health fitness care

Health insurance is something that everyone needs today. The rising cost of visiting a health care provider or a hospital stay makes it imperative that everyone have some type of health care coverage. Government statistics estimate that over 40 million people in America are not covered by any type of health insurance on any given day. That's an enormous number of people who really are taking a financial risk.


Even if you're on a tight, limited budget, it's very important that you pick up some kind of affordable health insurance. Even if you only have a plan that covers unexpected hospitalization, your peace of mind will be greatly enhanced. Keep in mind that a catastrophic health insurance policy can come with a high deductible before their coverage kicks in. They don't pick up the cost of preventive physician visits or emergency room visits to get a few stitches.


Some questions to ask when considering affordable health insurance.

1) Can your and/or your family afford to pay ALL your medical expenses if you're sick or injured?

2) How much is the deductible?

3) How much are the premiums?


With a little searching and comparison shopping you find the best rate for your personal affordable health insurance.

Choosing a health insurance plan that is best for you and your family is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. Choosing between health plans is not as easy as it once was. Although there is no one best plan, there are some plans that will be better than others for you and your family's health needs. Plans differ, both in how much you have to pay and how easy it is to get the services you need. No plan will pay for all the costs associated with your medical care, some plans will cover more than others.

Most Americans have health insurance through their employers, and every year more employers offer insurance coverage by managed care organizations (MCOs). Today, Americans are in an era of managed care. It's a new experience for most people. Managed care companies may decide what doctor you will see and when, and what treatments will be covered. It requires you to make some important decisions because not all managed care plans are the same.

In choosing a health insurance plan, you have to decide what is most important to you. All plans have tradeoffs. It is worth asking yourself a few questions such as:

• How comprehensive do you want coverage of health care services to be? • How do you feel about limits on your choice of doctors or hospitals? • How do you feel about a primary care doctor referring you to specialists for additional care? • How convenient does your care need to be? • How important is the cost of services? • How much are you willing to spend on health insurance premiums and other health care costs? • How do you feel about keeping receipts and filing claims?

You might also want to think about whether the services that a health insurance plan offers meet your needs. Call the plan for details about coverage if you have questions. It is worth considering the following:

• Life changes you may be thinking about, such as starting a family or retiring. • Chronic health conditions or disabilities that you or family members have. • If you or anyone in your family will need care for the elderly. • Care for family members who travel a lot, attend college, or spend time at two homes

Most health insurance plans provide basic medical coverage, but the details are what count. The best plan for someone else may not be the best plan for you. For each plan you are considering it pays off to find out about a range of things from physical examinations and health screenings, care by specialists and prescription drugs to vision care and dental services. It is also important to find out about the various offered services such as medical counseling as well as what is on offer.

Ask if a certain service is limited or not covered. You should find out if what is provided is what you require and if there are special programs for certain types of illness. It is also worth finding out about medicines and equipment that may be needed. Find out what types of care or services the plan will not pay for. These are usually called exclusions. Few indemnity and managed care plans cover treatments that are experimental. Ask how the plan decides what is or is not experimental. Find out what you can do if you disagree with a plan's decision on medical care or coverage.

Finally you should think about the location of services and how far you may be prepared to go for care. On this subject you should consider whether or not the plan handles care when you are away from home.

After you review what benefits are available and decide what is important to you, you can compare plans. Many things should be considered. These include services offered, choice of providers, location, and costs. The quality of care is also a factor to think about.

Yoga is an ancient proven tradition that exists for thousands of years and also one of the most ancient cultural heritages in India. The word yoga means, "to unite". But it does not only mean contemplation but also communion and yoking all powers of the body, mind and soul to God. It is a very ancient and efficient system of disciplines and controls designed to produce the integration of the body, mind and spirit. It also achieves higher states of awareness and self-realization by methodical efforts to attain perfection. Even at the workplace, yoga has become extremely popular in many companies, worldwide. Working eight hours a day, five to seven days a week is really stressing. And yoga can just be the answer to this. Yoga reduces stress. It improves flexibility and muscle tone, increases circulation, relieves chronic pain and alleviates anxiety-related disorders. Best of all, it cultivates physical awareness, refreshes your energy, and offers a little vacation from the everyday grind.

There are seven divisions of yoga. Hatha yoga is concerned primarily with the body and the asanas. Bhakti yoga focuses on the path of love and devotion. Mantra yoga has something to do with recitation and repetition of words and verses. Karma yoga is a service through action and work. Janan yoga is on the intellectual path. Raja yoga is a synthesis of Bhakti, Karma, and Janan. And Laya yoga is the secret path or known as the “Yoga of Dissolution”.

Yoga has many advantages over other methods of maintaining health, such as aerobics, athletics, gymnastics, games, and various other forms of exercise and is often described as the best form of health insurance for all from the age of seven to seventy seven or more because it has a lot to offer to everyone. The two main advantages of yoga are prevention of disorders and ailments and maintenance of health and fitness in daily life. Other advantages include supple joints, flexible muscles, relaxed and tension-free mind and efficiently working vital organs such as the heart, lungs, endocrine glands, liver, pancreas and good balance between various functions. When doing yoga, you will not need any costly equipment and materials, or playgrounds, gyms, etc. And you don’t have to worry when is the right time to do it because you can do yoga all throughout the year. It can also be practiced inside the house or in the open, just alone or if you want, in groups. The only thing you need is a thick carpet spread on the floor and covered with a clean sheet of cloth. Remember that yoga should only be practiced on empty stomach although you can do it at any time during the day.

Everyone can benefit from yoga. It will benefit you irrespective of whether you are young or old, lean or heavily built, highly educated or unlettered, rich or poor, from higher or lower middle class, busy, over busy, or retired or worker in the factory or in the field. However, this benefit may not be possible if one does not practice the correct technique of yoga or practice it irregularly. Yoga has a wide range of technique and this can fulfill needs in almost people especially those who really have the determination and the motivation to do the techniques in a regular basis. Yoga can fulfill this need irrespective of your work, or your lifestyle. This can help everyone play his or her roles more efficiently, more smoothly and more comfortably.

If you are overweight, you may be more at risk of developing disease. That should be reason enough to lose weight. Weight related conditions include:

Premature death
Cardiovascular disease
High blood pressure
High Cholesterol
Stroke
Gallbladder Disease
Osteoarthritis
Sleep apnea and breathing problems
Some cancers
Diabetes

Obesity can also cause irregular periods, complication with pregnancy, hirsutism (excessive body and facial hair), incontinence, depression, surgery complications and more.

If your health doesn't concern you, maybe your pocketbook does. By staying overweight, you may increase the amount of time spent visiting various healthcare professionals. Most of them don't work for free. Medications to treat these diseases can run into hundreds of dollars a month. Not to mention, you may have to take more time off work to care for your ailments. This means less income for you. And, you may notice that your health insurance premiums keep going up. It's because the amount being spent on healthcare keeps going up. A majority of which is related to treating problems that could be prevented by exercise and staying at a healthy weight. What a vicious cycle it is.

The annual cost associated with obesity and being overweight is staggering. The national cost of healthcare related to this is well over $100 Billion dollars. Diabetes and heart disease are among the fastest growing diseases that could easily be prevented in most people by staying at a healthy weight and exercising. Visit the NIDDK to get a breakdown of the costs associated with each disease that is related to being overweight.

By losing weight and starting a healthier way of life you can really save a lot of money. Eating healthier usually also means eating less. You may be able to save on the amount you spend on groceries and eating out each week too. Think of all the other things you could do with that money you'll be saving. It may require an initial investment to get the weight off but the rewards are well worth it.

It's old news that exercising is the single best way to spark up your weight loss efforts. The activity perks up your metabolism, and eats up more calories. In addition, the more you exercise, the better the effect. Exercising builds muscle mass, which is denser and more compact than fat. That means your body has to expend more effort to pump blood through it, and it requires more nutrients to keep it healthy. The end result? Even at rest, your body naturally burns more calories.

Unfortunately, the prospect of exercising tends to elicit groans from most people. There's all the logistics to work out - the time, equipment, expense and the sheer, utter boringness of it all. Negative thinking about exercise can sabotage all your good intentions. Here's a list of answers for some of the most commonly used excuses not to exercise.

I don't have time to exercise!

Exercise could be one of the most important things you'll do for your health today. MAKE time to exercise. If you're doing traditional workouts - move those weights and mats right out into the family room and make use of your television time. Instead of flopping down in a chair while you watch the news or your favorite show, be active. Run in place, do leg lifts or heft weights. Use time in your car to tighten and tone muscles with isometric tummy tighteners. Walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator. Exercise doesn't have to be a solid hour at the gym. Anything that revs up your motors is great for your body.

I don't have the right equipment at home.

You don't need equipment to exercise. A brisk walk around the block is good for you - and burns over 200 calories. Vacuuming your carpets can burn nearly as much. Flip on your radio or pop in your favorite high-energy CD and dance. Don't fool yourself into thinking that your 'exercise' has to be a carefully planned workout to work all the right muscles in the right order with the right tension. Exercise means being active. Just do it.

I can't afford a membership to the gym.

If you'd rather exercise at the gym (and have access to their fitness machines, whirlpools, swimming pool and trainers), there are a lot of ways to make it more affordable. Check with your health insurance company to see if they offer incentives. Most of the major health insurance companies, including Blue Cross, cover part or all of fitness club memberships as part of your benefits. If yours doesn't, or if you don't have health insurance, call your local YMCA or YWCA. Most offer 'scholarships' or sliding fee scales for memberships to their facilities.

But exercise is such a chore!

Says who? Make getting your daily exercise fun. Play a game. Go dancing. Grab a few friends for a weekend hike in the state park. Exercise doesn't have to be routine. Stop thinking of it as a chore and start thinking of it as recreation. You'll be amazed what a difference it makes.

Most people are well aware that an estimated 45 million Americans currently do not have healthcare, but is the crisis simply the lack of health insurance or even the cost of health insurance? Is there a bigger underlying problem at the root of our healthcare system? Although the U.S. claims to have the most advanced medicine in the world, government health statistics and peer-reviewed journals are painting a different picture -- that allopathic medicine often causes more harm than good.

People in general have always felt they could trust doctors and the medical profession, but according to the Journal of the American Medical Association in July 2000, iatrogenic death, also known as death from physician error or death from medical treatment, was the third leading cause of death in America and rising, responsible for at least 250,000 deaths per year. Those statistics are considered conservative by many, as the reported numbers only include in-hospital deaths, not injury or disability, and do not include external iatrogenic deaths such as those resulting from nursing home and other private facility treatments, and adverse effects of prescriptions. One recent study estimated the total unnecessary deaths from iatrogenic causes at approximately 800,000 per year at a cost of $282 billion per year, which would make death from American medicine the leading cause of death in our country.
 
Currently, at least 2 out of 3 Americans use medications, 32 million Americans are taking three or more medications daily, and commercials and advertisements for pharmaceutical drugs have saturated the marketplace. Although our population is aging, exorbitantly expensive drugs are being marketed and dispensed to younger and younger patients, including many children who years ago would never have been given or needed medication, for everything from ADHD to asthma to bipolar disease and diabetes. Clearly, the state of health in this country is not improving even though there are an increasing number of medications and treatments. Between 2003 and 2010, the number of prescriptions are expected to increase substantially by 47%. In recent years, numerous drugs previously deemed safe by the FDA have been recalled because of their toxicity, after the original drug approvals were actually funded by the invested pharmaceutical companies themselves.

According to the media, thanks to advances in U.S. drugs and medical procedures, Americans are living longer statistically, but they are living longer sicker, with a lower quality of life, and often dependent on multiple expensive synthetic medications that do not cure or address the underlying causes, but only suppress symptoms, often with a plethora of dangerous side effects to the tune of billions of dollars for the drug industry. Considering that the U.S. is supposed to have the most advanced technology in the world and the best health care system, it is at odds that we spend the most on healthcare, yet are the most obese and most afflicted with illness outside of the AIDS epidemic in some third world countries.

Unless you have an acute emergency that requires emergency room care, being admitted to a hospital environment may also be more dangerous to your health than staying out. In 2003, epidemiologists reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that hospital-acquired infections have risen steadily in recent decades, with blood and tissue infections known as sepsis almost tripling from 1979 to 2000. Nearly two million patients in the U.S. get an infection while in the hospital each year, and of those patients over 90,000 die per year, up dramatically from just 13,300 in 1992. Statistics show that approximately 56% of the population has been unnecessarily treated, or mistreated, by the medical industry.
 
Additionally, as a result of the overuse of pharmaceutical drugs and antibiotics in our bodies and environment, our immune systems have become significantly weakened, allowing antibiotic-resistant strains of disease-causing bacteria to proliferate, leaving us more susceptible to further disease. Not surprisingly, incidences of diseases have been growing at epidemic levels according to the CDC. Now diseases once thought conquered, such as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and childhood ear infections are much harder to successfully treat than they were decades ago. Drugs do not cure. They only suppress the symptoms that your body needs to express, while they ignore the underlying root cause. Side effects of synthetic and chemical drugs, which even if they are partly derived from nature have been perverted to make them patentable and profitable, are not healthy or natural, and usually cause more harm than any perceived benefit of the medication.

Where "physician errors" are concerned, these may not be entirely the fault of the doctors, as they are forced to operate within the constraints of their profession or risk losing their license, but doctors have become pawns and spokesmen for the drug companies, and the best interest of the patient has become secondary. In the name of profit, physicians are also under great pressure from hospitals to service patients as quickly as possible, like an assembly line, increasing the likelihood of error.

In conclusion, increases in healthcare costs are not just the result of frivolous law suits, but are primarily the result of a profit-oriented industry that encourages practices that lead to unnecessary and harmful procedures being performed, lethal adverse drug reactions, infections, expensive legitimate lawsuits, in-hospital and physician errors, antibiotic resistance due to overprescribing of antibiotics and drugs, and the hundreds of thousands of subsequent unnecessary deaths and injuries. Many people do not realize that there are healthier natural options, and anything unnatural or invasive we are exposed to is likely to cause either immediate or cumulative damage over time.

Being overweight really puts you at a disadvantage in life.  Social stigmas aside, obesity vastly increases your risks of developing all manner of diseases and conditions, many of which are serious and life threatening.  Strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, and some cancers are just a sample of the conditions you can likely look forward to if you are suffering from severe obesity, and even mild obesity boosts your chances of these diseases occurring.  Loosing weight is therefore one of the best things you can do for yourself if you are obese.  It seems like a daunting task, but if you work at it anything is possible.  Here are some basic weight loss tips.

The first and perhaps most important weight loss tip is to stay positive, and keep focused.  Weight loss is more of a mental battle than it is a physical one.  Losing hope or getting discouraged is the reason why people fail in losing weight, not because the weight loss tips don’t work.  Take small, reasonable steps.  It’s not going to happen overnight, and pushing yourself too much may just cause you to loose hope when you don’t get immediate results.  Also, seek support from friends and family.  Join some support groups and make connections with others struggling to loose weight.  Not only are support networks great in keeping you positive, but they’re a great medium for the exchange of ideas.  You can learn some great weight loss tips from others like you!

This last point is especially important, because often times you’ll find some weight loss tips won’t work for you even though they work for others.  Therefore, its good to try a lot of different things.  Some of the most basic weight loss tips that generally work for everyone to at least some degree involve ways of boosting your metabolism.  The two most important thigns to keep in mind to keep your metabolism up is your level of activity and how often you eat.  Never starve yourself!  Starving is a guaranteed way of slowing your metabolism to a crawl.  Eat often, but eat healthy.  And of course, stay active!  Even just 30 minutes of walking a day can do wonders in boosting your metabolism. 

As far as exercise weight loss tips go, slow but steady progress is important.  Do something active everyday, and gradually do more and more.  Finding something you like doing, like sports or hiking, is great, but you need to make sure you’re able to do it often.  Also, mix your activities up; the more muscle groups you work out regularly, the better the overall boost to you metabolism.  Don’t give up! 

People are constantly looking for ways to improve the results when they have made the decision to lose a few pounds.  We all know the traditional advice to watch what you eat and to get more exercise.

However, in the last few years there has been a greater interest in the use of weight loss supplements as a method to help shed those extra pounds.

We all know about the benefits of adding extra vitamins and minerals to our diets.  However, people have been using other supplements to their diets for literally thousands of years.  Most of these are natural, meaning that they come from plants and herbs found in nature.  The tradition is very strong in Asia, particularly in China and there has been a surge in the use of what is called traditional Chinese medicine, from which many weight loss supplements take their start.

Weight loss supplements take many forms in that some are purported to increase your body's metabolism to increase the burning of calories.  Others are supposed to 'burn fat' to reduce extra pounds that might come from eating too much.  Still others are designed to simply make the body use the food we eat more efficiently thereby reducing the amount of calories that are added as fat.

Modern science and technology has been able to identify, in many of the ingredients used in weight loss supplements, exactly how these work on the body.  Claims of success vary, and as a traditional Chinese herbalist might tell you, everyone is different and every body gets different results.

One thing that you need to be concerned about is that the weight loss supplements that you buy come from a very reliable source.  Some times, dishonest manufacturers either have poor quality control with their weight loss supplements or simply to do not use the proper ingredients.

Check the company that you do business with very carefully to insure that you are getting the proper weight loss supplements that you intend to buy.  One way of knowing that you are dealing with a good company is to read their literature.  If the company that is selling good and useful weight loss supplements is reliable, you will see that they go out of their way to provide you with full and complete information.  Ask questions and learn what it is that you can expect from the weight loss supplements that you are buying.

Be careful though with some of the extravagant claims that you might hear about weight loss supplements.  Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Also, be aware that some of the supposed weight loss supplements that are being used are nothing more than certain chemical drugs that can be very harmful.  You should look for weight loss supplements that are natural and safe.

The topic of weight loss is becoming more of an issue as the future draws near.  Americans are the epitome of an overweight society.  We eat and snack and eat and snack.  I don't even think it's how much we eat, but more, what we eat.  Our fast food mentality is driving us to an early grave.  If you check out and super market or drugstore, you will be overwhelmed with weight loss products.  It's bizarre how much we advertise and consume these magic pills when we continue to make the problem worse with our processed foods.  Weight loss is a major concern that isn't getting anything but worse. 

I recall as a child that we went to a fast food restaurant like McDonalds about once every couple of weeks.  Wow, has this changed.  I read in a recent poll that Americans typically hit up the old drive-through, once or twice a day on average.  That's terrible!  Didn't anyone watch "Supersize Me" or read about the leading cause of death in Americans?  While society refuses to change its eating habits, companies are making a killing on weight loss products.  This is simply a battle between the media and our stomachs.  Everyone craves that Big Mac, but also wants that tone tummy.  Our media has made it clear that thin is beautiful and healthy. 

With a deluge of weight loss products on the market today, how do you know what to choose when dieting.  The Internet has made it much easier in attaining much needed information on specific weight loss programs and diet plans.  Whether you're looking for chocolate shakes to replace your daily meals, or desiring a magic pill that pulls all of the water out of your body, hence giving you a false thin appearance, there are plenty to choose from.  From the list of weight loss products, Slim Fast seems to be a popular choice for many dieters.  This company offers countless munchies and meals that keep your calories down.  Another popular business is Weight Watchers.  This company not only offers a spectrum of weight loss products, but also provides a website where you can log on and punch in the amount of calories you've acquired for the day.  This way you can be sure of what you actually ate. 

No matter what your diet plan, the key is to eat right and exercise.  If you forget these two basics, then you might as well pack it in.  Just because we live in a world of junk food, doesn't mean you have to give in to temptation. 

  When we're kids in high school, we typically don't have a care in the world. In fact, we sometimes think we're invincible. Where do we get these super-human feelings? It must be a youth thing. After the high school years are over, many of us take off to college. This is always an exciting step stone in our lives. We finally achieve some sort of freedom. The idea of making it on our own and not having to answer to parents sounds pretty ideal. However, when we approach that inevitable adulthood, we commonly disregard our health. Since we're young, we don't foresee any problems. This can be a big mistake. If you're heading off to a University, you might want to check into student health insurance. When we become adults, the burden is relieved from our parents and placed on us. It is always prudent to attain some sort of student health insurance when taking that next step.
 
The life of a college student can be a blast. You no longer have a curfew, you can date as you please, and you can essentially enjoy that first taste of autonomy. However, this also can be rather stressful. Can you pay the bills? Can you afford your tuition and your text books? Yes, college is expensive. Luckily most Universities offer some sort of student health insurance to their full-time students. When I attended a University, I wasn't sure how I would afford insurance with all of my other expenses. After doing some investigating, I found that as a full-time student, health and dental insurance were taken care of. I simply paid a small fee each quarter. This paid off big time when I had to get a crown after cracking a tooth. With the coverage I had through school, I was able to afford the bill.
 
If you're anxious to bolt off to a college, and soak up the campus life, this is typical, but go prepared. Check into student health insurance plans before you start school. Your much anticipated University probably offers some kind of plan. Check online to get a better grasp on student health insurance, coverage, and what kind of rates to expect. It's never to early to get a jump start on your future. The Internet will provide you with many answers to your questions. We certainly live in a world of unpredictability, therefore don't assume that your youth will keep you safe from any and all of life's mishaps. Be ready with a student health insurance plan when you venture off to college.