Garlic – Good Health Benefits

By Deline Tan

Have you ever thought what garlic would do for you if you catch a common cold, or you suffer from symptoms of acne, or you’re having a terrible toothache? Garlic is known to heal these common ailments and has a therapeutic effect on the health. The garlic’s antibacterial analgesic and anesthetizing properties can help cure toothaches. Place a piece of crushed garlic or garlic oil on the affected gum or tooth for instant relief.

Garlic has the medicinal ingredient of allicin which is a powerful antioxidant, which helps fight against the damaging free radicals in our body. It acts as an antibiotic and also has a natural deterrent as mosquito repellent. Allicin has wonderful anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-oxidant properties.

You may not like the smell with its strong pungent taste, but the health benefits are plenty. It helps manage high cholesterol levels, treat parasites, calm respiratory problems, aids poor digestion and give strength to low  energy. Regular eating of garlic helps lower blood pressure, controls blood sugar and boosts the immune system. It also reduces the risk of oesophageal, stomach and colon cancer.

If you have warts, garlic acts as an effective cure as it fights infections and bacteria and other skin problems. It’s great to eat garlic, as you can cook with any dishes, as it tastes good and healthy too. The side effects of garlic and allergies to it are when you consume large quantities, thus suffer stomach irritation as it may damage the digestive tract. Other symptoms include heartburn or flatulence.

It is safe to consume garlic when you are pregnant, as studies have shown that babies prefer breast milk better when their mothers regularly consume garlic. The benefits of eating garlic far outweigh the side effect, and if you don’t mind the smell, it is good to have garlic in your regular meal on a consistent basis.

There is also mirth about garlic, in that it wards off evil spirit and has been known since ancient culture. Garlic is under the family of lily, with onion and leek as their cousins. Some people dislike it because of the odour that comes out of the breadth after consumption. However way you feel about garlic, the health benefits far supersede the taste and the strong pungent smell that goes with it.

Some people are on garlic pills as it is an excellent source of manganese. It is also a very good source of Vitamin B6 and Vitamin C. It is a great health food and everyday you can’t go without it in your daily meal and consumption. Garlic is indeed a good health benefit and don’t let the smell keep you away from it.

Your Moments of Endearment

By Deline Tan

Did you know that the biggest scram that mankind ever faced today is bodyless friendship? What I meant by that is that we are all hooked up in our computer screen, with social media taking the lead, sucking the time out of people that friendship is now not in physical appearance but through the screen of your computer.

Friendship no longer is a personal touch of a cup of coffee in the favourite cafe, but we just chat our way through facebook, twitter or linkedin, no longer a personal gesture in the real person. Don’t you think this is bad for our social life, where we no longer are personal with friendship, but we talk to strangers in the net and neglect the real sense of touch in a real person.

There is a difference in touching base with one another in a meal or over a drink, than sitting slouchyly at the desktop  in meeting the real needs of a human being. Man is created for fellowship. Without the tangible real touch of personal attention, man will slowly decay into couch potatoes.

We have feelings and expressions to relate and be connected with one another, but if we streamline friendship to the computer screen, we are killing our personal emotions and sensitive touch in our build up as human to communicate. Take  a baby for example. If you fail to touch the baby or cuddle and hold her tide in your arms, the baby will lose her identity with you and slowly deteriorated into mere vegetables. A baby without touch will not survive, so is relationship without a personal touch is dead.

An average person spend almost one third of their time on the computer screen during the week, some is hooked to the screen with about five to six hours of surfing the net. People are locking themselves in the computer, that if the computer were to crash, the person will feel very helpless and lost. Without the computer, we can’t function and everything else we do is tied in to the usage of computer.

However, the computer age has advanced the technology in the pace that is accelerated with powerful knowledge and keys to operate for living. This powerful machine is building wisdom and knowledge through a touch screen, and if there’s anything that you need or want in life, you just go to goggle search and everything that you are looking for is there. We no longer lack knowledge, and life’s answer seems to be in the touch of the buttons.

Bill Gates is so smart to have invented the computer for the world, as the wisdom endow to the creation of such a machine is astounding. Now we have ipad that is replacing the computer in its popularity, and everything we need to find out for our needs are just a few touch buttons behind. Life’s answer seems to be found in the computer age.

How then do we reverse this negative affection of the computer to real life affection of people that we can chat and feel the personal touch of life with? We need to prioritise our time for friendship in people and be interested in people, as that is what life is all about – people, feelings, sharing of problems, affection, relational touch, and every personal touch of our life with our friends must be top priority if we want to maintain a life of relationship with others.

Take effort to once a week spend time with your family and friends over a cup of coffee; either Saturday or Sunday, and touch base with people to make life meaningful and exciting; sharing your life moments; either in tears or laughter, and learn to be passionate about relationship, as that is what an affectionate and caring life mean – touching base, caring for one another, sharing your endearing moments, and let your physical presence make a difference in the life of your loved ones and friends.

What do you do this Saturday? Care to have a good meal with a long lost friend; by calling up the person and enjoy your lovely meal with one whom you treasure and deem important in your life.

Depression – It Can Hit Anyone

By Deline Tan

Depression is on the rise. More and more people are suffering from this mental illness and it is known to be the second fastest growing disease after heart attack.

In this stressful environment that we live in, people find it hard to cope in the day to day living, as there are many issues hanging down their necks, like financial problems, relationship problems, in-law problems, job relation problems, marriage problems and so forth. The stresses and daily tasks in our lives are insurmountable and there are just so much to cope. People are usually caught up with their problems, and they don’t know how to solve issues or handle difficult situations in life, and they landed up being depressed.

Usually one is aware that something is not quite right with him/her when the symptoms of depression arise. For example, he/she may feel certain kind of sadness and irritability or tension within himself/herself. He/she may find a decrease interest in their usual activities or hobbies. He/she may loose energy and begins to feel tired despite of lack of activities. He/she may loose appetite with significant weight lost.

Sleeping may also be a problem, as he/she suffers from insomnia. Restlessness will cause him/her feeling down and inability to make decisions or concentrate. There may be feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness or guilt, and thoughts of suicide too.

When one is retorted with such circumstances as described above, he/she may be heading towards depression. The cause may be due to chemical imbalance in the mind, as the brain cells known as neutrons are disrupted in the sending of messages from the brain to the body through the chemicals known as neurotransmitters. These brain chemicals are responsible for our emotional state. Depression happens when the chemical messages aren’t delivered correctly through the neurotransmitters, disrupting communication.

 Another factor to depression may be due to hereditary, as it runs in family. Anyone can be affected with depression as there is no known cause except that it can happen at a spurn of the moment. It is a form of sickness that can affect anyone.

When one is affected with depression, the solution is to see a doctor or psychiatrist. Through medication the sickness can be brought down and healing may take between six weeks to six months. Some respond to medication better while others may drag it for years. Dysthymia, a mood disorder, is a form of mild depression that can drag on for the next two years. The person may feel mildly depressed on most days and have symptoms resembling major depression but with less severity.

There are two types of depression, like depressive disorder and manic disorder, and both are marked altering of mood. A significant lowering of mood, apathy, loss of interest and suicidal thoughts are indicative of a depressive disorder. As for manic disorder, it is an elevation of mood with rapid speech and hyperactivity. The person looses touch with reality and experience delusion and hallucination.  

Treatment for these depressions is drug like anti-depressant pill. Another method is psycho-therapy, which is a talking treatment in allowing people to express their thoughts and feelings to someone who is committed to help. Often the therapist is able to throw new light onto the person’s problem and help him/her reassesses the situations that he/she faced.

Another method is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) when patients do not respond well to drugs and the depression is severe. Like drugs, it may not be able to heal the person, but it can bring the severely depressed person back to a state where he/she can begin to deal with his/her problems. It is note-worthy to note that about 60% of patients who suffer from mild depression got well spontaneously in the course of time without medication.

Depression is a serious illness. Don’t depend on it to get well on its own. Seeing a doctor is the best solution as the drugs work for most people and the person can become normal again. Should depression hits you, remember, help is available in the medical field if only you were to respond to it.

Manage Your Cholesterol Level

Manage Your Cholesterol Level

By Deline Tan

To be in good health is to be desired. Healthy diet keeps us healthy, but bad eating habits cause stress and poor health.

One of the ways to keep good health is to have a desired cholesterol level that prevents heart attack and stroke. High Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is bad for health and causes illnesses. Cholesterol level that is above 200 mg/dL is considered above average, but we need to settle for below 200 mg/dL.

Diet is the main controlling factor when controlling the cholesterol level. Food like prawn, squid, lobster, or any seafood built up high cholesterol.  Meat, cheese, cakes, pastries, ice-cream and milk if taken above average level than is necessary is the cause of high cholesterol. Butter contains saturated fats that built up high cholesterol too. Choose oil that is monounsaturated which promotes good HDL such as coconut, canola, olive and peanut oil.

Eating high fibre diet is the most desired diet, and taking lots of fruits and vegetables compliment good diet. Choose chicken and fish than meat, and keep a balance with carbohydrates, fats and proteins which provide energy for the day’s activities. Bread is a good source of carbohydrates and so is potato. We need nuts and seeds as fats is as important as other nutrients. Munch nuts regularly and you will build up your fats nutrient steadily. Cooking with good oil like coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and peanut oil will boost your fat content.

Protein is also important as it builds muscle and replenish energy for the body. Beef, chicken, eggs and other poultry are a good source of protein too.

What you eat constitutes the up-kempt of your cholesterol level and it is better to eat healthy diet than to have sicknesses. Exercise is also a form of regulating your cholesterol level as it builds good High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and promotes good health.

Do you plan your diet with good fibre in-take or do you often eat fast-food chain of burgers and french-fries? Too much of these foods cause high cholesterol and there was an experiment of a man who ate burger everyday and ended up sick. When he totally eliminates eating fast food, he gets to be normal and well again. Our body is not designed to eat burger everyday, but those who eat often do keep watch of your health.

We can avoid sickness when we keep a balance diet with good fats, nutritional protein, with a good amount of carbohydrates. If you don’t watch your diet now you will soon regret later as poor health will follow you. As we age, we need good diet to keep us healthy and avoid sicknesses.

One way to watch your cholesterol level is to go for regular check-up. It is better to know your own health early than to wait at later years where it may be too late to detect sicknesses. Keep yourself trim and you are responsible for your diet and own health. Never settle for second best and always eat well, exercise, and keep a healthy you.

Being a Woman

By Deline Tan

Have you ever wondered what being a woman means? Are you proud that you are a woman and has great potential in your divest gifts and talents. Do you know that woman has an inbuilt strength to give birth, care for the house, and still look after her husband? She has such an innate strength that she is a tower of strength to carry out many tasks that she’s capable of doing.

Look at your mother for instant. She cooks for the family, washes the house, looks after the children, manages the household and attends to your father for whatever needs that require attention. God has created woman to be a help-mate to her husband, to assist him and most of all to be his companion. For when God first created Adam, He said that it is not good for man to be alone; He therefore created Eve to be his life-long partner and to start a family.

Just look at yourself – what are you capable of doing? Are you a multi-tasker that men always admire you. Are you sensitive and always attend to details? Do you make sure that your house is always clean and neat and your home is your pride? Are you raising up kids that are respectable and obedient to you? Do you manage the household and take care of the house as a minister of finance? Are you the ones that teach your children principles of life that your husband has no time to help nurture the children?

Your role as a mother and wife are very important. You are the manager of the house while your husband is the director. You make sure that the affairs of the family are well-taken care of and your husband can enjoy the benefits of a healthy family.

Do your children look up to you for guidance and support in their struggles in school or work-life, and are you able to direct and guide them in the way that they should go? Are you close to your children and your husband respects you? Do you see the importance of your role in your family?

Are you a career woman or a home-maker? Are you ambitious and full of zealousness in life? Are you a thinker and has a heart of compassion? Do you have a passion for people and are you well-liked by others? Can you be the voice that speaks out loud and clear and others follow your instructions? Are you a leader in your own rights?

Such amazing questions are not without answers. The answers lie within you. You are able to monitor your moods and the moods of your husband and children. You have that inborn sensitivity that is able to warn your husband about impending danger when situations and circumstances caught your attention. You are wise and you are a virtuous woman. You owe it all to the fact that you are a woman. You are creatively created by God and before you were formed, God took one of the ribs of your husband and formed you. You are created in God’s image.

Do you see the importance of your role as a woman? You are powerful, you are loved and you are important. You are the very person that God has intended you to be, a wife and mother. You are a pillar of strength and in the eyes of your husband you are deeply loved.

Be proud that you are a woman, wife, mother and a daughter. You play your roles well and you are so special because God created you to be so. Are you loving yourself and are you a godly wife, mother and daughter? You are who you are because God made and created you. You are one of a woman.

Coffee – To Health or Disaster

 By Deline Tan

Are you a regular coffee drinker? In the past I have always thought that coffee is bad for health, and therefore I abstained from it. However, as I read reports about the benefits of coffee, my thoughts towards coffee change dramatically.

Coffee is known to lower the risk of Type Two Diabetes among regular coffee drinkers. When I read that, I go, whack, I did not know that coffee drinkers can have such a benefit. As I read the report further, I discovered that there are many good benefits that coffee brings and I will show you in a whiles time what these benefits are.

If you are prone to gallstones, moderate coffee drinkers can reduce the risk of developing gallstones. Moderate drinkers mean about two cups a day. Other benefits of coffee include the avoidance of the development of colon cancer. It also reduces the risk of liver disease like cirrhosis. Coffee drinkers are also protected from Parkinson’s disease. The reduced risks are many, as coffee drinkers also protect themselves from the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia.

All these diseases are greatly dreaded by men, and all it takes is for moderate coffee drinkers to avoid them. However, a heavy drinker runs the risk of contacting illnesses like cancer, gastrointestinal problems, anxiety, sleep disorder, bad cholesterol, high blood pressure, bad effects on pregnancy and menopause, iron deficiency like anaemia and coronary artery disease.

For heavy drinkers it would mean between five to eight cups a day. Anything that is excessive is always bad. However, if one is studying, it improves the cognitive function, and caffeine gives you the kick to stay awake and keeps you simulated. This is the reason why people are addicted to coffee. The stimulant gives you energy and keeps you awake and alerted to your surroundings.

I ask a friend, Else Tungland, aged 50 and a Home Maker about her habit in drinking coffee, and she says that when she was working before, when under stress, she can drink between six to eight cups a day. She adds, “I suppose when I am under stress, coffee makes me alerted and perked up my energy. Since I am a housewife now, I have cut down to one to two cups a day. I suppose it is hot here in Singapore, and I do prefer to drink tea and water.”

Else is a Norwegian and stays here with her husband and children for about one and a half years already. She continues, “Sometimes I don’t really feel good while taking coffee, as my stomach feels bad and it makes me feel shaky.”

Else has ever tried the most expensive coffee that she can find in town at Killiney Road, as it costs her $18 after she requested that she has a double scoop for the coffee. However, her favourite coffee stall is at Highlander at Kampong Bahru where she deems that the coffee there is really good and first class.

She explains, “The taste is different from other coffee and it tastes fantastic. It is the way that it is brewed that makes it special.” Else surely knows how to look for special coffee, as she also frequents Jones The Grocer (at Dempsy Hill) and Tully’s, the American brand off Orchard Road.

She adds, “The coffees there are okay as again every different place has their own special tastes.” Else may not know the benefits when she drinks coffee, but like those moments when she was stressed out, the coffee does improve her endurance performance in long duration. It keeps her awake and gives her the energy to work.

Coffee also does give modest cardiovascular effects such as increased heart beat and increased blood pressure. It also increases short term recall and helps memory. Those who have drink coffee in their life time found that they perform significantly better on cognitive tests and work best while under stress.

For those who like sweet stuff, coffee can prevent dental caries. The tannins in the coffee may reduce the carcinogenic potential of foods. It also reduces plague formation. However, excessive drinking can damage the lining of the gastrointestinal organs, causing gastritis and ulcers.

The bad side of coffee is that it causes insomnia. It also, like tea, stains the teeth. It also interferes with the absorption of supplementation iron when consumed excessively.

Joyce Lee, aged 54 and a Sole Proprietor says, “I am a moderate drinker as I consume two cups a day and it makes me more energetic and alert. I like the fresh brewed ones, as it is fresh and gives me more kick. I go to Pacific Coffee once every week but I can go without coffee if I want to.”

Jenny Tan, aged 49 and a Bank Manager adds, “I prefer the local coffee shop black coffee with milk, as the coffee is strong and it tastes really good.” Jenny has since young been drinking coffee but do not consider that she is addicted to it as if she were to go for holidays and coffee is not available, she can do without it.

Different people drinks coffee differently, but bear in mind that all the benefits that I have mentioned about coffee apply to moderate drinkers. Excessive drinkers are heading towards health hazard as it was mentioned earlier, it leads to all kinds of sicknesses.

It is best to drink between one to two cups of coffee everyday, and if you are the excessive drinker, do bear in mind that your health is threatened, and it is best to cut down as you can still do that. Are you a coffee drinker? Drink to health and not to disaster.

Manage Your Cholesterol Level

By Deline Tan

To be in good health is to be desired. Healthy diet keeps us healthy, but bad eating habits cause stress and poor health.

One of the ways to keep good health is to have a desired cholesterol level that prevents heart attack and stroke. High Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is bad for health and causes illnesses. Cholesterol level that is above 200 mg/dL is considered above average, but we need to settle for below 200 mg/dL.

Diet is the main controlling factor when controlling the cholesterol level. Food like prawn, squid, lobster, or any seafood built up high cholesterol.  Meat, cheese, cakes, pastries, ice-cream and milk if taken above average level than is necessary is the cause of high cholesterol. Butter contains saturated fats that built up high cholesterol too. Choose oil that is mono-unsaturated which promotes good HDL such as coconut, canola, olive and peanut oil.

Eating high fibre diet is the most desired diet, and taking lots of fruits and vegetables compliment good diet. Choose chicken and fish than meat, and keep a high carbohydrates diet as it gives energy for the day’s activities. Bread is a good source of carbohydrates and so is potato.

What you eat constitutes the up-kempt of your cholesterol level and it is better to eat healthy diet than to meet with sicknesses. Exercise is also a form of regulating your cholesterol level as it builds good High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and promotes good health.

Do you plan your diet with good fibre in-take or do you often eat fast-food chain of burgers and french-fries? Too much of these foods cause high cholesterol and there was an experiment of a man who ate burger everyday and ended up sick. When he totally eliminates eating fast food, he gets to be normal and well again. Our body is not designed to eat burger everyday, but those who eat often do keep watch of your health.

We can avoid sickness when we keep a balance diet with good fats, nutritional protein, with a good amount of carbohydrates. If you don’t watch your diet now you will soon regret later as poor health will follow you. As we age, we need good diet to keep us healthy and avoid sicknesses.

One way to watch your cholesterol level is to go for regular check-up. It is better to know your own health early than to wait at later years where it may be too late to detect sicknesses. Keep yourself trim and you are responsible for your diet and own health. Never settle for second best and always eat well, exercise, and keep a healthy you.

How To Enjoy Nuts – The Real Treats

By Deline Tan

Nuts – is a healthy fiberous diet that contains the good unsaturated fats like poly and monounsaturated fats. It is healthy fats that our body needs to provide the necessary nutrients. A healthy way to snack would be a packet of almond or cashew nuts, which is a great way to satisfy cravings.

Peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, cashew, macadamia nuts, and Brazil nuts are all very healthy nuts that help reduce heart disease, lower cholesterol and maintain the HDL (good cholesterol) levels. They contain no cholesterol and have several Vitamin B, Vitamin E, magnesium, copper and antioxidant. These vitamins and minerals are a good source that is essential for a balanced diet.

One of the necessary nutrients in nuts is folate, which plays a vital role in producing DNA and RNA, which functions as an important role in building up the body cells, and work in conjunction with Vitamin B12 to form haemoglobin (which carries oxygen) in red blood cells. Peanuts and sunflower kernels are a good source of folate, supplying at least 10% of the recommended daily intake per one ounce serving.

Pistachio is a great source of Vitamin B6 which helps the body form protein compound to make red blood cells, and antibodies to help maintain a healthy immune system. Other important minerals are riboflavin, thiamine and niacin, which help the body utilize sugars and fats to release energy from foods. Almond is a good source of riboflavin, and Brazil nuts, macadamias, and pistachios provide thiamine, and peanuts and sunflower seeds produce niacin.

Another important nutrient found in nuts is Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant that helps protect cells and tissues by neutralizing free radicals. Almond, Brazil nuts and cashews are an excellent source of magnesium. Cashews and pistachios are the source of copper, which is essential in making haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Nuts are also an important source of plant protein and are rich in energy, packed with antioxidant, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids. Nuts is a source of monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic and palmitoleic acids which help to lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol, and increase HDL or “good” cholesterol. For Mediterranean diet which is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, it helps to prevent coronary artery disease.

Nuts can fight against diseases like cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer and viral/fungal infections through the compounds like poly-phenolic and flavonoid antioxidants. Resveratrol in peanuts is known to reduce stroke risk.

With all these benefits, there is no doubt that nuts can be a real treat to our casual snacks, and you can also use them for cooking, like adding cashew nuts or almonds into rice when  cooking pineapple or gee rice. There are so many creative ways to eat nuts if you were to think of your recipe in terms of the real treat.

Try adding the different nuts into your cooking and you will have a balance diet of good saturated fats together with your food of carbohydrates and proteins. There are many creative ways to cook a meal with the delicious nuts, as you can plan to add cashew nuts together with the vegetables, or cook a good peanut soup with red dates and other recipes to make a good dish.

Whatever your plans are for a meal cooked with the varieties of nuts, know that you can never get tired with it as it serves as a good crushy snack delight with good healthy means for the body. Let these nuts made you nutty and you will always go about with a packet of nuts for your leisure snack.

How To Beat Insomnia

By Deline Tan

Sleep – the beauty of life is a gift to mankind. After a hard day’s work, we rest and go into slumberland. It is one way to repair the body after a strenuous day of hard work. Our body needs recovery from the exertion of the day, as the cells replenished itself during sleep.

However, some people are robbed of this special rest. Insomnia, the robber of sleep, destructs one from enjoying the beauty of sleep. Stress and anxiety can be the reasons why insomnia occurs. It is a complicated situation to understand, as the brain stays active and the mind is denied of rest.

Those who suffer from depression usually experience insomnia, as the mind is restless and anxious. Medication might help, but the best cure is to be free from fear and anxiety. The problem we face sometimes overwhelmed us and we may react and does not know how to recreate positive thoughts. Rest and recreation are the best form of de-stressor. It has been found that exercises calm the mind and body and produces chemicals in the body that balances the system.

There are three types of insomnia that we can identify with. They are:

1)     Transient Insomnia – which lasts for less than a week and can be caused by different sleep environment, or the different timing of sleep, as well as cause by severe depression and stress.

2)     Acute Insomnia – the inability to sleep for about less than a month.

3)     Chronic Insomnia – which lasts approximately about a month and can be due to muscular fatigue, hallucinations, and mental fatigue.

Let’s look at the pattern of insomnia, its causes and effects:

1)     The causes may be due to mental disorder, which makes the person having difficulty sleeping in the beginning of the night.

2)     Awaking in the middle of the night and have difficulty falling asleep after that. It is referred to as nocturnal awakenings.

3)     Waking in the early wee morning hours followed by clinical depression.

Statistics on insomnia shows that it affects more women than men. Stress is the main trigger that affects short-term problem known as acute insomnia, and if the problem is not addressed, it will lead to chronic insomnia.

Due to busyness of life, people don’t exercise, and excessive accumulated work-loads also do trigger stress-inducing chemicals in the brain that causes insomnia. Bad relationship is also one factor that causes stress and produces harmful effects on the body. Usually a crisis aggregates tension and stress that develops into insomnia.

How does one get rid of insomnia? You must have heard that people count sheep when they can’t sleep. The real solution is to change your lifestyle and lead a healthy way of life. Most conflicts that we face in our lives are caused by our own selfishness and sinful lifestyle. We fight and gossip, and we have strings of enemies. We strife at work and we want to be the best above everyone else. We fight to stay at the top and we have no regards for our fellow men. In another word, we are our own worst enemy.

A lifestyle change is what we need. We feel good when we do a kind deed, or, when we’re politely served by the waiters/waitresses, that made our day? A kind word is soothing to the ear and brings health and healing to the body. A good deed done blesses us with good relationship with people and as we love and accept people, know that we can safely fall soundly asleep. What the mind needs is rest (free from strife) and as we constantly live a healthy way, we’ll not have insomnia.

Think healthy lifestyle. Avoid quarrels and seek to be a peace-maker. Enjoy the bliss of life by doing good and sleep will follow you. You reap what you sow. If you intend to have lots of friends and able to sleep soundly, then keep your mind sound by doing what is good and right.

Your body listens to you. Your mind responses to your environment. Sleep follows you if you remain a good friend to your neighbour. You don’t have to count sheep, you only sleep, if your mind is aware of a good deed that you did during the day. Stay free from stress and rest will follow you.

Let’s look at how we can help ourselves through the available help for insomnia. One of the ways is through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In the therapy, the patients are taught improved sleep habits, like regular hours to go to bed and to sleep early. Attention to sleep hygiene is an important first line treatment strategy. Massage therapy would be very beneficial for sufferers of insomnia too.

Another way is through medication, which stood at about 95% of treatment for insomnia. It may not be the best way for cure as the drug can cause physical dependence which manifests in withdrawal symptoms if the drug is not carefully tapered down. Other side effects include day time fatigue and cognitive impairments.

Whatever way you seek treatment, know that prevention is better than cure. Live a healthy life style with no worries and you will beat the blues as you strive to be the confident you. Beat insomnia, beat life and you will be free from insomnia.

The Satisfaction of Work

By Deline Tan

How do you view work? Do you enjoy your vocation and job, or do you drag yourself to the office everyday? How you feel and view your work is very important. You face your day daily with the work that is before you, and you either look forward to it or you feel the dread of your day, sulking and feeling remorse.

All of us have our dream job. But however, sometimes we fall into the category where we work just to survive. Money may be the reason why we work. Imagine how dreary it will be when you work just to keep you going for the years to come, and yet there is no real joy and satisfaction in your work. What do you do to get out of this syndrome?

How you view work would be how you view life. Your life is your work. You spend three quarters of your life working and work is part of you. How then would you enjoy your life’s work so that your work has meaning and it bring significance to your life?

You can enjoy your moments of work if you take the time to muse over what you are doing. In another word, you deliberately savour every moment of your time in your work with pleasure. You do not take your responsibility as a chore, but rather a delight because you know how to enjoy every moment of your time in what you are doing. You treasure the work load without feeling stress-out, and you know how to priortise what you are doing. The importance of your task comes first and not the urgent. You know how to set pace for yourself and you determine the amount of time that you want to take to accomplish that task. You know how to enjoy every moment of your time at what you are doing and there is no pressure.

Your attitude makes up your work. How you feel would be how you would have work. If you are positive and strive to do the best out of an excellent spirit, you know you have done your best and the end result is satisfaction. You place priority in what you see as benefits in what you do, and you excel in it as you use your God-given talents to work out the best in your tasks and endeavours. You are the most satisfied person if you enjoy your work as that makes you successful and rich in all your ways.

You can only enjoy your work if you have a plan and goal to look forward to. A goal is a guide to your final destination. You plan what you want to do and work out your plan. You are a strategist and you know how to work out your own plans. Success only comes through diligent hard work where you have a set goal to look forward to. A plan serves as a guideline for you to chart your course in whatever that you plan to succeed. As you plan your work, you can be sure that you will work your plans. The thing that you need now is perseverance and diligent hard work. You can never fail if you plan to work your best and enjoy the tasks that you are doing.

All of us want to enjoy our work. Set in the motion to have a right attitude and have a road map for your goals, and you will see yourself reaching the end of the rope that you are holding, and success will just knock at your door, and you can be the most satisfied person on this earth.

As you succeed in your work life, you too will succeed in your family life; as a well-balanced and well-taught person that only sees success as the ultimate aim in all that you do.