The Aging Eyes

Even a slight deterioration of any of yoursenses can be scary. Not only can it interfere with your safety and your ability to understand your surroundings, but also it can have a huge impact on your overall comfort and independence.

Still, as you age, some decline in your senses is expected. Eyesight is often one of the first senses affected by aging.

But you can minimize the impact of age-related vision loss on daily life, boost eye health in general, and reduce disease risk by monitoring vision changes, identifying problems, creating an eye-friendly environment, and adjusting your lifestyle habits and dietary choices.

How's Your Vision?

Your first step in protecting your eyes is to distinguish between vision changes that are due to normal aging processes and vision changes that may be signs of disease. Only a doctor can diagnose eye disease, so if you haven't been keeping a regular schedule of checkups, consider making an appointment today.

In the meantime, the quick test at the end if this article is a test many eye specialists give to help determine whether a person may be exhibiting signs of eye disease.

Normal Age-Related Vision Changes

Not all declines in vision quality are the result of disease; certain anatomical changes naturally occur as the eyes age.

The various internal and external structures of the eyes, which all work together to help people see clearly at various distances and under different lighting conditions, begin to wear down as people get older.

Common age-related vision complaints include:

• "I can't see as clearly as I used to."
  
• "I have difficulty seeing objects close up."
  
• "Colors don't seem as vivid."
  
• "It's getting more difficult to see in the dark."
  
• "I'm less able to adapt to glare."
  
• "I need more light to see."
  

The most significant age-related changes seem to occur in the lens and the pupil; these account for the majority of vision limitations people experience as they get older. The extent to which these changes affect vision varies a bit with each person. But regardless of the degree to which these changes affect you, you can compensate for them and help ensure they don't endanger your safety or make it difficult for you to enjoy life.

Age-Related Eye Change #1

The pupil becomes smaller and less responsive to variations in light.

Impact: Because the pupil controls the amount of light that reaches the retina, age-related changes to the pupil may affect vision in many ways. First, as the pupil decreases in diameter, seeing well in dim light becomes harder. In addition, the less able the pupil is to adjust to varying light conditions, the less tolerable glare becomes and the more difficult it is to adapt from darkness to bright light or vice versa. This means as you get older, you may need more time to adjust to changing levels of illumination, such as going from bright sunshine into a dimly lit room or restaurant.

Compensation: Proper illumination can compensate for many of the changes in your pupil as you age. Try these illumination techniques:

• Increase the amount of ambient light throughout your home.
• Use individual lights or task lighting for specific tasks. Studies show that for specific tasks, the average 60-year-old person needs at least three times the amount of light compared with the average 20-year-old.
• Use timed lighting that switches on and off at set times of the day to ensure consistent ambient lighting.
  
• Install motion-sensor lights in your home that turn on automatically when you enter a room.
  
• Avoid bare bulbs, clear shades, and chandeliers without shades; these produce glare that can be disorienting and uncomfortable.
• Cover shiny, highly polished surfaces in the home or work areas with cloth or rugs to reduce glare.

Age-Related Eye Change #2

The lens of the eye begins to lose elasticity.

Impact: In the same way that losing flexibility in tendons and muscles makes it more difficult for the body to move, losing lens elasticity also makes it harder for the lens to bend in order to focus on closely held objects. This loss of focusing power, or lens accommodation, is known as presbyopia.

Compensation: Investing in certain sight aids can help compensate for losses in up-close vision. Try these sight aids if you're having trouble seeing close up:

• See your eye specialist regarding corrective devices such as reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, progressive lenses (no lines), or possibly contact lenses to help you correctly see objects at close proximity.
• Have your eyes rechecked and reading lenses adjusted every 2 or 3 years; changes in lens elasticity typically occur progressively between the ages of 45 and 65.
  
• Shine additional light on close work materials to enhance your near vision; lights with adjustable necks are best for directly targeting work.
• Consider simple, over-the-counter reading glasses for up-close work if you do not need corrective lenses to see distances. The typical range of magnification needed is from +1.00 to + 3.00. Choose a weaker glass for computer work or a stronger glass for reading.

Researchers are studying new surgical interventions and devices that could restore at least some amount of near vision. However, these techniques are experimental, and given the tendency of the eye structure to constantly change, the long-term success of such interventions is unknown.

Age-Related Eye Change #3

The lens of the eye gradually yellows with age.

Impact: The yellowing of the eye lens affects color perception. For example, the yellowing lens tends to absorb and scatter blue light, making it difficult to see differences in shades of blue, green, and violet. Colors may seem duller, and contrasts between colors will be less noticeable. This may cause confusion when picking out clothes or performing other tasks that require color perception. It also may become difficult to tell where an object ends and its background begins, making it difficult to see curbs or steps, for example.

Compensation: A few specific adjustments to lighting and color choices should help alleviate the effects of minor lens yellowing. Try this:

• Choose halogen or fluorescent bulbs specifically designed to improve color rendering. Bulbs with a color-rendering index (CRI) above 80 may best help older eyes with color definition.
• Use warm contrasting colors, such as yellow, orange, and red, in your home to improve your ability to tell where things are and make it easier to perform daily activities.
• Put colored tape on the edge of steps to help make them easier to navigate.

Eventually, the underlying process that causes lens yellowing may lead to cataracts. Surgical procedures are available for people whose degree of vision impairment due to cataracts is severe enough to interfere with safety or quality of life.

Give Your Eyes a Boost

Creating an eye-friendly environment is only the beginning of boosting your vision. Studies show that certain lifestyle habits and dietary choices may help protect the lens of the eye and reduce the risk of certain lens conditions that diminish sight.

For example, a study published in the American Journal of Nutrition reveals that a diet rich in vitamin C and foods containing plant pigments, or carotenoids, may help protect the lens of the eye and reduce the risk of cataracts. A lack of these nutrients appears to speed cross-linking, a process in which proteins in the lens form unwanted links or bonds, making the lens thicker, more rigid, scattering even more light than it would otherwise.

Carotenoids exhibit antioxidant properties. Examples include beta carotene, lycopene, and lutein. There is no recommended daily allowance for carotenoids, but you can get your fill by eating lots of produce. Carotenoid-rich foods include sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, spinach, tomatoes, kale, and mangoes. Aim for four servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables per day to help ensure you get the nutrients you need to maximize your eye health.

In addition to certain nutritional deficits, other lifestyle choices may speed up cross-linking and put lens health at risk. These include smoking and excessive exposure to UV rays from the sun.

What's Not a Normal Part of Aging

As you get older, it is very important to have regular eye examinations. Some eye changes may signal something more serious than age-related changes, such as an eye disease that needs medical treatment. Even if you are not experiencing eye symptoms, regular checkups are a must. Many eye diseases do not have warning symptoms but could be minimized or slowed with proper treatment. For example, although eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal detachment are often painless and the onset is gradual, they can greatly impair vision if not promptly treated.

During a doctor appointment, if you have or are suspected of having disorders affecting the retina, or if you are at risk for other eye diseases such as glaucoma, you may be given an Amsler eye test.

Example Amsler Eye Test

Give your eyes a quick check using the Amsler Grid instructions below. This grid is one type of test used by eye-care specialists to identify vision changes that affect central vision -- the vision used for reading and other close-detail work. The Amsler Grid is a standard test for detecting defects in the eye's retina. Remember, this is a simulation of the actual test. Only an eye specialist can make an accurate diagnosis or rule out underlying disease.

1. Print out a paper version of the grid.
2. In a well-lit room, hold the grid at normal reading distance (14 18 inches away). If you normally wear glasses for reading, be sure to wear them.
3. Cover one eye and look at the box.
   
4. Focus on the dot in the center of the grid.
   
5. Note how the lines and squares appear.
   
6. Which of the following most closely resembles what you see? (Choose one.)
   • straight, evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines that intersect to form squares, like graph paper horizontal and vertical lines, similar to graph paper, with larger wavy lines bending outward at the center
   • horizontal and vertical lines, similar to graph paper, with smaller wavy lines bending inward at the center horizontal and vertical lines, similar to graph paper, with lines blurred or distorted toward the center
7. Repeat the test on the other eye.
   

What Your Answer Might Mean

If you see straight, evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines that intersect to form a square, then it is likely that your central vision is normal and healthy. Remember, however, that self-administered test results are not reliable, and this test is not a substitute for an expert medical diagnosis. Be sure to schedule regular eye exams in order to stay on top of any changes in your vision.

If some of the boxes are differently sized or shaped from the others, or if some lines are crooked, wavy, missing, blurry, distorted, or discolored, it may be a sign of a possible disturbance to central vision. See your healthcare provider or eye specialist for advice. Remember, however, that self-administered test results are not reliable. It is likely that any anomalies you see in this self-administered test are simply the result of the test conditions or of some other disturbance in your vision that is minor or temporary. This test is not a substitute for an expert medical diagnosis.

Visual Limitations Can Be Addressed

With age, almost everyone's vision deteriorates to some degree. Fortunately, there are several ways to lessen the impact of age-related eye changes. Making up for vision losses, no matter how big or small, is very important. If ignored, even mild visual impairment can lead to problems ranging from feelings of depression and social isolation to injuries from falls.

By addressing any age-related vision troubles as they arise and making the necessary adjustments to your surroundings or lifestyle, you should be able to continue enjoying an active, productive, and independent life.

If you have an eye condition that is due to disease, keep in mind there are probably many effective medical treatments available to ease its impact. The key is getting a diagnosis as soon as possible to learn about your options.

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Tricks to teach your body

One of the complex machine in the world is nothing but Our human body. There are lot of amazing things that are yet to be learned from the human body. Not all things are know to our body, there are few cool tricks that we can teach our body. So, let's see those cool tips...

1.) If you've got an itch in your throat, scratch your ear. When the nerves in the ear get stimulated, they create a reflex in the throat that causes a muscle spasm, which cures the itch.

2.) Having trouble hearing someone at a party or on the phone? Use your right ear it's better at picking up rapid speech. But, the left is better at picking up music tones.

3.) If you need to relieve yourself BADLY, but you're not anywhere near a bathroom, fantasize about RELATIONS. That preoccupies your brain and distracts it.

4.) Next time the doctor's going to give you an injection, COUGH as the needle is going in. The cough raises the level of pressure in your spinal canal, which limits the pain sensation as it tries to travel to your brain.

5.) Clear a stuffed nose or relieve sinus pressure by pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth then pressing a finger between your eyebrows. Repeat that for 20 seconds it causes the vomer bone to rock, which loosens your congestion and clears you up.

6.) If you ate a big meal and you're feeling full as you go to sleep, lay on your left side. That'll keep you from suffering from acid reflux it keeps your stomach lower than your esophagus, which will help keep stomach acid from sliding up your throat.

7.) You can stop a toothache by rubbing ice on the back of your hand, on the webbed area between your thumb and index finger. The nerve pathways there stimulate a part of the brain that blocks pain signals from your mouth.

8.) If you get all messed up on liquor, and the room starts spinning, put your hand on something stable. The reason: Alcohol dilutes the blood in the part of your ear called the cupula, which regulates balance. Putting your hand on something stable gives your brain another reference point, which will help make the world stop spinning.

9.) Stop a nose bleed by putting some cotton on your upper gums right behind the small dent below your nose and press against it hard. Most of the bleeding comes from the cartilage wall that divides the nose, so pressing there helps get it to stop.

10.) Slow your heart rate down by blowing on your thumb. The vagus nerve controls your heart rate, and you can calm it down by breathing.

11.) Need to breathe underwater for a while? Instead of taking a huge breath, HYPERVENTILATE before you go under, by taking a bunch of short breaths. That'll trick your brain into thinking it has more oxygen, and buy you about 10 extra seconds.

12.) You can prevent BRAIN FREEZE by pressing your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much surface area as possible. Brain freeze happens because the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, so your brain thinks your whole body is cold. It compensates by overheating which causes your head to hurt. By warming up the roof of your mouth, you'll chill your brain and feel better.

13.) If your hand falls asleep, rock your head from side to side. That will wake your hand or arm up in less than a minute. Your hand falls asleep because of the nerves in your neck compressing so loosening your neck is the cure. If your foot falls asleep, that's governed by nerves lower in the body, so you need to stand up and walk around.

14.) Finally, this one's totally USELESS, but a nice trick. Have someone stick their arm out to the side, straight, palm down. Press down on his wrist with two fingers. He'll resist, and his arm will stay horizontal. Then, have him put his foot on a surface that's half an inch off the ground, like a stack of magazines, and do the trick again. Because his spine position is thrown off, his arm will fall right to his side, no matter how much he tries to resist.

15.) Got the hiccups? Press thumb and second finger over your eyebrows until the hiccups are over - usually shortly.

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5 easy steps to keep your Heart Healthy

Want to keep your heart healthy? Then you need to know the following

Holly Andersen, director of education and outreach at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has offered some easy steps to improve heart health and overall well-being throughout the year.

Step 1: Know your numbers. Your blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels are the most important numbers you will need to know before you begin on the path to good heart health.

Step 2: Start walking. Exercise is the fountain of youth. A simple 20- to 30-minute walk a few days a week can actually reduce the risk of premature death by more than 50 percent.

Step 3: Laugh out. Laughter really is the best medicine. Just 15 minutes of laughter is about equivalent to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise with respect to our cardiovascular health. Laughter has also been linked to the healthy function of blood vessels, an increase of the brain hormones that improve mood, and reduction of pain and anxiety.

Step 4: Focus on your waistline, not your weight. Your waistline is a better measurement of your overall health than your weight because the amount of fat around your waistline is directly linked to high blood pressure and high cholesterol and can place you at increased risk for diabetes.

Step 5: Get a good night's sleep. Sleep is one of the most undervalued elements of our daily routines, but it is absolutely vital to good health. Lack of sleep increases your blood pressure, induces stress, increases your appetite and slows down your metabolism, dampens your mood and decreases your cognition.

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The More You Eat, The Sooner You Die

Don't over eat and don't encourage your family members and friends to over eat - unless you wish to shorten their healthy living and perhaps die younger!

An interesting article about eating too full....


"What's wrong with eating too full?"

"The more you eat, the sooner you die. The lesser you eat, the longer you live." This is what Dr Lee always says in his health talk. He also mentions, "Eating too full causes all sort of health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, etc."

Why eating too full is so harmful to your health? What can you do about it?


Mice experiment

To see how eating habit affects life span, a professor from University of Texas did an experiment on mice.

For the first group of 100 mice, he let them eat without any restriction, just like a buffet meal.

The second group was fed only 60% full. And the third group was given food without restriction too. But this time, he reduced protein content to half. After 2.5 years, guess how many mice were still alive out of 100?

* First group (eat without restriction) - only 13 mice was alive. Opsss...

* Second group (eat 60% full) - 97 mice was still alive. Only 3 mice died.

* Third group (eat without restriction with protein cut half) - 50 mice still alive.


What can we learn from these results?

Firstly, eating too full is really harmful to your body. Secondly, eat 60% full if you want to live longer and healthier. Thirdly, taking too much

protein is harmful to your body too. We don't need so much protein after all.


Overworking body

Imagine having a small family car. Instead of using it for short travel between home and office, you use it for long distance travel between

different cities every day. Instead of using it 1 hour a day, you use it for 10 hours a day. Instead of driving at 70 km/h, you always speed up to 170 km/h, hitting engine's red line.

Can you estimate your car life span? Do you expect having various problems with your car after a short time? Driving your car at high speed for a long time is like always eating too full. You force your body to always work at its red line.

Do you know digestion is the most demanding work for your body? Think about the organs involved such as your mouth, stomach, liver, pancreas, duodenum and intestine. Think about the length of digestive tract from your mouth to intestine.

By eating too full, your body zaps up much of your energy for digestion. Otherwise, this energy may be used for other purpose such as enhancing your immune system.

Do you realize you become very tired easily after a big meal? That is the sign of your body working hard to digest all the food you take in.

If you eat an extra bowl of noodle, your pancreas has to produce extra insulin hormone to process the extra carbohydrates you take.

Your liver, stomach and intestine also have to produce extra enzymes to digest and process specific nutrients from that bowl of noodle.

Therefore the more you eat, the harder your body has to work to process it. Of course, we must eat to survive. But we don't have to eat that much!

If you drive your car slowly and handle it gently, you can use it for along time. But if you always floor the accelerator and drive like a rally driver, you know the consequence on your car life span.


Side effect of eating

Your car engine burns fuel to move your car and bring you to anywhere you like to go. As a result, the engine produces exhaust smoke which is toxic. It must be dispersed out from your car.

Similarly, your body cell burns nutrient for energy to survive. In the process, it produces free radicals. Since free radical is toxic to yourbody, it has to be neutralized and expelled.

"Just metabolizing food especially fatty and carbohydrate-rich fare causes the body to produce free radicals, which attack cells and can promote the development of chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes and cancer," says Ronald L. Prior, Ph.D.

Of course, your body can control free radicals in small quantity. But the more you eat the more free radicals your body produces. Without adequate control, these free radicals easily attack your body cells and eventually cause all sort of diseases.


Good eating habit

After knowing the harmful effect of eating too full, what's your choice? Do you want to live longer, just like the second group mice in the experiment? Or do you want to risk ending your life earlier, just like the first group mice? If you wish to live longer, here are some tips you can follow:

1. Always eat until 70% full. Do not exceed 80% full. You may want to stop eating when you feel slightly full.

2. Avoid having buffet style meal which makes it harder to control how much you eat. Instead, prepare the food you want to eat in a plate. After finishing it, don't add anymore food.

3. Leaving the dining table earlier may prevent you from picking some extra food to eat.

4. It is always a good idea to prepare lesser food in the first place. Some people are afraid of having not enough food for everyone. Actually, lesser food is beneficial for everyone..

In a restaurant, order in small amount first. You can always add in some extra order if necessary. But if you can get by with the original smaller order, that's great.

Remember this: You have higher chance of overeating if you serve more food on the table.

You have better chance of not overeating if you serve less food.

5. Avoid stuffing your fridge with ice cream, chocolate or other dessert. You cannot eat what you do not have.

6. When someone prepares a big plate of food for you, look at it first. Ask yourself, "Do I want to stuff it all into my stomach?"

If your answer is no, just put aside some food to another empty plate first. After finishing your food, look back at the extra food on that new plate. Say to yourself, "Phew! Luckily I didn't stuff that portion into my stomach."

7. When you get too hungry before your meal time, just take some fruit instead of heavy meal.

The tendency to overeat is very high for modern people.

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What Is Heartburn And How Can I Avoid It

What is heartburn?

Despite its name, heartburn doesn't affect the heart. Heartburn is a burning feeling in the lower chest, along with a sour or bitter taste in the throat and mouth. It usually occurs after eating a big meal or while lying down. The feeling can last for a few minutes or a few hours.

What causes heartburn?

When you eat, food passes from your mouth down a tube (about 10 inches long in most people) called the esophagus. To enter the stomach, the food must pass through an opening between the esophagus and stomach. This opening acts like a gate to allow food to pass into the stomach.

Usually, this opening closes as soon as food passes through. But if it doesn't close all the way, acid from your stomach can get through the opening and into your esophagus. This is called reflux. Stomach acid can irritate the esophagus and cause heartburn.

Hiatal hernia can also cause heartburn. Hiatal hernia is a condition in which part of the stomach is pushed up through the diaphragm (the muscle wall between the stomach and chest) and into the chest. Sometimes this causes heartburn.

What factors add to heartburn?

Many things can make heartburn worse. Heartburn is most common after overeating, when bending over or when lying down. Pregnancy, stress and certain foods can also make heartburn worse. The box below lists other things that can aggravate heartburn symptoms.

Things that can make heartburn worse

Cigarette smoking
Coffee (both regular and decaffeinated) and other drinks that contain caffeine
Alcohol
Carbonated drinks
Citrus fruits
Tomato products
Chocolate, mints or peppermints
Fatty foods or spicy foods (such as pizza, chili and curry)
Onions
Lying down too soon after eating
Being overweight or obese
Aspirin or ibuprofen (one brand name: Motrin)
Certain medicines (such as sedatives and some medicines for high blood pressure)

Can heartburn be serious?

If you only have heartburn now and then, it's probably not serious. However, if you have heartburn frequently, it can lead to esophagitis (an inflamed lining of the esophagus). If esophagitis becomes severe, your esophagus might narrow and you might have bleeding or trouble swallowing.

If you get more than occasional heartburn, it may be a symptom of acid reflux disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), an inflamed stomach lining (gastritis), hiatal hernia or peptic ulcer.

What can I do to feel better?

You might be able to avoid heartburn by making some changes in your lifestyle. The box below lists some tips on how to prevent heartburn.

Tips on preventing heartburn

Place 6 to 9 inch blocks under the legs at the head of your bed to raise it.
Try to eat at least 2 to 3 hours before lying down. If you take naps, try sleeping in a chair.
If you smoke, quit.
Lose weight if you're overweight.
Don't overeat.
Eat high-protein, low-fat meals.
Avoid tight clothes and tight belts.
Avoid foods and other things that give you heartburn.

What if my symptoms get worse?

If lifestyle changes and antacids don't help your symptoms, talk with your doctor. Your doctor may want you to take prescription medicine or schedule you for some tests.

Tests might include X-rays to check for ulcers, a pH test to check for acid in the esophagus, or an endoscopy to check for other conditions. During an endoscopy, your doctor looks into your stomach through a long, thin tube which is inserted down your esophagus. Your doctor may also check for H. pylori bacteria that can cause ulcers.

What about medicines for heartburn?

Several kinds of medicine can be used to treat heartburn. Antacids neutralize the acid that your stomach makes. For most people, antacids that you can get without a prescription (over-the-counter) give fast, short-term relief. However, if you use antacids too much, they can cause diarrhea or constipation. Look for antacids that contain both magnesium hydroxide and aluminum hydroxide. (One causes constipation while the other causes diarrhea so they counteract each other.) Some brands of antacids include Maalox, Mylanta and Riopan. Follow the directions on the package.

H2 blockers (some brand names: Pepcid, Tagamet, Zantac) reduce the amount of acid your stomach makes. Several are available without a prescription.

Other medicines, such as omeprazole (brand name: Prilosec) and lansoprazole (brand name: Prevacid), also reduce how much acid the stomach makes. Metoclopramide (brand name: Reglan) reduces acid reflux. To find out what medicine is right for you, talk with your doctor.

Is heartburn associated with heart attacks?

No. But sometimes pain in the chest may be mistaken for heartburn when it's really a sign of heart disease. If you have any of the symptoms in the box below, call your doctor.

Call your doctor if:

You have trouble swallowing or pain when swallowing.
You're vomiting blood.
Your stools are bloody or black.
You're short of breath.
You're dizzy or lightheaded.
You have pain going into your neck and shoulder.
You break out in a sweat when you have pain in your chest.
You have heartburn often (more than 3 times a week) for more than 2 weeks.

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Detecting Nutritional Deficiencies

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Cleaning fruit

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Home Health Tips

1. Rub your ears to boost energy: Instead of reaching for another cup of coffee, give your ears a gentle self-massage. According to Chinese medicine, stimulating the pressure points in the ears increases blood circulation to all parts of the body, giving you an instant energy boost.

2. Cure hiccups with peanut butter: Chewing and swallowing the sticky spread will interrupt your breathing pattern and force your diaphragm to relax.

3. Use honey to soothe a sore throat: A natural antibacterial and antifungal agent, honey can help coat and soothe sore throats and alleviate minor coughs.

4. Blow-dry waterlogged ears: Put a hair dryer on the gentlest setting and hold it a few inches away from your ear. The increased airflow will help to evaporate the water in your ear.

5. Make warts disappear with garlic: Garlic — which has been shown to have antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties — is thought to be an effective home remedy for warts. Apply a freshly cut garlic clove to the wart, place a bandage over it, and leave the bandage on overnight. Repeat every night until the wart disappears.

6. Blow on your thumb to calm jangled nerves: The thumb has its own pulse, and blowing on the thumb will cool down the thumb and thus calm the heart rate, as cold air can slow down your pulse. This trick might also help simply because the act of blowing forces you to deepen your breathing, which calms the heart.

7. Sniff peppermint to quell a craving: Chew mint gum, sip peppermint tea or take a whiff of peppermint oil. Studies suggest that the scent of peppermint stimulates the brain to release appetite-suppressing hormones and promotes a feeling of fullness.

8. Curl your toes to fall asleep faster: The next time you find yourself tossing and turning, try a progressive muscle relaxation technique. Begin by slowly curling and uncurling your toes. Then, work your way up the entire body, from your toes to your neck, tightening a certain muscle group before releasing it.

9. Smile to make yourself happier: Scientists have found that the simple act of smiling can lower blood pressure and release stress, giving you an instant mood boost (yes, even forced smiles count!).

10. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to beat brain freeze: Also referred to as “ice cream headaches,” brain freezes are caused by a rapid increase in blood flow to the brain. After you down a frozen treat, trythrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth — this will warm up the palate and ease the flow of blood to the brain.

11. Rub Vicks Vaporub on feet for congestion: To temporarily relieve a cough, try applying the mentholated topical cream on the soles of your feet and immediately covering with a pair of socks. There is no scientific explanation for why this old wives’ trick works, but many stuffy nose-sufferers (and even nurses and doctors) swear by it.

12. Use ginger to prevent motion sickness: Twenty minutes before travel, take two capsules of powdered ginger to ease an upset stomach caused by motion sickness.

13. Shake your head to wake up sleepy feet: It happens to all of us — you’re sitting in an awkward position when all of a sudden your foot, hand or other body part falls asleep. To quickly eliminate that uncomfortable tingling sensation, move your head side to side. The movement helps relieve nerve tension.

14. Alleviate nausea by massaging wrist: Relieve nausea by lightly massaging the pressure point on the inside of your wrist, about three finger widths below the base of your palm.

15. Squeeze lemon to erase pimples: Banish breakouts by dabbing a little lemon juice on problem areas — its antibacterial properties will help kill excess bacteria and reduce acne.

16. Dab on clove oil to alleviate toothache pain: Apply a very small amount of clove oil to a cotton swab and gently dab onto the affected tooth area. The essential oil has been shown in studies to have analgesic and antibacterial properties, making it a useful tool in treating bacteria-caused toothaches.

17. Inhale onion vapors for sinus relief: Chop up an onion, put it in
a bowl and inhale the onion fumes. The vapors help open sinus passageways, providing relief from sinus pressure.

18. Stop mouth bleeds with tea bags: To stop mouth bleeds after oral surgery or injuries, apply a moistened tea bag to the affected area; the tannins in tea help the blood coagulate faster.

19. Steam to relieve nasal congestion: Steam helps to loosen mucus and clear out the sinus cavities, providing relief from nasal congestion. A hot bath works, too.

20. Sleep on your left side to prevent acid reflux: Researchers have determined that left side sleeping helps with digestion and eases heart burn pain.

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