With cell phones, computers and television in a child’s life, exercise is more important than ever before. Because of all the new-found technology, it is a lot more difficult to get children active. It is vital for a child to get into the habit of eating healthy and to exercise. If the child learns at an early age to habitually exercise and have the right diet, it will show later on as an adult. With that stated, it can be difficult to encourage children to get active and eat right, but no need to fear; here are some tips to get your children healthy and happy.

Exercise can be fun

• It is so easy for a child’s mind to interpret exercise as a chore and not a fun activity, which is why it is important to show him how it can be enjoyable. There are so many alternatives to exercise than to just plain old working out in a gym.
  • Sports: Many children get their exercise from playing a sport. Sports such as basketball, soccer, baseball and football offer an abundance of exercise with a benefit of amusement and fun. Even non-mainstream sports such as kickball, dodge-ball and tag are a great way for a child to get an amazing workout while still having a good time.
  • Video games: Yes, believe it or not, video games can actually provide your child with a good amount of exercise, depending on the game of course. Fitness games such as Wii Sports and Wii Fitness offer an amazing amount of entertaining exercises, keeping your child fit and happy.

A healthy diet can taste good

• Probably the toughest issue to deal with when it comes to promoting health for your child is getting him to eat a well-balanced diet. You need to show your child that healthy food does not mean nasty food. Some ways to get your child eating healthy are:
  • Cook his favorite meal using healthy alternatives. This can be easily done. For example, if your child loves spaghetti and meatballs, instead of just using breadcrumbs and ground beef to make the meatballs, put some spinach in the meatballs giving them a delicious and healthy taste. Also use some nutritious toppings like mushrooms and tomatoes. Using whole wheat noodles is another way to create a healthier meal with the household favorite.
  • Packing a healthier lunch for your child will promote healthy meal choices. Instead of giving him an allowance for school food, you can pack him his very own healthy lunch.
  • No more fast food! Places like McDonalds not only promote an unhealthy lifestyle, but they attract children to fatty unhealthy foods.

It is essential for your child to start eating healthy and exercising to become a healthy adult. Obesity is the number one growing problem in America and will only slow down if we start teaching children how to be healthy.

With so much stress in everyday life, people need a way to release the tension from their bodies. Stress can affect not only you mental state of mind, but physically as well. Stress leads to a weaker immune system. Chronic stress is also shown to lead to memory loss and moreover, can lead to diseases like alcoholism and drug addiction. Luckily for those dealing with immense stress, there are remedies to release it in a healthy way.

Yoga

• Yoga is not only an amazing exercise that improves flexibility and tones your body; it is also can be a remarkable way to relieve stress. Yoga focuses on deep breathing, which in turn, relieves stress. Yoga is also a great form of exercise, and since exercise creates endorphins, you coming out feeling great and happy! This is a great way to rid you of stress and also get a good workout as a bonus.

Meditation

• Although some might scoff at the idea of meditation as a viable way to de-stress, if done correctly, it can totally clear your mind and stress. In order to meditate properly, find a secluded quite room. You do not have to sit down with your legs cross, but do find a sitting position that is most comfortable to you. Once you are settled, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. You should gradually deepen and slow down your breathing while breathing through your nose and out your mouth. If it helps, play some relaxing and soothing music. If you do this anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes a day and you should find your stress levels become lower than usual, leaving you less stressed and more relaxed.

Boxing and Exercise

• Believe it or not, taking out your pent up aggression on a punching bag, or even a pillow, can take away a huge amount of stress that is infecting your body. Whenever you are feeling overly stressed, take a pillow and give it a few whacks and punches, no doubt you will feel much better after you do. If you can, go to a gym and lift some weights or take a kickboxing class. Exercise can release all that negative energy you are feeling and alleviate stress.

Stress should not control your life, and it does not have to anymore! You can cope and deal with stress is many ways that are both healthy and beneficial to you. Stress should not be an everyday battle and therefore if you feel stress, you should try to reduce it right away.

With the heightened awareness of the dangers of prescription birth control, more women are looking into natural methods of birth control. Although no method of contraception prevention is 100% guaranteed, aside from abstinence, but natural methods are much safer and healthier for a woman’s body.

Natural Methods of Birth Control

Natural methods of contraception do not include any mechanical method and are not the result of hormone manipulation. Instead, a natural method relies on fertility awareness, or the knowledge of when a woman ovulates each month. Based on her ovulation cycle, a couple can then determine when abstaining from sexual activity is necessary.

Understanding the Ovulation Cycle

The female body releases an egg approximately 14 days (plus or minus two) before the next menstrual cycle begins. Generally, one egg is released each month. Does this mean there is only one day that a woman can become pregnant? Actually, no. The egg survives and is able to be fertilized for 3-4 days after ovulation. Also, the sperm can live anywhere from 48 hours to 5 days. With that information, we can see that pregnancy can actually occur at any time during an entire week long span. Of course, there are variables, such as the strength of the sperm, but generally speaking, it’s important to understand that avoiding pregnancy is more than simply abstaining from sexual intercourse for one or two days per month.

Methods of Natural Birth Control

There are several methods of birth control that are 100% natural. The most popular are the Calendar Rhythm Method and the Basal Body Temperature Method.

• Calendar Rhythm – This method relies on calculating a woman’s period of fertility on the calendar. In order to begin this method, you’ll need to first track your last twelve menstrual cycles. Based on these twelve previous cycles, this method involves subtracting 18 days from the shortest menstrual cycle to determine the first fertile day. The next step is to subtract 11 days from the longest menstrual cycle. This will provide the last fertile day. Once this math is completed, you have the information to calculate the total number of days, or time period in which ovulation is expected. How effective is this method? Studies have shown it to be about 80% effective in preventing pregnancy, although many consider this method to be outdated.

• Basal Body Temperature – This birth control method, also known as BBT, is based on the fact that between 12 and 24 hours before ovulation occurs, a woman’s body temperature will drop. How much will it drop? About 1 degree.

How does it work? You’ll need to take your temperature every morning at approximately the same time and record the results. There are special thermometers that can be purchased for the BBT method that are more sensitive. To use this method, a woman should abstain from intercourse from the time her temperature drops, until it returns to normal.

Many women choose to combine the BBT and the Calendar Method. Combining the information of both can be a better idea than using one method alone.

Other Natural Birth Control Methods

The mucus inspection method can be used along with the Calendar Method and the BBT. It depends on looking for the presence of a certain type of mucus or discharge that is produced due to the presence of estrogen.

Larger amounts of watery mucus (which can be compared in appearance to a raw egg white) is released just before ovulation occurs. This cervical mucus stretches for about an inch when pulled. A woman who wishes to use this as a sign of ovulation will need to become familiar with, and recognize the differences in the appearance of her discharge throughout the month. This can be done by regularly examining its appearance on underwear or toilet tissue. Once a woman learns to recognize the changes, she should refrain from intercourse during the time period when the mucus is thicker and more elastic in nature.

Ovulation test kits can be purchased which measure the amount of LH (luteinizing hormone) present in a woman’s body. Because this hormone promotes an egg in the ovary to mature, LH generally increases 20-48 hours just before ovulation. The test kit measures LH through a urine test and displays the strength or increase in LH by changing to certain color levels. Once the LH hormone is detected, a woman should refrain from sexual intercourse. Once the ovulation period is complete, LH will no longer be detected.

A word should be said about the Withdrawal Method, which is also called coitus interruptus. Although many couples practice this method, which requires the man to withdraw his penis from the woman’s vagina just before he ejaculates, it is generally not recommended. The withdrawal method is best used in conjunction with one of the other methods described above. One of the reasons for the failure of this method is due to the fact that a small amount of sperm can be released from the penis during sexual intercourse, before ejaculation actually occurs.

Methods that are Actually Myths

A couple of methods, which are not methods at all (but should be referred to as myths) involve douching and urination after intercourse. Neither of these will prevent pregnancy. Another myth is that a woman cannot become pregnant while lactating or breastfeeding. While a nursing woman may not ovulate as often, she still can become pregnant. Nursing doesn’t prevent ovulation.

Whichever method above you choose, remember, there is always a chance that natural birth control methods may not work as you would like. The only 100% proven way to prevent pregnancy is by abstinence.

Yoga is stereotypically treated as some womanly exercise that only improves flexibility. How wrong is that assumption? Yoga not only helps you to shape and tone your body, but in can bring in a healing spiritual aspect to the workout as well that leaves your body in good shape and your mind at peace. Yoga can be traced throughout history before BC, making it one of the oldest forms of exercise.

Why Yoga?

1. Yoga is an amazing stress reliever. Yoga encourages relaxation and meditation along with spiritual healing which can lower the cortisol in your body, soothing your mind and body and ridding you of stress.
2. Yoga is also a powerful pain reliever. Yoga includes a lot of stretching and deep breathing exercises that act as an amazing pain reducer. Many who have had depilating injuries or illnesses report that yoga helps immensely with their aches and pains.
3. The most obvious benefit from yoga is flexibility. Most of the yoga poses encourage flexibility, but this does not mean you will just be able to touch your toes. Yoga also increases the length of your muscles, ligaments, and tendons in your body.
4. Who works out without the motivation of gaining strength? While yoga does not use any weights or heavy lifting, the different poses strengthens your muscles close to your bones, not only strengthening your muscles, but increasing the support of your skeletal system as well.
5. While yoga has many physical benefits, a main component in yoga is the focus on inner peace and spiritual healing. With the practices of deep breathing and a peaceful mentality that is tied in with yoga, it can take the edge off your body and give you that unbelievably amazing sensation and feeling of pure happiness and inner peace. Yoga can truly give you peace of mind.

Yoga is an exercise that possesses the rarity of combining spiritual and strength exercises with amazing results. Yoga is not an exercise exclusive to women and should be practiced by everyone whenever possible. It is a fantastic exercise that is not only good for your head, but good for your heart.

You see it every day in magazines, on television and on the big screen. You see actors, actresses and models with rock hard abs. You wonder to yourself how you can get these perfected muscles. Although your goal should focus on just becoming healthy and fit, there are ways to strengthen your core and with that, have stronger and more pronounced abdominals. Here are three basic workouts you can utilize to strengthen you core muscles and build up your abs.

Sit-ups/Crunches

• The most obvious abdominal exercise and the most effective, sit-ups and crunches focus purely on your ab muscles. To do this exercise properly, lie on your back with your knees bent. Have someone hold your feet. Have your arms crossed over your chest and proceed to lift your upper body up and touch your knees. With crunches, simply lift your upper body off the ground. To be effective, this exercise should be done 10 reps 3 sets each.

Related: 3 Natural Upper Body Exercises For A Toned & Fit Body

Bicycle

• This exercise is very similar to sit-ups. Lying on your back, place your hands behind your head. Lift your shoulder blades off the ground and bring your legs near your chest. Rotate to the right and bring your left elbow to your right knee while pushing out your other leg. Do this on both sides. This exercise focuses on your lower abdominals. For this exercise to show results, do 3 sets of 10 reps each.

Plank

• The plank not only works out your arms and your legs, but it’s a great workout for you core and abdominals. Ly face down on the floor resting your forearms. Using your toes, lift yourself off the ground. Align your back and hold a straight line. Hold this position anywhere from 20-60 seconds. Focus on your breathing is essential to this exercise. Repeat this exercise anywhere from 3-6 times to get great results.

Related: What’s your excuse for being out of shape?

Although your priority in life should be to become a fit and healthy individual, there is nothing wrong with wanting to strengthen certain areas more than others. Abdominals are a very important muscle in our body, and doing this exercises not only strengthen them but also can help strengthen the rest of your body as well.