Month: February 2015

Back pain is often temporary. You pull a muscle, exercise improperly, suffer from poor posture or in some other way cause stress and strain on your back.

The pain may last for a few hours, and then go away entirely. But studies have shown that over time, repeated back pain, even very mild in nature, can lead to chronic and debilitating back problems later in life.

Once you hit your 40s and 50s, your body is not as strong as it was when you were younger.

This means that chronic back problems can have a bigger negative impact on your life and your body than when you were healthier.

How to Prevent Back Pain Later in Life

How to avoid back pain

Practice the following 5 tips for a healthy and strong back now, and you limit your chances of suffering from back pain later in life.

Stop Smoking

I am sure you understand how unhealthy smoking is. But did you know it actually has been linked to higher instances of back pain than those who do not smoke?

Scientists are not even sure exactly how smoking causes problems in your back.

They believe it may have something to do with restricting the flow of blood which contains healthy nutrients.

This leads to problems in your spinal discs, and a higher incidence rate of back pain in smokers.

Stop Sleeping on Your Stomach

Sleeping face down puts a lot of pressure on your back. Years of sleeping in this position can consistently and slowly damage your spinal alignment over time, causing serious back problems later on in life.

When sleeping on your back, place a pillow under your knees. This cuts the amount of pressure on your spinal cord by half.

Lose Weight

If you can stay within about 10 pounds of your natural weight, you can drastically reduce your chances of suffering from back pain.

Get more exercise and change your eating habits, and you can drop those extra pounds which cause back pain now and chronic pain as you age.

Stop Stressing Out

Stress, anxiety and depression can cause short and long-term back pain.

Any type of stress causes you to flex and tense your muscles. Constant worrying means that you are putting extra stress on your back all day long.

Take up yoga or meditation, tai chi or deep breathing exercises to learn to handle stress better.

Watch Your Posture

Adopt proper posture, especially if you work in a sitting position all day

Proper posture is so important for a multitude of health reasons. When you slouch over in your chair or on the couch, you put incredible pressure on your lower back and pelvis.

Texting, which you probably do dozens of times a day, also causes bad posture.

Back pain is more prevalent among office workers and those who make a living sitting in front of the computer for several hours each day, so stand instead of sitting whenever you can.

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A few times now I have run into a similar, actually exact, Miracle Foot Soak image and idea on Pintereest that promises to get rid of the bad calluses on my feet so I thought I would give it a shot.

The idea is to mix one part Vinegar, one part Listerine, and 1 part water. I know it sounds like a strange mix but when you think about it there are reasons that this would work as a foot soak.

Presenting the Miracle Foot Soak

Vinegar is an acid, maybe a mild acid but still it would burn dead skin. Listerine is a antiseptic and would kill bacteria but would do a good job at killing any stinky bugs on your feet. And the water? Just makes it not so strong

So I am not very skeptical. This should do something but not sure how much or how well it will get rid of the calluses on my feet.

I used a small bucket and mixed the stuff together. I can tell you from experience that it is in fact very stinky. I think it stinks kind of like minty pee. Not a good smell at all.

I knew that if I was going to be soaking my feet in this mix for a half an hour then it would be a good idea to use warm water, which I did.

So I made sure that I had a book, a towel, a comfortable couch to sit on and I dropped my feet into the miracle foot soak. Right away it felt kind of tingly. I think that is the Listerine and vinegar just kind of reacting on my feet. Didn’t bother me too much at all though and it was nice to soak my feet.

After a half an hour I decided to check it out. I pulled a foot up a bit and the calluses did seem to be a lot softer.

Not falling off soft but softer anyway.

The trouble with calluses is that they really are just hard dead skin but are really attached to your good skin so I rubbed both my feet pretty hard to get as much of the calluses off and then I rubbed my feet dry with a towel (which will not definitely have to be washed.

I know that some people have said that you can now get a pumice stone and scrub your feed hard. I am not a big fan of really hurting my feet that way so instead I rubbed some coconut oil into my feet and put some socks back on to keep the moisture in.

Tomorrow my plan is to use that pumice stone in the shower now that I have softened up and rubbed off some of those calluses. We will see if this works well to get rid of the calluses but I have a good feeling about it.

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Ok so this morning I had a shower and scrubbed my moistened feet with the pumice stone in the shower. I really should use that thing all the time but usually my feet tend to be dry. The coconut oil worked out well overnight.

My feet today are nice and soft today so I have to say that the miracle foot soak may not be as good as they say, but really good anyway. I have clean feet, calluses aren’t bothering me and that minty pee smell is out of the house now.

 

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I have talked about this many times before but I am sure it has not reached enough people yet. I watch TV, I read web pages,  I follow movies and news but mostly I try to act.

There is an insatiable desire, a longing in all of us to do. The trouble is that most of the time we get caught watching or are paralyzed by indecision, you know that term paralysis by analysis? Well I was in the gym today and it is sad to think that two or three times the number of people were there 30 days ago at the beginning of January, excited about changing their lives but something got in the way.

Most of the time people that do not act say “Those were my dreams and then life got in the way” Well there are a few things that can get in your way but life is not usually one of them, instead it is our inability to act.

I think I may have a book in me on this point but anyway…

I think that if you do the following 5 things you will stop watching and jump into the action. Try these and then come back next week or even tomorrow and tell us all how well or badly it worked.

1. To act you need to know what you want. This is critical. If you are going to get involved you need to know what action you want to take. Maybe you watch a lot of hockey or soccer, well you can easily find a pickup league or team that you can get involved with, heck I got drafted into coaching kids soccer last year without even asking.

2. You need to find your why. Why do you want to do that action? Is it to have fun? To get in shape? To live a dream that you always wanted? I have said for years that I want to run a 10k, all that talk never got me close because there was a bunch of training involved and I only cared about the finish line of the run. You need to know what will get you on the track, or in the class, or in the training field.

3. You have to make your schedule. If you do not make a schedule that is yours then TV or a boss, or a wife will fill your days and nights for you. I watched Up In the Air with George Clooney last week and in the movie he would tell people that had just been fired that the greatest achievements that ever happened were by the people on that side of the table. If you have no one telling you what to do you can do what YOU want.

4. Don’t worry about the process, just the next step. If you wanted to play soccer for a team you don’t have to worry about what time the practices will be or the number of games in the season, the only thing that matter in the beginning is your very next step, getting a soccer ball or calling to find out if there is a team in the area. If you look to far ahead it becomes a giant mountain not a bunch of fun.

5. Start everyday with action. This has nothing to do with individual goals of what you want to achieve but instead is an overall way to live life. You have probably seen these guys that have accomplished 5 or 10 completely different huge things in their life guys like John Glenn, or Richard Branson, or even Arnold Schwarzenegger have done. You need to start every day with a few things that have to be done, have to be acted on and then no matter what you want you can eventually finish it.

So these are the keys. The biggest key of these is of course to act and get done what needs to be done right now today. This next step process and the attitude that life is not very complete if you are just a spectator is one of the most important things and principles that I like to live by.

So figure out what you want and start today. This could be the first of many great days that will change your life.

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