Exercise a Way of Life

EXERCISE

“What????  You want me to exercise?”

Your heart needs to have exercise, of some kind, every day.  If your heart lays dormant, it will not know what to do when a stressful situation arises.  “But, if you work out a little each day, your heart could be ready for that episode that might happen.”  

Regular exercise can help you:

Burn Calories, lower your blood pressure, and fight against heart failure.  Exercise can help with the fight against Alzheimer’s disease to colon cancer to Type II diabetes.  Think of it as Exercise Therapy, not a weight loss program, but a way 

of living. 

“But, I don’t like to exercise.” 

There are many different ways to exercise.  What sounds like fun?  If you cannot run, then walk.  If you can only stretch a little, stretch as much as you can. 

Dancing is a fun way to exercise.   There are all kinds of dancing video’s that can be bought that are not expensive.  Then you are not by yourself and it has the potential to be fun.

If you have a dog, then walk with your dog, your pet will benefit from this as well. Maybe, you can find some walking buddies that also need to be healthy.

Be sure and start out slow and gentle.  Let your body get used to this new routine.  Let your muscles rest after each work out session.  You will soon be on the road to a new healthier lifestyle.  You will find that you can breathe easier, move more gracefully, and not tire so quickly.

“I COULD HAVE FUN EXERCISING” 

I have wanted a change in my life, but, I just wasn’t sure what that could be.  My body is where I live, it should be kept in good shape,  just for me. 

Heroin, Middle Class Drug

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE MOST USED DRUG IS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS?

You are probably thinking marijuana, but, no it is actually Heroin. 

Today’s typical heroin user is a middle-class suburbanite who started off with prescription painkillers. Heroin is just as easy to obtain as marijuana but has far more long term consequences of its addiction.

If you know of a heroin addict, they probably started down the road to addiction from the abuse of prescription narcotics such as oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and fentanyl (Duragesic).  Not realizing they are addicted, when they cannot afford or cannot get their prescribed medicine anymore, they switch to heroin.

Heroin is made from morphine which is obtained from the opium plant like most other narcotics.  When heroin enters the brain, it converts into back into morphine without the other effects of morphine.  This produces a surge of euphoria, or rush, and a warm flushing skin.  One, of several, side effects of heroin use is severe itchiness.  Heroin can make people think that their skin is crawling and itches which is why you see a lot of heroin users picking at their skin.  Other symptoms can be a person’s muscles become heavy and slow moving. 

Heroin users will alternate between drowsiness and wakefulness for several hours. This is referred to as being “on the nod”.  “On the nod” is not a medical term, you can compare it to a college student in a boring lecture who has his head down but is trying to stay awake-his head will nod and drop lower as he gets sleepier, and then his head will eventually jerk awake. Being “On the Nod” is the first step on a slippery slope toward overdosing.

Heroin goes by many names:

On the street, heroin may be referred to as “H”, “horse” “smack” “thunder” “junk”.   In some cases, the street word used may refer to the drug’s looks or chemicals, such as brown sugar, black tar or hell dust. Black-tar heroin comes from Mexico, which is the only country that produces it.  It looks like a black Tootsie Roll; when the drug is cold, but, when it is warm, it’s sticky, like roofing tar.

Heroin can be taken one of 3 ways:

 

·         Intravenously which provides the user with the fastest rush and greatest intensity of the drug.

·         Smoking: typically, with the use of a pipe but the effects take longer to reach the brain up to 15 minutes.

·         Snorting: typically, with the use of a straw and the effects also take longer to reach the brain up to 30 minutes.

Heroin acquired on the street can be very dangerous for most users.  That is because some dealers have been known to cut (mixed) with strychnine, rat poison, or other types of poison putting the user's life in danger.  Some dealers mix it with sugar, starch, or powdered milk to make it seem the drug seem weaker and causing the user to buy a lot more of it.

Do Not Shake the Salt

DO NOT SHAKE THE SALT, SO YOUR HEART CAN BE MORE HEALTHY

Salt, the flavoring used around the world and once considered more valuable than gold, actually increases your blood pressure.  So how does salt cause this rise in your blood pressure?  It causes this by actually causing your body to retain excess fluids which in turn causes your heart to work a lot harder than it really needs. 

The recommendation for keeping keep your heart healthy, is for people to aim to not to eat any more than 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day which is equal to about that pinch of salt grandma threw into her recipes.

Wow, not much when you actually break it down to something that can be visualized.  If you actually read the sodium amounts on the packaged food, you will get an idea of how much you really are getting into your system each day.  But don’t limit yourself to just reading that box of crackers or rice but even the frozen foods we all dearly love.

Do you add additional salt to any of these:

 Popcorn?

French Fries?

Fried Potatoes?

Beer?

Any type of meat?

Watermelon?

Apples?

Cantaloupe?

Before you add extra salt to something you are eating, taste it first as you might be surprised that it doesn’t actually need that extra amount you added.  Or if it lacks taste, try adding pepper, garlic, or other types of seasonings without added salt, to bring out the taste.  If the food you are eating, like a fruit, just tastes better with salt, try to adjust your taste buds to do without the extra sodium.

Make your heart healthier.

Why Do You Smoke

WHY DO YOU SMOKE?

There are many reasons why people smoke.  I will list some: 

·         COMFORT: Most people feel a sense of comfort from the smoking of a cigarette.

·         TENSION:  Do you feel the need to smoke after an argument, or when you are having a tough day? Maybe you feel that smoking relieves the tension when you are upset or depressed?

·         WEIGHT CONTROL:  Many people will use the smoking of a cigarette so they do not eat desert.

So, instead of snacking, you smoke.

·         STIMULATION:  Does smoking help you to concentrate?  Does it boost your energy?

·         FITTING IN TO A GROUP:  So, you want to be like everyone else?  Hmmm……..

TRUTH

Chemicals found in the tobacco and during the cigarette processing enter the blood stream through the lungs, or the buccal membranes of the mouth, and attach to the pleasure sensors in the brain to produce a sense of euphoria and well-being. Your body thinks it is pleasurable, while the actual result is damage to the rest of the body. Your body develops a need, or addiction, for the pleasurable feeling, which explains why you crave them when you do not have them.

REASONS TO QUIT SMOKING

·         Early Death:  Smoking does affect your lifespan.

·         Heart Attack and/or a Stroke is far more likely to occur in a smoker.

·         Lung Cancer – there is a good reason to quit.

·         You Can Be in Control of Your Own Habits, and not be a slave to a cigarette.

·         Your body ages quicker, your skin looks older, faster if you smoke.

·         Smoking is more addictive than many illegal drugs on the market.

·         Second hand smoke can cause:  asthma attacks, ear infections, coughing, sneezing, bronchitis, pneumonia, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).  There are more, but, these are the most common.

As you can see, it makes a difference to your lungs when you smoke, whether you feel it or not.  Is this really what you want to do to your own body? 

STAYING HEALTHY IS A GOOD REASON TO QUIT SMOKING.  Over time, you will be able to breathe easier, maybe walk without coughing, and your lungs may not burn at night when you lay down to sleep. You may even be able to play sports or outside games without getting winded. Adding a daily exercise regimen will improve the results you see.

EOS cannot make the claim that you will fully recover the health you had previous to starting smoking, because that really depends on how often you smoked, how many years, how deeply you inhaled, and how much damage has already been done to your body. But the sooner you quit, the lesser the damage done, and the more likelihood your body can compensate and completely recover its previous health.

  AND DO YOU LIKE HAVING EXTRA MONEY??????

The price of one pack of cigarettes can buy a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. It can put gasoline in your car, so you can go to work.  There are so many items you can buy with $6.00. 

I did an interview with our Administrative Assistant, Joe Lobert, on his past experience with smoking cigarettes.  Joe describes it like this, “As a former cigarette smoker, I know that it gives pleasure to smoke.  The nicotine triggers the pleasure centers of the brain, making it very difficult to break the habit.”  Then Joe went on to explain why he finally quit, “I almost died from bronchitis and I was a single parent.  I did not want to leave my child behind without a parent to take care of him. I know for a fact that the smoking of cigarettes is what caused my bronchitis. I have not had bronchitis since I quit.”

The owner of EOS, Kat Parmer, quit in 1993 because she had suffered pneumonia 9 times in less than three years. Her doctor warned her that smoking was going to kill her, if she did not quit. She states, “I am much healthier now at 61 than I was when I was 38, the only way I can explain it, is because I quit smoking.”

Needless to say, this is a non-smoking facility. All the staff at Employee On-Boarding Specialties would like to see more healthy people as we continue to work in the occupational health world.  Life is precious, and we all should not only value our own life, but those around us. 

Sources:  WebMD and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention.

Sources:  Interviews with Employee On-Boarding Specialties, LLC