Wednesday, April 25, 2012

What Is Reflexology?

  Reflexology is a form of foot massaging. There are what a reflexologist called, "points" in various parts of our feet which represent certain body parts and organs in our body. By applying pressure to these points in our feet, the corresponding areas or organ in our body will become healthy as a result. For example, when we have a sore throat, we can apply pressure to the area in our big toe just below the nail part. Rubbing action in this particular area will relieve our sore throat much quicker.

  Most of us may wonder how does reflexology works?  Normally when we are not feeling well, we will go to see the doctor and eat the prescribed medicine for a cure.  If we have a headache, doctor will give us panadol to cure the pain in our head. In reflexology, the mechanism is quite unique in a way that it involved what the ancient Chinese known as the "qi" in our human body to regulate our health. When, for example we have a headache, the reflexologist will tell you that the area in your feet that correspond to your head might have some blockage. Pressure will then be applied in this particular area to promote circulation again and thus relieve your headache.  The same applied to various areas in our body such as our eyes, ears, nose, throat, stomach, lungs, digestive tract, kidneys, urine tract, lymphatic glands and many more.

  However, we must not take reflexology as a replacement for doctor's medical advice or as a cure for any kind of serious illnesses such as cancer, heart attack, diabetes etc as these conditions are what the reflexologist refers to as a bit late to apply reflexology as a cure.  The reason is very simple, for example, cancer in the colon maybe due to long term accumulation of toxin in our digestive tract coupled with an unhealthy consumption of cancerous diet like over eating of acidic and processed food with low intake of fiber like fruits and vegetables to clean our digestive tract.  The process may take years to happen. Reflexology may help in the earlier stages in the form of regulating the circulation in the digestive tract and promoting the removal of toxin by relieving any constipation etc. If these simple tasks of toxin removal are not done and cancerous cells starts to thrive in your digestive tract, then it might be a bit late to use reflexology as a treatment and the help of professional doctors will have to be seek instead.

  The usual time period for one reflexology session is about one hour.  This one hour is sufficient for the reflexologist to apply pressure to all the points in both your left and right foot.  Pain felt in certain areas of your feet when pressure is applied by the reflexologist normally indicate that the part of your body is blocked or have a high accumulation of toxin there.  For a start, if you have not done reflexology before, a good advice is to have 10 consecutive days of one hour session to rid any blockage of circulation and years of accumulation of unwanted toxin in the body.  This will promote overall well being in your body and you will find that the sole of your feet become red as blood circulation is at its best! Even your cheeks will have a pinkish tone to it as a sign of optimum blood flow. One important tip is that we must drink at least two glasses of warm water during the reflexology session so that all the toxin can flow out from your body as the circulation starts when the blockage is cleared. Wear stockings over your massaged feet and not to wash your feet or consume any solid foot at least one hour after the session. 

  Other benefits include reflexology is said to help ladies get conceived for those who have been struggling to get pregnant over the years.  Those who have lots of stress and panda eyes due to long hours of work and staring on computers may get relieves as well.  Most importantly, reflexology or foot massage is a therapy that works well for us to get our health back.

Monday, April 16, 2012

How To Prevent Hair Loss

  One day I woke up, go to the toilet to brush my teeth, standing in front of the sink, starring up and look into the mirror and I couldn't believe what I see. Gosh! I am only in my thirties and I looked like I am half a century old! My hairs are dropping as fast as the rain falling down from the sky! A lake of skin beginning to form on top of my head and it is getting bigger and bigger like nobody's business.  What I am referring to is the fear that is most common to men and that is the fear of losing their beloved tropical rainforest that can give them pride, self confidence, and a sense of youth. This is none other than their hair.

  First thing first, the most important thing we must take care of is our diet. We must consume food that will give nutrients to our hair for it to be healthy.  This is similar to planting grass in our backyard. We must give them sufficient water and fertilizer so that the grass will grow thick, green and healthy.  Our hair is made up of protein mainly, so it is wise for us to consume foods with protein like fish, chicken, turkey etc. Notice that I didn't mention any high fat protein like pork chop and steak.  A high fat diet will leads to an increase in your body's testosterone level which can induce hair loss. So by all means avoid fatty meat, since they may cause high cholesterol and other related diseases which is not good to your health. Try to take more natural sources like nuts, beans, egg and soy milk as they contains quality lean protein with none unhealthy fats.

  Besides the main ingredient, protein, we need other natural elements in our diet to preserve a healthy hairline. Elements like iron, vitamin c, silica and zinc help in maintaining a healthy hair. Iron will help in keeping our red blood cells in a healthy level which in turn supply sufficient level of oxygen to our scalp for a healthy hair growth. You can get iron source from raisin, eggs, whole grain cereals, oat-meals, dark green leafy vegetables, dates etc. Vitamin c is for good absorption of iron. So a diet with fruits and vegetables is essential.  Silica is needed for the absorption of vitamins and minerals. The skin of cucumber, potatoes and red and green peppers contain silica. For those who like bean sprout, it is the best source for silica and it is best not to overcook to prevent the loss of its nutritional value. As for zinc, well you can get it from most seafood like fish, prawn, crab, squid and clams. Zinc will make your hair follicle glands healthy and also promotes the balance of hormone and cell reproduction in your body that gives you overall health. Try to consume zinc from natural sources such as those in seafood rather than taking supplements. Although the above foods and minerals are good for your hair, try not to overdose yourself by eating too much of it.  It is a common sense as too much of the good stuffs may not be good to you anyway.  A balanced diet will be much better. In other words, don't just concentrate heavily on foods that have protein, iron, vitamin c, silica and zinc ONLY just because you want to get your hair back!

  Enough about food here, let us discover some other useful tips that will help to maintain a healthy hair in you. We all wash our hair with shampoo correct? A good tip here is that we should wash our hair regular using mild shampoo. Regularly is to keep our hair clean to prevent excessive oil in our hair follicles which may trap bacteria and dirty stuffs. Mild shampoo is because heavily medicated shampoo may damage our hair while some people even use soap to wash their hair which may cause dryness in your scalp, both of which promotes hair dropping. When you wash your hair, make sure you rinse it properly so that none of the shampoo is still left in your hair as it will leads to dryness as mentioned earlier. Comb your hair regularly, not only for a neat look but more importantly to let the blood circulate more in your scalp so that more nutrient and oxygen can reach your hair follicles for better and healthy hairs. Remember this, whenever you wash or comb your hair, do it in a gentle manner, do not scrub and comb like you are plowing the field for planting something. Heavy force will only cause damage to your hair follicles and thus promote hair loss.

  Other thing you should take note is that you shouldn't be stressful all day long as it promotes hair loss as well.  Try to relax and be calm when dealing with your everyday live. Do some light exercise whenever you are stressed. Drink lots of water to get your toxin out of your body and remember to have enough of sleep everyday as it will help your body (and hair) to recover from any stress and damages suffered during a stressful day!