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04 August 2017

The Ins and Outs of Collagen!

Collagen is a hard, insoluble, and fibrous protein that makes up one-third of the protein found in the human body. It acts as a supporting structure and anchors cells to each other to provide strength and elasticity. There are at least 16 different types of collagen, but 80-90% of them belong to types 1, 2, and 3. Each type has a different structure and functions.

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What Does Collagen Do?

Collagen is secreted by various cells, but mostly by connective tissue cells. It’s found in the extracellular matrix, which is an intricate network of macromolecules that determines the physical properties of body tissues. A macromolecule is a molecule that contains a large number of atoms.
In the dermis, or the middle layer of the skin, collagen helps to form a fibrous network of cells known as fibroblasts, upon which new cells grow. It also plays a role in replacing and restoring dead skin cells. Some collagens act as protective layers for delicate organs such as the kidney.
With age, the body produces less collagen, resulting in the formation of wrinkles, and weaknesses in joint cartilage. Women experience a dramatic reduction in collagen synthesis straight after menopause.

Uses: Medical and Cosmetic

Collagen is resorbable which means it can be broken down, converted, and absorbed back into the body. Furthermore, it can also be formed into compacted solids or lattice-like gels. Its diverse range of functions, and the fact that it occurs naturally, makes it clinically versatile and suitable for a range of medical procedures.
Skin Fillers
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Collagen injections can improve the contours of the skin and help fill out depressions. Fillers that contain collagen can be used to remover wrinkles and lines from the face. They can also help improve scars, as long as they do not have a sharp edge.

Wound Dressing

Collagen can help to heal wounds by attracting new skins cells to the wound site. It promotes healing and provides a new platform for tissue growth.

Collagen dressings can help heal:

• Chronic wounds that do not respond to other treatments
• Necrotic or rotting wounds
• Wounds that expel bodily fluids such as urine or sweat
• Granulating wounds, on which different tissues grow
• Partial and full-thickness wounds
• Second-degree burns 
• Sites of skin donation and skin grafts


Guided Tissue Regeneration

Collagen-based membranes have been used in periodontal and implant therapy to promote the growth of specific types of cells. In oral surgery, collagen barriers can prevent fast-growing cells around the gum from migrating to a wound in a tooth. This preserves a space, allowing tooth cells the chance to regenerate.

Vascular Prosthetics

Collagen tissue grafts from donors have been used in peripheral nerve regeneration, in arterial reconstruction, and in vascular prostheses.
While collagen prostheses are compatible with the human body, some have been found to be thrombogenic, or likely to cause coagulation of the blood.
Treatment of Osteoarthritis
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Collagen supplements may help treat osteoarthritis. A study carried out back in 2006 found that supplements containing collagen helped decrease painful symptoms and improve joint function in people with osteoarthritis. As the supplement is absorbed, collagen accumulates in the cartilage, helping to rebuild the extracellular matrix.

Nutrients That promote Collagen Formation

• Proline: In egg whites, cheese, soy. Cabbage, and meat. 
• Anthocyanidins: In blueberries, cherries, blackberries, and raspberries.
• Vitamin C: In strawberries, oranges, broccoli, and peppers. 
• Copper: In shellfish, red meat, nuts, and some drinking water.


What Damages Collagen?

Some factors can deplete the levels of collagen in the body. Avoiding them could keep the skin healthier for longer.

High Sugar Consumption

A diet high in sugar increases the rate of glycation, a process where blood sugars attach to proteins to form new molecules called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These damage nearby proteins and can make collagen brittle, dry, and weak.
Smoking
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Many of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke damage both collagen and elastin in the skin. Nicotine also narrows the blood vessels in the outer layers of the skin, which reduces the amount of nutrients and oxygen that can be delivered to the skin.

Sunlight

UV rays cause collagen to break down more rapidly, damaging collagen fibers and causing an abnormal buildup of elastin. When the collagen in the dermis is damaged by UV rays, the skin rebuilds incorrectly, forming wrinkles.

The Aging Process

Collagen levels decrease over time and there is nothing that can be done to prevent this. Avoiding tobacco, excess sun exposure, and following a healthy diet and exercise regime can help reduce visible aging and protect collagen, keeping the skin, muscles, bones, and joints healthy for longer.

Ever wondered what happens to your body when you start walking?

Here's a minute-by   -minute rundown of the amazing chain reaction walking and exercise has upon your body, it's truly amazing!
Minutes 1 to 5
Your first few steps trigger the release of energy-producing chemicals in your cells to fuel your walk. Your heart rate revs-up from about 70 to 100 beats per minute (bpm), boosting blood-flow and warming muscles.

Any stiffness subsides as joints release lubricating fluid to help you move more easily. As you get moving, your body burns 5 calories per minute, compared with only 1 per minute at rest. Your body needs more fuel and starts pulling from its carbohydrates and fat stores.

Minutes 6 to 10
Heartbeat increases and you're burning up to 6 calories a minute as you pick up the pace. A slight rise in blood pressure is countered by the release of chemicals that expand blood vessels, bringing more blood and oxygen to working muscles.

Minutes 11 to 20
Your body temperature keeps rising, and you start to perspire as blood vessels near the skin expand to release heat. As your walk becomes brisker, you'll be burning up to 7 calories a minute and breathing harder. Hormones such as epinephrine and glucagon rise to release fuel to the muscles.

Minutes 21 to 45
Feeling invigorated, you start to relax as your body releases tension, thanks in part to a dose of feel-good chemicals such as endorphins in your brain. As more fat is burned, insulin (which helps store fat) drops--excellent news for anyone battling excess weight or diabetes.

Minutes 46 to 60
Your muscles may feel fatigued as carbohydrates stores are reduced. As you cool down, your heart rate decreases and your breathing slows. You'll be burning fewer calories but more than you were before you started. Your calorie burn will remain elevated for up to 1 hour.
All this happens without a single conscious thought from us - the human body is amazing....
Stay blessed -Stayfit..
Walk / Exercise...
Kindly forward to as many as possible...

03 August 2017

Without a doubt, our bodies do extraordinary things, but they are all built around cycles, controlled by the brain and defined by our sleeping and eating patterns. At different times of the day, the body has one organ which is at its energetic peak, and by knowing your energy clock well, you can help your body cope better.
The chart below illustrates the human energy body clock, showing the best times to eat, work, sleep and socialize. According to TCM, the body moves its energy concentration from one organ to another every 2 hours (as the chart indicates) with the organ opposite each time slot (12 hours ahead) being the one with the least energetic functioning during that time.
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For a more detailed overview, this is how the Chinese Body Clock works.
First of all, our body goes through three main cycles every day. These cycles are as follows:
1. Elimination Cycle (4am-12pm):
This is the time during which the body is getting rid of toxins - the reason behind the bad breath and sweaty skin we wake up with in the morning. During this period, it is recommended that we eat food that is easily digestible, such as raw produce, green juice, smoothies, etc.
2. Appropriation Cycle (12pm-8pm):
The body is most awake and active during this time of the day, and so is its digestion and metabolism. You may be feeling more hungry than usual during this  time period. If so, it is important to eat, even if it's not during meal times. 
3. Assimilation Cycle (8pm-4am):
At this time, the body is concentrating on the absorption of nutrients in order to revitalize cells and organs. It's the perfect time for healing, rebuilding and renewing, and it's recommended that dinner is taken right before this cycle.
As you have seen in the Human Body Energy Clock chart above, these cycles can be broken down even further, focusing more on the activity peaks of specific body organs.
Here's what's happening in every section of the clock and how you can help your body in the process.
• Between 3am and 5am:
While you are in a deep sleep, your body is focusing on the lungs and breathing, to make sure enough oxygen is filling your lungs, and entering your blood and nervous system. If you cough during this time, it probably means that your lungs are getting rid of toxins. 
• Between 5am and 7am:
You are now in your elimination cycle, and your body is preparing the large intestine to eliminate toxins as soon as you wake up. If you're up at this time, it is recommended that you drink 16+ oz of water to replace the lost liquid. At this point, opt for a brisk walk over sitting down while drinking a cup of coffee!
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 • Between 7am and 9am:
Now, the energy focus moves to the stomach. You are likely to rise with a good appetite, after a long period of fasting throughout the night. Wake up and eat breakfast - make sure it contains fruit and protein to fill you with the nutrients you need to face the day.
• Between 9am and 11am:
After the stomach, come the pancreas and the spleen. During this time, these organs are processing your breakfast and converting it into energy. This energy becomes the fuel your cells need for your new day ahead.
• Between 11am and 1pm:
By now, the nutrients in your breakfast are being pumped around the body by the heart, and reaching out to all your body systems and organs through the circulatory system. Now is the right time to be with people and prepare yourself for another dose of nutrients, as energy levels start to decrease.
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 • Between 1pm and 3pm:
The perfect time to eat lunch.  After doing this, many people feel the need to take a nap to boost their energy for the rest of the day and take a break from the morning activities. Furthermore, your body is now working on the digestion of your lunch, focusing on the small intestine. This is also an ideal time for some peaceful meditation. 
• Between 3pm and 5pm:
The focus now shifts to the bladder. At this time, it is recommended that you stay hydrated by drinking water or tea. It is also an excellent time to get some things done for the last time before your body prepares you for the evening.
• Between 5pm and 7pm:
It's time for the last main meal of the day - dinner. This shouldn't be very big, but should be nutritious. Your body is concentrating on the kidneys now, to filter the body of any waste. It is also working on the lymphatic system to keep the body clear and in flow. Doing some physical movement would be a good idea - consider walking or stretching. 
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• Between 7pm and 9pm: 
At this point of the day, your blood pressure is typically at its highest levels, and your body's focus now shifts to the pericardium. The day is nearing its end, and it's suitable to take this time to wind down and relax. One's libido has very often reached its peak by now, so the engagement in intercourse is ideal at this time.
• Between 9pm and 11pm:
Your body is now focusing on the triple warmer and the endocrine system. At this time, you are least expected, or recommended, to eat. Preferably, one should continue to relax, while the body is working on its equilibrium and the replacements of enzymes used throughout the day. It's also the ideal and easiest time to go to sleep.
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• Between 11pm and 1am:
While you are sleeping, your body is focusing on the gallbladder. If you suffer from gallstones, then you might experience some pain during this time. 
• Between 1am and 3am:
The liver is now at work. Your body is detoxifying itself by processing alcohol, chemicals, drugs, and poor diet, and eliminating the unwanted substances, cleansing your blood as a result.
WE didn't have the Idoised Salt
WE all must switch to Rock Salt

What is bad for hypertension is iodized salt, which is a fake salt. It is made up of only 3 synthetic  chemicals, sodium, chloride, iodine. It does not melt in water (glistens like diamonds), does NOT melt in the body, does not melt in the kidneys, gives kidney stones, and raises blood pressure. However, it is the salt favoured by the  drug-based doctors who say it is very clean and sanitary, pointing to how white it is and how it glistens like diamonds. The fake salt is man-made in a factory. The true salt, which comes from the sea and dried under the sun and commonly called rock salt , has 72 natural minerals including natural sodium, chloride, iodine. It melts in water, melts in your body, melts in the kidneys, does not give kidney stones, and best of all, brings down blood pressure and stops/prevents muscle cramps, numbness, tingling.


If you get muscle cramps in the lower legs at night, just take  a half teaspoon of rock salt and a glass of water, and the cramps with its horrific pain will be gone in 5 minutes. The highest BP that came my way was in a woman who had a BP of 240/140 and came to my house at 10:30 pm on what she said was a matter of "life and death" because the high BP was already giving her a crushing headache, especially the back of her head. She could not walk up the 6 shallow steps to my porch. Two men had to help her, one on each side, in addition to the cane that she needed to prop herself up.


I muscle tested her and found that she had her BP of 240/140 and the crushing pain in the head, her body's water content was only 6% (normal is 75%), salt content was zero, potassium was 96% deficient, and cardiac output (blood flow from the heart) was only 40% (normal is 100%). So the blood supply to the head was 60% deficient.


I gave her one 6" long green chili (hot pepper), 1 raw ripe saba banana, 1/2 teaspoon of rock salt and 3 8-oz glasses of tap water. The chili was to normalize cardiac output and shoot blood to the head, the saba banana was for the potassium deficiency and to have food in the stomach because pepper will give a stomach ache if the stomach is empty, and the rock salt and the water were the first aid for her severe dehydration which was causing her arteries to be dry and stiff and her blood to be thick and sticky, because they were dehydrated.


After 5 minutes, she said, "The pain in my head is gone." We took her BP, it was 115/75, and cardiac output was up to 100%.


She walked out of the house to her car without the men helping her and without the cane.


She has been taking 2.5 teaspoons of rock salt, 15 glasses of water, 6 Saba bananas and 3 of the long pepper daily since then (beginning September 2009), and her BP and cardiac output have been normal since then.


Two months later, in November, at a PCAM round table forum on hypertension in Club Filipino, she gave her testimony, followed by her brother who said that she grew 2", because the salt and the water had refilled her compressed disc spaces in her vertebral column. The disc spaces had become compressed because they had become dehydrated since the fluid filling up these discs are 95% water.


Why salt? Because without salt the body cannot retain water no matter how much water is drunk. You will still be dehydrated because you will just keep urinating and sweating the water out.


This is not an isolated case. When BP is rising high but there is little or no headache but there is stiffness of shoulder and neck muscles, all you need to normalize the BP and remove the stiffness and the pain in 5 minutes is 1/2 teaspoon of rock salt and 3 glasses of water. If there is crushing pain in the head, it means blood supply to the head is lacking, and you will need the chili to normalize it and shoot blood to the head and remove the extreme pain.


8 Flexibility Exercises for Pain Relief!

No matter how old you are, you should still perform flexibility exercises regularly, whether you also go to a gym or exercise at home. At a more advanced age, flexibility has a major role in increasing your range of motion, making it easier to move about and improve your general posture. Also, there are flexibility exercises that help reduce pain and stiffness, which greatly increases your quality of life. Below you will find the eight most effective exercises for dealing with the pain and discomfort that many of us encounter on a daily basis.
flexibility-exercises
When should these exercises be performed?

The best time to do these exercises is when your muscles have warmed up, which will make the stretches themselves painless. If you plan on only performing the flexibility exercises, make sure you warm up the muscles by taking a brisk walk for a few minutes. If you consider adding these exercises to your stamina or strength workout, make sure you perform them at the end of the session.

The correct way to perform flexibility exercises

The most important thing to remember when performing flexibility exercises is that they are only effective if you’re feeling a slight stretch in the area you’re working on. Many people try and stretch to the point where they feel some pain, but you have to remember that pain is the body’s response to a potentially damaging action. The moment you feel a light stretch, maintain that level and remain in the position for 10 to 30 seconds.

1. Stiffness in the lower back

Exercise: Lying down ankle stretch

This exercise uses the ankle to stretch the lower back, freeing the vertebrates and relieving stress and spinal stiffness.

Instructions:

• Lie on your back, bend your left knee and raise your leg.
• Lift your right ankle and cross it over your raised left thigh.
• Grab your thigh with both hands and pull it towards your chest, keeping your knee bent.
• Hold for 30 seconds and slowly release, and then alternate legs.
flexibility-exercises
2. Pain and stiffness in the shoulders

Exercise: Stretching your arms

Pain or stiffness in the chest and shoulder regions are common in people who spend many hours in a sitting position. This exercise releases the stiffness that forms because of the sitting posture, and stretches your hands to restore their full range of motion. You will need a rolled up mat or towel for this exercise.

Instructions:

• Lie down on your stomach with the roll on your left-hand side.
• Raise your head slightly, extend your left arm to the side and over the roll, without touching the floor. 
• Move your hand over your head, and then return it to the side.
• Repeat 5 times per arm, and make sure you do not move the roll during the set.
flexibility-exercises
3. Stiff knees

Exercise: Sitting towel stretch

This is a great flexibility exercise for people who suffer from stiffness in the knees, and cannot perform stretches that require reaching down to your feet. In addition, using the towel aids in stretching the correct areas without damaging your back.

Instructions:

• Sit on the floor with your legs stretched forward.
• Place a towel under your feet and grab both ends with your hands, pulling both sides.
• Inhale and try to pull the towel as much as you can without causing yourself pain.
• Exhale and ease the pull, and then repeat.
• Maintain this position for 30 seconds.

 
flexibility-exercises
4. Upper back pains

Exercise: The “Angry Cat” exercise

This exercise is nicknamed the “Angry Cat”, and it allows you to release your shoulder blades, which are the source of most upper back pain.

Instructions:

• Stand up straight, then bend your knees a little, lean forward and hold your inner thighs with your hands.
• Arch your back to resemble an angry cat and pull yourself up, using your hands as an anchor.
• Hold this position for 30 seconds.
flexibility-exercises
5. Pain or burning sensation in the knee

Exercise: Sideways towel stretch

Experiencing pain or a burning sensation in the side of either knee is a typical issue for people who have suffered a knee injury in the past. This stretch will help in reducing the load on the knees and relieve much of the pain in the region.

Instructions:

• Lie down on your back, with your legs flat on the floor.
• Wrap one foot with a towel, raise it up in the air and move it across your other leg, at knee-height.
• Grab the ends of the towel with the opposite hand. If you can’t keep your knee straight, it's okay to bend it.
• Stretch your other hand to touch the floor, palm up, and turn your head to face that hand.
• Hold this position for 30 seconds, then switch sides.
flexibility-exercises
6. Outer thigh pain

Exercise: The heel bend stretch

Pain in the thigh region is quite common, and can often be solved through exercises that increase your flexibility without having to see an orthopedist. Try this exercise for a couple of weeks and you’ll notice the difference too.

Instructions:

• Lie on your stomach, while bending one leg up.
• Wrap the raised leg in a towel.
• Gently pull the towel back to help you bend the heel down towards the buttocks.
• Maintain the stretch for 30 seconds, then switch legs.
flexibility-exercises
7. Slouching
Exercise: Resistance stretch

If you feel like you’re slouching and have a hard time holding your back straight for a prolonged period of time, this chest-expanding exercise may be what you need.

Instructions:

• Stand by a doorway or a tree (if you’re outdoors).
• Place one hand on the tree or doorway to maintain balance, and turn your body away from it until you feel the stretch in your arm and chest.
• Maintain this position for 30 seconds, then switch hands.
flexibility-exercises
8. Prolonged sitting damage

Exercise: Sideways roll stretch

This exercise is perfect after a long day at the office, and will help prevent pain in the lower back and buttocks. You will need a long, hard pillow, or a rolled up yoga mat or towel.

Instructions:

• Lie on your back and place the pillow/towel under your buttocks.
• Stretch your hands to your sides, and lay them on the floor.
• Bend and lift one knee, and turn the other leg away from it (If you’ve lifted the right knee, turn your left leg to face left) until you feel a stretch in the buttocks, as well as a slight twist in your spine.
• Hold this position for a few seconds, then return to lying down.
• Repeat three times per leg.
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