Smoking is an addiction that’s programmed into our consciousness. It used to be prescribed by doctors in the good’ ol days, because it gave you more stamina. People who smoke just can’t seem to kick the habit – and it’s not their fault. These cancer sticks are designed to tuck you in and keep you stuck. To be able to quit, you need a really strong support system and plan set in place to be able to actually rewire your brain.

This is what happens after you stop:

20 Minutes

Your heart rate will go back to normal as well as your blood pressure. You will feel more sensations in your hands and your legs. The organism will slowly start to clean itself from the nicotine, which can make you crave for another cigarette, but try and be persistent.

8 Hours

You inhale carbon monoxide when tobacco is burning and that substance bonds with your blood cells.

That prevents the oxygen to bond to your cells and cause dangerous cardiovascular diseases.

You can cut that level of carbon monoxide on half by not smoking for 8 hours. Your oxygen levels will turn to normal and you will lower the risk of a heart attack.  Continue reading →

Sex is one of the most common ways we feel deep euphoric bliss in our lives. It creates a feeling of pleasure, liberation and euphoric release, releasing bio-energy within our body. Of course, sex can also cause a lot of problems in our lives. There can be negative consequences associated with sex when it is not engaged in or perceived in a sustainable, connected and bliss-giving way. It can affect our self-esteem and throw our intimate relationships out of whack, particularly when it is viewed only as a way to achieve orgasm, not as a shared energetic connection.

By understanding the trends of the underlying hormonal activities associated with sex and orgasm, and how the change in our chemistry affect our moods, behavior, desires and wants, we can work with our body’s hormonal system to make sexual interaction a more spiritual and rewarding experience.

Understanding the Hormones

The main player among the wellbeing hormones is dopamine, also known as the reward hormone. Then there is prolactin, the hormone of satiation, and oxytocin, the love and bliss hormone. All these hormones interact powerfully affecting our moods and desire for intimacy and bonding. And although we might believe that dynamics within the relationship has a conscious element to it, there is also a deep physical hormonal element that contributes to our experience.

Within our brain there is a code that tells us what we need to do to be happy, healthy, wealthy, glowing and living within our life’s purpose. When we do those things, and we experience things such as social interaction, pair bonding and orgasm, our endocrine system responds by releasing oxytocin.

When we first fall in love we become bonded by rising levels of oxytocin, which is the love and cuddle hormone, and we also feel a peak in our dopamine levels. When we start having sex with that person, we experience a big release of dopamine, which comes like a huge wave in the brain during the orgasm. It feels amazing! However this is then followed by a significant drop in dopamine levels immediately after orgasm, which brings hangover-like effects. Generally speaking, the timing of this hangover varies by gender; the reaction tends to be immediate in males and slightly delayed in females. Continue reading →

Ayurvedic philosophy states that decisions we make in regards to our daily routines either build resistance to disease or reduce it.

Let’s take a healthy practice that invokes this philosophy – adding pineapple to your first glass of water every morning. Here are 10 great reasons to do so.

1. Fight inflammation

Pineapple is a great source of bromelain.

Bromelain is an enzyme with anti-inflammatory characteristics that helps the body rid itself of toxins that affect various tissues and organs in the body.

Regularly consuming pineapple can help with mild forms of arthritis as well as various sports-related injuries by reducing the amount of inflammation and pain.

Source

2. Lose weight

The fiber in pineapple means that it takes longer to digest – this causes the body to maintain a ‘full’ feeling for longer, preventing cravings.

Thiamine, found in pineapple, can help boost your body’s metabolism through converting carbohydrates into energy.

Source Continue reading →

Many of us suffer from headaches, unfortunately, conventional medicine helps in only a few cases and only if the medication is consumed immediately following the first signs of a headache. It is important to note, however, that all of these various medicaments are accompanied by side effects or harmful consequences. Luckily, according to numerous research efforts, there is a universal and harmless cure that is a product of nature itself – cannabis.

The latest work of Dr. Eric P. Baron from the Headache Center in Cleveland is a review of randomized, controlled researches that estimate the role of cannabinoids in pain management. Moreover, the study point out that cannabis is potentially therapeutic in healing headaches.

Also, the summary denotes that the use of cannabis plays an important role throughout history i.e. it was once the primary tool of medicine, and it was recommended by numerous, eminent doctors for various diseases, especially headaches and migraines.

Throughout the decades, this plant made a fascinating journey from a legal and prescribable cure to an illegal plant according to political and social factors rather than science.

Nonetheless, with an ever-growing support for a multitude of medicinal uses of cannabis, the misinformed conception of cannabis fades away, and a dramatic pressure for the legalization and research of medicinal cannabis has emerged.

Dr. Baron points out that doctors receive education with regards to history, pharmacology, clinical indications, and proper clinical use of cannabis since patients will inevitably ask questions about how to treat numerous diseases, including chronic pain.

Furthermore, she adds that 71 percent from the review of the 38 published randomized and controlled research efforts concerning the effects of cannabinoids in pain management deduce that cannabinoids have an empirically provable and statistically significant effect on pain mitigation.

Hence, this study is supported by human biology itself. In fact, CB1 receptors (cannabinoid receptors) are 10 times more concentrated that the-opioid receptors in the brain. Continue reading →

 Our present day lifestyles cry out loud for simplification. Most of us live in over-complicated, stress-laden daily routines in which we keep on trying to fit in even more activities, commitments and tasks up to a point where it’s totally insane.

We consume more of everything, constantly try to do more and always end up blaming the clock for not giving us more time by the end of the day or week. It’s pretty obvious that we need to turn around our lives and relearn how to live simpler – or in other words think, plan and do things simpler.

1. Start Freeing up Space:

Decluttering is an essential part of simplifying life since leaving your outer and inner spaces clutter-free allows more clarity, less noise and obstruction and hence more harmony overall.

2. Filter the Essential from the non-Essential:

This is a very important point I emphasize a lot in my course on Simple Living because it is the basis of a simple, hassle free life or oppositely the cause of an entangled, chaotic one. In short, simplifying life means learning what is essential to your life purpose and discarding all that isn’t. Continue reading →

Cucumbers have some pretty extraordinary health benefits. Like us, they are mostly made up out of water! You can put them in water with lemon to create the most delicious hydrating drink, or simply eat them and either way you will absorb it’s nutrients. This watery vegetable eliminates toxins and hydrates the body; here’s how:

1. Reduces Cellulite

   

The battle against cellulite requires consumption of plenty of water during the day.

As mentioned in the very beginning, cucumber is mostly made of water, so consuming this vegetable supports the excretion of water from the body and eliminating toxins.

Moreover, consumption of this watery vegetable helps treating kidney stones.

2. Prevents Bad Breath

Problems with bad breath can be easily overcome with this amazing vegetable, as it helps in killing off bacteria responsible for bad breath. Just hold a piece of cucumber in the mouth for about 30 seconds. As simple as that! Continue reading →