Getting a Handle on Headaches

Painless insight into the various types of headache coming to a skull near you.

Inside your head sits one of your most important body parts. Your head is also a center of potentially debilitating pain. What kind of headache are you dealing with? What is the best way to treat it? Use this chart to get a handle on your headaches.

Acute Headache

Symptoms: The most common type of headache, acute headaches cause pain the head that is usually short-lived and mild in intensity.

Causes: Causes of acute headaches are wide-ranging. A few include illness, infection, and skipping meals.

Treatment: Many acute headaches can be taken care of with over-the-counter pain medication, eating, drinking water, or waiting it out.

Prevention: Recognize triggers that cause you to suffer an acute headache and avoid them.

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MMmm Avocado!

Asian Avocado

Here is a very different and simple way of enjoying avocados. Use low sodium soy sauce if desired, but full flavored is best.

Categories: Low Carb, Snack, Appetizers, Low Calorie, Low Sodium, Low Cholesterol, Dairy-Free, High Fiber Diet, Vegetarian

Here's What You Need

• 1 avocado
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Instructions

1. Stir together garlic, ginger, and soy sauce; set aside for five minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
2. Cut the avocado in half, and discard the pit; divide the sauce between the avocado halves.

Nutrition Facts

Servings: 2, Calories: 165, Fat: 15.4g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 162mg, Carbohydrate: 8g, Protein: 2.2g

Surviving Sweaty Hands

What you can do to get on with life - even if your hands are a bit damp.

Your hair or makeup is in place, you smell fantastic, and your teeth are gleaming white. But you feel uncomfortable. You want to make a great first impression, but the pouring out of your palms makes it unlikely.

What is causing your clammy hands, and what can you do to control it on a daily basis? Read on to find out!

Behind the Sweat Scene

It's normal to sweat a little bit - especially if you're stuck in hot weather or are performing physical labor. If you find your hands are sweaty even when you're working in the air conditioning at your office, it may be caused by excessive sweating, a condition also known as hyperhidrosis. Capable of causing excessive sweating in the hands, feet, face, and armpits, excessive sweating is not just embarrassing. It may be a sign of something more dangerous.

While many cases of hyperhidrosis are brought on by certain emotions (fear, anger, etc.), others are linked to conditions ranging from infection to spinal cord injury. Therefore, if home treatment does not remedy the sweaty problem, you should consider seeking medical attention to ensure your sweating is not a complication of another disease. If it is, getting the underlying condition taken care of should also resolve your wet-hand dilemma.

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Complete Sun Protection

Because your skin should always be healthy and happy.

You want to get outside and have some fun in the sun, but you don't want to wind up suffering the consequences of prolonged sun exposure. So what are you to do? Keep some common sense sun safety tips in mind and you'll protect your skin for years to come.

Spread the Block

The most common way to protect against sunburn is by using sunscreen. And for good reason. It's one of the most effective defenses from suffering injury by the hot, hot sun. However, while you may know that wearing sunscreen is a good idea, you may not be wearing it properly.

To get the most out of your sunscreen, wear sunscreen with the highest SPF (sun protection factor) available. This high-SPF sunscreen (think 30, 45, or higher) may keep you from getting a bronze tan, but you'll reap the rewards when your skin is healthy years down the road. And no matter how high the SPF is, be sure to apply it a few minutes before going outside and reapply every couple hours for maximum protection.

Did You Know? When your skin gets tan, it is actually skin bruising. Doesn't sound so attractive any more, does it?

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Boost Your Balance...

...with a few easy exercises.

Until you take a hard fall, you don't realize how important good balance is. But if you don't work to maintain good balance, you put yourself at risk for a variety of injuries, from bumps and bruises to broken bones. While you may not think you're at risk for balance problems, working to improve it today will ensure your good balance tomorrow.
What can you do to better your balance? Give these exercises a shot:

Balance on One: With your feet hip-width apart, put your hands on your hips and lift your right leg off the floor, bending the right knee. Hold as long as possible (up to 30 seconds), return to the starting position, and repeat with the other leg. To try something different, extend your non-weight-bearing leg forward as far as possible during the exercise.

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Wave Goodbye to Underarm Flab

Because Flab Ain't Fab

Thanks to push-up bras and BOTOX parties, women have new opportunity to reverse the power of gravity and time. But what about the sagging that so often takes place on the underside of women's arms? You could undergo plastic surgery, but wouldn't you rather try a low-cost method that gives you a sense of accomplishment?
If you're wondering how to keep the flab at bay or to banish it once and for all, you've come to the right place. Keep reading to learn what exercises you should be leaning on to keep flabby underarms from hanging out with you.

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How does that Drink Affect You?

You've got plans to sip on a beer or a glass of wine. But what's it going to do to you and your athletic prowess?

No matter what you may hear, a drink here or a drink there won't cause irreparable damage to your insides. In fact, a little alcohol on occasion seems to reap some health benefits. But more on that later. Because not knowing how to drink in moderation can lead to some serious performance downsides.

So how does alcohol affect your physical abilities, and what does that mean for your drinking days?

It Puts You at Risk

Got plans for anything athletic or physically demanding? You'd be better off - much better off - leaving the alcohol for another time. Because as great as a cold one may taste right now, ingesting alcohol before or while playing softball, riding a snowboard, or lifting heavy objects puts you at greater risk for injury.

The causes of increased injury risk are many. As you may know, alcohol consumption may cause you to lose your coordination and have a decreased reaction time. These two side effects result in many sports-related injuries and cause all sorts of dangerous and deadly accidents. Pile on the fact that alcohol decreases your strength significantly, and it becomes clear that alcohol and athletics should not be combined.

The first thing in the human personality that dissolves in alcohol is dignity. - Author Unknown

You'll Run Down Faster

When exercising, the last thing you want is to run out of gas before you're ready to be finished with your routine. Therefore, you're going to have to keep alcohol at arm's length. Because not only will an alcoholic beverage increase your risk for injury during exercise, but it will also prevent you from working out as long and hard as you planned.

And before you decide to settle down with a drink after a hard workout, there's something else you should know. That drink you have to celebrate a hard day at the gym may keep you from having an equally successful day tomorrow - especially if it's the first thing you ingest post-workout. So instead of ruining tomorrow's workout with today's celebration, drink some water and eat a meal before tossing back a brew or mixed drink. Once you have a drink, you should also be wary of drinking too many more, as this can fill you up with unneeded calories that will serve to slow down your weight-loss or weight-maintenance efforts.

You'll Be Healthier

Now that you know the downsides to drinking at the wrong time, you're probably ready for some good news about alcohol. Ready? Drinking alcohol in moderation is good for your health. That's right - sip on a little wine now and then or enjoy your other alcoholic beverage of choice, and you'll actually help improve your health. How? Good question. Alcohol, when drank in moderation, drops your risk for heart disease, but you've got to be careful. Drink more than one or two glasses of alcohol a day, and your risk for heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure stops going down. When you drink more than a little bit of alcohol each day, and your risks for these issues all begin to climb.

For improved protection against heart disease, you've probably heard that you need to improve your good cholesterol. Known as HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, this good cholesterol is found in one of your favorite dinner drinks: white or red wine. But as with all other alcohol, you'll need to be cautious. Don't get the cheapest wine available, as it may contain chemicals that are known for causing breathing difficulty and headaches. Instead, hunt down organic wines. It'll taste better and leave you feeling good immediately after drinking and well after.