Here we go again! Gas prices are on the rise, which can only mean oil prices are on the rise too! And, when it happens, everyone gets a little itchy. And, here’s some more news you may not want to hear:

The International Monetary Fund predicts oil prices to double by the year 2022 from its historic high of $113 a barrel. The IMF was warned by the internal research team that a permanent doubling in oil prices could have significant implications in global trade.

According to the report, it’s something new for the world economy, which hasn’t seen these kinds of prices for more than several months at a time. This comes on the heels with world markets valuing crude at historically high levels of more than $110 a barrel and with the news from the International Energy Agency that oil consumption would continue to rise the remainder of the year.

Bear in mind that the IMF study doesn’t presume take into consideration how much oil can be removed from the ground. It prefers only the rates of extraction, which depend mainly on the price that companies can charge for the final product.

The report goes on to state that the model isn’t as negative as the pure geological interpretation that generally holds binding resource constraints that stipulate the world’s oil production is on the downward spiral. The prediction is that small additional increases in the world’s oil production will come at the expense of near doubled prices.

Why Oil Prices Are Seeing An Increase

Is it true? As most folks and governments know, continuously high oil prices are threatening the economic recovery of all countries. According to the International Energy Agency, crude prices will stay high throughout 2012 because of tensions in the west and Iran. However, the prices are also high because of unscheduled supply outages and limited spare production capacity.

How Oil Prices Can Spike Downwards

It’s also been debated that the peak oil argument in regards to finite resources will cause prices to skyrocket even more. However, the technological side of the argument says the high prices will cause the industry to look for new ways to extract the oil. However, it’ll also look for ways to combat those prices. How so?

One way to combat these extremely high prices comes in the form of using alternative fuel sources like methanol, ethanol or natural gas. Bring these competitors to the market, which are cleaner and cheaper, could bring oil prices down significantly, ensuring the world economics stay growing and healthy.

OPEC recently announced a similar statement, saying the demand for oil was no longer declining but rather on the upswing.

In many countries around the world, including the Philippines and France to name just two, mandatory profit sharing is being looked at rather seriously as a way to improve the income, and thus the lives, of millions of workers in their respective countries.

What Is The Initial Idea?

The reasoning behind this is quite simple, if not the actual enacting of the law; the heads of many major corporations typically make millions of dollars a year (or the respective country currency) while many workers who actually produce the goods and services that help make these millions walk away with barely enough to survive, let alone thrive.

If profit sharing were made mandatory the wealth of some of the biggest companies would be distributed more fairly among all of the people who actually work to make the company profitable to begin with. It’s a sound idea but not without its detractors.

The governments of these countries believe that this is a necessary step to distribute wealth among the people at the lower rungs of major business instead of the very select few who are at the top taking home the lion’s share of the profit.

Interestingly enough, while most major companies are against this the federal governments are in favor, mostly because it will enable them to keep better track of what taxes are paid and if they are correct. This fact has not gone unnoticed by many heads of industry.

Which Country’s Are Already Implementing It?

In France they have enacted laws that guarantee the paying of bonuses to employees by certain businesses but, if that company pays their employees with profit sharing, they are exempt. In effect these companies are choosing to profit share with their employees rather than be forced by the government to pay bonuses.

In the Philippines there are some that believe workers will be more inclined to work harder and more diligently if they know that their effort will be rewarded at the end of the fiscal year, an opinion that many agree with.

It’s not an idea that is universally loved by any means, and many heads of large corporations are vehemently against it for obvious reasons. However, as the gap between rich and poor widens and the idea makers slowly run out of ideas on how to close the gap, this may be one whose time has come.

How many times have you heard the following, “before beginning a weight loss program, consult your physician”? There are several reasons for this statement, one of which is to check on your thyroid. Most people don’t know, or don’t understand, that their thyroid’s health is crucial to their weight. Why does such a tiny organ have such control over the body’s weight?

A Look At The Thyroid Gland: Where It’s At and What Is Its Function

Now, the thyroid is part of the endocrine glands and located in the neck near the trachea under the thyroid cartilage, which makes up the Adam’s apple. It works by releasing the iodine-containing compound thyroxin hormone right into the bloodstream. Now, the thyroid gland is what controls the body in how it uses energy, generates proteins and control how hormone-sensitive the body is. Thus, it’s in charge of the following:

• Body temperature regulation
• Metabolism regulation
• Carbohydrate, fat and protein regulation
• Maintenance of skeletal maturation

In the majority of Americans, the thyroid gland is nearly sluggish to merely inactive – this is very true of American women. The leading cause of the American obesity epidemic is an inactive or underactive thyroid gland. The reason? An inactive or underactive thyroid will spoil the metabolism.

What Does That Mean For Weight Loss

It means that regardless of what you try and do, you won’t be able to lose the weight… not until you have your thyroid levels under control. When you can’t lose the weight, it means you’re suffering with hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism will slow the metabolism down, which allows the pounds to add on. And, when this happens, losing the five to 10 pounds you have gained is extremely difficult to lose. Hypothyroidism will also cause you to feel sluggish, giving you no energy to exercise. This all adds up to additional weight.

How You Can Control Your Thyroid Condition and Control Your Weight

If you want to lose weight, you must get control over your hypothyroidism. If you speed up your metabolism, the weight won’t keep adding on. You will also have additional energy to want to exercise. What’s the best way to gain control over your thyroid? You’ll need to use a thyroid hormone supplement such as Levothyroxine (Synthroid or Levoxyl), which is a synthetic form of the thyroid hormone.

Bear in mind that even if you get the hypothyroidism under control, it can still be difficult to drop the weight. So, it’s important to work in conjunction with your doctor to ensure that your thyroid hormone levels are under control and that you have an exercise plan that will help you to drop the weight.

Sugar… it’s found in nearly all things you eat. And, the general consensus about sugar is that it’s bad for you. In response to this “thought”, many companies have developed sugar substitutes such as aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, neotame and acesulfame potassium. But, is it all just hype? Is sugar as bad as people have claimed it to be? And, are sugar substitutes a worthwhile option? Are they better for you than actual table sugar? These are just some of the commonly asked questions people want answers to.

A Look At The Commonly Known Chemical Sugar: Aspartame

This is one chemical that should not be in your body. But, more than 200 million folks do because it’s found in over 6,000 products – diet soda, desserts, chewing gum, vitamins, yogurt, etc. There are three chemicals in aspartame:

1. Aspartic acid (40 percent)
2. Phenylalanine (50 percent)
3. Methanol (10 percent)

Aspartic Acid – Too much of the aspartic acid will kill certain types of neurons because it allows for too much calcium to get into the cells. This will also lead to an increase of free radicals that kill the cells. And, the problem with aspartame is that you don’t recognize the symptoms until it’s too late. Some chronic illnesses include

• Memory loss
• Hearing loss
• Epilepsy
• Hormonal problems
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease

Phenylalanine – This is a common amino acid in the brain; but, persons with phenylketonuria are unable to metabolize phenylalanine, which can lead to very high phenylalanine levels in the brain. The levels can also increase if you ingest aspartame and consume a lot of carbs…even without PKU.

Methanol – This is a deadly poison, and when you ingest free methanol, methanol absorption will increase. Methanol occurs after aspartame has heated up to more than 86 degrees, which occurs when an aspartame product has been stored improperly Methanol poisoning has many symptoms including:

• Behavioral disturbances
• Dizziness
• Ear buzzing
• Gastrointestinal disturbances
• Headaches
• Memory lapses
• Vision problems
• Weakness

So, do you really think aspartame is safe? There are so many dangers associated with this chemical. Aspartame can cause cancer and so many health dangers. It really isn’t worth using or consuming so avoid products that have this or any other sugar substitute.

What Does This Mean About Sugar

People have long heard that eating sugar is so bad for them, which is the key reason for the popularity of sugar substitutes. However, here’s the real deal: eating TOO much sugar is bad for you. What can an overload of sugar do to the body? It can lead to:

• Chromium deficiency
• Cognition
• Diabetes
• Gum disease
• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Premature aging
• Stress
• Tooth decay
• Unstable blood glucose

When you consume sugar in moderation, you control the above health conditions. Sugar is also good for another reason: it is one type of carbohydrates, which are good for you. Why? They give your body the energy it needs to work. Keep in mind that you need to watch where you get your sugar from – candy, soda and baked goods –, as some sugars, like sucrose, have no nutritional value.

So, how much sugar is too much sugar? The recommendation for women is not consume more than 24 grams of sugar while men should not consume more than 36 grams of sugar. The problem is that most folks take in two times more than that maximum amount. Moderation is key when it comes so sugar consumption. Be sure you’re mindful of the foods you purchase since many products are loaded with sugar such as sodas, cookies, cakes, processed foods, etc.

Now that you understand what causes back and neck pain, it’s time to learn what can do to stop your suffering with it all. Bear in mind you already know that getting exercise and correctly lifting and bending are two ways to alleviate the pain. But, what does that mean about posture?! Posture is everything when it comes to your back and neck pain.

A Look At The Different Postures and What You Should Be Doing Instead

Posture 1 – Arching When You’re Standing and Carrying Something

When you allow your back to sway, it causes the upper body’s weight to press down on your lower back. When you have a sway back, it’s because you have bad posture. The condition, also known as lordosis, is a learned condition, not a hereditary condition. If you have spondylolisthesis, which causes one back bone to fall forward onto the next bone, it will add to the arching.  Thus, you should not be slouching as much as possible.

Keep in mind that each magazine from fitness to fashion has picture that have people standing with their back arched and their behind stick out or drooping forward. What you should know is that none of this is good – it’s all bad posture! Don’t do it!

What should you be doing instead? You need to decrease the large curve in the lower back. Slightly tuck under the hips under you without pushing them forward. You don’t want to curl your upper frame forward.  Use the muscles to straighten the spine enough so that you stand with a bit of an inward lower back curve and good standing posture.  You don’t want to have your neck craned forward and your butt to stick out.

When you’re carrying something, you don’t want to lean back, hike your body or hunch forward. Rather, use your muscles when carrying things.

Posture 2 – Forward Head

When you stand and sit with both your chin and head forward, it’s known as forward head. The look is old and often contributes to the majority of neck and back pain as well as causes tension headaches. Are you always letting your head all forward when you walk and carry something? What about this moment? How is your head leaning right now?

How should you be holding your head? You want to gently and easily pull in your chin. You don’t want it to hurt. Be sure the chin-in is a part of your daily posture, not some exercise you do every day for a short time. Lie down on the floor with no pillow or stand with the back of your head and back against a wall. If you cannot do either one of these moves without hurting, then you’re too tight.

What you can do is hold up both your arms, bending them at the elbows like you are a stick up. Don’t allow your back to arch. Pull back your elbows one at a time. Be sure to use a wall to help you. This will allow you to stretch your chest to help you stand with better upper body and head posture. Do this stretch several times during the day.

Bad Posture 3 – Round Back

When your shoulders and back are rounded forward, it means you have bad posture.  When you walk with your shoulders and back hunched forward, carrying something, it’s even worse. Don’t slouch when you sit, bend or stand, it causes your back to excessively curve. In time, it’ll cause the discs to push outward.  It causes the long ligament that runs down the spine to overstretch, weakening the back, causing more discs to protrude.

What should you be doing? Be sure you stand and sit up straight. Use the chest stretch method to assist you in standing up straight. When you carry something, be sure you use the torso muscles to assist you. You don’t want the item you are carrying to cause you to slouch.

What does it all mean? It means posture is imperative to the health of your back and neck. Yes, back pain will come and go and people will try whatever means possible to stop their back pain. However, if you know and use the simple mechanics of proper posture, you don’t have to use the strange and unusual relief techniques. Be sure you get regular exercise, eat right and ensure you have proper posture to keep your back and neck healthy.

Do you suffer with neck and back pain often? If you do, then you know how debilitating it can be to your life. When you have back and neck pain, it keeps you from enjoying life to the fullest. After all, you’re concentrating on the pain and not on life. But, there’s no reason for you to suffer in these areas at all! With some helpful tips, you can keep the pain at bay in these regions and fix them when they do occur so that you can enjoy your life like you should be doing.

Why Back and Neck Pain Occurs: It All Comes Down To Posture

It’s important, before you know how to stop back and neck pain, to learn why it occurs in the first place. Did you know that most back and neck pain is cumulative without you even realizing it? Even if the pain is sudden or begins after an accident, the pain actually began from some simple bad habits you had (or have). What you need to do is identify what the abusive patterns are – bad sitting, bending and standing and weak, tight muscles – and quit doing them. For instance, look at your posture!

This tends to be the basis of the majority of back pain because you’re using the mechanics of your body wrong by always degenerating, injuring, squashing, straining and tearing it. All of this results in the early onslaught of wear and tear to your body.

And, here’s the kicker: Most folks won’t stand right despite the fact that they know it’ll fix most, if not all, of their pain. Why is that though? For three reasons, they don’t fix what can be fixed:

1. They hate the idea. After all, slouching is so much easier to do then using the body’s muscles to support it.
2. It’s unnatural to stand right. Most folks are weak and tight, which means they cannot stand right. Stand against a wall with your hips, heels, back of the head and upper back touching without arching the back or raising the chin. Can you do this? If not, then it means you’re too tight and weak. Tight, weak muscles means you’ll automatically slouch, which will further tighten and weaken the muscles.
3. It’s normal and desirable. What more can be said about this? What is normal about slouching all the time?

It’s Not Just Posture Though: Bad Lifting and Bending

Besides posture, the constantly bad bending and lifting you do will take a toll on your neck and back and cause you undue pain. How many times have you heard you should not lift heavy items (or even light ones) by behind at the waist? Still, you do it over and over – from picking up your socks to reaching for the milk in the refrigerator.

The reason this is so bad is that the weight from your upper body is constantly hanging on the lower back and its discs, which will puts strain on it. Imagine going to the gym and lifting weights in the same manner. It’s not real wonder why your back is in pain. When you forward bend, it places pressure on the discs like a water balloon. When it pushes back out, it causes the discs to herniate, which then presses on the nerves and sends pain down your leg. When you have tight muscles, the same nerves feel the pain but this is called sciatica. Stop the terrible habit of bending and lifting wrong and you’ll stop the pain in time.

Physical Inactivity Leads To Back and Neck Pain

When you lead a sedentary lifestyle, you’re just asking for back pain. The reason is that the lack of activity causes the physical body and posture to deteriorate and causes calcium to be lost. When you have tight, weak muscles, inactivity causes them to become even more tight and weak. Joints with poor blood supply will continue to have poor blood supply with the lack of activity. Thus, you need to be moving on a frequent basis to keep up the health of your discs and spine.

How many times today have you “stressed out” about “something”? If your life is hard – school, family and job – you may get stressed out. And, it’s common. But, what exactly causes someone’s stress?

Well, that depends on who you are! Every person is stressed out by something and they react in different ways to stress. For example: you might be afraid to talk in public. However, your friend may feel that talking in public is the way to relieve stress. Stress is different for everybody and you need to know what it is stressing you out.

Keep in mind that stress is not just mental; it’s also physical and, for some folks, eating is the way to cope with stress. This is a very bad habit to have. After all, eating to cope with stress is the surefire way to gain weight, weight and more weight! Before you know it, you’re certainly not the same person you were before the stress took hold on your life.

After all, when you’re stressed out, you don’t go for the good food. Rather, you reach for the sugary, loaded with fat food such as ice cream, cakes, candy, etc. These foods, as you know, will pile on the weight.

Research: Stress Causes The Body’s Appetite To Shut Down

According to research, stress shuts down the body’s appetite. The brain has a structure known as the hypothalamus, which products a corticotrophin-release hormone. This will suppress the appetite. The brain sends the adrenal glands messages to release epinephrine (or adrenaline). This is what causes the body to experience the fight or flight response, which can keep people from wanting to eat.

However, stress causes the adrenal glands to release cortisol, another hormone, which increases the appetite and the motivation to eat. When the stress is over, the level of cortisol should drop. However, if the stress does not go away, the cortisol stays high.

3 Ways Of How You Can Deal With Stress

As you see, it’s not just about eating well or exercising that helps you to lose weight. You also have to reduce the amount of stress in your life to ensure you stick to those good eating habits. How can you reduce the stress in your life?

1 – Exercise

Yes, exercising is a great way to reduce stress. It works to temporarily decrease the level of cortisol in the body. While intense exercises can work, the best types of exercises are ones that focus on meditation such as yoga and tai chi.

2 – Meditation

Numerous researches suggest that meditation can reduce stress, although they were primarily focused on heart disease and high blood pressure. Meditation can help people make better food choices. Thus, instead of grabbing the snacky, sweet and/or salty foods, you choose foods that are better for you such as apples, bananas, etc.

3 – Social Support

People who are under stress need the help of their family and friends to get through the tough time. If your job is the cause of your stress, it’s important to talk to someone about the situation. Talking about it and listening to the advice can help you overcome the stressor.

As you see, losing weight isn’t just about consuming the right foods or getting enough exercise. It also means focusing on your mental health and reduces the stresses that you have in your life. When you can do that – and do exercises and eating well – you can lose the weight you want and feel good all at the same time.

You know the sun is important. After all, it’s the giver of life for plants, animals and humans. Without the sun, life on Earth would not exist; it’s the planet’s energy source. Thus, you need the sun to stay healthy. Most folks have no real realization that sunlight contains Vitamin D. And, vitamin D is important to the body in many ways such as preventing diabetes, obesity, rickets, cancer, osteoporosis and depression. Of course, an overexposure of sunlight increases one’s risk for cancer and other diseases.

Yes, you read right! Vitamin D is beneficial in treating depression. Keep in mind that during the winter months, more and more people suffer with depression, which is partially because the sun is not as strong as it is during the summer.

Depression Symptoms: How Do You Know You’re Suffering From It?

You might be wondering how you know if you’re experiencing the symptoms of depression. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you feel hopeless or helpless?
2. Are you restless or irritable?
3. Are you criticizing yourself for mistakes and faults that you perceive?
4. Are you experiencing unintended weight loss or gain?
5. Are you not enjoying the things you used to do?
6. Are you having problems sleeping?
7. Do you feel like you have no energy whatsoever?
8. Do you have aches and pains you can’t explain?
9. Are you having problems remembering things?

If you have answered yes to more than one question and don’t have any other reason as to why that may be, you could be suffering with depression.

How Does The Sun Help With Depression Symptoms?

Again, the sun has vitamin D and vitamin D is what you need to treat your depression and its symptoms. It does this by increasing the level of serotonin in the brain. That’s why your mood is better during the summer months than the winter ones. It’s also the reason that, during the overnight hours, the levels of serotonin decrease while the level of melatonin (sleep hormone) increase. Serotonin is a necessity to keep your mood balanced.

How Much Sun Is Enough?

It’s not really clear how much sun is needed to keep the levels of serotonin up and depression at bay. The reason is that there are several factors at play:

• Where one lives
• Season
• Sun exposure level
• Type of skin

But, according to experts, it’s best to get enough sun without burning, usually 20 minutes at a time during the summer. In the winter season, you’ll need to spend more time outdoors or consume vitamin D supplements and foods with the vitamin.

5 Techniques You Can Use To Relieve The Stress In Your Life

It’s extremely important for your health that you learn how to manage stress or overcome stressful situations. After all, not overcoming the stress can ensure that you suffer with the above health conditions. With some helpful techniques, however, you can start living your life again – something everybody should want to do.

1 – Take A Deep Breath

You might be surprised by how much stress you can release with a deep breath.  The best thing you can do for yourself is to take about 10 to 15 minutes of time to yourself, blocking out all noise. Concentrate on just your breathing, going slow and thinking about nothing else.

2 – Exercise

Would you believe that exercising can do you a world of good? Take time out to go swimming or join an aerobics class. If you have a gym membership, have a workout there. Exercising will relieve your stress and make you feel better overall.

3 – Relax In A Warm Bath

Another way to combat stressful feelings is to soak in warm water. Do you remember the commercial for Calgon? In it, women would say, “Calgon, take me away!” Well, that’s pretty much what you’re doing with warm bath water. You’re allowing it to bring your body peace and serenity. Consider adding in essential oils to further the bathtub experience.

4 – Garden

If you’ve got a green thumb (and even if you don’t), gardening can help you to relieve stress. After all, the soil has several nutrients in it, which the human skin can soak up. Gardening allows you to put your stress to good use by growing beautiful flowers or some wonderfully tasty vegetables and fruit.

5 – Get Plenty Of Sleep

Your body needs to rest to release the stress. You want to get enough sleep to release that stress; but, if you’re spending most of your overnight hours tossing and turning, you’re not getting the sleep you need to feel relaxed in the morning.  If you’re unable to get eight good hours of sleep, four to five hours of good sleep will do you just as good.

While stress can be good for you when handled correctly, stress can also work against you. If you’re unable to cope with stressful situations and none of the above has helped you to get a grip on it, it’s best to talk with a therapist to get to the root of the problem. The therapist may suggest prescription medications along with talk therapy to help you move past what is bugging you.

Stress… many folks have it and it’s quite normal to experience. Stress can keep your alert and aware of your surroundings. Now, for some folks, the ability to handle stressful situations is a bit easier than others. And, for the folks who are unable to handle stress, it can hinder every part of their life – socially, financially, etc. Thus, it’s highly important to understand all the reasons why stress strikes, what it does to them and how those adversely affected by it can get their life back.

Most folks think that having stress is a bad thing. However, it’s important for you to understand that not all stress is bad. When you’re stressed about a test or work, it can make you perform better and get more work done, making you feel like you’ve gotten something accomplished. Still, any stress that causes your mind and body to be unable to cooperate is a problem you must overcome.

Why Do People Have Stress: Factors That Make People Feel Anxious and Stressed Out

You might be wondering what can cause you stress and, in the end, anxiety. Well, there are a number of things. In fact, many of them are personal-related, which cause you great harm. And, some of these factors can be combined with others, making it that much more imperative to seek treatment for stress.  What factors can bring on stress and anxiety?

1. Work issues
2. Excessive amount of deadlines
3. Illnesses
4. Relationship issues
5. Financial worries
6. Household running
7. Traveling
8. Noise
9. Family issues
10. Moving

How Do You Know When You Are Stressed Out

You might be wondering when you feel stressed out. Here’s what you need to understand: stress will not affect everyone in the same exact. Thus, how you feel could be entirely different from a friend of yours who is under similar stress. Several common symptoms of stress include:

• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Excessive need to pee
• Headaches
• Inability to swallow
• Insomnia
• Muscle tightness
• Nightmares
• Sexual problems
• Sweating

Why Stress Can Be Bad For The Body: The Physical and Physiological Symptoms Of Stress

If a person is under too much stress, it can be extremely hard on the body.  If you’re always stressed out, your body will begin to feel its effects and that’s not good for you… or your body. Keep in mind that your body isn’t able to discriminate the difference between psychological or physical threats so regardless of what’s causing you stress, your body is going to react in the same manner. What health problems are linked to chronic stress?

• Immune system suppression
• High blood pressure
• Increased risk for stroke and heart attacks
• Infertility
• Speed increase of aging process

It’s important to note that extreme long periods of stress can rewrite the brain, which makes someone feel depressed and anxious all the time. Stress will also exacerbate:

• Obesity
• Autoimmune diseases
• Pain
• Sleep issues
• Digestive issues
• Skin problems