The holidays are hardly the time anyone likes to think seriously about their health, and miss out on all the fun and food. But after the holidays come New Year’s, the time the resolutions are rolled out; caring for your health is one of the top resolutions people think to make around this time. Did you ever read the statistic that one of the worst times in the year for coronary health is the day after Christmas when the festivities end and the bills arrive? Incidences of heart attacks are known to spike up around that time. High blood pressure, once you get it, tends to stay with you for life. And of course the effects of high blood pressure don’t just stop with your coronary health; they can and go on to affect every one of your internal organs. If you ever wanted to either take the smallest dose possible, or none at all, here are a few natural ways to lower your blood pressure, other than to go low-salt and stay calm during the holidays.

For some people, a few simple drinks can really get the heart pumping and raise blood pressure. Your doctor will probably see if you have one of those physiologies that are sensitive to alcohol. If so, keeping your daily beer down to one or two will help. The importance of exercise in lowering brought blood pressure can hardly be exaggerated. People think that they are too busy, that it’s raining and it’s winter, and they can hardly go run everyday like they were preparing for a marathon. It so happens that the tortoise’s slow and steady is all you need. It doesn’t even have to be going out and running; a half hour’s brisk and gardening work, cleaning out the attic, anything that gets your heart pumping, is one of the best natural ways to lower blood pressure. Of course if your heart has a few problems to begin with, you would need your doctor’s permission to embark on this plan.

They call it DASH: the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It doesn’t sound very appetizing, but if you could fill your plate with whole grains, produce, and only a little meat, that would be helping your heart out a lot. It’s not that the DASH approach is unkind to your taste buds though; when you do have the craving to indulge, a little dark chocolate is recommended and can be particularly healthy. Different kinds of dark chocolate are always healthy and natural ways to lower your blood pressure. Of course you can’t overindulge, as chocolate can pack in the calories. It might be tempting for you to extend the chocolate theory to coffee, so closely related are they in taste. No one is actually sure how exactly caffeine affects you, but at least in the short term, coffee does raise blood pressure. A couple of cups are always okay, but no more. Remember that admonition always to cut down on sodium in salt? The water softener in your home could sometimes be a problem in this area. One of the ways that water softeners do their job is to add sodium to the water supplied. Look up the manual for your machine; if it does this, there is your excuse to buy a snazzy new machine.

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November is Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and Diabetes Awareness Month, and it’s also the month for lung cancer awareness. Along with breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and diabetes, lung cancer is also a problematic disease that affects many people—it’s the leading cause of death by cancer in the US for any ethnicity, and it will claim about 437 deaths a day on average. Lung cancer becomes more difficult to treat as its stages advance, so it’s important to spread awareness about this devastating condition so that people can prevent themselves from developing it or seek treatment for lung cancer as soon as possible.

Some of the symptoms of lung cancer include coughing, chest, shoulder or back pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, feeling hoarse, face and neck swelling, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, loss of appetite, and fluid in the pleural cavity, which inhibits breathing. These symptoms are associated with the earlier stages of lung cancer. Other symptoms develop when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. When lung cancer metastasizes it can affect the bones, liver and brain. Symptoms of lung cancer that affect other parts of the body can consist of bone and stomach pain, jaundice, headaches, seizures, nausea and vomiting. Developing lung cancer is highly associated with smoking—smoking damages the cells of the lungs by exposing them to carcinogens, and about 87% of lung cancer cases have to do with the patient smoking, or having formerly smoked. Other lung cancer causes are exposure to radon and asbestos, toxic substances often found in old houses that were not constructed recently.

There are many types of treatment for lung cancer, and choosing which option to take is a complicated choice that depends on the patient, the stage of cancer, and the location of the cancer in the lungs. Medical treatment for lung cancer consists of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, which are all techniques intended to remove cancer or to kill cancer cells. Sometimes these options don’t appeal or work for cancer patients, so they might look to holistic treatment for lung cancer, which consists of a variety of techniques like altering diet, doing regular exercise, aromatherapy, and much more. More recently researchers are looking into developing drugs that might help control the symptoms of lung cancer. But whichever method patients choose, it’s important that they start treatment right away to fight the cancer more effectively.

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There are probably some misconceptions spreading around about bipolar disorder thanks to Katy Perry. Bipolar symptoms are a lot more complicated than being hot and cold, yes and no, and “love bipolar” is an utterly bizarre phrase. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive disorder, isn’t about being exasperatingly indecisive. It’s a mood disorder in which a person can cycle between episodes of “highs” and “lows,” which is where “Hot N Cold” might have gotten its idea of going back and forth.

Bipolar disorder symptoms depend on which type of bipolar disorder, type I or type II, and the symptoms are different depending on whether the individual is experiencing a high or a low. The presence of highs and lows to begin with is a general overall symptom that is associated with bipolar disorder. The high refers to a manic episode in which a person with bipolar disorder may exhibit symptoms like speaking fast, having racing thoughts, not needing to sleep, being impulsive, and having grandiose ideas. Sometimes people can be extremely creative and productive during mania, but they can also take big risks and act irrationally. The low refers to a depressive episode in which a person can have low mood, loss of pleasure, thoughts of suicide, fatigue, eating and sleeping problems, and impaired concentration. The bipolar disorder symptoms that a patient experiences determines the diagnosis. In bipolar I, the patient has to have had a manic episode. In bipolar II, the patient has to have had a depressive episode, and often has hypomanic episodes, which are a milder form of manic episodes.

Common treatments for bipolar disorder symptoms are medications that help stabilize the patient’s mood or function as antipsychotics. Lots of times bipolar patients have to take a combination of medications, and unfortunately they might be reluctant to take them because of the unpleasant side effects. Psychotherapy or psychoeducation can be administered in addition to medication so that the patient can learn to cope with the episodes and learn about their symptoms. For example, sometimes patients like the feeling of being in a manic episode because it feels like “being on top of the world,” but going to therapy and learning about bipolar disorder symptoms can help them realize the negative effects of mania on themselves and others. Bipolar disorder can’t be completely cured, but patients can learn to live with it by treating its symptoms.

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Most People suffering from heartburn might say that they’re having indigestion, and vice versa with people suffering from indigestion, but heartburn and indigestion actually are two different things. The difference between heartburn and indigestion is that indigestion is a general condition, whereas heartburn can sometimes be a symptom of having indigestion. So people who have indigestion and say they’re having heartburn may actually be right, but usually people switch it around. Heartburn really doesn’t affect the heart at all, but it sure sounds like it does, which is perhaps why people more commonly complain about having indigestion than heartburn.

Heartburn is not burning the heart, but the esophagus. The burning sensation can also travel up to the throat, and often a person suffering from heartburn will throw up gastric acid, a substance that helps digestion in the stomach. Heartburn is usually associated with acid reflux disease, a condition in which the mucus of the esophagus is consistently damaged because the stomach isn’t blocked off from the esophagus as much as it should be. The stomach is blocked off from the esophagus with a flap called the lower esophageal sphincter. Occasionally, the flap doesn’t close as it should so acid gets out of the stomach and goes up. This causes the burning sensation of heartburn, and if it continues to happen then it becomes a case of acid reflux. Heartburn and acid reflux usually happen from bad eating habits, like eating too much junk food or eating too quickly. Sometimes certain medications can trigger heartburn.

Indigestion is where a person feels bloated and painful in the abdomen, and they might experience heartburn along with the abdominal pain, as well as nausea, burping and flatulence. Indigestion, in turn, can be a symptom of acid reflux and it’s what people commonly refer to as an upset stomach. Like heartburn, it’s often due to bad eating habits, particularly eating too quickly.

Heartburn and indigestion can generally be treated by getting rest, eating smaller meals and keeping upright so that acid can stay down, but the best way to take care of heartburn and indigestion is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Stay away from unhealthy foods and substances like tobacco, and eat at a normal pace. However, heartburn and indigestion are sometimes signs of a more serious illness, like acid reflux, so in serious cases you should seek medical help.

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If you have a bun in the oven, big meals during the holidays can result in an acid reflux indigestion pregnancy issue. You need to be aware of this and don’t overdue it.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, many are bound to suffer from cases of heartburn from being a little too eager to celebrate their thanks at the dinner table. The abundance of delicious, good food at their disposal increases the chance of gorging, and as a result they might suffer negative consequences of their haste. Normally, digestion is aided by the lower esophageal sphincter, a fancy term for the muscle flap that closes the esophagus off from the stomach. This is a good thing because it prevents the digestive stomach acid from creeping upwards where it doesn’t belong. But when you eat too quickly or eat certain trigger foods, the lower esophageal sphincter can’t keep up with your eating pace and it’s unable to function as it should. As a result, acid escapes from the stomach and flows into the esophagus, producing the burning sensation of heartburn. Foods that can cause heartburn are often unhealthy foods that are fried or have a lot of fat, but they also include seemingly innocuous common foods and beverages like tomato sauce and orange juice. Alcohol and coffee can also increase the chances of heartburn. Thanksgiving dinner might include some of these foods and combined with hasty eating, it can be a potent heartburn formula.

Everyone is bound to suffer heartburn at some point, but sometimes heartburn occurs chronically and becomes a case of acid reflux. Medical treatment for acid reflux usually involves taking medications that neutralize acid, but there are also natural cures for acid reflux that can be taken at home. Stress is a factor that can worsen acid reflux, so relaxing treatments like aromatherapy, massage and meditation can relieve the symptoms. But overall, natural cures for acid reflux largely involve healthy lifestyle changes that help prevent its occurrence. This includes eating smaller meals, quitting smoking, not wearing tight fitting clothing, avoiding trigger foods, and maintaining a healthy weight. Natural acid reflux cures may be preferable to medical treatment because they’re simpler and less expensive—using natural cures for acid reflux is free, medication and surgery are not.

So if you want to save some trips to the hospital, it’s better to take advantage of natural treatment. Prevention methods are probably the best choice for enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday as much as possible—when you have some possible acid reflux victims on your hands, have ready some natural cures for acid reflux indigestion pregnancy situation.

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