We've all experienced it at some point. Some days, exhaustion can feel like a way of life. Sometimes new parents have it the hardest. Middle of the night feedings disrupting your sleep, which interrupts a regular exercise routine, which compounds with an unpredictable diet. But for new parents and non-parents alike there are things we can all learn from the techniques of a baby's simple and natural way of living that will help us combat our own fatigue.
Here are 3 simple things you can do to easily beat fatigue:
1. Keep a Regular Schedule
Now of course I'm not suggesting you nap throughout the day like a baby, but with a consistent nightly sleeping schedule, your body's natural circadian rhythm is easily maintained. The circadian rhythm is a term that describes the natural sleep/wake/eating schedule that we all have and are supposed to follow. It's a complex system that is regulated by your exposure to light (or lack thereof) as well as a number of hormones, including melatonin and cortisol. These two hormones have a direct effect on core body temperature and blood sugar regulation, respectively.
The circadian rhythm is much like the sun which predictably rises and sets each day. Your body mimics this predictability to live effectively and efficiently. However, with our brilliant intellect and ingenuity, we've invented ways to live outside of this natural cycle. We have lights during darkness and food at our disposal any time of the day or night. Unfortunately, these wonderful conveniences make it easier to stray from a regular eating and sleeping pattern. Then, as a result of poor sleep and fluctuations to normal blood sugar levels the circadian rhythm is disrupted and fatigue begins to set in. Get at least 7-9 hours of sleep and do your best to go to bed at the same time every night. With this consistency, your body is able to maintain a normal circadian rhythm that will ultimately help you combat fatigue during waking hours.
2. The Most Important Meal
New babies can enjoy nature's perfect baby food: breast milk. Cleverly designed to contain the proper amounts of fats, carbohydrates and proteins in a great package which makes it available for easy feedings, breast milk provides all the nutrition babies need for at least the first six months of life. There is ample literature to suggest that feeding babies every 3-4 hours allows them to be more relaxed and easy going because they consciously know that food will be coming, plus their digestive systems will not be overtaxed with too frequent or too spread out of feedings.
Finding this proper nutritional balance for children and adults is also critical for good health. As with babies, you should eat smaller meals every 3-4 hours throughout the day to stabilize blood sugar and prevent tiredness.
And, when it comes to preventing fatigue during the day, breakfast truly is the most important meal. Our normal metabolic functions slow down throughout the night so we don't get hungry as we sleep. We wake each morning having not eaten anything for 8-12 hours, depending on what time we had dinner the night before. A healthy breakfast helps balance cortisol and therefore prevents you from a mid-morning energy crash from dropping blood sugar levels. A study published earlier this year demonstrated the cognitive benefit that test subjects had when they consumed at least a 450-calorie breakfast of both protein and fiber. Another group of scientists studied over 200 medical students and monitored their performance after skipping breakfast. Not surprisingly, those students who skipped breakfast had an overall increase in fatigue.
3. Belly Breathing
With the rhythmic movement of their little bellies and the innocent, gentle noises they make, there are few things in this world more peaceful than watching a baby sleep. Babies naturally take deep breaths that originate from their bellies, with both inhaling and exhaling taking on a slow and relaxed state. We average about 15,500 breaths a day and for every single one of them, we don't even have to think about it! It's a natural action. But unfortunately, as we move out of childhood and into adulthood, life gets busier and our breathing becomes more hurried and shallow, coming less from the muscles designed to facilitate breathing (i.e., the diaphragm) and causing an increase in accessory muscle tension. Because the lower third portion of your lungs has the most efficient oxygen exchange sites, this type of shallow breathing prevents you from getting all the necessary oxygen your body needs, causing fatigue.
It's important to get as much oxygen to those lower lungs as possible! A famous study done in the early 1980's demonstrated that adults who spent as little as 10 minutes a day focusing on their breathing had better energy and greater work performance. You can do that. Just take 10 minutes each day and focus on improving your belly breathing. Sit in a comfortable location, with your spine straight and shoulders back, breathe in deep through your nose for a count of seven seconds. Allow your belly to expand outwards as you inhale. Then hold your breath for a count of four seconds. Finally, exhale for a count of nine seconds, this time moving your belly inward. The exhale is a little longer than the inhale, which is done on purpose. When you move to the next inhale cycle, you'll notice some reflexive support from all the muscles that are necessary for proper belly breathing.
In summary:
*Get 7-9 hours of sleep and go to bed at the same time each night
*Eat a healthy breakfast of protein and fiber
*Spend 10 minutes a day belly breathing
Follow these simple steps, and you'll be as happy as a baby and smiling at the world with plenty of energy!
Would you like to use this article? You may as long as you include the following information along with the article: Phil Wazny, NMD is a naturopathic physician at Integrative Health Care, a "Results Based Natural Medicine" Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. He created several dynamic programs designed to help patients gain strength while reducing their rate of debilitating conditions like cancer and heart disease. His areas of specialty are permanent weight loss, natural pediatrics, allergy solutions, hormone balancing and pain relief with prolotherapy and PRP therapy. He can be reached at http://www.integrativehealthcare.com and 480-657-0003.
Is Your Child Fit For Infant Modeling?
Your child has the looks and the attitude but should you expose him or her to infant modeling? There are a lot of celebrities and personalities that have started modeling at very young ages. Some got a good life out of it while others did not enjoy the same fate.
Read More... [Source: Home and Family: Babies Toddler Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]
Read More... [Source: Home and Family: Babies Toddler Articles from EzineArticles.com - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]
Helping Your Baby Adopt a Consistent Schedule
Even the most spontaneous among us enjoy the comfortable confines of having a routine. The same is true for your baby (though she may not realize it yet). Consider the things she needs in order to be healthy. She needs food, baths, sleep, play, and plenty of affection. Juggling those things can be challenging without establishing a schedule. An added bonus for moms and dads who create a consistent routine for their little one's activities is that they'll make their own lives much easier in the process.
Below, we'll offer a series of tips you can use to create and maintain a schedule for your infant's bedtime, meals, and play. We'll explain how to identify clues that will help you meet her needs while adjusting to her internal clock. Lastly, you'll learn what to expect as your little one grows.
Establish A Sleep Routine Early
The best place to start scheduling your infant's activities is with her bedtime. If you can help her learn to fall asleep at a certain time each evening, the rest of the day will conform to that pattern.
Start as early as possible using a few helpful prompts that prepare your little one for sleep. For example, give her a warm bath and put her pajamas on an hour before putting her to bed. Read to her to help her fall asleep. After a few months, try putting her to bed while she's still awake. That way, she can learn to fall asleep by herself.
Identifying Clues From Your Little One
You'll eventually notice that your infant gives you small clues regarding her needs. For example, she'll yawn when she's sleepy or become fussy when she's hungry or worn out. Over time, you'll start to notice patterns. Use these hints to modify your baby's schedule to accommodate her needs. For example, if she starts yawning thirty minutes before her bedtime each night, start putting her to bed a half-hour earlier. If she consistently shows signs of being hungry an hour before her scheduled feeding, change her schedule.
There's no reason to force your little one to conform to a routine you and your partner created. Be flexible and willing to make changes.
Sacrifice For The Schedule (In The Beginning)
During the first few weeks, it's important to avoid activities that force you to stray from your baby's routine. While you should remain open to making changes according to her cues, avoid going on vacations, taking her on outings, or anything else that might disrupt her schedule. Let her be the driving force behind any changes in naptimes, feedings, or play. Otherwise, try to stick to the routine.
Adapting To Your Baby's Development
Year-to-year changes in an adult's life are barely noticeable. Babies, on the other hand, grow quickly and achieve major milestones along the way. By the end of your little one's first twelve months, she might be able to stand and walk. She might start crawling nearly as quickly as you walk. There's also a good chance she'll start straying from her normal schedule. Her naptimes may become shorter and less frequent. She may start getting hungry earlier and more often.
Continue to watch for clues. You may need to adjust your baby's schedule to meet her new tendencies. On the other hand, her straying may be temporary; she may return to her normal routine within a few weeks. Again, be flexible and willing to make changes.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that caring for a baby requires the ability to adapt. Babies enjoy stability and consistency. However, their needs can change - often unpredictably. For example, your little one may suddenly want to skip her morning nap. Or, she may become uncharacteristically hungry in the late afternoon. She might want more playtime than is usual. Adjust her schedule as she grows and allow her to develop at her own pace.
Find quality Maternity Clothes and Maternity Dresses from AppleSeedBoutique.com
By Elizabeth L Perkins
Below, we'll offer a series of tips you can use to create and maintain a schedule for your infant's bedtime, meals, and play. We'll explain how to identify clues that will help you meet her needs while adjusting to her internal clock. Lastly, you'll learn what to expect as your little one grows.
Establish A Sleep Routine Early
The best place to start scheduling your infant's activities is with her bedtime. If you can help her learn to fall asleep at a certain time each evening, the rest of the day will conform to that pattern.
Start as early as possible using a few helpful prompts that prepare your little one for sleep. For example, give her a warm bath and put her pajamas on an hour before putting her to bed. Read to her to help her fall asleep. After a few months, try putting her to bed while she's still awake. That way, she can learn to fall asleep by herself.
Identifying Clues From Your Little One
You'll eventually notice that your infant gives you small clues regarding her needs. For example, she'll yawn when she's sleepy or become fussy when she's hungry or worn out. Over time, you'll start to notice patterns. Use these hints to modify your baby's schedule to accommodate her needs. For example, if she starts yawning thirty minutes before her bedtime each night, start putting her to bed a half-hour earlier. If she consistently shows signs of being hungry an hour before her scheduled feeding, change her schedule.
There's no reason to force your little one to conform to a routine you and your partner created. Be flexible and willing to make changes.
Sacrifice For The Schedule (In The Beginning)
During the first few weeks, it's important to avoid activities that force you to stray from your baby's routine. While you should remain open to making changes according to her cues, avoid going on vacations, taking her on outings, or anything else that might disrupt her schedule. Let her be the driving force behind any changes in naptimes, feedings, or play. Otherwise, try to stick to the routine.
Adapting To Your Baby's Development
Year-to-year changes in an adult's life are barely noticeable. Babies, on the other hand, grow quickly and achieve major milestones along the way. By the end of your little one's first twelve months, she might be able to stand and walk. She might start crawling nearly as quickly as you walk. There's also a good chance she'll start straying from her normal schedule. Her naptimes may become shorter and less frequent. She may start getting hungry earlier and more often.
Continue to watch for clues. You may need to adjust your baby's schedule to meet her new tendencies. On the other hand, her straying may be temporary; she may return to her normal routine within a few weeks. Again, be flexible and willing to make changes.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that caring for a baby requires the ability to adapt. Babies enjoy stability and consistency. However, their needs can change - often unpredictably. For example, your little one may suddenly want to skip her morning nap. Or, she may become uncharacteristically hungry in the late afternoon. She might want more playtime than is usual. Adjust her schedule as she grows and allow her to develop at her own pace.
Find quality Maternity Clothes and Maternity Dresses from AppleSeedBoutique.com
By Elizabeth L Perkins
Who Has Down Syndrome Babies?
Most people associate having a child with Down syndrome with older women. While it is true that women over 35 do have an increased risk of having a child with Down syndrome, 80% of these children are born to those women under age thirty-five.
In the United States, approximately 5,000 babies with Down syndrome are born every year. A woman’s chance of having another baby with Down syndrome is approximately 1 in 100.
Prenatal Screening for Down Syndrome
Over the last 10 years, new technology has improved the methods of detection of Down syndrome. While there are ways to diagnose Down syndrome by obtaining fetal tissue samples by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, it would not be appropriate to examine every pregnancy this way. Besides greatly increasing the cost of medical care, these methods do carry a slight amount of risk to the fetus.
So screening tests have been developed to try to identify those pregnancies at "high risk." These pregnancies are then candidates for further diagnostic testing.
Screening Vs Diagnostic Test
What is the difference between a screening test and a diagnostic test? In diagnostic tests, a positive result very likely means the patient has the disease or condition of concern. In screening tests, the goal is to estimate the risk of the patient having the disease or condition.
Diagnostic tests tend to be more expensive and require an elaborate procedure; screening tests are quick and easy to do. However, screening tests have more chances of being wrong: there are "false-positives" (test states the patient has the condition when the patient really doesn't) and "false-negatives" (patient has the condition but the test states he/she doesn't).
Maternal Serum Screening
The mother's blood is checked for three items: alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), unconjugated estriol (uE3) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). These three are independent measurements, and when taken along with the maternal age (discussed below), can calculate the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome.
A very important consideration in the screening test is the age of the fetus (gestational age). The correct analysis of the different components depends on knowing the gestational age precisely. The best way to determine that is by ultrasound.
Test results are sometimes reported to doctors as "Multiples of the Median (MoM)." The "average" value is therefore called 1.0 MoM. Down syndrome pregnancies have lower levels of AFP and estriol, so their levels would be less than 1.0 MOM.
hCG in a Down syndrome pregnancy would be greater than 1.0 MoM.
Finally, the calculated risk is used to modify the risk already statistically calculated based on the mother's age. We already know that as the mother's age advances, the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome increases.
For example: Let's say the test results come back in the typical range for a pregnancy not associated with Down syndrome (that would be 1.0 MoM for all components). This result reduces the woman's risk of having a child with Down syndrome four-fold.
Jane Orville is the mother of a 17 year old daughter with Down Syndrome and has spent years researching and compiling a simple guide to assist parents deal with the concerns of raising a child with Down Syndrome.http://www.down-syndrome-help.com
In the United States, approximately 5,000 babies with Down syndrome are born every year. A woman’s chance of having another baby with Down syndrome is approximately 1 in 100.
Prenatal Screening for Down Syndrome
Over the last 10 years, new technology has improved the methods of detection of Down syndrome. While there are ways to diagnose Down syndrome by obtaining fetal tissue samples by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, it would not be appropriate to examine every pregnancy this way. Besides greatly increasing the cost of medical care, these methods do carry a slight amount of risk to the fetus.
So screening tests have been developed to try to identify those pregnancies at "high risk." These pregnancies are then candidates for further diagnostic testing.
Screening Vs Diagnostic Test
What is the difference between a screening test and a diagnostic test? In diagnostic tests, a positive result very likely means the patient has the disease or condition of concern. In screening tests, the goal is to estimate the risk of the patient having the disease or condition.
Diagnostic tests tend to be more expensive and require an elaborate procedure; screening tests are quick and easy to do. However, screening tests have more chances of being wrong: there are "false-positives" (test states the patient has the condition when the patient really doesn't) and "false-negatives" (patient has the condition but the test states he/she doesn't).
Maternal Serum Screening
The mother's blood is checked for three items: alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), unconjugated estriol (uE3) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). These three are independent measurements, and when taken along with the maternal age (discussed below), can calculate the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome.
A very important consideration in the screening test is the age of the fetus (gestational age). The correct analysis of the different components depends on knowing the gestational age precisely. The best way to determine that is by ultrasound.
Test results are sometimes reported to doctors as "Multiples of the Median (MoM)." The "average" value is therefore called 1.0 MoM. Down syndrome pregnancies have lower levels of AFP and estriol, so their levels would be less than 1.0 MOM.
hCG in a Down syndrome pregnancy would be greater than 1.0 MoM.
Finally, the calculated risk is used to modify the risk already statistically calculated based on the mother's age. We already know that as the mother's age advances, the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome increases.
For example: Let's say the test results come back in the typical range for a pregnancy not associated with Down syndrome (that would be 1.0 MoM for all components). This result reduces the woman's risk of having a child with Down syndrome four-fold.
Jane Orville is the mother of a 17 year old daughter with Down Syndrome and has spent years researching and compiling a simple guide to assist parents deal with the concerns of raising a child with Down Syndrome.http://www.down-syndrome-help.com
Make the Time for Your Children Even if It Hurts
In the past you use to read books to your children, take them to various events, and allow them to have fun in the kitchen with you, but what happened? You stopped. You grew weary of breaking up fights, became exhausted with everything else you had to do for them, and much, much more! You really want to make the time for them, but every time you get ready to, you pull back. Why?
I thought about this question myself during the first few days of winter break. I hadn't forgotten about the past accidents I had to clean up, because I let them paint or the flour that spilled on the countertop. But I fought my negative thinking and one day I just awoke with a plan. I made myself get involved with them at least for a few hours. There would be no video game playing, no television watching, and no talking on the phone. We would connect daily even if it meant I had to gather all four boys around the table and just fire questions at them for a half an hour. It worked! I committed to this daily during all but three days of winter break.
What started out as a few minutes of time assisting the children with projects I planned for them with some input from them, ended up being hours of activities. Some of which kept them so busy that you would have never known there were four boys in the house. I was happy and relieved. I really wanted to spend time with them, but I hadn't quite figured out in the beginning "the what" and "when."
Sometimes we spend too much time planning and not enough time doing. When you notice that you aren't doing much (like surfing the net and watching YouTube video after YouTube video,) shut the computer down. Walk over to your son or daughter and just ask them about their day. Think about something you haven't done with them in awhile then start getting your clothes on, grab a coat, put on your shoes and meet them at the door.
Life is too short, busy is just another excuse. Make the time for your children even if it hurts.
Nicholl McGuire
http://www.youtube.com/nmenterprise7
I thought about this question myself during the first few days of winter break. I hadn't forgotten about the past accidents I had to clean up, because I let them paint or the flour that spilled on the countertop. But I fought my negative thinking and one day I just awoke with a plan. I made myself get involved with them at least for a few hours. There would be no video game playing, no television watching, and no talking on the phone. We would connect daily even if it meant I had to gather all four boys around the table and just fire questions at them for a half an hour. It worked! I committed to this daily during all but three days of winter break.
What started out as a few minutes of time assisting the children with projects I planned for them with some input from them, ended up being hours of activities. Some of which kept them so busy that you would have never known there were four boys in the house. I was happy and relieved. I really wanted to spend time with them, but I hadn't quite figured out in the beginning "the what" and "when."
Sometimes we spend too much time planning and not enough time doing. When you notice that you aren't doing much (like surfing the net and watching YouTube video after YouTube video,) shut the computer down. Walk over to your son or daughter and just ask them about their day. Think about something you haven't done with them in awhile then start getting your clothes on, grab a coat, put on your shoes and meet them at the door.
Life is too short, busy is just another excuse. Make the time for your children even if it hurts.
Nicholl McGuire
http://www.youtube.com/nmenterprise7
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