Home Practice The Best Way to Improve Your Health and Well Being Rerun

by Timothy McCall

Bed in a Mirror by Nina Zolotow

"If you are taking yoga classes but not practicing at home, you may be missing the best—and potentially most therapeutic—part of yoga. Your personal practice is where the deepest work happens, when you go inward and go at your own pace."—from Yoga As Medicine

This quotation from my book got posted on Facebook the other day and generated quite a bit of interest. But not everyone, particularly those who only take classes, agrees with the statement. A woman came up to me at a yoga conference earlier this year to say she’d heard me make a similar comment at a workshop I taught in Los Angeles a few years ago, and it made her really angry. It’s easy to understand that reaction when your experience in class has been so positive, and even healing.

But now scientific research seems to back up the notion that a regular home practice really is the key to health and well-being, perhaps particularly so as we get older. A study recently published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine by researchers at the University of Maryland and the National Institutes of Health found that, among more than 1000 practitioners of Iyengar yoga, the frequency of home practice predicted positive health more than how long you’ve been practicing or how many classes you attend per week. According to the article Frequency of yoga practice predicts health: results of a national survey of yoga practitioners:

“Frequency of home practice favorably predicted (p < .001): mindfulness, subjective well-being, BMI, fruit and vegetable consumption, vegetarian status, sleep, and fatigue.” 

In other words, those who practiced at home the most reported better health and well-being, greater awareness of themselves and others, improved sleep, less fatigue, and healthier body weight. They were even more likely to eat their vegetables! 

The study bore out something else I’ve been teaching for years: when you combine the various tools in the yoga toolbox including asana, breathing practices, meditation and even study of yoga philosophy you tend to get even better results. As the authors put it, “an intense practice involving all aspects of yoga practice may be more beneficial to health than a less intense practice that includes only one or two aspects of yoga practice, such as just practicing the physical poses or breath work.”

There also appeared to be additional benefits for combining different types of asana practices, such as standing poses, vigorous practices like Sun Salutations, restorative poses including Savasana, and inversions like Shoulderstand. Different practices appeared to be particularly beneficial for specific conditions. Vigorous asana and inversions seemed to help the most with insomnia and body weight, whereas, according to the authors, “because breath work and meditation appear to influence mindfulness and well-being, they may be particularly useful in treating conditions such as depression and anxiety.”

One finding that may be of particular interest to readers of this blog has to do with fatigue. Overall, older practitioners had less fatigue than younger practitioners, but both groups improved when they did yoga. But it appears to take less practice for older practitioners to experience improvements in energy.

As for the woman who was mad at me for saying that a home practice was more important than going to classes, she went on to say that, almost despite herself, she did try doing her yoga at home. Now she does it regularly and believes it’s the most important part of her practice. She thanked me profusely, though of course most of all she can thank herself!

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Elder Care Texas Home Health Aides For Diabetic Educating

By Essie Craft

Senior age individuals are among a high number group of people that suffer from illness related conditions. Many of these seniors benefit best when having elder care Texas aides come into their home to work with them. These trained professionals can help educate patients about the importance of caring for themselves better because of their health diagnosis.

Seniors experience slow healing wounds, vision problems and sometimes amputation. These conditions result because the person does not seem medical attention right away. Health workers can help these people understand the importance of being able to identify symptoms related to hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. The workers can monitor these patients on a daily basis and help them understand the changes that may be going on in their body.

Hypoglycemia occurs when a patient skips a meal. Therefore, it is imperative that these seniors eat a meal or snack on schedule every day. Senior patients may also experience hypoglycemia due to altered mental capacity or not being able to get up and prepare their own meals due to sickness. Symptoms associated with hypoglycemia are clammy skin, blurred vision, nausea, fainting, irritability and even unconsciousness.

Some patients eat too much that result in hyperglycemia. People who do not take their medication as prescribed often suffer from high levels of sugar which can lead to very severe problems. Symptoms to be aware of those who may be suffering from hyperglycemia are frequent urination, confusion, agitation excessive thirst and dehydration.

Many times seniors do not know they have diabetes are often diagnosed during a physical evaluation. Once the person is diagnosed it is important for them to do all they can to treat the condition and implement a healthy lifestyle. The help of health aides is a great added bonus to getting quality care after the diagnosis. There are many agencies that trained their workers to come out to the home to assist clients with the condition.

Caregivers can help the aging adult follow health care providers orders. They can also set up a time to check the person blood sugar levels. Caregivers who work with these seniors can make changes to diet to better keep their sugar under control. These workers are often hired to prepare meals and to make sure the client is eating their food as recommended.

Patients are also encouraged to exercise on a daily basis. Many are told to walk for at least 30 minutes a day. Individuals who are unable to walk 30 minutes may want to break their exercising up into smaller intervals throughout the day. Patients do not have to worry about becoming ill while exercising because they will have the support of the health care provider.

Elder care Texas agencies provide the best health care aides for people needing the service. The aides are highly trained in working with patients who have various health illnesses. These workers will work closely with the patient to give them the best quality assistance that is needed to keep their diabetes or other conditions under control.

About the Author:

You can visit the website www.careagehomecare.com for more helpful information about Hire Home Health Elder Care Texas Aides To Help Diabetic Patients

All You Need To Know About Home Nursing Harrisburg PA

By Jocelyn Davidson

No one chooses to get ill but one can choose the type of care he or she needs when ill. Hospitals provide a serene atmosphere for patients and doctors at close bay. However, hospitals lack independence and a sense of dignity for patients. As a result, some patients choose home nursing Harrisburg PA to provide a comfortable and familiar environment during their recovery.

Provision of health care services of patients in their houses encompasses home nursing. Its main objective is clinical care in cases where recovery is not manageable in hospitals. Different therapies aimed at healing are offered for the specific illness. It is also recommended for long term health care of patients.

In the non hospital set up, nurse care managers are responsible for management of health care. Therapy, rehabilitation and assisted health services are provided for both adults and seniors in a short term period. Those who require long term services like management of chronic illnesses, injuries or disabilities are also taken care of. For this type of therapy, shift systems that last one or two hours long daily are employed.

Non hospital set ups may also be able to offer assistive care for adults and elderly alike. Its main objective is to help individuals easily perform their daily life activities. Inability to live independently should also be treated using assistive living therapies. Health education is taught to make self care possible at least to a certain degree. Wounds as well as intravenous therapies may also be treated this way.

The first step in seeking home care is contacting a professional health care provider. This may be immediately after hospitalization or when a relative is not capable of living independently. An expert is sent to you to help assess your needs as a patient. This assessment is able to tell whether the patient is eligible for a non hospital therapy. It is also able to tell the cost of the services which may vary.

After assessment is complement, a customized individual care plan is charted out and the appropriate team of nurse care managers assigned. When non hospital care is not enough for a patient, other community services are recommended. This may include community rehabilitation services, social work services or living in a nursing home or a skilled nursing facility.

For patients who do not need hospital care anymore but have complication that cannot be managed in a non hospital setting a skilled nursing facility is recommended. Some of them have a set up that closely resembles hospitals. They have members of staff who provide physical and occupation therapies as well as medical care. Other facilities have a household resemblance with a homely feel. A combination of both may exist in other facilities.

The favorable environment that is a home set up provides a positive influence increasing the speed of recovery of the patients. For this reason, it should be encouraged by physicians and patients alike. It is important to note that laundry, house cleaning and other similar services are not given.

About the Author:

To make the best choice for your home nursing Harrisburg PA caregivers at Blue Mountain come highly recommended. To read more about these professionals, go to http://www.bmhhc.com.