Lifestyle Choices

When we are young, our facial skin is soft and elastic. It stretches when we smile, laugh, yawn, frown, etc and then springs back into its original place. The smooth, firm appearance of the young face is caused by the thin layer of fatty tissue beneath the skin. Beneath the fatty layer lies muscle and it is this that enables us to make our facial expressions. The largest muscle is the platysma muscle, which extends from the jaw into the neck, defines the angle of the chin and differentiates it from the neck. (more…)

However, if your cancer treatment is completed and you feel an unexplainable anxiety even though your trials are apparently over, read on.

These feelings are common and occur, in part, because the end has come to the frequent visits with your various doctors, which can serve to comfort—giving you the tangible evidence that someone is watching over you and your health. But, aside from that, you may be struggling with the fear of recurrence that many women experience at this time. Remember, during the treatment planning process, you want to develop a plan to optimize your chance of cure and to carry out that plan. When done, it is time for you to go on with your life. (more…)

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a major area of concern among women with a history of breast cancer. If you are in the crisis of a recent breast cancer diagnosis, the issue of HRT may seem relatively unimportant. However, as you get farther along and finish your treatment and proceed with your life, questions regarding HRT will certainly arise.

Much has been written on the issue of HRT in general. Less is known specifically about HRT for breast cancer survivors because doctors have been concerned about prescribing anything for their patients that may increase the risk of recurrent disease. (more…)

When I was a child growing up in Portsmouth, the naval town on the south coast, and we saw someone who was grossly obese, my mother would say pityingly, in a knowing stage whisper, ‘Trouble with their glands, dear.’ In those days Portsmouth was full of sailors of all nationalities and anyone who was very fat was unusual. Now, when I go back to my home town forty years later, the sailors have all gone and people who are very overweight are so common as to be unremarkable. The attitude to these heavyweights has also changed. They are no longer the subject of pity, but of a kind of loathing. Fat today says greedy, slothful and self-indulgent. As I will show you, hormones and obesity and intimately bound together. Trouble with your glands is indeed part of the obesity equation, including a gland that has only in the last decade been discovered to be secreting hormones — fat itself. (more…)

Acne is something we all recognize. It is so common that only one person in three may escape and probably everyone has a little, mild acne at times. It is normal to have a degree of acne while growing up but this does not make it any easier to cope with. No one finds it easy to cope with any disfigurement on the face. (more…)

This is the most important step of all, for no house can be a real home unless those who live there hold ideals that are kind, noble, and good. Without high ideals it is easy for even the best of homes to drift apart. There must always be some things that will hold the family together, such as family worship, in which all the members may share. These happy occasions are not likely to come by accident but must be carefully planned by the parents. (more…)

Most people will need advice from their doctor to help in the treatment of moderate or severe acne. Generally doctors will start with cheap, safe agents which have few side effects and only if these fail will they recommend medication to be taken by mouth.

Topical preparations (onto the skin)

Benzoyl peroxide

This has been around for more than thirty years but we do not yet know fully how it works. It loosens blackheads and kills bacteria but has other effects as well. It comes in strengths from two-and-a-half to twenty per cent and may be bought as a cream, gel or a wash. Examples are given in the previous section. (more…)

Skin cancers

Skin cancer is already a common disease but we are seeing it more and more. There may be several reasons for this but an important one is that more fair-skinned people are being exposed to sunlight, either on holiday or having emigrated to a hot country. The problem is so great in subtropical Australia that almost every adult has at least one skin cancer in their life. Much more will be said about the damaging effect of sunlight on skin but it is such an important subject that there is no harm in mentioning it twice. (more…)

Long-term effects of UV

These can be divided into photoaging, potentially malignant and frankly malignant tumors. The changes result from a cumulative dose of UVB over many years. At present the worst affected are fair-skinned Britons who have been brought up in tropical or subtropical climates, e.g. Northern Australia or the southern states of the USA. Other groups include men who spent years in the desert in World War Two. The victims of the future are today’s young men and women who roast themselves on sunny beaches every summer and who then try to maintain the tan by using sunbeds through the winter months. (more…)

Many of us never worry about our health until we are in danger of losing it. Then we are willing to pay any price, pouring out the savings of a lifetime in a vain attempt to try to win it back again. Our health is our greatest possession. Why should we throw it away through ignorance? There is no substitute for good health. We must take care of it while we have it. Our whole future depends upon our maintaining a sound mind in a healthy body.

Hospitals all over the world are filled with people who have disregarded the laws of health. Some may not have realized their danger. Others knew but did not care. They evidently thought that they could dodge the consequences. Perhaps they did for a while. But eventually even the strongest constitution will break if we continue to disregard the laws of health.

Many a chronic invalid might have enjoyed good health all through his life if he had only known how to keep well. Instead of living a happy life, free from sickness, he has become a burden to himself and perhaps to the community as well. Prevention is always far better than cure. Knowing how to live will keep us out of trouble. It will enable us to live out our years in peace and contentment, free from unnecessary pain and illness. (more…)

Which mattress is best?

Latex foam on a laminated wood base is considered smart among the handwoven set (a disadvantage is that restless sleepers generally hit base). These mattresses are generally 4inches deep and don’t need turning, don’t make fluff, and don’t attract moths or vermin.

Foam plastic mattresses have the same qualities and keep their shape and resilience better than they used to.

Interior sprung mattresses are made of coiled wire springs, well padded with cotton waste, coiled hair and rubber or plastic foam. Beware of those which are over-sprung: one bed almost threw me out every time I turned over. (more…)

When you experience the death of someone close to you, or when you have lost somebody who has gone away or whom you have left, it is natural to grieve. In fact, a process of mourning is necessary in order for you to come to terms with the loss and adjust yourself to a life without the dead person.

GRIEF

Grieving openly is an acutely painful process which is not usually encouraged in western cultures. Even when people believe that grieving and openly demonstrating your feelings are good for you, their fear of the sheer power of the feeling of grief often makes them try to stop you or calm you down. The commonest alternative to grief is the prolonged numbness of depression which, unfortunately, can last years. Although the expression of grief differs in different individuals, there is a pattern to grief that is fairly common, consisting of three basic stages: numbness, despair and detachment. (more…)

Depression is about twice as common in women as it is inmen. There are probably many reasons for this, and some of them are connected with marriage. Recent research points out that married women more likely than married men to feel unhappy; to have are feelings of inadequacy; to have difficulty in sleeping; to fee apathetic or inert and to behave in a passive way; to have bouts of depression, and to have symptoms of mental ill- health in general. Unmarried women, on the contrary, tend to have better mental and physical health than both unmarried men and married women.

Men, on the other hand, tend to have better mental health when married than when not married. Unmarried men in the United States have a suicide rate twice as high as married men. Men who lose their wives are usually more prone to depression than women who lose their husbands, and men tend to remarry as soon as possible. Though it may not seem like it on the surface, the man may be more dependent than the woman, even though he may not play an obviously dependent role. He is more likely to get depressed when the marriage is over or when his conventional role as sole or main bread-winner is upturned. He may feel inadequate and helpless if he realizes that his spouse can and does manage well without him. (more…)

Broken veins

Broken veins are just visible skin blood vessels which are not really broken but just standing out more obviously because they are permanently dilated. They are usually the result of years spent out of doors and are typically seen on the face of farmers and sailors or those with pale skin who live in unsuitable sunny climates. Sometimes the incautious use of powerful steroid creams will cause these blood vessels to appear or make them much worse, or they can accompany skin diseases such as rosacea. When there are just a few they can be destroyed using an electric needle, but when they are so numerous that the whole cheek is redder than normal, it is not so easy. You may find that green foundation creams are useful as a background because the combination of green and red softens the colour and makes the usual foundation cream and powder more efficient. (more…)

`No, I think all women need to spend time doing and thinking about things unrelated to children. I appreciate that some women may not think this way, but Ifeel that you are a person in your own right, not just somebody’s mum.’

Jackie, 36, accounts clerk/estate agent

`If we win the Lottery perhaps. Yes, I could, especially when both boys are at school. I would like to do my own thing during school hours and be therefor them when they come home.’

Judy, 37, lecturer/musician

`I couldn‘t go back to being a full-time mother. I value my independence and love being in the working environment. I love dressing smartly and would not make so much effort if I did not work.’

Gillian, 48, accounts manager

`No, I need to work. Looking back, my mother didn’t and when we’d grown up, she had nothing.’

Pauline, 31, paediatric endocrine nurse specialist (more…)

Everywhere we go, the two biggest excuses people give for not taking care of themselves are that there is not enough time or money. In today’s busy world, with financial pressures high and time constantly squeezed, it is easy to accept that these are valid excuses. We disagree. We believe that the reason why people neglect their self-care is not lack of time or money: it is simpler than that. It is because they have not made themselves a priority. When was the last time you had a relaxation body massage? If it was last week, congratulations. However, it may have been months, even years since you had the pleasure. Some of you may be yet to experience one. If your reason for not having had one recently is that you have not had enough time or money, you may see our point more clearly. Is it really because you have not had the time or money? Or is it that you do not see having one as a priority? Does it seem to be a luxury rather than a necessity? (more…)

`No, I think all women need to spend time doing and thinking about things unrelated to children. I appreciate that some women may not think this way, but Ifeel that you are a person in your own right, not just somebody’s mum.’

Jackie, 36, accounts clerk/estate agent

`If we win the Lottery perhaps. Yes, I could, especially when both boys are at school. I would like to do my own thing during school hours and be therefor them when they come home.’

Judy, 37, lecturer/musician (more…)

While we are more and more aware about what is in our food - whether it is low in fat or sugar, whether it is GM free or organic - often we don’t spare a second thought to what is in our skincare or personal care products. According to research, women expose themselves to over 200 chemicals a day through skin and health-care products and make-up. This is a scary thought when you start to investigate what those ingredients are. We put on creams and lotions thinking we are doing our best to keep the skin healthy and hopefully slow down the aging process, yet often we are completely unaware of the product’s ingredients or the effect they may have on our health.

Over the last few years more and more information and research into the effects cosmetics are having on our health has become available. There is quite a debate taking place as companies defend their ingredients and the reasons why they are included in their products. The information can be quite confusing. We believe the only way you can really get to the bottom of this is to start investigating yourself, taking responsibility for your own health. Learn what the different ingredients are and what they do. Make informed decisions about whether you use them or not, and don’t be fooled by clever advertising campaigns. (more…)