Modern times give people ‘instant’ everything. It gives them ‘instant’ convenience, ‘instant’ solutions and ‘instant’ results among so many others. But, amidst all the advantages it gives to people, it also brings a lot of stress that hinders them to get better sleep.

Studies show that the most common cause of today’s health problems lack of sleep that can be caused by too much stress. Aside from improper diet, and unhealthy life style, prolonged periods of stress subconsciously affect many systems of the human body, lack of sleep may lead to possible health problems such as gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, memory loss, and decreased immune function.

One of the most popular stress-reduction techniques being practice nowadays is massage therapy apart from using stress-relieving tablets and capsules. By definition, massage therapy is a hands-on manipulation of the soft tissues that include muscle, skin, tendons, and associated fascia, ligaments. Massage therapy also concentrates in treating joint capsules in the body. Apart from decreasing muscular tension and increasing the removal of metabolic waste, massage therapy also promotes nutrient delivery to healing tissue caused by extended periods of stress and will eventually help a person to get better sleep.

The wonders of massage therapy

Indeed, massage therapy has become a significant part of general health care for many people living in today’s stressful world. Numerous professionals and even traditional healthcare systems throughout the world recognizes that massage therapy can play an important role in treating chronic ailments can and contribute to a higher sense of general well-being since it greatly helps people get better sleep.

Considered as the modern antidote for stress, massage therapy helps combat stress by trying to reduce the tension build up in the muscles. Aside from boosting the body’s immune system, massage therapy prevents the decrease in circulation and nutrient delivery to tissues. Known as one of the ultimate “stress reducers,” more professionals are advising their patients to include massage therapy in their health care treatment plans.

People, especially those who live by the rule of stress and don’t have enough sleep, find massage therapy very helpful in so many ways. Among the extensive benefits of massage therapy, most people consider the therapeutic affect of the treatment on their bodies. Since massage therapy causes diverse physiological effects due to the therapist’s hands moving over the body, its therapeutic affect is proven to improve health by acting directly on the muscular, nervous, circulatory and immune systems.

Aside from aiming to develop, maintain, rehabilitate, or augment physical function, massage therapy also relieves or prevents physical dysfunction and pain. Massage therapy also relaxes tight and tense muscles while improve circulation, recovery time, and immune system function, which reduce overall stress. And with the continuing research on the beneficial effects of massage therapy, its effectivity was also discovered in controlling chronic or acute pain.

Concentrated in creating different movements that can physically stretch muscles, ligaments, tendons, and fascia, massage therapy also encourages the circulation through the tissue, inhibit muscular spasms, and be either sedating or stimulating to the nervous system.

But, far from the common conception, elementary knowledge of massage therapy is not enough for ordinary individuals to practice it. Being a regulated health profession, massage therapy requires professionals who have completed hours of education at accredited schools and have extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology, assessment, bodywork techniques, and pathology to know when massage therapy is or is not suitable.

With the array benefits massage therapy offers to people-specially in stress reduction and in helping them get better sleep-it is no wonder that a wide patronage of it will increase energy and will improve people’s outlook on life.

For both men and women, colorectal cancer is the third deadliest cancer there is. This is why it’s so important to get screened for it. As with all cancers, the earlier it’s found, the easier it is to fight off. So you need to know what to look for and what doctors do to screen for colorectal cancer. Here are the common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer and the screening methods used to determine if you have it.

Signs and Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer

If you have any of these symptoms you should see your doctor.

* Constipation, diarrhea, or any change to the stool that lasts for more than a few days
* Rectal bleeding or blood in the stool
* Feeling like you have to have a bowel movement, but when you do go you are not feeling relieved
* Abdominal pain or cramping that is persistent. Gas or pain of any kind that doesn’t go away
* Weakness and fatigue
* Weight loss when you weren’t trying to lose weight

These symptoms can generally be explained away as other things such as a virus, infection, hemorrhoids, and inflammatory bowel disease. It’s important to see your doctor if these issues persist so these things can be ruled out.

There are often no early symptoms of colorectal cancer. Signs and symptoms may vary when it develops depending on where in the colon the cancer is located. You should be more concerned if you are over the age of 50 or have a family history.

Tests for Colorectal Cancer

If you present with any of the above symptoms, then your doctor will take a complete family history. He or she will feel your belly to see if he feels any masses. He might order some blood tests to see what exactly is going on, like a CBC (Complete Blood Count) to check for anemia, liver enzymes to check your liver function because colorectal cancer can spread to your liver, and tumor markers in someone who already has colorectal cancer or has had it.

If symptoms or the results of these tests suggests cancer, then further testing is recommended. This is usually a colonoscopy, but sometimes a sigmoidoscopy or an imaging test that uses a barium enema and a lower GI series. This helps doctors screen for polyps.

During a colonoscopy, if colorectal cancer is suspected the doctor will take a biopsy which is just a small piece of tissue that is removed for further examination under the microscope. In very rare cases, part of the colon may need to be surgically removed (a part less often used) to make the diagnosis.

Additionally, scans such as a CT scan might be performed. This is used more often to see if colon cancer has spread to other organs like the liver. It gives a detailed image of the soft tissues of the body.

An ultrasound might be performed to try to see tumors, but really all this would show is tumors in the liver, gallbladder, or pancreas. It cannot detect tumors in the colon. For that your doctor might recommend an endorectal ultrasound where a special transducer is inserted into the rectum. This way the doctor can see deep into the rectal wall to see where the cancer has spread, if at all, and it can look at the lymph nodes and nearby organs.

If you don’t have any symptoms of colorectal cancer but are of a certain age or have a family history, there are screening tests that can be done. Tests that find both colorectal polyps and cancer are perfect. This way if polyps are found they can be removed during the screening to help prevent them from turning into cancer. For less invasive screening, tests that check the stool can be used. However, this doesn’t find polyps.

The colonoscopy is the most common test performed to screen for polyps and cancer. However, the CT scan and the barium enema are used to screen for polyps and cancer as well.

To screen just for cancer, tests like the Fecal Occult Blood test is used. Fecal matter is screened for the occult blood which cannot be seen with the naked eye. If there is blood in the stool, a colonoscopy would need to be performed to determine where exactly the bleeding is coming from.

Check with your doctor to see what he recommends based on your symptoms or lack thereof and your family history. While colorectal cancer is the third leading deadly cancer, the development of tests and screenings has been increasing the survival rate.

People who are busy with their work are usually the ones who are having problems in sleeping. This is because the exhaustion and their hectic schedule keeps them from getting better sleep on daily basis. If you are one of those who are having trouble sleeping due to too much work, it is now time to reflect what might be causing these and address it properly.

One of the things that hinder people from getting better sleep is the set of foods that they eat. This is because these foods might contain ingredients and other properties that can really affect the person’s chemical balance. If you think that the foods that you are eating affects you in getting better sleep, try assessing your food intake for one day.

What you can do is list down all the foods-including the drinks-that you have taken in for one day and make an assessment after that day. In this way, you can track down which are the foods and drinks you have taken affect your sleeping habits especially at night. The following are just some of the list of foods that might lead one to troublesome and uncomfortable sleeping at nighttime:

1. Too much food intake. This is considered as the major culprit why many people-especially those who don’t have sleeping problems before-are having a hard time sleeping all of a sudden. Experts say that if a person have overeaten, the tendency is that the stomach will have a hard time digesting it. Too much food may also affect the how the digestive system work and may even cause clinical conditions such as ulcer if done regularly.

2. Foods that contain too much fat. Experts say that people are eating foods that have too much fat are prone to not sleeping well at night because it creates a lot of digesting work for the stomach. If one wants to get better sleep, he or she should cut down on foods that are too rich or fatty so there will be lesser work for the stomach especially at nighttime.

3. Too much spicy or acidic foods. These sets of foods can very much affect one’s sleeping habits especially at nighttime. If one eats too many sets of spicy foods especially at night, it can lead to troubles in the stomach and even heartburn which makes it harder for you to lie down and get better sleep at night.

4. Too much alcohol intake. Some people say that alcohol may help one to get better sleep but on the contrary, it doesn’t especially if he or she has taken too much of it.

5. Foods that contain caffeine. These are another set of culprits for people who are having trouble sleeping. If you are prone to not sleeping, it is best to avoid foods as well as drinks that have high caffeine content such as coffee, chocolates, sodas that are caffeinated as well as teas. To get better sleep, it is best to not consume these for a while. Or if you really cannot do without these, try minimizing your consumption even for a couple of days. Once you get your sleeping pattern back, you may go back to consuming these but only to limited content so you would not go back to having sleeping problems again.

How good do you really think of yourself mentally? If you ask yourself if you are intelligent, do you answer with a nod and a smile, or with an ashamed “maybe”? In answering this question, you should know that there are a lot of things to consider, and your IQ score is just one of those. The reality is that if you think of yourself as better, your brain will perform better.

Your outlook and perspective on things like this will definitely influence the performance of your brain. If you really believe that you are good enough, then your brain may just start performing to level with your expectation. Some may say that basic intelligence would never change after the childhood stage of your life, but then there are still some who believe that psychology has an influence in this.

The Influential Psychology in Brain Function

You may have heard of stories wherein the protagonist, who never even stepped into high school, was able to work his way from rags to riches. He just used his guts and determination as he climbs his way to the top. His childhood may have shown him that he can be as rich as his friends if he would only work hard for it. Because of this, he followed what he knew, and because he knew that he too can be rich, he did work hard for it. His outlook was that he can do if others were able to do it.

He never received any money from his rich friends, and he never received any assistance as he worked his way. But what he got from his friends was his expectation. If he never met his rich friends, if he never knew that it is possible to be rich, he would not have worked hard to be where he is right now. He had a goal when he met them, and all he had to do was to just work hard to reach that goal – and so he did.

See, expectations of yourself can play a big role in your life. It serves as your motivation. It makes you feel that you are on to something possible, something that is just within your reach if you just work hard enough. This is the influence of psychology. Don’t you think that it is possible that by just thinking that you can think harder and learn faster, your brain might just do the same thing for you?

Experiential and Evidential Learning

After you have viewed yourself with better perspective, then it is time for you to be more attentive to the things around you which can serve as an evidence that you are about to reach your goal. After you have done all the affirmations, you need hard proof. Take note of your progress regardless of whether they are too small or too big. Focus on these developments. You will soon realize that the more you appreciate your small developments, more of them would soon follow.

So, in applying to your brain development, if you think hard enough that you can improve your brain performance, and then your brain would soon perform better. The improvements may not be as drastic as you expect, but there will surely be some changes. Take note of these changes, and soon you will realize that the cumulative effect of these small changes will amount to a big alteration to your brain functioning. Think of yourself as better, your brain will soon live up to your expectations.

Cancer affects men and women, but there are some cancers which affect men more than women. Also, many times these cancers are more deadly in men than they are in women. Men can lower their risk of getting these varying types of cancer by avoiding smoking and receiving screening tests at an earlier age.

Here are ten cancers which commonly affect men.

1. Prostate cancer – This is the most common cancer diagnosed in men. Prostate cancer is found more commonly in African-American men than any other racial or ethnic group. It is unknown why it affects African-American men more. It is recommended that you talk to your doctor about screening options for prostate cancer, though, generally at around the age of 50.

2. Lung cancer – This is the number one cancer that kills men. Again, more African-American men are affected by lung cancer than any other racial or ethnic group. A large majority of instances of lung cancer arise from smoking. The best way to prevent lung cancer is to never start smoking at all, but to quit immediately if you do smoke.

3. Colorectal cancer – This is the third most common cancer found in men. It affects all ethnic groups and men and women about the same. It is found most often in people age fifty and older. Screening for colorectal cancer is of utmost importance in finding and treating this cancer and saving men and women.

4. Bladder cancer – This is much more common in men than in women, three times more likely in fact. Caucasian men have a higher chance of getting bladder cancer than any other ethnic or racial group. It generally affects men over the age of sixty. The older you are, the greater your chances of getting bladder cancer.

5. Skin cancer – This is more prevalent in men past the age of forty in the United States. However, before the age of forty it’s found more in women.

6. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma – This is a cancer which attacks the lymph nodes. It is more common in men than in women, especially white men. It mostly affects adults with a compromised immune system like from HIV. There are forms which can affect children as well. Certain types of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma can be found in women more than men for an unknown reason.

7. Kidney cancer – Men are twice as likely as women to get kidney cancer. However, it is still amongst the top ten cancers women get as well. This is a cancer that generally is not seen by men or women until later in life, after age 64 and usually not before age 45.

8. Throat or mouth cancer – Cancers of the mouth are twice as common in men as they are in women. This can be caused from smoking and even from oral sex.

9. Leukemia – This is only slightly more prevalent in men than it is in women. It also affects Caucasians more than any other race. It’s a cancer of the blood which affects older people more often than it does younger people.

10. Pancreatic cancer – Another cancer that affects only slightly more men more than it does women. This cancer has been slowly increasing over the last ten years or so. It’s also more common in African-Americans than Caucasians.

So if you’re a man, these are the cancers you have to most worry about. Many of them can be prevented with simply lifestyle changes like not smoking and eating a healthy diet. Screenings go a long way to saving your life when diagnosed with any of these cancers.