5 Tips for Battling Dry Lips

1) Balms: Serious Lip Service :- Last but not least, what anti-dry lip arsenal would be complete without a lip balm of some sort? Lip balms can bring a smile to even the sorest dry lips; they build a barrier between your lips' mucus membranes and the outside world, helping lock must-have moisture in.

2) Wet Your Whistle :- Sometimes however, especially on cold wintery days, drinking water isn't enough to stave off dry lips. Heated indoor air can get really dry, too, so it's a good idea to set up a humidifier. Putting moisture back into the air mechanically can help rejuvenate even the driest lips.

3) Don't Be a Mouth Breather :- For similar reasons to lip licking, mouth breathing is another no-no. Any moisture that manages to make it to your lips will quickly be whisked away if you constantly blow air across them.

4) Stop Licking Your Chops :- Licking your lips may seem like an easy way to moisten things up, but it actually does more harm than good. Lips usually lack the protective outer membrane found on most other skin, so adding moisture that easily evaporates seconds later creates a vicious cycle that can dry lips out very quickly.

5) Avoid the Elements :- Abusive weather's a real bully, so if you do choose to go outside, protect yourself. No need to leave your lips out in the cold. For example, you can wrap a scarf around your face to block the wind or wear a wide-brimmed hat to keep off the sun -- whatever it takes to shield your lips from extreme exposure.

How to Exercise During Pregnancy

Being pregnant doesn't necessarily mean getting fat. And it doesn't have to mean being tired all the time. The way you feel (terrific or fatigued) and the way you look during pregnancy and as a new mother (sleek or bulgy) depend to a great extent on actions you take during pregnancy regarding diet and exercise. By eating a wide variety of wholesome foods and by exercising on a regular basis, you can maintain or improve your fitness and health during this time of extra demands on your body.

Decide how you want to look and feel after delivery. Then accept the challenge of making necessary changes in eating and exercise to achieve that goal. Sensible eating and regular exercise go hand in hand. Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you're fragile.


Look at your schedule and try to give your exercise time top priority. Consider planning your day around your exercise program, not the other way round.


<This article describes a safe and effective exercise program for pregnant women at any level of fitness. The emphasis is on aerobic exercise, (although non-aerobic exercise can be beneficial, too, if done regularly) with some discussion of the other important components of a complete fitness program-stretching and strengthening exercises.


Before starting on any exercise program, however, you should consult with your doctor and make sure that the exercise programs are right for you.


In the following sections, you will find all of the tools that you need to get started on a program that will keep you looking and feeling great through your pregnancy, including:


* Starting a Prenatal Exercise Program

During pregnancy, your body undergoes significant changes. Before beginning an exercise program, it is important to understand how to modify an existing exercise routine or start a new one safely. These simple guidelines will get you started on the right track to working out in the healthiest way possible.

* Prenatal Exercise Safety

While exercise is important during pregnancy, there are many safety concerns that you will have to keep in mind. It is important to pay close attention to what you eat, what you wear, and the exercises you do. Read these guidelines and consult with your doctor to make sure you are exercising safely.

* Aerobic Exercises During Pregnancy

Building up and maintaining cardiovascular endurance is essential for the pregnant woman. She must, however, avoid unnecessary strain. Follow these guidelines for a safe, effective aerobic workout for pregnant women.

* Strength-Training Exercise During Pregnancy

Developing muscle tone is important not only for looking and feeling good, but also for easing the strain of labor and delivery. These exercises build muscles that will help you through the birth process.

* Choosing a Pregnancy Exercise Class

As a pregnant woman, you need to evaluate exercise classes in a different way. It is vital that you have a well-trained instructor. Here is a set of guidelines that will help you find the best class for you.


To learn more about the topics covered in this article, try the following links:


* Prenatal Vitamins will tell you everything you need to know about these pills commonly prescribed to expectant mothers and how they affect both mom and the baby.

* To learn about what types and quantities of foods to eat while pregnant, try Pregnancy Nutrition Guidelines.

* To find out more about pregnancy in general, read How Pregnancy Works.

* To find out more about other prenatal procedures, go to How Prenatal Testing Works.

How Prenatal Testing Works

Perhaps you or someone you know is having a baby. One of the most important questions (or worries) during a pregnancy is "Is the baby healthy?" or "Is the baby developing properly?" After all, the uterus in which the baby grows is essentially a "black box" relative to the outside world. How do we know that a baby is developing properly throughout the 40 weeks of gestation?

In this article, we will examine the tests that obstetricians (the doctors who care for pregnant women during pregnancy and delivery) use to assess the development of an unborn child.

Miscarriage Symptoms,Causes and Treatment

A miscarriage is the ending of a pregnancy due to the premature delivery of the fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy, a point at which the fetus is not developed enough to survive outside the uterus on its own. A miscarriage is called a spontaneous abortion in medical terms, but after the 20th week of pregnancy it is called a premature delivery or, if the fetus is born dead, a stillbirth. Most miscarriages, however, occur within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

About 15 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, but it is impossible to know how many miscarriages occur during the first month of pregnancy, before many women may even realize they are pregnant. The only indication may be a slightly late menstrual period with a heavier than normal flow.

There are several different types of miscarriages. They include:

* Threatened miscarriage. One of every five pregnant women experiences this when she bleeds vaginally during the first three months. Although it may indicate that a spontaneous abortion will eventually occur, it is often no more than a threat, and the pregnancy continues normally.
* Inevitable miscarriage. When a pregnant woman begins to bleed and the cervix dilates, it is then only a matter of time before the contents of the uterus are expelled.
* Missed miscarriage. In this situation, the fetus dies in the uterus but is not naturally expelled and the woman has no bleeding or pain to signify that the pregnancy is not progressing. The physician usually diagnoses the condition when the uterus stops enlarging.
* Incomplete miscarriage. This occurs when only part of the uterine contents are naturally expelled.
* Complete miscarriage. This occurs when all the uterine contents have been naturally expelled.

It's often not clear why a miscarriage occurs, but in many cases it is believed that a fetus is aborted because it is not developing normally. This is thought to be a chance event and is usually not due to a defect in either parent. Several factors can contribute to abnormal fetal development, including:

* abnormalities in the father's sperm or in the mother's egg
* disease in the mother, such as rubella (German measles), severe heart or kidney disease, diabetes, or thyroid disease
* abnormalities in the uterus
* the mother's use of certain drugs
* the mother's exposure to toxic substances or certain environmental pollutants
Although women often worry that severe emotional trauma or stress or simply falling can cause a miscarriage, this is rarely--if ever--the case. That's true for automobile accidents, too.

The symptoms of a miscarriage are vaginal bleeding (from a few drops to a heavy flow) and uterine cramps (either dull and constant or sharp and intermittent) in the lower abdomen or back. The bleeding can start suddenly or follow a brownish discharge. A solid clot of material or tissue may pass from the vagina. If possible, this should be saved for the doctor, who may be able to examine it and confirm that a miscarriage has occurred. A miscarriage can either be complete, when the uterus expels all the tissue, or incomplete, when some tissue remains inside the uterus.

A pregnant woman who starts bleeding or experiences abdominal pain should contact the doctor immediately. Depending on the type of miscarriage, diagnosis may be made on the basis of the medical history, physical examination, analysis of any discharge, blood and urine tests (to detect the presence of infection or anemia caused by hemorrhage), or ultrasound studies (to establish the presence or absence of a fetus.)

There is no medical treatment to stop or avert an inevitable miscarriage. The physician generally directs the woman with symptoms to rest in bed and to abstain from sexual intercourse. While it's traditional for doctors to give this advice, many believe that there is little that can be done to stop or avert a miscarriage.

After an inevitable, incomplete, or missed miscarriage, any remaining fetal or placental tissue must be removed by a surgical procedure known as dilatation and curettage, or D&C), in which the physician expands the cervix and gently scrapes out residual material from inside the uterus. Without this precaution, a woman is more susceptible to infections and heavy bleeding.

It is normal for a woman to feel depressed by the loss of an expected child, but it is usually safe for her to attempt to conceive six to eight weeks later, on the advice on her physician.

Eighty percent of women who miscarry once have a successful subsequent pregnancy. Although it is uncommon, some women have three or more miscarriages in a row; they are called habitual aborters. When this occurs, the physician will thoroughly evaluate both the woman and her partner to determine the cause, if any. Frequently, a chromosome abnormality in one parent or an abnormality of the uterus is found. If an abnormality of the uterus is the cause, surgery can correct the problem and a successful pregnancy often follows. If the cause of miscarriage is a chromosome abnormality in either parent, the problem cannot be corrected.

How can a rabbit tell me if I'm pregnant?

You might associate fluffy, white bunnies with a magician's stage show, but rabbits played a far more crucial role from the 1930s to the early 1960s -- as the key elements of pregnancy tests. While the method of injecting a rabbit with human urine to test for pregnancy has become little more than a curio of the past, the basic principles involved with testing urine date back thousands of years and continue to this day.Physicians, healers and novices alike have studied human urine for insight into our biological processes for about 6,000 years [source: Armstrong]. Historians believe the physicians of ancient Egypt were the first to discover a method of detecting pregnancy through the study of urine.

Ancient Egypt's predominant pregnancy test involved, at one time, the woman consuming alcohol and dates until she vomited. If she grew nauseous very quickly, there was a good chance she was pregnant. The urine test soon replaced this method and became a far less distressful method -- the woman urinated on a pile of wheat and barley. If the increased estrogen levels in the urine caused the seeds to sprout, then it meant she was expecting. This marked the beginning of medical urine examination, but more importantly, laboratory medicine itself. More than 6,000 years of urine examination -- or uroscopy -- followed. Today, we know this medical discipline as urinalysis.

In the early 1930s, Dr. Maurice Friedman made a fascinating discovery at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He found that he could detect whether or not a woman was pregnant by injecting her urine into a female rabbit. Was this method the product of a diseased mind? Or was injecting a rabbit with what Victorian physicians called a "divine fluid" a logical advancement in medical science?

How Men Work

As hormones go, testosterone doesn't always have the best reputation. It's a key ingredient in most anabolic steroids, which can lead to aggression and infertility. A 2006 study showed that too much of it can kill brain cells [Source: CNN]. And some women hold it accountable for just about any stereotypically masculine behavior, from a love of sports to a reluctance to ask for directions.

But without testosterone, there would be no men. Until about the eighth week of gestation, males and females are identical. Then, a surge of testosterone causes male fetuses to develop male sex organs -- without this wave of testosterone, a male's sex organs will never develop. You can learn more about sex organ development in this Sexual Differentiation animation from ADAM.

As he grows, testosterone continues to play an important part in his physical development. When he's a teenager, the hormone's presence causes him to develop masculine secondary sex characteristics, such as facial and body hair and a deeper voice. Testosterone also encourages his adult body to be taller and heavier than a woman's, with broader shoulders and less subcutaneous fat. In other words, testosterone plays a big part in making a man physically different from a woman.

But the influence of testosterone doesn't stop with a man's outward appearance. It also affects his brain. Researchers theorize that the same wave of testosterone that affects males in the womb also causes men's brains to be different from women's brains. Men and women are equally intelligent, and their brains are the same size compared to the rest of their bodies. But male and female brains have different proportions of gray and white matter. Men have more gray matter and less white matter than women do.

Gray matter contains the brain's processing centers, and white matter creates networks between areas of gray matter. In other words, men's brains have more areas in which to process data, and women's brains have more networks between processing centers. Some researchers believe this supports the common stereotype that men are better at science and math while women are better at language. It appears that men's brains are set up to process concrete data, while women's brains are wired for making connections.

But, according to many studies, this stereotype isn't true at all. Although men and boys usually score better on standardized math tests, women and girls usually make better grades in math. After performing a meta-analysis of data from lots of studies, some researchers now believe that the differences in men and women's abilities in math and language are so slight that they're insignificant .

The idea that men are better at math and science than women are is one of many stereotypes that doesn't hold up well under scientific scrutiny. In this article, we'll explore whether other common perceptions about men are accurate.

How To Get Pregnant Using An Ovulation Calendar

You can increase your chances of getting pregnant if you understand the ovulation process and how it fits into your monthly menstrual cycle. During each menstrual cycle, the endometrial tissue thickens to prepare the uterus for a possible pregnancy. Approximately midway through the cycle, ovulation occurs. Ovulation is the process by which an ovary produces and releases an egg. The egg develops in the ovary in a small, fluid-filled sac called a follicle. When the egg is mature this sac ruptures, releasing the egg from the ovary. The fingerlike projections on the nearby fallopian tube sweep the egg into the tube, where it begins to inch toward the uterus. If the egg is fertilized by a sperm, the fertilized egg moves to the uterus and becomes implanted in the rich uterine lining, where it grows for nine months.

If the egg does not become fertilized during ovulation (that is, if you do not become pregnant), the thickened endometrial tissue breaks down and passes, along with the unfertilized egg, out of the cervix, through the vagina, and out of the body as the menstrual discharge.

Ovulation - the time during a menstrual cycle when you may become pregnant - is regulated by a complex system of hormonal and chemical secretions from the ovaries, the hypothalamus (part of the brain), and the pituitary gland (the master gland that controls most hormonal secretions).

There are several ways to determine the optimal time to get pregnant. One way to recognize when ovulation is happening is to take your body temperature with a basal thermometer (a special thermometer that will show even slight changes in body temperature) before rising in the morning. In most women, the body temperature rises slightly soon after ovulation occurs each month and does not return to normal until the menstrual flow begins. This is the ideal time to become pregnant. Some women hoping to get pregnant keep track of their temperature on a calendar, as a pattern can emerge across several months.

Another way to figure out the best time to get pregnant is to create an ovulation calendar. Count 14 days forward from the first day of the last menstrual period in an average 28-day cycle. Count 15 days for a cycle that is normally 29 days, 16 days for a cycle that is normally 30 days long, and so on. However, this method is less accurate in determining the best time to get pregnant than the thermometer method because the length of the menstrual cycle can vary from month to month.

Some women feel abdominal cramps during ovulation, and so those women have an additional method of recognizing the best time of the cycle to try and get pregnant.

A sperm that has been released into the vagina as long as two days before the release of a ripe egg can still fertilize it. And an egg, once released, is capable of being fertilized for about two days. Because of this variability, there is a period of about four to ten days in each menstrual cycle during which a woman can become pregnant.

Creating an ovulation calendar by keeping track of your monthly cycle on a calendar will help you determine the length of your menstrual cycle, which will then allow you to figure out the approximate time that ovulation occurs. With a good timing and a little patience, you too can increase your chances of becoming pregnant.

Can I feel pregnant when my wife is?

Men are usually somewhat peripheral during pregnancy. After all, women are the ones who carry the child and endure the process of labor and childbirth. Most men will take advantage of any opportunity to help, and getting up in the middle of the night to head to a drive-thru for french fries and a chocolate shake is often their greatest expression of sympathy for their wives' condition. But for some men, doting is just the beginning.

Imagine your stomach bloating as your wife's grows, or the two of you ill at the same time with morning sickness. Up until recently, the medical establishment has ignored reports of fathers-to-be suffering everything from strange food cravings to backaches and weight gain. But a study in the summer of 2007 went a long way to proving the existence of Couvade syndrome -- or sympathetic pregnancy.

The study conducted at St. George's Hospital, a part of St. George's University in London, England, examined 282 men ages 19 to 55 whose wives were pregnant. A group of 281 men whose wives were not pregnant was used as a control in the study. Researchers found that the majority of the men with pregnant wives displayed a variety of pregnancy-associated symptoms like mood swings and morning sickness.

Stomach cramps were the most commonly reported; one man reported his own labor pains that rivaled his wife's while she was delivering their baby. A few of the men who showed signs of sympathetic pregnancy developed pseudocyesis -- a phantom swollen stomach.

The study found that the symptoms generally followed a similar pattern to the men's wives' pregnancies. The symptoms came on during the early stages of the pregnancy, reached their worst point within the third trimester and cleared up after the wives had given birth. Even more strangely, 11 of the men who sought medical help for their symptoms found that doctors could offer no physical explanation.

Cases of Couvade syndrome (which comes from the French "couver," meaning "to hatch") have been widely documented in different parts of the world. One 1994 study showed that some Thai men also exhibited symptoms of sympathetic pregnancy. Another study, conducted in Italy the following year, says that reports of the incidence of sympathetic pregnancy ranges from 11 to 65 percent [source: Klein]. What's more, a person needn't be a man with a pregnant wife ­to experience Couvade syndrome. In at least one case documented in the United States, a woman began to show sympathetic symptoms similar to her pregnant twin sister who lived in another city.

But why does it happen? Researchers aren't sure. There are, however, a wide variety of suggestions. It may be a man's anxiety over the impending birth of his child that could cause him to show signs of sympathetic pregnancy. Another theory is that Couvade syndrome may be a man's "statement of paternity" or even a sign of envy toward his wife or feelings of rivalry with the baby .

All of these concepts suggest that Couvade syndrome may be a psychosomatic condition -- a response by the body to a stimulus in the mind.

Fact or Fiction Pregnancy and Skin Care

If you were told that a stork brought babies to nice ladies, then this is not the quiz for you. But if you think you've got a handle on the approximately nine month process that occurs after an egg and a sperm meet up, then why don't you test your knowledge?

How Abortion Works

All women, when they become pregnant, must consider a wide variety of options. For some women, these options are along the lines of baby names, nursery décor themes and childcare choices. Other women, however, don't view a positive pregnancy test as such a joyous occasion, and these women begin considering options that include giving the baby up for adoption or terminating the pregnancy with an abortion. Depending on where the woman lives, that last option is legal, or it may be pursued underground.

In the United States alone, half of the 6 million pregnancies that occur each year are unplanned; about 1.3 million of those 3 million unplanned pregnancies end in abortion [source: Bazelon]. If these rates continue, then about one-third of women in the U.S. will have had an abortion by age 45 [source: Guttmacher Institute]. Worldwide, about 2 percent of all women of reproductive age will have an abortion each year [source: Grimes, Creinin]. (These numbers don't include the number of women who suffer spontaneous abortions, the medical term for miscarriages.)

The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that studies abortion, provides the statistics that give us an idea of the type of women who pursue an abortion. In the United States, that woman is likely to be young (50 percent of U.S. women obtaining abortion are under the age of 25), unmarried (unwed women obtain two-thirds of all abortions) and lower class (the abortion rate for poor women is four times higher than that of women living above the poverty line). She's also likely to have at least one child already (60 percent of abortions are performed on women who are already mothers) and to report not using contraceptives properly, if at all. Of the abortions performed in the United States, 37 percent are attributed to black women, 34 percent to white women and 22 percent to Hispanic women.

Despite the fact that abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures for women, we don't hear much about the actual process very often. The topic of abortion has become one of the most contentious ethical and legal issues of our time, wrapped up in phrases like "right to life" and images of coat hangers. Regardless of how you feel about the subject, the numbers above indicate that many women make the choice to terminate a pregnancy. But the choice doesn't end there. On the next page, we'll consider the many options for how the procedure is carried out.

How Post traumatic Stress Disorder Works

Thirteen years after he returned home to Las Vegas, Nev., from fighting in Iraq, Adam Kelley, a specialist in the U.S. Army, took his own life. While fighting in the Persian Gulf during the first Iraq War, he watched as one of his friends died. He saw the killing of countless soldiers on both sides. He killed others with the mortar rounds he fired. He was under heavy fire for days at a time. After he returned home, he relived the terrifying events through nightmares and flashbacks. Ultimately, although he was treated with medications, he was unable to shake his demons. Kelley shot himself.

What Kelley endured for 13 years is what researchers now refer to as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Previously called shell shock, it was first described by a doctor during the Civil War and was first noticed on a massive scale during World War I. The first diagnosis of the modern view of PTSD came in 1980. Research into this anxiety disorder began intensely after Congress requested a study of how Vietnam veterans were adjusting back to civilian life in 1983. The National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study turned up a wealth of statistics and provided rare insight on a large scale into the nature of PTSD.

But there's still much to learn. For instance, there's no comprehensive data on the number of PTSD sufferers who, like Adam Kelley, commit suicide. And there's debate over how many soldiers fighting in the second Iraq War are vulnerable to developing the disorder later on. Also, many health-care professionals are still exploring the best type of counseling and medication to most effectively treat PTSD.

But the findings from the Vietnam study helped to advance human understanding of the effects of PTSD by leaps and bounds. We now know, for example, that the part of the brain that stores memories of fearful incidents can be directly related to the development of the disorder. We also now know that some people are more prone to develop PTSD after experiencing a trauma than others. And the duration, intensity and danger of a traumatic experience are known to be directly related to the development of PTSD.It's also clear to researchers that PTSD can also develop in people who have never set foot on a battlefield. The disorder can be found in civilians, men, women and children. It can also result from a number of different traumatic experiences -- not just one.

It's this expanded understanding of PTSD that will eventually allow psychologists to properly treat the disorder and also help clinicians to create drugs that not only alleviate the symptoms of the disorder, but also the mental processes behind them. The military is even exploring the possibility of developing an "inoculation" against PTSD (more on that later).

But in many ways the disorder is still a mysterious one, and its sufferers are often misunderstood. In this article, we'll examine this disorder and the effects it has on the lives of people who suffer from it.­

How Muscles Work

Muscles are one of those things that most of us take completely for granted, but they are incredibly important for two key reasons:

* Muscles are the "engine" that your body uses to propel itself. Although they work differently than a car engine or an electric motor, muscles do the same thing -- they turn energy into motion.

* It would be impossible for you to do anything without your muscles. Absolutely everything that you conceive of with your brain is expressed as muscular motion. The only ways for you to express an idea are with the muscles of your larynx, mouth and tongue (spoken words), with the muscles of your fingers (written words or "talking with your hands") or with the skeletal muscles (body language, dancing, running, building or fighting, to name a few).

­Because muscles are so crucial to any animal, they are incredibly sophisticated. They are efficient at turning fuel into motion, they are long-lasting, they are self-healing and they are able to grow stronger with practice. They do everything from allowing you to walk to keeping your blood flowing!

­When most people think of "muscles," they think about the muscles that we can see. For example, most of us know about the biceps muscles in our arms. But there are three unique kinds of muscle in any mammal's body:

* Skeletal muscle is the type of muscle that we can see and feel. When a body builder works out to increase muscle mass, skeletal muscle is what is being exercised. Skeletal muscles attach to the skeleton and come in pairs -- one muscle to move the bone in one direction and another to move it back the other way. These muscles usually contract voluntarily, meaning that you think about contracting them and your nervous system tells them to do so. They can do a short, single contraction (twitch) or a long, sustained contraction (tetanus).

* Smooth muscle is found in your digestive system, blood vessels, bladder, airways and, in a female, the uterus. Smooth muscle has the ability to stretch and maintain tension for long periods of time. It contracts involuntarily, meaning that you do not have to think about contracting it because your nervous system controls it automatically. For example, your stomach and intestines do their muscular thing all day long, and, for the most part, you never know what's going on in there.

* Cardiac muscle is found only in your heart, and its big features are endurance and consistency. It can stretch in a limited way, like smooth muscle, and contract with the force of a skeletal muscle. It is a twitch muscle only and contracts involuntarily.

In this article, we will look at the different types of muscles in your body and the amazing technology that allows them to work so well. From here on, we will focus on skeletal muscle. The basic molecular processes are the same in all three types.

How Your Heart Works

Ever­yone knows that the heart is a vital organ. We cannot live without our heart. However, when you get right down to it, the heart is just a pump. A complex and important one, yes, but still just a pump. As with all other pumps it can become clogged, break down and need repair. This is why it is critical that we know how the heart works. With a little knowledge about your heart and what is good or bad for it, you can significantly reduce your risk for heart disease.Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Almost 2,000 Americans die of heart disease each day. That is one death every 44 seconds. The good news is that the death rate from heart disease has been steadily decreasing. Unfortunately, heart disease still causes sudden death and many people die before even reaching the hospital.

The heart holds a special place in our collective psyche as well. Of course the heart is synonymous with love. It has many other associations, too. Here are just a few examples:

* have a heart - be merciful
* change of heart - change your mind
* to know something by heart - memorize something
* broken heart - to lose love
* heartfelt - deeply felt
* have your heart in the right place - to be kind
* cry your heart out - to grieve
* heavy heart - sadness
* have your heart set on - to want something badly

Certainly no other bodily organ elicits this kind of response. When was the last time you had a heavy pancreas?

In this article, we will look at this important organ so that you can understand exactly what makes your heart tick.

9 Tips to Stop Snoring

Snoring is a fairly common affliction, affecting 40 percent of men and 25 percent of women. If you snore, you make a raspy, rattling, snorting sound while you breathe during sleep. Older people are particularly prone to snoring: About one-third of people ages 55 to 84 snore.

Despite its frequency, however, snoring is a sleep disorder that can have serious medical and social consequences. The tips that follow may help you sleep more peacefully

1. Sleep on Your Side :- You're more likely to snore if you're lying on your back, and sleeping on your stomach is stressful on your neck.
2. Lose Weight :- Excess body weight, especially around the neck, puts pressure on the airway, causing it to partially collapse.
3. Avoid Alcohol and Tranquilizers :-Both alcohol and sleeping pills can depress your central nervous system and relax the muscles of your throat and jaw, making snoring more likely. These substances are also known to contribute to sleep apnea, a dangerous condition that has been linked with cardiovascular disease. And they should never, ever be used together. If you have difficulty sleeping without sleeping pills (or if you use alcohol to help yourself fall asleep), discuss it with your doctor.
4. Get Your Allergies Treated :- Chronic respiratory allergies may cause snoring by forcing sufferers to breathe through their mouths while they sleep. Taking an antihistamine just before bedtime may help. If your nose is stuffed up, try using an over-the-counter saline spray or a humidifier.
5. Buy a Mouth Guard :- Your dentist or doctor may be able to prescribe an antisnoring mouth guard that holds the teeth together and keeps the lower jaw muscles from becoming too lax.
6. Stop Smoking :- Smoke damages the respiratory system.
7. Keep a Regular Schedule :- Get plenty of sleep. Go to bed and get up at the same time each day.
8. See a Doctor if You Are Pregnant and Snoring :- Sometimes, women who are pregnant will begin to snore. The snoring may begin because of the increased body weight and because the hormonal changes of pregnancy cause muscles to relax. Whatever the cause, snoring during pregnancy may rob your baby of oxygen. Talk with your doctor about it.
9: Elevate Your Head :- Sleeping with your head raised may take some of the pressure off of the airway, making breathing easier. Raise the head of the bed by putting blocks under the bed posts, or prop up your upper body (not just your head, which can actually inhibit breathing) with pillows.

Excessive snoring may also indicate that you have sleep apnea, a serious sleep disorder. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that you see your doctor if:

* You wake up during the night choking and gasping for breath

* You have been told that your snoring is disturbing to others

* You don't feel refreshed when you wake up

* You are extremely tired during the day

* You wake with a headache

* You are gaining weight

* You have trouble concentrating, remembering, or paying attention

* Your bed partner notices that your breathing pauses during sleep

­It's important to have sleep apnea treated, not only because it interferes with your daily functioning, but because it boosts your risk of vascular disease. Sleep apnea can be treated with lifestyle modification, surgery, oral mouth guards, or a CPAP machine, which blows air into the back of your throat while you sleep. For more information see Sleep Apnea In-Depth.

5 Historical Hair Removal Methods

When you dig around the history of hair removal, it's pretty clear that humans have been trying to get rid of it ever since they've had it. The Neanderthal practiced primitive forms of shaving and hair cutting, perhaps to avoid lice or long, cumbersome locks that would get in the way during a wooly mammoth hunt. Plus, the hairy elders of the tribe would die "earlier" than the less-hairy youth, so there was a misguided link made between hair and beard length and lifespan. As humans evolved, facial hair became a fashion statement, so removing parts of it to achieve whatever look was in vogue became a necessity.

Women in many parts of the world were soon expected to keep their legs and armpits hairless, and when the bathing suit came into play, so did the expectation of a well-groomed bikini line. These days, hair removal is generally viewed as a cosmetic issue -- getting rid of that hairy back or the embarrassing female mustache. Most cultures have acceptable and unacceptable areas and amounts of hair, making it necessary to oblige these unwritten rules to avoid being ostracized. We'll go over five hair removal methods throughout history, from the Neanderthal using abrasive tools to modern laser techniques.



1: Laser

Laser hair removal is the common alternative to electrolysis when you're talking permanent hair removal. In this method, a laser light is cast onto the skin, ultimately targeting the hair follicle as heat. This produces inflammation and causes the follicle to permanently go into its resting phase. Though it was tinkered with starting in 1969 with fiber optics, the Food and Drug Administration did not clear the first laser removal system until 1995 [source: James]. The data is still out on just how permanent laser treatments can be, though many consumers have claimed that hair regrowth is rare. If you have light skin and dark hair, you're the best candidate for this technique because the lasers target dark areas on the body. It's noninvasive, and large areas can be treated in a single session. But it's also on the pricey side and can cause burns, skin discoloration and patchy regrowth if it's not performed properly. So like with electrolysis, do some homework and find an experienced and reputable technician.

2: Electrolysis

If temporary methods of hair removal aren't doing it for you, and you want to get rid of that back hair sticking out from the neck of your T-shirt for good, electrolysis may be a good option. This technique uses a thin metal needle to get to the base of the hair follicle, where it's zapped with an electric current. This effectively cauterizes the hair follicle and prevents future hair growth, if it's performed correctly. The downside is that it can be expensive if you have a large area to cover, and there can be some pain involved. And since each hair is zapped individually, it's fairly time consuming as well. On the plus side, it's been getting proven results since 1875 when it was first performed by Dr. Charles E. Michel to remove ingrown eyelashes [source: Richards]. Just make sure you find an experienced and reputable technician so you can achieve the desired result.

3: Sugaring

While this may sound like some kind of medieval torture method, it's actually gentler than its close cousin -- hair waxing. Sugaring first came onto the hair removal scene in ancient Egypt, but is enjoying resurgence today in high-end spas and salons. It's like waxing in that a warm paste mixture is applied to the skin, and then removed with a cotton strip. Where it differs is in the level of pain the user experiences. The soft, sugar-based paste only sticks to the hair, not the skin. This makes the removal part of the process easier to bear. The sugar mixture is also cooled to a pleasant room temperature, rather than the hotter wax. Finally, the sugar paste is all-natural, and as a result, easier on the skin than many of the petroleum-based waxes.

4: Threading

Threading, known as khite in Arabic, is another ancient hair removal technique that's regaining popularity today. It involves pulling the hair out by the root using a looped thread, and is typically used to shape eyebrows. The method of literally lassoing unwanted hairs and pulling them out is said to be less painful than plucking. It's also pretty inexpensive and lasts up to six weeks. One Chicago salon charges $5 for both eyebrows. The problem is finding a qualified practitioner. While American cosmetologists aren't trained in threading techniques, it remains popular in India and the Middle East, and is performed in salons in Indian and Muslim neighborhoods in larger cities in the United States.

5: Abrasives

Abrasives, or the friction method, have long been used to remove unwanted hair. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans are believed to have used dull stones like pumice and the sharper volcano glass to remove hair. This inexpensive and relatively painless process involves using a rough surface to "sand" away fine body hair at the skin's surface. Pumice is still used as a popular abrasive today to not only rid the body of hair, but dead skin cells and calluses as well. There are also gloves and mitts with a built-in abrasive surface. Rubbing the glove on the problem area in a circular motion will remove fine hair and exfoliate and smooth your skin in the process.