Positivity and Longevity: the Critical Link

There is now strong scientific evidence that positive thinking can help you to live a longer and better quality life. You may have heard that positive thoughts are good for you before, but now you have a real reason to make a choice to think positively each day. Positive thinking has been shown to help prevent depression and reduce anxiety in adults. It can do much more than help you to reach your goals. It can actually reduce your blood pressure levels, which is critical in reducing your risk of developing heart disease. If you need more reasons to think happy thoughts, keep reading below.

On the other hand, negative thinking can have a very direct impact on your overall health. Having chronically high levels of stress can create inflammation in your body over time. With higher levels of inflammation, you are more likely to suffer from a variety of diseases, and you will also be more likely to show signs of aging sooner. People who are less likely to have high levels of stress will have lower levels of inflammation in their body and be less susceptible to disease and illness. 

One way that you can start to more effectively manage your stress is to find coping mechanisms that allow you to better deal with the stress-producing things that come up during any given day. Journaling is a very popular way to manage stress by helping you to compartmentalize the triggers of your stress and give you a better idea of how you are handling them on a daily basis. Before you express your negative thoughts, being able to write them down in a journal gives you a healthier way to process them that does not lead to constant frustration and anger. This can be excellent for keeping your blood pressure at a manageable level. 

People who are more optimistic are also less likely to get sick as often. One of the reasons for this is that when you are having negative thoughts or spending a significant amount of time angry, this may leave your body with less energy left over to fight off an infection. Having constant stress can be a real drain on your immune system over time. If you are more prone to infection, this could eventually wear down your system and mean that the aging process is more debilitating for you. If you are more inclined to have a positive outlook and let things bounce off you, then it is less likely that you will have a weakened immune system.

Another way to keep your stress levels in check is to engage in daily exercise. Studies show that people generally feel better after they exercise, including have a more positive mental outlook. Exercise encourages feelings of self-confidence and can help to ward off the symptoms of depression. Getting regular exercise is a way to boost your mental function as well, which can help you stay alert and engaged as you age. If you are able to incorporate social interaction into your daily workouts, this is another way to increase the positive benefits from getting exercise.

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Why Race Walking Can Be a Fast Way to Better Health

Race walking is widely recognized as a very intense sport and has even made its way into the Olympics. This sport has a rich history around the world and has a very large international following. Athletes who participate in race walking train very hard to compete in the sport and follow very strict guidelines in terms of the required movements for their walking stride as well as tough training requirements. 

While you might think that race walking is just a much faster pace of walking, it is a bit more complicated than that. There are actually rules that you cannot have more than one knee bent at a time and that at least one foot must be firmly on the ground at all times. This may seem easy at first, but it actually requires quite a bit of concentration and skill. In the competitive world of race walking, walkers can be disqualified if they do not follow the stride requirements. 

If you are interested in race walking as a way to get your daily exercise in, then you might quickly discover that it is a very effective way to maintain weight and improve your circulation. Another benefit of race walking is that it is a much lower impact activity for your joints than running. Race walking is a great way to improve your cardiovascular health because it involves aerobic exercise. If you go for longer distances, you can even improve your strength and endurance over time. 

If you are already incorporating walks into your daily exercise routine, then you may want to consider stepping up the pace because it can significantly boost your calorie burn per hour. This is important because in the same amount of time, you can burn more calories and get your heart rate up faster. If you are looking to lose weight in a healthy way or improve your stamina, walking at a faster pace is definitely a great way to get there. 

One of the ways that race walking is such an easy exercise to get into your daily routine is that it does not require any special gym membership. You can race walk outside from anywhere. In addition, there is not much equipment required at all because you only need a pair of sneakers to get started on your race walking journey. No matter what pace you are when you first start out, you can experience the benefits of this exercise without needing any special skill set or instruction. It is also a great exercise to fit into your group activities. By planning to race walk with your friends, you can fit in some social interaction with your daily exercise, which is a great way to improve your overall mood and keep you connected to others. 

When you first start out with race walking, be sure to stretch before and after your walk. You should also make sure that you have plenty of water to drink so that you stay hydrated while you are exercising. Be sure that you drink water in advance of your walk so that you do not start out in a dehydrated state. 

Electronic Skin Health Trackers

You are probably familiar with the activity trackers that many people wear as wristbands to see how many steps they take in a day or how many calories that they burned while exercising according to their heart rate. The future of activity trackers has already arrived, and it comes in the form of electronic skin health trackers. These amazing devices are developed out of thin material that sticks directly to the skin and can be worn throughout the day. The device was just recently developed by two professors from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University. The device is so small that it is completely undetectable when worn under clothing and is capable of sticking to the skin for extended periods of time. 

There are many bodily functions that can be monitored by the electronic skin health tracker. For example, this innovative device can sense health problems, such as detecting various diseases, at a much earlier stage than what many doctors may diagnose. This is because the sensors are interacting directly with the skin at multiple contact points on the body. The data received is analyzed and tracked in real time to get a much more comprehensive picture of what is going on with your body. This data is able to be analyzed by health care professionals to detect early warning signs of many life-threatening diseases. It can also give your doctors a much more accurate picture of what your daily lifestyle choices look like.

Unlike your typical activity tracker that is worn as a wristband, these skin sensors are much closer to your actual system and are able to pick up broader categories of data than simply measuring your heart rate at any given time. The technology for the electronic skin health trackers is still being developed, but the early prototypes of the devices look very promising. Instead of having to rely on patients to account for their daily lifestyle choices, doctors can get a clear glimpse into how a variety of environmental factors are affecting their patients' overall health.

Some doctors think that the next step in the development of electronic skin health trackers is the ability of the patches to dispense medicine directly through the skin at the appropriate time for each patient. This could be very helpful for patients who have a difficult time remembering to take the appropriate amount of medication, such as senior adults who live alone and do not have a constant caregiver. It could help these adults to maintain their independence as well. While this technology is still years away from being solidified, the rapid advancement in health data tracking through the current electronic skin trackers is quite promising. The developers of the electronic skin health trackers are also currently looking into the issue that the date collected by the skin trackers cannot yet be wirelessly transmitted to another device. To make these devices widely available, data will need to be able to be compiled in a more efficient way, such as being able to sync the device to a web-based monitoring service in real time. 

Learning a New Language Can Help Keep Brains Young

If you are looking for ways to delay dementia and possibly even prevent Alzheimer's, you may want to consider learning a second language. A number of studies have shown a link between the ability to speak two or more languages and the prevention of brain deterioration. This is true whether you have spoken two languages your whole life or you learn it later, and regardless of your education level. Multiple languages is, in fact, a better indicator of long-lasting brain health than education levels in the opinion of some experts. Here is a look at why this may be the case, and how you can learn two languages quickly and easily:

Languages Can Mean Flexibility of Thought
Part of the reason that being bilingual, trilingual or otherwise multilingual leads to a younger brain is that it offers flexibility in the way you view things. The phrases that are used to describe things, and even words themselves have within them a bias that creates a change in how you view the world. Eskimos have multiple words for types of snow, but no general snow category. The word for potato in French translates directly into "apple of the earth." The Swedes have a word that means just enough-- not too little, not too much, which emphasizes the importance of moderation in the culture. When you speak two or more languages, you begin to think in multiple ways about the same items. This creates new neural connections that allow your brain another way to access a word or concept if one of these nerve routes is impaired.

How to Learn a New Language
There are a number of different ways to learn a new language. The most successful way for you to learn will depend on your access to time and travel combined with your personal learning style. For those who only have a little time and want something free, there are a number of online apps designed to help you to learn languages a little at a time. If you want something a little more formal and you learn well in a classroom setting, consider taking a university extension class. For those who learn best in an immersion setting, there are intensive classes in foreign-language speaking countries that you can take where you stay with a host family and do half-days of class. Once you learn, try and find a friend to practice with. One great partnership is to find someone who speaks the language natively and will converse with you. If they speak English as a second language, it gives you the opportunity to help one another. 

Keeping Your Second Language Fresh
If you spoke another language in high school or college, or you learned a language as a child from grandparents or parents, then your brain health can benefit from keeping that language fresh. Travel to places where it is spoken. Join a local language club. Read websites, newspapers or even novels in that language. Watch foreign films. Call your relatives from other countries. It can be done any way that works for you and your lifestyle, provided you remember to practice as often as you have a chance. 

Seeking Counsel is Key to Mental Growth

More people have now come to understand that the idea of “mental health” does not only refer to those who suffer from clinical psychological disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia or those who have been hospitalized because of some kind of nervous failure. Mental health is a term that applies to the everyday psychological and emotional well-being of all human beings.

Positive mental health refers to such things as the ability to cope with loss, peace of mind, ability to deal with conflict, self-esteem, ability to be in relationship with others in a productive and effective way, and being able to handle pressure and to equip yourself with sensible problem solving abilities. However, many times, people experience distressing events that leave them helpless and unable to live happily.

Sometimes, our distressing feelings are attached to a particular set of circumstances, person, or event. Other times, there is a rational understanding of why the feelings are experienced. Relationships, childhood issues, loss, financial pressure, and conflict are some of the issues that people talk about during counseling. Sometimes, the problem lies with people who are close to us and whom we feel we could talk to at such moments, but are too attached to the situation to genuinely listen to us with fairness and an open mind.

Most times, we find it difficult or feel ashamed to talk about issues that we do not understand ourselves. Childhood issues are usually kept quiet within families for loyalty’s sake or probable divisiveness. This makes it hard to find someone to talk to. In such cases, psychotherapy or counseling can become an important mental health resource.

Crisis Treatment
Mental health councilors often help people who need help dealing with distressing experiences in their lives. A councilor can help people who are distressed due to natural disasters or accidents and talk to people who have been through violent attacks, rape, or the sudden death of loved ones. Crisis treatment may be provided to patients when they become suicidal, threaten the safety of others, refuse to take medication, experience certain mental health problems or start using drugs and other harmful substances.

Addictions and Substance Abuse Counseling
Patients who have some sort of addiction can also be treated by mental health councilors. These include patients struggling with addiction to prescription or illegal drugs as well as alcoholism. Here, the counselor usually concentrates on helping the patient identify the problems, know its causes, and change behavior in order to recover. Patients may also be taught how to achieve and maintain recovery success.

Mental health counselors help people who are struggling with stressful situations, anxiety, or are having trouble making life-changing decisions. Many people often find it difficult to choose or change careers. Life changes that come with aging and transitioning from one stage in life to another are some of the experiences that counselors help people deal with. In many cases, counseling involves setting goals, working towards them, and controlling stress.