Here’s how to protect and nourish your brain and boost your memory:

• Good sleep is necessary for memory consolidation.
• Smoking heightens your risk of vascular disorders that can constrict arteries that deliver oxygen to your brain.  Reduce or stop smoking.
• Eat loads of dark coloured berries such as strawberries and blueberries which contain high levels of antioxidant molecules which fight free radicals which can harm brain cells.
• Feast on folic acid (wholegrain food, broccoli and peas) to help your brain recall information.
• Snack on pumpkin seeds for zinc which is essential for enhancing your memory and thinking.
• Do one thing at a time as your brain will process information better if you focus on the task at hand.
• Avoid too much mental demand, such as information overload.  This triggers stress which over long periods may cause the release of brain chemicals which can temporarily impair your memory.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are concentrated in your brain and are associated with cognitive function. Best sources:  salmon, herring, tuna, halibut, mackerel, walnuts and walnut oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil. 
• Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone.
• Organize information. Write things down in address books and datebooks and on calendars; take notes on more complex material and reorganize the notes into categories later. Use both words and pictures in learning information.

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This is the first of 4 posts for women on hormonal health.

At ovulation an egg is released preparing to be fertilized and implanted. The creative/reproductive centre of your psyche becomes ready for this and there is a build up of physical, emotional and mental energy.

There are 5 types of PMS:

Type A: Weepiness, anxiety and irritability. Periods start suddenly and are heavy with clots.  Tip:  Vitamin E.

Type B: Irritability. Weight gain, swelling of hands and feet and breast tenderness.  Tip:  Reduce salt and drink loads of water. Include a natural diuretic such as celery in your diet.

Type C: Associated with fluctuations in blood sugar levels producing headaches, fatigue and irritability.  Tip:   Magnesium to assist insulin metabolism. Eat frequent small meals with complex carbohydrate foods like potatoes and proteins (lean meat, fish etc). Avoid sugar and refined foods.

Type D: Depression, forgetfulness, insomnia, and teariness.  Tip: Kelp and spirulina.

Type H: Water balance symptoms e.g. fluid retention, bloating, breast tenderness, swollen hands and feet related to high sodium and alcohol intake.

To help yourself, you could:

• avoid foods like coffee, tea, alcohol, sugar (apart from chocolate!!!!), artificial flavourings and colourings and convenience foods
• exercise to shift stagnating energy
• enjoy an orgasm (great way to release tension from the pelvic area)
• keep the bowels moving (constipation makes period pain worse)
• rest
• eat natural whole foods
• use this time to end what you no longer need and initiate new projects
• take a good multi vitamin with herbs (or specific natural menstrual remedies)
• drink lots of water

The next post in Hormonal Health is Preparing to Conceive.

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The long-term effects of suffering from stress are well documented. They include cardiac disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, diabetes, heart attack, immune mediated diseases and more. In order to be able to reduce stress it is important for individuals to recognize the symptoms of stress in their lives. Only by recognizing the symptoms of stress will people be able to identify causes because without a symptom you won’t look for a cause.

Researchers believe that 12 million people in Great Britain suffer from mental health problems which include anxiety and depression and those numbers are even greater in the United States. Many of these mental health problems are related to the long-term effects of experiencing stress in your life. Psychologists believe that it is important to recognize early symptoms of stress in order to decrease the likelihood that there will be physical or psychological damage.

Physical symptoms of stress will include headaches which are repetitive and nature and different from the variety which we all experience now and then. In other words, it is following to have the occasional headache but getting them most days is important to take note of.

Other physical symptoms of stress can include muscle and back problems as well as general aches and pains and even skin issues. Acne is often the result of a change in hormonal balance which will be affected by the amount of stress and individual suffers. Weight gain is another warning sign of stress because many people are "stress eaters". This means that is when under stress people turn to food in order to comfort themselves. Unfortunately, most of these foods include cakes, chocolate, sugar and high processed snacks. All of these things will pile on the pounds.

Other physical symptoms include grinding teeth, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, and nausea, increased pain, frequent illnesses and increased sweating. Stress will negatively impact an individuals immune system which will cause them to become ill more frequently. Individuals who are stressed may also breath more shallow which results in frequent yawning as they are starving their body of oxygen.

Stress will also become evident in the emotional irritability and heightened sensitivity. This means that a person may find themselves crying more easily and more often than usual or may suffer from a general lumpiness that is unusual for them. In other people stress may cause them to withdraw or make less of an effort to keep up with their friends. Stress can also cause an individual to take less effort with their personal appearance and feel less bothered by their home environment as well.

The final type of symptoms are behavioural and psychologists believe that these are more likely to be noticed because they are more obvious. Some of these behavioural symptoms include the inability to make decisions, even trivial every day tasks which would normally be executed without hesitation are suddenly mind-boggling. Stress will also decrease the persons natural confidence and may results in a person who wavers on unimportant and important choices.

Other behavioural symptoms include breathlessness, irritability, frequently bored, worrying, nightmares, apathy and sexual problems or loss of libido. Individuals who find themselves getting angry easily and experiencing mood swings or having more problems in their relationships should consider the likelihood that they are feeling the physical and emotional results of stress in their lives.

It is important for people to identify the symptoms of stress that they are experiencing in their lives in order to recognize the necessity of identifying a cause. By decreasing stress people can improve their productivity, their time management skills and decrease the risk of experiencing any long-term physical effects which may place their life in danger.

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Stress reeks havoc on our health systems. From the immune system to blood sugar and the cardiovascular system. In fact, the effects of stress are so pervasive that researchers and doctors are still not able to definitively produce an exhaustive list of everything that could go wrong in the human body. This means that stress can produce results that doctors still don’t know about.

Stress can be defined as those aggravating things that go wrong during the day or those irritating things that go bump in the night. Anything that interrupts your daily routine or nightly sleep can have a cumulative effects on the body and brain. Researchers have found that a chronic overreaction to stress will overload the brain with hormones intended for only short term use in emergency situations. This cumulative effect will damage and kill brain cells in the long run.

The powerful hormones which are released include corticosteroids, cortisol, and a multitude of others things released from the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. The release of all of these hormones is triggered in such a fashion to keep the body in homeostasis. This means that there are hormones released to drive the body during stress and others to bring the body back to a normal state.

When these hormones that control the ability of the body to react under stress continue to run rampant in the body they cause mental and physical health issues.

Researchers have found specific instances that are are able to be pinpointed which increase the stress level in all individuals. Some of these life events include the death of a spouse, divorce, jail time, change in financial situation, sexual difficulty, pregnancy, mortgage, change in residence, change in church activities, going back to school, change in sleep habits, vacation, and minor violations of the law. In reality any major change in life events or additions – positive or negative – will be perceived by the body as stress.

Stress related physical illness will include backaches, insomnia, cancer, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, absense of menstruation, changes in sexuality, sexual dysfunction, headaches, colitis, irritable bowl syndrome, colds, infection, dermatology changes and emotional disorders such as anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances.

Eliminating all stress from your life is completely impossible but by implementing some stress reduction techniques many people are able to subdue some of the harmful effects of the raging hormones. Some stress management techniques that are useful to everyone are following a healthy well rounded diet, getting regular exercise and making time for uninterrupted sleep for 7-9 hours each night.

Other techniques used include deep breathing, meditation, imagery and staying mindful of the present situation without becoming overwhelmed by everything else on the ‘to do’ list in life.

Chronic and significant stress will cause damaging health problems to all that experience it. The real question is how much damage control will you do by using stress reduction techniques and emotional support. Through appropriate intervention even those undergoing consistent stress will be able to reduce any long-term effects on their health.

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