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Welcome from Vantage Business Support & Insurance Services
As an added benefit to our customers and associates VANTAGE is publishing a semimonthly newsletter with information, interactive tools, podcasts and other resources to help you live healthier. We will explore topics on total health and resources for you and your family, including fitness, nutrition, mental and physical health, weight management and more.
Thank you for being part of the VANTAGE family.
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This is just a sampling of what we feel would be important to you. We have much more to offer. If you have any questions or need more information please contact us at 877-886-8277 or click the link below.
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NoFail Methods to Nip a Cold in the Bud
 Your head throbs, your nose runs, and you're coughing. While the common cold isn't usually serious, it's nothing to sneeze at either. Cold symptoms can make the average adult miserable for about a week. In the elderly and children, a cold can hang on even longer.
So are there any cold remedies that can shorten cold duration? The answer is yes, according to Donald W. Novey, MD, a family and integrative medicine specialist in Poulsbo, Wash., but they may not be what you think.
While some dietary supplements may be able to shorten cold duration, Dr. Novey says supplements aren't your best line of defense. "The best weapon we have against the common cold is our own immune system," he explains.
Good nutrition, adequate sleep and exercise, and low levels of stress are what make our immune system work its best. "A failure on any one of these four points can weaken the immune system and either prolong an existing cold or lead to more frequent ones," Novey says.
Rev Up Your Immune System to Shorten Cold Duration In the United States, adults can expect to catch the common cold as many as four times a year, while children get anywhere from 6 to 10 colds. Novey says that generally viruses need to run their course, but we can help that course be as short as possible by taking care of our immune system. Here's how:
Get your zzz's. "When someone gets a cold, by far the most effective remedy is rest," Novey says. "People who are exhausted stay sicker longer, he explains. "The body signals its need for rest by being tired. We have all experienced the fatigue of a common cold and the wish to rest. If only we would listen!"
Work out. "Exercise strengthens the immune system," Novey says. In fact, a recent study suggests that people who exercise on a regular basis may have fewer and milder colds. Researchers in North Carolina followed just over 1,000 men and women ages 18 to 85 in the fall and winter and recorded how many upper respiratory infections they caught. The participants reported how much aerobic exercise they did and also answered questions about lifestyle, nutrition, and stress. Those who exercised five or more days a week reported 46 percent fewer colds than their sedentary counterparts - those who exercised only one day or less a week - and the number of days they slogged through cold symptoms was 41 percent lower. The researchers said one explanation could be that working out causes immune cells to attack viruses at a faster rate.
Eat right. "When one is well, a balanced diet with adequate protein promotes well-being and reduces the chance for catching a cold," Novey says. If you do get a cold, listen to what your stomach is telling you. "The body dictates what it wants: soup, liquids - gentle foods," he notes, adding that ginger tea and the old standby, chicken soup, are cold remedies that provide temporary relief.
De-stress. Novey says the kind of stress that "wears you down" also lowers your resistance to illnesses such as the common cold and may make one hang on longer. Finding a healthy way to cope with chronic stress can help fight off all kinds of illnesses. Relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation may be worth a try.
Try zinc tablets. Zinc, which helps boost the immune system, can help shorten the duration of the common cold by up to 40 percent, according to a study published in the Open Respiratory Medicine Journal. Zinc lozenges are easiest to use while you have a cold, and are available at most drugstores. Zinc supplements could help keep your immune system strong while you're healthy and potentially stave off more colds. Last Updated: 02/13/2013
SOURCE: Regina Boyle Wheeler Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH |
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DID YOU KNOW???
FEAR
In raw physiological terms, what is it about getting the wits scared out of you that inspires revelers to plunk down as much as $40 at haunted houses, or to willingly submit to horror movies with chainsaw-wielding madmen, or even embrace the more active, tangible fear posed by skydiving and BASE-jumping?
Is it merely for an adrenal rush, a yen for that squirt of hormones that produces a heady sense of heightened awareness and euphoria? Or perhaps a relic of the evolutionary trigger that allowed our ancestors to escape a rampaging puma on the savannah and now allows us to slam on the brakes to avoid being sideswiped?
Whatever the motivation, courting fear can be a good thing - actually healthy for a body in the short term, doctors and psychologists say.
Dr. Peter Yellowlees, professor of psychiatry at UC Davis, ticks off the instantaneous physiological changes a body goes through in a fear state: "You tend to sweat more, your breathing rate increases, you look red, you may have tingling in your arms, legs and cheeks, and more blood goes to your muscles." While it might strike some as a recipe for stroke, it in fact shows that one's sympathetic nervous system is functioning as required.
"Fear is a very good thing," Yellowlees said. "We all need it to survive."
"I tell everyone that you're basically hard-wired to want to experience all the emotions in the human spectrum," Dobrenski said. "It's the same reason that people, when they get depressed, listen to sad music. There's something therapeutic going farther into the abyss. It creates a nice little cocktail of emotions, positive and negative.
"Even though you feel scared or sad, if you experience the pleasure part of it, the negative part is more cerebral."
Where fear gets its bad rap, where it can lead to a cadre of physical and psychological problems, is prolonged release of fear-induced cortisol in everyday stressful situations.
So, in short: Screaming at a zombie reaching for you is a healthy response; stewing when your boss criticizes your latest sales report is inherently unhealthy.
"When the system goes out of whack in the sense that it's responding but the situation doesn't call for it, it can become a disorder like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and anxiety. There's no physical reason for it, and that's bad because you get unnecessary stress hormones that harm your body."
SOURCE: Sam McManis smcmanis@sacbee.com
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Here's your "QuoteAction" for this issue:
"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
Inventor, Alexander Graham Bell
Your action for today is to see if there is something that you are wishing would be "just like it used to be." If there is, look for the opportunity it currently presents.
Have an extraordinary day!
SOURCE: Betty Jo Waxman
Productive Learning & Leisure, LLC |
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Disclaimer of Liability
Our firm provides the information in this e-newsletter for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this e-newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided "as is," with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.
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| Health & Wellness Products |
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| CONTACTS |
Please contact one of our VANTAGE professionals for assistance or click on the help picture. Paul White 510-595-0904
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