Human longevity is not just affected by how well your genes are, but also how well you live your life. Researchers have found a way to eat, move and manage stress that determines how long people live.

A new study conducted on 20,000 people in the UK and has been published in the British Medical Journal, shows that one can reduce the risk of stroke by 50 percent. Just by doing four things, which is active for 30 minutes a day, eating fruits and vegetables, and avoiding excessive smoking and alcohol.

People can reach the age of 100 with a healthy lifestyle. However, Thomas Perls of Boston University School of Medicine, believes that with the assumption that puts genes aside, there’s nothing stopping you living up to the age of 90 years.

Here are 10 habits Perls used to calculate how long a person can survive, as reported by USNews, Tuesday (9/3/2010).

1. Do not retire.
Although already in the retirement age does not mean you can no longer work. “Evidence shows that in a society where people suddenly stopped working, the incidence of obesity and chronic disease increases after retirement,” says Luigi Ferrucci, director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

2. Floss Teeth Every day
This can keep the arteries (blood vessels) remain healthy. Studies from New York University in 2008 showed that flossing every day can reduce the number of bacteria that cause gum disease in the mouth. These bacteria can enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation in the arteries, and increases the risk of heart disease.

3. Always move
“Sports is the only way to stay young,” said Jay Olshansky, a professor of medicine and aging researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Study after study has recommended that the benefits of exercise to improve mood, mental acuity, balance, muscle mass, and bone. No need to exercise at the gym, just by simply walking around the neighborhood for 30 minutes a day.

4. Eat high-fiber cereal for breakfast
Whole wheat benefited especially in the morning can help maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout the day. According to a study conducted recently by Ferrucci and colleagues, people who do this can prevent  diabetes, which could accelerate aging.

5. Sleep at least 6 hours a day
“Sleeping is one of the most important functions for our bodies, our body regulates and heal cells when we are asleep,” Ferrucci said.

6. Consumption of whole foods, not supplements
Evidence strongly indicates that people who have blood that is rich in nutrients, like selenium, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, has a longer life. But there is nothing to prove that taking supplements can provide anti-aging benefits.

“There are more than 200 different carotenoids and the 200 different flavonoids contained in a tomato,” Ferrucci said. This chemical is beneficial to the body other than known nutrients such as lycopene or vitamin C. Avoid white foods (nutrient-lacking white food) such as bread, flour and sugar. And switch to fruits, vegetables, and whole wheat bread.

7. Reduce the neurotic (nerve pressure)
A better way to cope with stress is yoga, exercise, meditation, tai chi (take a deep breath in for a while). While in the other hand daydreaming, eating chips in front of the TV, partying and drinking to much alcoholic is bad for the body.

8. Live like Seventh Day Adventist
Americans who define themselves as the Seventh Day Adventists, have a life expectancy average of 89 years, about a decade longer than the average American.

They appreciate the body by not smoking, consume alcohol or pamper your body with sweet foods. They are usually vegetarian and eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, and do many sports. They are also very focused on families and communities.

9. Being a creature that used to it
According to Olshansky, people tend to live the old days with a strict routine, eating the same food and doing the same types of activities throughout their lives. Sleep and wake at the same time each day is one good habit to keep the body in a stable equilibrium.

10. Stay socially connected
Have social relationships with friends or loved ones is key to avoiding depression, which can lead to early death, particularly common to a widow and an elderly widower.

Some psychologists even think that one of the greatest benefits to be obtained from the parents exercise a strong social interaction, a walk with friends or join a training class.

More than 41 million women in America suffer from heart disease. The number of people with heart disease in women over time, more and continues to grow. Even people with this deadly disease experienced by more women than men.

However, based on tests conducted in the Swedish study, heart disease problems can be overcomed by performing five healthy lifestyle, for an example, non-alcohol, healthy diet, exercise every day, normal weight and not smoking can prove to expel the risk of heart attack.

This method is believed could overcome the problem of heart disease as much as 92 percent. This research has been tested on 24,000 women.

Here’s how health designed to help you reduce the risk of heart disease. Try to start doing a series of healthy patterns for a week, and feel the benefits for the long term:

Day 1: Drinking Green Tea

This potent beverage contains several powerful antioxidants that can reduce cholesterol and even lower blood pressure. To make this healthy drink, prepare 20 ounces of boiling water, put three bags of green tea without caffeine, and let stand for 10 minutes. If visible change color, you can serve it in a teapot. Could also add ice cubes. Enjoy the aroma and taste intensity throughout the day.

Day 2: Consumption of Low-Fat Healthy Foods

To keep your heart health, fat consumption which is recommended not exceeding 30% of calories. And more importantly, avoid using saturated oil and replace it with unsaturated fats that can be obtained from olive oil, nuts, dark chocolate, avocado and polyunsaturated which can be obtained from salmon, flaxseed, and walnuts.

Limit your intake of saturated fat to 7% of total calories (1600 calories to the diet, it was about 12 grams per day). Avoid Trans fats are commonly found in cakes, biscuits, baked goods and other processed foods. Both these fats can increase LDL cholesterol that can clog the arteries, cholesterol.

Day 3: Healthy Cooking

Use a MUFA-rich olive oil in your food preparation whenever possible. Heart healthy fats can lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and raise “good” (HDL). Olive oil rich in antioxidants, which can help reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, like Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Provide always substitute olive oil for butter or margarine on the table, and use it to replace vegetable oils in cooking.

Day 4: Provide adequate rest periods

According to a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, each additional adult bedtime can reduce the risk of coronary artery calcification, the cause of heart disease, by 33%. When you have less time to sleep, your body releases stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and cause inflammation.

If you regularly feel tired when getting out of bed and always feel sleepy in the daytime, you need to be alert, so you can not sleep. Most adults need 7-8 hours a night to sleep.

Day 5: Consumption of many fiber

Studies show that the more fiber you eat, the less likely you are to have a heart attack. Reduce consumption of wheat bread and cereals that contain wheat, wheat bran. Expand consuming beans, soups, and salads. Within a day, you must consume 25-35 grams of fiber per day.

Day 6: Fish Feast

Meat saturated fats can clog your arteries. On the other hand, fish such as salmon and other fish species believed to be rich in omega-3 fatty acids that will help keep your heart still beat. Eat fish-fisheries that contain omega-3 may reduce the risk of death from heart attack by 52%!

Potassium represents 5% percent of the total mineral content of a human body, even though only about one litre is found in the body at a time. Potassium is found in our bodies both inside and outside cells and is a very important mineral required every day to stay healthy. More than 98% of the body’s potassium is intracellular. The body easily absorbs potassium, but nearly 90% of it is excreted through the kidneys and bowels. Thus, potassium is a natural diuretic and is important for the elimination of body wastes, such as water and sodium.

Potassium is a primary electrolyte, it is a great alkalizer, and important for maintaining pH and water balance.

Benefits of potassium:

1. Along with other minerals such as sodium, chloride and calcium, potassium helps in normal cellular function, such as transmission of nerve impulses, digestion, healthy muscle contractions, proper cardiovascular functioning (heartbeat irregularities are normally a sign of potassium deficiency), and helping the body to convert glucose into glycogen (the body’s stored form of energy).

2. Potassium helps promote healthy cardiovascular health. It is strongly believed that potassium has the ability to pump sodium out of the body’s cells and reduce body fluid.

3. Potassium, along with sodium, helps to regulate blood pressure. Increasing potassium in the diet may protect against hypertension in people who are sensitive to high levels of sodium.

4. Potassium also affects blood vessel tone as well as the way blood vessels react to the flowing hormones, thus affecting pressure within blood vessels.

5. Potassium therapeutically assists in the treatment of alcoholism, acne, alleviating allergies, promoting the early healing of burns.

6. It also helps with problems such as congestive heart failure, chronic fatigue syndrome or kidney stones.

7. Potassium plays a vital role in cellular integrity by regulating the transfer of nutrients into the cell.

8. Potassium also attracts oxygen to tissues, helps correct positioning of vital organs. Potassium deficiency indicates that probably albumin, sugar, sodium, and chlorine are also in short supply or not being properly absorbed.

9. Potassium helps proper functioning of the adrenal glands. It helps support healthy sugar balance in the body.

Deficiency of potassium –

The kidneys excrete excess potassium from the body, and deficiencies are rarely found in people on a normal balanced diet. A deficiency may result in fatigue, cramping legs, muscle weakness, sluggish reflexes, acne, dry skin, mood swings and irregular heartbeat.

A shortage of potassium in body may cause a fatal condition known as hypokalemia, resulting from diarrhea, increased diuresis and vomiting. Hypokalemia can occur in people with a chronic disease or due to aging process. Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness, ECG abnormalities, decreased reflex response, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia and respiratory paralysis.

If the fluid and electrolyte balance is not restored, the risk of heart failure increases.

Potassium deficiency increases acid levels in the body, lowers the natural pH balance, causes problems with the formation of connective tissue. Kidney diseases (such as acute renal failure), diabetes can also cause fluctuations in the levels of potassium. Many medications such as diuretics, cortisone, prolonged use of aspirin, and laxatives also cause depletion of potassium.

Dietary sources of potassium:

Eating a variety of foods that contain potassium is the best way to get the required amount. Individuals who eat a balanced diet do not need potassium supplements. Foods, which are rich sources of potassium include turnips, whole grains, molasses, fish, citrus fruit, apple cider vinegar, bananas, avocados, yoghurt, tomatoes, poultry, oranges, apricots, potatoes (especially their skins), leafy green vegetables such as spinach, lettuce; and meat. One large orange will supply one with 250 mg of potassium, one-eighth of a person’s daily need. Dried apricots contain more potassium than fresh apricots.

Steaming of foods helps to retain nutrients that are lost through other cooking techniques such as boiling (loss of about 50% of potassium content). Steaming results in only a 6% loss of potassium.

Recommended Daily Allowance of potassium:

There is no recommended daily allowance (RDA) for potassium, but it is advised to get between 2,000-3,000 mg per day. The range of intake for children is 780 to 1,600 mg per day.

This is not difficult, and most people meet this requirement on their own through a normal diet. In general, nutritionists recommend reducing salt intake and ensuring adequate supply by increasing the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet.

If one is into bodybuilding, he must increase the potassium intake, since potassium is needed to maintain muscles in good form, and also because potassium is lost from excessive sweating and urine.

Symptoms of high intake of potassium:

Excessive potassium can be toxic and will affect the heart. This is a problem especially when one is suffering from some problem such as kidney failure. Irregular heart beat and muscle fatigue is sign of toxic potassium levels. In healthy people, the kidneys in the urine excrete excess potassium.

Who requires extra potassium?

People who require potassium supplements include:

# women on oral contraceptives,

# chronic alcoholics or drug abusers,

# smokers

# people undergoing stress

# athletes

# people doing strenuous exertion,

# anyone suffering from any degree of mal-absorption syndrome

# people with eating disorders, especially bulimia and anorexia..

No matter what your age or conditions, stress is an inevitable part of everyone’s life and ongoing stress actually contributes to gaining weight. Elissa Epel, PhD and assistant professor in the psychiatry department at the University of California, states, “While the immediate…response to acute stress can be a temporary loss of appetite, more and more we are coming to recognize that for some people, chronic stress can be tied to an increase in appetite – and stress-induced weight gain.”

Short term stressful situations, like anxiety, excitement or fear, cause an adrenaline rush that temporarily burns fat. However, long term stress increases the level of the hormone cortisol in our bodies, causing the body to store excess fat. Most of this extra fat is stored in your belly and hips – exactly where you don’t want it.

Although several products claim to reduce cortisol, there is no medical evidence to substantiate those claims. A proven way to minimize cortisol levels in your body and eliminate excess fat is by reducing your stress. There are many additional benefits of stress reduction, such as lowered blood pressure and increased mental health.

Here are several simple ways to reduce stress for maximum physical and emotional fitness:

1. Eat at least 4-6 small, well-balanced meals each day to properly maintain the sugar levels in your body and ensure you are getting all the essential vitamins and minerals you need.

2. Drink at least six to eight glasses of water every day to flush the toxins out of your system.

3. Exercise for twenty to thirty minutes three to five times each week. Choose a physical activity you enjoy, such as biking, weight lifting or walking, because getting pleasure from your exercise routine will also help minimize stress.

4. Avoid foods with sugar and caffeine that offer a false sense of energy.

5. Avoid alcohol, which has an impact on the sugar levels in your body.

6. Get plenty of sleep every night because when you are tired, you tend to feel more hungry.

7. Engage in activities designed to help you relax, such as yoga or meditation.

8. Watch less television – statistics show that up to ninety percent of people who watch television an hour or more each day fail at their weight loss goals.

9. Avoid crash diets which could increase your stress level and actually cause the production of additional cortisol, alleviating any potential weight loss you may have been able to experience.

10. When you feel really hungry, choose whole-grain, high-fiber foods, like oatmeal and fruit, which keep insulin levels even to control blood sugar and your hunger.

By reducing the stress in your life, you can get rid of excess fat and emotional baggage at the same time!

Dyshidrosis, also known as Dyshidrotic Eczema, is a chronic skin condition which is characterized by small blisters on the hands and feet. The name “Dyshidrosis” comes from the word “dyshidrotic” which means “bad sweating” which was deemed as the cause. Sometimes it is also known as Pompholyx which means “bubble” in Greek referring to the blisters on the skin. In some cases, Pompholyx refers to hand dyshidrosis. This skin condition is not contagious to others, but it can cause extreme stress and pain to the sufferers. Not to mention the unsightly nature of the condition can cause social anxiety and low self esteem.

Until today, the truly cause of Dyshidrosis is unknown. It is often associated with other skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, bacterial infection or excessive stress. However, there are several probable factors which can aggravate the condition:

- Nickel allergy may be a significant contributing factor to dyshidrosis. Tests have shown that dyshidrosis sufferers who are given a low nickel diet reported having less flare ups.

- Coming into contact with allergens may be the cause.

- Metal toxicity such as copper, mercury and nickel

- Other possible factors include aspirin ingestion, oral contraceptives, cigarette smoking, and implanted metals.

Unfortunately, since dyshidrosis is a type of eczema, the most common treatment for dyshidrosis is topical steroids which can bring about harmful long term effects such as skin thinning. Other methods include the use of Hydrogen Peroxide (35% strength) and Potassium Permanganate solution. Both of these can work to a certain extend but the side effects include significant burning and itching.

Therefore,it is recommended that to treat Dyshidrosis, it is necessary to go back to the basics, that is to strenghten the immune system and eliminating toxins from the body. You can check out the various methods to achieve a strong immune system via feeding the body the right food at EczemaFreeNaturally.com

Having the basics taken care of, here are some of the home remedies you can try to get relief for Dyshidrosis:

- Use emollients frequently to prevent cracking and itching. Avoid to use petroleum jelly as it does not absorb into the skin.

- Try soaking in sea salts or Epsom salts. Some found relief in soaking in white vinegar.

- Avoid harsh shampoos and body wash. Stick with gentle bath oil. If you are having flare ups, remember to wear gloves when washing hair or bathing.

- Avoid nickel if you are allergic to it. Nickel can present in certain types of foods, jewelry, computer keyboards, dental filling and even bra.

- Avoid stressful situations or learn stress management

- Avoid scratching. I know it is easier said than done. Try wearing unbleached cotton gloves to protect your hands.

- Plantain (Plantago major) infused in olive or other oil can be soothing.

- Wear cotton gloves while reading newspapers, books and magazines. The lead in the ink may be an irritant.

- Avoid hand sanitizing products which contains alcohol. Alcohol is drying and may aggravate the condition.

- Wash affected hands and feet with cool water and apply a moisturizer as soon as possible.

Although dyshidrosis is not life threatening, this skin condition can cause extreme pain and stress to the sufferes. While there is no definite treatment for dyshidrosis, one can aid the healing of this condition by practising a healthy lifestyle
.