Your hair is made of keratin (KER-uh-tin), the same protein that makes up your nails and the outer layer of your skin. The part you see and style is called the hair shaft. It’s actually dead tissue made by your hair follicles tiny bulb-like structures beneath your scalp’s surface.

We have all heard of someone who has thinning hair problem, but do we really know how extensive this thinning hair problem is? Let us take a look at the figures here..

1. 70 million Americans Have Fine or Thin-looking Hair And it’s Growing
2. 4 million more women and 4.7 million more men will have noticeably thin-looking hair by 2005
3. By age 65, 48% of all women report they have thinning hair and 75% of all men report they have noticeably thin-looking hair.
4. Research has shown that the problem of thin-looking hair can begin as early as age 17.
5. The problem will grow more extreme as our population ages.

How does hair loss start?

Hair loss is a normal symptom. 50 to 60 hairs are shed each day from a normal scalp. Losing more than 60 hairs a day is called excessive hair loss and leads to generalized thinning of the hair. Hair becomes fine in texture. Loss of hair in men is often determined by heredity or by the Allopetia Androgenetic hormone. Hair loss in women is often caused by pregnancy, stress, fatigue or medical treatment.

Can Thyroid Disease Cause Hair Loss?

An overactive or underactive thyroid can cause hair loss. One may get her thyroid numbers in order after beginning a regimen of thyroid medication. However, there have been reported cases of women experiencing hair loss FROM the thyroid medication.

Hot Tips!

Coloring: If you inherited a tendency for hair loss, you likely have very healthy hair overall. Therefore, your hair can benefit from permanent or semi-permanent color to give body and volume to hair.

Volumizing Products: Many volume-building hair products contain paraffin, which is beeswax. That’s not good for hair, because it builds up and can make hair break.

However, volumizing products sold in salons do help. They won’t weigh hair down, and they won’t damage it. Mousse, for example, can be applied at the root area for support. Then, begin blow-drying the root area, applying tension with a brush to build volume. Use a light finishing spray to hold it.

48% Of Women Have Thinning Hair! is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

Does any of the following sound familiar?

You desperately want to lose weight, but youve tried so many different diets and failed over the years that youve grown discouraged.

Lets face it, most diets arent easy to maintain — theyre designed to get weight off not for your personal convenience. And once you go off the diet, the weight comes right back, along with a bit more. Thus, you end up worse off than before.

No matter what diet you try from the cabbage soup diet to the Master Cleanser to low-fat diets such as the Atkins Diet one of two things usually happens:

You lose some weight along with your sanity as life becomes an unbearable drudge of boring food and not enough of it.

You dont lose weight because you just cannot stick to that diet.

In either case, you feel bad discouraged maybe even like a failure. But, take heart, losing weight is possible. In fact, here are five simple yet sound tips that when followed could easily enable you to lose five pounds, or more, a week!

Tip #1 Cut the Carbs! Cutting down on your carbohydrate intake, particularly white carbs (that is, carbs from white bread, potatoes, etc.) and instead eating more high quality lean proteins (such as chicken and fish) is a great way to drop a few pounds quickly. But dont cut carbs completely! You should still eat fibrous carbs, such as berries, spinach and apples.

Tip #2 Stop Eating Processed Foods! Instead eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Often, people who are used to eating a lot of junk food will discover they can actually a higher quantity of delicious fruits, vegetables and whole grains without gaining any weight.

Tip #3 Cut Down on Your Sugar Intake! In particular, watch how many sodas or juice drinks you consume. The sugar in these beverages can add up quickly and these drinks aren’t filling. You should also watch out for “fat-free” products. Sugar is often used to replace the flavor that is lost when the fat is removed. You will also want to be careful about how much sugar you add to coffee and tea.

Tip #4 Drink More Water! Water naturally helps to suppress your appetite and drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day will help you lose weight and burn fat. On the other hand, if you don’t drink enough water every day, your body may store water and fat that you don’t need. To determine how much water you should drink: multiply your bodyweight by .66 to get the required number of ounces per day.

Tip #5 Exercise More Often! The healthiest way to lose weight is to exercise. Someone who increases the amount they exercise, but maintains the same diet and calorie intake, will almost certainly lose weight. Plus, excessive sweating from cardio activity, such as running, walking and using aerobic gym equipment, will help you de-bloat and lose inches and pounds quickly.

But a word of caution, if you havent exercised in a while be sure to check with your physician first and also be sure to start any exercise program slowly.

5 Tips for Losing Five Pounds a Week! is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

There are two types of vitamins according to whether they are soluble in water or fat. Vitamin A (Retinol) is a fat soluble vitamin and this is not excreted from the body in the urine so excessive intake can have a negative effect on health. Vitamin A is present in animal origin foods eg. liver, milk and egg yolk. It is formed in the body from the pigment Beta-carotene which is present in certain vegetables eg. carrots, cabbage and lettuce.

Vitamin A has a number of roles in the body. It is necessary for normal cell division and growth. It is important for maintenance of mucous membranes of the repiratory, digestive and urinary tracts. Retinol is a pale yellow solid which dissolves easily in oil and fat and it is essential for good eye sight, particularly vision in dim light as well as having an important role in normal development of the embryo. It can be produced synthetically and therefore used to enrich margarines.

The best source of retinal is liver and a small amount 3g meets the bodys daily requirements. 700mcg per day is a sufficient amount per adult which can also be derived from the beta carotene foods eg. 2oz raw carrots.

Deficiency of Vitamin A causes stunted growth, night blindness and drying up of mucous membranes which increases the risk of infection. A continued lack of Vitamin A can lead to worsening of vision an

Why not check out our reccomended nutrition guide at http://www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com/nut-ebook.html

All about vitamin A is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

1. Start the day with a breakfast smoothie. All you have to do is throw some fruits, low-fat yogurt and ice in a blender. You may also want to add a scoop of protein powder in there for good measure. Just blend for a few seconds and you have the perfect breakfast ready to go. I like to sip mine in a thermal cup on the way to work. To make it even more appealing for your kids, use some frozen yogurt or a scoop of ice cream in the smoothie. They wont believe that you are letting them have ice cream for breakfast.

2. Dried fruit makes an excellent snack any time of the day. Add some small cartons of raisins to your childs lunch box, pack some yogurt-covered raisins in your husbands briefcase and keep some trail mix sitting around for snacking. You can also add dried fruit to oatmeal and cereal in the morning. My family loves banana chips in their breakfast cereal.

3. Add some fruits and vegetables to your familys sandwiches. You can add some banana, sliced apples or strawberry slices to a peanut butter sandwich. Top a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and anything else they will eat. You can even make a sub shop style vegetable sandwich by combining several different vegetables with some mayonnaise and cheese on bread.

4. Have a salad bar at dinner. Set out a variety of chopped vegetables, some cheese and croutons as well as several choices of salad dressing along with the lettuce and let everybody create their own perfect salad.

5. Let them drink their fruits and vegetables. Keep an assortment of fruit and vegetable juices in the fridge and encourage everyone to drink them as a snack. Get creative. You could start family cocktail hour by pouring everybody a glass of his or her favorite juice over ice. Add some straws, cocktail umbrellas and sit together to talk about how everybodys day went.

6. Try this for dessert. Put a small scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt in a bowl and top it with lots of fresh or frozen fruit.

7. Offer fruits and vegetables as snacks. You can cut apples into slices and top them with peanut butter or cheese. Cube cheese and serve with grapes. Cut up some fresh veggies and serve them with ranch dip. And of course theres ants on a log. Spread some cream cheese or peanut butter on the inside of a stick of celery and sprinkle raisins on it (wow, fruit and vegetable in one snack).

8. Try some new fruits and vegetables. Pick something exotic to get your familys curiosity. With a little luck their curiosity will outweigh their initial apprehension to trying something new. You could try artichokes, plantains, papaya, mango, star fruit, or anything else you can find in the produce department of your local store.

9. Make a pot of vegetable soup or a stew thats heavy on veggies and easy on the meat. Both of these make some great comfort food when the weather gets cold.

10. Start My Veggie Day. Each family member gets to pick a vegetable one day of the week. They qualify to pick a vegetable as long as they tried each vegetable the week before, otherwise they loose a turn and Mom gets to pick.

Incorporate a few of these ideas and you will have everyone in your family eating more fruits and vegetables in no time.

Here is another tip:

Now that everyone in the family has gotten a taste for it, make sure you always have plenty of fresh fruits and veggies available and ready to snack on.

10 Ways To Sneak Some Extra Fruits And Vegetables In Your Familys Diet is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

Researchers have found that there is a growing tendency among youth to abuse anabolic steroids. In sport and exercise the phenomenon is known to be happening for quite awhile. But there are cases where apparently well-built persons too use the drug, believing that without it they will look small and insignificant. In medical parlance, it is called muscle dysmorphia, which surprisingly is prevalent in both men and female, though to a lesser degree in latter’s case.

Even as anabolic steroids are known to cause less to grievous harm to health over short to long term of usage, what is equally true is that there are many myths surrounding its supposed ill-effect. One such is that anabolic steroids cause shrinking in penis and testicles. While that is true in short term, over long term the size returns to normalcy soon after exogenous androgen administration is halted. This is one reason why boys at tender age are never suggested to use the drug, for in their case the effect can be quite damaging.

Be that as it may, the fact that the drug can boost muscle size and ability to perform well in exerting games would mean that the use of anabolic steroids in sports and exercise is not going to go away forever. To that extent, the role of agencies to control the abuse of the substances is important.

And indeed that is the reason why the US Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 has been enacted to ban selling and using anabolic steroid and pro-hormone without relevant medical prescription. To what extent the new act is able to check the abuse of anabolic steroids in sport and exercise, while not unnecessarily preventing genuine medical reasons, remains to be seen.

This Article is Originally Published here: Anabolic Steroids in Sport & Exercise

Anabolic Steroids in Sport & Exercise is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

While the majority of men over age 60 experience these symptoms, most are not aware of what causes them. Symptoms such as these may be signs of an enlarged prostate, one of the most common urological disorders affecting men over the age of 60. In fact, 60 percent of men over the age of 60 and up to 80 percent of men over the age of 80 have an enlarged prostate.

An enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is not life threatening. It is not a form of prostate cancer, nor does it lead to prostate cancer. However, as many men know, it can cause significant discomfort, inconvenience and awkwardness. BPH symptoms differ depending on the severity of the condition. The most common symptoms include:

Waking at night to urinate

Frequent need to urinate (sometimes every two hours or less)

Pain or burning during urination

Repeated, sudden or uncontrollable urge to urinate

Pushing or straining to begin urination

Feeling like the bladder does not empty during urination

Dribbling after urination

As a man ages, the chance of developing BPH increases. This is because of growth patterns associated with the prostate. After a male reaches the age of 40, a second round of prostate growth often occurs as a natural part of the aging process.

The prostate is a gland located just below the bladder whose main function is to produce fluid for semen. As it expands, it can squeeze and place pressure on the urethra, like a clamp on a garden hose, thus constricting urinary flow. As pressure builds and the “clamp” tightens, the result can be some of the commonly perceived BPH symptoms.

Although there is no known cure for BPH, there are medications and procedures available to reduce the symptoms. These range from prescription oral medications and surgical procedures to minimally invasive, office-based procedures that can provide rapid symptom relief.

Are Frequent Trips To The Bathroom Interrupting Your Sleep? An Enlarged Prostate Could Be To Blame is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

Whatever it is scientist are in the process of proving that internal change is the only thing that can give you health and happiness. Everything else is an illusion.

What does this mean?

Your brain is the only thing that can keep you healthy and happy.

Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin and Jon Kabat-Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre have just completed some interesting research that can actually be of benefit to you and me and the way we run our lives.

They took a group of 41 stressed, but otherwise healthy, individuals working in a biotechnology firm in Wisconsin. 25 were taught meditation. In this case: mindfulness meditation. The group met for a 2.5 to 3 hour meditation class each week. After six weeks they all attended a seven hour meditation retreat. In addition each member was asked to meditate, at home, for one hour a day using a guided meditation tape.

The other 16 were held as a control group and did not receive meditation training until the study was completed.

At the end of the eight week programme, in November, they also gave all the participants a flu jab. And guess what. The members of the meditation group had a significant increase in antibody titers in other words they have less chance of catching flu.

The bottom line appears to be. If you want to have good health and overcome the day by day blues and maintain happiness learn to meditate. When you meditate you change the way your brain operates.

In addition, they found, the more you practice meditation the better your daily performance.

”What we found is that the long time practitioners showed brain activation
on a scale we have never seen before. ‘Their mental practice is having
an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance.” It demonstrates, that the brain is capable of being
trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine.
(Richard Davidson)

So give yourself the space each day to train your brain. It works.

Good Luck

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com

How to Train your Brain to keep you healthy and happy is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

Toenails can become thick due to: genetics, fungus infections, some systemic diseases, poor circulation, natural aging process, or injury. The toenail fungus creeps underneath the nails and causes ugly discoloration and crumbling. It’s the same fungus that causes athlete’s foot, jock itch and toenail fungus, but it generally affects the scalp, body, feet, or nails. One of these complications is when the fungus toenail is allowed to become abnormally thick. If your toenail fungus is so bad that your nails are 1/4″ thick and curling, you will need to have them surgically removed.

Keeping toenails clean and trim is important because fungus can make a home under the toenail. While there’s no sure way to prevent growth of toenail fungus, be sure to keep your feet dry and clean. It also may be necessary to discontinue using toenail polish as it can trap moisture under the polish and encourage the growth of fungus. As the fungus grows, it will continue to spread until the entire toenail becomes thick and yellow with crumbling edges.

Fungus Home Treatments
Infection with nail fungus occurs more often in toenails than in fingernails because toenails are often confined inside dark moist socks and shoes. It is best to treat toenail fungus or nail fungus from the inside out. Garlic powder can also be used to combat toenail fungus. Tea tree oil has recently received much attention for its ability to combat toenail fungus. Sporanox is the first advance in the treatment of toenail fungus. More often than not, a month of daily effort is needed to rid yourself of the toenail fungus.

But like most topical agents, the toenail fungus ointment alone has never proven effective against persistent nail fungus. The best form of treatment is prevention and preventing the fungus from spreading to other toenails may be the best treatment option. A medical professional can prescribe powerful drugs for treating toenail fungus the most common of which is: LamisilTM (terbinafine hydrochloride tablets).

6 To 9 Million Americans Has Toenail Fungus! is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

But is this perception really justified nowadays? Are there no genuine treatments that sufferers can turn to in a bid to treat the ravages of premature hair loss? The simple answer is YES, there are several safe, affordable, accessible and effective hair loss treatments currently available. Some have even been approved by FDA for the treatment of hair loss conditions while others draw on natural remedies as the basis for commercially available products. Whether or not any of them are suitable for a given individual depends on a number of important factors.

First and foremost, every individual must determine the exact cause or causes of his or her hair loss. This may appear to be an over-simplistic statement but the truth is, most people undergoing a course of treatment for hair loss have proceeded on the basis of self-diagnosis. Given the fact that premature or excessive hair loss is often associated with underlying medical conditions, this is perhaps not the most sensible course of action.

My advice in all cases is to seek the guidance of a qualified medical practitioner because the consequences of not doing so may be serious in a small number of cases. Even where all the evidence points to the onset of hereditary male pattern baldness it would probably be best to seek advice, if only to rule out other factors.

Once the cause of hair loss has been properly diagnosed you will be in a position to choose a suitable form of treatment. This may range from the prescription of drugs aimed at balancing disrupted hormone levels to the topical application of minoxidil to reduce the symptoms of male pattern baldness.

Hair loss may be caused by many factors including changing hormone levels, illness, stress, overuse of strong chemicals, excessive traction, poor grooming practices, side effects of medical treatment, poor nutrition, weak immune system and the effects of aging. The good news is, all of these can be tackled with reasonable hope of success but only if you choose the right treatment.

The next article in this series will look closely at the various causes of excessive hair loss and outline suggested treatments that are both affordable and accessible. If you take only two things from this article, please take these suggestions on board:

1. Always seek the advice of your physician before undergoing a hair loss treatment regime.

2. Don’t despair, there’s often a simple explanation for excessive hair loss and even hereditary loss or male pattern-type baldness can be treated successfully for most people nowadays.

Are hair loss treatments just one big scam? is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com

Price:

Prior to purchasing an elliptical trainer you should have an ideal amount of money you are looking to spend. By having a predetermined budget you’re unlikely to spend more than what you can afford to and get the best elliptical trainer for your home. This will also help as many online retailers allow you to select items by price range. You have to understand oftentimes you get what you pay for, so you should be careful as to not buy too cheap of a machine.

Quality:

A quality of your elliptical machine is also vitally important. You need to make sure that you take this into account prior to purchasing your elliptical machine. Too many newer users do not research properly purchase a low-end elliptical machine only to find it breaks after a short period of time(usually just after the warranty period). Then, they must go out and purchase a more expensive, higher quality machine costing them more than if they bought a higher quality one to begin with since they had to make two purchases.

Size Of Machine:

Most elliptical trainers are all similar in size, this sometimes poses a challenge for people looking to use an elliptical trainer, but are limited in the space they have to dedicated to it. Before you purchase a machine online visit a physical local store and measure the machine you’re thinking about buying to make sure fits into your space. Many online stores will have measurements of each machine but they’re not always accurate.

In conclusion if you follow these few simple principles should successfully buy the best elliptical machine to use in your home.

Best Home Elliptical Machine – Simple Steps Before You Buy is a post from: Disease, Treatment, Pregnancy, Fitness, Weight Loss | Health Care and Medical Information for Healthy Living - informa-usa.com