The Health category includes: addictions, aging, alternative therapies, animal health, conditions and diseases, cosmetic surgery, dental, fitness, health issues, medicine, mental health, nutrition, pharmacy, public health and safety, and reproductive health.
Featured Health Websites
Holistic Health Center
Holistic health treatment in a tranquil setting. Health care practitioners offer services in acupuncture, herbs and naturopathic medicine, and therapeutic massage. Offices on the San Francisco Peninsula.
National Institute on Aging
Comprised of 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (US). The NIA aims to discover what may contribute to a healthy old age and to understand and address disease and disability associated with growing older. Its research program examines biomedical, social and behavioral aspects of age-related conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Performance Body Works
Personal and corporate fitness is the business of Performance Body Works. Achieving and maintaining a healthy workplace is good for everybody and good for business. Some of the tools for improving individual and organisational results are weight management, nutrition and diet, pain and injury prevention measures, and exercise for fitness.
Trisomy
An online support group for those whose lives have been affected by the diagnosis of trisomy chromosomal disorder. Members of the support group consist of families at every point of the journey.
WebMD
Health information and tools for managing your health. WebMD addresses the questions that people want answered. It delivers detailed medical news, features, reference material, and online community programs.
Healthy and Happy
Happiness is a driving force in our lives but who actually gets there? It seems that genetic predisposition, emotional coping tools and relationships are some of the defining characteristics of happy people. Happy people are resilient and not likely to become depressed even in the most trying of circumstances, including when suffering poor physical health.
Ironically, some of the things we strive for in life don’t actually make us happier. Once you have enough income to live on, extra money doesn’t make much different to reported levels of happiness.
Traits of Happy People
Studies consistently identify four traits that are common to people identifying themselves as happy. For more detail, refer to Myers and Diener.
1. High self esteem
Self esteem is correlated with happiness. This is a good thing because most people have high self esteem. Studies show that most people consider themselves above average in a range of areas, including driving ability.
A bias towards thinking you are better than you are may contribute to general happiness in society. It is consistent with the fact that the vast majority of people at any time consider themselves to be at least mildly happy. Interestingly, the correlation between happiness and self esteem has been found to be stronger in individualistic cultures compared to more collectivist ones.
2. A sense of personal control
It is a natural desire of humans and many other life forms to want a significant level of personal power. Being disempowered is demotivating and potentially dangerous because your life is under the control of others. There are numerous adverse effects from experiencing conditions such as imprisonment and strict order.
3. Optimistic
Optimism is uplifting and motivating, which is why optimists score better on measures of happiness. Being optimistic gives you hope in the most difficult of circumstances. It also gives you a sense of purpose because you have something positive to strive for.
4. Extroversion
Being extroverted is correlated with happiness, though the reasons are not well established. It may be partly because extroversion is a consequence of happiness. Positive experience with others contribute to a sense of well being and also encourages you to be more socially engaged.
Happiness and social connections
As well as these 4 traits, you social circumstances also have an impact. Humans are naturally social creatures, so it is unsurprising that happiness is linked to social connections. People who report having a number of people who they are close to and confide in are generally healthier and happier than others. Having good relationships can be comforting and gives a greater sense of life meaning.
Holistic Health and How to Achieve It
There’s a new buzzword on the health and wellbeing scene and it’s one that we envisage to stick around for the long-haul. “Holistic” health – it’s a phrase we hear at every turn, but what does it actually mean?
Holistic Health can be defined as an approach to life. Rather than focusing on illness or specific parts of the body, this ancient approach to health considers the whole person and how he or she interacts with his or her environment. Holistic health emphasises the connection of mind, body, and spirit. The goal is to achieve maximum well-being, where everything is functioning at the highest level possible. The concept of holistic health encourages people to accept responsibility for their own level of wellbeing, and everyday choices that effect their health.
So how do we apply a true holistic approach to our wellbeing? Do we know what it means to care for our mind, body and spirit as a full package?
There is no doubt that most of us are doing the best we can to give our time, energy and money to one piece of the holistic pie. For example, we commit to exercising regularly and eating well in order to care for our bodies. Yet, we can neglect the health and wellbeing of our minds when we struggle to relax and allow the body time to restore, leading to our cortisol (stress) levels running high.
How many of us submerge ourselves in work or a passion, enjoying the creativity and sense of purpose it gifts our spirit, only to often work long, late hours and compromise our basic need for enough sleep?
You start to see the dilemma that most of us have. Typically, we are good at giving our attention to where it comes most naturally however, it comes as a sacrifice to another area of our life.
Among the buzz and chaos of everyday life, if we stop and pay attention to our thoughts, feelings and bodies we’ll soon find out what we are neglecting.
Wellbeing is made up of physical health, emotional nurture, mental stimulation, focus, clarity and spiritual nourishment. Therefore, in order to feel at our very best we need a complete approach that meets our needs in each of these areas.
The best way to start a holistic self-care path for is to create a personal wellbeing plan. Start by categorising the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual parts and then chose one activity that will serve you in that area, in the most enjoyable and meaning way to you. For example:
Physical – a daily 45 minute walk outside
Mental – commit to a 15 minute morning meditation
Emotional – make time to catch up with a close friend once a week
Spiritual – rediscover a passion, interest or hobby by making time to incorporate in your week
Like introducing anything new, give it time. It may be easier to choose one thing to start with and commit to that so the practice doesn’t overwhelm your current schedule. You’ll soon experience how possible it is to create a balanced state of wellbeing.
When we start to experience the value in caring for all parts of ourselves, we begin to feel more complete, fulfilled, healthier and happier, and we uncover a radiance that shines from inside out.