How To Cut Healthcare Costs

Saturday, January 26, 2008

How To Cut Healthcare Costs


By: Mark Lamendola

If you're a senior, you can use the following tips to reduce both your costs of healthcare and your need for it.



When sick:
1. Learn your body. Get a baseline physical. Consult with your doctor to know what your body's weaknesses are.

2. Be an active patient. Think of your doctor as the coach--one who needs 110% from you. It is your job to get well, not your doctors job to heal you.

3. Become an expert. Always investigate anything your doctor tells you. If your doctor says you have heart disease, get at least five books on heart disease and study them.



To stay healthy:
1. Watch your diet. Keep it simple and basic. The low-fat fad will pass, because such diets do not work. What you need to do, instead, is stay away from foods that are highly processed (your body does not work well with them), deep-fried, or high in sugar. Bear in mind, most flour products are so over-refined, they are almost like sugar pills--and they will drive your insulin level sky-high. Free information is on our leanbody page.

2. Exercise regularly. This is where many people cut too many corners. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go for walks after supper. Stay away from that television. The Mindconnection fitness store has free exercise information, plus excellent equipment to help you get in shape and stay in shape.



3. Sleep regularly. This means no weekend binges. Your body takes a long time to adjust to schedule changes. The bi-annual "daylight wasting" clock change that takes place in much of the world is terrible in terms of health. But, it's not as bad as chronic late nights and sleep ins on weekends and holidays. Stick to your sleep schedule, and you will have more energy and better health--not to mention better job performance. If sleep is a mystery to you, then maybe you should study a book about sleep.

4. Find a purpose. Many people die from spiritual emptiness--a common event within a year or so of retirement. Spirituality is not an automatic result of participating in religious activities--you must pursue this in its own right. One way is to volunteer some time to a charitable organization and become passionately involved. There are many other ways--seek, and you shall find. If you want to seek more quickly, you can find a book or two on spirituality to get you going.

5. Be happy. This doesn't happen accidentally. You need to work at it. Take care of the important things in your life. Identify your stressors, and reduce or eliminate them. Look for the good in others. Need a quick laugh? Sign up for the Mindconnection jokelist. Go see a funny movie. Or buy a funny movie.

6. Get outside. Walk in a park. Ride a bike. Just don't get too much sun--this ages your skin and can lead to a host of problems later in life.



If you do get sick, do two things:
1. Learn as much as you can about your illness--ask your doctor for resource information, AND make lots of trips to the library. You can also use Mindconnection's book search for additional information.

2. Get a second opinion. Compare the two, and find out why each doctor thinks as s/he does.

Death By Breathing

Death By Breathing
By: DAVE WOYNAROWSKI, M.D.
The World's Top Anti-Aging Specialist

Here's another great question.

Dear Dr. Dave,

I'm quite confused over one aspect of Instant Endurance. One of the components is supposed to help us take in more oxygen which is good for the brain, blood, organs, etc... On the other hand, we have things like anti-oxidants(?) which are supposed to retard aging. Is there a contradiction here?

Thank you very much.

Truly,

Tan P. K.
Singapore



Every now and then someone writes in an absolutely great question that I never thought of. Usually I say to myself," I wish I had thought of that!"

In the case of Tan P.K. from Singapore I found myself saying just that.

This gentleman's question cuts right to the heart of the anti-aging matter and I think will instruct all of us in some fundamentals that I have not touched upon before.

First let's take a little hypothetical trip back about 12 billion years. Again I say hypothetical because this is an evolutionary point of view and I am not in a position to state this as fact, so please do not take any religious offense to this!

The story goes like this:

Two very different cells came into contact with each other billions of years ago.

One cell had a very limited capacity to use oxygen which at the time was present on the earth's atmosphere in somewhat greater amounts than it is now.

The other cell was primarily a non oxygen user. But it was bigger badder and hungrier than the one that used oxygen.

So the big bad hungry non oxygen using cell ate the little high energy oxygen using one.

Funny thing is that the big cell couldn't digest the little one.

As a matter of fact the little cell rather liked being inside the "stomach " of the big cell because there was all that unused oxygen lying around.

At some point it became apparent that these 2 cells, one now living inside the other, were greater than the sum of their parts.

Each conferred a survival advantage to the other, so they learned to coexist and thrive as a new unified organism that could use oxygen very well.

It is thought that the little cell that got eaten and liked it was the forerunner of the modern day mitochondrion ( mitochondria pleural).

In all of our cells there are mitochondria. They are the veritable powerhouses of the cell. Most if not all oxygen metabolism takes place there.

Mitochondria are truly the energy generating furnaces of our body. They take oxygen food and water and convert it into our energy needs.

As such they are exposed to lots of oxygen and this burning of oxygen creates what are now known as "oxygen free radicals" or simply free radicals.

Many of you already know that free radicals are damaging. They have a lot of energy and when they glom onto something and give up their energy to it bad things can happen.

Such as Inflammation heart disease joint destruction and cancer.

The mitochondria are well equipped to handle this at least when they are young because of many buffers. Perhaps the most important of which is Co Enzyme Q 10 one of the main ingredients in Regenerizer.

The bioactive plant compounds in Instant Endurance are also loaded with anti-oxidants, as is fish oil which actually acts as a free radical sponge to soak them up.



This is important because as we age or as we engage in high level physical activities, free radicals start to build up.

Ageing causes this because the actual amounts of things like CO Q 10 in the mitochondria decrease as we age.

In high level athletics we actually consume more oxygen and thus generate more free radicals.

One of the biggest mistakes I see world and other class athletes make is under supplemnetation with anti-oxidants. They generally feel that they are in such good shape that their bodies can handle the oxidant load.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Now many of you know that I am a distance runner and a grappler.

I aggressively buffer the oxidant load in my body generated by these activities with all of my compounds from Fish Oil to Regenerizer to Instant Endurance.

Why? Well elite distance runners do not live normal life spans as a whole. They succumb to heart disease and stroke at a level even higher than the general populace. This is undoubtedly due to the high oxidation loads from free radicals in their body.

No one has done a study on Grapplers!

I always tell my runner friends," Don't run for longevity! And if you do run long distance make sure you take enough anti-oxidants!"

Now please not that there are some distinct advantages to running and other types of exercise in that these groups of individuals tend to be more health conscious and this may account for better health and longer lives in the non elite group.

In other words its not the running, but the lifestyle that accompanies it that helps most!

And that my friend is the paradox!

Oxygen, the very thing that keeps us alive, the very thing we cannot do without is slowly killing us! The more of it we use the more damage we do UNLESS we protect ourselves with anti-oxidants.

The more active you are the more you need them!

And the younger you want to stay, the more you need them.

Recently the editor of a mixed martial arts magazine that I am for confidentiality reasons not able to name wrote me to tell me that he loves my products. He feels the effects and they have improved his game.

This is not in a small part due to the buffering of free radical oxidants that impair performance, Impair recovery and dull the Brain.

Ken Brown Triathelete wrote to tell me how he won his age class after taking My Fish Oil.

He said," Your Fish Oil made a monster out of me!"

The only thing more impressive than that is Ken himself whose picture and testimonial are up on the site now.

So whether you care trying to slow the aging process and prolong disease free life, or are an athlete looking for an edge in strength, endurance, recovery and mental sharpness, remember that the very air we breath can kill us.

And remember it does not have to be so!

As Tan P. K. pointed out Instant Endurance supplies you with the ability to extract more oxygen, AND the ability to buffer the damaging effects of same giving you the best of both worlds!

The Stress of Cancer: Seeking Support

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Stress of Cancer: Seeking Support


Learning that you have a diagnosis of cancer is usually a traumatic experience. And following the shock of diagnosis, people have to face treatment decisions and side effects, changing personal relationships and uncertainty about their future.

"Stress can appear at every stage of the disease, at diagnosis, during treatment and after treatment," says Josée Savard, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada. While some stress is expected to accompany a diagnosis of cancer, Dr. Savard and other experts say that people with cancer should monitor their stress levels to make sure they are not crossing the line into depression and anxiety, which are conditions that can interfere with someone's quality of life and even their health status.




Stress vs. Anxiety and Depression
Most of the research on the psychological impact of cancer has been conducted in women with breast cancer. It's estimated that between 22 and 50 percent of women with breast cancer are depressed, while 33 percent have acute stress disorder and 3 to 19 percent have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition seen in people who have experienced traumatic events such as natural disasters or military combat.

A Canadian study published June 14th in the British Journal of Cancer found that almost 38 percent of its 3,095 participants—who included people with breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancer—met the criteria for distress levels that should be treated. But almost half of these patients had not sought psychosocial support, primarily because they weren't aware of support services or because they didn't think they needed them.

According to study author Linda Carlson, PhD, a clinical psychiatrist with the University of Calgary/Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Alberta, Canada, not getting help can have major repercussions. "If people don't feel like they can talk to anyone, their distress just snowballs over time," she says, adding that people with untreated depression and anxiety often end up visiting doctors more often.

That snowball effect may be one of several reasons patients find the post-treatment period stressful. "Some patients find it most difficult when treatments end because they feel they're not fighting anymore and they don't have the support of their medical team," Dr. Savard says.




Getting Support
Sometimes people with cancer find that the friends and family they thought they could rely on aren't offering them the support they need. In fact, cancer can sometimes expose existing cracks in relationships, particularly in couples. "For couples who were functioning well before cancer, the cancer will usually have a minimal impact on their relationship, or even improve it. In couples who had difficulties before cancer, it will generally create more problems," Dr. Savard explains.

Other times, Dr. Carlson says, people don't want to overburden their friends and family with their worries and may feel pressure to stay upbeat. And those friends and family members don't always know what to say or how to be helpful, especially if they haven't faced a life-threatening illness themselves.

Many people with cancer find the support they need in psychotherapy. Depending upon someone's personality and preferences, they may choose one-on-one psychotherapy or a support group of their peers that is led by a mental health professional, such as an oncology social worker. A study published in May 2001 in The Archives of General Psychiatry found that support groups helped reduce distress in people with metastatic cancer, primarily by helping them face their advanced disease on an emotional level. (Because the concerns of people with early stage and advanced cancer are so different, separate support groups are often found to be helpful for participants.)

"Supportive treatment, whether it's individual or group therapy, allows people to express their concerns and fears," Dr. Carlson says. "There's this myth that you have to be positive all the time when what's really important is that people are able to express their feelings, whatever they are."

Support groups and psychotherapy are also available to the family and friends of people with cancer. People with cancer and their families can find psychosocial support though their hospital or cancer center, or though support and advocacy organizations such as the American Cancer Society and The Wellness Community and CancerCare, which offer online support groups led by health professionals.

Other options available to people with cancer include hypnosis and guided imagery, where you relax by focusing on a positive mental image. Biofeedback, a technique that helps people learn how to relax, works with bodily functions such as breathing and muscle tension. If it's feasible, mild aerobic exercise can also provide energy and a mood lift. Some people, especially those who have had anxiety disorder or depression in the past, may need antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to help them cope.

Cancer is an isolating experience, Dr. Carlson says, but reaching out for support can help people living with the discomfort and uncertainties of cancer gain reassurance and a better quality of life.

National Cancer Institute's Symptoms of Depression Having a depressed mood for most of the day and on most days:

Loss of pleasure and interest in most activities
Changes in eating and sleeping habits
Nervousness or sluggishness
Tiredness
Feeling of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
Poor concentration
Thoughts of death or suicide

What The Most Dangerous Job In The World Taught Me About Coping With Stress

What The Most Dangerous Job In The World Taught Me About Coping With Stress



I just got through reading some troubling news in the New York Times this morning.

62% of employees now say that work-related stress leaves them overwhelmed and overtired.

And for many of us, who bring work home from the office, the problem is even worse.

So what’s going on?

Why are most of us so stressed?

I’ll tell you what a major part of the problem is… lack of job security.

I remember as I was growing up, my father only had two jobs. He was a high school teacher for the earlier part of his life, and later on he went into the real estate profession.

Two jobs, and they spanned his entire lifetime!

And the one career change he made was something he wanted to do. He didn’t make the change because he was losing his job as a teacher. In fact, the school district wanted him to stay.

But that’s a far cry from the way things are today. In fact, the days of job stability, and working for a single employer for your entire working career are long gone.

You’ll probably change jobs at least 11 times before you retire.

Downsizing, rapid business expansion and outsourcing are terms that we’re all too familiar with.

Before I got involved in the health industry and started my own indoor air quality business back in 1996, I’d already held 5 jobs in 5 completely different industries.

I worked as a telecommunications technician (in the Army), as a framer, on the green chain at 2 separate lumber mills, as a farm hand and finally as an Alaska fisherman for seven years (which was the hardest and most stressful job I ever had).

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “You must’ve been a problem employee”.

But the fact is, nothing could be further from the truth.

I was in fact a model employee for every company I worked for, and never left a single employer on bad terms.









For example…

I began working as an Alaska fisherman in 1988. My main motivation for doing this was the money. Quite honestly, that’s the only reason I took the job.

And if you’ve ever seen that movie “The Perfect Storm” or watched those shows on the discovery channel, you have an idea of what it’s like to fish in Alaska.

My own story isn’t much different and it taught me why being an Alaska Fisherman is know as “The Most Dangerous Job In The World”.

The winter of 1995 had been an especially bad winter in Alaska. Fishing boats and fishermen's lives were being claimed by the Bering Sea almost weekly.

I was working on the outside deck after dark and we were in an unbelievable storm. It was the worst I'd seen in my 7 years of fishing. The kind of thing you only see in the movies.

I was scared to death!

But I had my own way of dealing with my fears. I'd never look out at the horizon when we were in a storm like this because I didn't want to see the big picture. I didn't want to know how high the waves really were. So I'd just concentrate on my job, which was to get all the fish onto the boat. As long as I did my job, and didn't look up, I could almost convince myself that the storm wasn't that bad.

While this certainly wasn’t the best way to deal with stress, at the time, it was the only way I knew how.

As always, the captain was in the wheelhouse driving the boat. His job was to keep an eye on me and watch for the dangerous rogue waves that would come out of nowhere and slam into us broadside. He'd tell me if I was in any real danger.

And then it happened!

I heard the captain's thundering voice over the intercom system.

Kevin! Hit the deck!

Before I could react, I was buried under a wall of water that hurled me all the way across the deck of the boat, face first into the railing on the other side.

When the water settled, and I realized what had happened, my immediate thought was, "Thank God I'm still on the boat" The impact had knocked out my front teeth and caused serious facial damage, but at least I was still alive, and on the boat.

If that wave would have lifted me just a few inches higher, I would have been thrown right over the top of the railing into the freezing waters of the Bering Sea. And there's one thing I knew for sure. In a storm like that, there's no way in hell the captain would have got that boat turned around in time to save me. I would have died right then and there.

It was at that moment I decided my life as an Alaska Fisherman was over.

While it was a great experience, I’ve never regretted my decision to leave the fishing industry. I just didn’t want to deal with that much stress in my life.

Decades of research has linked stress to everything from heart attacks and stroke to diabetes and a weakened immune systems, and none of us want to deal with that.

I’ve since found much better ways to deal with stress, and you can too by using the resources on this site.