5 Habits That Will Boost Your Willpower

We all struggle with ourselves at times. Many times it is hard for us to make decisions, and finally we get stuck in life situations unable to find the way out.

In her new book, the author Katie Morton analyzes the habits that strengthen willpower. Here they are:

How can you know if you should “give in” or “resist” if you do not first know what the desired result of what you seek is? Clear goals leave no room for negotiations.

We cannot control everything, but we can control ourbehavior. The truth comes from within, and our choices reflect our beliefs. If you believe that something is too difficult to accomplish, then you will probably do likewise and will not to see any results.

Changes make us feel uncomfortable, and when faced with an obstacle we usually give up. In fact, we see it as an excuse to avoid any change.

We get trapped in bad habits when we blame circumstances and those around us for things we actually can control. People who have strong willpower take responsibility for their actions and habits in their lives.

When fear overwhelms us, we remain trapped in the safety of our thoughts and habits. But we have to take risks to get what we want.

View the original article here

5 Habits That Will Boost Your Willpower

We all struggle with ourselves at times. Many times it is hard for us to make decisions, and finally we get stuck in life situations unable to find the way out.

In her new book, the author Katie Morton analyzes the habits that strengthen willpower. Here they are:

How can you know if you should “give in” or “resist” if you do not first know what the desired result of what you seek is? Clear goals leave no room for negotiations.

We cannot control everything, but we can control ourbehavior. The truth comes from within, and our choices reflect our beliefs. If you believe that something is too difficult to accomplish, then you will probably do likewise and will not to see any results.

Changes make us feel uncomfortable, and when faced with an obstacle we usually give up. In fact, we see it as an excuse to avoid any change.

We get trapped in bad habits when we blame circumstances and those around us for things we actually can control. People who have strong willpower take responsibility for their actions and habits in their lives.

When fear overwhelms us, we remain trapped in the safety of our thoughts and habits. But we have to take risks to get what we want.

View the original article here

Nibbling chocolate can boost men's performance in bedroom

 

Corbis

Eating chocolate can add sugar to your romantic life, as it can boost a man's bedroom performances for up to six hours, a new study has revealed.

Belgium scientists, who worked for seven years to prove their theory, said that chocolates are good for sex because the natural antioxidants found in cocoa helps maintain elasticity in blood vessels that promotes blood flow to "vital areas", the Daily Star reported.

The study found that eating ten grams of dark chocolate produces a significant positive effect and after antioxidant flavanol intake there is an increase in blood flow to vessels that lasts six to eight hours, with performance peaking at two hours.

The study was conducted by Chocolatiers ACTICOA.

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Cholesterol Drugs May Boost Your Gums' Health, Too

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) -- The statin medications you take for your heart may have an unexpected side benefit: They help reduce inflammation of the gums, according to new research.

Using advanced imaging techniques, researchers were able to see that when people with gum disease took higher doses of the commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, their gum inflammation decreased.

During the 12-week study, the researchers also looked for evidence of inflammation or hardening of the blood vessels (atherosclerotic disease) in the study volunteers, and they found that reduced gum inflammation was correlated with improved blood vessel health.

"There is a building, growing body of literature that draws a line between gum disease and atherosclerotic disease. In our study, benefits in the gums correlated with benefits in the arteries," said the study's senior author, Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, co-director of the Cardiac Imaging Trials Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. "People with [gum disease] and atherosclerotic disease should likely be that much more vigilant in treating their gum disease."

The study was published online Oct. 2 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Funding was provided by drug manufacturer Merck and Co., which does not produce the statin used in this study.

Currently, statins are prescribed to lower high levels of "bad" cholesterol, also known as LDL cholesterol. When there's too much LDL cholesterol, it can start to build up on blood vessel walls, leading to hardening of the arteries.

In the United States, more than 30 million people take statins, and as many as 200 million people worldwide take these cholesterol-lowering medications, according to a journal editorial accompanying the study. Periodontal disease (or gum disease) affects nearly half of U.S. adults.

According to editorial author Dr. Michael Blaha, director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease in Baltimore, a "consistent stream of data" shows that statins have benefits beyond their cholesterol-lowering properties.

"There are three big categories of how statins likely exert their effects: lowering LDL, reducing inflammation, and by modulating plaque," said Blaha.

The current study lends support to the idea that statins can reduce inflammation. It included 83 adults who had risk factors for, or already had, atherosclerosis. They were randomly assigned to take either 10 or 80 milligrams of a statin called atorvastatin (brand name Lipitor) for three months.

Everyone underwent imaging at the start of the study, again after four weeks and then at 12 weeks.

At the end of the study, the investigators had complete data on 59 people. They found a significant reduction in gum inflammation for the people taking 80 mg of atorvastatin compared to those on the 10-mg dose. Changes began as early as four weeks after people started taking the higher-dose drug.

There was a more significant reduction in gum inflammation for people who had more serious gum disease at the start of the study and took a higher dose of the statin. The researchers also found that a reduction in gum inflammation correlated with reduced blood vessel inflammation.

"It was really those on the higher-dose statins that had the benefit," noted Tawakol. But, "I would not recommend the use of statins outside the current guidelines," he added. "We see this trial more as a proof-of-principle trial. Our findings need to be confirmed in a larger clinical trial."

Still, he said, there's little harm in telling people to take care of gum disease. "Patients with known heart disease and known gum disease should have their gum disease evaluated and treated," Tawakol said.

Blaha agreed that it's too soon to change practice guidelines either for treating heart disease risk factors or for gum disease.

Still, "this study and others like it have tremendous implications," Blaha said. "We've never had a drug that worked this well and for so many different groups of patients."

Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Ahmed Tawakol, M.D., co-director, Cardiac Imaging Trials Program, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston; Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of cardiology and epidemiology, and director of clinical research, Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, Baltimore; Oct. 2, 2013, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online

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One In Six Hospitals Offers Private Services To Boost Income, Finds BMJ Investigation, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 17 Jul 2013 - 16:00 PDT Current ratings for:
One In Six Hospitals Offers Private Services To Boost Income, Finds BMJ Investigation, UK

One in six hospitals in England have introduced new private treatment options this year, as cost pressures tighten restrictions on some NHS services, reveals a BMJ investigation today.

This includes a growing number of hospitals offering patients the choice of "self funding" for treatments and services that are subject to restrictions or to long waiting times on the NHS, such as IVF, cataract surgery and hernia repair.

In these cases, treatments are offered at cheaper rates than in the private sector.

The BMJ obtained data from 134 acute hospital trusts in England through freedom of information requests and found that:

119 trusts (89%) now offer traditional private care or "self funded" services21 (16%) added new self funding or private treatment options for 2013-14, and17 (13%) now allow patients to pay for one or more services at notional NHS rates, under the self funding scheme

Providers told the BMJ that the schemes make care more accessible. But critics say that the growth of self funding has muddied the waters between private care and the NHS by creating a two tier system - particularly in combination with government rule changes that allow hospitals to raise up to 49% of funds through non-NHS work.

Hospitals to have introduced new options for patients in the past year include Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for varicose vein surgery, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust for liver scans, and age related macular degeneration, and Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Essex for imaging services and chemotherapy.

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has also recently begun offering "self funded" cycles of IVF treatment for patients who have used up their NHS funded cycles.

Many trusts that the BMJ contacted said they did not differentiate between "self funded" and "private" care. But John Appleby, chief economist at the healthcare think tank the King's Fund, said that, regardless of price, care was still being funded from patients' own pockets and was driven by cost restrictions.

Critics argue that self funding not only blurs the lines between NHS and private care but could also disadvantage NHS patients because, unlike more traditional private patients, self funding patients are often treated in the same premises as NHS patients.

The lines are arguably being blurred even further by a new scheme from the private provider Care UK, which recently introduced a new self pay option at four of its 11 NHS funded treatment centres across England.

A spokesman for Care UK said self-pay patients "will not be prioritised over NHS patients." But Nicholas Hopkinson, a consultant chest physician in London, said he opposed self funding as it could lead to an "inferior service" for those not paying.

John Appleby believes that, as self pay schemes expand, they should be strictly governed and separated from NHS care to ensure that NHS patients are not being adversely affected.

The Foundation Trust Network, which represents NHS foundation hospital trusts in England, said that most trusts had systems in place to stop paying patients "queue jumping" ahead of NHS patients when being treated in the same facility, and that it expected more treatments to be available to self funding in the future.

But David Hunter, Professor of health policy and management at Durham University, warns that not only could self funding schemes pave the way for "a two-tier or multi-tier system which is both complicated and inequitable," they could also lead to commissioners and providers focusing their energies on more lucrative procedures to raise additional funds.

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