What does this have to do with you? – Everything

Carbon is a basic building block to our society as a whole and therefore I believe it is essential that we learn more about it. I have put together a website for this very purpose.

About The Site:

The site describes the basic components of the carbon system. It describes the following in further detail:

• Chemical Reactions and Reservoirs
• Pathway of Movement
• Human Impact on the Carbon Cycle
• Summary
• Review Questions
• We have also provided a few informative videos from YouTube on the sidebar and on each page individually, giving a total of 5 videos.

If you are studying for the AP Environmental exam or studying for an actual college level Environmental Science class, this website is the perfect place for you to learn about the carbon cycle.

Click on me to Visit the Site Now!

OxiClean

OxiClean is made from simple ingredients that most people can buy locally. When it was put on the market in 1999 with Billy Mays as the spokes person, the product sales went soaring. It goes to show you how a simple product can be sold for big if advertised right.

ShamWow

This usless towl that people see on television with acter Offer Vince Shlomi shows how far a single commercial can really go. A friend of mine even got the product, it is virtually useless and a normal towl dose better than the ShamWow.

Snuggie

This is a product that was put on the market at the right time, the ressicion. Many people wanted to save money by using this backwards clothes style and put less stress on their heaters. I currently live in florida, so I guess I have no use for these.

Pet Rock

This item was originally sold by Gray Dahl in 1975 and over 5 million were sold. I guess many parents thought it would be an awesome gift.

Santa Mail

Basically a child can send a letter to Santa and get a personal reply from him for around $10. That’s not a bad deal if you ask me. This is one of the few company benefiting from lies.

Big Mouth Billy Bass

This plastic toy that sings on your wall sold so much in the year 2000, that it made more than most everyone that goes to Hollywood, talk about a great invention.

Doggles

They have been featured all over the news recently and have made a hit for dogs all around. As one of a kind and with little competition, it has come to make a lot of money. Bascicly it’s sunclasses for dogs and has been featured on CNN, Good Moring America, and even The Today Show. They have now expanded and now offer clothes for your dog as well.

The Koosh Ball

Scott Stillinger invented the Koosh ball in 1987 for by wrapping rubber bands together to create an ball that would be easier to catch for his kids. After creating a small toy company to sell his small toy, people flocked to get it. He eventually sold his prduct to toy manufacturer Russ Berrie and was sold to Hasbro in 1997 for over $100 million. All of this done by one toy.

Santa Mail

Basically a child can send a letter to Santa and get a personal reply from him for around $10. That’s not a bad deal if you ask me. This is one of the few company benefiting from lies.

Image courtesy of Goldmund100

Over the past few months I have subscribed to WebMD’s newsletters and have found many of their articles to be extremely useful. I have given a list of my favorite posts below and whenever I find a new one that I like, I’ll be sure to add it to the list below. Have fun reading and enjoy.

1. Physical Health: Fun Ways to Get Fit and Trim
2. Health Care Reform and You
3. How Many Calories Do You Really Need?
4. 10 Foods Most Likely to Make You Sick
5. Is the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Safe?
6. 10 Ways to Save Money on Food Shopping
7. Slideshow: 15 Immune Boosting Foods
8. 24 Foods That Can Save Your Heart
9. Stress-Reducing Foods

image courtesy of alancleaver_2000

For several reasons, waking up early is one of the hardest habits to concur for many people and even myself. Because of this common dilemma, I have given 25 tips on how to wake up early and make sure you stay up:

1. Go to bed early
2. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
3. Make a morning ritual
4. Reward yourself when you wake up on time
5. Make sure the temperature and the air freshness are at the levels you want
6. Use multiple alarm clocks
7. Ask someone else to wake you up on time (a much better alarm clock)
8. Take a short afternoon nap
9. Save something special for the morning, such as a tv show you recorded
10. Make a great breakfast as soon as you get up
11. Put your alarm clock far away from your bed
12. Avoid having too much Alcohol
13. Avoid having too much Caffeine
14. Avoid eating right before bed
15. Avoid sleeping pills
16. Put yourself under pressure by setting the alarm off so it gives you just enough time to get ready
17. Set your alarm earlier, but allow yourself to hit the snooze button a certain amount of times
18. Wake up to music
19. Try out different alarm clocks with different sounds and see what works
20. Do it for 3-4 weeks to make sure you form a habit
21. Don’t stay up too late on the weekends
22. Don’t go to bed if you don’t feel sleepy
23. Use wakeup call services at hotels
24. Sleep with all the lights off
25. Wake up to the sun; this helps you work with your body clock well

I have found that #2, #6, #10, and #25 work best for me. Which one of these tips works best for you? If you have any other tips, please share them with me in the comments section.

image courtesy of Ecnerwal

Many of us want to grow and be as tall as we possibly can be. In fact, at one point in my own life I was sure I wasn’t growing to my full potential, so I did tons of research to find out how to get taller. People told me to take tons of vitamins and to sleep for 12 hours a day est… but what I found to be most helpful in promoting growth was just eating healthy, exercising daily, getting enough sleep (not 12 hours), and a few other tricks.

For those who really want to make sure they grow to their full potential though, further research really needs to be done to make sure you are getting the right vitamins, minerals, doing the right exercises, and so on. So what I have written below are the most important things you can do to make sure you will grow to your maximum height (these are most likely to work for those who are still growing, except for stretching and posture):

Nutrition

As far as nutrition goes, you should make sure you get several varieties of fruit, vegetables, protein, vitamins, and minerals every day. I have listed the most important vitamins, minerals, and food below:

The most important vitamins for growth are:

* Vitamin A
Function: Vital for growth and differentiation of the body’s cells as well as healthy vision.
Food Sources: Animal liver, milk, most yellow and green vegetables.

* Vitamin B6
Function: Assimilates protein and fat.
Food Sources: Animal liver and kidney, beef, green leafy vegetables .

* Vitamin B12
Function: Forms and makes red blood cells; increases your energy and promotes growth.
Food Sources: Cheese, animal liver and kidney, pork,  beef.

* Vitamin C
Function: Helps in the creation of collagen and other intercellular substances; Helps in formation of bone matrix and tooth dentin; Intercellular cement and metabolism of several amino acids.
Food Sources: Citrus fruits, tomatoes, berries, cauliflower and green leafy vegetables.

* Vitamin D
Function: Helps calcium absorb from digestive tract; essential for healthy growth and upholding of bone.
Food Sources: Egg yolk, milk, fish oils, butter.

* Vitamin E
Function: Supplies oxygen to body cells; prevents cholesterol deposits in arteries.
Food Sources: Wheat germ, soy beans, eggs, green leafy vegetables.

* Vitamin K
Function: Helps promote proper blood clotting; helps in avoiding internal bleeding and hemorrhage.
Food Sources: Egg yolk, soybean, fish, animal liver, and green vegetables.

The most important minerals for growth are:

Minerals are important because help the growth of your bones.

* Calcium
Function: Important component of teeth and bones; needed for normal blood clotting; helps in normal muscle nerve function.
Food Sources: Dairy products, fish, green leafy vegetable.

* Chromium
Function: Aids in the growth process; prevents and lowers high blood pressure.
Food Sources: Meat, clams, shellfish.

* Iron
Function: Helps you grow; helps form hemoglobin in blood; aid for good skin tone.
Food Sources: Animal Liver, beef kidney, cereals, egg yolk, clams, and red meat.

* Phosphorus
Function: Structural component of the bone; performs many more functions; Needed for healthy bones and teeth; necessary for energy metabolism.
Food Sources: Meat, dairy products, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.

* Magnesium
Function: Aids in bone growth and the function of nerves and muscles; Helps regulate blood pressure and water balance in cells.
Food Sources: Apples, lemons, grapefruits, seeds, yellow corn, and dark green vegetables.

* Manganese
Function: Aids in bone and cartilage arrangement, needed for energy metabolism.
Food Sources: Whole-grain cereals, egg yolks, green vegetables.

* Zinc
Function: Helps in the growth and repair process of tissues. Needed for proper performance of the immune system.
Food Sources: Milk, meat, yogurt, and pumpkin seeds.

* Iodine
Function: Helps in the regulation of thyroid hormones that aid in the process of growth and expansion.
Food Sources: Salt, seafood, kelp, onions, and vegetables grown in iodine rich soils.

The mineral that I advise you to make sure you have is calcium along with vitamin D to make sure you digest it.

Foods that can stun growth (if you have too much):

• Coffee
• Soft drinks
• Sweeteners
• Lots of salt

image courtesy of follow777

• Lots of fats
• Alcohol
• Cigarettes

Foods that help growth:

• Fish
• Meat
• Eggs
• Milk
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Animal liver (do not subject it)
• Dairy Products
• Seafood

The amount of sleep you should get to promote growth is?

The amount of sleep each person needs depends upon the person. You can never really be sure how much sleep you really need. The general 8 hours is always a good answer, but teenagers for example need up to 10 hours of sleep according to some people while others function on 6 hours of sleep just fine. This is a good question to ask your doctor or you can try the test below. Also, try to sleep with as little light as possible, it helps you sleep better.

Test how much sleep you need: Simply sleep without an alarm clock for 3 or 4 days and see how long you sleep. Make sure you go to sleep when you’re tired though.

Exercising and stretching every day:

Another great tip in making sure you grow to your full potential is exercising and stretching every day. Both of these activities promote healthy growth of the body’s bones and muscle as well as making you feels great. Stretching also takes care of many people’s slouches and even helps full grown adults in their 40’s of 50’s to grow an inch or two. Here is a great video I found for good stretches to promote growth:

Good Posture:

Good posture provides for us many of the same benefits stretching dose, but instead of correcting our slouches, it prevents it from ever happening. Here are some tips for keeping good posture:

• Hold your shoulders back (push chest up and out is the best way to do this at first)
• Try to keep your back straight
• Look straight ahead (at eye level) so your head is evenly positioned
• Try and sit straight with your back supported
• While sitting, keep your body in a natural position with you feet flat on the ground

These may seem odd and actually annoying to do at first, but it will come naturally for you later and will be well worth it.

A Few other tricks to make sure you get taller:

• Try not to stress out to often
• Make sure you are getting enough oxygen, breath regularly
• Get walk tall shoes (platform) shoes

Ultimately your height is not the most important thing in your life, so don’t worry about it if you only get up to 5’ 10’’, in fact that is the average height for a male in the United States (Women’s average height is about 5’ 4’). I really hope you enjoyed the post and feel free to comment if you have any questions.

Image courtesy of fallsroad

With a new understanding of how our body’s work due to the further expansion of research at many universities, many have come to realize that our body clocks play a crucial role on our attitudes, performance, and behaviors. Chronobiologists, scientists that study the body clock, are starting to be recognized more than ever before.

What surprises most people is that our body clocks are in our brain (no bigger than a grain of sand) as well as in our body organs. It is like this because our body needs to know when our organs should work the most and the least. The brain keeps a track of the time with the sunlight; the light passes the eye to the back of the eye, then to the nerves of the brain, the light impulses trigger the release of chemicals onto the clock cells. That way, no matter how fast or slow your time clock moves, your brain will stay on a 24 hour schedule.

Now because our body clocks are affected by sunlight, we can use light to help us adjust to our lifestyles. For example, being around the sun in the morning wakes you up easier; on the other hand, in the evening the sundown makes you feel sleepier and slows down the body clock, getting you ready for sleep. Another example below:
Late-types: wear sunglasses in the afternoons and get as little light as possible.
Early-types: wear sunglasses in the morning and get as much sun as you can in the afternoons.

Many people have different body clock lengths; this depends of the person’s age generally. The teenage body to start off with is the most dysfunctional of the body clocks causing them to want to sleep in more, while older people (65+) generally have weird sleeping patterns due to their aging body clocks. The aging of older people’s body clocks dose the following things: the density/thickness of the lens in the eyes increases, so there is less light getting through, which makes their body clocks less synchronized. The best way to prevent this is to increase the lighting in their homes or wherever they are residing to put their clocks back on track a bit. As a result, you will see an increase in good mood, better sleep patterns, performance, and memory! In fact, it is even more effective than drugs.

Below I have provided for you a time-line of our body clocks; some are more useful than others. Just take a look and make a mental note of when you should do certain things or write it down if you want:

6 am – 8 am
• Teenage body is not fully alert at this time.

8 am – 10 am
• Your heart is most venerable at this time. Blood pressure increases most in the first 3 hours you are awake. In other words, less blood gets to the heart and you have an increased chance of a heart attack. Note: there is a 10%-11% deduction in blood pressure by exercising in the afternoon.
• Take it easy in the morning.
• Balance is at its best.

10 am – Noon
• Do your most important work during this time. We are best in terms of thinking at this time.
• Teen’s best time for thinking is from 11 am – 3 pm (this is when they should be going to school in my opinion).

Noon – 2 pm
• A good time to Microsleep (20 min nap) because our body’s are meant to sleep twice a day. Maybe have some coffee too if you really need to stay up. If you do both, try to have your coffee before your nap so you wake up more energized. I do not suggest having coffee every day though.
• Dangerous time of the day to drive because of increased chances of car accidents.

2 pm – 4 pm
• The transition stage of the day (Rhythms chance for later part of the day).
• 4 in the afternoon and 4 in the morning is when the healthy cells are least active. This can be very useful in when deciding to get augury or do certain treatments. We can develop better ways to cure disease.

4 pm – 6 pm
• Body temperature and alertness is at its highest. The high temperature serves as a good pre-workout warm-up.
• Performance is at its best.

6 pm – 8 pm
• More people are eating at this time when they should really be having their big meals in the morning. Your level of glucose in your bloodstream is more when you eat most of your calories at night (this means a better chance of getting diabetes and more fat storage). If you have a bigger breakfast and a smaller dinner, your body will be more prepared for sleep at night.

8 pm – 10 pm
• Because of the sunset, we go through another transitions stage, getting us ready for the night.

10 pm – Midnight
• Body clocks make our bodies much sleepier at this time.

Midnight – 3 am
• You are most exhausted at this time and have the least energy.

3 am – 6 am
• During this time we reach the lowest point in the day cycle. Body has minimal operation.
• Body prepares for sleep (temperature drops, blood pressure drops, blood thickness increases).
• We need to be asleep during this time! Or else we will cause our body too much strain.
• Chances of cancer and other diseases increase if we work at this time.
• Due to the fact that our bodies are most relaxed at this time, most births take place at this time.

I hope you found this information useful. Comment if you have any questions or thoughts.

What I learned firsthand from the diet:

• The diet helped skin is much healthier and hydrated
• I felt less hungry (can be a good thing for someone on a diet)
• Made almost all of my headaches go away (I only got a headache once while on the diet, and that was on the first day)
• I feel good! At least better than I was before.

Some other benefits of drinking water:

• Drinking water helps you lose fat
• You are more productive and energized in general
• Helps digestion
• Reduces the risk of cancer
• Flushes body fluids (helps when you’re sick)
• Reduces risk of a heart attack
• Helps regulate body temperature

After taking this diet, I would suggest to most everyone to drink more than 8 cups of water a day, but I would not say that drinking a gallon a day is necessary. I would advice that most people should be drinking is about 10-14 cups of water a day, depending on what the activities they partake in. I would advise you to experiment on your own and try it for yourself. I hope you enjoyed the post. If you have any questions or comments, let me know in the comments section.

The past few days have been hard, but every day it has continued to get easier. I don’t have to force myself to drink as often because I actually feel thirsty for water. I even don’t feel as sick as I did on the first day, I feel much better!

Overall, I think the diet is a success. I’ll explain more on the next post. I have a big project to finish for school tonight so I’ll talk to you all on the next post

The first day was hard. I constantly had to force myself to drink more and more water throughout the day and I constantly had to go to the bathroom. I even felt sick at times because all of the water in my stomach made me feel a little queasy, I’m not exactly sure why.

On a positive note, I felt that my body was much cleaner today. I was actually a little sick today, but the water really helped me clean out my system and made me feel much better. I still got a headache today, but I think that was because I was feeling a little sick and I didn’t get enough sleep last night, but oh well.

I’m going to sleep early tonight to catch up on my sleep, so I’ll talk to you all in a day or two with update #2.

Everyone has heard that doctors recommended you should be drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water a day, but I have been doing this for many years and have felt dehydrated at times and gotten headaches throughout the day as well.

I have made a decision to drink more water of course, but how much more should I drink? I have heard of body builders drinking up to a gallon to a gallon and a half a day. I have also heard of a woman drinking a gallon of water in a water drinking contest and dyeing because she drowned!

I have decided to drink a gallon of water a day though. I am choosing to drink this much because I want to do an experiment: Can you drink too much water? And what are the health benefits of drinking above the recommended amount of water? I have also talked to a doctor friend of mine that has said that drinking too much water is never a bad thing, but he wouldn’t recommend it and I would like to put his statement to the test.

I will be posting updated every once in a while for a week, starting tomorrow, to let you know how my new water diet is going and at the end of the week I will post a concluding post of what I thought the water diet was like and what are negative and positive benefits.

For those of you who have a hard time drinking all of your water throughout the day, here are some ways I intend on getting my gallon of water every day:

• Always keep a water bottle with you
• Fill up all of your water bottles that you want to drink in the morning (less effort throughout the day)
• Keep backup water bottles in your car, locker, room, fridge, backpack…
• Set a goal to drink a certain amount of water in the morning, afternoon, and night.

So what do you think of my new water diet? Let me know below in the comments section. I look forward to posting an update soon and will talk to you all shortly.