Health service research

Health effects of smoking are usually targeted at the lung area and throat area where much of the action takes place. Smoking is one of the habits which can actually be deadly over time, with a slow burning quality that can cause irreversible and harmful effects to the body. While there are more and more people who are enamored with the habit of smoking, the adverse health effects of smoking are actually able to catch up to its smokers in the long run.

Among young people, the health effects of smoking are less subtle but more pronounced over time. When young people smoke early, the growth of their lungs and other vital organs in the body are inhibited, causing it to function less than its intended optimum use for the growing body. Adolescents are prone to bearing the full brunt of the health effects of smoking in the sense that their bodies are exposed too early with the mixture of about 4,000 chemicals which make up a single cigarette. Another thing to consider is that they are more able to perpetuate the smoking habit until they grow into adulthood, making the habit more deeply ingrained and its adverse health effects more pronounced.

Another part of the body which is attacked by the ill health effects of smoking is the heart. When one starts smoking, the heart is compelled to do more work than it is used to. In itself, the heart is already one of the more overworked parts of the body. With the inclusion of the habit of smoking, the heart will have to strive harder in producing the normal oxygen levels the person requires. The heart rate of a smoker is much faster than a non smoker by two beats each minute.

The diminishing amount of oxygen in the body is most probably the root cause of the adverse health effects of smoking. Aside from making the heart overworked, this lack of normal oxygen intake also causes the blood vessels to constrict and makes blood flow more taxing for the circulatory system. Furthermore, the tar buildup in the lungs and in the throat can cause cancer and makes breathing more difficult even in moments where you are not smoking. When untreated, cancer can lead to an agonizing death.

Aside from these unnecessary stresses to the body, the shortening of one’s life span can be considered as one of the most harmful health effects of smoking to a person. A smoker lives about a decade less than a non-smoker. Even passive smokers (those who do not smoke but are exposed to cigarette smoke consistently) are prone to experience this major health effect to their bodies if they are not careful.

Aside from having these severe health effects of smoking, the habit itself also encourages one to incorporate other equally destructive habits. Smoking is usually coupled with other addictions such as drinking, unprotected sex, and drugs– which also has other negative effects to the body.

By: Dr. Mark Clayson

As discussed in part one, your USP is your Unique Selling Proposition. This is what sets your service apart from everyone else in your community. Your USP is part of the message that you convey to your prospects. Your message, the media that you use to convey that message, the market you are sending the message to must match. If they don’t match, the result can be an expensive lesson with poor results.

To maximize direct mail response there are certain elements that must exist on the direct mail piece to capture the best return on investment. A formula I like to use looks like this:

I(F)+E+E+O= $$$

I= Interrupt

(F)= w/frequency

E = Engage

E= Educate

O= Offer

$$$= more clients!

Any marketing piece that you create needs to use this formula for maximum results. Your headline needs to INTERRUPT the readers thought process, and your piece needs to be seen with FREQUENCY. Your copy must immediately ENGAGE the reader and capture their attention. Your copy must EDUCATE your prospect. Finally, you always need to include a FREE OFFER. After all, without an offer, most readers have little or no incentive to pick up the phone and call you.

Every postcard, newspaper ad, yellow pages ad, and Google AdWords ad needs to include these elements. For custom ads and assistance, I recommend subscribing to The Ultimate Senior Service Gold+ Newsletter. This newsletter offers senior service providers an inside look at the right way to market their business, and attract the type of clients they really want.

By: Valerie VanBooven

Tea: It Does the Body Good

Studies that support the health benefits of tea drinking keep filling the headlines. There’s simply no denying that a daily spot of tea does the body good.

Even though researchers can’t quite agree on every aspect, I’m sold on the fact that a few cups a day will do its best to protect me from heart disease, a stroke, cancer, and more.

What Makes Tea Good for the Body?

Tea contains high levels of antioxidants, some of which are called polyphenols, flavonoids, and catechins, and all of which take on the “free radicals” in the body and prevent them from harming the healthy cells on board.

In other words, sending in antioxidants is disease prevention in its finest form. Antioxidants are ready and waiting not only in teas but also in several fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, and even wines (see my health benefits of wine article).

If that were not enough, tea also contains flouride which benefits your teeth and has bacteria killing properties which helps control bad breath and the formation of plaque.

Are All Teas Equally Good for the Body?

This is a question researchers are still squabbling over. Does green tea have more antioxidants than black tea? Should I drink instant tea or loose leaf tea for better health benefits? Is hot tea better than iced tea? And here’s what it comes down to:

Higher quality teas may have more catechin antioxidants than lower quality teas. White tea has more antioxidants than any other tea. Green tea has more catechin antioxidants than black tea since black tea goes through more processing. Unfermented rooibos tea has more polyphenol antioxidants than fermented rooibos. Freshly brewed teas have more polyphenol antioxidants than instant or bottled teas. More researchers seem to agree that brewed (cold or hot) or caffeinated tea has more antioxidants than instant teas.

Here’s a short preview of the hundreds of recent studies that boast the health benefits of tea and its antioxidants:

Heart Benefits:

Study finds tea drinkers have lower blood pressure (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2004). Tea may lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease (Journal of Nutrition, 2003). Black tea may lower “bad” cholesterol (United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, 2003). Tea consumption may help heart disease patients (Circulation: The Journal of the American Heart Association, 2001).

Cancer Prevention:

Green tea could help stem esophageal cancer. (Harvard Medical School, 2004). Green and black tea can slow down the spread of prostate cancer (Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, 2004). Tea may protect against cancer caused by smoking. (Journal of Nutrition, 2003). Green tea and white tea fight colon cancer (Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University study, Carcinogenesis, 2003). Hot tea may lower risk of some skin cancers (University of Arizona study, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention (Vol. 9, No. 7), 2001). Green tea consumption may lower stomach cancer risk (University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health study, International Journal of Cancer (Vol. 92: 600-604), 2001).

Hypertension-Reducing Benefits:

Green and oolong teas reduce risk of hypertension (National Cheng Kung University study, Archives of Internal Medicine, 2004).

Immunity-Boosting Benefits

Tea believed to boost the body’s defenses (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003)

Leukemia-Fighting Benefits:

A green tea component helps kill leukemia cells (Mayo Clinic, 2004).

Alzheimer’s-Fighting Benefits:

Drinking tea might delay Alzheimer’s Disease (Newcastle University’s Medicinal Plant Research Centre study, Phytotherapy Research, 2004).

AIDS-Fighting Benefits:

Tea may play a role as an AIDS fighter (University of Tokyo, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2003).



In Conclusion:

So how do you get started in doing your body some good with tea?

To get the most health benefits out of your teas, choose high-quality loose leaf teas from your local or online tea shop. Brew it up and enjoy. And of course, don’t throw out the idea of enjoying instant or bottled teas when you’re on the go. You just might have to drink a little more.

Don’t wait any longer. Sip, savor, and fight disease today. It’s never too late to enjoy the many health benefits of tea!

By: Jason Ditto

It is not always easy to care for our aging parents at home. Yes, we all want to be with our parents during their twilight years but there are times when circumstances would simply not permit us. When our elderly parents reached the point where they will need special medical attention, we need to step back and let a good medical aging service provider take the responsibility of caring for our elderly parents.

No, you are not being disloyal or anything to your parents if you let a medical aging service provider take care of their needs. You must understand that medical aging services providers know more about taking care of elderly people that you do. These service providers have trained personnel who can respond to your parent medical needs efficiently.

Moreover, these service providers have people who can concentrate solely on taking care of your parents while you attend to other things like going to work or taking care of your own family. Always remember that you have a life of your own and you need to move on even when your parents are already gone. Besides, if you are married and have kids of your own, you need to take care of your family as well. There is really no point of robbing the little ones with what precious time you can give them.

When Should You Hire a Medical Aging Service Provider?

If one or both of your parents is ill will some long-term degenerative ailment that makes it impossible for him or her to be alone for more than two hours at a time, it is time for you to consider hiring the services of a medical aging service provider. Note that unless you are a medical professional yourself and you have all the time in the world to be with your parents, you will have a hard time coping with the task of caring for your parents at this point.

However, just because you have hired the services of a medical aging service provider that does not mean that you will relinquish all the responsibilities of taking care of your parents to the medical aging service provider. Note that the medical aging service provider cannot replace the kind of love and care that you can give to your elderly parents so you need to be with them as much as possible. If you opt to put your parents in a medical aging facility, visit them regularly and let them know that you love them.

By: Lin Steven

Fermentation is a chemical change brought about by yeast, bacteria or mold. This process has been used for centuries by people in order to make and preserve certain types of food. Wine, cheese, beer, yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles and ketchup are all examples of food that are made through the process of fermentation.

Health benefits of fermentation

Over 200 species of bacteria live in our gut. These microbes help break down food in our intestines, aid in the digestion process, help fight off disease, and boost our immune system. A good balance of intestinal flora is very important to our overall health. If we eat nothing but overly processed and hard to digest foods, then the fermentation process that occurs within will kick into overdrive resulting gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation and might possibly lead to other diseases like cancer. Providing our bodies with predigested foods such as fermented good will help the existing microbes within to do the job they need to do.

Fermentation is not only a way to preserve certain foods, it some cases it actually adds to the nutrient value of it. Fermented vegetables contain more vitamin C (sailors would eat sauerkraut to prevent scurvy) and fermented milk products have ample amounts of B vitamins. The bioavailability of these vitamins also increases with fermentation. Probiotics, or “good bacteria” are also formed through the process of fermentation. This can be seen in the ever increasing popularity of lactobacilli that are found in name brand yogurts such as Activia and DanAlive.

How to make sauerkraut:

Sauerkraut is an extremely common fermented food that comes in many varieties and is very easy to make. It is an immune boosting, flu-fighting, cancer battling, and digestive aid that you can make in your kitchen without too much trouble. It tastes great on burgers, in soups, and is even great by itself. You can make it by using salt or whey.

Here is what you need:

• Ceramic bowl

• Wooden spoon

• A wide mouth 2 quart jar (or a 1 quart mason jar for half the recipe)

• A pint size mason jar, or another glass object that can fit into the first jar and weigh down the vegetables.

Ingredients:

• One head of cabbage: shredded

• 2 apples: peeled and sliced

• 2 carrots: grated

• Sea salt

Instructions:

As you shred the cabbage, add handfuls to the ceramic bowl and sprinkle salt over each layer to help draw out the moisture. Add the apples and carrots along with the cabbage into the jar and pack them down with the wooden spoon as you go. Make sure to release as much juices as possible. Now weigh down the veggies with your other jar, pressing down and pushing out as much air as possible and get the juices flowing. Now, put a cheesecloth or towel over it and let it sit until it is tart and crunchy. This makes take a few days to a few weeks depending on the weather. Just be sure to test it often. Once tart, stick it in the fridge and enjoy at your convenience.

By: Yulia Berry