Health, Lifestyle, Wellbeing Tips & Advice

Category: Health

Why is Sofa Cleaning Important For Your Health

Your sofa serves several purposes. From your popular sleepovers to chilled family movie nights or hosting your guests, it indeed holds your daily life together. Since you have regular contact with it, hygiene automatically becomes essential.

Why?

First off, it harbors dirt over time and becomes unhealthy. So, when cleaning your carpet, don’t forget your upholstery also needs care!

You should keep your furniture and couch clean for several health reasons. Let’s explore these reasons.

Health Benefits Of Cleaning Your Sofa

Here are the health benefits of cleaning your sofa:

1. Air Quality

Poor air quality often leads to allergies and respiration issues. However, most homeowners battle this problem using household plants and air filters. How about you ensure there are no allergens or mold to filter in the first place?

Sitting, plopping, or lying on your furniture releases dust, dead skin, bacteria, or mold spores into the air. A lot of people focus on cleaning carpets and other items. However, your couch harbors mold, old stains, allergens, and dust over time. Leaving it uncleaned exposes your home to poor air quality.

As a result, cleaning your sofa or hiring sofa cleaners regularly protects your home from bad air quality.

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Coping with the Loss of a Parent: Grief and Finding Strength

Losing a parent is an inevitable part of life for many of us. It’s a profound and personal experience that each person navigates in their own way. While the inevitability of losing a parent is known, the actual experience of it can be shockingly painful and disorienting. We have compiled a list of suggestions based on advice from those at silkwoodfunerals.com.au, who have had many years of experience surrounding loss.

The Emotional Rollercoaster of Losing a Parent

Grief is a deeply personal and varied experience. There’s no ‘correct’ way to process the loss of a parent. As you journey through grief, you may encounter a myriad of intense emotions, often confusing and overwhelming:

  • Numbness and Emptiness: Feeling numb or unable to cry is not uncommon. This doesn’t mean you’re indifferent; it could be your mind’s way of processing the shock or shielding you from a deluge of emotions.
  • Profound Sadness and Despair: It’s natural to feel engulfed by sadness, often with the belief that you’ll never come to terms with your loss.
  • Sleep and Appetite Disturbances: Grief can disrupt your standard sleep patterns and eating habits, leading to insomnia or a change in appetite.
  • Vulnerability and a Sense of Regression: The loss can leave you feeling vulnerable, almost childlike, as you grapple with the absence of a pivotal figure in your life.
  • Strained Family Dynamics: Relationships within your family may become tense as each member processes grief differently, sometimes leading to conflicts.

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Speech Therapy Terminology And What It All Means

To most people, the terminology and jargon within medical niches can be confusing, and that applies as equally to speech therapy as it does any other. This can be incredibly frustrating for the parents of children with speech and language difficulties as sometimes they struggle to fully comprehend what speech therapists explain about their child’s problems.

We are not suggesting that those who work within speech therapy deliberately try to confuse parents. They are likely to use words and phrases that they almost take for granted, given that they use them daily. In addition, we are sure most speech pathologists try to explain the terminology they use to parents.

Nevertheless, that may not always be the case. Additionally, when parents read subject matter relating to their child’s language issues, they might encounter several words they do not fully understand. So, we thought it would be helpful if we went through some of the more common terminology used within speech therapy and gave you a short explanation of what it all means.

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5 Health Benefits Of Hiring Professional Removalists For Your Home Move

There are several reasons why hiring a professional removalist company to assist you with a house move makes perfect sense. Those reasons include not having to hire a van yourself, not having to pack that van, the convenience of letting them do most of the work for you, and, in many cases, it can be more financially viable to pay them a fee for the complete set of services they provide rather than making individual payments for different services to several companies.

However, another often overlooked reason is why using removalists is the optimal choice. That is because it benefits the health and well-being of you and your family. That statement might have raised a few eyebrows among those reading this; however, please bear with us as we outline the five health benefits of hiring professionals from Brilliance Removalists Perth.

Less Chance Of Sprains And Strains

The most apparent reason removalists will benefit your health is that they will lift and carry your belongings from your old home into their van and then from the van into your new home. Consider that many of those items will be heavy and require more than one person to lift them.

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4 Ways Your Health Food Store Can Benefit From Marketing On Social Media

If you have used or tried to use digital marketing as a means to promote and grow your health food store’s revenue, then we hope social media as part of your strategy. The reason we say that comes from the advice from the digital marketing experts over at www.slinkydigital.com.au, who advise their clients that social media can provide a huge impetus to an online marketing campaign and long-term benefits to any business that uses it.

One of the first things we need to do is clarify exactly what we mean by social media. For those who do not follow social media too much, the assumption is often made that it is just Facebook, but that would be wrong. While Facebook is the largest social media platform by some distance, it would be a huge mistake to focus only on it.

There are dozens more, and the key to choosing which ones to use within your digital marketing strategy is not so much which ones are the biggest, but more specifically, who their audiences are. You also need to consider that different types of content are used on each social media site. Pinterest and Instagram are mainly photographs; YouTube is primarily videos; and Twitter and Facebook use text but also have images and videos.

So, with the basics out of the way, let us look at 4 ways social media can benefit your health food store.

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Most Commonly Asked Questions About Laser Eye Surgery

Insight Eye Clinic perform laser eye surgery or ocular surgery, which is  a refractive surgery on your eyes to correct astigmatism, hyperopia, and myopia. As straightforward as it is for those performing it, it can be a big decision to make for someone who is thinking about getting it.

If you’re unsure whether laser eye surgery is for you or you’re about to visit a clinic to find out more, here are some of the questions you may like to have the answers to beforehand.

Does Laser Eye Surgery Hurt?

This is perhaps one of the most commonly asked questions about laser eye surgery – whether or not it hurts. The procedure itself is mostly pain-free because anaesthetic drops are given to the patient before the procedure.

However, in the early stages of healing post-surgery, some people do experience some discomfort. The level of pain you experience can also depend on the type of surgery. Most people will be able to enjoy their new, pain-free eyesight in a matter of days.

How Long Does Laser Eye Surgery Take?

No one wants to be sitting in a surgical environment for any longer than they have to. Therefore, it’s only natural to want to find out how long laser eye surgery takes. The timeframe can depend on the severity of the issue, the prescription’s complexity, and a few other factors like technology and the surgeon.

In most cases, you will be in and out of surgery in half an hour or less. The actual procedure may also only take mere minutes.

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What You Need To Know About Root Canal Treatment

Root canal treatment is one type of dental treatment that seems to mystify those who have never had to undergo it. Because they normally hear of dental issues that refer to only teeth and gums, when a root canal enters the discussion, many people are unaware of what a root canal is, let alone what its treatment might be. So, in this article, our Perth dentists will outline the most important facts you should know about root canal treatment.

What Is A Root Canal?

To explain what a root canal is, it helps if we consider the structure of your tooth. It consists of the crown, which is the part you see. The part you cannot see which is beneath your gum and connected to your jaw bone is the root of your tooth. The interior of your tooth contains soft tissue which is called dental pulp. The dental pulp contains soft tissue, nerves, and blood vessels.

This dental pulp is essential for the growth and development of teeth but once they are fully grown the pulp is effectively redundant, although it still exists within the tooth. The pulp moves from the top of the crown to the end of the root, and it is one or more root canals that it uses for that movement.

Why Is Root Canal Treatment Needed?

Root canal treatment can become necessary if the dental pulp inside your tooth becomes infected. If it does, the bacterial infection can generate several issues and the symptoms you may experience include:

  • Extreme pain when you bite or chew
  • Extreme sensitivity to hot or cold food and drink
  • Loose tooth

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8 Common Causes Of Missing Teeth In Adults

If you were to ask 100 dentists to give a reason why teeth might fall out, the vast majority of answers are likely to be related to patients not taking care of their teeth properly. Whilst these id certainly one of the primary causes of teeth falling out, you might be surprised to learn that there are many, many more. We cannot list every single one of them, but to get you started, here are 8 common causes of tooth loss in adults.

Bone Deterioration: Obviously, we are speaking here about the jawbone in which your teeth would normally be strongly secured when it is healthy. However, if your jawbone’s density starts to deteriorate, which can happen for a number of health reasons, then your teeth can become loose, making them, more prone to falling out.

Not Flossing: Dentists such as www.candlewooddentalcentre.com.au, often hear patients strenuously claim that they brush their teeth regularly, however, despite what you might think, brushing is normally not enough. In addition, you should be flossing as this will remove any stubborn fragments of food which brushing misses, plus flossing removes dental plaque, which attacks the gums, and damaged gums can mean loose teeth.

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Aquafaba is the new Egg White

Ever heard of aquafaba?!? No, it’s not the Swedish entrant for Eurovision 2017 but it is gaining huge popularity as an egg substitute. So what is it? Aquafaba is chickpea brine which can be used raw to make cakes, meringues, baked macaroons & pavlovas. Three tablespoons of the liquid from either cooked raw chickpeas or from the can is the equivalent of one egg.

Not convinced you could make culinary delights with the waste from a chickpea can? The #aquafaba hashtag on Instagram has thousands of recipes using chickpea brine. The reason why it works so well is that the brine has a similar consistency to egg white.

Aquafaba was first ‘discovered’ by a French Chef (Joel Roessel) in 2014 who found that the brine from canned beans & other vegetables could be made into foams. Blogging his discovery & recipes to the world, the cooking technique took off & the term aquafaba was first used in March 2015 by Goose Wohlt to provide a common name for the cooking liquid. (aquafaba is Latin for bean water).

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4 Essential Nutrients For Better Dental Health

Whilst your dentist will readily fix any dental issues which you may have such as filling cavities in your teeth, we’re sure, if you were to ask them, they would much rather that their patients looked after their teeth and gums in the correct way. There is lots of advice that your dentist may give you about oral hygiene, with brushing and flossing being two examples, however, they will also tell you that what you eat, and drink, has a massive influence on your dental health.

With that thought in mind, here are 4 of the essential nutrients your dentist will advise you that you need to have sufficient levels of, in the foods and drinks that you include in your diet.

Calcium

Calcium is essential for our teeth and bones to grow, and more importantly for them to grow strong and healthy. It is no surprise that those who have a calcium deficiency in their diet often have rotting teeth and weak bones. A diet that has plenty of calcium is especially important for children, whose teeth are in their formative stages.

A great source of calcium is dairy products, although we must stress that, whether it is for children or adults, you should try to use as many low-fat dairy products as possible to avoid excessive weight gain. Examples include low-fat yogurt,  cheeses, and milk. Some vegetables, especially those classed as leafy greens, are also rich in calcium. Examples of these include broccoli, spinach, turnip greens and kale.

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How to Prevent Bruising After Botox

There are very few side effects associated with Botox as a treatment option. However, one of the most common Botox side effects is bruising around the injection site. Around 24 percent of patients in one study experienced minor bruising.

While bruising from Botox fades away within a couple of days, it’s worth being aware of how you can prevent it from occurring in the first place, or speed up the healing process.

Before Your Botox Treatment

A licenced medical professional will likely tell you if there’s anything you need to do to prepare for your Botox treatment. Still, a little proactivity on your part can go a long way. You can prevent bruising by first making sure you are receiving the right injection from the right provider.

Botox and similar neurotoxins tend to produce less bruising than the likes of hyaluronic fillers. This is because they don’t penetrate the skin as deeply.

Once you decide that you would like Botox, it’s crucial to receive it from a qualified provider with credentials. In Australia, only licenced and regulated medical professionals can offer it.

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3 Tips For Helping Children Learn To Care For Their Teeth

There are many elements of our lives as adults that are often heavily influenced by what we learned or experienced as children, and when it comes to oral health, your dentist will tell you that teaching children how to look after their teeth and gums at an early age, should see them continue this into their adulthood.

Obviously, if you are responsible for a child, you will no doubt have many priorities for them in terms of what they learn, and dental care might not be one at the top of that priority list, but it should be. Just as you teach them many ways to stay safe and healthy, educating a child about their oral health, can only benefit them, throughout their childhood, and beyond.

One thing which must be borne in mind, whilst there are many parts of a child’s upbringing that can seem complicated or requires a lot of investment with respect to time and patience, helping them to learn how to care for their teeth and gums correctly is not one of them. There are also steps you can take to make it part of their routine. With that in mind, here a three simple tips to help you teach your child the benefits of proper oral hygiene, and how they can achieve it.

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The Purpose And Benefits of Psychological Assessments

Psychological assessments are extremely important within the realm of psychology and they utilise several methods of assessing an individual’s cognitive thinking, behaviour, personality, and other mental faculties to determine or diagnose any conditions for which they need psychological treatment.

If so, using the information and data that the psychological assessment has produced, an appropriate treatment will be determined by a psychologist with a view to returning the client to a level of mental health which equates to a positive outcome for the individual.

In principle, a psychological assessment is no different to any other kind of medical assessment where the evidence is used to prescribe a course of treatment. For example, if a patient told their doctor they were having trouble breathing, tests would be carried out with regards to their respiratory system and the results would be used by the doctor to identify appropriate treatment.

That is the general basis upon which psychological assessments are performed, although within that wide scope there are multiple other purposes that they can be used for.

As well as being a guide for the psychologists to determine the best course of action, such as referring you to an ADHD Specialist, psychological assessments can also be invaluable in highlighting the individual aspects of a client’s behaviour in order to isolate those circumstances where the problems manifest themselves more than others.

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How to Prevent Cataracts

Cataract surgery can fix compromised vision induced by cataracts that make reading, driving a car (especially at night) increasingly challenging. Luckily, cataract surgery is usually a safe and successful operation.

For those who don’t know, cataracts arise due to the lens of the eye becoming clouded. Responsible for allowing light to travel into the retina, the lens is a transparent substance composed mainly of water and protein fibres. As the fibres clump together, the lens becomes less affective, leading to blurred sight and, if left unchecked, total blindness.

Often cataracts grow slowly and don’t always affect the eyesight immediately. Over time, though, cataracts will gradually impact your vision. Some of the numbers relating to cataracts are shocking. Cataracts are responsible for 51% of the world’s blindness that occurs, and it is estimated that no fewer than 65 million people globally are affected by cataracts to some degree.

There are many ways which you can help reduce the chances of you contracting cataracts, some of which you can begin immediately.

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The Lowdown on Migraines and Botox 

Everyone knows that Botox is a cosmetic injectable that you can use for smoothing out wrinkles. But did you know it’s also being reported as a potential treatment option for migraines?

Surprisingly, one in ten school-aged children and teens suffer from migraines. But at the moment, there is only one type of migraine medicine that is suitable for young people to use. What are kids supposed to do when their migraines become unbearable?

Botox as an Alternative Options

According to the chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at the University of California, Shalini Shah, M.D., migraines affect children’s lives and their ability to function. When they trialled Botox as a treatment method for children and teens with migraines, they noticed improvements in function.

One student was hospitalised every month for migraine pain before using Botox and was heading towards being held back in school. However, after Botox treatment, she only had one or two migraines every year and started to excel in her schooling.

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Our Top 3 Health Tips

Mojo’s Health & Wholefoods love this time of year! Why? Because now is the time to make those small sustainable changes that will make such a difference to your overall health in 2019. Here are the best three changes to begin your year:

1. Drink water!

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to keep your body hydrated. Consumption of water is associated with a number of health benefits, including flushing out toxins, increased energy, improved cognitive function as well as helping the body to break down food thereby boosting your metabolism. Take your reusable bottle wherever you go and take regular sips to achieve your 2 litres a day.

2. Eat real food!

Easier said than done we know! But drop the Uber Eats at least from Monday to Friday and stick to home cooked meals with lots of vegetables and wholegrains. Try doing a meal planner on Sunday evening and stick to it. And if you must eat out, choose the smarter options on the menu such as steak and vegetables, or pastas with tomato based sauces.

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The Wholefoods Diet

Wholefoods are plant foods which have not been processed or refined (or as little as possible) prior to eating – think fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. The term wholefoods tends to refer to a more plant-based diet with animal products, oils and salt being excluded.

Wholefoods are grown from seed without chemicals, sprays or insecticides and are as close to their natural form as possible, providing us with a natural alternative to the many ‘convenience’ food products now being offered in supermarkets.

Recent research shows that getting optimal nutrition from our food (and thereby optimal health) we should be eating wholefoods as our ancestors did about 100 years ago as these retain fibre, phytochemicals and nutrients that are often lost with highly processed and packaged foods.

Examples of phytochemicals include anthocyanins which give blueberries their deep colour or red coloured lycopene found in tomatoes. Wholefoods are as nature intended them to be – no added fats, sugars or salt and with all the fibre our body needs. Fibre aids our digestion and helps us to feel full faster. Eating wholefoods also help to fight heart disease and diabetes.

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Do You Need to do FODMAPs?

What is the low FODMAPs diet and should you be on it? Firstly it’s important to know what FODMAPs is and what it means – Fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. So you can see why it’s commonly referred to as FODMAPs!

The FODMAP concept was first hypothesised in the Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics Journal in 2005 with the low FODMAP diet being developed at Monash University in Melbourne.

Put simply the Low FODMAP diet targets natural carbohydrates (sugars) in foods that don’t break down easily, causing fermentation in the gastrointestinal system. Fermentation is the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms. This fermentation in the gut creates unpleasant symptoms such as smelly gas, bloating, and abdominal pain. So where are the FODMAPs hiding in our food?

Oligosaccharides are found in certain plants such as artichokes, burdock, chicory, leeks, onions, and asparagus.

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