The Perfect Exercise for the Elderly in the Golden Years

By the time you are in your golden years, you may have lost 20 to 40 percent of your muscles—and, along with it, their strength. Scientists have discovered that a major reason you lose muscle is that you have stopped doing everyday activities that use those inactive muscles, and not just because you are growing older.

Yoga is one of the best exercises in the golden years to normalize your muscle tone, as well as to balance the activity of opposing muscle groups, and thus lowering your risk of falling, as well as injuring muscles and ligaments. As minimal effort is required, you feel relaxed rather than stressed—this is a plus in your senior years. In addition, unlike other strenuous exercises, your breathing remains natural and controlled throughout the exercise. In addition, you enhance your internalized awareness through focusing on your breath and the infinite. As a result, you attain peace and tranquility.

Yoga has a unique holistic approach to wellness. Yoga exercise also requires the application of its basic principle of nutrition, which is the consumption of small quantities of high-quality life-giving foods, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts, with meat in strict moderation.

Yoga provides physical fitness to reduce the risks of becoming ill, disabled, or dying prematurely. The mental fitness of yoga enables you to adapt appropriately to negative changes brought on by diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease. The spiritual fitness of yoga may facilitate you to bounce back from the devastating effects brought on by sudden and unexpected changes, such as bereavement of spouse or loved ones.

Brilliant Yoga is a 200+page e-book with videos on body-mind-spirit transformation! There is all-in-one support you need in every chapter with comprehensive and easy-to-follow steps to guide you on how to make yourself look, feel, and live your life to the fullest. This is the perfect yoga program with everything you need to know about healing yoga. It is for everyone-from the beginner to the advanced learner-who believes that yoga is a science of health. Brilliant Yoga comes with additional bonus books on back pain, pilates, stretching, and weight loss.

Your Golden Years and Santa Claus is a 252-page book on the wisdom in living in the golden years, which includes dealing with health, money, death and bereavement issues, coping with the impediments of vision impairment, vision loss, and breathing problems. Brilliant Yoga may prepare your body, mind, and spirit to confront all the challenges ahead of you in your golden years.

  

Stephen Lau

Copyright © Stephen Lau

Can Dietary Supplements Cure Osteoarthritis?

Beware of morning stiffness in your knee or anywhere else in your body. It may be the narrowing of the joint space between the bones; that is, the beginning of osteoarthritis. The disease symptoms may take 10 to 20 years before they become full blown. In other words, the cartilage that covers, cushions, and protects the ends of the bones slowly and gradually wears away, causing the bones to grind together, leading to stiffness and ultimately pain and inflammation.. Osteoarthritis, however, can also occur without pain, such as you can hardly turn your neck or head because it is stiff and inflexible; this condition is often caused by wear and tear in the upper spine.

Arthritis is not one disease, but multiple diseases that cause pain and inflammation. It is the No.1  cause of disability and chronic pain, especially among the elderly. 

According to conventional Western medicine, there is no cure. Therefore, if you have osteoarthritis, you do not seem to have too many options: taking painkillers or steroid injections only cover the symptoms while the disease progresses; surgery is an expensive, painful and not permanent solution.

Maybe dietary supplements can retard, if not cure, osteoarthritis. Research studies have shown that glucosamine, chondroitin, and ASU (concentrated avocado and soybean oil) are effective in relieving joint pain and promoting cartilage health. They are effective in both human and animals. As a matter of fact, they have been used by many doctors in European countries to treat their patients, while doctors in the United States prefer painkillers or surgeries. Dietary supplements are inexpensive, with little or no adverse side effects. 

Remember, all drugs are toxic chemicals; do not add insult to injury! 

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Fear of Aging

Fear comes with aging. As you age, fear may come in many different forms, such as fear of falling, fear of becoming ill, fear of loneliness, and, above all, fear of dying.

Fear can paralyze you. If you are afraid to fall, it will immobilize you. You will be afraid to go out lest you fall. Unfortunately, immobility is the leading cause of falls among the elderly. The reason is that you fall because your muscles have lost their flexibility due to immobility, and hence the body balance, resulting in falls. Overcome fear of falls by exercising muscles at any age, and by improving vision.

Fear of becoming ill is another cause of stress to the body and the mind. You become more vulnerable to illnesses, not necessary due to age, but because of a weakened immune system. Stress, in any form, weakens the immune system. Learn to relax your mind. It is easier said than done. You need the mind to help you. Learn to harness your mind power, which controls your thinking, your decisions and actions as a result of it. Meditation is the best way to relax. (go to my web page: Meditation healing to find out how you can heal with meditation and learn easy meditation techniques to relax both your body and mind).

Fear of loneliness is often due to lack of purpose in life. Spirituality is the art of living well. Cherish your spiritual growth as you continue to age (for more information, visit my web page: Spiritual Healing) to overcome fear of loneliness and fear of death.

Remember, although a mental feeling, fear is a delayed physical reaction. If you feel fear in your body, you become fearful for your body. For example, if you have a deadline to meet in your work, you become stressed; that is, you become fearful of the possibility of losing your job. By the same token, fear of fall, of becoming ill can have similar related consequences created in the mind. Any physical fear creates yet another stress—the stress to avoid the fear of pain, injury, or even death. Do not let the vicious circle of fear impair your health and rob you of your wellness.

When fear is acutely felt in your body, it causes anxiety that can cause physical illness. Worse, once fear becomes a habit, it is hard to be eradicated. Much of human adult behavior is based on the fear that is created in the mind through erroneous perceptions. To solve this mental problem, you will have to begin with the mind—always mind over matter.

The good news is that meditation can help you stop, and listen to your inner voice, and accept who you are and what you are. Essentially, meditation enables you to get to know true self with self-acceptance without fear. Meditation changes what the mind’s eye perceives. It is based on a feeling of isolation and separation, so that you will understand ultimately your true self.

Read my book Younger and Healthier for Longer to get the wisdom of aging gracefully without fear.

Stephen Lau

Copyright © by Stephen Lau

Aromatherapy and Arthritis Pain

Health is the most natural state of being. To maintain true health in its natural state, you need natural herbs, not man-made pharmaceutical drugs. Herbal medicine is the most widespread of all forms of medicine.

Aromatherapy is one form of natural medicine, which makes use of essential oils from plants. Aromatherapy has a long history and tradition. The Arabs were the first to use essential oils to promote health and wellness. Essential oils are concentrated substances obtained from plants for their medicinal values. It is based on the concept of smell, which affects not only your emotions but also your moods, and therefore is conducive to natural physical and mental health.

Aromatherapy is the application of essential oils, which are highly concentrated substances extracted from medicinal herbs and plants, to treat various health problems and to promote general wellness. To maintain the efficacy of essential oils, do not use oils consecutively for several days. Also do not inhale too much at one time: more is not necessarily better, because the olfactory center of your brain may become overwhelmed, causing headaches or even nausea.

A good way to use essential oils is to place a few drops on the surface of the bath water just before bathing. Another way of application is to dilute it into a base vegetable oil before applying to the skin in massage.

Aromatherapy to treat arthritis pain is based on the principle of detoxification and improved circulation to eliminate pain in the joints.

Use Cypress, Juniper, and Lemon as bath oils, or diluted in a base oil for massage into the affected area. In particular, Juniper has an anti-inflammatory effect. Black Pepper, Ginger, Marjoram, and Rosemary are essential oils to stimulate circulation to eliminate pain.

Get more information on essential oils.

To maximize the effect of aromatherapy, drink a tea from celery seeds (which is alkalizing) to remove acidic toxins from your body. Place one teaspoon of lightly crushed celery seeds in a teapot. Pour boiling water and leave for ten minutes. Add some chopped fresh parsley. This drink helps to detoxify your body. To improve circulation, drink fresh ginger tea, which is made from fresh ginger root (1-2 inches) steeped in boiling water for 20 minutes.

The drinks above and daily bath and massage with essential oils will soothe your arthritis pain, if not eliminate it.

How To Use Essential Oils: Get all your recipes for aromatherapy for natural health and healing.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Dealing With Dry Skin

Winter is upon us, and most of us experience dry skin. Dry skin is a common dermatological condition, in which the skin becomes dry and cracked. The incidence of dry skin increases with age.

The causes of dry skin are:

(1) the reduced production of sebum (a wax-like substance in your skin to protect it from the environment)

(2) taking certain cholesterol-reducing medications

(3) defects in the outermost layer of the skin, used to prevent water loss

If you are over 65, your skin may become very dry and itchy. Dry skin often occurs in the legs, as well as on the hands and trunk.

Dealing with dry skin, you may consider doing the following:

(1) Avoid hot baths. Use lukewarm baths, instead. Reduce the frequency of taking a bath to every other day, if needs be. Ironically enough, water can cause your skin to dry up. Use non-irritant soaps, such as Aveeno, Dove, or Olay.

(2) Avoid irritants to the skin, such as harsh skin cleansers.

(3) Use moisturizers, such as Vaseline.

(4) Avoid skin friction from abrasives or even rough clothing.

(5) Use cool water compresses.

(6) Maintain proper humidity, especially in winter. Use air humidification in dry weather conditions.

Persistent dry skin conditions may lead to chronic itching and scratching, which may further damage the skin.

Scratching makes your skin become thick and leathery. Itchiness may create the perception of having bugs in the skin.

Skin itching often begins with an external stimuli, causing you to scratch your skin, which reacts by thickening to protect itself. As healing progresses, the itch fibers in your skin are activated by slight scar contraction in the damaged area. This causes new itching, leading to more scratching, and thus begins the vicious itch-scratch cycle.

Although itching is often a benign condition, and one may seek gratification through scratching, persistent itching may also be indicative of health problems, including:

• anemia (iron deficiency)
• diabetes
• hepatic disease (liver)
• HIV
• malignancy
• neuropathy (disease of the nervous system)
• renal failure
• thyroid disease

Skin itching may also be due to allergic reactions to offending allergens, such as scented soaps or topical alcohol.

Your skin may be sensitive to the sun, resulting in blisters, bumps, hives, rashes, or red splotchy areas. Test the sensitivity of your skin.

Naturally Skinsensational is a simple, powerful, and effective skin care system with 135 most popular facial skin care recipes. This 130-page e-book shows you how to rejuvenate your skin. Begin your natural anti-aging routine today!

Stephen Lau


Copyright© by Stephen Lau