Alarming! More Than Half Of Us In The US Aren't Drinking Enough Water

We’ve all heard time and time again how important it is to stay hydrated, especially when we lead busy lives or engage in frequent exercise. But how many of us are truly proactive when it comes to getting enough water?

Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health recently demonstrated that more than half of all children and adolescents in the U.S. are not drinking enough water to maintain optimal health1, and approximately a quarter drink no plain water whatsoever.

The authors of this study examined data from over 4,000 children and adolescents who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Using a process known as urine osmolality, they were able to assess the concentration of each participant’s urine and therefore their hydration status.

They discovered that just over half of the participants were failing to drink enough water. Moreover, there were differences across gender and ethnic groups. Boys were 76% more likely to be dehydrated than girls, and non-Hispanic black participants were 34% more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be drinking insufficient water.

These findings are troubling because adequate water intake is essential for physical and psychological functioning. Although it is common knowledge that chronic or severe dehydration can be deadly, relatively few people realize that low-level dehydration is enough to trigger reduced concentration, fatigue and mood changes. This means that children who do not drink enough fluids may be underperforming in school.

Luckily, this is a problem with a simple solution. Just by encouraging children to drink more water from an early age, we can improve their academic performance and overall wellbeing. If you have kids, why not ask them how many glasses of water they’ve had today?

Who Can Resist Avocado! It Is One of the Most Nutrient Fruit In The World!

Besides being the main ingredient of your favorite guacamole dip, avocado is a unique berry fruit that has become very popular in the healthy eating community.
Unlike other fruits that are rich in carbs, avocado is high in fiber and monounsaturated fat and low in sugar, which makes it beneficial in lowering blood cholesterol and losing weight, among other health benefits.
Native to the state of Puebla, Mexico, avocado, or the “alligator pear” is a pear shaped fruit that contains a big seed. Its smooth texture and subtle flavor allow for a number of different flavored dishes. Aside from guacamole dip, avocado can be found in vegetarian cuisine as substitute for meat; as a salad; or it can be added to deserts.
Among many nutrients avocado provides, some of the most commonly known include
Potassium, which regulates blood pressure
B vitamins, the powerful agents in fighting disease and infection
Lutein, which is good for dry eyes
Why Avocados Are One of the Most Nutritious Fruits?
3.5 ounces, or 100 grams of raw avocado contains
Calories 160
Calories from Fat 123
Total Fat 15 g
Saturated Fat 2 g
Trans Fat 2 g
Cholesterol 7 mg
Sodium 0 mg
Dietary Fiber 7 g
With only 1g of sugar, 2g of protein and 17% of vitamin C, avocados are one of the most nutritious fruits.
Abundant in “good” fats, avocados help to regulate cholesterol levels. Additionally, avocados provide all the ingredients needed for your body to better absorb nutrients from other food you consume.
Avocados Are a Superfood As They Provide Many Health Benefits!
Aside from being extremely nutritious, avocados provide a number of health benefits, which is why it is considered a superfood.
Avocados help in reducing blood pressure

Being rich in potassium, even more so than bananas, avocado can help regulate blood pressure, which is one of the most common risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure 1 2.
Avocados reduce the risk of heart disease

Avocados are known as one of the fattiest plant foods, with majority of the fat found in avocados being oleic fatty acid. Oleic fatty acid belong to the group of “good” monounsaturated fats that help in heart health protection 3 4.
Avocados provide better metabolic health

Avocados contain 7g of fiber per 100 grams, making it one of the best sources of fiber. With 205% of the fiber from avocado being soluble 5, avocado is a great dietary solution for optimal metabolic health and weight loss 6.
Avocados aid in lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels

High cholesterol and triglyceride levels are one of the most common risk factors for developing heart disease. Avocados have proved to be beneficial factors in significantly lowering cholesterol 7 8 and triglyceride levels 9.
Avocados help protect the eyes

Avocados can aid in protecting eye health as they contain important antioxidants – Lutein and Zeaxanthin, which are known as the main factors for lowering the risk of common eye problems such as cataracts and macular degeneration. 10 11

Avocados may have the potential to help fight cancer

Even though future studies are needed to confirm the effect of avocados on cancer cells, a 2011 study has shown the positive effect of avocados on side effect of chemotherapy in in human lymphocytes. 12

Moreover, an earlier study shows avocado extract being effective in preventing the growth of prostate cancer cells 13

Avocados improve general health

A study that analyzed dietary habits of 17,567 participants in the U.S. has found that participants who consumed avocado regularly were much healthier than the participants who didn’t eat avocados: “Avocado consumption is associated with improved overall diet quality, nutrient intake, and reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.” 14

Though Avocados Are Nutrient, They Also Have Some Downsides
Avocados are abundant in healthy nutrients and are generally safe to eat. However, in some cases, they can cause allergies, especially in people allergic to latex. Symptoms include rash, upset stomach, facial swelling and trouble breathing.
Moreover, eating too much avocados (more than one avocado a day) can lead to high calorie intake which contributes to weight gain.
How Do I Know If the Avocado Is Ready to Be Eaten?
In order to test the ripeness of an avocado, squeeze it gently in your hand. If it is soft, nit mushy, it is ripe, and ready to eat. Unripe avocado will ripe in a couple of days. Place it in the refrigerator if you want to slow the process.
Avocados can be eaten raw, seasoned with different ingredients, cooked in a soup, mashed into a dip, or desert. Avocado oil is healthy choice for cooking, and additionally, it provides great benefits for skin and hair care.
You Can Make Avocado Dishes at Home Easily! 3 Avocado Recipes
As avocado provides so many great health benefits and uses, healthy eating community has started to incorporate it in a variety of differently flavored dishes. Here are a couple of healthy and easy avocado recipes for you to try at home.
1. Kiwi avocado smoothie

As smoothies are the quickest and most effective way to get your daily dose of vitamins from fruits and vegetables, here, we suggest a Kiwi Avocado smoothie that is packed with healthy fats, fiber and vitamins C and E. Its rich and creamy texture, and beautiful green color will spark up any morning.
2. Tuna avocado salad

The recipe shows how avocado serves as a perfectly healthy substitute for mayo. Now you can enjoy your healthy tuna mix without worrying about cholesterol or fat.
3. Chicken avocado burgers

elicious and healthy dinner choice with texture so rich that it is a worthy substitute for your regular beef burger.
Despite Its Rich Nutritions, Remember to Let Well Alone!
Although avocado contains a great number of beneficial nutrients, high daily dosages are not recommended due to its high calorie value. Depending on your calorie needs, you should eat not more than 2-5 slices of avocado 2-4 times per week.

Steady State vs Interval Training: Are You Exercising Towards Your Goal?

No matter if you are a professional athlete, fitness enthusiast or just an occasional gym goer, you couldn’t have been spared the dilemma between the two most popular and effective types of training – steady state training and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training).
With a great number of available fitness advice that provide information favoring one or the other type of training, it seems like we are none the wiser when it comes to choosing between SST and HIIT.
While steady state training involves steady, longer lasting cardio exercises that burn a lot of calories, fast intervals of high intensity workouts followed by quick resting provide faster results when it comes to burning calories, fat and improving overall aerobic capacity.
Steady state training is something you have probably been doing most of your life. Whether you are jogging, swimming, dancing, running on a treadmill, or cycling, steady state involves performing any type of cardio activity at a challenging, but steady pace, for over 20 minutes, using up to 70% of your capacity.
HIIT training involves short and powerful intervals of intense activity, followed by a quick rest, with sessions lasting no longer than 20 minutes. With HIIT training you are ideally performing at 90-100 of you maximum capacity. HIIT training can be performed indoors, on a treadmill, using weights, or outdoors by running or cycling.
Rather than trying to convince you to opt for one or the other type of workout, this article is aimed at providing analysis of both types in order to give you as much information so that you can chose what fits your specific needs best. As each person has different adaptability to each type of exercise, and not everyone has the same fitness goals, the explanation of the two types of training will, hopefully help everyone decide for themselves.
HIIT can be done in 20 minutes or less while SST takes a longer time!
SST and HIIT require different time to perform. According to Douglas W. Stoddard MD, M Sp Med, Dip Sport Med, while steady state training requires more than 20 minutes, with high intensity interval training, you will be done in 20 minutes or less. This is the reason why many busy people opt for HIIT more frequently, as they need fast results with as little time as possible.
HIIT burns stored carbohydrates while SST only burns stored fat!
As far as the type of fat being burned during a workout, SST and HIIT, again, have significant differences. Being an aerobic training, steady state training needs oxygen and runs on stored fat. HIIT, on the other hand is anaerobic, meaning the activity intervals don’t require oxygen only. HIIT is powered by stored carbohydrates. However, as the 1994 study shows, high-intensity interval training has slight advantage to steady state training when it comes to burning fat.1 This could be due to the ‘EPOC’, or ‘Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption’ effect of high intensity workout, that powers up metabolism even days after working out.
It’s a DRAW on Building Muscle!
Preserving muscle and loosing fat is one of the most important concern for anyone who works out. As the 2009 study suggest, longer cardio sessions of endurance training affect muscle loss.2

On the other hand, a 2006 study shows no significant difference between intense interval training and endurance training when it comes to muscle gain: “Training-induced increases in muscle buffering capacity and glycogen content were also similar between groups.”3 Even though the promoters of each type of training would argue that the training they support is more effective for muscle sustainability, it seems that the differences are not significant.
It’s a Win for Steady state training on Improving Endurance level!
When it comes to improving endurance level, it seems that steady state training has significant advantage over HIIT. According to health and fitness expert Pete McCall, “Exercising below the ventilatory threshold for an extended period of time puts less physical stress on the cardiorespiratory system and can be an effective way to prepare for an endurance event.”4

They Both Do A Good Job On boosting overall metabolism rate!
When comparing a number of important health markers such as blood pressure, overall metabolism rate and VO2 max (a maximum amount of oxygen a body can process) for both type of training, the results indicate that both HIIT and steady state training show similar but significant improvements.
A 2015 study that analyzed the effects of high intensity training vs. moderate intensity training on cardiometabolic health shows similar improvements for both types of training, with MIT showing greater improvement in overall cardiovascular fitness as it showed greater improvement in VO2peak.5

Newbies Alert! Beginners are advised to start off with steady state training!
As far as the likelihood of you sticking with the workout of your choice is concerned, it is highly dependent upon your general fitness. For beginners it is much more advisable to start off with steady state training until they reach cardiovascular system and endurance levels for a more challenging HIIT workout. Although HIIT workout is more likely to keep you motivated, only trained athletes and experienced fitness enthusiasts are able to cope with the high intensity and exhaustion of HIIT.
The Bottom Line on Choosing The “Best” Workout For Yourself..
Finally, both HIIT and SST provide great health and fitness benefits, and you won’t make a mistake choosing one over the other. Ultimately, your choice should depend on your body condition and personal preferences. However, let’s not forget that a balanced approach to fitness is always the healthiest and most effective one, and it also includes healthy and balanced diet as the most important fitness and health factor.No matter if you are a professional athlete, fitness enthusiast or just an occasional gym goer, you couldn’t have been spared the dilemma between the two most popular and effective types of training – steady state training and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training).
With a great number of available fitness advice that provide information favoring one or the other type of training, it seems like we are none the wiser when it comes to choosing between SST and HIIT.
While steady state training involves steady, longer lasting cardio exercises that burn a lot of calories, fast intervals of high intensity workouts followed by quick resting provide faster results when it comes to burning calories, fat and improving overall aerobic capacity.
Steady state training is something you have probably been doing most of your life. Whether you are jogging, swimming, dancing, running on a treadmill, or cycling, steady state involves performing any type of cardio activity at a challenging, but steady pace, for over 20 minutes, using up to 70% of your capacity.
HIIT training involves short and powerful intervals of intense activity, followed by a quick rest, with sessions lasting no longer than 20 minutes. With HIIT training you are ideally performing at 90-100 of you maximum capacity. HIIT training can be performed indoors, on a treadmill, using weights, or outdoors by running or cycling.
Rather than trying to convince you to opt for one or the other type of workout, this article is aimed at providing analysis of both types in order to give you as much information so that you can chose what fits your specific needs best. As each person has different adaptability to each type of exercise, and not everyone has the same fitness goals, the explanation of the two types of training will, hopefully help everyone decide for themselves.
HIIT can be done in 20 minutes or less while SST takes a longer time!
SST and HIIT require different time to perform. According to Douglas W. Stoddard MD, M Sp Med, Dip Sport Med, while steady state training requires more than 20 minutes, with high intensity interval training, you will be done in 20 minutes or less. This is the reason why many busy people opt for HIIT more frequently, as they need fast results with as little time as possible.
HIIT burns stored carbohydrates while SST only burns stored fat!
As far as the type of fat being burned during a workout, SST and HIIT, again, have significant differences. Being an aerobic training, steady state training needs oxygen and runs on stored fat. HIIT, on the other hand is anaerobic, meaning the activity intervals don’t require oxygen only. HIIT is powered by stored carbohydrates. However, as the 1994 study shows, high-intensity interval training has slight advantage to steady state training when it comes to burning fat.1 This could be due to the ‘EPOC’, or ‘Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption’ effect of high intensity workout, that powers up metabolism even days after working out.
It’s a DRAW on Building Muscle!
Preserving muscle and loosing fat is one of the most important concern for anyone who works out. As the 2009 study suggest, longer cardio sessions of endurance training affect muscle loss.2

On the other hand, a 2006 study shows no significant difference between intense interval training and endurance training when it comes to muscle gain: “Training-induced increases in muscle buffering capacity and glycogen content were also similar between groups.”3 Even though the promoters of each type of training would argue that the training they support is more effective for muscle sustainability, it seems that the differences are not significant.
It’s a Win for Steady state training on Improving Endurance level!
When it comes to improving endurance level, it seems that steady state training has significant advantage over HIIT. According to health and fitness expert Pete McCall, “Exercising below the ventilatory threshold for an extended period of time puts less physical stress on the cardiorespiratory system and can be an effective way to prepare for an endurance event.”4

They Both Do A Good Job On boosting overall metabolism rate!
When comparing a number of important health markers such as blood pressure, overall metabolism rate and VO2 max (a maximum amount of oxygen a body can process) for both type of training, the results indicate that both HIIT and steady state training show similar but significant improvements.
A 2015 study that analyzed the effects of high intensity training vs. moderate intensity training on cardiometabolic health shows similar improvements for both types of training, with MIT showing greater improvement in overall cardiovascular fitness as it showed greater improvement in VO2peak.5

Newbies Alert! Beginners are advised to start off with steady state training!
As far as the likelihood of you sticking with the workout of your choice is concerned, it is highly dependent upon your general fitness. For beginners it is much more advisable to start off with steady state training until they reach cardiovascular system and endurance levels for a more challenging HIIT workout. Although HIIT workout is more likely to keep you motivated, only trained athletes and experienced fitness enthusiasts are able to cope with the high intensity and exhaustion of HIIT.
The Bottom Line on Choosing The “Best” Workout For Yourself..
Finally, both HIIT and SST provide great health and fitness benefits, and you won’t make a mistake choosing one over the other. Ultimately, your choice should depend on your body condition and personal preferences. However, let’s not forget that a balanced approach to fitness is always the healthiest and most effective one, and it also includes healthy and balanced diet as the most important fitness and health factor.

Read This and You'll Find Healthier Ways to Satisfy That Sweet Tooth of Yours!

We have all been there: you have just started a diet in an attempt to lose weight and feel better, but it seems as soon as you decide to eat less sugar and more vegetables, someone walks by you with a gourmet cupcake or a sugary coffee drink. All at once, your willpower is gone and you give in to the temptation.
If this has happened to you, then you have probably experienced the attitude of: I’ll do better tomorrow! But did you? Probably not. And that is largely because sugar is addicting.
Not figuratively. Literally. Sugar is classified as an addictive substance, and it contributes to thousands of deaths every year1. Before we learn how to avoid sugar, let’s be clear about something: there are good sugars and there are bad sugars.
Bad sugars are what your body does not require in order to be healthy. Good sugars are necessary and contribute to a healthy body. These are found in fruits and milk. But remember, you don’t need to eat a ton of natural sugar to be “healthy.” More on that later.
Why do we crave sugar?
For the most part, the intense desire for sugar is caused by all sorts of things happening in your body, and rarely do those things involve a need.
1. You are hungry.

I know, I know. Duh. But I don’t mean you crave sugar because you’re hungry and a cupcake would really hit the spot. I mean your body is hungry and is desperate for you to feed it something2! So what does it do? Your stomach alerts your brain that you need something to fuel you and you need it to be processed quickly. That usually means you crave carbs/sugars. After all, when your stomach is growling loudly enough for the people next door to hear, the last thing you feel like doing is preparing a gourmet salad.
2. We are hard-wired to ingest sugar.

Our oldest ancestors survived by eating sugary fruits3. This was an ideal snack because it provided energy but also helped to store fat. This was handy when it came time to go on very long hunting excursions for their next meal.
But now-a-days, we aren’t hunting for our food, and we don’t need to stay warm in our caves. Yet we are still holding on to the craving for sugar.
3. You ate too much salt.

This is the culprit for me, personally. When you dine out or eat packaged foods, you’re ingesting a ton of sodium. For me, I crave sugar every time I eat chips and salsa or tacos/burritos. For a long time I thought it was just a quirk that after eating Mexican food I wanted ice cream or cookies, but the truth was that my body was reacting to all the sodium. The saltier the food, the bigger your sweet tooth becomes. This goes back to our ancient drive to find sugar; our ancestors had to have variety in their diet, and now our bodies crave variety in the form of tastes and textures4.
And too much sugar is really, really bad.
Sure, if we eat a bowl of ice cream for every meal we are going to gain weight, but too much sugar is actually a lot more dangerous than you may realize. Remember earlier when I mentioned sugar caused thousands of deaths? Well, it’s true.
People whose dietary calories come from 25% sugar have a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases. In 2010, more than 133,000 deaths from diabetes, 45,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases…were reported in more than 50 countries. All of these diseases were related to sugar intake5.
As if death wasn’t a big enough consequence of eating too much sugar, it can also have a really detrimental impact on your waist line. Because the body interprets a lack of sugar as a deficiency, our bodies crave sugar and fat. Often times though, those foods our cravings lead us to eat are filled with empty calories and very little nutrition, leaving us hungry and unfulfilled. This causes even more cravings! Talk about a vicious cycle.
So how can you combat sugar cravings and make healthier choices?
As I’m driving home from work, if I’m not listening to a podcast, I listen to local radio. And it never fails: I always hear an advertisement for some local company promising they know the secret to losing weight, to cutting out sugar, to looking great. And while that may sound awesome, it usually comes with a price tag and a lot of disclaimers. The tips below are free, healthy and don’t require any kind of contract.
Here’s how you can fight your cravings in an instant.
1. Chew gum, especially sugar-free ones!

I know it seems like a lame recommendation, but I’m telling you, this is my go-to! Research has proven that chewing gum can reduce food cravings. I’m no scientist, but to me it makes a lot of sense; a lot of times when you start craving junk food, it’s because you’re bored. Chewing gum is a great way to distract yourself while also feeling like you’re doing something6.
2. Take a stroll down the street.

This is a win-win. You’re getting a little exercise, but you’re also avoiding those frustrating cravings. It’s all about a scenery change to get your mind off how bad you want the muffin your favorite coffee shop just posted on Instagram.
3. Grab a green apple or any fruits you like to have a sweet bite.

Fruit is full of healthy sugars (but that doesn’t mean you should eat a ton of fruit. Sugar is still sugar at the end of the day!). Keep a granny smith apple handy at home/school/work and eat that when you feel a sugar craving coming on. You get a little sweetness, but you also get fiber and vitamins that a cookie wouldn’t provide.
You also need to think about cutting your sugar intake in the long run.
1. Compromise by combining sugar with healthy food.

Combining foods can be a great way to slowly acclimate to cutting more and more sugar out of your diet. For instance, if you love chocolate, snack on some dark chocolate covered almonds. You’ll get your sugar fix, but you also added a healthy food. Progress! The end goal is to stop that sugar craving entirely, so finding ways to take baby steps toward that goal is helpful.
2. Substitute your sugar cravings with something healthy (in a sneaky way).

When I crave sugar, I crave the sweet smell and taste. I usually have no idea what the actual sugar content amount is. If I get a scone from the cafe down the street, it doesn’t include nutrition facts. A great way to get that sugary fix without all the sugar is to go for something naturally sweet out of habit. I like to get something sweet almost every day around 2:00. Why? That seems to be when I hit my metaphorical wall. The sugar gets me through the end of the day. But instead, if I went for a naturally sweet tea like apple spice or vanilla almond (calorie free and all-natural), I would get the mental fix that I feel sugar provides, without the guilt and fat!
3. Control your salty servings as well.

When trying to change your long-term eating habits, portion control is key. Figure out what is best for you, but start out with a lean protein, a healthy fat (think: avocados, olive or coconut oil), big serving of vegetables. Notice what’s missing? Carbs. This is because carbs turn into sugar and that’s what we are trying to avoid!
4. Go online and find recipes to make your own healthy snacks.

If you really feel like you have to feel like you’re enjoying a sweet snack, consult Pinterest for healthy recipe options that use natural maple syrup, honey, and other natural sweeteners. This involves pre-planning and effort, but if you make it a habit to keep healthy options on hand, it will never feel overwhelming7.
5. Treat yourself every while and then and indulge thoughtfully.

Lastly, as you begin to cut sugar out of your every day life, you will inevitably experience moments of intense weakness in which you have to have something sweet or you will explode. When those times happen, if you really can’t talk yourself out of them, follow Susan Moores, MS, RD and registered dietitian’s advice and indulge. The catch? choose quality, not quantity. Rather than sitting down with a whole case of oreos, pick a decadent treat and savor every single bite.

Researchers Find That With This Simple Posture, You'll Recall More Positive Memories

Have you ever found yourself with your head in your hands at the end of a long day’s work, or slumped over in defeat following a particularly difficult argument with a friend or partner? You may think that your body language is a natural response to your experiences, but what if the connection ran both ways? Research shows that our posture is directly linked to our moods and ability to recall positive memories, and that in changing how we hold our bodies we can influence our own moods.
The work of San Francisco State University professor Erik Peper has demonstrated that there is a close link between your body language, feelings, and thoughts.1 Specifically, Peper has shown that when individuals make a conscious effort to stand or sit up straight, they are better able to recall happy memories, and to feel more positive about life in general.

Continued research in this study has backed up this notion that the mind follows where the body leads. For example, people who are forced to smile are more likely to find a joke amusing than those who are allowed complete control over their facial expressions.
This line of thinking is not new. The philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910) was among the first academics to speculate whether our body language merely reflected our emotional state, or played a more active role in dictating our mood. James’s belief that our feelings are shaped not only by external events, but the way we respond to them is enjoying increasing support from contemporary science.

So the next time you need a quick boost, why not change your mind by changing the way in which you hold your body? It could make all the difference and leave you feeling significantly happier.

Why It’s Much Better To Be Alone Than To Be With Someone Who Makes You Feel Lonely

You don’t have to be by yourself to feel lonely.

Popular wisdom would have us believe that when we’re part of a couple, we’ll never feel lonely again. Unfortunately, many people discover that spending time with the wrong person can be a wretched experience that leads to feelings of emptiness and isolation. If you are in a relationship with someone who isn’t right for you or even abuses you, time spent with that person is not the enriching, uplifting experience that it oughts to be. Instead, you end up cutting yourself down, censoring parts of your personality and generally making yourself smaller in an attempt to encourage them to feel positively towards you.

You may even find yourself bending and twisting yourself out of recognition in a bid to win over their approval. This can cause you to become alienated from yourself, which results in feelings of tremendous loneliness. If you have been in a situation like this, you may remember the moment you first wondered whether the relationship was really worth the struggle.
Why making the decision to leave is so agonizing

Taking the decision to leave a relationship with someone who makes you feel lonely can be very difficult. Leaving is an act of immense bravery. Whilst it may seem obvious to outsiders that you are unhappy, they may not be aware of the factors that make it so hard to quit.

For example, you may have shared some good times with this person in the past, or you may feel inclined to give them a second (or third) chance in the name of ‘being fair.’ You may also cling on in the hope that one day they will realize how they make you feel and decide to change.
The most loving decision you can take for yourself

As hard as it may be to leave a relationship behind, when you put yourself first you will understand where your loyalties ought to lie. To be absolutely clear, your first priority must be your mental and psychological well-being. When it comes to evaluating a relationship and deciding whether you ought to stay, treat yourself with the same care as you would show a loved one.

People can and do change, but if someone has made you feel lonely and sad on an ongoing basis, you can expect more of the same in the future should you decide to stay. On the other hand, freeing yourself from an unhealthy situation is an act of self-love that frees you (and the other person) to seek out more mutually beneficial relationships.
The opportunity to enjoy your own company is a gift

When you learn to enjoy your own company, you become truly empowered. No longer will you depend on other people’s’ approval to prop up your self-esteem or validate your life choices. Your faith in your own judgement will grow, and you will come to regard yourself as a competent, capable person with much to offer the world. When you spend quality time by yourself, you will be less likely to accept poor treatment from others in the future because you will know from first-hand experience that being alone is much better than being with someone who makes you feel hollow and inferior.

If you have recently left a relationship that made you feel alone, congratulate yourself. Too many people are scared to face up to the possibility of time spent in their own company, even though it can be healing. When you make a conscious decision to be alone, you are putting yourself first and recognizing that sometimes the healthiest step you can take is to spend time getting to know yourself as a person. This sets you up for a more confident future based on healthy self-knowledge.

Smudging Not Only Calms Us, It Reduces Bacteria By 94%

If you have ever burned sage as part of a meditation ceremony, or been in a church where incense is burned, you have participated in a smudging ceremony. It is a practice which goes back deep into human history, and has been used around the world in many religions and belief systems as a method of cleansing and purification. While some dismiss this practice as unscientific or “magical”, recent studies have found that there are proven benefits to this practice.

The Ancient Art of Smudging

Smudging is a ritual which uses the burning of herbs or other natural substances to purify or cleanse a person, place, or object and has been an important part of ritual and worship from the earliest eras in human history.

The history of smudging is similar to the art of burning incense, and this practice has its roots sunk deeply into the past. The oldest known record of this practice is transcribed on a tablet from ancient Egypt that dates back to 1530 BC. From Egypt, the practice spread to Babylon, and then to parts of the Mediterranean basin. This includes Greece, Rome, as well as India. Additionally, it was extensively practiced among various Native American tribes, before and after European settlement.

The practice is still very much alive today in Native American culture. It is also used in Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Christian churches, as well as Buddhist and Hindu traditional worship.

What the Latest Research Found

Despite its long history, there are those who dismiss smudging as “unscientific”, with no concrete benefits. However, recent research is beginning to show that this ancient technique, used by so many around the globe, actually has clinical advantages:

• The first study entitled “Medicinal Smokes”, was published in theJournal of Ethnopharmacology, and studied smudging practices from around the world, including 50 different countries on 5 different continents. It found that there are some cultural consistencies for this practice, which largely used smudging to treat ailments of the lungs, skin, and brain. It also discussed the fact that there are many advantages to smoke as a method of delivering medicinal herbs, including that it allows active compounds to be delivered rapidly to the body and is easy to absorb. It was also deemed as a cost-efficient method of medicine delivery.
• The second study entitled “Medicinal Smoke Reduces Airborne Bacteria”, was published in the same journal. It found that the burning of medicinal herbs was able to reduce the number of pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria in the room by 94%, including bacterial species responsible for serious illnesses and infections similar to the Corynbacterium, Pseudomonas, and Staphylcoccus species. The effects of this technique were noticeable in the room even after a day; when scientists went back and studied the room a month later, there were still very low levels of the bacteria present.

Studies like these have given validation to the whole practice of smudging, so much so that a hospital, St. Peter’s in Helena, Montana, opened up a “culture room” adjacent to their chapel. It is decorated with motifs of waterfalls and eagles, which gives Native Americans there the space to perform their cleansing ceremonies. While some hospitals still do not permit this practice on their grounds, more are becoming open to it, and St. Peter’s has been praised for the respect it has shown for native spiritual practices.

In short, the art of smudging is as old as human history itself. It has been used in many major spiritual traditions and is still widely in use today across the globe. Not only is it a widespread and ancient ritual, science is discovering that there are proven benefits to this ancient practice, including the ability for the smoke to purge the air of bacteria, that commonly spread infectious diseases.

For Those Who Are Busy: Here’s One Natural Drink With Many Incredible Health Benefits

If you’re the kind of people who always want to take better care of yourself but can’t always find the time. The good news is that there is a real-quick (within 60 seconds) and easy way to improve your health even if you don’t have a lot of time to do it.

What’s that? The health secret of super-busy people is to drinklemon water every morning!

How to prepare?

Simply add the juice from one-half of a lemon to a glass of warm water, stir it together and drink. It is most effective if drunk in morning before breakfast.

This is one of the simplest things you can do to improve your health even on a busy schedule. You can reap many amazing health benefits by drinking lemon water every morning for 7 consecutive days.

1. Helps you lose weight.

Lemons contain pectin fiber, which assists in fighting hunger cravings.

2. Gives you an energy boost.

Lemon juice provides your body with energy when it enters your digestive tract, and it also helps reduce anxiety and depression. (Even the scent of lemons has a calming effect on your nervous system!)

3. Helps to cut out caffeine.

I didn’t believe this until I tried it, but replacing my morning coffee with a cup of hot lemon water has really done wonders! I feel refreshed, and no longer have to deal with that pesky afternoon crash. Plus, my nerves are thankful.

4. Cleanses your system.

It helps flush out the toxins in your body by enhancing enzyme function, stimulating your liver.

5. Aids digestion.

Lemon juice not only encourages healthy digestion by loosening toxins in your digestive tract, it helps to relieve symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, burping, and bloating.

6. Keeps your skin blemish-free.

The antioxidants in lemon juice help to not only decrease blemishes, but wrinkles too! It can also be applied to scars and age spots to reduce their appearance, and because it’s detoxifying your blood, it will maintain your skin’s radiance.

7. Reduces inflammation.

If you drink lemon water on a regular basis, it will decrease the acidity in your body, which is where disease states occur. It removes uric acid in your joints, which is one of the main causes of inflammation.

8. Helps fight viral infections.

Warm lemon water is the most effective way to diminish viral infections and their subsequent sore throats. Plus, with the lemon juice also boosting your immune system, you’ll simultaneously fight off the infection completely.

9. Freshens your breath.

It also helps relieve toothaches and gingivitis (say wha?). Because the citric acid can erode tooth enamel, either hold off on brushing your teeth after drinking lemon water or brush your teeth before drinking it.

Zika Data From the Lab, and Right to the Web

MADISON, Wis. — Of the hundreds of monkeys in the University of Wisconsin’s primate center, a few — including rhesus macaque 827577 — are now famous, at least among scientists tracking the Zika virus.

Since February, a team led by David H. O’Connor, the chairman of the center’s global infectious diseases department, has been conducting a unique experiment in scientific transparency. The tactic may presage the evolution of new ways to respond to fast-moving epidemics.

Dr. O’Connor and his colleagues have been infecting pregnant female macaques with the Zika virus, minutely recording their symptoms, and giving them blood tests and ultrasounds. But then, instead of saving their data for academic journals, the researchers have posted it almost immediately on a website anyone can visit.

The openness of the process thrills scientists, who say it fosters collaboration and speeds research.

“David’s work is very useful,” said Dr. Koen Van Rompay, a virologist at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis. “We all learn from each other and make sure we don’t duplicate each other’s work.”

Back-to-back epidemics of Ebola and Zika have driven some infectious disease specialists to embrace greater speed and openness. Until now, they felt forced to hoard data and tissue samples: Careers depend on being published in prestigious journals, which often refuse to publish work that has previously been released and may take months to edit papers.

At the same time, Dr. O’Connor’s openness has exposed some of the more macabre requirements of scientific research.

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Animal rights activists are upset at the brutal reality of infecting female monkeys and dissecting their babies. They argue that the work is unnecessary because scientists have already learned a lot by drawing blood from Zika-infected human mothers and dissecting some human fetuses that have died in the womb or were aborted.

“We question whether this work needed to be done in the first place,” said Kathy Guillermo, a senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which rejects medical research on animals.

Early this month, 827577 was anesthetized and her baby delivered by cesarean section. The newborn was then dissected so 60 different tissues could be tested.

The laboratory posted the barest possible description of the results.

“If they want to be completely transparent, they should show it all,” Ms. Guillermo said. “They should live-stream 24/7 how the monkeys live, and how they die — the C-section, the euthanasia of the babies and what happens to their bodies.”

With their large brown eyes and bright pink skin, the macaques have very human faces, and Ms. Guillermo said she hoped showing the whole process would repel visitors enough to make them oppose the research.

Dr. O’Connor acknowledged that pathology “involves a certain amount of gore.”

Even though 827577 was infected in her first trimester, her newborn did not develop microcephaly, a small skull and underdeveloped brain. Thus far, the lab has found Zika virus only in the optic nerves, bone marrow and one lymph node.

This may suggest that monkeys are imperfect mimics of human infection, but Dr. O’Connor argued that using them was the only way to do experiments, for example, in which knowing the moment of infection was essential.

Many labs capable of highly specialized tests need tissue samples, as well, and relatively few mothers infected with the Zika virus allow autopsies on their fetuses or babies.

Monkeys are also used for tests too dangerous to do on humans — such as infecting a pregnant woman with dengue then Zika to see whether the first worsens the second, as happens in patients with successive dengue infections.

Dr. O’Connor’s lab has already done one test that would be unethical in humans: It showed that monkeys who recovered from infection with an African strain of the virus could not be infected with the strain now circulating in the Americas.

That suggests that the current American strain will not spread in Africa or Asia, because earlier strains, which have circulated on those continents for decades or centuries, are protective.

Dr. Van Rompay also noted that many pharmaceutical companies are screening their “libraries” for drugs that might cure a Zika infection. Ethically, they must be tested first in mice and then in monkeys before they are tried in humans.

Experiments on monkeys at the Wisconsin lab have confirmed another finding noted in a few humans: Live virus remains in the blood of a pregnant female for months instead of disappearing in less than two weeks, as it normally does.

Dr. O’Connor said he did not know whether that happens because pregnancy normally weakens a mother’s immune system (so her body does not reject her baby), or because the fetuses cannot clear the virus and keep reinfecting their mothers.

The veterinarians who run the primate center here argue that in making these discoveries, they cause the monkeys as little pain and suffering as they can and that posting their work publicly saves other monkeys’ lives.

“It helps people in other labs not do redundant studies,” said Dr. Saverio Capuano, the center’s attending veterinarian.

Dr. Van Rompay, for one, has refrained from infecting pregnant macaques because he knew Dr. O’Connor did so; he infected only fetuses instead.

Female monkeys that have given birth are not killed and autopsied, said Dr. Heather A. Simmons, the center’s chief pathologist. They return to the breeding colony, which itself could help answer another important question: whether a mother who had had one Zika-infected child can later safely have other offspringr.

Planning for the Wisconsin experiments began in November, when Brazilian virologists with whom Dr. O’Connor had long collaborated onH.I.V. and hepatitis C research asked him to help investigate a little-known African virus suspected of causing severe birth defects, including tiny heads, in dozens of newborns in northeast Brazil.

But it took weeks to get Zika virus samples out of Brazil. Export regulations “were dubious and conflicting,” said Dr. Esper Kallas, an infectious disease specialist at the University of São Paulo and one of Dr. O’Connor’s collaborators.

“Finally I said, ‘This is an emergency — I will share them, and if they want to arrest me, I’ll call the media and they can film me being arrested,’” Dr. Kallas said in a telephone interview.

It then took weeks for Dr. O’Connor to receive permission from his university’s ethics board to run experiments on the monkeys. On Feb. 14, he announced on his Twitter feed that he had started.

At first, “it was roundly ignored,” he said. Then on Feb. 23, the journal Nature wrote about it. Other researchers congratulated him, asked for tissue samples and advice on growing the virus, and offered to be co-authors on papers.

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A research specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison processsing samples taken from pregnant rhesus macaque monkeys infected with Zika. CreditScott Olson/Getty Images

He was inspired to defy the system, he said, by the work of Dr. Pardis Sabeti, an evolutionary geneticist at Harvard University and the Broad Institute. Early in the 2014 Ebola outbreak, her lab posted Ebola virus genomes it had sequenced on a public website.

In a telephone interview, Dr. Sabeti said she was “completely honored” and thought Dr. O’Connor’s decision was “just right on.”

Greater speed was worth losing the screening that the journal reviewers performed, she said, even if shaky data was sometimes picked up by the news media.

“I imagine the system will self-correct,” she said.

Dr. O’Connor’s decision was the most radical manifestation of a trend already underway. In early February, more than 30 of the most prominent academic journals, research institutions and research funders signed a “Statement on Data Sharing in Public Health Emergencies” in which the journals agreed to make all articles about the Zika virus available free instead of charging their subscription fees, which can be hundreds of dollars.

The journals also agreed to consider articles that had first been posted for comment on public forums like bioRxiv, which is hosted by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island. The funders agreed to make everyone receiving their money share data as widely as possible.

Now Dr. O’Connor is left shaking his head at his new celebrity.

“I never planned to be an evangelist,” he said. “I was happy toiling in anonymity, so this is a surreal experience. We all grew up in the same system: You do a study, you submit it to a journal, and your place in the hierarchy depends on the quality of the journal it appears in.”

“If it’s all you’ve known, you assume it’s the right way. But if you’ve got data that can contribute to the public health response during an epidemic — is it really yours to hang onto?”

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5 Ways Forgiveness Can Benefit Your Life

Take a moment and ask yourself –  what are you holding onto? It’s a question we don’t often stop to consider but we should, because too many of us are shouldering anger or resentment, a slight that we just never got over. And it’s apparent in our stress levels and health. Simply put, it’s hurting us.

It doesn’t have to be like this. We can help to stop the damage with a single act. We can forgive.

Too often we hold onto unpleasant memories long after we should because it’s hard to forgive. After all, who can forget that girl in high school who made their life miserable? Or that boss who passed them over for a job promotion that they deserved? A father who maybe wasn’t there when he should have been?

But ask yourself – what are these memories doing to you? How are they affecting your body and health? As Dr. Karen Swartz stated, “There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed.”

Forgiveness may be difficult, but its positive effects on our physical and mental health are mounting. And it can be cultivated through practice. Need reasons to give it a try? Here are five that you can check on.

1. It reduces stress and stress-related disorders.

Research has repeatedly shown the negative impact of stress on our health. But evidence is accumulating on the positive role forgiveness can play in disrupting this cycle.

For example, a recent study of 338 adults showed that greater forgiveness was associated over time with less stress and, as a consequence, better mental health. Another study by the same author found that forgiveness  caused the relationship between stress and mental illness to disappear. In a recent interview, the lead researcher stated that “If you don’t have forgiving tendencies, you feel the raw effects of stress in an unmitigated way. You don’t have a buffer against that stress.”

Given the immense problem of stress in our society, forgiveness may be one way to reduce its impact and help out our health in the process.

2. It can lower depression.

Carrying around unresolved anger, pain, and resentment can take a toll on our mental health. Research suggests that “forgiveness therapy”, which is intended to foster forgiveness, can be helpful in alleviating depression.

Forgiveness of oneself is also helpful in reducing depression, as an earlier study also reported that self-forgiveness decreased depression and, consequently, also reduced the rates of suicide. Considering forgiveness as a two-sided process – one aimed at forgiving others and another at forgiving yourself – may help bolster mood and emotional health.

3. It protects your heart.

We feel this both physically and metaphorically. Numerous studies have found that forgiveness lowers blood pressure, and a recent one showed that it also improved a marker of coronary perfusion.

Forgiveness can help prevent damage to the heart but also reduce problematic symptoms in those with heart disease. One study analyzed individuals with coronary artery disease who experienced anger-recall induced changes in myocardial perfusion. They divided subjects into two groups –a control and a forgiveness group. Not surprisingly, they found that those in the forgiveness group showed decreased anger-recall induced myocardial perfusion defects. In other words, the function of their heart improved. And, of course, no data can quantify the effect on one’s heart when we release the burden of anger.

4. It can strengthen relationships.

Even the best of relationships can suffer from miscommunication, perceived slights, and insult. We can hold this close to us, vowing never to forget, but that does nothing to allow a relationship to grow. Furthermore, it is likely to skew our perspective of the other’s intentions and feelings towards us. What starts as something small can then snowball into a much bigger problem.

Rather, learning to forgive and even understand another’s viewpoint can foster the growth of a relationship. For example, a study found that forgiveness was the one variable that predicted growth following an infidelity. Forgiveness is crucial to letting go and moving forward.

5. It can help you reach your potential.

We all have dreams and aspirations but are often quick to beat ourselves up for the poor choices we made, the missteps we took, and the people we naively trusted. And too often we don’t forgive ourselves for our perceived wrong-doings. This becomes a heavy weight to carry. It colors our trust in ourselves, confidence in our abilities, and belief in our future. It can materialize as depression and anxiety, low self-worth, and an unwillingness to take risks and put ourselves out there.

If we don’t practice self-forgiveness, we may limit our potential. We may undercut our abilities and second-guess our decisions. We may never summon the courage to do what we really dream of doing. We may never give the world the unique gifts we have to offer.

Forgiveness is healing for our body and mind. If we all were to dedicate ourselves to cultivating it, the world might be a much better place.