Mind Body & Soul

Archive for July, 2008

Smoking is a bad habit and you need to quit before it can do some serious damage to your body. Smoking is a slow killer and it slowly damages the inside and the outside of the body with every cigarette. As years go by, the damages get worse and it can make your skin age, your body weaken, and cause serious health problems that can kill you in time. Smoking can cause cancers all over your body like in your throat, mouth, lungs, and also in other areas of the body.

The smoke that get in your lungs cause tar to stick to the walls inside them, which cause wheezing, coughing, and your breathing to change, which can cause shortness in breathe. It can cause your organ and your body to slowly shut down or cause them not to work the way they are supposed to function. Dangerous toxins get in your body when you smoke which your body knows that it is dangerous, and it is telling you that the cigarettes are damaging your body by giving you signs. It can cause wrinkles on your face and bags could form under your eyes, which can make you look tired and worn out.

It also causes your breath to smell bad like a cigarette butt. It stains the teeth a yellow color and it damages the surface of the teeth, which later will cause teeth problems and rotting. It can start to separate the gums from the teeth over time, which messes up your mouth. It also can cause you to cough up blood. This is a sign of throat cancer and it can make your chest feel like it has got some pressure on it. It can cause you to become weak to the point where you cannot move very far and to where you have to wear an oxygen tank to breathe.

More often than not you are bombarded with aisles and shelves of generic external acne treatments ranging from face wash, toners and creams. Most contain the active ingredient benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid.

Rarely do you see any internal acne treatments (except through prescription drugs and antibiotics) or any other natural acne alternatives for external use. But it turns out that natural ingredients works just as well (if not better) than these synthetic chemicals from a test tube.

A 1995 study made by the State University of New York created a head by head comparison of topical B vitamin nicotinamide versus the prescription antibiotic clindaymycin. Results from this study shows that they had “comparable efficacy” on getting rid of acne with numbers slightly better for the B vitamin!

Too bad topical antibiotics are recommended by dermatologists while B vitamin nicotinamide is almost never mentioned to you. It is a pity considering that this natural acne alternative is probably better for your skin with no side effects.

Microdermabrasion is a skin care technique that is used to give people younger, healthier, and smoother skin. Many find it a great alternative to plastic surgery, Botox, and even chemical peels. Obviously this is something that many women are taking advantage of - but many men are also looking into it and trying it out for themselves.

As popular as it is becoming many people still do not know what it is. During this procedure tiny rough grains are applied to the top layer of the skin and are used to remove it. There are different treatments that can be used during this procedure. Some may use salon treatments and medical procedures. Or you can use special creams and scrubs that can be used within the comforts of your own home.

This procedure is usually performed on the hands, arms, face, neck, or chest. These are the crucial areas for most people and the most important when trying to look young.

The skin is made up of the dermis and the epidermis layers. The epidermis is the layer on the top part of the skin in which the dead skin cells that are lying on the surface of the layer of skin that is still growing. The top part of that layer is the stratum corneum between the skin and the world.