Obtaining sufficient restful sleep is an essential requirement for optimal human productivity. Such a practice is a key component of a healthy lifestyle, which includes a nutritious diet, regular vigorous exercise, and a positive mental attitude. How much sleep one needs varies from person to person.

Could a misaligned spine be the reason for your sports slump?

Whether you live in the United States, Canada, or Western Europe, your health care decision-making is impacted by the type of health insurance available. In the United States, a fee-for-service system implies that you will be paying for some or all of the costs of every service used on your behalf. In

Trigger points are painful nodules in muscular tissue, commonly found in the upper back, low back, and gluteal muscles. Trigger points are frequently chronic, persisting from day to day without much relief. When someone says, “My muscles are all in knots”, those knots are most likely trigger points. The

It’s hard to turn on the television or listen to the radio without hearing about the dangers of an impending pandemic of the Avian Flu (often called the ‘bird flu’). Day after day, the media interview expert after expert who claim that the bird flu is going to cause massive

Many people - adults and children - are familiar with the marvelous animated feature "The Lion King". Most have found themselves humming the film's theme "The Circle of Life" long after they've stopped actively thinking about the film itself. "The Circle of Life" is not only a terrifically catchy tune,

Core strength is critical for everyday activities such as placing heavy grocery bags into the trunk of your automobile, carrying a gallon jug of milk from the refrigerator to the dining room table, and even walking to the mailbox. When your core strength is diminished, even bending over to pick up a

Driving fast is not necessarily a good thing. We want to get where we're going as quickly as possible, but we also want to arrive safely. If we drive too fast, we may encounter all sorts of problems. If we drive too slow, we're wasting time and may be causing traffic problems behind us. These competing

Change is an undeniable force that impacts everything. Nothing in the physical world, either on Earth or in the Universe itself, is able to resist change and ultimate decay. Supernovas, for example, are the final explosive moments of massive stars. Our own changes through life are not as dramatic, but

Like Goldilocks, we want things to work out just right. When it comes to our health, though, things don't work out just right by themselves.Neglect causes many serious health problems. Abuse - in the form of unhealthy behaviors - causes many additional serious disorders.Every day on TV and radio news

Thanks to effective public health campaigns regarding healthy lifestyle choices, many people have incorporated regular, vigorous exercise, a nutritious diet, and getting sufficient rest in their daily routines. For many people, an additional important component of a healthy lifestyle is regular stretching. Regular

Looking for a natural way to enhance your health? Long-term chiropractic care offers several important health benefits.

Way back in the 1960s, when everything was brand-new, the Beatles introduced Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to national television audiences in American and the UK. The Maharishi came to the West with the Beatles to introduce a new thing - Transcendental Meditation.At the time most Westerners were not familiar

We all want to get the most we can out of life. Whether we want to find a loving partner, work at a meaningful career, gather an abundance of financial resources, or have enough leisure time to pursue favored interests, the usual bottom line is that we want to be happy. Throughout thousands of years

What animates us? In other words, what is it that causes us to be living matter? For example, what distinguishes a living orchid from a tissue-paper-and-paint model of an orchid? Or what distinguishes a hawk from an airplane? What is it that causes the material that is us to hold together and function

We've heard a lot lately regarding how certain nations play a long game in terms of regional influence and global geopolitics. The concept of a so-called long game is interesting in that it implies a more than common degree of patience and a commitment to outcomes that are evaluated over decades and

In general most people pay close attention to auto maintenance. Whether the concern is tires, brakes, transmission, or windshield status, people make sure that their cars do what they need them to do. People count on their cars to perform effectively. No one wants a surprise, especially in a critical

Some people do all the right things and still develop serious health problems. Others flaunt their bad habits and are able to live long lives, dying peacefully in their sleep at the age of 95. For example, high blood pressure (hypertension, HTN) is a common chronic disease in the United States. With

Could the way you sleep be the cause of your back pain?

A person with an exercise- or sports-related injury has many questions: When can I start exercising? When can I get back to my sport? What can I do to prevent this from happening again? The answers to these questions are relatively straightforward. But for some, injuries continue to happen. Which leads

The natural world functions very well on its own. Left to their own devices, members of the tens of millions of species on our planet thrive and prosper without relying on outside agencies. In order to grow abundantly, plants consume carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients from the soil. Likewise, herbivorous

What does the future hold in store? None of us can know with certainty, although some predictions are possible. Stock market indexes will rise. Then they'll fall. Then everyone will hope that the indexes will rise again. Hemlines will fall. Then they'll rise. Then in two or three years they'll fall again. The

Many of us think of depression as a psychological condition. The causes of depression are sought in the person's childhood or in her personal circumstances as an adult. But within the last 10 or 20 years depression is increasingly being evaluated within a physiological context. Various disease states

Plato's Ideas were perfect templates, of which everything we perceive are tangible representations. But the Ideas were not to be found in the world around us. Rather, they were conceptions of rational thought, transcendental objects of knowledge existing in a realm beyond our own. And yet, Plato's Ideas

Cross-training refers to a combination of different methods of exercise. Specifically, cross-training refers to the combination of strength training and cardiovascular training in your overall exercise program. Whether you're a 14-year-old just starting out on your first fitness program, or whether you're

Many people experience radiating pain as a component of neck pain or low back pain. A person with neck pain might have pain that radiates down her arm, possibly into the hand.1 A person with low back pain might have accompanying leg pain, possibly traveling into the foot. Such arm/hand pain or leg/foot

The abs rule. As a result of this not-so-subtle imperative, a flat abdominal musculature is one of the primary goals of all exercise programs. Flat abdominals have great aesthetic appeal, not only to the "owner" of those abs, but also to the person's spouse or partner. Of course, a flat abdominal musculature

Health insurance costs are out of control. We're all painfully aware of this inflationary spiral. Monthly premiums are through the roof. Co-payments keep going up and up. Out-of-pocket expenses are so high we often wonder what we're saving by purchasing health insurance at all. Every family has been

In his 1856 journal, the great American philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau wrote, "I love the winter, with its imprisonment and its cold, for it compels the prisoner to try new fields and resources." Thoreau, a fearless explorer of inner and outer landscapes, welcomed opportunities to learn

The variegated songs of the mockingbird. The crack of the bat on the baseball diamond. The screaming of little children at play in the community pool. Wherever we turn, the sounds of summer surround us in a joyful uplifting cacophony. Summertime may mean barbecue and it may mean the beach, but it also

"The Stress of Life" is a perennial bestseller by Hans Selye, written in 1956. Selye almost single-handedly introduced the notion of stress into the worldwide consciousness. By doing so, Selye changed the way we think about ourselves, our values, and how we conduct our lives. As Selye observed, stress

We all know that Vitamin D is a critically important component in building strong bones and strong teeth. It turns out that Vitamin D has a vast number of additional functions. For example, recent research shows that low Vitamin D levels is related to increased risk for diabetes as well as cardiovascular

Pasta, pizza, and peanut butter. We've all been there. For some of us, these three delicious, yet nutritionally limited, pantry items constituted our three main food groups for months, if not years of our 20s and 30s, possibly even our 40s. But there comes a time when the party's over and we need to

The Macintosh operating system contains a subprogram called "Time Machine" that allows you to reset your status to any previously saved state. Provided that you have designated a location for backups, you can literally go back in time and recover documents, directories, and applications you may have

Many adults begin to develop shoulder pain, even though they may not have sustained a specific injury. It's important to pay attention to such shoulder issues, as a healthy shoulder joint is the key to full function of the upper extremities. We all know at least one person whose ability to perform normal