Archive for Health

Effectively Marketing Your Dental Practice Online

by Marcus Somani

So perhaps you’re a dentist who’s recently created a beautiful new web site. What you want to accomplish is a high flow of traffic to your new dental web site of patients within your vicinity who are interested in visiting your office for the dental services you provide, whether those dental services are orthodontics or teeth whitening or some form of cosmetic dentistry to even general dentistry.

With so many sites offering dental services these days, you need to have a good Internet marketing plan to get the most out of your website. Lots of traffic to your site is key, if you don’t get much traffic, your site will only be good to remind people who need to find you of you’re office’s whereabouts. There is just too much competition out there to expect your website to be competitive without marketing online.

I’ve been spending a lot of time researching Internet dental marketing and different online tactics and strategies which dentists have used successfully and which they have used with not such good results. And it’s the tactics that both work and the tactics that don’t work that I want to share with you so you don’t make the same mistakes that others have made, and then you could build on the work that other dentists have done to improve their online marketing program.

Let me start off by discussing things that may work but are extraordinarily time-consuming. Yahoo! Answers is an example of a channel that you can use to build traffic to your site. Yahoo! Answers is a forum that you can get to off of Yahoo.com where people randomly post questions about various topics. You can set yourself up so that you get notifications about people who have dental service-related questions, and once you see these, by email notification you can respond. You’ll quickly be recognized as a leader in that area, and eventually, that has the potential to generate traffic. This unfortunately has the problem of waiting around for other people to write questions that you’re going to answer and also has the drawback of requiring a significant time commitment, so that you respond to questions as soon as they are presented and think about them thoroughly. It’s a time-consuming process which certainly is not the ideal marketing strategy for most dentists.

Another channel which some dentists have used with moderate success is to create a dental blog. With a dental blog, you can make entries regarding the different kinds of experiences you’ve had creating certain dental conditions. Clearly, you want to make these anonymous. However, this also has the major drawback of requiring a significant amount of time, and the problem is is that that time commitment is an ongoing, a longstanding process. That takes time away from your family, and it takes time away from being a dentist which is what you want to focus on when you’re at work. Some dentists go with the channel that doesn’t require a lot of time, and that’s to pay for quick advertising on something like Google AdWords or on the Yahoo! network. That is certainly something that doesn’t require a lot of time, outside of picking the key word, such as dentist or dental, that you want to target for people who are searching online. However, that is an extraordinarily costly way to advertise.

A main objective in marketing your dental practice online is finding low cost advertizing. Choosing an expensive marketing tool that works well to bring in more patients is only successful in getting people in the door; because what you earn from providing services to them will be gobbled up by your large advertizing bill. This type of advertizing is called “click-through” advertizing. Prospective patients can click on your ad when they find it on the Internet. A drawback here is that anyone can click on your ad and this costs money every time. Say, for instance, a competing dental practice wants to run up your advertizing bill so they click on your ad repeatedly during a month. Sometime during the month a person who is looking for the dental services you offer clicks on your ad and comes in for an office visit. Your advertizing bill for that time period could be astronomical but only resulting in one new patient. This is clearly not a cost effective advertizing method because even though someone may click your ad while they are looking for a dental practice, it does not always mean they will actually come to your office.

There is one channel that has the potential to be tremendously successful and is not very time-consuming. Dentists are just starting to begin to use this channel, and I’ve spoken with several who use patient reviews as a mechanism to leverage their practice and increase the number of patients they have. What most of these dentists do is ask patients who are clearly impressed with the practice to go to some third-party web site, such as Citysearch or Yelp, and write a review about the practice there. This certainly is a good channel.

As you well could guess, if someone is looking online for a new dentist and they find a negative review of your practice they will not be walking in your office door anytime soon. The perfect tool for this situation would be a marketing tool that will let you sort the good and the bad feedback, and then let you publish what you choose on the Internet to advertize your dental practice. It is very important to have this kind of control over what prospective patients are reading about your practice because even an “okay” review is not as favorable for you as a “great” review.

There is now a way for dentists to have control over all their reviews and effectively market a practice online without breaking their advertizing budgets. Creating your own site for your patients to post their reviews will put you in control. Your review site will be complete with your contact information, your logo and large amounts of positive feedback written by your happy patients. This cuts out all the time it takes to write your own Web content, and it has a low cost compared to the other Internet advertizing tools I’ve discussed. Your patients will be happy knowing that you have created a place just for them to write their reviews of their experiences so you will have plenty of information to work with-both good and bad. You are bound to have at least a few unfavorable reviews and these can be used to make changes to create a better experience for your patients while at your office. The good review can easily be pushed out onto the Internet to be indexed by search engines, which will drive new patients to your practice. Planning a review site is clearly a great way to utilize your patients review to generate positive feedback for your practice on the Internet, something that translates into new patients easily finding nothing but good things about you when they look for a dentist in your community.

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Using A Carbon Footprint Calculator To Curb Global Warming

by Daniel Stouffer

Faced with the knowledge that almost every facility gives out some type of greenhouse gas, a carbon footprint calculator has come into its’ own, to help organizations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The calculator allows them to more easily recognize the problem, put in place measures to reduce emissions and then gauge their progress.

Standards for calculating, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions are handled by the Climate Registry — a nonprofit agency and are also covered under the US Clean Air Act. Membership in the registry is voluntary, but the majority of states, territories, provinces and sovereign nations within North America are taking part in the effort to reduce carbon emissions.

Data about daily facility operations can be entered into a carbon footprint calculator, and this information is expected to contribute greatly to greenhouse gas emission reduction. The main areas playing a major role in harmful gas emissions are energy use, waste generation, purchased materials and transportation.

It is becoming increasingly critical for businesses to measure their carbon footprint. The current and future health of the planet depends on it. New research shows that certain gases are depleting the ozone layer and contributing to global warming. Because these gases remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, steps must be taken now to slow their damage. These measures include reducing carbon emissions.

By using a carbon footprint calculator, businesses will be able to measure how much of the environmentally harmful gases they use. These substances include carbon dioxide, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). According to scientists, these gases contribute to the earths warming, which could lead to extreme heat waves, rising sea levels and severe harm to humans, animals, plant life and marine life, if no action is taken to stop the damaging effects.

Under EPA requirements, a business can now use a carbon footprint calculator to identify the extent of their gas emissions, creating a management plan, establish goals and report their findings. Companies that have multiple buildings or locations will find the calculator to be of particular benefit.

Data is entered into a carbon footprint calculator representing Emissions Factors and Global Warming Potential, for each source. Sources are defined as being either direct or indirect, with direct emissions being those classified from equipment or other sources owned or operated by a company and indirect emissions being used by a company during its daily operations, but supplied by another source. The former will cover commercial refrigeration and air-conditioning or heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, whilst the latter may involve the use of electricity or heat. Total emissions are factored by multiplying EF and GWP at each source.

Complex data is required to be input into a carbon footprint calculator, so companies with HVAC systems in stores, hospitals, warehouses or offices are turning to refrigerant management programs. These computerized programs include a calculator to handle the sometimes tedious tasks of monitoring, tracking and reporting.

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Surgery To Get Rid Of Stretch Marks?

by Thomas Friedman

Usually, people having stretch marks are self conscious.Many people find that, no matter how much they diet and exercise, they cannot get rid of stubborn fat and excess skin in the abdominal area. A plastic surgery procedure known as tummy tuck can help eliminate both the tenacious fatty deposits and the excess skin around the stomach that many people struggle with.

A good candidate for the tummy tuck procedure is an adult who is not far from his or her ideal body weight, with an abdominal area that has not adequately responded to modification by diet and exercise.

Many women opt to undergo a tummy tuck after pregnancy, when abdominal muscles tend to remain lax, and the skin over the stomach becomes stretched and saggy. However, while many people feel that they need to undergo plastic surgery to trim their midsections, a full tummy tuck is not always the ideal solution.

Not all the surgical methods can be followed for all. Unfortunately, one thing has to be stated clearly here: it is known that even the surgical means can not prove cent percent stretch mark relief, though this method can give a better cure as compared with the other alternative cosmetic methods. In the tummy tuck method of surgery, the excess skin and fat under the skin would be removed leaving behind a perfect figure for you to wink at.

Tummy tuck surgery does, however, provide the patient with many benefits, including improved appearance and, in many cases, an elevated level of self confidence. While this could work in theory, there are several things a person has to consider about plastic surgery to remove stretch marks before making a commitment to go under the knife.

People often times think that because the operation is cosmetic in nature it is a less serious form of surgery, however this is not the case. All complications associated with major procedures can occur with plastic surgery as well, including infection and probable death from the incorrect use of anesthesia.

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Resistance Training Resulting in Improving Women Health and Fitness

by Louise J Brian

Health and fitness is gaining significance among the people as they are developing knowledge about the undesirable effects of not taking care of their body correctly. Despite this mounting alertness, many people still disregard the significance of taking care of their body. The two most common problems faced by people are of weight gain due to fat deposits, and failing health due to malnutrition.

The problem of weight gain due to fat accumulation is particularly common among women in their middle ages. The main reason is that they do not take care of this problem in their youth, and thus have to suffer the consequences at a later stage. Most people are careless about their health in their early ages and do not really care about such issues. But as soon as they step into their middle ages, they realize that it would have been best for them if they had taken this matter into consideration when they had the chance.

There are many health programs for women that engage different exercises which are designed to tone the body into apt shape and to turn away certain health nuisance. However, most of these exercises are only composed exercises and do not demand any convoluted trainings to tone the body. There are differing views on resistance training exercises for women.

These views are acknowledged by different doctors, researchers, and appearance experts, and are based mostly on their personal opinions on health and nice looks. Many women also have different views about these exercises as they are not clear about their benefits and are also flawed by some women who pick a muscular body. Women who favor muscular body make other women undergo that resistance training is all about building a brawny body rather than a gentle toned womanly body.

Most people misinterpret the notion of resistance training for women. They most likely presume that resistance training for women is same as that for men. Although, the process is the same, but the objective and other factors involved are completely different from that of men’s resistance training exercises.

They not only take in intricate machine exercises and weight exercises, but also contain a suitable diet and mild toning exercises. Although, some women go beyond it which is usually due to personal preferences or inappropriate fitness guides, resistance training for women is nevertheless very imperative for overall fitness and health.

A woman may crop the fruits of this training in their early years as well as old age. In youth, the fruit may be the great looking body shape and sanguine strength and resilience, whereas in old age the fruit would be strong bones and thus a dense chance of breaking bones due to a simple fall. Many women who entail such exercises have very frail bones which make their old age very risky as they are vulnerable to breaking their bones even by a simple fall from the chair.

This exercise is also very vital for swift weight losses as it will assist women lose the additional weight and uphold their body in appropriate shape. It is undoubtedly true that women prefer a great looking body that is free from surplus fat and is able to support their tasks well. Women who chose aerobics are mainly interested in these exercises, because it not only helps them remain fit and healthy but also helps them get strength to perform their tasks.

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Skin Cancer And The Sun

by Matt Hellstrom

Many people go to the beach when the sun is beating down on them, so that they can catch all the rays that they can for a glorious tan. But we now know that too much exposure to the sun can lead to serious skin damage.

Most people are well aware that it is advised that sunscreen be worn on a daily basis, or whenever you are outdoors even for a brief period of time. Yet, it seems that while many people are aware of the benefits of sunscreen, it is not a part of their daily routine. Most people only consider wearing sunscreen when they are planning a day out in the sun or are partaking in an outdoor activity.Most people hear warnings every day to keep out of the sun when it is strongest, and to prevent damage to our skin from the sun’s rays. Generally, people, especially younger adults, tend to pay little attention to this advice about the sun and skin cancer.

It does not matter what your age is you must shelter your skin from sun. In the beginning the damaging consequences of too long exposure may not appear for years, but once the damage is done, those consequences will show up sooner or later. Therefore you must protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays at an early age. You can adopt several methods to prevent overexposure to the sun.

It is important to remember to wear sunscreen any time you go out into the sun, not just on days you’re hitting the beach. We’re exposed to plenty of sun in our everday lives, from waiting for the bus, to walking to work, to having lunch outside.

In general, you should protect yourself from the sun by applying sunblock with an SPF of 15 or more on all exposed skin. In addition, the sun is strongest between 10 AM and 3 PM. Therefore, you shouldn’t go outside unnecessarily during those hours. The summer isn’t the only time you should watch your exposure to the sun. In the winter and fall, you can still get too much sunlight. Sunscreen should be worn all year round.

If you sweat or go swimming, you should reapply your suntan lotion every so often. To be safe, apply more lotion every two hours, or more often for children. Infants less than six months old should not be exposed to the sun any more than necessary, since their skin cannot handle sunscreen.

Keep babies covered with clothing and hats to limit their exposure. The delicate skin of children and babies is very susceptible to damage and should be protected especially carefully. Babies are very vulnerable to skin cancer and the sun.

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General Advice on Keeping Your Toilet Clean

by Scott Rodgers

Far too many people only undertake the task of cleaning the toilet during routine spring cleaning. This is a mistake. The bathroom, expectedly, is a site for messy and unsanitary build-up. Don’t neglect it throughout the year; clean it regularly.

There are a number of signs that your toilet bowl needs a good cleaning. If you can see significant build-up around the bowl, you should take a toilet brush and scrub the area with a detergent. Even if there’s not significant visual evidence of dirtiness, you may detect an unpleasant odor coming from the toilet, which also indicates it is time for a thorough cleaning.

There are whole lines of cleaners that you can use in your bathroom. You may have heard of several foaming cleaners or cleaners with tilted heads that make cleaning the upper bowl easy. These can make cleaning the toilet much simpler.

Drive over to the nearest store carrying cleaning products. Buy a cleanser specifically for bathroom use and, if you don’t have one already, a toilet brush. Cover the bowl with the cleanser and scrub away, making sure you clean the upper bowl thoroughly.

With your toilet bowl clean, you can try to put off that next cleaning for as long as possible by taking some simple steps. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And by combating future bathroom dirt and odors, your nose will thank you!

Simply buy preventative cleansers that reside in the toilet for an extended period of time. These auto-wash the bowl over time and will allow you to clean the bowl less often and reduce odors between cleanings.

There is, however, required weekly or monthly maintenance. Though not a full clean, you’ll have to replace the old auto-cleaning agent with a new, fresh one.

It’s also important to note that these kinds of cleaners can never fully replace a total toilet cleaning. Again, if you ever encounter visual buildup or noticeable odors, you should do a clean immediately.

While the task of cleaning the toilet may, quite literally, stink, it’s absolutely necessary. Cleaning your toilet regularly and not just once a year can make your bathroom a much more pleasant room. Plus, you make your house much healthier overall!

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Dealing With Your Heartburn Symptoms

by Ashley King

Just about everyone suffers from the symptoms of heartburn at one time or another. Perhaps they ate too much of an enjoyable meal, or chose a food that their digestive system wasn’t happy about, and ended up with an uncomfortable case of heartburn. Heartburn, also known as acid reflux, is a fiery feeling in your throat and chest that’s highly unpleasant. However, heartburn actually has nothing to do with the heart. The term is really a misnomer.

Heartburn affects your esophagus, throat and cardiac sphincter. It might seem like the problem is related to your heart, but in fact it just happens to be occurring nearby. This is how come so many people wonder if there’s something wrong with their heart when they have an episode of heartburn. It can be very alarming to people who experience heartburn for the first time, because it can feel like a problem with the heart.

Heartburn symptoms can be different in every person and even throughout individual episodes. You’ll start to feel the unpleasant symptoms in your chest first, and then they will spread up to the throat. Even though the most typical heartburn symptom is a burning feeling in the chest there are other signs to be aware of. These include trouble swallowing, a painful throat, hoarseness in the throat, or a sensation that there’s some food caught in your throat. Heartburn can also produce a chronic cough or even asthma-like symptoms of wheezing.

Consult with your physician if the problem is chronic or appears to be getting worse. You can get heartburn relief through a variety of different medicinal products. Your doctor will prescribe treatment options that should help to ease your symptoms. This will usually involve antacids of some sort, along with lifestyle changes.

The most effective treatment for heartburn is prevention. If you suffer from this condition on a regular basis, you need to make some changes to your regular habits. For example, following a meal, it’s important to remain erect. As a rule, you need to stay sitting, keep your head up and don’t lie down until your food is fully digested. Another recommendation is to sleep with your head elevated, or even in a seated, upright position. Your goal should be to maintain the entire upper portion of your body in an elevated position, not just your head.

It’s also important that you take a close look at your diet. Pay attention to which foods are the cause of your distress and eliminate them from your diet. The size of your meal is also important. Studies show that chowing down on too much food at one time leads to excessive stomach acids, which in turn results in the symptoms of heartburn. Consuming smaller meals more often will keep your stomach acid levels in line.

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Create Your Own Hair Stimulating Aromatherapy Recipe

by Judy Bosch

Essential oils can have dramatic therapeutic effects on the skin, scalp and hair. Many oils used for skin care will have a positive effect on hair growth, both for those whose hair may be thinning, and men and women who just want an awesome head of healthy hair. Here will look at the most effective oils for hair care — both essential oils (like Lavender and Rosemary) and carrier oils (like Evening Primrose and Jojoba) — with details about each so you can create a specific formula to suit your personal hair type. The recipes are easy to make, and you can even just add a few of the oils to conditioners or shampoos you may already be using.

The oils used for hair growth are also those used for skin care in general — the health of the follicles is of course closely related to the health of the scalp and skin. Essential oils for your most effective, custom recipe can be selected from one of four general categories. These are: stimulating (increasing cellular metabolism and/or new cell generation), nutritive (offering vitamins, other co-factors and essential fats necessary for healthy follicle function), balancing (returns over-oily or over-dry skin to a balanced state, balances over- or under-active hormones at a cellular level, and/or reduces excess inflammation from any number or sources), and immune-supportive (heal scalp/skin infections that may inhibit optimal hair growth).

Creating your own scalp treatment is as easy as adding the essential oils to long-chain ‘fixed’ oils (also called ‘carrier’ oils or ‘base’ oils in aromatherapy). These oils are in the same family as cooking oils, and they carry the concentrated essential oils into the skin. Also found in these carrier oils are vitamins involved in cellular metabolism, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids (different from ‘essential oils’ in that they are long chain ‘fixed’ oils that are required for normal cell function). The carrier oils have little aroma of their own, and make up about 95% of the total therapeutic blend, with the essential oils making up the last 5%. It is crucial to keep the total essential oil concentration no higher than this — essential oils are very strong plant extracts, and it’s generally found that their best effects are found with lower concentrations than we expect.

We’ll start with the stimulating essential oils. These essential oils are used in skin and hair care to stimulate cellular metabolism (increasing the oxygen and nutrients used by the cell) or stimulate the growth of new cells. Specifically for hair growth, we’d like to stimulate the activity of the hair follicles and grow more hair, thicker and faster. Two essential oils are used most often for this: Rosemary and Sage. Both of these herbs have a long history in hair care, with teas made from their leaves being used as a stimulating hair rinse for hundreds of years. Of all the Rosemary essential oil varieties available, you should find the specialty-oil for skin and hair: Rosemary c.t. verbenone. The verbenone ‘chemotype’ has unique molecules in it that tells the scalp cells to speed up their activity and even produce new cells. Rosemary verbenone is the safest and most commonly-used of the stimulating oils (though it should be avoided by expectant mothers, children, and those with nervous system conditions — check with your doctor if you’re unsure about the safety of essential oils for yourself just in case).

Sage essential oil, like Rosemary, is also highly regarded for hair care and stimulating hair growth. It is considered the most potent of the regenerative oils, though also the one with the most cautions. Like Rosemary, it should be avoided if pregnant, by children, and by those with epilepsy. Some therapists think it should be just generally avoided by the lay-practitioner, while others believe it is safe at therapeutic dilutions. Sage does have a long history in hair care, mostly as a tea from the leaves of common Sage. The essential oil is relatively new on the scene, and needs to be used in an entirely different manner than the hair-wash tea. The oil should only be used in very low concentrations in a carrier oil–at 1% or less. Kurt Schnaubelt in Advanced Aromatherapy includes it in a recipe for skin regeneration at .25%. This is only 2 drops per ounce of carrier oil!

Nutritive essential oils supply vitamins and vitamin-like molecules which enhance cell functions, including hair growth. Vitamin A co-factors have been found particularly beneficial to the follicles. The most nutritive essential oils supplying these co-factors are Sea Buckthorn Berry and Helio-Carrot (or Carrot Root). Both these essential oils are actually made by a high-tech process called carbon-dioxide extraction, at a lower temperature than the steam distillation used for most essential oils. This process preserves the nutrients in the oils, and brings a broader spectrum of the therapeutic plant molecules into the oil. Both these oils should be used at about 1% of the overall blend.

Next, the balancing essential oils — balancing oils should make up a part of everyone’s blend. Lavender oil is sort of the king of therapeutic essential oils, with an amazing array of effects. Lavender is thought to be cooling, soothing, anti-inflammatory and helps the skin heal. If one needs to balance the scalp’s natural oils, Green Myrtle is an excellent choice, also with antibacterial and regenerative properties. Myrtle can reduce excessive oil production (which has been implicated in hair loss and slow hair growth) and can help a flaky, itchy scalp. For women, Clary Sage can be especially balancing, particularly where regular hormone production is the source of hair loss or slow hair growth. Proper estrogen metabolism on the cellular level is critical for beautiful hair, and older women in particular may really benefit from .5% Clary Sage included in their personal recipes.

Some hair loss is directly related to mild-to-severe scalp infections, and even auto-immune conditions where the body seems to reject its own hair follicles and suppress growth. This auto-immune condition is called alopecia areata, and has been successfully treated with essential oils of Rosemary, Lavender, Cedarwood and Thyme, each at .5% concentrations based in Jojoba and Grapeseed oils. If the scalp is over-oily and irritated, with general thinning or slow hair growth, a gentle antiseptic oil should be included in your formula. This may be as simple as a small amount of Tea Tree, Myrtle, Cedarwood or Palmarosa to your blend.

To make a topical formula using these aromatic oils, they should be based (dissolved or diluted) in carrier oils, also known as ‘fixed’ oils. Carrier oils differ from essential oils in that they are in-fact fatty acids, do not easily evaporate, and have relatively little aroma. Olive oil is an example everyone is familiar with. The carrier oils we’ll look at have distinct therapeutic properties themselves. First is Evening Primrose — Evening Primrose has two primary actions: It is nutritive in that it supplies excellent amounts of vitamins for hair growth, and offers a very high amount of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. These should be exceptional for any scalp and hair condition where growth is limited by inflammation (use at up to 100% of the base). Next is Rosehip Seed: this oil has been widely studied for its anti-aging effects, reducing scar formation and wrinkles, plus stimulating regeneration (use at up to 30% of the base). Jojoba oil has a long history of use in hair care, particularly for dry hair, or where one would like their hair to be more shiny and lustrous (use at up to 100% of the base). Coconut oil is highly regarded in cases of hair loss, as in it nutritive and anti-inflammatory. Coconut and Sesame (also anti-inflammatory and nutritive) are used in Ayurvedic medicine to stimulate hair growth (use Coconut at up to 50% and Sesame at up to 100%). Finally, Grapeseed oil is an excellent choice for a ‘light’ oil base, with slightly astringent qualities for oily scalp and hair.

Making and using your own recipe to stimulate growing beautiful hair is really very easy (and yet remarkably therapeutic!)…Start with an empty bottle of between 1 and 8 ounces. Calculate the amount of each essential oil you’d like to use, remembering that the average amount is 1% of each essential oil. This works out to eight drops of essential oil per ounce of carrier, so if you’re making a four-ounce bottle, and want to add one-percent Lavender, add 4×8, or 32 drops of Lavender to the bottle. Stimulating oils should be used at 1/2% or less, meaning 4 drops of essential oil per ounce, and nutritive oils can be used at up to 2%. When done adding the essential oils, fill the bottle the rest of the way with your chosen carriers — the carrier measurement needn’t be as precise. If you’re making a 50/50 base of Rosehip and Sesame, for example, filling the bottle close to halfway with each is just fine. Once you’ve inverted or lightly shaken the mixture, it’s ready to use: you can apply about an eye-dropper full to your scalp, and massage-in. You can do this before going to bed (though cover your bedding to prevent stains from the oils) or wrap your head in a moist towel for a while to maximize absorption. A light scalp massage with the oils will also increase circulation and absorption by the hair roots, perhaps increasing the efficacy of your blend even further.

This concludes a basic review of the therapeutic use of the best essential oils for hair growth, and how to prepare and use your own personal formula. It’s so easy to make your own blend, and finally gives you control over the particular active ingredients in your hair growth products — plus you can make them using completely natural, and even all-organic essential oils and carrier oils. With regular and consistent use, a well balanced, personal recipe should help the health and vibrancy of your hair in just a short time — and you’ll smell wonderful while doing it, too!

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Lucid Dreams - Experience Every Fantasy!

by Paul Benson

You may not know about lucid dreams yet, but they are real and are an amazing experience. A lucid dream is a dream where you are conscious of the fact that you are dreaming ” and best of all, you’re in total control of your dream! You can take the reins and take your dream anywhere that you want to go.

You’re in the driver’s seat when you have lucid dreams and anything that you want to happen can and will. Think of it as being able to create your own movies where the events are not limited by budget or even by the laws of physics.

Lucid dreams are noticeably different than the dreams you’re used to having while you sleep ” these regular dreams are guided by their own sort of logic and drift along without your input. By contrast, lucid dreams are under your control and seem real, regardless of how far out the events may be.

If you’re ever unsure if you’re dreaming, try reading something in your dream. In a regular dream, reading is nearly impossible; the words will keep changing. If you can make sense of what you see, then you are most likely having a lucid dream and you can begin to take control.

When youre lucid dreaming, anything you imagine is possible. You can live out any fantasy you have, meet anyone you want and go anywhere.

Since you’re in control of a lucid dream, you can always change the course of events. You can replay parts of your life, changing the outcome for the better; this can help you to come to terms with some things which may be hard to process psychologically.

Anyone can learn to have lucid dreams. Your body needs to rest of course so that you can awake refreshed and energetic enough to take on the tasks of the day; but while your body is at rest, your mind can stay partially active and engage in lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreaming is a skill which needs to be learned through practice. Developing the ability to lucid dream at will takes time and you will need to be patient; but anyone can have lucid dreams.

Starting a dream diary is a good way to start learning to lucid dream. When you awake from a dream, write down everything you can remember. Keep your journal by your bedside so that it is quickly accessible to you upon waking. With time, you’ll improve your ability to remember your dreams and this trains your mind to recognize when it is dreaming. When you acquire this skill, you’ll be able to start making your dreams lucid ones.

In fact, writers have been known to keep records of their lucid dreams to help them plan out characters and plots for their stories and novels. Lucid dreaming is a good way to exercise your creativity and try some new ideas.

When you get into the habit of remembering your dreams, you’ll be able to return to your dreams when you go back to sleep and start controlling their course.

Lucid dreaming happens most readily in the hour or two before you are accustomed to waking up. When you wake early and go back to bed at these times, you often lucid dream; it seems as if you’ve just been thinking as you lie in bed, but once the alarm goes off, you know that you’ve been dreaming!

To get yourself to the mental state where lucid dreaming is possible, you can use relaxation and meditation techniques along with dream recall. A lot of people find that self hypnosis can help them train their minds for dream recall quickly and efficiently.

One new advance in audio technology can also be of assistance to you in learning to have lucid dreams. Binaural beats are specially recorded frequencies which attune the two hemispheres of your brain to the proper frequency to reach a lucid dreaming state.

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What is MDS Syndrome?

by Wendy Packerstin

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is clone-type malignancy that is related to the blood. This disease does not respond well to treatment. All three types of blood cells - red, white and platelets - are deficient in the presentation of MDS.

When the disorder in the production of blood cells continued, the different types of blood cells will have an abnormal count and the bone marrow will begin to deteriorate. The MDS syndrome patient will have low or high amount of any or all of these blood cells (red, white, and platelet).

MDS occurs in 5 per 100,000 people; at age 70 and up, about 30 per 100,000. Therefore, MDS cases may grow in number as the population ages.

Physical symptoms include: fatigue, infectious disorders, bleeding, and abnormal pallor.

About one third of all MDS patients, according to medical reports, will develop acute myleoid leukemia or AML. This is commonly known as secondary AML. Patients living with MDS may develop progressive cytopenias or AML with or without treatment.

Survival chances of patients with MDS were derived from the percentage of bone marrow blasts, the number of cytopenias, and the presence of cytogenetic abnormalities. These are divided into 4 risk categories:

*Median survival of 5.7 years is considered low-risk

*Median survival of 3.5 years is an intermediate risk category

*Median risk of 1.1 years is also considered intermediate risk

*When the median survival is less than 6 months the risk is considered high.

MDS can be genetic and are also caused by some environmental factors like prolonged exposure to benzene. Benzene is a known carcinogen and a toxic chemical commonly used to manufacture commercial goods such as gasoline, cigarettes, sodas, and many more. Most people are unaware that handling, ingesting, and inhaling benzene may develop MDS.

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