Women’s Health Over 40: How to Achieve Your Best Health Ever!

For some women, turning 40 is the beginning of an adventure, a time to celebrate achievements and to enjoy the fruits of their labor. For others, turning 40 signifies the end of youth and the beginning of middle age, a time to reminisce about days gone by when they looked and felt much better. Still for others, turning 40 is just ‘no big deal’ and the status quo prevails. Do you recognize yourself as one of these ‘women over 40’? Then, this article is right for you.
Achieving and maintaining an ‘optimal state’ as a woman over 40 requires a firm an unequivocal dedication to living a healthy, fit and fulfilling life. And, it all begins with ‘an intention’ - to make every day your best day ever, no matter where you find yourself right now. Following that, you have to sit down and write a description of your ideal life, one that includes your ideal body, your ideal health, your ideal fitness level and your ideal mental state.
Once you have a clear description of your ideal ‘self’, write down at least 3 goals you want to achieve this next year that will bring you to the realization of your ideal. Every day, read your description and your goals and act on them, even if it means going for a 15 minute walk after dinner. Ask yourself whether the actions you are taking daily are moving you closer or further from your health, fitness and wellness goals. If yes, then press on. If no, then take a deep breath and shore up your energies to recommit to your ideal life and your ideal self.
Why bother doing this ritual every day? Why not just go with the flow and try your best to lose weight, get healthy, get fit, or whatever? Well, because it is ‘proven’ to work. The most successful people at just about everything are people who know where their headed and have a clear path to get there. They have a one-pointed intention to realize their goals and achieve their ideal lives. Why shouldn’t you be one of those people living the life of your dreams?
To help you achieve and maintain your ideal self, there are many resources http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=301402235730307948
Edit Postsavailable online. At http://womenshealthsupply.com, we offer women’s health guides on all of the topics that concern women over 40, from weight loss, menopause and it's symptoms to vitamins and supplements, to osteoporosis, to heart disease, to diabetes, to aging, among many others. Our large selection of name-brand products will help you and your families achieve the lives you truly deserve.
By Sandy Huard
Photo by Cocolima
http://womenshealthsupply.com
http://womenshealthsupply.blogspot.com


About Sandy
Sandy is a business entrepreneur and President and Founder of Women’s Health Supply International (http://womenshealthsupply.com), an online retail store that sells over 6,400 products from the health and fitness industry to women and their families. She left her 10-year corporate marketing career in 2007 to found her own company because of her passion for health, fitness and wellness and her desire to share that passion with others. A mother of two young boys and a member of the demographic herself, her company’s primary focus is to serve the needs of women over 40 and their families. She is author of the Women’s Health, Fitness and Wellness blog found at http://womenshealthsupply.blogspot.com.

Eliminating Stress Will Enable You to Sleep Full Nights

For as long as I can remember, my mother has had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep until morning. She would invariably wake up feeling stressed and then wound up staring at the ceiling or tossing and turning for the rest of the night only to "wake up" feeling more tired than when she put her head on the pillow. When she started her passage through menopause she found that the nightly hot flashes were only aggravating the existing problems.

Determined to help my mother through such hardship, I set out to find ways to help her fall asleep and stay asleep. I tested some of the techniques on myself when I was feeling particularly stressed in my own life. Below is a description of each and how these have helped both my mother and I to overcome sleeping problems and to wake up feeling rejuvenated and like a billionaire woman!

1. Write down all your worries: The major problem that we have when going to bed is the constant re-thinking of the day’s events. We see everything that happened during the day in our mind’s eye and we obsess over the mistakes we made and criticize ourselves. We also start thinking of the coming day and the monstrous list of things that we have yet to accomplish. By sitting down and writing out exactly what it is that you are worried about, either what happened recently or what you fear might happen later, you clear your mind. You say goodbye to the inner chatter and you leave space for yourself and the present moment.

2. Write down everything you are grateful for: The act of listing 10 or more items that you are grateful for is a simple one. You might think that it doesn’t have much of an impact on your sleep, but the truth is that it will not only allow you to fall asleep feeling relaxed and uplifted, but it will also shift your life in so many ways. By focusing on what you are grateful for and thankful for in your life, you remind yourself what makes you happy and that sometimes the things you think you need aren’t that important.

3. Meditate calmly for 15 minutes: Meditation might not be something that appeals to you, but simply sitting quietly on the edge of your bed for 5 to 15 minutes before you go to bed will quickly convince you otherwise. The fastest way to meditate is simply to sit comfortably and focus on the coming and going of your breath. You might find that your mind wanders from your breath, but choosing to refocus yourself without any abrupt movements can help you a great deal. I have used this technique on numerous occasions and it definitely helps me fall asleep. It is especially effective after doing the previous two steps.

4. Go to bed only when you’re truly tired: This one is tough for me as it must be for others as well. We tend to go to bed too early when we have not yet spent ourselves and to force ourselves to stay up late when we are involved in something exciting. This leaves our body confused about when it should sleep. Our bodies are very smart and when they need sleep yet cannot have it on some nights, and when they received too much on other nights we might be confusing it. Try listening to your body to decide when to go to bed. If you always go to bed at the same time each night just go quietly to your room at your usual time and perform the above steps and see if you want to read quietly instead of sleeping right away. Other nights you might need to retire earlier by shutting off the computer and the television.

Hopefully these tips will help you to make the most of your nights, without worrying about the possibility of waking up in the middle of the night.

This article was written by Nathalie Lussier and you can get more tips to improve your life by subscribing to her Billionaire Woman weblog.

Some Women Have Hot Flashes Late Into Menopause

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Persistent hot flashes and night sweats into the late postmenopausal years may occur but they are not common, according to new research.
"Hot flashes are among the most frequent complaints of women during the menopausal transition," Dr. Alison J. Huang, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues write in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "In most women, hot flashes resolve within a few years of menopause, but some women report symptoms for many years after they cease to menstruate."
The researchers looked into this in a study involving 3167 older postmenopausal women. They were 67 years old on average, and the average time since menopause was 19 years. Huang's group looked for characteristics associated with hot flashes at the start of the study and after 3 years of follow-up.
Initially, 375 (11.8 percent) women reported bothersome hot flushes. Symptoms were more likely to occur in women who had less education, had more recently begun menopause, had undergone hysterectomy, or had previously used estrogen.
Hot flashes were also linked with higher body mass index, vaginal dryness, and trouble sleeping.
Three years later, data were available for 278 of the 375 women. More than half of them still had persistent symptoms. Independent predictors of continuing hot flashes included fewer years since menopause and trouble sleeping.
"Further research is needed to explore the mechanisms underlying the relationship of educational status, obesity, hysterectomy, vaginal symptoms, and trouble sleeping to hot flashes in this population," Huang's team concludes.
Photo by Sue Richards

Live a Happy Life...

Can You Really Think Yourself Happy? As women we all go through different phases in our life with varying degrees of happiness...teenage, young adult, adult, menopausal adult , post menopausal adult. Believe it or not, it is within your power to create positive thoughts allowing you to accomplish anything you set out to do in spite of the obstacles and challenges that life presents. Can you really think yourself happy? The answer is a qualified yes.

Here are the ways in which positive thoughts can help you accomplish many things in life. Whether it's health and wealth or some other positive change we want, positive thoughts produce positive results. We can either bemoan our situation, or change it. We can be negative about an event or enthusiastic. President Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” If you really want to think yourself happy, then make up your mind to do so.

It may be difficult to think happy when the world does not always seem like a happy place but if we all choose to view life differently and focus on the positive instead of dwelling on the negative then we could make a difference - if not in the world, definately in our own lives and for those around us. One person, one idea, one positive thought can change a society! Here are just some ways to help you focus on the positive:

• Seek out positive people to associate with.
• Expose yourself to all the wonderful books, music and movies available.
• Show kindness and respect towards others.
• Live life as if every day is your last.
• Use positive reinforcement wherever and whenever you can.
• Use visualization methods to view the positive aspects of life.
• Speak in a positive tone.
• Rid your mind of negative thinking with yoga and exercise.
• Let your expectations reflect your positive attitude.
• Allow peace of mind to envelop you.
• Become your own best friend.

Happiness is not a genetic trait we are born with or without, it is a choice that we make. It is up to us to maintain it, share it, and build our lives around it. Think happy often enough and you can live a happy life.

By Joanne Mayhead

Blog:http://www.totalwellbeingblog.com
Website:www.totalwellbeingresources.com
Photo by: Luisa MCM Cruz

Do Carbs Make You Gain Weight ?

You are bombarded with mixed messages about carbs, and if you're like most people, you're a little confused. Are carbs good, or bad?

Flash quiz: Answer true or false to each of the following statements

1. Carbs make you gain weight.
2. You need carbs to get strong and healthy.
3. Carbs make you smarter.

We'll get to the answers, but first let's look at why it's important to understand the nature of carbs.

Whether you are going through menopause or not, effective nutrition is different for everyone . We each have unique bodies, with particular needs and tastes. With the right information you can cultivate the physique you want, gain health, and enjoy higher energy levels. I am going to give you some simple, solid information here, and then you can cut through all the hype and decide for yourself how you feel about carbs and how much or how little you need to incorporate them into your personal nutrition strategy.

OK. So, when you eat ANY kind of carbs, your body converts them into blood sugar (glucose), which is then stored in your muscle tissue and your liver. As you expend energy by working out or just by living life every day, you use up your stored glucose.

Here comes the part you've been waiting for: If you eat carbohydrates before your body is done using up all of the glucose it has already stored, guess what happens? The extra carbohydrates are stored as F-A-T.

By now, you've probably already solved the carb mystery, which isn't such a mystery after all: if you want to avoid body fat storage from carbs, eat them only after you've used up the glucose stored from your previous meal. Makes sense, doesn't it? And by now you also know the answers to the flash quiz:

1. Carbs make you fat. This is both true and false. It's not the carbs that make you fat, it's how you use them that can become a problem. Think of carbs like fire - fire can warm you or burn you, depending on how you use it. In and of itself, fire - and carbs - are neither good nor bad.
2. You need carbs to get strong and healthy. True. Carbs are your body's preferred source of energy. If you don't eat enough of them, your body will find other sources of energy, like breaking down hard-earned muscle tissue. The less muscle you have, the less shape there is to your body. This results in sagging skin and a backside that lacks form and firmness.
3. Carbs make you smarter. True (kind of). Your brain operates with the help of glucose in your blood. That's why it's difficult to concentrate if you've gone too long without eating. So while it might not be true that carbs make you smart, it is true that having too few can make you feel stupid, which is sort of like the same thing. (If you're like most of us, you don't need more reasons to feel stupid in this life - we do that to ourselves enough already!)

Coming up: How to choose the right carbs and when to eat them.

Stay tuned to www.BodyWizards.com for additional micro sessions on how to cultivate a strong, attractive, body.

In strength,
Julie

Julie Scipioni McKown is a certified personal trainer, and a physique transformation champion. Her e-book, Body Wizardry: The Art of Physique Transformation from the Inside, Out is now available as a Kindle ebook. Don't have a Kindle? Get yours here. For information on purchasing other versions of the ebook, email us at ebooks@bodywizards.com.

Photo by Esther17

What’s Good About Weight Bearing Exercise For Women?

As women enter menopause their bone density decreases naturally. Doctors recommend weight bearing exercise to help keep bones strong. Weight bearing exercise can include walking, running, weight lifting or strength yoga as a few of the options. When we maintain a regular exercise program, we not only build our bones, but help ourselves to feel better both physically and mentally.

If you are new to exercise, start with a program of 30 minutes every other day. Gradually you can begin to exercise everyday for peak weight bearing exercise benefit. If weight lifting is your choice of exercise, it is best to alternate with walking, running or yoga to give your body a rest in between.

Below are the Key Benefits of regular weight bearing exercise.

• Over time weight bearing exercise will reduce your body fat, increase your lean muscle mass so you burn calories more efficiently.

• Exercise will increase bone mass especially during menopause . By stressing your bones, strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis. If you already have osteoporosis, strength training can lessen it’s impact.
  

• By improving muscle tone, you can reduce your risk of injury. Building muscle protects your joints from injury. It also helps you maintain flexibility and balance.
  

• Exercise increases energy and stamina. Some people believe exercise will tire them out, but when you exercise your body begins to work more efficiently, so you feel more energized throughout the day.

• It improve your sense of well-being. Strength training can boost your self-confidence, improve your body image and reduce the risk of depression. Exercise increases the serotonin levels in the brain which in turn create an internal sense of well-being.

• You'll get a better night's sleep. People who exercise regularly tend to sleep better at night. Those pesky menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats may not bother you as much if you are sleeping more soundly.

Photo by Amma Maw

Stress, Nutrition and Physical Excersice

Our body is designed to move. A life without enough movement can cause nutrition stress. The bones need daily deposit of calcium, phosphor and magnesium to maintain its strength and density. Without a certain level of physical exercise, the bones can not efficiently gathered nutrition from the blood even though the nutrition intake is enough. A healthy load to the bone caused by physical activities is an absolute need. Lack of physical exercise and inadequate calcium intake can cause osteoporosis, a certain condition which causes the bone to be fragile, easily broken and damaged. High calcium diet combined with physical exercise can help prevent osteoporosis.

Muscles need a certain stimulation to absorb nutrition from the blood. Without a regular use and practice, our muscles can grow weaker and shrink. This can lead to the decrease of strength. Physical excercise can reduce the risk of fat and increase the level of good fat in our blood. In addition, physical exercise can also increase the heart and lungs fitness.
by By Dr. Vina Revi
Photo by Lars van de Goor