Saturday, March 31

Stress Management & Relaxation Need Not be Expensive!

What do you do when you feel stressed and overworked?
·        Make a spa appointment and have a massage? Visit the mall and buy something for yourself?
·        Call your friends and go barhopping? File a leave of absence from work and have a vacation?
These things work if you can afford it. But what if you’re living on a tight budget? How do you manage your stress and find a way to relax without hurting your finances?
Personal stress management doesn’t have to be expensive. There are a lot of frugal activities that can help us get rid of stress, unwind and chill out. So if you’ve been feeling restless, tired and pressured from work, here are some cheap ways you can relax and rejuvenate.
1.     Sleep. No cost, always effective. Just don’t oversleep though or you’ll feel sluggish.
2.     Go someplace quiet and appreciate the silence. You can go to the church and pray for spiritual strength.
3.     Meditate and call for positive energy or alternatively, simply take deep breathes and empty your thoughts.
4.     Pamper yourself in your own home. Take a relaxing bath or shower. Prepare a sumptuous home cooked meal.
5.     Stretch, do some tai chi or learn a bit of yoga. The internet has free resources on how to properly do these.
6.     Exercise or at least take a leisurely walk. Get some blood pumping and release some endorphins, the body’s feel-good chemicals.
7.     Listen to your favorite music. Sing along or dance in your room.
8.     Play with your child, your younger sibling, your baby nephew or niece or with your pet.
9.     Gather old newspapers and magazines and learn how to do origami.
10. Try to learn a performance skill such as juggling, doing magic tricks or spinning poi.
 Reposted from: Money Saving Tips

Sunday, March 25

Take Care of Your Skin

WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF PARABENS IN SKIN CARE?
By Karen Eisenbraun

Parabens are synthetic preservatives used in foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and personal care products such as deodorants, moisturizers and shampoos. Common parabens include methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben. Parabens allow skin care products to survive for months or even years in your medicine cabinet; however, they also enter your body through your skin when you use these products. According to Mercola.com, the body can absorb as much as five pounds of cosmetic chemicals every year. Parabens can mimic hormones in the body and disrupt functions of the endocrine system.

BREAST CANCER
Colby College's Clean Makeup website reports that parabens can mimic estrogen and disrupt the body's hormone system. Cornell University reports that a high lifelong exposure to estrogen can increase breast cancer risk. Estrogen, and synthetic chemicals that act like estrogen, play a role in stimulating the division of breast cells and affect other hormones that stimulate breast cell division. Your body does not easily break down synthetic estrogen, and it can accumulate in fat cells, including breast tissue. In 2004, a study by the University of Reading in the United Kingdom found concentrations of parabens, particularly methylparaben, in human breast tumors. The study examined only the presence of parabens in the tumors but did not determine that they were the cause of the tumors.

EARLY PUBERTY
The ability of parabens to mimic other hormones makes them endocrine disruptors, substances that adversely affect the endocrine system. The endocrine system releases hormones into the bloodstream and is involved in a number of functions related to reproduction, waste elimination, digestion and metabolism. Endocrine disruptors such as parabens can lead to early puberty in adolescent girls and boys, as reported by the New York Times. Endocrinologists have observed the average age of puberty decreasing in the past several decades and have seen girls as young as eight exhibit breast development and pubic hair growth. Endocrine disrupters can also lead to testicular enlargement and breast development in young boys.

DECREASED SPERM LEVELS
Parabens can also adversely affect the male reproductive system. In a study by the Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, researchers administered parabens to three-week-old rats. After four weeks, researchers examined the rats and found their sperm production significantly decreased in relation to the amount of parabens they had received. The rats who received the highest dose of parabens, which was consistent with the daily acceptable intake of parabens in Europe and Japan, showed a significant decrease in sperm concentration.

REFERENCES
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals: Parabens
  • Mercola.com: Body Absorbs 5 Lbs. of Make-Up Chemicals Per Year
  • Colby College: Endocrine Disrupters: Clean Makeup
  • Cornell University: Estrogen and Breast Cancer Risk
  • PubMed: Concentrations of Parabens in Human Breast TumorsRead More on Dangers of Paraben