Why Is It Important To Be Physically And Mentally Healthy?

Why is it important to be physically and mentally healthy? Why should people bother with exercising, dieting and making sure that both their bodies and their minds are in their most ideal states? There are many benefits to being healthy, and there are many reasons why people choose to ignore them. However, some facts are just too true and too serious to ignore.
Why Should You Be Physically Healthy?
• Reduce risks of diseases. There's no way this could be denied. People who are healthy have better chances of fighting off cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and, as some researchers suggest, even cancers. Numerous studies have found the link between physical activity and lowered risks for diseases to be quite strong. This is probably the best benefit that good health can provide.
• Weight control. Being healthy means that you might have better control when it comes to how much you weigh. Healthy people are, most of the times, disciplined people who have learned to say no to heaping second servings and to say yes to exercises even if it takes them hours. All of these and more are why is it important to be physically and mentally healthy.
• Improves balance and widens range of activities. As you age, you may feel that you are being limited about the things that you can do. The things that you might have done for hours when you were young, you may not even bear to do for a minute. Daily activities might tire you right away. Exercises and many other physical activities can not only help strengthen your muscles and bones, but can also improve balance and prevent falls.
Why Should You Be Mentally Healthy?
• Reduces stress. Stress, in moderated amounts, can be beneficial to health. Stress can give you energy, and makes you productive and more alert. However, stress in excess can be severely damaging. It can increase the risks of certain cardiovascular diseases, and can get in the way of the body's natural rate of metabolism, thus leading to weight gain. Stress has also been linked to absenteeism and accidents in the workplace. If it can be effectively managed, your chance of getting promoted also increases.
• Improves mood and overall quality of life. Too much anger, confusion, fear, irritability and anxiety may be signs of mental unhealthiness. Happiness may be more easily attained if a person is mentally healthy. People who are mentally healthy will have healthier relationships, and have better physical health. They can also manage their problems better and can make better life choices.
Conclusion
Why is it important to be physically and mentally healthy? It is important because it can give you a longer and more fruitful life. If you get all these benefits from being physically active, how much more can it help if you are mentally active as well? Mental health and physical health are undeniably interlinked. Physical activities help manage stress and pressure better, while mental health improves the effectiveness of physical activities.

If you are looking for information on physically and mentally healthy, click on the link. Or visit http://lifestylesecretreview.com/

Effects Of Nutrition On Mental Health

It has been an enduring belief that nutrition plays a significant role in the state of mental health of an individual. But is this true or not?
Recent as well as previous researches have proven that nutrition (or the lack of it) does have effects on how a person's brain functions, his moods and his behaviors.
Say for example, a person who has skipped a meal is observably weak, out of focus and irritable. This case worsens when extended to a certain period of time when the person becomes severely moody and indifferent to the demands of his environment thus showing decreased speed in reaction time.
These behaviors occur due to the lack of nutrition supply to the brain. The brain requires high energy and nutrient supply. It comprises, in fact, 20% to 30% of all the energy consumption of the body during rest periods. Thus, any change in diet or nutrition level of the body directly reflects in the mental functioning.
Chronic energy deprivation, such as the case of malnourished people, results to the eventual shutting down of the body by decreasing its activities and redirecting all its energy sources towards the systems that require higher energy supply. This results to altered levels of activities, changes in hormonal levels, lessened immune system efficiency and transport of nutrients and oxygen to certain body parts, all of which could directly or indirectly influence mental health. People with extremely low nutrition are more likely to become sad, depressed and emotional as compared with those who have adequate nutrition.
Newborn babies and fetuses are also susceptible to brain damage if they are subjected to lack of necessary nutrition. The type and degree of damage is dependent on the severity of malnutrition. Also, malnutrition among babies has proven to produce low level of intelligence, cognitive defects as well as functional abnormalities.
Protein, carbohydrates, lipids and vitamins all have individual effects on the brain. Lack of supply of these necessary nutrients result to alterations in the activities of the neurotransmitters, a chemical component in the brain that transmit one nerve impulse from one nerve cell to another. Malfunctioning of the transmitters could influence a person's mood, thinking and even sleep patterns. Additionally, deficient levels of nutrition may result to nerve cell damage that could disrupt cognitive and mental functions.
Neurotransmitters are partly made of amino acids, the building block of protein. Trytophan for example, makes up the neurotransmitter serotonin. If the required amino acid is lacking, the functions of the neurotransmitter could not be executed affecting the normal functioning of the brain. In case of deficient protein consumption and failure to supply the necessary amino acid to make serotonin, the body would experience low mood and perhaps, aggression. On the other hand, diseases that could cause the build up of certain amino acids could lead to brain damage thus affecting the mental health of an individual.
Mood regulation could also be associated with the sufficient intake of dietary fats. Some studies have yielded inconclusive results on the correlation between serotonin level and intake of omega-3 fatty acids, a certain type of fat found only in white fish to stress and symptoms of bipolar disorder (a mood disorder having the representations of both mania and depression).
Directly or indirectly, nutrition has an effect on mental health. Changes in the nutritional intake of a person could lead to alterations in the mental health and vice versa.

If you would like to read more articles about mental health, visit HealthyLifeMission.com [http://healthylifemission.com/mental-health]

Anxiety and Panic Attacks

For people that experience anxiety and panic attacks on a regular basis, it's not uncommon for these issues to go untreated for various reasons. Panic attack and anxiety sufferers may be so embarrassed, paranoid, and fearful that others may think they are "crazy" that they just do everything in their power to avoid situations that cause them to become anxious. Over time, many of these people start to lose hope that they will ever stop feeling anxious, and they may lock themselves away from the life and others that they once enjoyed, a mental disorder that's referred to as agoraphobia. When this happens, there can be some serious long-term consequences that the anxiety sufferer will end up with.
Psychological Concerns
Many of the results of untreated anxiety and panic attacks cannot only be devastating psychologically; they can be life threatening as well. A person who continually experiences the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as heart palpitations, stomach and digestive ailments or insomnia, can become physically ill as a result. The anxiety sufferer may become home bound out of fear of having a panic attack in front of peers at a job or in public. The person may decide to avoid the things that cause anxiety, such as driving or performing routine life activities like grocery shopping or spending time with friends and family. Worse yet, the anxiety sufferer may stop getting regular medical care for existing health issues they may have out of fear of being labeled as unstable.
Physical Concerns
In addition, anxiety can cause other health problems to become worrisome or increase in occurrence. In fact, the health problems may be at the root of their worrisome tendency - it's a vicious cycle that has no end. For example, a person who is anxious about their stomach pains may go on to develop ulcers, which are life threatening. The more they worry about dying from their stomach pain, the worse their physical condition becomes. Or the person may become so depressed from not wanting to leave the house may be so worried that they develop social phobias and then even suicidal tendencies.
Anxiety left untreated over time can cause high blood pressure, which can lead to premature heart failure. Anxiety can cause hormonal imbalances in both men and women, which is detrimental to health and well-being. This hormonal imbalance can contribute to thyroid function issues, diabetes, immune deficiencies, and other illnesses that can cause serious consequences. More often than not, people become anxious due to a seemingly small issue, but because they worry so much and can't control the anxiety, the build-up of endorphins causes their body to work overtime. This causes strain on the body as a whole.
Left untreated, anxiety is also a leading cause of obesity. People often eat out of emotional needs and stress. Being tense as a result of having anxiety is one reason that people may overeat and don't get enough exercise. Then the heavier that a person gets, the harder it is to leave the house to exercise, and the worse the anxiety symptoms become. The irony is that exercise has been shown to improve the symptoms of anxiety, and so it's actually beneficial for a person who has anxiety to exercise on a regular basis. Yet, without proper care from a health care professional, many fail to realize they need this regular exercise in order to combat their anxiety.
There are ways that the effects of anxiety can be reduced and in many cases eliminated. Living a healthy lifestyle that includes regular medical care, whole foods that are high in vitamins and nutrients, supplementing with natural products, and a good balance of exercise and rest is the best treatment for anyone experiencing anxiety.

Untreated anxiety can create devastating psychological and physical symptoms. The very fear of having an anxiety attack can prevent a sufferer from seeking natural treatments for anxiety.

What is Good Mental Health?

What is good mental health? We are all more or less mentally healthy, and this usually varies through our lives especially as we deal with difficult life events, change and so on. Whether we call this psychological wellbeing, happiness, contentment, positive mindset, all these terms relate to good mental health.
With our physical health, it's part of our everyday discourse to be aspirational. We want to feel physically fit, energetic, strong, balanced in our weight, eating a healthy diet, supple, resilient and not prone to minor ailments. Sure we complain about our problems, and talk about how we can't do all the things we know we ought to do. We know it's not easy to stay physically healthy without working at it, especially if we've experienced health problems. We know that even if we reach the peak of physical fitness, we can't maintain this for the rest of our lives without paying attention to it.
Research tells us that good mental health is even more beneficial than good physical health. A positive mental outlook increases the rate and speed of recovery from serious, even life threatening, illness. Psychological resilience and wellbeing gives people the strength to turn problems into challenges into triumphs.
Yet whenever I ask a group of people to tell me what words come into mind in relation to 'mental health', their responses are about mental ill-health! It's as if the term has been hi-jacked to become totally problem-focused.
In the meantime, we're experiencing an epidemic of mental ill-health. About 1 in 4 people are experiencing some form of common mental health problem such as depression, anxiety and various stress related symptoms. GP surgeries are overwhelmed with such problems, mental health services are only able to provide support for the 1% of the population with much more severe mental health difficulties, and there's a plethora of largely unregulated services, treatments and remedies out on the private market. A recent research study showed that the majority of long term sickness absence from work resulted from stress related conditions.
The trouble with focusing on the problems and the pain, is that that's what we become experts in. We're looking for cures and treatments to fix the problem, instead of focusing on what makes for good mental health. We know that physical health is multi-dimensional - no-one imagines that pumping iron to build your muscles is a recipe for overall physical health, although it will certainly make you stronger for certain activities.
So what are the essentials of good mental health?
Connection is certainly one of the best known. Having positive close relationships is good for our mental health, as is having a wider network of friends, colleagues and acquaintances which will vary over time. Giving to others is another really important aspect of connection, improving our sense of self worth and wellbeing.
Challenge is about learning and development, it's how we grow. For children, everyday brings new challenges, yet as adults we often become increasingly fearful of change, unwilling to learn new skills or put ourselves in unfamiliar situations. So expanding our comfort zone, sometimes in small ways if we're feeling particularly vulnerable, will help develop our self-confidence and sense of personal achievement.
Composure means a sense of balance, and ability to distance ourselves from our thoughts and emotions. It means our ability to respond rather than react. This could be described as our sense of spiritual connection, which may come through a particular belief or faith, or may be found through connection with nature. A mentally healthy person will feel an inner strength of spirit, and find ways to support that.
Character relates to the way in which we interpret our experiences and our responses to them. We all have our own personal story, or stories, which we may or may not tell others. We may cast ourselves as the hero, the victim or the villain, and however we do this will impact generally on our mental health. Someone who has experienced severe life trauma may have great difficulty piecing together their story at all, leaving them feeling literally fragmented. Good mental health means having a strong sense of personal values, awareness of our own strengths, skills and resources, and personal stories of learning from mistakes, survival, success and appreciation.
Creativity represents the fun, childlike aspects of our mental health. As children we are naturally creative and we play. As we grow into adulthood, our creativity and playfulness is often discouraged or devalued, and this can cause great frustration, literally diminishing the capacity of our brain to function as well as it could. Exploring creative activities has often been found to have a powerful therapeutic effect, and good mental health certainly depends in part on opportunities to bring fun, playfulness and creativity into our lives.
These 5 C's of good mental health offer a framework within which we can think about our mental health in the same way as we might our physical health. It's pretty damned hard to be a perfect specimen of physical health,but then who needs to be perfect? Just like our physical health, our mental health is a work in progress and always will be.
In years gone by, many people with physical illnesses were treated cruelly because of ignorance and shame. I recall when cancer was spoken in hushed whispers as the Big C. Nowadays mental ill-health is the 'elephant in the room' which we need to be looking at long and hard, exposing to practical common sense and intelligent discussion.
World Mental Health Day on October 10 has been a timely reminder that good mental health really is something we can aspire to for everyone. Let's make it so!

Carolyn Barber, BSc (Hons), CQSW, is the founder of Way-finder Associates, a social care training and consultancy business specializing in team development, independent supervision and staff well being. As a serial social entrepreneur, Carolyn has developed community based programs to promote understanding of mental well being using positive solution focused approaches.
Carolyn has over 30 years experience in social care as practitioner, trainer, researcher and manager, working across public, voluntary and independent sectors.
GSCC registration no: 1074227
LinkedIn profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/carolynbarber
For more information about Take Five wellbeing resources and programmes, go to http://www.meetrelaxlearncreate.co.uk

Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription drug abuse is a fast-growing, nation-wide epidemic in the United States. Although millions of Americans receive medically prescribed drugs for their illnesses, which is considered legitimate usage, abusing prescription drugs means either a) someone is taking prescription medication that were not prescribed to them or b) someone is taking prescription drugs in a manner the drug was not intended for or is taking too much of the recommended doses. Common examples of such abusive behavior include people who take prescription medication for recreational purposes or people who are under heavy emotional distress and use drugs to relieve the pain.
Prescription drug abuse is a serious concern because it can easily and quickly lead to addiction or death. Every day in the United States, it is estimated that 2000 teenagers use a prescription drug for the first time without the approval of a doctor. In fact, roughly 7.4 percent of teens from the ages of 12 and 17 in America reported nonmedical use of prescription medications in the past year alone. Many believe that this new drug epidemic is affecting a large portion of the youth population (teens between the ages of 12 and 19) because prescription medications are not found in the streets, but at home-on kitchen counters, bathroom shelves, and in parents' bedrooms. Teens have easy access to these types of drugs in their homes, and many are beginning to worry that there is little or no supervision. As a result, in 2011, prescription and over-the-counter drugs ranked 4th place after alcohol, marijuana and tobacco, to be the most commonly abused drugs by seniors in high school.
Once a person is addicted to a prescription drug, and become physically dependent, it can be very difficult to treat. The chances of overdosing become higher because the user develops a strong desire to receive the same high as they did when they first used it; as a result, they become more tolerant. For example, it is common for narcotic pain relievers to no longer satisfy the user, and in response, the user consumes larger doses in order to receive an equal effect. Many addiction specialists highly recommend catching the abuse early-on, and not wait for physical dependence to grow too strong. Choosing addiction treatment is the best possible option in preventing death of an overdose.
Taking fast action to save your loved one's life is important in treating prescription drug addiction. Everyday becomes a matter of life-or-death for an addict. There are several things you can do to stop someone from abusing prescription drugs, such as conducting an intervention or seeking professional addiction treatment. Hiring an interventionist is also a good idea because they can help the addict admit that they have a problem and require treatment; interventionists are also a good source on receiving expert opinion on what rehab program to choose and what specific forms of treatment work best.
If you are attempting to reach out to a loved one about his or her prescription drug addiction, it is important that you are quick in solving the matter. Today, prescription drugs are considered to be the new "gateway drug," and may lead to the use of other dangerous drugs such as heroin and crack-cocaine. Remember, when someone shows signs of substance dependence or is demonstrating unusual behavior as a result, the time to act and intervene is crucial. Choosing to conduct an intervention or find an addiction treatment center can save your loved one's life.

When a person suffers from a severe case of drug or alcohol addiction, the best method of treatment is seeking professional help at an addiction treatment facility. Licensed therapists and counselors are trained to conduct effective treatment for various kinds of addictions, as well as mental health issues and those suffering from psychological distress.
For additional information on drug abuse and addiction treatment services, click here

I suffered severely from anxiety and depression for more than 30 years.

I suffered severely from anxiety and depression for more than 30 years. It got worse during high school, and even worse later on, as if it were deliberately trying to make my life as miserable as possible. This is my story of great emotional pain, long years of isolation, misery and utter hopelessness and how I gradually found my way out of this dismal tunnel of despair and into the light of wisdom, joy and great relief.
Along with all the problems one usually gets when growing up, the symptoms of panic disorder and not at first knowing what they were, devastated my days at school and ruined my concentration with schoolwork. I would come home completely exhausted, frustrated and unable to concentrate on anything, especially homework. I had a very limited social life and no girlfriends. I suffered for what seemed like an eternity from social anxiety, loneliness, severe acne, mysterious weight loss, and crippling depression. I had an extreme dislike of most kinds of team sports and had a really hard time trying to fit in anywhere. From grade school to high school, I suffered much hazing from others and much rejection and "unrequited love" from members of the opposite sex I felt attracted to, resulting in a vicious cycle of continued social anxiety, resentment of other's popularity and success, and my overwhelming sense of rejection, isolation and alienation.
The suffering continued through college (where I studied nutrition, psychology, astronomy and especially art) and into my work years. I could only find jobs that were simple and stress free such as gardening, painting and handyman type projects. I finally had a job taking care of an office building with a garden and fountain that required much continuous maintenance and support. I am still working there today.
Throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s, I tried in vain to find the cause of my suffering through religions, doctors, psychiatrists, etc. only to be severely disappointed by their "its all in your head" diagnosis! It seemed FAR worse than just "anxiety neurosis" or the later diagnosis of "anxiety disorder"! I couldn't believe it. I thought I either had to have heart disease, kidney failure, cancer, strokes, tumors, diabetes, lead poisoning, mercury, DDT, or any combination of the above! You name it, It felt like I had it! But, over and over all my tests revealed nothing substantial or really significant, no toxins, no poisons, nothing that made sense or was helpful.
I tried counseling, Christianity, Christian and Religious science, eastern religions, meditation, yoga, and positive thinking for many years, but still my problems only got worse. I started feeling more and more like a nutcase and a good candidate for insanity as more and more of my family and friends gave me the "its all in your head so snap out of it" insult-to-injury "treatment." Nearly all of my acquaintances had no understanding or sympathy for my chronic problems so they left me alone. I spent most of my time very much alone and isolated. Being with people scared me so much I often had to run to an isolated, quiet room or area where no people were around. I could not fill out any forms or sign my name on my check or credit card receipt in public because I would shake too much. Some of my signatures looked absolutely bizarre and any forms filled out illegible. I went through hell just trying to fill out a simple job application.
Conversations would end abruptly because I kept losing track of what I was going to say next and would have trouble remembering what the other person said. I would have to stop in mid sentence, because I could not complete it, resulting in incredible embarrassment, another anxiety attack, and feeling like an idiot. This mental block would nearly always happen at the worst possible or critical moment such as when having to explain a very serious problem, during an emergency confrontation, or speaking in front of a group of people, resulting in an incredibly severe fear of public speaking and socializing of any kind. Whatever it was, when I needed it the most, I would have it the least!
I also had many physical symptoms too that drove me crazy. My heart kept skipping beats, and/or speeding up and keeping awake all night (especially if on ANY sort of medication), making me think I was having a heart attack. I would often have horrible nightmares then wake up terrified in a cold sweat and total confusion. I would not be able to sleep again until five in the morning. Then I would have to sleep all day to compensate for the nightly insomnia and to cope with the devastating stress, vertigo, and depression. I also felt a great sense of unworthiness, tiredness and fatigue that drove me nuts whenever I needed to get anything done. Expenses would accumulate, and I could never get ahead financially, no matter how hard I fought the overwhelming urge to sleep all the time, especially after eating. Greatly misunderstood, I was considered by others as very lazy, under the influence (even though I NEVER took anything), and a poor achiever or so much "dead wood" as I was unable to support myself. Imagine all this happening while growing up and trying to find my own place in the world!!
After a few massive anxiety attacks In 1982, I became almost permanently agoraphobic. In order to avoid terrible panic, I always had to stay within my local neighborhood or within the city limits. This problem was a disaster for dating, and so had to remain lonely. As I grew older, I became more and more angry and cynical about life. I would often get so frustrated that I would lose my temper and break things. I must have thought of a hundred different ways to end my life, so desperate was I to stop the severe emotional pain, but was too afraid to try anything. My life felt like an internal concentration camp or hell on earth. My severe weight loss trying to avoid foods I was "allergic" too even made me look like a concentration camp victim. Nothing I ate would put on weight anyway, it would just go right on through, causing severe gas, bloating and diarrhea. Nothing in my life went right, not even my digestion!!!
Throughout this time (early 80's to early 90's) I tried various medications such as imipramine, xanax, tranxine, and buspar. They were expensive and only gave me very disruptive and embarrassing side-effects with no benefits. In fact, It seemed every medication I tried only made my symptoms (depression, panic attacks, spaciness, memory lapses, vertigo, fatigue, and frightening heart symptoms) much worse, especially the imipramine, which I had to endure two separate trials for 6 weeks. I eventually became so frustrated and upset with medications, I PERMANENTLY stopped taking them, especially with having to wait for so many weeks for them to "work" only to find they have the opposite effect! This is NOT to discourage others who are trying medications, especially now that there are so many more available that act faster and have fewer side-effects.
Forced in my situation to try something different, I looked into such things as diet, herbs, and alternative medicine. I tried experimenting with diet for many years, but with only limited results that sometimes even seemed to backfire like the drugs did. However, the results were enough to convince me to look even further into the subject of nutritional therapy and to verify if such a thing did in fact exist. By the late 80's I had finally developed an "Atkins" type diet high in raw fruit/vegetable juices, cooked green vegetables, and complete proteins, such as fish, chicken and organ meats plus many herbal and vitamin supplements. This new diet actually seemed to keep my depression and anxiety under a certain amount of (intermittent) control! As I continued throughout the '90s to "tinker" around with my diet, because I knew there had to be something to it, I found even more foods that helped and was able to identify foods that did not. No longer was the notion that one could treat emotional problems with just diet a hopeful fantasy! It was real! This bit of encouragement spurred me on with even greater thoroughness, fanaticism and great zeal.
As time went on, the diets I found myself on where more and more vegetarian, with continuing improvement, but there was still much room for more improvement. I started drinking loads of water between meals instead of snacking, which resulted in even more encouraging improvement. I realized snacking was in itself a cause of many food sensitivities, dental problems, and bad mental, emotional and physical reactions that would not otherwise take place if all foods eaten in a day were grouped together in one wholesome, complete meal, while the rest of the day is spent detoxifying on drinking water.
In 1994, I wrote a book about an entire yogic system and lifestyle that's supposed to lead to bliss, enlightenment and wholeness. Naturally, I become extremely obsessed with my health and what I ate and how I ate for many, many years to come. I would often spend all day in libraries, behind books, etc. (and later the internet) doing intense research on diet, nutrition, and neurochemistry. People avoided me because diet was all I talked about and found it very difficult to get away from the subject. Careful and limited, scientifically guided eating was my saviour and only hope for existence without fear and crippling depression.
At the end of April, in the year 2000, I transitioned over to an "oval-vegetarian"100% raw food diet (including raw eggs, bee pollen, nuts, seed and spiralina, fruits, greens, vegetables, herbs, etc.) with even more improvement in my overall health and mental well-being. I have ever since disliked the practice of cooking (destroying) good food, and eating meat & pasteurized/homogenized dairy products. I still felt anxious and agoraphobic, but everything seemed easier to manage and had much better luck with meditation and yoga. There is also a very significant "spiritual awakening" side to my story, which can be found at the beginning of my book now online.
In January of 2002, I decided to start a website which would serve as an information and research center to encourage the development and exchange of new ideas related to overcoming all the frustrations, diseases and other hazards of our human condition, and to overcoming all limitations and all forms of suffering. I am interested in alternative, natural, effective, wholesome ways to overcome anxiety, depression, the aging process and many other diseases. I have dedicated my life to the elimination of fear, depression, ignorance, suffering, loneliness, pollution, overpopulation, etc. and to the study of certain controversial subjects such as: life after death, astral projection, breatharianism and many more. I am hoping it will be a "light house" to many in search of or in need of help.
My next big breakthrough came in with the discovery of negatively (charged) ionized (alkalized) "microwater" while searching on the internet for a good substitute for a powerful, but expensive antioxidant (Microhydrin) I was presently experimenting with. In the beginning of May, in the year 2002, I set up a water ionizer next to my kitchen sink and started drinking loads and loads of the most delicious water I ever tasted in my life, thinking this was going to help stop the aging process and help me feel a little better. It seemed to do everything and more. I was fascinated in how this simple machine could turn mere tap water into seemingly endless amounts of the most useful, valuable, healing, powerful, free-radical deactivating and purifying fluid I ever drank, actually replacing some of the food and antioxidants I used to need and therefore reducing my weekly organic and health food grocery bill by 50% or more. It enabled me to fast for even longer periods between meals, giving me even greater health and freedom from fear, depression and from not having to do all those tasks associated with food and its preparation as often. It was no problem whatsoever living on one meal a day, because with the ionized water, that was all I needed. I no longer had any more digestive or "allergic" problems and I gained some weight too for the first time in my life!
Most importantly, negatively ionized water has actually reduced my anxiety, fatigue and depression quite significantly, to the point I no longer even feel it! There is a scientific explanation for this: when filtered water is charged with the negative side of a platinum-coated electrode (cathode) its pH (power of hydrogen) is increased usually from around a pH of 6.5 up to 9 or 10. Being "microwater" or water that clumps together in units of 5 molecules each instead of the usual 12 or so water molecules per cluster (as with regular non-ionized water) it can hydrate living tissue much more thoroughly, and dissolve and transport nutrients much more efficiently than any other form of water. It easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and acts as a buffer for metabolic by-products such as lactic acid which has been scientifically proven to be the most likely cause of common anxiety disorders. In other words, my brain was too acidic, and at first, the alkalinity naturally present in most raw foods helped to neutralize some of this acidity, creating some improvement. But this very alkaline, negatively ionized water, has really helped. The ionized water combined with my 100% super-food diet, special adaptogenic herbs, antioxidants, pure moral lifestyle, etc. all work together to turn my depression and anxiety into just pure bliss! All the physical symptoms, such as rapid and skipping heartbeats, etc. I used to have, have completely disappeared.
The only draw-back was having to drink massive amounts of it every day and there were still other aspects of my health and anxiety that kept coming back to haunt me. As wonderful as ionized water is and in spite of the the fact I continue to this day to use ionized water and never intend to stop using it, there was still something more to be desired. In the past when it seemed to not work as well as it should, I would either put two ionizers together and double the amount of ionization and/or add a special powder with may in fact be the most powerful antioxidant ever invented, and sure enough, I would find it very satisfying. However, the first idea proved to be somewhat awkward putting two units in line with one another because the amount of water pressure needed to run the second unit was often higher than can be provided by the first, and the amounts of that special powder needed, at roughly $200 for 4 oz., was too hard to maintain financially.
All this research finally lead me to another great breakthrough in more fully understanding my condition and more direct treatments in 2008: The deep significance of alkalinity, that I realized that everything all along was trying to lead to more and more raw, alkaline-forming diet, antioxidants, stress reducing herbs, algae, and minerals. Apart from having to find treatment for other life-long complications such as pyroluria and adrenal exhaustion I found the main underlying condition of all my nervousness had to be oversensitivity to acidic dietary and metabolic waste which all the antioxidants, ionized water and raw, alkaline forming foods I was benefiting from all along was neutralizing and alleviating. All this knowledge and other research lead me to the conclusion that why not add vast amounts more alkaline-forming minerals such as the very inexpensive dolomite to my ionized water and coral calcium to my raw food diet that's already part of my daily regimen? I tried this and found even more astounding results: for instance, the dolomite mixed in with my ionized water seemed to double, triple, even quadruple its beneficent effects exactly as if I had not only run tap water through two ionizers, but also just as if I had added the same amount of dolomite as Microhydrin, however dolomite, a very inexpensive, widely available, pure white mineral powder, is many, many times less expensive and provided much needed calcium and magnesium in the right proportions which are two of the same alkalizing electrolytes present in ionized water! The other three electrolytes are potassium, sodium, and chlorine. I will now be adding some potassium to this mixture along with a pinch of sea salt to complete the electrolyte balance and see if any more improvements take place.
Everyone's situation is unique, so I can't guarantee the same improvements I enjoy from a 100% super-food diet, herbs, supplements, alkaline minerals, and antioxidant water, etc. Also, my story and physiological explanations for my recovery are much more complicated than what I can write down within the limited space I am allowed here. What I know for sure, however, is it is possible to benefit tremendously from ionized water, super-food diets, and uncooked, mainly alkaline-forming, whole vegetarian food with an adequate source of complete protein. I have found in my experience, correct nutritional therapy is essential to healing regardless of what condition one may be suffering from.

Please go here: Natural Anxiety Remedies for the complete website on anxiety and depression.
Russell Symonds (Shaktivirya) has dedicated his life to finding wholeness and is living the "wholeness" lifestyle. His website, Science of Wholeness is a spiritual and nutritional information and research center dedicated to helping you find your keys to wholeness (everlasting joy, love, bliss, rejuvenation, and much, much more). Wholeness can be many things and his website not only discusses all the different aspects of wholeness but also all the different ways toward wholeness. There is no greater thing of beauty, value and joy as wholeness!
The rest of his original articles and his free online book, Science of Wholeness I & II can be found here Science of Wholeness Site Map.

Unconditional Love- Building Good Mental health

What can be done to offset the development of depression, anxiety, and psychosis in our families and our communities?
What does it mean to be unconditionally loving? My definition is the ability to be accepting of people with all their warts. Everyone has annoying habits.
Often it's the little things that drive us bonkers. What if your loved one opens toothpaste from the bottom instead of the right way, from the top? What if he puts the toilet paper on with the paper dropping to the back instead of the front? What if he sleeps on the right side of the bed instead of the left? These idiosyncrasies can be the straws that break the camel's back.
Unconditional love enables us to shed light on the strengths, talents, and capabilities of those close to us.
What if we endeavor to count someone's strengths and to minimize his annoying characteristics? A strength based model is so much more powerful than nit picking at small annoyances.
The power of the positive is much stronger than the power of the negative. Recognizing abilities sets the groundwork for good relationships, fun interactions, solid marriages, and good mental health. Someone who feels loved by family members instead of criticized will flourish in that environment. Constant picking and putting one down sets the stage for low self esteem and a drive to look for harmful actions to fill the empty void and heal the broken heart.
What if we set an intention to bring out the best in others instead of picking at them and criticizing?
I was responsible for the care of an elderly aunt. This was a time of serious stress for me. By nature, I tend to overprotect Unfortunately, I frequently came down on the caretakers and failed to show appreciation for them. The agency that serviced my aunt got frequent phone calls about the caregivers. One of them stopped talking to me, making my visitation times with my aunt unbearable.
Instead of coming down on the caretaker more, I made the decision to see her in the best possible light.
After about a month of intolerable behavior from her, I went in for my daily visit to my aunt. The caretaker did a sudden turn around. She apologized to me and said she regretted treating me so badly. All I did was begin to think of her in complimentary terms.
Some behaviors cannot be overlooked. Actions that interfere with someone's safety, for example, need to be challenged.
But most of us behave in ways that can be changed if we are given the gift of unconditional love.
Dear readers, feel free to share your thoughts on this matter.
From Barbara Altman, author of Recovering from Depression, anxiety, and Psychosis, available on Amazon and Kindle

Barbara Altman is a music teacher in Saint Louis, Missouri. She has written a book titled "Recovering from Depression, anxiety, and Psychosis. Altman is a psychiatric survivor whose hope encourage the development of healthy individual, families, and communities. She can be contacted at http://WWW.depressiontorecovery.com