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The very worst part of baldness for guys is that there is no sure fire miracle. Hair loss has been a big problem for men around the UK but there are marvellous things that might prevent further loss of hair.

There is a lotion based treatment for baldness called Minoxidil that might often be taken in capsule or topical lotion form and might help men regrow their hair and prevent further receding. The hair loss lotion comes in a variety of strengths with five percent being the most popular. The baldness treatment is used under the supervision of a doctor and should be made aware that the baldness treatment is not a stunning miracle cure. However, the tremendous success of this hair loss treatment is around 60 percent. The hair loss treatment course is a minimum of four months before excellent results will often show and all men are recommended to continue the hair loss treatment for at least seven months. Explore the latest Hair LOss techniques from Advanced Hair Studio, home to hair restoration.

For males that do not behold any regrowth with the hair loss treatment they could try baldness surgery. Hair loss surgery is a long term solution and involves moving the hair follicles on the head to reduce bald areas. Hair plugs can be high priced and involves a surgical procedure so may not be for every chap.

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HOLISTIC LIVING FOR PETS AND PEOPLE

A Holistic lifestyle

The animal kingdom depends entirely for its existence on the plant kingdom. Animals need to consume plants for sustenance. Even carnivorous animals depend on plants by eating animals which have eaten plants. The evolution of the animal kingdom reflects the evolutionary changes in the plant kingdom. As plants became more complex so the animal kingdom developed. The most highly developed animal is man. Man has the most sophisticated nervous system and is the most adaptable species on earth and is capable of surviving in the widest habitat of any creature.

The macrobiotic view is that this has come about because man evolved through eating the most complex plants, namely whole cereal grains. Eating cereals plus the ability to cook have given man the pre-eminent position at the top of the evolutionary tree. As recently as a few hundred years ago, man relied on a diet based on whole cereals and vegetables with meat and other foods forming only a minor part of the human diet.

In the West, the change to a diet based on meat, dairy foods and refined foods high in sugar has taken place as recently as the Second World War.

Our affluent Western society has largely overcome the problem of infectious disease. This is due as much to improved public health measures as the role of medicine in developing vaccines and antibiotics. Similarly, our pets rarely die of infectious disease (unlike farm animals which suffer epidemics due to poor hygiene and overcrowding).

But although we have largely seen off infectious disease, our hospitals and mental health clinics are swamped, veterinary clinics are busier than ever and our society is fragmented and ill-at-ease. We have replaced the problem of infectious disease with that of degenerative disease.

Many people believe that a return to a more holistic, inclusive lifestyle offers a solution to many of the ills of modern society. To begin that process we have to define and understand what we mean by the word “holistic” which has become one of the most used (and abused) terms in present day language.

“Holistic Medicine” is defined as “a system which treats the whole person physically and psychologically, rather than simply treating the individual [affected] part.”

While this may seem self-evidently desirable, that is not how modern medicine is structured or practised. We have experts who specialise in the different organ systems e.g. specialists for skin, kidneys, gastro-intestinal system and so on. Veterinary Diets extend that process into nutrition tailored to specific ailments.

My view is that nutrition is fundamental to the practice of Holistic Medicine. Correct diet underpins all therapies, whether conventional or complementary and may even make them unnecessary. Some companies market additives or supplements which they describe as “holistic” but a holistic lifestyle involves much more than correcting a deficiency or providing a particular stimulus.

It is beyond the scope of this section to set out a comprehensive prescription for a holistic lifestyle but it does seem sensible that if we try to provide a holistic life for our pets we would wish to do the same for ourselves. see http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk

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About 12.6 million Americans currently have heart disease. In the UK, the number is over 2.5 million.

1.1 million Americans will experience a serious heart event this year.

In Australia, cardiovascular disease kills over 49,741 people each year.

In 1998 cardiovascular disease killed over 79,389 Canadians.

In 80 to 100% of cases of fatal coronary artery disease one or more of four risk factors were involved. These are:

* High cholesterol
* High blood pressure
* Smoking
* Diabetes

One in four Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease. Every 34 seconds one American will die as a result of cardiovascular disease.

No other disease claims as many women’s lives as cardiovascular disease. One American woman dies each minute as a result of cardiovascular disease.

Around 700,000 Americans will have a stroke this years. That’s one stroke every 45 seconds.

HEART DISEASE IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST KILLER OF AMERICANS. IT KILLS AS MANY AMERICANS AS THE NEXT 5 LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH.

If

* you are a smoker or
* you have unhealthy levels of cholesterol or
* you have high blood pressure or
* you have diabetes or
* you are overweight or
* you have a family history of early heart disease

then you are a risk of heart disease.

The good news is that you can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease by following four simple steps:

- Step One: See your doctor.
- Step Two: If you are a smoker, quit smoking.
- Step Three: Start a regular exercise routine.
- Step Four: Change your diet.

Step four involves eating foods that improve your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Kevin Davies is webmaster of preventingheartfailure.com and author of “Preventing Heart Failure” eBook. In this eBook you’ll learn how to significantly reduce your risk of heart disease. To buy “Preventing Heart Failure” please visit http://www.preventingheartfailure.com

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The Internet is a great place to source and find all those wonderful and tempting wholesale contact lenses and contact lens accessory offers.

You’ve probably spent hours in the comfort of your own home, surfing the ‘net on your computer looking for those to-good-to-be-missed special offers. Looking at it that way any amount of time searching is worth it, if it means you’re getting top-quality products at the lowest possible prices!

This is especially true of any contact lens accessories purchases you make at wholesales since these items help you to maintain your lenses in tip-top condition, keeping them safe for your eyes.

However, your eye safety doesn’t actually start with the contact lens accessories wholesale Internet specials you found recently, though. It starts with an examination and prescription from your eye doctor or eye care professional.

As with everything else in life, everyone is an individual and although we look the same and some of us even share the same eye color, our eyes are truly unique.

That’s why you must remember that contacts are corrective eye wear. They are prescription medical devices that only your eye doctor or eye care professional should prescribe and fit.

It’s easy enough to practice good common sense eye care for yourself. For instance, don’t borrow and wear other people’s contacts as this could cause eye infections, damage your sight and lead to significant vision problems.

In cases like this no matter what contact lens accessories wholesale deals you got on the Web, even the latest and greatest must have accessory can’t help you when you use lenses inappropriately and incorrectly.

And don’t get complacent just because you’ve been using contacts for years - in fact, you’re likely to have picked up bad habits and could actually be abusing your contact lenses and your special contact lens accessories.

It’s important every year to make sure that you set an appointment to have your eye doctor or eye care professional review your prescription. That way, you can be certain that your lenses are the best possible fit and you can ensure they are as safe and beneficial as possible.

That way you can keep on surfing the ‘net, finding as many of those contact lens accessories wholesale special offers you want, till your hearts content!

Elaine Clay is the owner of Online Contact Lenses Guide.com. A one-stop online resource guide - find helpful information, tips, articles and advice all about the different types of contact lenses available.

Feel free to use the above article on your web site or ezine. Provided that it is published in it’s entirety, including my resource box above and a “live” clickable link to: www.online-contact-lenses-guide.com

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If you glanced at the title of this article, you might have cringed. When it comes to
fitness, nutrition, weight loss, and overall health, many of us have trouble areas.
There are some individuals who have a glass of red wine with dinner every night.
Others skip the drinking completely on the weekdays, then start throwing a few
back on Thursday or Friday night, and keep it up until Sunday. Still others won’t
drink for two to three weeks, then have a weekend binge of a few dozen drinks or
so (you know who you are!). Finally, while there are scores of individuals out there
who don’t drink any alcohol at all and really won’t find this article personally useful,
I encourage you (if you are one of those people) to read it anyways, and share the
information with someone you think it might help.

So…how does alcohol make you fat, especially when it doesn’t have any fat in it? To
understand how this process occurs, let’s examine the consumption of a 5 ounce
glass of red wine by a fictional character named Vinny.

Vinny takes a drink. As the alcohol enters into digestion, it is split into two
compounds: fat and acetate. The fat is taken through the bloodstream and stored
wherever Vinny tends to deposit fat. The acetate is taken into the bloodstream and
used as Vinny’s primary energy fuel.

If you take anything away from this article, read that last sentence again. The
acetate is used as Vinny’s primary energy fuel. This means that rather than burning
carbohydrates, protein, or fat as a fuel, Vinny’s body relies on the acetate for
energy. It completely stops burning anything else. Suddenly, Vinny has a surplus of
carbs, protein, and fat circulating in the body with nowhere to go. So where does it
all end up? You guessed it…it’s converted to fat and deposited on Vinny’s waistline.

But that’s not the only effect on Vinny. Alcohol also acts as a potent appetizer. Ever
heard of an apertif? It’s an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to increase the
appetite, and many restaurants realize that this is a great way to get you to order
more food! Several studies exist that show a sharp increase in caloric intake when
an alcoholic drink is consumed before a meal (compared to a glass of water, or even
a soda!). So now Vinny wants either: A) another glass of wine or B) food (probably
something salty or greasy).

That’s not all! Let’s say that Vinny succumbs to his appetite and finishes the bottle.
Just a single bout of heavy drinking will vastly increase the levels of the hormone
cortisol, while significantly decreasing the levels of the hormone testosterone. In
addition to his headache, here’s why Vinny should be concerned: cortisol causes the
body to breakdown muscle and suppresses recovery from exercise, while low
testosterone makes the body less likely build lean muscle or to burn fat as a fuel. So
Vinny’s getting a big belly, and skinny arms and legs.

Now let’s consider the actual caloric content of the glass of red wine. Before we
begin, bear in mind that at most parties, social gatherings, and restaurants, a
typical glass of red wine is really more like 6-8 ounces. But we’ll be conservative. So
Vinny’s glass of wine contains about 110 calories. Contrary to popular belief, there
are very few carbohydrates in the wine - only about 5 grams. This is because when
grapes are made into wine, most of the fruit sugars are converted into alcohol. For
purposes of comparison, this glass of wine has about the same amount of alcohol
and calories as a 12 ounce light beer or a shot of 80 proof spirit (yes, that means a
shot of tequila = about a whole glass of wine). A regular, non-light beer, is even
higher in calories, since it contains over twice as many carbohydrates as light beer.

But realize that alcohol itself contains about seven calories for gram, making it
almost twice as calorie-laden as carbohydrates or protein, which contain only four
calories per gram. However, these calories contain no beneficial nutrients, vitamins,
or minerals. Sure - Vinny gets some benefit from the compounds present from the
grapeskins and grapejuice, butif he drinks a big glass of red wine every night with
dinner, he consumes over 1000 additional calories per week, and gains a dozen
extra pounds of fat a year!

I haven’t really discussed mixed drinks and won’t say too much. If you read last
week’s article (click here to check it out), you know about sugar’s potent effect on
fat levels in the body, and if you’ve read the label lately on any soda or mixer, you
know how much sugar it contains. A ton! Basically, you can take everything I just
illustrated in the case of Vinny, and multiply by 4-5. Margaritas, Long Island Iced
Tea, Mudslides, and other sweet mixed drinks can do more damage to your diet
than a Big Mac with cheese.

So let’s be practical and assume that you are not going to completely give up
drinking but want some tips for your next social event. Here’s some ideas:

Dilute alcohol with diet soda. While there are health problems with the artificial
sweeteners and chemicals in diet soda, this will reduce your overall caloric intake.

Use lots of ice. It makes your drink seem bigger without adding actual calories.

If you have to choose between fruit juice and soda in a mixer, choose fruit juice.

Avoid the salty snacks. They’ll make you want to drink more.

At the bar, restaurant, or grocery store, try to find a top shelf product or good wine
that you enjoy, then pay those extra bucks and sip it slowly. Savoring a drink will
reduce overconsumption.

Drink as much water as possible. Try to have two drinks of water for every one drink
of alcohol.

I frequently perform nutritional evaluations for my clients, as well as anyone else
who wants to have a fitness professional look at their diet. Here’s what to do if you
want help or guidance with your nutrition: Pacific Elite Fitness offers a complete and
detailed nutritional evaluation for $49.99 (less than a personal training session!).
Using the convenient online log that I will provide you with, you will write down
everything in your diet for 3 days - amounts, times, descriptions, extenuating
circumstances and food details. I will then sit down with your diet, perform a
complete evaluation, then give you a detailed e-mail on exactly which changes you
should make to get the results you desire. What are you waiting for?

Ben Greenfield runs Pacific Elite Fitness at http://www.pacificfit.net, an online portal for personal training, triathlete coaching, and free fitness and multi-sport advice. He resides in Liberty Lake, WA, where he works as director of sports performance for Champion Sports Medicine, a training and testing lab for athletes. Ben graduated from University of Idaho with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sports science and exercise physiology, and is certified as a personal trainer and coach by the National Strength & Conditioning Association. Ben also offers individualized personal training, multi-sport coaching, training program design for athletes, lifestyle wellness and diet advising, and corporate consulting for workplace fitness programs. To learn more, visit http://www.pacificfit.net or e-mail Ben at elite@pacificfit.net.

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The Mysterious Frankincense

Used for many thousands of years, the Frankincense tree has
perhaps the greatest association with spiritual practice of any
plant on earth. In most of the great ancient cultures, including
the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman
civilizations, it has played a role in religious and domestic
life. Frankincense has been sought after by kings and valued as
highly as gold. More recently, the essential oil is gaining
popularity with spiritual seekers and natural healers alike.
What is so special about this tree that its ‘pearls’ were given
as a gift at the birth of one of history’s most revered prophets?

The Hardy Tree and its Tears

The Frankincense tree, or Olibanum, upon first glance, may seem
rather unremarkable. It appears as a giant shrub, with many
knurled branches topped with abundant slender leaves and
occasionally, small white flowers. A native to northern Africa,
it looks like it belongs in the desert, growing in some of the
world’s harshest conditions. But it is not the tree itself, but
rather its sap that has such profound lore surrounding it. When
the tree’s bark is pierced with a knife (known traditionally as
a ‘Mingaf’), a milky-white oleoresin is exuded - thought the
tree is not harmed. The resin forms droplets known as ‘tears’ or
‘pearls’, which harden into the orange-brown gum known itself as
Frankincense. The English name of this natural incense is
derived from the medieval French ‘franc’, meaning ‘pure’ or
‘free’, and from the Latin ‘incensium’, meaning ‘to smoke’.

History’s Most Popular Incense

For more than 5000 years, the hardened resin has been burned in
temples throughout Egypt, China and India; the Catholic church
continues to use it today during Mass. It is one of the four
main ingredients in Jewish ceremonial incense, forming an
important part of the Sabbath day offerings. The smoke of
Frankincense (as with other ritual incense) is thought to carry
prayers to heaven upon it’s smoke. It is also said to deepen the
breath and still the mind, making it useful for meditation and
yogic practice. The incense may have health benefits as well,
producing a highly antiseptic smoke, keeping churches and
churchgoers free from disease.

According to ancient documents, the great Baal temple of Babylon
consumed 2 and a half tons of Frankincense a year. The
Frankincense trade was of immense importance in ancient times,
peaking about 2000 years ago. Caravans grew to as many as 2 to 3
thousand camels in size. Cities grew up along the trade routes,
and heavy taxes and fees for protection, lodging and camel
fodder raised the cost of the resin considerably, so much so
that it was valued as much as gold. The wealth involved inspired
Alexander the Great to plot to control the region, though his
death happened to preceed the invasion.

Health Benefits

Frankincense resin is thought to have a bounty of health
properties - it was an ingredient in a rejuvenate face mask in
ancient Egypt (it was also charred and used as the classic heavy
eyeliner seen in much ancient Egyptian art), and at one time was
“used to treat every conceivable ill to man”. In ayurvedic
medicine it is known as salai guggul, used for centuries to
treat many conditions, including arthritis. Modern science has
isolated the active compounds found to have anti-arthritic
properties. Called boswellic acids, these components inhibit the
inflammatory process, improve blood supply and prevent further
cartilage reduction.

Frankincense Essential Oil

Modern natural medicine has taken to the use of the essential
oil of Frankincense. The oil, having a warm, woody, sweet aroma
with a hint of citrus, is steam or CO2 distilled from the resin.
It is used for respiratory conditions such as bronchitis,
catarrh and asthma; for wrinkles, wounds and dry skin, and in
cases of rheumatism, cystitis and leukorrea.

The most important effect of the essential oil may be on the
nervous system. Regarded as an antidepressant, the aroma can
both relax and revitalize, and can help in cases of nervous
tension and exhaustion. Frankincense oil contains
sesquiterpenes, which stimulate the limbic system, the
hypothalamus, the pineal and the pituitary glands. The oil is
now being researched for it’s ability to increase human growth
hormone production. Further, it is considered to strengthen the
immune system, which may in-fact occur as a result of it’s
uplifting properties.

Frankincense essential oil can be used in a manner similar to
burning of the incense in spiritual practice. Warming in a
candle lamp or direct application to the temples and third eye
will quiet the mind, deepen the breath, and promote meditative
stillness. It is often blended with Sandalwood, Myrrh and
Cedarwood for such uses, and the single-pointed concentration it
invokes is thought to allow the spirit to soar.

Experimenting with Frankincense

Frankincense resin is widely available at reasonable costs. Most
is wildcrafted, being extracted from trees growing in the
deserts of northeast Africa - thankfully, the resource is
abundant, as the trees easily survive harvesting of the pearls.
The small chunks of resin can simply be lit by themselves in a
dish or similar container, and allowed to smolder and release
their smoke. Frankincense is also available in prepared incense
sticks and other incense preparations. In the form of your
choosing, simply light and allow some quiet time to experience
the deep aroma.

With the essential oil, a diffuser or warming lamp can be used
to disperse the aroma throughout a space. The oil is also found
in aromatherapy candles, where it is released from the heated
oil beneath the burning wick. Frankincense oil can be applied
directly to the forehead (it is non-irritating or sensitizing)
where you can both capture the aroma and absorb the oil
directly. Again, take a moment to sit quietly to perceive any
effects.

The wonderful gift of the Frankincense tree is available in many
ways, and has come highly recommended for many thousands of
years. Try adding a little Frankincense to your life, and see
what the mystery is all about!

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The use of light as a therapeutic tool has a long history, with reports of sunlight being used to treat depression and lethargy over 2000 years ago in ancient Greece and Rome. The use of light in therapy today however stems largely from research carried out in the 1980s that looked at the cycle of depression, and other problems, associated with changes in the seasons of the year.

Many of the body’s functions are regulated by an internal clock which operates on a pattern that repeats roughly every 24 hours and that gives a rhythm to our lives. Indeed, this is often referred to as the body’s circadian rhythm, from the Latin ‘circa dies’ meaning ‘about a day’.

Unlike your kitchen clock or wrist watch, however, which are more often than not powered by batteries these days, your body clock is essentially a chemical clock and is powered by a variety of different environmental factors, the most significant of which is the alternating pattern between daylight to darkness.

In simple terms, as your body senses the fall of darkness it sends out signals, shutting down many of your body’s functions in preparation for sleep. Similarly, as daylight returns, signals are again sent out for these same functions to start up again.

So just how can we apply this knowledge to the treatment of insomnia?

There are three main types of insomnia - initial, or sleep onset, insomnia (difficulty falling asleep), middle insomnia (difficulty remaining asleep through the night) and late, or terminal, insomnia (waking too early in the morning). It is in the first and last of these three that light therapy can be particularly useful.

In the case of initial insomnia your body clock has often shifted so that, instead of sending out the chemical signals to start shutting down at say ten or eleven o’clock in the evening, your body doesn’t start sending out the necessary messages until perhaps one or two o’clock in the morning.

Similarly, at perhaps seven o’clock in the morning, when you should be starting your day, your body clock hasn’t yet started to send out its ‘wake up’ signals and won’t be doing so for perhaps another three or four hours.

To solve this problem, and to re-adjust your body clock, bright light therapy can be used in the morning to get you up and going. If bright light therapy is used for perhaps thirty minutes to an hour each morning for several days, your internal body clock will gradually shift to align itself with your normal sleeping routine.

The same treatment can be applied in the case of late insomnia. In this case your body clock is set too early so that it is telling you to go to bed before it is time to do so and similarly to get up too early.

Here, bright light therapy can again be used to re-adjust your body clock, but now needs to be applied in the evening, rather than in the morning.

Although bright light therapy is being used increasingly to treat insomnia it remains very much a secondary form of treatment and has yet to achieve the prominence that it deserves. It is, however, gaining ground in the treatment of insomnia associated with two specific problems, those of jet lag and shift work, and so it is perhaps only a matter of time before it becomes a far more widely used form of treatment for insomnia generally.

Copyright 2005 Donald Saunders - http://help-me-to-sleep.com

Donald Saunders is the author of a number of health-related publications including “How To Get A Good Night’s Sleep”. Pick up your free copy today and learn the secret to better sleep or visit Help-Me-To-Sleep.com to learn more about insomnia

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