Parasomnias – Types Of Sleep Disorders

Parasomnias or sleep disorders are disruptive disorders that can occur during arousals from REM (rapid eye movement) sleep or partial arousals from Non-REM sleep. Parasomnias often include somnambulism or sleepwalking, nightmares, night terrors, confusional arousals and many others.

Types of Parasomnias

Nightmares

Nightmares are vivid nocturnal events that cause feelings of fear and terror, with or without feeling anxiety. In most cases, a person having a nightmare will be abruptly awakened from REM sleep and is able to give a detailed account of what he dreamt about. Also, the person having a nightmare has difficulty returning to sleep.

Diagnosing For Vitamin D Deficiency

We have been exposed to too many vampire films that we’ve somehow managed to adapt avoiding sun exposure and shutting ourselves inside and instead engage in an indoor lifestyle which includes online games, online social networking and Teevo. Who needs to go out anyway?

Majority of the population rarely gets the chance to bask under the sun but on the occasional exposure, some would immediately slather up with sun block, cover up with wide-brim hats and long-sleeved tops, dab the lips with an SPF Lip Balm, protect the eyes from UV rays with aviator shades and top it off with a stylish bohemian scarf around your hair or even cover an exposed neck – these are just a few of the allegedly, “Everyday Sun Protection Essentials” and in effect, we now face serious Vitamin D deficiency.

10 Most Formidable Diseases

Modern medicine entered a period of rapid progress during the turn of the 20th century. More advances have been made in the last half of this century than in all of modern history. As we enter the 21st century, we continue to make spectacular progress at an amazing rate but it still can’t seem to keep up with our medical needs. However far medicine has come, there are still some diseases that have planted a firm foothold on our lives, so much so that they have survived the centuries and remained incurable. The following is a list of these diseases.

Influenza Virus

Influenza is the technical name for one of the most common and most contagious diseases, the flu. It is a viral illness of the respiratory tract that is characterized by a high temperature, sore throat, running nose, headache, dry cough, and muscle pain.

Are You Vitamin D Deficient?

A patient was treated for pneumonia for more than a month in the hospital. When he was ready to be discharged, he felt nauseous and vomited several times. Over the next three years, he frequently visited the emergency room because of his constant vomiting. He also suffered from diarrhea and aching muscles and joints. He got a bad case of anxiety and had difficulty sleeping. He was tired all the time.

The doctors gave him a battery of tests but could not come up with any definite diagnosis for all his symptoms. All they could do was prescribe him Motrin and advised him to reduce his stress. Nothing helped.

How To Manage Your Body’s Embarrassing Problems

It often happens at the worst possible moment. You’ve always thought that you have full control of your bodily functions, but sometimes, your body just has a mind of its own. At those times when you need to be at your best, that’s when your body decides to embarrass you.

From the simple ill-timed yawns or cotton mouth, to the mildly embarrassing hiccups or belch, and farther still, excessive sweating, an overactive bladder, or expelling gas; it happens to everyone. And it happens more common than you think.

Your body has the tendency to act on its own when you don’t want it to. It can be from an existing problem your body already has, such as incontinence. Most of the time, though, stress makes your body respond in ways you don’t want it to, like producing excess sweat or gas, when you feel pressured to be at your best.

Acupuncture – Poke Away That Chronic Back Pain

Normally people (be it a child or an adult) become uneasy at the slightest hint of needles or syringe poked into their bodies to either draw or transfuse blood. Until this “multiple-needle-piercing-through-the-skin” technique was first introduced as an acceptable medical option particularly for relieving stress and easing chronic low back pains.

Acupuncture is one of the ancient techniques with gathering evidence that suggests relieving chronic back pain as opposed to the standard treatments such as physical therapy or medications.

Nowadays, this kind of needle poking to the skin treatment is considered as a component of a healthy lifestyle in aid of relieving the stress from your body. Each needle pierced through the skin are strategically targeting pressure points and in effect emanates a very restful and calming sensation.

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I sometimes refer to it as my own little tail. Most times it doesn’t really bother me but when the pain hits, it hits really hard. I remember one time I felt like I had a prickly pineapple between my buns. I couldn’t wear pants because it just makes things worse.

Another unbearable episode would be doing your daily movement. I feel like I’m literally giving birth again but through another canal. You can’t imagine the anxiety I had or the fear I was feeling because it feels like I have ruptured a vein or something.

Surgery was out of the question. Aside from the expense, I’m just too chicken to lie down on an operating room table and go through such a humiliating operation.

10 Things Women Must Avoid During Pregnancy

A pregnant mother always wants the best for her unborn child. Birth defects and deficiencies can be very damaging both to the mother and the child; defects are not only present upon delivery of the child, some may be detrimental to the child’s growth and development and cause the child to be sickly later in life. To avoid these birth defects, here are ten things that pregnant women should stay away from:

1. Must Not Smoke!

Smoking is bad for the health and it can be very bad for pregnant women and their unborn infants. Other than firsthand smoke, second hand smoke should also be avoided. Pre-term births can be a painful consequence of inhaling cigarette smoke. The same could also cause spontaneous abortion, low birth weight in full term babies and even fetal death. Other than these grim effects, inhaling cigarette smoke can also have a number of developmental repercussions, like causing blood vessels of the fetus to constrict resulting in reduced oxygen supply to the fetus’ brain. Many would-be mothers still smoke despite warnings.

Human Anatomy – Intestines

Described as a long tube stretching from the stomach to the anus, the intestines are in charge of absorbing nutrients and water from food. It is comprised of the small intestine, large intestine and rectum.

As long as 20 feet when uncoiled, with a 1-inch diameter, the small intestine (or small bowel) absorbs the bulk of nutrients from food, by then digested by the stomach. Next to the small intestine is the large intestine, also known as the large bowel or colon. Measuring 5 feet in length, two inches wider than the small intestine, the large intestine saps water from the materials in the small intestine. Consequently, the colon forms the stool, which is ejected out of the rectum.

Should You Take Estrogen After Your Hysterectomy?

Until the early part of 2000, Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT used to be the routine post surgery treatment recommended by doctors for women who have also had their ovaries removed together with a hysterectomy procedure.

Things changed drastically in recent years after the risks of estrogen therapy were exposed and the supposed benefits seemed to have disappeared when further studies were conducted.

Although for most women experiencing “surgical” menopause, doctors still recommend hormone therapy, the public’s acceptance of the treatment has declined.

If you are faced with a tough decision on whether to get HRT or not, this list of pros and cons would be helpful to you.

Recovering From Hysterectomy

After you have had a hysterectomy, your recovery time at the hospital will generally be brief, only about a few days or at most a week. Your recovery time at home, how fast you can resume doing your normal everyday activities, will vary depending on the type of procedure you had.

Abdominal hysterectomy

Most patients who have undergone abdominal hysterectomy go home within three days after surgery, but complete recovery takes anywhere from six to eight weeks. During this time, patients are advised to fully rest at home. You should not be doing any chores not even light housework. Neither should you be lifting for the first two weeks. You are highly encouraged to walk as soon as you feel able enough to do so. In six weeks times, you can already get back to your regular activities, including having sex.

Bipolar Disorder Myths – What You May Think You Know

Awareness about bipolar disorder has been increasing but, as with any medical condition that has gotten a lot of attention only recently, both the people with the disorder and the general public are still under some false impressions regarding the condition.

Bipolar disorder is also known as manic-depressive illness. It is a mental disorder in which a person’s mood alternates between severe mania and depression. These extreme mood shifts affect a person’s normal day to day activities.

The following are some of the myths about bipolar disorder that persist today.

Myth #1: Bipolar disorder is rare.

How To Stop Panic Attacks

We all have our fears. And each of us has our own way of dealing with these fears.

Some people let their fears take over their lives. Some people are brave enough to face their fears head on. These people are the ones who succeed in squashing their fears for good.

Maybe it will help to know that 90% of everything that we fear does not come true. But even if we know what makes sense and what doesn’t, most of us still tend to worry too much.

Here are some tips to help you hit the breaks when you feel a panic attack coming.

Remember To Breathe

First things first, take control of your breathing. Concentrate on breathing in and out in equal intervals. Take long breaths and focus all your energy on the way you are breathing. This will help calm down your nerves, slow down your heart rate, and relax your body. You also focus your attention away from the source of your panic attack and you avoid making it worse.

Attack Of Asthma

Breathing difficulty, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty in performing normal daily activities are symptoms of an asthma attack.

Bronchospasm is a sudden worsening of the symptoms. The muscles around the airways tighten, the lining becomes swollen or inflamed and thicker mucus is also produced more than normal.

Some other asthma attacks symptoms include:

* Retractions

* The tightened of the neck and chest muscles

* Sweaty pale face

* Pressure or chest pain

* Talking difficulty

* Severe wheezing when breathing both in and out

* Very rapid breathing

Serotonin – How It Affects Your Health

Serotonin is a neural chemical that is responsible for sending signals across the brain. Though this type of neurotransmitter is synthesized in the brain, where its major functions are performed, about 90% of serotonin supply is found in digestive tract and blood platelets. It is estimated that an average adult body has five to 10 milligrams of serotonin.

Serotonin Production

Serotonin is synthesized through a unique biochemical conversion process involving tryptophan, the building blocks of proteins. Tryptophan hydroxylase is used by serotonin-producing cells along with tryptophan to form serotonin, otherwise known as 5-hydoxytryptamine.