Recent research has also suggested that milk thistle also aids in lowering cholesterol, it does this by increasing the body’s production of the natural antioxidant, glutathione.
The main medicinal benefits are derived from a flavonoid complex housed in the milk thistle herb, which comes in the shape of silymarin. This particular substance is sourced from the milk thistle seeds. The silymarin complex contains a total of four health beneficial phytochemicals; these include silybinin, isosilybinin, silydianin, and silychristin.

Individuals that suffer from the likes of ailments such as cirrhosis will greatly benefit from the introduction of milk thistle in their diet, as taking a small dose daily in fact improves the function of the liver. Milk thistle has also been used as an antidote to liver poisoning.

Other specialists concentrating on the natural supplement have revealed that milk thistle protects the liver damage caused by a prolonged use of drugs, even going as far as to normalise the liver’s enzyme levels.

200 milligrams of the product is the standard daily dose needed in order to create a health benefit.

Everything including the stems, the leaves and the seeds of this plant are edible and all offer a health benefit when taken in conjunction with a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Breast cancer patients benefit the most from a liposuction procedure. Often a patient will have the lymph nodes in the arms removed to prevent the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body. This will cause lymph fluids to build up in the arms and cause swelling. The liposuction surgery helps reduce this swelling. The surgeon will pull out excess fat from the arms and this reduces the swelling caused by lymphedema.

According to a Swedish physician, Dr. Hraken Brorson of the University of Malmo, about two weeks after this procedure, arm swelling was “reduced by 72 percent, by 80 percent at one month, 88 percent at three months, 93 percent at six months and 98 percent after one year.” The liposuction recovery does take a while, and the cancer patient must understand the liposuction risks, but it goes a long way in reducing the swelling and pain.

Liposuction procedures in general may be of benefit to cancer patients just because of the relationship between obesity and cancer. By removing fat from the body, it will help to restore the natural balance of the body. According to the National Cancer Institute, “In 2002, about 41,000 new cases of cancer in the United States were estimated to be due to obesity. This means that about 3.2 percent of all new cancers are linked to obesity.” They also state that certain types of cancer are directly linked to obesity, including breast cancer, esophageal cancer, and colon cancer. This logically suggests that some cancer patients would have a better chance of survival by losing weight. One obvious solution to obesity is to have liposuction. This would also appear to be of great benefit to people who want to prevent cancer from developing in the first place. A patient should discuss the length of liposuction recovery and the liposuction risk before making the choice to have the procedure.

Research contributed by : Alex Styne

It is usually possible to recognize when levels of stress become unmanageably. high. Stress tends to manifest itself in either psychological or physical symptoms, but sometimes as both.

HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS
As soon as you begin to feel that things are getting on top of you and your health is starting to suffer, try any or all of these approaches, first to identify, and then to deal with, stress in your everyday life.

• Work at identifying sources of stress in your life and consider whether or not you can make an’ changes that will leave you in greater overall control.
• Learn to manage your time better. Many, people’s stress is due to an overwhelming workload. To make work more manageable, write it list of goals for the day and list them in order of priority-. Ticking off tasks as you complete them gives you -it sense of achievement.
• Breathe deeply a very, effective and easy, way, to relieve stress is to focus oil breathing and make your breaths progressively deeper.
• A number of illicit drugs worsen feelings of stress and anxiety, including crack, cocaine and ecstasy.
• Look after your health. Eat healthily and drink alcohol and caffeine in moderation. By maintaining good overall health you reduce your tendency to illness and increase your ability to COC with whatever life throws at you.
• Try to avoid substances that might increase anxiety. A few cups of strong black coffee may wake you up in the morning but caffeine can increase levels of anxiety especially in people already suffering from the effects of stress.
• Get into the exercise habit. Regular exercise helps to mobilize and utilize excessive amounts of adrenaline (caused by stress) and so helps to calm you down.
• Try, to include some positive relaxation techniques oil daily basis. There is a range of alternative therapies that are all effective methods of relaxing and so reducing anxiety levels. These include yoga, massage, shiatsu, aromatherapy, reflexology and acupuncture.

WHAT IS YOUR STRESS SCORE?
Many life events can be a major source of stress; even when an event is a wholly desirable one, such as a wedding or house move. Read through the following stress “ratings” to see how they are linked to various major and minor life events. This will help you to focus on the factors that may be causing stress in your life and to establish if you can make any changes to alleviate the problem.

• Very, high stress – Death of a spouse; divorce or marital separation; loss of job; house move; personal injury or illness.
• High stress – Retirement; pregnancy; change of job; death of close friend; serious family illness.
• Moderate stress – Large debts such as mortgage; trouble with parents-in-law spouse starting or stopping work; trouble with boss; legal proceedings over debt
• Low stress – Change in work conditions; change in schools; change in eating habits; small mortgage or debts; Christmas or other family holidays.

GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

We spend approximately one-third of our lives asleep but many of the elements of this fundamental biological process – exactly why we sleep and how our bodies know when to sleep – still elude sleep science researchers.

An adequate period of sleep is necessary to allow the body and mind to rest properly and what is adequate will vary from person to person. Making sure that you have enough sleep is vital in terms of stress management so it is perhaps surprising then that many people do not allow themselves adequate periods of sleep.

An increasingly complex lifestyle that means you are continually struggling to deal with competing demands may lead you to feel that you cannot allow time for the luxury of a good night’s sleep. But studies have shown that long-term sleep deprivation will eventually predispose a person to a range of physical and psychological problems.

PROBLEMS SLEEPING

If you are having difficulty sleeping or feel that you have poor-quality sleep, it may well be helpful to discuss the situation with your doctor. If you have already tried some of the self-help suggestions then it may be that you need a mild hypnotic drug to help you to re-establish a sleep pattern.

Over tiredness is a leading cause of reduced productivity at work as well as being a major cause of road accidents. Insomnia may also be a manifestation of anxiety and/or depression, both of which require specific treatment.

It can be enormously beneficial, psychologically and physically, to make an effort to integrate positive thinking into every aspect of your life. You will reap the health rewards if you fallow a few basic guidelines:

• Consider that it is often much easier to be negative and critical so make an effort to be positive and encouraging to yourself and to others.
• Keep crises in perspective and if possible try to see them simply as problems that you can solve.
• Focus on the good things in your life.
• When faced with a situation that you find stressful, try calming strategies such as raking deep breaths or visualizing tranquil scenes or images.

Education on health-damaging habits, such as smoking, can also begin at a very early age and probably has the best effect when your children can see plainly that you yourself, for example, don’t smoke.

Positive health influences can take many different forms, from promoting a healthy diet to making an effort to organize family- group activities on a regular basis. Bike rides or walks to the woods, for example, that allow you to spend time together as a family, will set a pattern for later in life.

Your health is something that you can influence – for better or for worse – through the lifestyle choices you make every day. People today are generally^, much better in formed than their parents’ generation and the expectations of what medicine can do is also higher. It is possible to make small changes to the way you live which will lead to a healthier and longer life. Simple, realistic changes are by far the best – drastic measures usually prove difficult to sustain and tend to be followed for only a short time Healthy choices are those that you make for life.

In the 21st century more people are living for longer – in fact, most of the world’s population is living 20 years longer than their parents. What’s the secret? Today, we have access to better food, sanitation and health care services.

CHANCE AND CHOICE FACTORS

Having a health lifestyle comes down to two factors – chance and choice. The chance factors are those you cannot change, such as your genetic make-up, which may protect you from or predispose you to illness throughout your life. But, if ^you find out

Spending lime doing things you enjoy can be invaluable to both your physical and your mental health. Gardening can be an active pursuit while giving your mind something to focus on during any stressful times.

That you are more likely to develop a condition, you can take positive steps to help you prevent the situation from arising. The choice factors are being aware of the foods you eat, whether you drink alcohol (and to what extent), whether you smoke, how much exercise you take and how you deal with day-to-day- stress.