If you are one of those rare people that are intensely stubborn and strong-willed, then perhaps quitting “cold turkey” is right for you. Nothing could be more natural than just stopping the habit! But the term “cold turkey” comes from the comparison of the looks of a cold, raw turkey to the sweating, goosebumps, and hollowed-out feeling you get when your body is suddenly deprived of the thing it’s addicted to. Most of us haven’t got the self-control to go through that. Instead, there are several natural methods you can try to help the brain cope with the loss of the nicotine as well as increase your willpower.

You can step down gradually by eliminating cigarettes every day until you’re down to none. Sounds easy, but again it takes great self-control. It’s recommended that you make a schedule and stick to it. Choose a day to start perhaps your birthday or the Great American Smokeout. Eliminate one cigarette from that day. Keep eliminating them over time, and you’ll be free.

Herbal remedies and supplements can help you curb those cravings. St. John’s wort is a natural herb that increases levels of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is an antidepressant that can make you feel really good and will help the brain lose its need for nicotine. There are a very great many products and supplements out there that contain St. John’s wort. Be sure to research them thoroughly before you choose, and remember that the effectiveness of herbal remedies is not scientifically proven.

Hypnotherapy is also an all-natural choice. Hypnotists use the power of suggestion through relaxation to influence people’s desire. Subjects are acutely focused on the hypnotist, but are not aware of anything else around them. They have a sense of heightened suggestibility, which means they’re more open to being influenced by what the hypno-therapist tells them. So if the therapist wants them to have less of a desire to smoke, they’re more likely to acquiesce.

Finally, there is acupuncture or laser_therapy. Acupuncture is the practice of inserting sterile, hair-thin needles in to pressure points situated along the body’s meridians. The body’s vital energy, or “qi” as the ancient Chinese term it, flows along these meridians and is influenced by the pressure points. By stimulating these points, the acupuncturist can ease pain, promote a feeling of general well-being, and curb addiction. Laser therapy uses those same pressure points in your hands, wrists, ears, and face. However, it does not penetrate the skin and there is no pain. Instead, the “cold laser” is actually non-thermal photons of light emitted in certain wavelengths and intensities. The cells in your body turn that light energy into chemical energy and stimulate growth. When this stimulation happens at certain pressure points, the same effect as acupuncture is achieved.

Eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise are also key to quitting smoking. The extra oxygen from vigorous exercise can help increase lung capacity and fuel the brain, helping it to heal and lose its need for nicotine.

However you decide to quit is up to you. Seek help and support from family and friends, and visit your doctor. Educate yourself so that you can make the healthiest decision that’s right for you. Remember that what works well for some people may not work well for others. The important thing is that if you’re really ready to quit, don’t stop trying until you do.

Learn more about this author, Doreen Martel.

I live in a small village on the Costa Blanca, with a fairly large expat population. I assumed the class would be full of expats, as I couldn’t imagine the locals going in for something as sensual as belly dancing. How wrong can you be? There’s another English girl, and the rest of the class are Spanish, ranging in age from about 20 years old to around 60. At 57, I’m the second eldest in the class.

It seems the English ladies were put off because the instructor is Spanish, but they don’t know what they’re missing. The classes are held in a studio with mirrors along one wall, so you can follow what everyone is doing. It’s also a fun way to learn the names of various body parts in Spanish!

Each session begins with stretching exercises to relaxing music. This not only prepares your body for the dancing, it puts you in the right frame of mind. Belly dancing is both sensual and spiritual, and even the fast moves should be fluid, so you need to rid yourself of any stress before you start. After a quick run through the steps, it’s into the dance.

The correct posture is vital – tail tucked in, and stand straight and tall, to avoid back problems. Surprisingly, the familiar movements we associate with belly dancing do not involve the belly and hips – the legs and thighs do most of the work. After little more than a month, my once flabby thighs are toned and firm, so I am already seeing the benefits of belly dancing.

Belly dancing is great fun as well as great exercise. The music just carries you along, although some of the moves take a bit of practice before you get them right. My particular nemesis is the ‘figure of eight,’ which involves describing the number 8 with your hips, powered of course by the thighs. It sounds simple enough, but there’s a right way to do it, which annoyingly seems to elude me.

When I show off my new moves to my husband, my figure of eight is perfect. Put me in front of the mirror – which in theory should make the move simpler to execute – and I’m all over the place! Still, it’s early days yet. However, I’m ahead of the rest when it comes to another move – ‘the twist.’ As a child of the 1960′s, I was an enthusiastic performer of the dance of the same name, and won a couple of Twist competitions. The belly dancing move is very similar, but those who are not former Twist Champions – which is everyone else in the class – just can’t get it right.

After an hour and a half of dancing, it’s time for relaxation and stretching exercises, and as we’ve all put so much energy into the class, it’s all we can do not to nod off on our exercise mats! We have an incentive to improve our belly dancing skills, as the class is due to perform a dance at the village fiesta in July, and we all enjoy ourselves so much, we look forward to Monday afternoons and the class.

Belly dancing is great for firming, stretching and toning. After a few weeks, I am much more supple and energetic. Belly dancing is also low impact exercise, so if, like me, you suffer from joint problems, it’s more suitable for you than aerobics or jogging. Although belly dancing is fun, it is also excellent exercise, and you’re much more likely to stick to an exercise programme if you enjoy it. Why not try belly dancing soon, and release your inner, sensual self?

author, Sandra Piddock.

Muscles are composed of multiple muscle cells or fibers, the number of fibers being dependent on location and purpose of the muscle. While the number of muscle fibers in a particular muscle varies little between people, within each fiber may be a highly variable number of myofibrils parallel to each other. The more work the muscle cell is put to, the more myofibrils it will construct, as it is within these myofibrils that the contraction and release resulting in muscle function occurs.

Within the muscle – in the connective tissue between muscle fibers, particularly concentrated near small blood vessels, and at the musculotendinous junctions, where muscle connects to tendon are found the free nerve endings of two types of afferent or sensory neurons (nerve cells that carry signals to the spine and brain). The myelinated group III A-delta nerve fibers have faster signal transmission times and therefore signal sharp, localized pain. The unmyelinated group IV C-fibers are slower, they transmit a duller, more generalized ache.

Rubbing and massage are often used in attempts to alleviate or reduce pain. These are perfectly valid practises based on sound physiological principles. The mechano-receptor nerve endings in your skin, those that supply your sense of touch, partially suppress the firing of the above afferent neurons when stimulated, causing the transmission of pain signals to be reduced.

AOMS begins during muscle activity and can last up to four to six hours afterwards. It is primarily due to the build up of metabolic byproducts from energy production within the muscle cell. Energy production requires oxygen to achieve maximum efficiency; when insufficient oxygen is reaching the cell it produces less energy, because it can only perform the initial catabolic step called glycolysis, which is anaerobic (doesn’t require oxygen). The end product of glycolysis is either lactic or pyruvic acid, and these can cause chemical damage within the cell if concentractions get too severe. This is what is being referred to when people speak of “oxygen debt”. During exercise these acids may build-up, as you breath deeply afterwards, the oxygen arriving at the cells is used to complete the catabolism of the acids; producing more energy, metabolic water and carbon dioxide from the harmful acids through repetitions of the Krebs Cycle. The C-fiber nerve cells are polymodal, responding to a variety of chemical, mechanical and thermal triggers. They let you know your muscles are hurting until that oxygen debt has been repaid.

DOMS usually occurs between 12 to 48 hours after exercise that is of an abnormal nature in some regard, with recovery taking from seven to ten days. That “abnormal” is to the specific indiviual’s involved muscle groups; such as being exerted beyond normal usage or for an extensive period of time. Children very rarely suffer from DOMS. The first detailed description of DOMS was given by Theodore Hough in 1902, in which he attributed it to “structural damage due to high tension”, basically overexertion and strain, and this is still the most accepted hypothesis for it. Another possibility is structural damage caused by an increased localized temperature. Rhabdomyolysis, which is the extreme form of DOMS, most commonly occurs in untrained and inexperienced people exercising in the heat. Myofibrillar remodelling may also be a cause of DOMS; the muscle cell is stimulated by the abnormal activity to make modifications to its myofibrils and/or cytoskeleton (cell framework); four main types of changes have been noted. DOMS may occur from any of these individually or in any combination; it is possible such damages could be compounded by the presense of metabolic byproducts as discussed above under AOMS.

While no evidence exists that repeated instances of DOMS may result in long-term muscle damage or reduced function, there is none proving it does not either. Such studies are themselves long-term. As such, exercise programs aimed at muscle development should be approached in a manner that minimizes the instances of DOMS. There was no evidence that asbestos was harmful to people at the time it was being praised as a fire retardant material ideal for installing in homes, schools, hospitals, etc. There was, quite naturally, no evidence it was not either. Couldn’t be, since we now know it is a very harmful and dangerous form of carcinogenic.

Muscle cramps can occur when the muscle group is being exercised, either normally or strenuously, or while it is relaxed. While known to be triggered by hyperexitability of the lower moter neuron (nerve cells that carry signals from the spine and brain), the exact cause is still unclear, but is believed to be associated with low fluid, electrolyte and magnesium levels. The result of the hyperexitability is severe, involuntary, electrically active contractions of the muscle, using a higher percentage of the myofibrils in the muscle per contraction than during normal muscle use. Cramps typically last from a few seconds up to several minutes. They will normally cause AOMS, the longer the period of cramping the more severe the soreness. Continued use of the muscle group after a cramp will almost certainly cause DOMS as well. DOMS can be averted if the muscle is allowed to rest, unused, for two to five hours after the cramp, depending on severity.

Muscle trauma relates to physical damage to the muscle tissue, this may be internal injury such as muscle tearing due to excessive strain, or externally caused from a blow or puncture wound. Pain signals will continue until the damage is healed, essentially the same as for DOMS. Muscle damage can also be caused by deficiencies in required enzymes, for example phosphorylase or phosphofructokinase. These enzymes are built by the cells, if they are in short supply it may be genetically related, but is more often due to an inadequate diet.

author, Perry McCarney.

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The trial results, reported in the March 10, 2010 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, show that children given vitamin D(3) supplement were 42 percent less likely to get infected with seasonal flu than those who were given a placebo.

The efficacy is remarkable as it may be comparable to that of flu vaccine, which is generally low because the virus used to construct the vaccine is likely different from the circulating one.

Deficiency of Vitamin D, which is synthesized after human skin is exposed to sunlight or UV rays, has been associated with increased risk of seasonal flu and swine flu as well. However, most of such studies were epidemiological or observational.

In the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, Dr. Mitsuyoshi Urashima and colleagues at Division of Molecular Epidemiology Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku in Tokyo Japan gave one group of schoolchildren 1,200 international units per day of vitamin D(3) and another group a placebo to see how vitamin D would prevent seasonal flu.

The primary outcome of the trial was the incidence of influenza A and diagnosis was established by testing a flu antigen in a nasopharyngeal swab specimen.

During the trial between Dec 2008 and March 2009, 18 of 167 (10.8%) children given vitamin D tested positive for flu infection compared to 31 of 167 (18.6) children in the placebo group. The relative risk is 0.58, meaning those taking vitamin D were at 42 percent reduced risk of seasonal flu.

The anti-flu effect was found much more significant among children who had not been taking other vitamin D supplements and who started nursery school after age 3. The reduction in the risk was 64 percent for both groups.

In a subgroup of children who were previously diagnosed with asthma, 2 children taking vitamin D supplements experienced asthma attacks while 12 children receiving placebo suffered asthma attacks – meaning that vitamin D cut the risk by 83 percent.

The researchers concluded that the results suggest that vitamin D3 supplementation during the winter time may reduce the incidence of influenza A.

Dr. John Cannell, one of most knowledgeable vitamin D experts in the world and director of Vitamin D Council, a non-profit organization, and colleagues earlier published a heavy-weight review article in a scientific journal called Virology explaining that vitamin D is needed for the production of antibacterial peptides which help prevent flu.

In winter, people tend to stay indoors. Those who lack exposure to sunshine are prone to becoming vitamin D deficient. This is why people in winter are at higher risk of influenza including seasonal flu.

Dr. Cannell suggests adults can take 5,000 IU per day and try to maintain a blood level of 50 to 80 ng/mL (or 125 to 200 nm/L) year-round. One early study suggests that it is safe for schoolchildren to take 2,000 IU per day for a year without any noticeable side effects.

Vitamin D is found only in a few foods including eggs and fatty fish like salmon. Because of this, the vitamin D is fortified in some foods like milk, orange juice and cereals. But vitamin D levels in such foods are fairly low and you may have to drink literally 20 glasses of milk to get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D supplements are a good source of the nutrient even though sunshine is the best.

Dr. Cannell cautions that high intake of vitamin A can reduce the efficacy of vitamin D. Cod liver oil, high in vitamin A while relatively low in vitamin D, is not as good as it used to be as a vitamin D source.

A health observer suggests that regardless of your vaccination status, an adequate level of serum vitamin D should be maintained to prevent flu and many other serious diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

One of the reasons why cancer becomes such a frightening word to patients is because they already imagine the painful and tiring treatment they will have to go through. The painful surgeries and complicated treatments with side effects can let the patient’s mental down at once. Then other issues such as financial support and employment may add to the patient’s stress.

The one ultimate way to cope with those fears is by getting enough information about the disease and the treatments that will be going through. Knowing the details and what is really going on can give the sense that the patient’s the one who is taking the control, therefore give the patient the sense of safety. Talking to the doctor in charge also will be very helpful as the preparation to undergo the process of healing treatment. Discuss with the doctor things that can make the patient feel more comfortable. When the patient feel relax and comfortable with the treatment she receives, s/he can face the treatment with much less anxiety and fear and therefore can focus his/her energy on defeating the disease.