An Easy Way to Improve Your Body’s Functions

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Hydration matters. According to NASA, the human body is about 70% water. In some parts of the world, alcohol or soda are more easily accessible than clean drinking water, but it’s important that every human being is consuming water daily. There is still debate on how much water the average human should be drinking because necessary water intake is dependent on a multitude of different variables including diet, weather, and activity level. The body loses liquid not just through urine, but through perspiration and respiration.

Dehydration starts to have an effect on both the body and the mind once as little as 1% of the body’s water is lost. Losing 2-3% reduces the body’s ability to regulate temperature and reduces energy levels and mood. It will also reduce brain and memory performance. This makes physical activity feel more difficult, and can also affect performance at work or school.

Staying hydrated is beneficial for the organs, too. Dehydration can lead to both constipation and kidney stones. Water ensures that organs are functioning properly and clearing out any unwanted materials and toxins.

Dehydration is also a key component in why most people feel miserable during a hangover. It is the number one contributor to the thirst, fatigue, headache, and dry mouth experienced the morning after intoxication. Alcohol is a diuretic and interrupts communication between the brain and the kidneys. It causes the kidneys to release more water from the body.

Finally, water intake can help regulate food intake. Foods with a higher water content tend to be or look larger. These foods require more chewing and are generally slower to digest. This allows the stomach to feel fuller longer. Drinking a glass of water before meals also helps the stomach feel fuller. This regulates hunger pangs and can help with proper food intake.

In conclusion, whether you are an athlete, watching what you eat, or trying to improve your performance at work, making sure you are hydrated is a quick way to ensure that you are helping your body perform at its best.

How to Treat A Horrible Hangover

Although Christmas and New Year’s Eve are behind us, this season is still full of parties and gatherings. The party invites can stack up, often leading to overindulgence in libations. The morning after can mean a headache and damage to all of your body including your skin. Excessive alcohol consumption can severely dehydrate the skin, making it tight, dry and puffy – a hefty price to pay for a night of fun.

Drinking dehydrates the body--so be sure to
hydrate throughout the night.
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Relieve your tight skin with a splash of water. While most of us rely on moisturizer to get rid of dry skin. But did you know that over moisturizing, especially if you are prone to acne, can lead to clogged pores? Instead, try filling the sink with cold water and ice cubes. Once they are melted, splash your face 25 times.

Load up on vitamins. Since alcoholic drinks can deplete vitamins from the skin and body, it is important to load up on topically and internally. Green veggies like kale, spinach, cilantro, mint and parsley contain high concentrations of antioxidants; consuming additional nutrients and electrolytes can also help heal a hung-over body.

Hydrate your body by drinking water. If you get tired of plain old water, munch on strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and watermelon instead. Your body will be able to absorb a lot of water from these fruits. You can also try a sports drink like Gatorade to gain back electrolytes you lost from dehydration the night before.

Practice hangover prevention. Limit your alcohol intake and choose your drinks wisely. Go for drinks with less sugar and you will likely drink slower and less. Try to drink a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage you have as well. This provides the dual benefit of slowing your alcohol intake while at the same time rehydrating.  You’ll thank yourself in the morning.

How to Prevent and Relieve Headaches – Naturally

I used to get migraines. A lot. They first started when I was just beginning high school (though I thought they were just headaches back then), and I’d suffer through them a few times each week, popping aspiring like candy to try and dull the pain. It wasn’t until my senior year, when I’dcompletely wrecked my stomach with aspirin, that I found out they were migraines.

I finally got special preventative medicine and “emergency” pills for when I felt a migraine coming on. In order for the preventatives to work, I was supposed to start out with one pill per day. If I got a headache, I was supposed to go up to two per day. If I still was getting migraines, I could go up to three per day. I liked the idea of not getting migraines all the time, but I was frustrated by the fact that, at age 17, I would have to take pills every day. The pills seemed to work fairly well, and I cut the frequency of my migraines down to one every week or two for the next few months.

I couldn’t afford to stay on the medication for more than a summer, though, and in the fall I started college—and the migraines came back. Since I didn’t have prescription medicine, I settled for Excedrin Migraine, which was a 50/50 toss up between working and making me nauseous in addition to the migraine.

These days, I’m lucky enough to have health insurance and can actually afford migraine medicine. I chose not to go the preventative pill route, though, instead opting for just the “emergency” medication. Not taking preventative medication is a personal choice, but one that can sometimes make life more difficult—if I’m not careful, I end up getting far more headaches than I probably would otherwise. But it’s worth it to me to not feel like I’m relying on medication to be well. This is something I can battle on my own.

Instead, I try to prevent and ease my migraines through a variety of natural methods. Some work better than others, but I figure everything is worth a try. Here are some of the things you can do to help prevent or treat migraines naturally:

1. Get enough rest.
2. Eat small, frequent meals.
3. Use a cold compress on your forehead.
4. Take a hot shower.
5. Get a massage.
6. Try acupressure.
7. Drink less alcohol.
8. Drink more water.
9. Maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise.
10. Minimize stress.
11. Moderate caffeine intake. A little is ok, but don’t overdo it.
12. Take breaks from the computer.
13. Don’t get too much sun.
14. Exercise regularly.
15. Don’t stress your jaw – no jaw clenching or excessive gum chewing.
16. Monitor your food triggers and avoid foods that set off migraines.
17. Avoid overstimulation.
18. Ride shotgun to avoid motion sickness (and migraines).
19. Keep a regular schedule.
20. Make sure you’re getting enough vitamins.

Take a look at this article on Yahoo! Shine for more details on any of the above items and why they help with migraines. Do you have any more to add to the list? I once had a doctor recommend rubbing rosemary oil on my temples to stimulate blood flow—and it actually did help a lot.

Stay happy. Stay healthy.

5 Natural Remedies for Low Energy

You all know (or should know) by now that I love my coffee. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was an only tea kind of girl. But I suppose that the passing of time and the entering of adulthood—AKA bills-to-pay time—is what got me started on regular old Joe. Coffee is incredibly cheap when Starbucks isn’t your lifeline, and when made right, coffee has a rich flavor like nothing else.

But some mornings, I just don’t feel like coffee. Maybe I want a cup of tea instead, or maybe I just want to enjoy my breakfast with a glass of water or milk. It always sounds like a great idea until, 45 minutes later, I’m still not awake (but of course, I’m at work). I wouldn’t say I’m completely dependent on coffee to wake up every morning, but when I get less than nine hours of sleep, I certainly am.

I still want to have those coffee-free mornings, though, so that got me to thinking—What can I do to naturally energize myself when I don’t drink coffee? Or, for those times when despite the coffee, I’m still low energy. Here’s what I found out:

Light—I know light is definitely not the first thing I want to see in the mornings, but it’s one of the best natural ways to wake up. Opening blinds or getting a quick breath of fresh air can really help wake you up.

Morning yoga—Take just a few minutes to stretch your muscles and get the blood flowing. There are some great morning yoga poses that will leave you feeling refreshed and ready to go, like these:

 

Get your protein in—Eating a breakfast rich in protein will help your brain cells function properly, meaning it’ll help wake you up and suppress cravings for, I don’t know, cupcakes, throughout the day.

H2O for the win—Drink lots of water to stay hydrated during the day. Skimping on water dehydrates your body and brain, and can make you feel drowsy as well. If you start feeling sleepy, drink a glass of water to see if it helps.

Get out of bed at the first alarm—I am so bad at this one, but I’m trying to get better. I currently have a first alarm set with a second that goes off fifteen minutes later. The original idea was that if I accidentally fell back asleep, I’d have that second alarm ready to wake me up. Unfortunately, it’s become more of a regularity for me to just doze off right after Alarm #1—and even though those extra few minutes sound so appealing at the time, it actually leaves me feeling more tired when I finally do get up.

H2O’s the Word

Coffee and I have a love-hate relationship.
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I love coffee. I love the taste, the routine… the general feeling of peace as I sip my morning cup of Joe at the kitchen table, the dog leaning against me for warmth and love and the cat curled up on my lap. I love the warmth and the peace of the moments I associate with coffee.

Yet, sometimes I hate coffee--or at least what it does to me. On Starbucks day (my one budgeted coffee purchase day), I have to remind myself to eat because the caffeine and sugar sometimes make me forget. I have to remind myself to drink water because if I don’t, I’ll get to lunchtime feeling jittery and a little sick.

On normal days, I make a concerted effort to drink at least a few glasses of water while at work, but when I have a cup of steaming caramel macchiato or pumpkin spice latte, I tend to just drink that instead. But on other days, I guzzle my water like there’s no tomorrow.

Not everyone is as dedicated a water drinker, though. According to the CDC, only about 22% of Americans consume the recommended 8 cups of water per day or more. Forty-four percent of adults don’t even make it halfway, and about 7% don’t drink any water at all. Instead of hydrating our bodies with the most basic of necessities, we consume coffees, sodas, and juices galore—forgetting that our bodies need water to function correctly.

78% of Americans don't drink the recommended
8 cups of water per day.
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About a quarter of kids don’t drink plain water throughout their day. One quarter. And, according to the CDC, people who drink fewer than four cups of water per day are also less likely to be moderately physically active. Plus, low water intake was also associated with low fruit and vegetable intake—meaning a less balanced and healthy daily diet. 

Almost every system in our bodies relies on water to function properly. Water is responsible for carrying valuable nutrients to cells, helping to release toxins, lubricating our joints, regulating body temperature, keeping soft tissues moist, protecting vital organs, dissolving minerals, and much more.

So, as I sit here drinking my once-per-week Starbucks, I remind myself that it’s nothing but water for the rest of my workday. My body will thank me for it. Do the same, and yours will, too.

7 Foods That Boost Your Metabolism

Water stimulates the metabolism.

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One of the best ways to ensure that your body keeps on burning excess calories instead of storing them as fat is to keep your metabolism going. Many of us have jobs where we sit all day (guilty), and that’s B-A-D for your body. There are lots of ways to keep your body active during a typical workday, but today I want to talk about the foods (and drinks) you can consume to help.

 Water—no joke, when you get dehydrated your body’s metabolism slows down. People who drink plenty of fluids every day tend to burn more calories than those who don’t.

Salmon—Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids help our bodies build muscle. More muscle means more calories burned. Omega-3 is also thought to help reduce cortisol levels, which in turn would reduce how many calories our bodies convert to fat (this has not yet been proven).

Coffee—As long as you don’t overdo it, drinking coffee can be a great metabolic aid. Just one cup of coffee contains enough caffeine to speed up our metabolism by up to 15% and keep fat-storing processes at bay.

Hotter is better! Eat chili peppers to burn more calories.

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Avocado—The essential oils, fats, and antioxidants present in avocados help keep our blood vessels healthy and inflammation down, meaning that our metabolism can function well. Avocados also have lots of fiber, which speeds up our metabolism as well.

Beans—Because our bodies have to work extra hard to process the fiber and resistant starch in beans, we burn more calories doing so. Studies suggest eating foods with high levels of resistant starch (beans, whole grains) can boost metabolism up to 24% throughout the day.

Chilies—Spicy foods that contain chilies also contain capsaicin, which boosts calorie burn. The hotter the better!

Green Tea—The combination of caffeine and antioxidants in green teas naturally stimulate our bodies and speed up our metabolism and increase fat burn. Various studies have suggested that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help people stay slim.

Green tea's antioxidants and caffeine can help us stay slim.

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Other foods that you can eat to give your body a natural boost include almonds, apples, pears, broccoli, cinnamon, curry, grapefruit, lean meat, oatmeal, spinach, unsweetened soymilk, and yogurt. I don’t know about you all, but those are some of my favorite things to eat anyway!

For more information on these foods and others, check out “Surprising Foods That Fight Fat” on Health.com and “16 Foods that Naturally Boost Your Metabolism” on Organic Authority. I used both as sources.