Sasha Says… – Page 79 – Family and Home. Money Matters. Life in General. And More.

The Heart Of The Matter: Simple Ways To Start Protecting Your Heart Now

September 5, 2017 No Comments

When somebody mentions the word health to you, what kinds of thoughts or images pop into your mind? For many of us, heart health is an important consideration, but we tend to assume that we only need to worry about our most precious vital organ later in life. The reality is that it’s never too early to start protecting your heart, as youth doesn’t make you immune from cardiac complications. If you’re keen to do more to boost your heart health, this guide should prove useful.

Image taken from https://pixabay.com/en/photos/heart%20health/

Heart disease: the facts
Did you know that heart disease is the most common killer in the US behind cancer? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 610,000 lives are lost to heart disease every year. This equates to a quarter of deaths. Many of us assume that heart disease is something that only affects older people, but statistics show that more and more younger people are experiencing cardiovascular health problems. Heart disease is more common in men than women, accounting for more than half of male deaths every year. However, the gap between the sexes is narrowing.

What causes heart disease?
In most cases, people who have symptoms of heart disease have at least one risk factor. Risk factors increase your risk of developing a certain type of illness, but they don’t necessarily mean that you’re going to end up being diagnosed with a disease. The more risk factors you have, the higher the chance of falling ill. The main risk factors for heart disease include:

High blood pressure
Your blood pressure reading measures the force at which blood travels through the blood vessels. If you have high blood pressure, known as hypertension, this can put you at risk of strokes and heart attacks. There are no obvious symptoms of high blood pressure, so it’s a good idea to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis. If your readings are too high, you may be advised to make lifestyle changes or to start taking medication. Ideally, your blood pressure should be around 120/80.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/en/blood-pressure-pressure-gauge-2310824/

High cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fatty substance, which plays an important role in the body. We all need cholesterol, but if your cholesterol levels are too high, this can be dangerous. There are two types of cholesterol: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). HDL is often referred to as ‘good’ cholesterol and LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol. If your LDL readings are too high, you may be encouraged to make changes to your diet, and this article is a useful reference tool https://www.prevention.com/health/how-to-lower-cholesterol-naturally.

Image sourced from https://pixabay.com/en/photos/burger/

Smoking
Smoking is a major risk factor for a host of deadly diseases, including heart disease. Smoking damages the walls of the arteries, which increases the risk of atherosclerosis. This condition occurs when fatty deposits collect in the artery walls, making it difficult for blood to flow freely. If the arteries are narrow, the risk of blockages increases, and this elevates the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Heart attacks happen when blood supply to and from the heart is disturbed while strokes occur when oxygen cannot reach the brain. Quitting smoking can lower your risk of developing cardiac illnesses, and if you want to give up, there is help available. Your doctor can give you more information about treatments such as nicotine replacement and you can also visit vaporescence.com to learn about vaping. Vaping is widely regarded as a safer alternative to smoking because it doesn’t expose you to the hundreds of harmful chemicals found in cigarettes. Some people also find seeing a stop smoking adviser or attending group support sessions beneficial. It may also be helpful to avoid other smokers in your social circle for a while and to avoid places where you usually smoke, such as bars or restaurants.

Image via https://www.pexels.com/search/smoking/

Inactivity
Your heart is a muscle, and just like other muscles, if you don’t work it, you won’t get the best out of it. Inactivity has been hailed as a greater threat to health than obesity. Experts recommend 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, but studies show that 80 percent of American adults don’t hit this target. Simple changes can make all the difference if you’re trying to be more active. Wear an activity tracker or use an app to reach a daily steps goal, start walking or cycling to work and always take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you don’t do any exercise, think about joining a gym, going to the pool a few times a week or asking friends or your partner to go for a jog after work. Exercising frequently will boost your health, and you should also notice that it lifts your mood, reduces stress and helps you to sleep at night.

Image credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dataspel.jpg

Obesity
Obesity is linked to several serious diseases. If you’re obese, you’re likely to have a higher risk of developing heart disease, especially if you carry a lot of excess fat around the middle. Obesity can lower good cholesterol levels and increase bad cholesterol, and people who are obese are also likely to be less active. Obesity also increases the risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. If you are obese, it’s wise to try and lose weight and reach that healthy weight range. The best way to do this is to control your diet, follow a healthy, calorie-controlled eating plan and exercise more frequently. Avoid fad diets and anything that claims to be a quick fix, as these options tend to produce short-term results and they’re usually not very good for your health. Your doctor can help you set goals and stay focused, and you may also find it useful to enlist the help of a personal trainer. They can draw up tailored workouts and be there to support, reassure and motivate you.

Image from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/hledej.php?hleda=weight+loss

If you want to be healthier, looking after your heart is an excellent place to start. You should never take your health for granted, even if you’re young. You may think that you’ll never have to worry about heart attacks or strokes, but the statistics don’t lie. It’s never too early to start protecting your heart and making choices that will keep it beating for many years to come.

Brain Wave, Work at Home

Mixing It Up: What To Do If You No Longer Enjoy Working From Home

September 4, 2017 No Comments

People seem to have the idea that being a self-employed, stay at home worker is nothing but fun, but the reality isn’t always like that. While there are, of course, plenty of benefits – including greater flexibility, no commute, and the ability to work in your pyjamas – there are a lot of hidden downsides, too. Workers can feel isolated, find making new friends difficult, and have a sense that they’re not pushing themselves to live life to the full. If you think you might soon want to leave your employment circumstances, then take a read below. We’ll go through a number of actions that’ll put you on the path to a happier working life, whether that’s at home or anywhere else.

Source: Pexels.com

Taking a Break

Everyone can get overwhelmed by their job from time to time. If you work in an office, it’s easy to take a step back and get some perspective: all you need to do is clock out, return home, and have a relaxed evening with the family. If you work from home, it gets more difficult. If you can feel your happiness levels decreasing, then schedule some time away from work and give yourself the space you need to think clearly. You might be ready to move on to other things, or you might just need to recharge the batteries for a while.

Temporary Work

Of course, not every stay at home worker can take an extended break from their job. There are bills to be paid, after all. If that’s the case, then take a look at finding temporary work before you figure out what you’re going to do next. There are a number of benefits to temporary employment when you’re in between phases of your life. For one, it’ll ensure that you’re not getting yourself into financial distress while you’re coming up with a long term plan. For two, it’ll give you an opportunity to experiment with a few different job roles, which might help you decide what you want to do next.

Using Your Skills

Stay at home workers often incorrectly believe that they have fewer skills than they usually do. If you’ve been self-employed, then it doesn’t matter what your job was: alongside your primary skills, you can also add things like organisation, accounting, timekeeping, and good old hard work. All of these skills are in high demand, so don’t forget them to add to your resume when you’re building up to applying to more traditional jobs.

Plan Your Escape

If you’ve decided that you want to have a complete career change, then you might have to plan your escape more carefully. For starters, you’ll want to take a look at what careers will still be around in the coming decades, because many will be lost due to artificial intelligence. Most positions in the healthcare industry, for example, should be safe. While you probably won’t want to become a doctor, you can look at other positions within the industry; health care manager jobs, for instance, are due to grow by nearly twenty percent in the coming decade. You can start your journey toward this career by completing a healthcare administration degree online, which will enable you to train for your new job around your current employment obligations. No matter how long you’ve been doing your present job, it’s never too late to change how you spend your days!

Assessing Your Growth

There are two types of stay at home jobs: the ones that are going places, and the ones that aren’t. If you’re not enjoying your job and you don’t think it’s taking you to where you eventually want to be, then all the signs will point to finding a new way to make your living. However, be careful when giving the jobs that might take you somewhere. Even if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing at the moment, in a few months or a year, it might have taken you to a place that you really enjoy. It’s all about assessing your growth, and making the call whether it’s worthwhile sticking out the bad times as you wait for the good ones to come.

Part-Time Home

It’s also worth thinking about which aspects of working from home you don’t like. Is it the job itself, or is it that you’re cooped up inside all day? Feelings of isolation can come on pretty strongly if you’re spending all your time at home, but there are other options available. If you live near a big city, check out if there are any co-working offices there. You’ll still have all the flexibility of being self-employed, but you’ll also be able to have the benefits of a structured work day, with office colleagues thrown in to boot. If you don’t have any co-working spaces located near to your home, then you can always start one. Sites like meetup.com will help you create your own community of at home workers.

Source: Pexels.com

Other Benefits

There’s no getting around that being self-employed and working from home is an uphill battle. Financial security ‘s hard to come by, and you have to live with the reality that if you fall ill, then your entire business could fall apart. If it’s these stresses that are taking the edge off your job, look at getting things like business insurance, or putting away a portion of your wages each month so you can build up a nest egg to use if something goes wrong.

Look at Volunteer Work

People who work from home do work hard, but they also have more flexibility when it comes to when they work. If you fundamentally enjoy your job but don’t like how much time you spend inside/looking at a screen, mix up your working day by volunteering with an organisation you feel passionate about. It’ll keep your days varied and exciting, and will also be a boost to your resume in case you decide to change careers later on.

Remember: just because you enjoy the benefits of working from home doesn’t mean you’re stuck doing it forever.

Life in general

Pursuing a dream.

September 2, 2017 No Comments

When I was younger, I remember my mother would bring me to this old university where she studied. She would tell me stories of when she was studying there, how great the university was, how prestigious it still was (until now, actually), and how happy she would be if I manage to study there like her. She would tell me over and over that I needed to study there to graduate with Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, the course she wanted to take but had to give up because she got pregnant with me.

If you think about it, my mother brainwashed me into going to a university to take up a course I never really knew anything about. But I didn’t know any better then so I followed what my mother ordered me to do, and anything to make her happy was a priority to me. Truth is, I enjoyed my university days. I made friends and I enjoyed the classes. Yes, the course was no walk in the park. It was so hard! Not to mention that after four years of studying really hard to pass and graduate, I had to study some more to take the board examinations for certified public accountants.

I managed to land a good-paying job after a few months of stint in an accounting firm. I guess my mother knew what she was talking about when she told me that a CPA earns more than other kinds of office jobs. I learned so much not just on accounting functions but also in taxation, audit, and other branches of accountancy I only heard from my professors. It was a stressful and rewarding at the same time.

But there has always been this dream I have since I was a teenager. And it’s to become a romance novelist.

I remember the look on my best friend’s face when I told him that I wanted to write. I also remember telling my close girl friends about not dreaming of getting to the top of the corporate ladder. It was not, and still is, in my heart and mind to become a corporate executive. I never really wanted to become a chief finance officer, or a finance director, or similar position in a company. I never liked the stress that comes with being a high-ranking officer. I remember being a senior manager in a business process outsourcing company (BPO). I didn’t last. I lasted a couple of months and quit. I chose to become a simple accountant of another BPO but I also quit that job after a few months.

You know what I did when I temporarily quit the corporate world about nine years ago?

I became a writer. And a full-time blogger.

I blogged. I wrote articles for advertisers. And I also wrote romance novels.

I stayed away from the corporate world for about eight years and those were the happiest years of my career!

Unfortunately, I had to go back to the corporate world when blogging went downhill for me. It was my main source of income during those years so when I stopped earning as much as from it, I reluctantly went back to being an accountant. I remember trying to stall my comeback. Three years. It took me that much time to convince myself that I had to go back. And I did.

I am still working as an accountant for a small company. I am happy being a finance manager, doing all the functions of an accountant. No biggie! I am also still pursuing my love for writing. I write on weekends. Or when I have enough time to form a thought.

I am both an accountant and writer. And I love it!

Brain Wave, Health and medicine

Your Health Is A Lifelong Investment!

August 31, 2017 No Comments

Looking after your health is a task that we should be engaged in throughout our life. It’s also a really important step to take in ensuring that our future is happy as possible. In fact, our health should be something that is always on the top of our list, no matter what age we are. So read on to find out what you should be thinking about in term of health at each stage of life.

60+

For the over 60s health is often something that is at the forefront of their minds. This is often a product of the combination of getting older, as well as the increased likelihood of health problems at a more advanced age.

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Things that the over 60s as a general rule should be considering include staying active despite mobility issues, bone density, and heart health. As well as provision for their futures in case of worsening health.

For many people, this will include looking into elder care options. Whether this includes nursing care or home help. As it can be very useful to have a plan in place. As it provides additional peace of mind and makes any transitions that do have to happen easier because you have chosen them yourself. Not had them forced upon you by well-meaning family members.

50s

Folks in their 50’s don’t get off lightly with health concerns with either. As there are plenty of conditions, they should be looking out for, as well as actively protecting against. One of the most serious of these is diabetes mellitus, especially type 2 diabetes.

Image source

This is a condition that develops during a person’s lifetime, usually due to factors such as weight, body mass index, diet, and how physically fit they are. It concerns the bodies inability to process sugars correctly and is usually thereby administering insulin tablets. However, as lifestyle factors are a massive reason for its occurrence, eating healthily and staying fit in your 50s can have a huge impact on the likelihood that you will contract this disease, and how well it’s managed when you do have it.

40s

Folks in their forties may not be as acutely aware of the health issues associated with ages as those that are above 60 are. Although they are probably more conscious of them than the average 20-year-old.

Issues that may be on their radar includes a decline in energy, worsening of eyesight, and even a higher incidences of depression or anxiety.

Of course, these two conditions can strike anyone at any age, as they are not respecters of social stratifies. Although statistically, it is more likely that they will begin to rear their ugly head at this time.

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To deal with them, it’s helpful to mention how you are feeling at your next check up with the doctor, so together you can explore options for relief. These may include medication, meditation, and diet and exercise changes. Along with some therapy such as CBT or ACT that can help you reframe the thoughts that are causing these feelings, and cope with them better.

Brain Wave, Life in general

4 Benefits Of Moving To A Colder Country

August 31, 2017 No Comments

Image By: jill111

Living in a warm country is wonderful, for the most part. You enjoy the heat that so many others around the world have to travel to have access to. It’s easier when the sun is high and the weather is nice; everything in life is just that little bit smoother.

However, there are also benefits to living in a colder country – benefits that you might not be familiar with. If you ever find yourself in a position to sample living in a different part of the world, here are four reasons why choosing to relocate somewhere cooler can be a refreshing change.

1) Heat Doesn’t Stop You Doing Anything

Let’s face it, as nice as it is to live somewhere warm, sometimes the heat just becomes too much. As the mercury edges its way towards 40C in April, even the simplest of everyday tasks becomes a marathon. By moving to a cooler country, you don’t have to see putting the washing on as a task you’ll want to take a cool shower to recover from – and that’s pretty nice!

2) You Can Experience Seasons

There are four classic seasons; winter, summer, autumn – or ‘fall’ as it’s known in the USA – and spring. However, your knowledge of these seasons when you live in a hot or tropical climate is mainly theoretical. Sometimes, it can be impossible to separate February from July, which definitely isn’t the case in cooler climates where the seasons are felt more acutely. The change of seasons is not only beautiful, but it also provides neat ways of bookending the year – definitely a lifestyle it’s well worth considering sampling when you can.

3) Your House Can Be Different

Our homes are built to keep us cool, but the same is not true in the countries where heat is more of a transitory phenomenon. While moving to a cooler climate means you’ll have to get to grips with maintenance chores you’ve never tried before, such as arranging heat tape for water pipes and potentially even shoveling snow, there are plenty of upsides to counterbalance these. For example, you probably don’t know the delight of curling up in front of the fire with a mug of coffee in hand, while snow falls down outside. That’s definitely a unique experience, and one you might want to make your domestic reality should you be given the chance.

4) It’s Easier To Warm Up Than Stay Cool

This one is somewhat subjective, but it’s an idea that most of us tend to agree on. There’s no easy way of cooling yourself down without turning on an air conditioning unit. Sure, you can fan yourself with your hand, but we all know that does very little beyond making your hand tired.

Warming up, however, is far easier than staying cool. You can curl yourself into a ball, add more layers, or even hug another person to share their heat. If you’ve always lived in a warm climate where battling to keep your cool has been all you know, then the task of warming up might – at the very least – seem novel!

Do you think you would ever be tempted to move somewhere cooler?

Brain Wave

Enjoy Gorgeous Hairstyles With Hair Extensions

August 31, 2017 No Comments

Women in general love to keep long hair. It is because with long hair, women tend to look more feminine and sexier. With long hair, women can have their hair done up in many different styles. They can keep their hair straight and long, or have their hair permed wavy or curly. Most like to keep their hair at shoulder length or even longer.

The advantage of having long hair is that in hot days, it can be tied them up in a simple pony tail with colourful hair bands or just clip them up with decorative hair clips. And in cooler days, the hair can be let loose over the shoulders.

With the availability of hair extensions, it doesn’t matter whether you have long or short hair. You can use hair extensions to style your hair the way you want it, according to your style or fashion. This is how the fashion models and celebrities can easily keep changing hairstyles. Sometimes you see them with short hair and on the next day, they can appear with long hair. You can also enjoy the same by using hair extensions. The hair extensions that are commonly used is the Virgin Peruvian Hair because it is made of fully natural human hair.

Hair extensions made from Virgin Peruvian hair are soft and shiny, black and light. The hair are not processed and they have a natural healthy shine. They can be permed and washed because they are natural human hair. They are easy to take care and to keep clean.

Virgin Peruvian hair extensions come in different textures. There are hair extensions with body wave, straight, deep curly, loose wave or water wave, fluffy curly and deep loose. You can buy the hair extensions in bundles or as lace closure. If you are interested in the ways of using hair extensions and how to attach them, you can watch some of tutorial videos on youtube.

Brain Wave

Beni Ourain Rugs Are Strong and Mesmerizing

August 29, 2017 No Comments

Home design that’s fresh, current and exhilarating can feel rather elusive. It’s never easy to make something that can stand out in this large world. If you want to create a living room that has impact, however, there are without a doubt a few choices that can help you do so. Beni Ourain rugs are a great example. These are handcrafted rugs that have been made by tribal North African peoples for ages and ages now. If you want to decorate your home with a rug that has the power of history and culture on its side, these Berber rugs may be just what the doctor ordered.

These Berber rugs are far from impersonal. They can give your living space a true feeling of warmth. If you want a home rug that will make you feel a sense of emotion, then Beni Ourain offerings may be the solution. It can be tough to feel anything for modern rugs that lack character and personality. Who can be bothered to care about a rug that has a dull and drab floral design? Who can be bothered to care about one that lacks vitality and spirit in general? Beni Ourain rugs are interesting. They often appear deceptively simple and basic to people at first. They display geometric designs that are more complex and evocative than most initially realize. If you want to put your money into a rug that’s meaningful and that inspires emotion in you and in others, these North African delights honestly don’t have much competition.

Most rugs these days aren’t exactly kind on the feet. That can pose a problem for people who spend a lot of time walking and standing, too. Moroccan rugs are wonderful in that they can be great on the feet. They have soft and silky feels that aren’t comparable to anything else in the world. If you want to feel like you’re walking on a luxurious pile of cotton, then a Beni Ourain floor covering may be your best idea yet.

These rugs feel like a million dollars, to say the least. The terrific news is that they don’t cost anywhere near that much money. If you make an informed Beni Ourain rug purchase choice, you should be able to avoid high prices. These rugs often have affordable price tags. Although they’re genuinely inexpensive, they tend to wow people in the quality realm. They’re not the kinds of floor coverings that are susceptible to quick wear and tear. If you don’t want the burden of a rug that won’t last you a long time, a Beni Ourain option won’t keep you up at night. These rugs are big hits among folks who are all about pure durability.

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