery skin. Let it sit for 10 minutes after chopping, to let the beneficial enzymes develop. Varieties of garlic and onions are: shallots, elephant garlic, garlic spears, leeks, chives and scallions – allbeneficial to health!

Teenagers Now Susceptible to Heart Disease

Nutritional biochemist, famous Dr. T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University has found that one out of two children born today will develop heart disease, and a new study from the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions (http://www.americanheart.org/), shows that heart disease actually begins developing early in childhood. Fatty deposits in the coronary arteries begin appearing by the age of 3, in children who partake in a typical American diet -processed foods laden with fats. By the age of 12, nearly 70% of our children have advanced fatty deposits, and by the age of 21, early stages of heart disease is evident in virtually all young adults! Dr. John Knowles, of the Rockefeller Foundation, has cited that 99% of all children are born healthy, yet are made sick as a result of their eating habits. The tender years of childhood should be the healthiest of all, bones are strong, hair is thick, liver and endocrine glands are functioning to full capacity, and they should have inexhaustible energy; yet, their bodies are being fed hamburgers full of steroids, antibiotics, hormones and chemicals; milk that is often indigestible which can cause ear aches, colds, allergies, asthma and lots of health problems. The latest studies find “adult” diseases are related to what we eat throughout our early years in life. In fact, 95% of coronary disease can be prevented by implementing healthier eating habits earlier in life - reducing dietary fat and consuming more fresh vegetables, fruits and natural complex carbohydrates such as whole grains is very important. Prevention is important - reward your child for good behavior with fresh fruits, instead of sugary processed candies; establish healthy eating habits before any damage to their health occurs.

Your Body Constantly Works for You –And You Must Work for Your Body!

The body is constantly breaking down old bone and tissue cells and replacing them with new ones. As the body casts off old minerals and broken-down cells, it must obtain fresh food supplies of essential elements for new cells. Scientists are only now beginning to understand that various kinds of dental problems, different types of arthritis and even some forms of artery hardening are due to body imbalances of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. Many disorders can be caused by imbalances in the ratios of minerals to each other. Each individual’s healthy body requires a proper balance within itself of all the nutritive elements. It is just as bad for any individual to have too much of one item as it is to have too little of another one. For instance, it takes appropriate levels of phosphorus and magnesium to keep calcium in solution so it can be formed into new cells of bone and teeth. Yet there must not be too much magnesium nor too little calcium in the diet or old bone will be taken away and new bone will not be formed. We know that diets that are unbalanced can deplete the body of essential minerals and elements. Diets high in meats, fish, eggs, grains and nuts or their products may provide unbalanced excesses of phosphorus which will leech calcium and magnesium from the bones, causing them to be lost in the urine. A diet high in fats will tend to increase the intake of phosphorus from the intestines relative to calcium and other basic minerals. Such diets can also produce a loss of the body’s basic minerals in the same way a high phosphorus diet does. Diets excessively high in fruits or their juices may provide unbalanced excesses of fruit sugars and of potassium in the body, which also can leech calcium and magnesium from the body.

The Function of Fat in the Body

Our nerves, muscles and organs must be cushioned by a normal amount of fat. If we did not have a certain amount of fat in our gluteus maximus (the buttocks), for example, we would never be able to sit down because we would have to sit directly on our muscles and bones. Those who wish to lose weight should reduce the bad, saturated fat content of their diet, and those who wish to gain should increase their good, unsaturated fat intake. But even when on a reducing diet, there should be some fat in your diet because it plays an important and essential role in your body’s chemistry. Stored in the body, fat provides a source of heat and energy, while the accumulation of a certain amount of fat around the vital organs (such as the kidneys) gives great protection against cold and injury. Fat also has a function to perform in the body’s cells, for which special fats known as unsaturated fatty acids are needed in small amounts. Without these a roughness or scaliness of the skin would result. Fats have another all-important function: they carry the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K through the body. As you can see, a certain amount of fat in the diet is necessary to a healthy functioning body. But it’s the kind of fat that is most important! Unsaturated fat is best. Caution – go light on clogging saturated fats!

Vegetable and Fruit Juices Contain Mother Nature’s Distilled Water

No new water has been put on the face of Mother Earth since it was originally formed. Just as the same energy is formed and re-formed, so the same water is used and re-used over and over again by the miracle of Mother Nature. Waters of the earth are purified by distillation. The sun evaporates the water which is collected into clouds. When the clouds become full we have rain and dew – pure, perfectly clean, distilled water, free of all harmful inorganic substances, until polluted! Years ago, when the late Douglas Fairbanks, Senior, and Dad were close friends, they roamed the South Sea Islands for several months. During that trip Dad came upon an island inhabited by beautiful, healthy Polynesians who drank only distilled water because the island was surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Their island was based on porous coral which could not hold water – so they would only drink rain water or the fresh, clear, clean water of the green coconut. Dad had never seen any finer specimens of humanity than these native South Sea Islanders. There were several doctors on the yacht who thoroughly examined the most mature people on these islands. One heart doctor stated that he had never in his life examined such healthy, well-preserved people. You may have noted we said only the most mature people were examined by the doctors. They were so completely unaware of age that no such word existed in their language! They never celebrated birthdays, so they were forever young – gloriously ageless, not only in years but in body. These older men performed as well in the vigorous native dances as the younger men. They were all beautiful human specimens because they lived their lengthy lives drinking only pure distilled water, eating natural foods and enjoying a healthy lifestyle.

Pure Water Helps Keep Body Clean Inside

To have a clean, healthy bloodstream and arteries free from encrustation and corrosion, we must not only eat correctly but also drink the right fluids. The liquids which go into our bodies must be pure and nourishing. To begin with, we believe that every person should have the equivalent of 8 to 10 glasses of pure distilled water every day. It can be obtained in most supermarkets, grocery stores and health stores. If you cannot find it readily, look under water in the yellow pages of your telephone directory for local bottled water suppliers. Distilled water has no inorganic minerals to deposit on the walls of the arteries and other pipes of the body. In contrast, most sources of well, spring and river waters all contain inorganic minerals and some even have toxic chemicals which cannot ever be utilized in the body chemistry. They corrode the human pipes just as they do the plumbing pipes which bring water into your home.

Keep Your Precious Body and Heart Functioning at Peak Efficiency

Despite its importance, most of us rarely consider the care of this machine – our body – until illness strikes. By care we don’t mean coddling . Instead, we mean those sensible practices and precautions which keep us in shape for the vigorous daily routine that strenuous modern living requires. Most people are fortunate to be born healthy, but far too often take this priceless gift of health for granted. Unfortunately, Mother Nature does not always let them get away with this carefree attitude. You can ruin a good car by neglect or abuse, and you can do the same with your heart and body!
Unless you know how your body functions – or malfunctions – you cannot take proper care of it. Most people’s ideas about their physical processes are erroneous or far-fetched. Even in this scientific age, too many superstitions and misconceptions about the human body still persist .

Methods to Avoid Eyestrain

• Give ample exercise to the eyes by periodically focusing on objects at varying distances
• Blink the eyes regularly
• Try to keep the air around you moist – For instance, you can use plants, open pans of water or a humidifier (spider plants are said to be particularly good for this and removing chemical vapors from the air)
• Adjust the screen height/seating so that while you are comfortably seated, your eyes are in line with the top of the monitor screen
  
• Adjust the brightness control on your monitor for comfort. Focusing on the monitor for a long time with full brightness can cause eyestrain.
  
• Adjust the contrast on your monitor to make the characters distinct from the background
  
• Adjust the refresh rate of your monitor to stop it flickering
• You need to position monitors in order to avoid glare (e.g. not directly in front of windows)
  
• Keep your monitor screen clean
  
• Keep the screen and document holder (if you use one) at the same distance from your eyes
• Try to place the reference materials as close to the screen as possible
  
• You need to service, repair, or replace monitors that flicker or have insufficient clarity
  
• Do regular eye testing at least once every 2 years and more frequently if necessary - especially if you are experiencing eye problems related to using display equipment
• Specify the distance from your eyes to the monitor to your optician and get information regarding special lenses or the use of bifocals.
  
• Wear rigid rather than soft contact lens

Monitor And Headaches

Radiation is a well-known problem. More radiation is emitted by the back of the monitor than the screen, so you, your co-workers and family members should never sit close to the back of your computer. Another hazard is the headache produced by the almost invisible ’flicker’ of the monitor as the image on screen is refreshed. The solution is to increase the refresh rate of the monitor to at least 75hz. Your monitor driver or control panel should offer you a choice of refresh rates. To find out if your monitor is flickering, pay attention only to the view in your peripheral vision. If you see a faint flicker, or find yourself getting frequent headaches, increase your refresh rate,reduce the contrast on screen, sit further from the screen, and increase the ambient lighting around your workstation. Standard fluorescent lights also flicker and can cause headaches or dizziness. If you can, use reflected light from halogens or daylight-spectrum fluorescents - shine the light onto the ceiling or wall, never toward your eyes. Best of all is reflected daylight, but don’t allow glare on the screen. The way you position your head is also important. Your monitor should be placed below the level of your head, and tilted slightly upward, so your gaze is slightly downward, putting your neck in a more natural, relaxed position.
Note: NEVER work past the point of discomfort. Stretch out for ten minutes - right now - save your hands, arms, back and maybe your career.

Folic Acid Helps Protect the Blood

Folic acid plays a vital role in the smooth functioning of a healthy body. Long revered as a brain food, it’s needed for growth of red and white blood cells and the body’s energy production. Deficiencies of folic acid and also B6 and B12 can lead to serious conditions such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, immune system problems and dangerously high homocysteine levels. Two mustread books by Kilmer S. McCully, M.D. The Homocysteine Revolution and The Heart Revolution educate the reader about the deadly toxic effects of high homocysteine levels and the tragic results to the cardiovascular system.

Millions Suffer Vitamin B-Complex Deficiency

People of every age go about their daily business with their vital energies barely above the point of exhaustion. Watch carefully what they eat and you will find they are not eating foods that help to build Nerve Force. As is typical of a deficiency, the body signals its need for nutrients with cravings. In the case of B-Complex vitamin deficiency, the body signals its craving for food.
Through ignorance, however, people often seek to supply this need with incorrect material by stuffing it with the so-called “quick energy” concoctions that contain refined white sugar; such as candy, chewing gum, cakes, cookies, cola drinks, ice cream, pies and other rich, sugary desserts.
These may give an apparent temporary “lift,” but this false energy is quickly consumed by the body, leaving the real deficiency even greater than before. So whenever you feel what you interpret as a “craving for sweets” look to your nerves and reach for the B-Complex vitamin supplements instead of the sugar bowl! A B-Complex vitamin deficiency is insidious and difficult to detect. Apparently, the troubles seem to be minor – occasional headaches, some colds and joint and stomach pains, or a clogged bowel which has to be whiplashed with a powerful drug laxative. Ask most people suffering from this eficiency, “How are you feeling today?” Since the trouble seems to be minor, their reply will usually be, I feel great! They have had the ailment so long that they have learned to live with it and think nothing of it. So many people have not the slightest idea what “feeling great” really means! They go on their merry way until Mother Nature finally will not take any more abuses, and then they have a complete nervous breakdown.

You are Exactly What You Eat and Drink

Of all the various causes of nervous exhaustion and the entire ensemble of conditions that arise with it, incorrect diet probably leads the group. If there is any one thing that must be changed before the body can respond with vigorous health and unlimited Nerve Force, it is the average American diet. To help relieve the strain, stress and tensions that threaten our lives, we must eat adequate amounts of natural, healthy foods to supply the body with the important nutrients for building an active brain in a strong, healthy body.
The Central Nervous System is made and maintained by the food you eat. How can you build a strong Nervous. System and maintain it on hot dogs, washed down with caffeine-filled coffee or colas? How can greasy french fried potatoes supply the nervous system with the valuable nutrients that it needs? It cannot!
As we have devitaminized and demineralized our daily foods we have weakened our Central Nervous System. We are surrounded by an avalanche of chemicals which are poisonous and injurious to our health. Our foods are sprayed with poisonous insecticides. Then the food
processors incorporate hundreds of food additives and chemicals which may make their products have longer shelf life, but will ultimately also shorten human life.
The awful price we pay for our destruction of the BComplex vitamins in our “civilized” foods is evident in the confusion, discouragement and desire for suicide – combined with the ervousness and excessive fatigue – so common in our lives and world today. In our opinion the excessive use of tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea, cola drinks and drugs is directly related to a deficiency in BComplex vitamins. We have carefully studied the dietary habits of people who use these powerful stimulants and drugs and found in every case that these people are suffering from B-Complex vitamin deficiency.

Relaxation is a Healthy, Soothing Feeling

Relaxation is a special feeling. There is no other way to express it. This feeling is not something you can turn off and on at will. It is something that must be built up in the conscious and the subconscious mind, something you build up in every one of the billions of cells in your body, in your entire nervous system, in your vital organs and in your muscles. There have been times – yes, many times – whenyou have correctly let your feelings direct your life.
Haven’t you said to yourself more than once, “I have a feeling I should not go on that trip as I planned to do?” Let’s say it was to be a plane trip. So you listened to the inner voice of your feelings and did not go. Then something came up in your life that made you glad you didn’t go. You relied upon your feelings. We have often said, “I have a feeling that person doesn’t like me.” Sure enough, we find that person trying to undermine our character to others. Or, someone hurts you dreadfully and you say to them, “You have hurt my feelings.” You feel the hurt deep inside. Yes, we do have feelings and we do feel things. Relaxation is a feeling. Your feelings allow your nerves to relax. Your feelings can banish stress, strain and tensions to bring calm, inner peace and serenity. Feeling is the life force within you that is always working for you. All it needs is a chance. It is astonishing how fewpeople get their physical, mental and emotional debris out of the way and let feeling work for them. Everyone knows what it is to feel miserable . . . just as everyone knows how it feels to be tired, exhausted, weak, sad or depressed. All people know what pain feels like. Our feelings do not deceive us. We all know how we feel when we get up in the morning. We know how we feel during the day. Feeling is a vital part of our lives! If we feel nervous, weak, tired and miserable we produced those feelings with our incorrect daily living habits. Feeling follows the law of cause and effect. Every effect in life is produced by a cause. You get out of life just what you put into it. It is one of the great and inflexible laws of life. Most people are plagued with stress, strains and tensions. These conditions do not just appear out of a blue sky! They are motivated by a cause. Relaxation is a feeling produced by one’s actions, attitude and environment. If you follow a defined program of building Nerve Force, you can produce the feeling of complete relaxation! However, you must earn this feeling. There is no use trying to get it with a cigarette, cup of coffee, tea, cola or an alcoholic drink.

Enjoy Energy from Gentle Sunbathing

The sun is the primary source of energy. If we did not have the warmth of the sun on the earth, we would all quickly freeze to death. All things that live, breathe and grow need the energy of the sun.
Modern man has swaddled himself in clothes and as a consequence is a pale, sallow weakling. In our culture today we say that “Clothes make the man” and many people are driven to desperation trying to keep up with the latest styles. We believe clothes do have a place in our culture, but it is far more important to have a healthy body that has absorbed the life-giving rays of the sun! The direct rays of the gentle sun on the naked body supply vitality and dynamic energy and recharge the human storage battery with renewed strength to build powerful and vibrant Nerve Force! Life-giving sunshine is essential to your health, happiness and longevity.
The early morning rays are the coolest and gentlest. Take your sunbaths between 7 am and 11 am. Stay out of the sun from 11 am to 3 pm while the infrared rays are dangerous. From 3 pm until sundown is another time to bask in the cooler rays of the sun. These cool rays of the sun rejuvenate the skin, giving a satiny texture and a natural brown color. The gentle sun is a tonic for frazzled nerves. Its cool rays calm, quiet and soothe the nerves while helping to promote a relaxed feeling. If you can combine a nap with a sunbath, you will help refill the reservoirs of the body with Nerve Force. After gentle sunning pat on some Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar.
Most people are so full of toxic waste and acids that as soon as they expose their nude bodies to the rays of the sun they become red, blister and may actually become ill. Remember that the sunbath is a perfect “invisible” toxic poison eliminator. That is the reason that the utmost caution must be used when you start to take your gentle sunbaths. Please do not tell us that you are too busy to find time to take a sunbath! This is such a worn-out excuse! Make your weekends healthy and do take time to enjoy a 30-minute gentle sunbath.

Special Shower Builds Healthy Circulation

Here’s a progressive method for improving circulation over your entire body. All you need is a large back brush or Swedish bath friction mitt, castile soap and a coarse Turkish towel. Now get into shower and turn on hot water. With brush or mitt, gently scrub your body. At first your coddled body won’t be able to take too much scrubbing. It’s also good to massage neck and upper shoulders. After your scrub/massage, then start to alternate hot and cold showers for 3 to 5 minutes. Now towel rub dry your body for 3 to 5 minutes – your body circulation will tingle!
Hot/cold water showers are a wonderful way to relax, refresh and stimulate tired muscles. Let the spray beat heavily on your back and shoulders. Occasionally before shower apply olive oil if your skin is dry. We advise this relaxing shower before dinner on days when you come home tired. It helps relieves muscular stress and strain!

Regular Exercise

A lot of studies have shown the benefits of exercise on nearly every aspect of our lives. Exercise can lower blood pressure, control weight,and lower cholesterol. It can help us stop smoking, control stress, and sleep better. It can boost our immune system to help us fight diseases.
It gives us strength and endurance. I can go on, and on, and on. In fact it is almost criminal, or it so it seems to our bodies, not to exercise. It would be hard to find anybody who doesn’t think exercise is good for them. Fortunately, more and more people are adding exercise to their
lifestyles. The bottom line: Exercise is good for you, and is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.
Now let’s consider some other aspects: exercise being complicated, and the money it takes to exercise.
Complications
We can discuss the different types of exercise: aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. We can talk about warm-ups, primary exercises, and cool-downs. We can talk about target heart rate. We can talk about target zones. We can talk about the training effect. Are these things
important? Sure, and if you are an exercise physiologist, you’d better know them. Do you need to know them to exercise? Absolutely not. In fact, if you try to figure out all these things, you might give up because you might think it is too complicated. So let’s make things less complicated. Exercise simply means doing an activity that increases the rate at which your body burns calories. Calories are the bundles of energy that your body needs to do all the things it does to stay alive. We get calories from the foods we eat. If you think of exercise as increasing your body’s activity level, then constantly doing the things that increase your activity level will give you the benefits of exercise.
The Cost of Exercise
A lot of people think that to exercise, they have to join a gym, buy fancy exercise equipment, have a personal trainer, or be involved in an exercise program. If you can afford all these things, great. But you do not need to spend a dime to have an exercise program. Got an old pair
of sneakers? There are a lot of activities you can choose from the list on pages 19–21. If you need a program or someone to help you with your exercise, join an exercise group or start one in your neighborhood. You can also join less expensive clubs like the YMCA.

What Makes You Sleep?

Although you may put off going to sleep in order to squeeze more activities into your day, eventually your need for sleep becomes overwhelming and you are forced to get some sleep. This daily drive for sleep appears to be due, in part, to a compound known as adenosine. This natural chemical builds up in your blood as time awake increases. While you sleep, your body breaks down the adenosine. Thus, this molecule may be what your body uses to keep track of lost sleep and to trigger sleep when needed. An accumulation of adenosine and other factors might explain why, after several nights of less than optimal amounts of sleep, you build up a sleep debt that you must make up by sleeping longer than normal. Because of such built-in molecular feedback, you can’t adapt to getting less sleep than your body needs. Eventually, a lack of sleep catches up with you. The time of day when you feel sleepy and go to sleep is also governed by your internal “biological clock” and environmental cues—the most important being light and darkness. Your biological clock is actually a tiny bundle of cells in your brain that responds to light signals received through your eyes. When darkness falls, the biological clock triggers the production of the hormone melatonin. This hormone makes you feel drowsy as it continues to increase during the night. Because of your biological clock, you naturally feel the most sleepy between midnight and 7 a.m. You may also feel a second and milder daily “low” in the midafternoon between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. At that time, another rise occurs in melatonin production and might make you feel sleepy. Your biological clock makes you the most alert during daylight hours and the most drowsy in the early morning hours. Consequently, most people do their best work during the day. Our 24/7 society, however, demands that some people work at night. Nearly onequarter of all workers work shifts that are not during the daytime, and more than two-thirds of these workers have problem sleepiness and/or difficulty sleeping. Because their work schedules are at odds with powerful sleep-regulating cues like sunlight, night shift workers often find themselves drowsy at work, and they have difficulty
falling or staying asleep during the daylight hours when their work schedules require them to sleep. The fatigue experienced by night shift workers can be dangerous. Major industrial accidents—such as the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plant accidents and the Exxon Valdez oil spill—have been caused, in part, by mistakes made by overly tired workers on the night shift or an extended shift. Night shift workers also are at greater risk of being in car crashes when they drive home from work. One study found that one-fifth of night shift workers had a car crash or a near miss in the preceding year because of sleepiness on the drive home from work. Night shift workers are also more likely to have physical problems, such as heart disease, digestive disturbances, and infertility, as well as emotional problems. All of these problems may be related, at least in part, to the workers’ chronic sleepiness. See “Working the Night Shift” on page 9 for some helpful tips. Other factors can also influence your need for sleep, including your immune system’s production of cellular hormones called cytokines. These compounds are made in large quantities in response to certain infectious diseases or chronic inflammation and may prompt you to sleep more than usual. The extra sleep may help you conserve the resources needed to fight the infection. Recent studies confirm that being well rested improves the body’s responses to infection. People are creatures of habit, and one of the hardest habits to break is the natural wake and sleep cycle. A number of physiological factors conspire to help you sleep and wake up at the same times each day. Consequently, you may have a hard time adjusting when you travel across time zones. The light cues outside and the clocks in your new location may tell you it is 8 a.m. and you should be active, but your body is telling you it is more like 4 a.m. and you should sleep. The end result is jet lag—sleepiness during the day, difficulty falling or staying asleep at night, poor concentration, confusion, nausea, and general malaise and irritability.

Nature's Pharmacy: The Incredibles Edibles

Mom always said,"eat your fruit and vegetables; they help you grow big and strong." there are many studies that verivy why, in scientific terms, mom was right. Numerus studies hava demonstrated that people who eat plant-rich diets are healtier and generally live longer. beyond vitamin and mineral, theier investigations revealed that foods of plant origin contain a whole range of protective chemicals that can be profoundly beneficial to uor health. I have already presented a number of compelling reasons for relacing animal product with plan-based food. Additionally, however vegetables, legumes, grains, and fruit contains recognized compounds with health-supporting properties. these protective plant component fall into two categories : antioxidant and phytochemicals.
antioxidant
Antioxidant are a class of nutrients with proven disease-fighting abilities. The best-known and mostthoroughly studied antioxidants are vitamins c and e, beta-carotine, folic acid, and the mineral selenium. these nutrient have been recognized for their ability to slow the aging process and disable free radicals. What are free radicals? When oxygen is metabolized or burned by the body, cells from byproducts called free radical. Free radicals result from routine metabolicprocesses and from breathing. While free radical can promote beneficial oxidation that produces energy and kill bacterial invaders, in excess they produces harmful oxidation.these unstable oxygfen molecules ricochet dangerously inside cells, disrupting the structure of other molecules and resulting in cellular damage.
Phytochemical

The Best Healthcare For Less

The debate over the cost of prescriptions is often complex and emotional. Drug companies are in the business of producing drugs for a profit, and they have done a great job in producing newer medications that work better or safer than older medications. It costs a lot of money, to the tune of over $500 million, to get a product to the market effectively.
The debate has always centered on how much these drugs should cost. Drug companies need to get back the money spent in developing a new drug, but more importantly, they need the profits to be able to have enough resources to fund the research to produce the next generation of drugs. Most of the new drugs used around the world are developed in the United States. This is because the U.S. market is the only market that allows drug companies to price their products using market forces as opposed to the government imposing price controls. This does not mean that drug companies can charge whatever they want. Market forces prevent them from doing so. Competition within the industry, either from other brands or from generics, when available,
helps to ensure that drugs are not priced as much as the manufacturer might like.
Another market force in play is demand for the drug. Newer medications usually are safer or work better than older medications. The drug company might have to spend a huge amount of money educating the public about the drug, in the form of advertisements and consumer brochures, to create a demand for the newer medication. With greater demand, the company can charge a bit more, just as the manufacturer of any product might be inclined to do.

Autoimmune Disease

The seeding of these bacteria cab also result in the initiation of auto- immune diseases in some people. Such diseases are characterized by the immune system attacking the native tissues of the body. Just as the poorly broken-down food particles can provoke an immune respone, the bacteria
themselves, along with their metabolic by product, can also provoke the immune system into attacking normal body tissues. This happens when immune system reacts against the body's own tissues that have been altered enaugh by the presence of bacteria for the immune system to no longer recognize that tissue as being part of the body. The result is an autoimmune disease.

Fun Games to Play with Your Children

One of our readers wrote in to remind parents that “children don’t always need the big things. They tend to remember the little things like books you read together, games you play, and trips to the zoo.” We think this is excellent advice! Here are some ideas for “little things” that
you can do with your child, one on one:
One to Three Months
Fly, baby, fly: Sit on the floor with your baby facing you. Support her body and head with your hands. Say, “Are you ready to fly? Wheee!!” Lift your baby as you gently roll onto your back. As you lie down, hold your baby in the air.
Follow the bee: Hold your baby comfortably. Place your finger in front of her eyes while making a buzzing sound. Move your finger around in the air. Your baby’s eyes should follow your “bee.” Next, take your baby’s finger and move it around with a buzzing sound; land the “bee” on your cheek ornose.
Elevator: Lie on your back and lift your baby up over you. Say, “I’m going to kiss you!” while you lower her down and give her a kiss. Bouncing rides: Place your baby on your lap and hold her under her arms. Move forward until you’re at the edge of the seat, then raise and lower your heels to give her a gentle bounce. Reciting rhymes while you do this will add to the fun and encourage language development.
Four to Seven Months
Balance game: Stand your baby on a bed while supporting her trunk, and gently bounce her on the mattress.
One, two, three!: Babies love to anticipate movement, so this is a favorite. Hold your baby’s hands while she’s lying down and say, “Are you ready to stand up? Here we go . . . one, two, three!” while pulling her up gently.
Balls and push toys: As your baby becomes more mobile, she’ll be more interested in objects that move, such as balls and toys with wheels. Remember to remove these once she’s trying to pull herself up to a sitting or standing position.
Food painting: Place some pureed food or pudding on your baby’s highchair tray, and let her “finger paint” with it. It’s messy, but it’s a lot of fun for your baby.
Peekaboo: This old standby will delight your baby, with her budding understanding that even when an object or person is covered, it still exists (a concept called object permanence). Cover your face with your hands, then remove your hands and say, “Peekaboo, I see you!”
Eight to Twelve Months
This little piggy, itsy-bitsy spider, and pop goes the weasel: Babies love to learn these nursery rhymes and anticipate the accompanying movements.
One, two, buckle my shoe: This counting rhyme is ideally suited for climbing up and down stairs.
Hide-and-seek: This game exploits your baby’s understanding of object and person permanence. Hide your baby’s toys—or yourself—and encourage her to seek.

Is Snoring a Problem?

Long the material for jokes, snoring is generally accepted as common and annoying in adults but as nothing to worry about. However, snoring is no laughing matter. Frequent, loud snoring is often a sign of sleep apnea and may increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as lead to daytime sleepiness and impaired performance. Snoring is caused by a narrowing or partial blockage of your airways at the back of the mouth and upper throat. This obstruction results in increased air turbulence when breathing in, causing the soft tissues in your throat to vibrate. The end result is a noisy snore that can disrupt the sleep of your bed partner. This narrowing of the airways is typically caused by the soft palate, tongue, and throat relaxing while you sleep, but allergies or sinus problems can also contribute to a narrowing of the airways, as can being overweight and having extra soft tissue around your upper airways. The larger the tissues in your soft palate, the more likely you are to snore while sleeping. Alcohol or sedatives taken shortly before sleep also promote snoring. These drugs cause greater relaxation of the tissues in your throat and mouth. Surveys reveal that about one-half of all adults snore, and 50 percent of these adults do so loudly and frequently. African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics are more likely to snore loudly and frequently compared to Caucasians, and snoring problems increase with age. Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, but people who have sleep apnea typically do snore loudly and frequently. Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder, and its hallmark is loud, frequent snoring linked to intermittent brief pauses in breathing while sleeping. Even if you don’t experience these breathing pauses, snoring can still be a problem for you as well as for your bed partner. The increased breathing effort associated with snoring can impair your sleep quality and lead to many of the same health consequences as sleep apnea.

How Much Sleep Is Enough?

Animal studies suggest that sleep is as vital as food for survival. Rats, for example, normally live 2–3 years, but they live only 5 weeks if they are deprived of REM sleep and only 2–3 weeks if

they are deprived of all sleep stages—a timeframe similar to death due to starvation. But how much sleep do humans need? To help answer that question, scientists look at how much people sleep when unrestricted, the average amount of sleep among various age groups, and the amount of sleep that studies reveal is necessary to function at your best.When healthy adults are given unlimited opportunity to sleep, theysleep on average between 8 and 8.5 hours a night.
But sleep needs vary from person to person. Some people appear to need only about 7 hours to avoid problem sleepiness whereas others need 9 or more hours of sleep. Sleep needs also change throughout the lifecycle. Newborns sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day, and children in preschool sleep between 10 and 12 hours a day. Schoolaged children and adolescents need at least 9 hours of sleep a night. The hormonal influences of puberty tend to shift adolescents’ biological clocks. As a result, teenagers are more likely to go to bed later than younger children and adults, and they tend to want to sleep later in the morning. This sleep–wake rhythm is contrary to the early-morning start times of many high schools and helps explain why most teenagers get an average of only 7–7.5 hours of sleep a night. As people get older, the pattern of sleep also changes—especially the amount of time spent in the deep sleep stages. Children spend
more time than adults in these sleep stages. This explains why children can sleep through loud noises and why they might not wake up when they are moved from the car to their beds. During
adolescence, a big drop occurs in the amount of time spent in deep sleep, which is replaced by lighter, stage 2 sleep. Between young 20 adulthood and midlife, the percentage of deep sleep falls again— from less than 20 percent to less than 5 percent, one study suggests— and is replaced with lighter sleep (stages 1 and 2). From midlife through late life, people’s sleep has more interruptions by wakefulness during the night. This disruption causes older persons to lose more and more of stages 1 and 2 non-REM sleep as well as REM sleep. Many older people complain of difficulty falling asleep, early morning awakenings, frequent and long awakenings during the night, daytime sleepiness, and a lack of refreshing sleep. Many sleep problems, however, are not a natural aspect of sleep in the elderly. Because older people are more likely to have many illnesses that can disrupt sleep, their sleep complaints often may be due, in part, to illnesses or the medications used to treat them. In fact, one study found that the prevalence of sleep problems is very low in healthy older adults. Other causes of some of older adults’ sleep complaints are sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and other sleep disorders that become more common with age. Also, older people are more likely to have their sleep disrupted by the need to urinate during the night.Poor sleep in older Some evidence shows that the biological clock shifts in older people, so they are more apt to go to sleep earlier at night and wake up earlier in the morning. No evidence indicates that older people can get bywith less sleep than younger people. people is linked to excessive daytime sleepiness, attention and memory problems, depressed mood, and overuse of sleeping pills. Despite variations in sleep quantity and quality, both related to age and between individuals, studies suggest that the optimal amount of sleep needed to perform adequately, avoid a sleep debt, and not have problem sleepiness during the day is about 7–8 hours for adults and 9 or more hours for school-aged children and adolescents. Similar amounts seem to be necessary to avoid further increasing the risk of developing obesity, diabetes, or cardiovascular disorders. Quality of sleep is as important as quantity. People whose sleep is frequently interrupted or cut short may not get enough of both non-REM sleep and REM sleep. Both types of sleep appear to be crucial for learning and memory—and perhaps for all the other restorative benefits of healthy sleep, including the growth and repair of cells. Many people try to make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends. But if you have lost too much sleep, sleeping in on the weekend does not completely erase your sleep debt. Certainly, sleeping more at the end of the week does not make up for the hampered performance you most likely had at the beginning of or during that week. Just 1 night of inadequate sleep can adversely affect your functioning and mood during at least the next day. Daytime naps are another strategy some people use to make up for lost sleep during the night. Some evidence shows that short naps (up to an hour) can make up, at least partially, for the sleep missed on the previous night and improve alertness, mood, and work performance. But naps don’t substitute for a good night’s sleep. One study found that a daytime nap after a lack of sleep at night did not fully restore levels of blood sugar to the pattern seen with adequate nighttime sleep. If a nap lasts longer than 1 hour, you may have a hard time waking up fully. In addition, late afternoon naps can make falling asleep at night more difficult.