Do It Go » Health

Living with Sleep Apnea

Sam — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Modern society seems filled with disorders and conditions , both physical and mental, that affect an individual’s ability to function in daily life. In more and more cases, researchers are developing treatments and medications that make it easier for these people to live with their condition. Instead of suffering in silence and having their disorder interfere with life, patients are able to function fully at home and at work.

A shining example of this phenomenon is sleep apnea. Patients who spend years struggling with fatigue, an inability to focus on tasks, and even poor memories may be suffering from sleep apnea. This disorder interrupts sleep — sometimes as often as fifty times in a single hour — and leads to physical, mental, and even personality problems that turn a normal day into an uphill battle just to get by.

A prescription for a CPAP machine can change all that. The machine is designed to provide continuous airflow pressure that allows individuals to breathe more easily. Without the constant breathing interruptions, they are able to sleep better, which then eliminates the multitude of attendant symptoms. More sleep means better focus, less fatigue and an improved memory. It can improve the attitude and put an end to tossing and turning at night as well as snoring. The elimination of symptoms is so near to being complete that, aside from having to use the machine each night, many patients don’t even feel that they are living with sleep apnea — their lives instead seem normal.

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Living with Sleep Apnea

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Visitor Health Insurance

Sam — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:00:00 +0000

There seems to be an insurance for every conceivable human activity. From liability to life from auto to health, there’s an insurance to protect everyone’s financial wellbeing . There is even something called visitor health insurance, which, as the name suggests, provides health insurance to people visiting a foreign country. It usually works hand in hand with other types of travel-related insurance and is sometimes bundled into one large travel policy that covers all the risk associated with international travel, up to and including acts of terrorism.

The basic premise behind Visitor health insurance is that every health care system is different. The insurance that takes care of someone in their home country does not follow them once they cross a national border. However, the risk associated with daily life do follow them and in many cases are actually higher in a foreign country.

There are specialized health policies for students, missionaries, employees on long-term assignments to foreign countries and even for sailors and those who live or work on cruise ships . Travelers who plan to be in one country for a long time or who are living and traveling around the globe year round have different needs than those who are on short trips, so policies exist that take both sets of circumstances into account. There are policies for a single country or continent as well as global policies that follow the traveler almost anywhere in the world.

No matter what the travel circumstances may be or the pre-existing conditions a person has, there’s a visitor health insurance plan that will work for them.

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Visitor Health Insurance

Community in Canberra

Sam — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:44:24 +0000

Last week, when I wrote about the power of a group of three friends, and how, while we were having a great breakfast in one of the many restaurants Canberra has, we discussed how crating a small tribe, like the three of us, can prove more powerful as a preventative that any diet or drug from dying to heart disease. Which is almost always, metaphorically speaking, caused by dying from a broken heart.

We all have done research and have come to the same conclusions such as the Japanese-Americans who demonstrate that social networks and social support protect them against heart disease. Regardless of whether they smoke or suffer from high blood pressure. Even here in Australia, in a study of 200 healthy elderly people, those with good supporting networks had lower blood cholesterol levels and higher levels of immune function than those without a good supporting network.

As I mentioned last week, just how much you smoke or what you eat didn’t seem to have a correlation or much bearing on your heart as whether you felt isolated from the world. This situation even exists in animal societies. Research has conducted heart studies on rabbits and were stunned to find that among the animals given a regiment of high cholesterol-producing diets, those who were played with and petted by the researches developed less cardiovascular disease that those who were in cages out of reach and left alone.

So, whether in humans or animals, a high-cholesterol diet does not appear to have much of an impact or creates heart disease, but the lack of social connections does. Many other studies have shown that a strong community involvement, is one of the most important indicators of healthy living.

One very good example of a strong community is in a small Pennsylvania town called Roseto. This tiny town was entirely populated with Italian immigrants who all lived in the same area in Italy. Along with the people themselves, their culture had also been transplanted to Roseto. The town shared a very cohesive sense of community. Roseto had an amazing health record. Despite the prevalence of a number of high-risk factors in the community, like smoking, high-fat diets and economic stress. The people of Roseto had a heart attack rate less than half that of their neighboring towns.

So, do what my two other friends and I are doing, creating our own sense of community and support.

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Community in Canberra

Community Spirits in Hiltonhead

Breathing well in New York

Sam — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:28:03 +0000

I was fortunate to experience a new way with which some teaching hospitals are using breath as a vehicle for healing. At first I was skeptical, but after only a week with using a certain breathing technique, I’m a believer. I’ve suffered from asthma as an adult for over a decade and my attacks can be life threatening, so much so I end up in the emergency room at least twice a year. But, my last asthma attack, which happened while I was staying at one of the New York casino hotels, I was taken to the emergency room where the emergency doctor who was treating me, mentioned this new breathing technique and recommended I go to a breathing workshop. He told me that I’d be very surprised at just how effective it is and that I’d come back to him and thank him for recommending the breathing workshop. I laughed, but I did take his advise.

I learned there were two specific healing initiatives which are implemented as illustrations of how our breath is both a subtle organizing property and a material manifestation. Like singing, music therapy which organizes the intentions of the physiological abilities of anther person as they recover from a coma. The second is Qigong for the treatment of asthma. I was shown that Qigong’s breathing is also used as and intentional activity which will improve my own breathing abilities and heal what essentially is a breathing problem, the material manifestation of air-flow.

Breathing is a central part in healing and communication which forms the basis of many disciplines in therapy. With the breathing workshop, I became very aware of just how little I breath when I’m stressed out. This in turn hurts my entire body, which creates stress on all my organs, which creates more stress on me emotionally. Lack of a good breathing habit, created an endless cycle of stress for me. With my practice of Qigong, I have been able to balance my breathing, and I have been asthma free for over a year now. I did go back to New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York), recently, and thanked that doctor who recommended that breathing workshop.

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Breathing well in New York

Sports, Athletes and the Benefits of the Contrast Bath Utilizing Hot Tubs

Sam — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:48:01 +0000

Hydrotherapy is increasingly becoming a popular form of the therapy among athletic trainers around the company as an aid in the recovery of injuries and strains. Athletes make their livings with their bodies, and they can perform their jobs unless those bodies are in top shape and incredibly healthy. Some coaches, and athletes as well, push their players and themselves past a point of no return, when the injury develops into a chronic problem. They do not realize that a daily healing routine is time that it well spent and extremely important. Strategies for recovery employed each and every day result in higher performance levels sustained for longer periods of time.

Most athletes deal with constant fatigue, be it metabolic in nature, psychological in nature due to stress and emotional strain, neural in nature and environmental in nature due to long periods of time spent on the road, and the consequences experienced in different climates. Training fatigue is not the only fatigue they should be concerned with. The idea of recovery seems to come up only during times of injury or illness, not on a day to day basis. No scientific or analytical research has been conducted to an extent that would provide proof of the necessity for day to day recovery and stress relief, it is just common sense.

Choosehottubsdirect.com offers a variety of models of spas, that are being used currently for the purpose of contrast bathing. This involves immersion in hot soaks, then cold soaks, as a way to stimulate blood flow, increase circulation, reduce stress, and accelerate the healing process. Healing the body in small ways each day is much more to the benefit of the athlete, and the entire team, than waiting for a serious injury to occur. This is just one of the techniques that is becoming popular among athletes, dancers and performers on a daily basis. These forms of restorative healing have been dated back to the ancient Romans and Greeks, long known for their athletic abilities and stamina.

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Sports, Athletes and the Benefits of the Contrast Bath Utilizing Hot Tubs

Affordable Shoulder Surgery Costs

Sam — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:49:31 +0000

Sound impossible? In this day and age where every surgery seems to cost a literal arm and a leg, people are hard pressed to find procedures that are not only reasonable, but also with the highest quality techniques. A multi-million dollar industry has developed called Medical Tourism that helps locate hospitals and surgeons who deliver the highest quality procedures at a low cost. Whether it is in India, Costa Rica, Hungary, or Mexico, patients are flocking for medical care outside their home country to receive treatment. Affordable knee surgery, lap band surgery, or other procedures are being performed by surgeons who have completed their post graduate work in the United States or Canada in hospitals that feature cutting edge techniques and equipment. One of the perks of medical tourism is that because of the enormous savings (sometimes up to 60%), patients are taking vacations in the country they have flown to once they are released from the hospital. The combination of receiving excellent treatment and then being able to enjoy the local sights while still saving money is proving to be irresistible.

Finding a good agency where records are sent to the appropriate hospital after attention to selecting the right surgeon is easily found online or courtesy of your local tourist agency. From obtaining knee surgery in Mexico, lap band surgery in Costa Rica, or plastic surgery in Argentina, there are many options out there that will not deflate your bank account.

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Affordable Shoulder Surgery Costs

Medical Care in Mexico

Quest for the perfect muse

Sam — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:57:21 +0000

Finding the right muse can take a lifetime, but in the meantime the searching of this elusive muse and having them stay in ones life makes for an interesting journey. I had no idea when I met Uni at a friends housewarming party that he would create the winds of poetry to stir within me and pour out and land upon him so beautiful and exacting. The art of flirting boldly found voice when Richard stood behind me in a grocery store checkout line and made for bushings and several attempts at hair fixing. One time, when I was eating in one of the many Singapore Luxury Hotels, my waiter of name I do not remember, made me draw his loveliness on my cloth napkin and write below his manly figure just how much he lights up midnight.

I have had female muses also, like Beverly, her smooth alabaster skin required henna and body-paint blurs that go on for days. My twin sister’s compassion for those who suffer calls me to reach out and encompass all that cross my path with my knowing of healing arts. Renny’s laughter and her joyfulness moved me to coax my body and soul to dance harmoniously with the light of day.

I know you have your muses too. But, I ask you to find the muse in everyone you meet. Even the people you may not like, they are and will be a muse that will bring out from the depth you can not reach by yourself, a beautiful and newness of thought; something wonderfully original and marvellous. If you manage to captivate your muse and make them want to stay with you, then you are blessed with a life filled with awe inspiring days and a warmth that was never known that could be reached and deeply felt every time you open your eyes and see the world as your muse sees the world.

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Quest for the perfect muse

Medical Care in Mexico

Sam — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:03:26 +0000

Medical tourism has become an outstanding alternative for health care procedures. Countries such as Mexico boast excellent public and private hospitals along with reputable small town clinics where patients can receive the best care from high caliber doctors. As most Mexican doctors do their post graduate work in the United States, Canada, or Europe, they are exposed to cutting edge techniques and are fluent in English. This fluency is not necessarily true for nursing staff, but their attention to detail and care speaks a language of its own., gastric bypass surgery, and the like rising in popularity, it is important to book your surgical procedure before arriving. With proper investigation into which hospitals will best serve you in terms of staff and location, you will have the security of knowing that your choices have been made based on ample information.

Most Mexican hospitals allow a family member or a friend to stay in the room with you while you are recuperating from a surgery. Cots or couches are provided.

Though health care in Mexico is not covered by US insurance policies, there are private insurance policies that cover emergencies for travelers as well as international policies and policies that are underwritten by Mexican insurance companies to cover your procedure. In general, you will be asked to pay for your surgery once you are released and can pay in US dollars or Euros.

With procedures such as cosmetic surgery, Lasik eye surgery, gastric bypass surgery, and the like rising in popularity, it is important to book your surgical procedure before arriving. With proper investigation into which hospitals will best serve you in terms of staff and location, you will have the security of knowing that your choices have been made based on ample information.

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Medical Care in Mexico