Everyone wants to be happy. That's why people go on diets or spend too much money for clothes - because they think it will make them happy! But even though we spend our whole lives trying to become happy, that happiness often proves to be elusive.
Charmaine Yabsley, author of The Happy Plan, believes that the heart of a happy life is realising that "happiness is all about achieving balance - the balance between being healthy, feeling fulfilled in your personal and professional life and setting and achieving personal goals".
She recognises: "Getting your life in balance is not always easy.
"Once you achieve this balance, you'll find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - happiness."
Crucially, she says it's essential to treat your body with respect, whether it's through work, exercise, diet or relaxation. Your body is the most important tool you have and your gateway to achieving long-term happiness and contentment.
There are all sorts of simple ways to transform your health so that you feel physically better, and have more energy to face life's challenges and gain a greater sense of wellbeing.
Just making a few changes to your lifestyle could help you towards more contentment and relieve some of the nagging, irritating problems and symptoms that pull you down.
TIPS FOR A HAPPIER YOU
Ą You look forward to the weekend but it's ruined because you feel low and irritable: This is often caused by dehydration. If you're drinking your prescribed eight glasses of filtered water every day of the working week, make sure you continue at the weekend.
Ą Insomnia saps energy and can lead to mood swings and low mood. Try eating a banana around 30 minutes before going to bed. Ripe bananas may raise the mood and help you go to sleep. They're also believed to have a soothing effect on the body by stimulating serotonin production.
Ą Exercise really is vital to boost energy and mood. Around 30 minutes' physical activity not only helps lift the mood but keeps it elevated for 24 hours.
Ą Don't worry if you can't slog it out in the gym. It's just as beneficial to do three 10-minute bursts. Try walking to a sandwich bar maybe 10 minutes away from the office, or parking further away from the supermarket when you shop. Those minutes add up and gradually you'll feel fitter and more positive.
Ą Regulate your body clock so that you avoid waking up exhausted, and don't suffer energy slumps mid-afternoon which can contribute to a low mood. Skipping meals, or overeating at separate meals, will override your body's natural ability to recognise hunger and fullness. These can make you vulnerable to bingeing or snacking heavily at odd times, which leads to mood swings as blood sugar levels vary. Instead eat three meals a day at the same time every day, include protein, vegetables and eliminate processed foods such as white bread and rice.
Ą Cut down on drinking. Alcohol robs your body of mood-enhancing B vitamins. Drink no more than one or two units a day.
Ą Try this 60-second mood lifter at work: Your brain uses 20 per cent of the oxygen in your body. If you're feeling bored and lethargic, five deep, slow breaths will do wonders at boosting your mood and energy levels.
Ą Breathing and meditation exercises improve your chances of a good night's sleep, a major weapon in the fight against depression and low mood.
Ą Try this exercise before you go to bed: Place one hand on your chest and the other on your navel. Take a deep breath. If the lower hand doesn't move, you're not breathing deeply enough. As you breathe in, feel your abdomen rise and your fingertips part.
Ą Use herbs to aid happiness. Try ginger to lift the spirits, cinnamon to counteract exhaustion, camomile to help with nervous tension and peppermint to help calm nerves and relieve anger. These can be bought as herbal teas.
Ą Feeling blue? Call a friend for a giggle and a gossip (or a rant and a moan). Talking through problems or just catching up with each other's lives can help shake you out of your world.
ĄA good laugh does you and your health a world of good by releasing endorphins, the body's feel-good chemicals, into the bloodstream.
Ą Get that often-talked-about work/life balance. Always leave work on time, or if that's difficult designate one night only when you can work late. Book personal appointments, whether it's for the gym, to see friends or have a massage, and put them in the diary. These are just as important as your work-day commitments. Stick to them and don't let yourself down.
Ą Keep your brain healthy by ensuring it stays stimulated. Take up a new hobby which can excite the mind, help ease stress levels, fire your enthusiasm and help restore your confidence.
UPDATES IN MEDICINE
Lipitor doesn't improve bone health after menopause
When administered at doses that lower lipid levels, atorvastatin, sold under the trade name Lipitor, appears to have no effect on bone mineral density or bone metabolism in postmenopausal women, according to researchers.
The results of previous laboratory and clinical studies have suggested the commonly prescribed class of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins "may have very favourable effects on the skeleton," senior investigator Michael R. McClung said. "This study demonstrates clearly that statins do not have effects on bone in the clinical setting."
Dr McClung and colleagues studied 626 post-menopausal women with high levels of LDL cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol. The women were randomly assigned to treatment with one of four doses of atorvastatin daily or to placebo (sugar pill), the researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
At 52 weeks, all of the active treatment groups showed significant reductions in LDL cholesterol compared with levels at the beginning of the study and compared with placebo. The treatment was also well tolerated.
However, the researchers found no evidence that atorvastatin treatment had any significant effects on bone mass or markers of bone mass.
Co-author Henry G. Bone of the Michigan Bone and Mineral Clinic, Detroit, said that "our study pretty well eliminates the likelihood that conventional therapy with such agents would have a clinically significant beneficial or harmful effect on bone metabolism."
Anti-cholesterol drugs may reduce cancer risk
In a large study of US veterans, the use of a commonly prescribed class cholesterol-lowering drugs, reduced the cancer rate by about 25 per cent.
Although laboratory studies have indicated that statins can inhibit cancer cell progression, clinical trials have failed to confirm these findings, Wildon R. Farwell and his associates note in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. They attribute the lack of evidence to the young age of trial participants and short follow-up periods.
To circumvent these limitations, Dr Farwell and his associates analysed data from the Veterans Affairs administrative and clinical databases.
They compared two groups: 26,000 patients who used blood pressure medications but no cholesterol-lowering medications and 27,000 patients who had used statins for at least two years. The average age was 66.5 years, all were free of overt cancer at study entry, and the average follow-up was five years. More than 96 pe cent were men.
The incidence of cancer was 9.4 per cent among statin users and 13.2 per cent among non-users, a statistically significant difference.
After adjusting the data for the effects of age, weight, other diseases, smoking, cholesterol levels, and history of colon cancer screening tests, the risk developing any type of cancer was reduced by 26 percent in the statin group.
This effect was statistically significant for colorectal cancer (35 per cent lower risk), lung cancer (30 per cent lower risk) and prostate cancer (10 per cent lower risk).
There was also a significant dose response, with higher drug doses correlating with lower cancer mortality rates.
Additional studies "to evaluate statins as cancer preventive agents are needed to confirm or refute these findings," Dr Farwell and his associates conclude.
Charmaine Yabsley, author of The Happy Plan, believes that the heart of a happy life is realising that "happiness is all about achieving balance - the balance between being healthy, feeling fulfilled in your personal and professional life and setting and achieving personal goals".
She recognises: "Getting your life in balance is not always easy.
"Once you achieve this balance, you'll find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - happiness."
Crucially, she says it's essential to treat your body with respect, whether it's through work, exercise, diet or relaxation. Your body is the most important tool you have and your gateway to achieving long-term happiness and contentment.
There are all sorts of simple ways to transform your health so that you feel physically better, and have more energy to face life's challenges and gain a greater sense of wellbeing.
Just making a few changes to your lifestyle could help you towards more contentment and relieve some of the nagging, irritating problems and symptoms that pull you down.
TIPS FOR A HAPPIER YOU
Ą You look forward to the weekend but it's ruined because you feel low and irritable: This is often caused by dehydration. If you're drinking your prescribed eight glasses of filtered water every day of the working week, make sure you continue at the weekend.
Ą Insomnia saps energy and can lead to mood swings and low mood. Try eating a banana around 30 minutes before going to bed. Ripe bananas may raise the mood and help you go to sleep. They're also believed to have a soothing effect on the body by stimulating serotonin production.
Ą Exercise really is vital to boost energy and mood. Around 30 minutes' physical activity not only helps lift the mood but keeps it elevated for 24 hours.
Ą Don't worry if you can't slog it out in the gym. It's just as beneficial to do three 10-minute bursts. Try walking to a sandwich bar maybe 10 minutes away from the office, or parking further away from the supermarket when you shop. Those minutes add up and gradually you'll feel fitter and more positive.
Ą Regulate your body clock so that you avoid waking up exhausted, and don't suffer energy slumps mid-afternoon which can contribute to a low mood. Skipping meals, or overeating at separate meals, will override your body's natural ability to recognise hunger and fullness. These can make you vulnerable to bingeing or snacking heavily at odd times, which leads to mood swings as blood sugar levels vary. Instead eat three meals a day at the same time every day, include protein, vegetables and eliminate processed foods such as white bread and rice.
Ą Cut down on drinking. Alcohol robs your body of mood-enhancing B vitamins. Drink no more than one or two units a day.
Ą Try this 60-second mood lifter at work: Your brain uses 20 per cent of the oxygen in your body. If you're feeling bored and lethargic, five deep, slow breaths will do wonders at boosting your mood and energy levels.
Ą Breathing and meditation exercises improve your chances of a good night's sleep, a major weapon in the fight against depression and low mood.
Ą Try this exercise before you go to bed: Place one hand on your chest and the other on your navel. Take a deep breath. If the lower hand doesn't move, you're not breathing deeply enough. As you breathe in, feel your abdomen rise and your fingertips part.
Ą Use herbs to aid happiness. Try ginger to lift the spirits, cinnamon to counteract exhaustion, camomile to help with nervous tension and peppermint to help calm nerves and relieve anger. These can be bought as herbal teas.
Ą Feeling blue? Call a friend for a giggle and a gossip (or a rant and a moan). Talking through problems or just catching up with each other's lives can help shake you out of your world.
ĄA good laugh does you and your health a world of good by releasing endorphins, the body's feel-good chemicals, into the bloodstream.
Ą Get that often-talked-about work/life balance. Always leave work on time, or if that's difficult designate one night only when you can work late. Book personal appointments, whether it's for the gym, to see friends or have a massage, and put them in the diary. These are just as important as your work-day commitments. Stick to them and don't let yourself down.
Ą Keep your brain healthy by ensuring it stays stimulated. Take up a new hobby which can excite the mind, help ease stress levels, fire your enthusiasm and help restore your confidence.
UPDATES IN MEDICINE
Lipitor doesn't improve bone health after menopause
When administered at doses that lower lipid levels, atorvastatin, sold under the trade name Lipitor, appears to have no effect on bone mineral density or bone metabolism in postmenopausal women, according to researchers.
The results of previous laboratory and clinical studies have suggested the commonly prescribed class of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins "may have very favourable effects on the skeleton," senior investigator Michael R. McClung said. "This study demonstrates clearly that statins do not have effects on bone in the clinical setting."
Dr McClung and colleagues studied 626 post-menopausal women with high levels of LDL cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol. The women were randomly assigned to treatment with one of four doses of atorvastatin daily or to placebo (sugar pill), the researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
At 52 weeks, all of the active treatment groups showed significant reductions in LDL cholesterol compared with levels at the beginning of the study and compared with placebo. The treatment was also well tolerated.
However, the researchers found no evidence that atorvastatin treatment had any significant effects on bone mass or markers of bone mass.
Co-author Henry G. Bone of the Michigan Bone and Mineral Clinic, Detroit, said that "our study pretty well eliminates the likelihood that conventional therapy with such agents would have a clinically significant beneficial or harmful effect on bone metabolism."
Anti-cholesterol drugs may reduce cancer risk
In a large study of US veterans, the use of a commonly prescribed class cholesterol-lowering drugs, reduced the cancer rate by about 25 per cent.
Although laboratory studies have indicated that statins can inhibit cancer cell progression, clinical trials have failed to confirm these findings, Wildon R. Farwell and his associates note in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. They attribute the lack of evidence to the young age of trial participants and short follow-up periods.
To circumvent these limitations, Dr Farwell and his associates analysed data from the Veterans Affairs administrative and clinical databases.
They compared two groups: 26,000 patients who used blood pressure medications but no cholesterol-lowering medications and 27,000 patients who had used statins for at least two years. The average age was 66.5 years, all were free of overt cancer at study entry, and the average follow-up was five years. More than 96 pe cent were men.
The incidence of cancer was 9.4 per cent among statin users and 13.2 per cent among non-users, a statistically significant difference.
After adjusting the data for the effects of age, weight, other diseases, smoking, cholesterol levels, and history of colon cancer screening tests, the risk developing any type of cancer was reduced by 26 percent in the statin group.
This effect was statistically significant for colorectal cancer (35 per cent lower risk), lung cancer (30 per cent lower risk) and prostate cancer (10 per cent lower risk).
There was also a significant dose response, with higher drug doses correlating with lower cancer mortality rates.
Additional studies "to evaluate statins as cancer preventive agents are needed to confirm or refute these findings," Dr Farwell and his associates conclude.