beauty / personal care
Good Health in Hard Times
By Crystel Lyons
The best things in life are free. Some of the easiest things you can do to maintain your health are within both your grasp and your means. What can you do to safeguard your health without blowing your budget?
#1 thing you can do is drink more water.
If you think you drink enough water, think again. Consuming at least ½ our body weight in ounces each day is the minimum amount our bodies require. Most of my clients fall miserably short of this quantity. Would you consider running your car without enough oil in the engine? Water is the lubricant that keeps us functioning at optimal levels. Dr. Batmanghelidj, asserts in his book, Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, “Most of our ailments can be reduced or even eliminated with proper hydration”. What your medical practitioner should be telling you is to “drink two glasses and call me in the morning.”
#2 Get more sleep.
Ben Franklin nailed it. Sleep deprivation is the silent thief that steals your youth and robs your vitality. Your body schedules ‘routine maintenance’ during your sleep time. When we don’t keep our appointments for these daily tune-ups, we become rundown and wear out sooner, just like our cars would.
#3 Breathe – Air is Free.
The purpose of aerobic exercise is to incorporate more oxygen into the bloodstream. Imagine having the health benefits of aerobics without having to jump or bounce!?!! For thousands of years, specific breathing techniques have been used to stimulate thinking, reduce stress, improve mental clarity & focus, even cleanse, purify and tone. Dr. Andrew Weil’s CD set Feel Better, Live Longer is an excellent tool that teaches several types of breathing and discusses the benefits & application of each.
#4 Sit up Straight.
Hunched shoulders, forward leaning heads & dysfunctional gait patterns can contribute to poor health. Slouching in a chair leads to organ compression, thus impairing organ function. Hip & lower back pain are often gait related. Anteriorly rotated shoulders are at the root of brachial plexus nerve damage and rotator cuff issues. By maintaining erect posture, you increase lung capacity, enhance circulation, enable lymph flow and improve digestion. You will have less pain, project more confidence & reduce your risk of many age related diseases once thought to be inevitable.
#5 Personal Hygiene
We all know about washing your hands after using the rest room, but have you ever considered washing them BEFORE using the rest room? This is HUGE. As a therapist, we are trained to wash our hands before a session, to protect the client, and again afterwards, to protect ourselves. Conversely, washing your hands before using the restroom will protect you, while washing after protects others.
Wearing gloves is another proactive way to stay clean. In the olden days, people maintained hygiene by wearing simple cotton gloves. They carried a stack of them everywhere they went and changed them often; thus, the glove box in your car. The germiest surfaces are hand rails, shopping cart handles, door knobs, credit card stylus, and ATM machines. Gloves are an effective barrier between you and these surfaces.
# 6 Eat Less
Another time when less is more…. No one needs as much food as we think we do. We could actually make a practice of cutting our portions completely in half and still have more calories than we need in a day. Fasting is a great way to learn how much you really need to get by. The less you eat, the more time your body will be freed up to do other functions. According to Harvey Diamond, author of Fit for Life, “the #1 stressor on your body is digestion….It takes more energy than any other activity we do”. Not only will giving your digestive tract a rest be great for your body, it works wonders for your waistline and your wallet too.
#7 Smile
Brighten someone’s day and give yourself a lift in the process. A smile is the easiest random act of kindness you can do. If you’ve ever caught the gaze of an infant, you know a basic human instinct is mimicking your smile. Compound that with the fact that smiling is quite contagious and, when freely given, a smile can begin a chain reaction of goodwill between complete strangers resulting in endless positive benefits.
#8 Reduce Stress
Stress can trigger all types of reactions from hives to hair loss. By implementing any of the above suggestions, you will be taking steps toward reducing stress on your body and improving your quality of life.
Although these ideas may have been preached to us by a well meaning elder, it is worth our while to consider the wisdom of their words. Perhaps they knew more than we gave them credit for, after all, they lived through those depression years. Who better to offer us sage advise on maintaining good health in hard times?
 Crystel Lyons is owner of Almost Eden Home Spa in Somers, WI.
where she promotes the practice of detoxification and natural health.
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