It’s Entirely Natural - Articles

When you have the flu, your first priority is getting well. Here are some things that you can try in order to get better from the flu:

Stay at home. There are limits to the air filtration systems in almost all settings. When you are in a store, you may also leave behind virus particles that can infect other people. As an example, one person going to work while suffering with the flu can infect everyone else in the office in a matter of hours. Your co-workers and supervisors will appreciate it more if you take the proper care of yourself, and at the same time, refrain from passing the flu on to them.

The flu is often accompanied by fatigue and muscles aches. Unnecessary stress should not be made on the body during this time. Bed rest is often advisable. While you may want to take a leisurely walk, this is not the time to start an intensive fitness regime. If at all possible, try to let the sunshine and fresh air into your room. Not only will this brighten up the atmosphere, it will help clear out the flu particles from the air. Avoid becoming chilled; as reduced temperature will slow down your circulation, and therefore, decrease the speed at which white blood cells can get to infected areas. While being warm is very important, you should also combine that with plenty of rest in order to conserve energy.

Get treatment as soon as possible. As soon as you think that you are coming down with the flu, make it your business to get tested. Waiting until you are sure that you have the flu makes little sense. By the time you are sure, the virus has already gotten a good 2 - 3 days jump start on any medication you might be given.

Make a few lifestyle changes. While you are trying to keep warm and resting in bed, you have the perfect opportunity to stop drinking alcohol or stop smoking. Both alcohol and nicotine wreak havoc on the entire body. Weakening the immune system with these drugs leaves you more vulnerable to the attacks of the flu virus and many other diseases.

Take your vitamins regularly. Vitamin C is a wonderful supplement for the immune system. Even if you do not have the flu, taking Vitamin C each day will improve your body’s capacity to fight infection, and put you on the road to recovery when necessary.

Drink plenty of fluids. This allows your body to do a better job of disposing of toxins. It also facilitates a number of your bodily processes. When you have a fever, the body becomes dehydrated. Water, fruit juices, and soup are all great candidates to help your body recover. Even if you don’t feel thirsty, sip water regularly.

Take paracetamol aspirin, or ibuprofen. These drugs will relieve your headaches and any inflammations, aches, and pains. Decongestants, cough medicines, gargles, and lozenges can all serve to alleviate respiratory symptoms.

By using these common sense methods to beat the flu, you should be able to get up and running before you know it. Last but not least, perhaps the most sensible “cures” for the flu are the ones that happen before you come in contact with the virus. Washing you hands and being mindful of what touches the mucus membranes of your eyes, nose, and mouth can go a long way towards preventing the flu virus from getting into your body. Yearly vaccination is also a very important weapon in the arsenal against the flu. Not only may you have reduced symptoms, you may not get sick at all!

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site.

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Tags: alcohol, bed rest, fatigue, Flu, immune system, nicotine

A hangover comes after consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. The result of this overload of alcohol is that your body becomes depleted of essential nutrients and water and your body becomes dehydrated. Your body makes up for this dehydration by taking water from where it can, which basically is your brain. The brain then shrinks and the result is a really bad headache. Dehydration also gives you what is referred to as “cotton mouth”. Many individuals experience nausea and vomiting as a result of all the alcohol and sugar that has now upset the stomach.

Symptoms of a hangover:

Signs of dehydration
Dry mouth
Fatique
Headache
Nausea
Weakness
Anxiety
Irritability
Negativity
Difficulty concentrating
Light and sound sensitivity
Difficulty sleeping

Alcohol does not affect everyone the same way. What causes one to have a hangover and not the other?

There are a number of factors that play a role in why one person experiences a hangover after drinking alcohol and another individual won’t. Other than the amount of alcohol consumed and the type of alcohol ingested, how fast you drink it and how many you have in what time frame can also have a role in whether or not you become drunk. There is also the factor of how well your body metabolizes alcohol. Our bodies metabolize the things we drink and eat in different ways. Metabolism depends on what is being consumed and if it being consumed with other things like are we eating at the same time we are drinking alcohol? The body absorbs alcohol faster when we eat food at the same time.

Water has an effect on the impact of alcohol on our bodies too. When we drink lots of water before we start drinking alcohol, during the time we are drinking and after we are finished with our drinking event then the water that we drink can lessen the effect that alcohol has on our system and we become less dehydrated than what we would have become had we not had the water. Alcohol contains ethanol, which is what causes the dehydration.

Alcohol consumption causes chemical reactions within the body including the way the liver has to work to break down the ethanol contained in the alcohol. The reaction in the cells of the liver when it is trying to breakdown the ethanol impairs the liver’s ability to supply glucose to the tissues within the body such as the brain tissue. Glucose in the brain is how the brain gets energy. When the brain does not receive the glucose, we experience fatigue, weakness, moodiness and sometimes it can affect our ability to concentrate.

Congeners are the chemical by-products of the process of alcohol fermentation. These congeners can exaggerate (make worse) the symptoms of a hangover. Dark alcoholic drinks contain more congeners, which is why those who drink dark alcoholic beverages have more intense hangovers than those who drink clear colored alcoholic beverages.

Cheaper alcoholic beverages have more impurities and are thus more likely to cause greater hangover symptoms.

Those who smoke while they drink exacerbate their symptoms because of the nicotine.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Hangover Cures.

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Tags: dehydration, fatigue, Hangover Cures, headache, irritability, metabolism, nicotine

There are many health and social benefits that you will realize immediately after that last cigarette has been extinguished. There are also financial benefits to quitting your smoking habit.

There is a high financial cost to smoking that most smokers don’t stop to think about. When you quit smoking the financial reward will be instantaneous. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $4.49 including taxes, this computes to $1,635 each year of your habit. Think of all you can do with that amount of money! The cost of smoking is far more than the actual amount you pay for your smokes. The cost includes the higher rates you will pay for insurance, cleaning bills, and teeth cleaning, it can even include the cost incurred if you lose your job. Companies have made announcements that they will no longer employee smokers. 1% of employers will not even hire smokers. The main reason - health insurance rates and in lost productivity due to more sick days from employees who smoke and also from loss years due to premature death of the smoking employee. Companies such as Weyco, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Alaska Airlines, Tacoma-Pierce County (Wash.) Health Department, and Union Pacific have all instituted some kind of smoker-hire policy according to a MSN Money article.

The social benefits start with the fact that your clothes won’t spell like smoke anymore and your breath won’t stink. These two facts alone will translate into an increased popularity. When you go out to eat, you can have a wide range of choices because now you can choose restaurants and not worry about being banned because of smoking.

Although you cannot undo the damage to your health that smoking has caused, you can prevent further health damage by quitting now. Your body will start to heal almost immediately. The healing will be felt when your blood pressure returns to a more normal range and your circulation improves. You will reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke and also lung cancer.

Now that you are not smoking, your teeth will stay white longer and your breath will be fresher. Your vehicle won’t smell like a smoke stack and people won’t look in disgust as you walk by anymore because you won’t be leaving a cloud of disgusting smoke around you.

There you have it; your benefits include better health, your world will smell better and the food will taste better too. You will have more money to spend on whatever you wish because you won’t be spending it on cigarettes. People will enjoy being around you because they won’t have to put up with your foul-smelling cigarette smoke and your teeth won’t get stained up anymore with tobacco. You probably won’t miss those cigarette burns either, will you?

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Quit Smoking.

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Tags: cigarette smoke, nicotine, nicotinic receptors, Quit Smoking, second hand smoke, smoking habit, tobacco addiction