How Your Sleeping Position Affects Your Health

On average, we spend 25 years of our life sleeping. This is necessary because getting proper rest is vital to our overall well-being. Sleeping well has many benefits — it not only revitalizes the body but also makes the brain work optimally. We all realize that time is very precious, so it is of the utmost importance that the time spent sleeping is well spent. Bright Side brings you an in-depth analysis of the various sleeping positions to help you choose the right one for yourself.

1>Soldier position  : 

Sleeping on your back with your hands at your sides is considered to be the best sleeping posture. This posture is similar to the Savasana pose in yoga. Also known as the soldier position, it is known to have many health benefits.
 Pros: Perfect position to rest the spine, neck, and arms. Helps improve the overall posture. Reduces acid reflux. Helps maintain perky breasts. Cures insomnia. Reduces the chances of headaches. Prevents facial wrinkles.
Cons: As gravity pulls down the tongue, this posture may aggravate snoring in people suffering from sleep apnea. Can adversely affect a fetus. Can cause lower back pain.
Solutions: Try sleeping on your back without a pillow. It will keep your body in a neutral position and might help reduce snoring. Using a large pillow under the back of your knees will help support the natural curve of your lower back.

2> Starfish position  : 

This position is a variation of the back-sleeper position. In this position, a person lies on their back but with their arms up on both sides of their head.
Pros: Perfect position to rest the spine and the neck. Cures insomnia. Reduces the chances of headaches. It helps reduce acid reflux since the head is elevated and the stomach is able to sit below, so substances from the stomach cannot re-enter the esophagus. Prevents facial wrinkles and skin breakouts.
 Cons: As gravity pulls down the tongue, this posture may aggravate snoring in people suffering from sleep apnea. The awkward position of the arms can exert pressure on the nerves in the shoulder, causing pain. Can cause lower back pain.
Solution: Avoid using a pillow while sleeping in this position to allow your head, neck, and spine to rest in a natural position.

3> Log position : 

While sleeping in this posture, you lie on your side with both arms positioned downward in a straight line. It is advised to sleep on your left side to better rest your vital organs. Pros: Ideal sleeping position for the spine as it receives complete support in its natural curve. Prevents back and neck pain. Reduces sleep apnea and snoring. This is the best sleeping position for pregnant women.
Cons: As your top leg does not get enough support, the chances are high that you may develop back or hip pain. Side sleeping can lead to skin aging, facial wrinkles, and sagging breasts. In some cases, it can even cause neck pain.
Solutions: As this position can cause neck pain due to improper support to the neck, it is recommended to use a big pillow. Place a pillow between your thighs to support your top leg.

4> Yearner position: 

Sleeping on your side with your legs slightly bent, arms outstretched, and head slightly offcenter is known as the yearner posture. It is advised to lie on your left side to better rest your vital organs.
Pros: Prevents neck and back pains. Lying on your left side can reduce acid reflux. Helps reduce sleep apnea and snoring. Eases heartburn. Allows the body to clear waste from the brain more efficiently and reduces the risk of developing disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Research shows that people sleeping in this position are less likely to wake up in the middle of the night. This is most likely due to the comfort the body gets.
 Cons: Restricts the proper flow of blood and puts pressure on the nerves, which may result in pain in the shoulders and arms. Nerve compression may place a strain on internal organs like the stomach, liver, and lungs. Can cause saggy breasts and premature skin aging.
Solutions: Sleep on a satin pillowcase to reduce the chances of facial wrinkles. Place a pillow between your knees to support your upper leg.

5> Fetal position :

The fetal position involves lying on your side with your knees drawn toward your chest and your chin tilted down. It is the most popular sleeping position among women — over 41% of respondents claim to prefer this posture. It is advised to sleep on your left side to better rest your vital organs.
Pros:   -Na-
Cons: The extreme curl can put a strain on the neck and back, thereby causing pain. This position, like other side-sleeping positions, cancause skin wrinkles and saggy breasts.
Solutions: Use a firm pillow to support your head. It is recommended that people sleeping in this position alternate sides during the night.

6> Freefall position : 

Lying flat on your stomach while sleeping is not the best sleeping position, and most experts advise against it.
 Pros: In some cases, it has been found to reduce snoring.
Cons: Puts a strain on the spine and causes pain in the neck and lower spine. Since the blood circulation is cut off from the face, it leads to thedevelopment of wrinkles. Puts unnatural stress on the internal organs.
Solution: Try a little sideways position by putting a pillow between your stomach and the mattress.




Source:
https://brightside.me/inspiration-health/how-your-sleeping-position-affects-your-health-440360/?utm_source=fb_brightside&utm_medium=fb_organic&utm_campaign=fb_gr_5mincrafts

Raw or Cooked? How Best to Prep 11 Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables contain a lot of nutrients andantioxidants like carotenoids, flavonoids, and polyphenols that can help prevent health issues like cancer and cardiovascular disease and can even help your mood. Antioxidants help your body counteract damage caused by toxic byproducts called free radicals. Eating more fruits and vegetables also increases your vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B6, thiamine, and niacin, minerals, and fiber. But it can be tricky to know how you should store and prepare fresh foods to get the most nutrients. Luckily, storing most fruits and vegetables generally does not lose antioxidants. In fact, antioxidant levels can even go up in the few days after you buy them. But when you start to see the fruit or vegetable spoil and turn brown, that usually means that they have started to lose their antioxidants. The main exceptions are broccoli, bananas, and apricots, which are more sensitive and start to lose their antioxidants in storage within days, so eat those sooner than later.

Here's how you should prepare 11 fruits or vegetables in order to maximize antioxidants and nutrients.
 1. Tomatoes. Cooked may be better than raw. Storage tip: Even though this will make shelf life shorter, store tomatoes in room temperature since tomatoes can lose antioxidants (and flavor) when stored in cooler temperatures. Cook your tomatoes to release higher levels of lycopene and overall antioxidants. You can cook them for up to 30 minutes at 190.4 degrees Fahrenheit (88 degrees Celsius). Lycopene is found in red fruits and vegetables like watermelon, red bell pepper, and papaya and has been linked to lower rates of cancer. Raw tomatoes have less overall antioxidants, but have more vitamin C.

2. Carrots. Raw or sous vide, steamed, boiled. Cooked can be better than raw. Cook your carrots to get more beta-carotene, an antioxidant that gets converted in your body to vitamin A, which is good for your eyes and immune system. Sous vide carrots for best results. Steaming or boiling carrots preserves more antioxidants than roasting, frying or microwaving. If you're in Top Chef mode, try sous vide carrots -- this method of sealing food in an airtight plastic bag and placing the bag into a water bath keeps even more antioxidants than steaming.

3. Broccoli. Raw, steamed, or sous vide. Storage tip: Keep broccoli wrapped in packaging in the refrigerator at 1 degree Celsius (or 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Unlike most vegetables, broccoli tends to lose antioxidants faster than other vegetables when stored without packaging, particularly when it starts to lose its color and turn yellow. Wrap the broccoli in microperforated or non-perforated packaging to keep antioxidants for longer. If you eat raw broccoli, you'll get higher levels of an enzyme calledmyrosinase, which creates compounds like sulforaphane, which blocks the growth of cancer cells and fight Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers. Myrosinase is sensitive to heat and destroyed during cooking. However, cooked broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, have moreindole, which is thought to be protective against cancer. Steamed broccoli has also better potential to reduce cholesterol than raw broccoli. Sous vide or steamed broccoli to keep antioxidants.Steamed broccoli retains color and texture. Boiling broccoli for 9-15 minutes loses up to 60 percent of nutrients, which become leached into the water. Stir-frying loses the most vitamin C and nutrients.

4. Cauliflower. Raw, steamed, or sous vide. Fresh raw cauliflower has 30 percent more protein and many different types of antioxidants such as quercetin. Raw cauliflower keeps the most antioxidants overall, but cooking cauliflower increases indole levels. Don't boil cauliflower in water because that loses the most antioxidants. Water-boiling and blanching causes the worst loss of minerals and antioxidant compounds in cauliflower because many of the nutrients get leached into the water. Steam or sous vide cauliflower to maintain nutrients.

5. Brussels sprouts, cabbage. Raw or steamed. Brussels sprouts and cabbage are cruciferous vegetables rich in compounds protective against cancer. One study found that people who consumed about 300 grams or two-thirds pound of Brussels sprouts daily for a week had higher levels of a detox enzyme in the colon, which helps explain the link between eating cruciferous vegetables and lower risk of colorectal cancer. Raw Brussels sprouts gives you the most folate and vitamin C. Like broccoli, steaming Brussels sprouts releases more indole than raw (but they admittedly taste best when roasted).

6. Kale. Raw or blanched. Kale has beta-carotene, vitamin C, and polyphenols. Cooking kale significantlylowers vitamin C and overall antioxidants. Keep kale raw or, if you prefer cooked, blanch or steam kale to minimize antioxidant loss.

7. Eggplant. Grilled. Grill eggplant to make it much richer in antioxidants compared to raw or boiled (and it tastes a lot better, too). Don't forget to salt your eggplant slices before cooking to get rid of excess moisture and bitterness.

8. Red Peppers. Raw, stir-fried, or roasted. Red peppers are a great source of vitamin C, carotenoids, polyphenols, and other phytochemicals. Raw red peppers provide more vitamin C because vitamin C breaks down with heat. But other antioxidants like carotenoids and ferulic acid go up when red peppers are cooked. Stir-fry or roast red peppers. Do not boil red peppers -- boiling red peppers loses the most nutrients and antioxidants. Stir-frying and roasting actually preserves red pepper antioxidants, more than steaming.

9. Garlic and onions. Raw or cooked. Garlic and onions have been shown to helpfight high blood pressure. Red onions have the highest amount of quercetin, a type of flavonoid family antioxidant thought to protect against certain forms of cancer, heart disease, and aging. Garlic and onions are pretty hardy when cooked. You can blanch, fry, and even microwave them without changing their antioxidant levels by much, so use them however you like.

10. Artichokes. Steamed. Cook your artichokes in order to boost their antioxidants.Steam artichokes to boost antioxidants levels by 15-fold and boil them to boost them by 8-fold. Microwaving them also increases an artichoke's antioxidants. But don't fry them -- that gets rid of flavonoids, a type of antioxidant.

11. Blueberries. Raw or cooked. Blueberries are one of the fruits with the highest levels of antioxidants, and you can eat them raw or cooked. One study found that some type of antioxidants levels went up with cooking blueberries, while others went down.

Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle

Avocados can help reduce your stress levels and boost your mood instantly
A glass of warm milk before sleep reduces your anxiety levels considerably

DSG/DCT or dual clutch transmission / direct-shift gearbox

 To make our drive hassle-free in a bumper-to-bumper traffic, automatic transmission system is installed in cars. Earlier restrained to the high-end cars, the automatic gearbox or the two-paddle technology can now be seen in cars like the Tata Nano.

With the use of sophisticated technology, the clutch pedal is eliminated from a car, and all you need to do is press the accelerator. The article focuses on understanding a dual clutch transmission better, which is a type of automatic transmission among a few others as listed below 

1>       AMT or automated manual transmission is an advanced form of a manual transmission with no clutch.

2>        Automatic Transmission with Torque Converter uses advance hydraulics as a replacement of clutch.

3>      CVT or continuously variable transmission uses a belt or pulley to alter the gear ratio.

4>      DSG/DCT or dual clutch transmission is a semi-automatic gearbox with two different clutches for odd and even gears.

A DCT transmission has a two clutch arrangement - one engages the odd gears like 1,3,5 and the other engages the even gear like 2,4,6. A DCT has a better fuel efficiency, better gearshift ratio and less transmission losses.

Monounsaturated v/s polyunsaturated fats

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats don't deserve the bad reputation of fat in general. These types are fat are actually a healthy part of your diet and should make up the majority of the fat you eat each day. In addition to being nutritious, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats also offer protective benefits that might reduce your risk of certain illnesses and diseases.

Monounsaturated Fat

Monounsaturated fats can help lower your cholesterol levels when you eat them in place of saturated or trans fats, which are found in foods like butter, baked goods and fried fast foods. Nutritious monounsaturated fats can also keep your heart rhythm normal and reduce inflammation, a condition that can increase your risk of certain types of cancer. Eating monounsaturated fats helps regulate your insulin and blood sugar levels, which is beneficial for everyone, but can be particularly helpful for people with diabetes.
Sources and Tips
One of the primary sources of monounsaturated fats are liquid oils such as olive, canola, peanut, safflower and sunflower oils. Use these types of oils instead of butter, margarine or lard when you cook, and you'll easily add beneficial monounsaturated fats to your diet. Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fats, too. Add them to tacos, burritos or deli meat sandwiches. Eat a handful of nuts or seeds each day as another way to include monounsaturated fats in your daily diet. Almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds are all good sources.

Polyunsaturated Fat

Polyunsaturated fats, like monounsaturated fats, help lower your bad cholesterol level when you eat them instead of saturated or trans fats. They might also boost your good cholesterol level, which can reduce your risk of heart disease. A specific kind of polyunsaturated fat, called omega-3 fatty acids, is particularly beneficial to your heart by protecting you against high blood pressure. This unsaturated fat might also reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Sources and Tips
Soybean, corn and flax oil are healthy sources of polyunsaturated fats. Use these for cooking to reap the benefits they offer your heart. Eat a handful of walnuts each day or add them to oatmeal or yogurt -- they are one of the top sources of polyunsaturated fat. Ground flaxseed is another good source. Add it to homemade bread and muffin recipes or stir it into a bowl of oatmeal. Include fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel and trout, in your diet, as well. Fatty fish is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids, and it can be grilled, baked or roasted to make a tasty dish.

source: http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/monounsaturated-fat-vs-polyunsaturated-fat-6898.html

Standing Neck Hump Eliminator And Posture Corrector

maximizing muscle growth

steps for maximizing muscle growth. . . 

1.♦ Mechanical Tension: This is known as "Heavy strength training' (but heavy is realative to what is challenging for you) we create tension with resistance Training (weights body weight, gymnastics' etc) and the goal is to increase that tension over time which means . ..

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2.♦ Metabolic strees.Typically achieved through mid_and high_rep ranges (8+20) Training which induce fatigue and shortness of breath. It also cause the burning sensation. As you deplete oxygen in the Muscles.This is also know as the "pump" we all love/hate so much. . . .

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3.♦Muscle Damage. Muscle soreness days after your training is usually indicative of the muscle damage' also known as delayed on set muscle soreness (DOMS). This mostly comes form the eccentric portion of a movement (lowering of the weight on a leg extension or biceps curl so try keep your high_ rep_set.