There are a many reasons to drink lots of water every day. Water takes part in every function in our body. It is the transporter of nutrients necessary for body functions. It works in digestion, absorption, circulation and excretion. Water maintains our normal body temperature. Water improves the look of our hair, skin, eyes and muscle tone. We must replace the water that we lose through daily sweating and elimination.

Health Benefits of Drinking Water:

- Weight loss. Drinking water can help you lose weight by preventing you from confusing hunger with thirst. Water keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the energy (and hydration) necessary for exercise. Water has no fat, no calories, no carbs, no sugar.

- Drinking Water is Heart-Healthy - Drinking more water could lower your risks of a heart attack. Researchers studied more than 20,000 men and women and discover that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.

- Digestive system benefits. Water helps remove toxins from the body, in particular from the digestive tract. The digestion of solid foods depends on the presence of copious amounts of water. Acids and enzymes in the stomach break the food down into a homogenized fluid state which can pass into the intestine for the next phase of digestion. Gastritis, duodenitis, pain from ulcers (as long as the ulcer is not perforated), heartburn all decrease with increased water intake.

- External benefits of drinking water. Water not only affects you internally but it has many external benefits. It can be a major contributor to a healthy, fit body. It adds natural moisture to your skin, giving a fresh glow today and helping the aging process tomorrow.
Keeping properly hydrated during exercise allows you to have a better, more productive workout. When your workouts are better, you feel and look better too. Read more

Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. The metabolic rate is influenced by numerous factors, including age, gender, muscle-to-fat ratio, amount of physical activity and hormone function. . A body that consumes 2500 calories a day, and burns 2500 calories a day will stay at the same weight. A body consuming 2500 calories daily but burning just 2000 calories will gain weight at the rate of about 1lb a week.
You can do quite a lot to speed up your metabolism – the secret of burning calories lies in knowing what determines your metabolic rate and what you can do to influence it.

You can boost your rate of burning calories using some, or all, of the following tactics:

Exercise and Build Muscle Mass.  Increase the rate of burning of calories by taking on additional physical activities like aerobic exercises, walking, swimming, cycling or running. You should combine this activity schedule with some muscle strengthening exercises.  During moderately vigorous physical activity, you elevate your metabolic rate by a factor of 10 or more, expending hundreds of extra calories.
The more vigorously you exercise, the more calories you use per minute.

Increase Movement in Daily Lifestyle. The more you move, the more you burn. You can actually make a significant addition to the number of calories you burn each day by relatively minor changes in lifestyle. This can be as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator; park a distance from the mall or office; window-shop with your best friend rather than sit over coffee; walk the dog instead of just let him out; do a little gardening or clean house while you talk on the phone.
Make friends with people who are equally interested in physical activity. Having a friend while doing physical activities can keep you motivated. Read more

New research suggests there is a strong link between loud snoring and both heart disease and strokes.

Hungarian scientists did interviews with more than 12,000 patients.

They concluded that heavy snorers were significantly more likely to have a heart attack or stroke compared to the rest of the population.

This new data, published in the Journal Sleep, adds weight to existing theories about the link between snoring and cardiovascular disease.

We all snore at some stage in our lives. And while it is more common in people who are overweight it is estimated that about 40% of adult males and 24% of adult females are habitual snorers.

For several years now, scientists have been aware of a relationship between snoring and cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes.

But this new study from Hungary adds more weight to the idea. Read more

Computer posture is important, is a key to health. You will probably spend many hours sitting at your PC and how you do this will have implications on your health as well as your productivity.
Good posture is a combination of a lifelong habit, a healthy body, and awareness. It is possible to fix bad posture, but it is a lot easier to start with good posture in the first place.

Start a new workday by following these simple suggestions for healthy computing:

1.Customize your chair. A good posture positions starts from the seated pozition. For people choosing the 90° seat pan posture adjust the chair height by lowering about one inch. Your feet will be firmly on the floor to maintain the correct posture of the normal (S curve) lordosis of the spine.
Measure from floor to top of kneecap
(This measurement should be height of chair with 2-4 degree forward tilt while you are sitting in chair) Your knees should be slightly lower than hips..
Measure length at thigh while seated
(This measurement is called popliteal) This determines the correct depth of the seat pan to fit your legs properly. Without correct seat pan depth your spine is not supported. The ideal chair would have a fist of room between the end of the chair and the back of your leg.
Back rest needs to support lumbar curve
Adjust height of backrest to accommodate curve of back. While using your computer the back rest needs to come forward to support the small of the back.
The newer ergonomic chair backs can be adjusted from the seated position on a ratchet system and have 5-7 increment height adjustments. This is ideal. Read more

You should never start your day without eating a healthy power breakfast. If you go the entire morning without eating, then when it comes moment to eat lunch your more likely to over eat to compensate for the extra hunger. For the reason that your metabolism has not been given a kick-start by not eating breakfast, this means that you are also more likely to not burn those calories.

As a result, you want to make sure and eat breakfast every morning. The following is a list of breakfast ideas and tips to help ensure that you don not skip the most important meal of the day ever again:

• - Plan breakfast. The time to think about what is for breakfast is not the moment you are about to make a mad dash out the door. Stock up on easy, flavorful, healthy foods that are quick to fix. Put breakfast foods within easy reach, so they are accessible for even the youngest-and shortest-members of the family.

• - Make breakfast a regular, non-negotiable part of everyone’s morning routine. Set aside a specific block of time and resist the temptation to keep hitting that snooze button!

• - Eat mindfully - sit to eat - even for five minutes - and try to focus only on enjoying your meal, savoring the flavors and aromas. “If you’re eating while rushing around — getting yourself or your kids ready for the day — you won’t really feel like you’ve had a meal,” says Lisa R. Young, Ph.D., R.D., adjunct assistant professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of “The Portion Teller.” When you get to the office and see doughnuts, you will feel like you have already eaten. Read more

The risk of a fatal heatwave in the UK within ten years is high, but overall global warming may mean fewer deaths due to temperature, a report says.

 A seriously hot summer between now and 2017 could claim more than 6,000 lives, the Department of Health report warns.

But it also stresses that milder winters mean deaths during this time of year - which far outstrip heat-related mortality - will continue to decline.

The report is to help health services prepare for climate change effects.

A panel of scientific experts commissioned by the Department of Health and Health Protection Agency (HPA) has looked at the way the UK has responded to rising temperatures since the 1970s, and how the risks are likely to change.

While summers in the UK became warmer in the period 1971 - 2003, there was no change in heat-related deaths, but annual cold-related mortality fell by 3% as winters became milder - so overall fewer people died as a result of extreme temperatures. Read more