Coffee is one of the things I can’t live without. I admit it, I wake up in the morning and the first thing that lightens my day is that first sip of fresh, steaming coffee.

Every thing feels better all of a sudden. I regain my vitality and begin a new day. I do not know what I would do without my morning coffee. I am not a morning person, I hate waking yup in the morning and this feeling hasn’t gone away during the years. But coffee helps me start fresh every day and puts a smile on my face.

Caffeine is the key ingredient of coffee. I t can also be found in several other drinks such as Coca-Cola, energy drinks, tea , Mountain Dew, diet coke and so on. But what is exactly caffeine? Are there any healthy effects of caffeine or is it just bad for one’s health? This has been a long disputed debate and like in many others, both sides did quite a good job of stating their case.

Caffeine is actually a naturally occurring substance which nowadays is considered the most commonly used psychoactive drug. The word “caffeine” originates in the French word “café” and the German word “kaffee” which both mean coffee. Caffeine is found in the seeds, plants or fruits of more than 63 plants encountered all over the world.

More than 80 percent of the world’s population daily consumes caffeine, under one form or another, so we must ask ourselves what are the healthy effects of caffeine, if any, and is it indeed addictive? Or is it just its’ special flavor that draws us to consume it day after day?

The issue of caffeine addiction is another reason for debate. Those who support the idea that caffeine is addictive have shown the results of a study made on people. When not given the daily amount of caffeine, they experienced depressed moods, tiredness, headaches, difficulty concentrating. On the other hand, caffeine supporters have proven that it is in fact the special taste, flavor and aroma of caffeine drinks that draws us to consume them daily.

But what are the healthy effects of caffeine? Are there any? Caffeine is considered a temporary stimulant to daily fatigue and helps people get through long working days. Studies have shown that caffeine may improve logical thinking and memory.

Coffee, chocolate and tea, which are caffeine-containing drinks, contain antioxidants which benefit the health of the heart and fight against cancer. Asthma patients have been treated using caffeine for years. Nowadays researchers have discovered that coffee drinkers have 80 percent less chances to develop Parkinson’s. Caffeine also reduces the risk of diabetes and colon cancer.

All in all, if consumed in normal quantities, caffeine can do more good to one’s health than it can damage it. So, drink up!

The recipe that will grant you a healthy heart is very simple and accessible to each and every one of us. First of all we should realize the fact that the heart is the most important organ in our body and is the engine that keeps us alive. There are a few elements that can influence the health state of your heart: blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and obesity.

Keeping the blood pressure under control is one of the basics if you wish to have a healthy heart. Unfortunately, blood pressure can not be taken apart from the other dangers that threaten your heart, but it has been proved that it goes hand in hand with obesity, diabetes and many other diseases.

Keeping blood pressure under control helps the fight against the cardio vascular diseases, against heart stroke and many others. Nowadays, there a lot of ways in which we can take care of this aspect, like: reducing the content of salt from our daily menu and taking medication prescribed by the doctor, which will ease the stress on your blood vessels.


The cholesterol level directly influences the state of the arteries that carry the blood towards and from the hearth to the other organs. The heart is a muscle that is linked to a huge net made from arteries. In fact, the heart works like a pump that circulates the blood in the circulatory system. If the pipes (the arteries) get stuck, or have mud into them (this is the cholesterol, that thickens the blood vessels interior) the pump will have to work much harder in order to get the entire job done.


Smoking is another bad habit that will affect the health of your heart, and will destroy your body in many ways: the smoke of the cigarette contains nicotine which will eventually create dependence. The cigarettes also contain tar, which will affect your lungs and can even lead you to lung cancer and all sorts of modification at the levels of the lung cells, and carbon monoxide will affect the structure of your blood and that of the blood vessels. So I guess anyone can see that smoking is definitely not one of the recipes for having a healthy heart.

The good news regarding this aspect is that the modification suffered at the level of the cardiovascular system will soften and eventually disappear if you stop smoking.


Another important aspect is body weight. Obesity is the cause that leads to many other problems that will eventually hurt your heart. It determines high blood pressure, diabetes, the raising of the blood sugar level any many others. Studies have proved that any person that weights 30 percent more than he or she should weight is more likely to develop a heart disease than a person with a normal body weight.

Health is our most valued good but we only realize it when it is gone and there is a problem with us. Many of our diseases are caused by the way we chose to lead our lives, to feed, to enjoy and appreciate it. Each and every side of the health triangle is in close connection to the other two into a positive union that means that we are healthy, or in a negative one, which means that we are unbalanced and most probably ill. Here is an example: blood pressure influences a person’s reactions and emotions, emotions are felt at the level of the digestive system and cause the bad absorption of food, which causes a nutritional deficiency which eventually causes a muscular weakness that goes back and influences the blood pressure.



The three sides of the health triangle are: structural health, biochemical health and psychic health. Structural health refers to the system made from muscle and bones and is related to the small accidents that might happen, for example a wrench, to the structural instability, for example a bad posture that will eventually give you back bone problems or to the articulation disorders, that can lead to articulation pain(knee aches for example).

Biochemical health is the domain of the doctors and the nutritionists, and, whereas the first ones use “chemicals” to control the functions of the body, the others use the “nutrients”. From a chemical point of view, there are a lot of causes responsible for the start up of one disease:



-the excess or the lack of one particular nutrient, which may cause serious health problems
-the intolerance to one food product, which will probably lead to the lack of some particular substance
-the xenobiotics, which are substances that can be found in our body but are not produced by it, for example medication, industrial chemical products, pesticides, pollutants that appear in the structure of the food that we eat because of its processing methods, toxins produced by mould
-endocrinology problems
-medication, which we sometimes take without the doctor’s recommendation and which usually makes more trouble rather that help.



The psychic health is the area of the psychologists and of the psychiatrists and they work both with medication and with the sensory stimuli: verbal, visual, olfactory, tactile and gustatory messages. For the psychic side of the health triangle it is essential that one individual can have many emotional conditions. Passing from one emotional condition to another without any trouble is healthy, and makes you a healthy human being from a psychic point of view. On the contrary, sticking too much to one emotional condition makes you ill. Every individual has emotional levels, different from one another and which are gained during a long period of time.

For many of us, the quiet days spent in holidays with our families are a good occasion of eating a lot and gaining weight. Once vacation is over, the extra kilos become a reason of anguish because especially in summer the thin clothes will emphasize your new weight. So my proposal is that we take care and establish rules for home health, so that we never encounter this problem again.



The first important principle that will help you remain fit is to drink as much water as you can. Doctors advise us that the quantity of water that we drink every day is not less than two liters a day. It is a very good detoxifying method, especially if you drink a few glasses in the morning before starting to eat and if you keep drinking water all day the hunger sensation will not be that powerful because your stomach will be filled at all times.

Replace sodas and all kinds of juices with water, so that you can get rid of the sugar that is found in a very large quantity in their composition. Another option is freshly made juice that you can prepare yourself from fruits. This is a very good and simple example of home health that does not require too much effort.

Buy a lot of fruits, and whenever you feel like eating a sandwich that has very large calorie content, eat an apple or a banana. This will keep your weight under control and will help you get the vitamins you need in order to be healthy. They also say that if you eat a lot of fruit your skin will look better too. Try and choose especially berries that are very rich in vitamins.

During holidays, many people’s main activity is shopping, so you have to be careful what you are buying, I suggest that the quantities of food that you buy are smaller that the ones you usually do. Even if it is more profitable to buy a larger quantity so that you can get a smaller price you should know that more food means extra kilos for you, so you should stick to the normal size.



Don’t drink too much alcohol. Drinking a glass of wine is recommended by the doctor, but it contains a lot of sugar and has a high calorie level, so try to avoid drinking more that one glass. Besides its rich calorie content, it will induce the hunger sensation.

You should eat only when you are really hungry, do not under any circumstances develop the habit of eating snacks in front of the TV, because the combination of sedentary life and unhealthy food is the worst thing you can do. Try instead a walk in the park.

Studies show that all over the world over eight percent of the male population and about one percent of the female population are color blind. In the European Union, the United States and Japan there were recorded a total number of 32.6 million color bind people. Color blindness is translated into the incapacity of distinguishing two or more colors, or even all the color spectrum, the most well known form of it is the impossibility to distinguish red from green.  The loss of information due to color blindness influences the health related quality of life, the security of processing the information around and they broaden the time of reaction, because these people need more time to realize what is going on.



The first person that described this disease was the English chemist John Dalton, which lived in the 18^th century, and who, together with his brother, were the first people that realizes they were color blind. In 1794 hr published the first book a color blindness and its effects on the health related quality of life called “Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colors”.



This is a genetic disease, but it can also be developed in time due to the contact with several chemical substances, and the risk of getting it grows together with ageing. The misperception of colors can have a lot of forms, and it is considered a handicap, because there are over one hundred and sixty jobs that you can not do if you are a color blind person. A person with a correct vision can make distinction between millions of colors, whereas a color blind person can distinguish only a few thousand or eve hundreds. The color blind person will not be able too see you blush or pale, will not be able to make the difference between the green fruit or the ripened ones, and will not distinguish the members of the football teams by the color of their t-shirt.



Though there are times when a color blind person has an advantage over the others: the color blind hunters are the first to spot their catch, the soldiers will immediately spot the enemies because they are not fooled by the camouflage clothes, and the monochromatic people can see in the dark. There is no cure to this disease, and its diagnosis is made by a few tests involving a colored piece of paper that has a letter or a number written on it with a slightly different color than the background. The ill person will not distinguish the letter. This disease can not be treated, but it can be softened if the patients wear a special kind of contact lenses, which will help them distinguish more colors than they normally do.

A healthy heart lives in a healthy body, so if you want to avoid cardiovascular diseases you have to keep track of two major aspects: a healthy diet and regular physical exercise. The health of your heart is in direct relation to the quality of the food that you eat, so choose aliments that are based on wheat germ, eat different fruit and vegetables every day, choose a diet low in cholesterol and without too many fat dishes, choose natural fresh juices if you feel the need to eat something sweet, loose the salt, drink alcohol responsibly, try to keep a healthy body weight according to your height and age and never let a day pass by without physical exercise. In case you have some problems related to the cholesterol level or high blood pressure you should see a nutrition specialist and discuss a diet plan which will help you keep these problems under control.



The list of the food you are supposed to eat contains fresh fruit, fresh citric juices, low fat yogurts, low fat milk, rye bread and cereals. Take into consideration a few pieces of advice that can help you accomplish your goal:
-replace the juice you buy from the supermarket with still water with lemon, mineral water, spritzer (this is a beverage that contains half mineral water and half natural fresh juice), tea or tomato juice.
- eat the bread without butter or margarine, any type of bread has a low caloric value if it is not associated with them
-eat sea food, fresh fruit and diet salads as an appetizer
- your main courses should be very much based on chicken meat, fish, clams, vegetables and salads. You have to be careful at the way you cook them too, and try to avoid butter, margarine and salt.
- eat a lot of salads and use as ingredients fresh cauliflower, spinach, green pea pods, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage.
-for desert choose fresh fruit, low fat yogurt or sorbet. If you drink tea or coffee, try to drink them without sugar and in combination with low fat milk.



There are a few chemical substances that are fount in different fruit and vegetables and that influence to a great extent out health. Potassium is found in many fruit and vegetables, in the diary products and in fish and it helps us maintain a healthy heart by lowering the blood pressure.



Calcium and magnesium are found in diary products, broccoli, salads and products rich in wheat germs and is related too to the health of heart. Do not drink too much coffee: caffeine causes the temporary raise of the blood pressure, and you should not drink very much of it, whether you are intolerant to it or not.

People can suffer from accidents at the work place or can develop in time job related diseases. The employer’s duty is to make sure that all employees work in good conditions and that for all of them the working environment is suitable with their safety, health and welfare. Because women represent a very high percent of the total working class it is important that the employers are aware of women health conditions.



All of the working areas should be very clean, should have access to fresh air and to direct sunlight, and they should be equipped with proper tools so that you can do your job very easy and in good conditions. You should have different restrooms, separate men from women with sinks so that you can wash your hands and dryers. In order to keep women health at a high tier, they should have an efficient and hygienic sanitary protection system.

The buildings that you work in should not be old and damaged, but be careful because even the new buildings can have a malfunctioning ventilation system that can give you headaches, respiratory problems, sleep disorders and many other health problems. Some activities cause accidents that are specific to the operations the workers have to do. This is mainly because they were not given proper instructions on how to use the equipment in the factory.



For example, if you are working with dangerous substances they should have big labels which say “poisoned” or “toxic” and should have instructions that tell you what to do if you get in contact with these substances. Everybody would run in the bathroom and wash their hands, or the part of the body that has been in contact with the chemical substance. This is very wrong because some of the substances have chemical reactions in contact to water, so you should really have an instruction book that tells you exactly what to do if a thing like this happens.

Sometimes you need to take a break from work. Regular breaks are compulsory to the people that during work need to make repeated movements with the hands, because otherwise they might get arms troubles. This is an occupational hazard to the people working in the textile production industry, food production industry, manual assembly lines, cleaning, and hair dressing) and represent a high percent of the job related women health problems, because they work mainly in these fields of activity.



Try and take short breaks of about five or ten minute every hour instead of getting only one long break. This will help you keep focused, because fresh air is very important for the brain to rest for a few minutes from time to time. It is also very good for the eyes, which too have the chance to rest for a little while.

Surveys made over the few years show that men are more reluctant when it comes to making an appointment to the doctor that women are, and that they really hate going to the doctor and telling him or her about their diseases. This is why you will not find many articles which answer health questions for men. It is a taboo subject, but if you do not talk about a problem, it does not mean that you do not have it. There are a few rules you should obey, and, together with a few visits to the doctor, they should keep you in perfect condition.



The first thing you need to do is stop smoking. The number of people that die from diseases caused by or associated to smoking is higher that the number of people that dir in car accidents. If you stop smoking you will considerably reduce the risk of lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases (heart stroke), prostate cancer, and circulatory problems and so on. But still lots of people still smoke, and most of them are men. Make a list of all the problems smoking is causing and read them every day, it will help you quit. And think about something else you can do with all that money, because cigarettes are not cheap at all.



Keep track of your weight and go on a diet if it is necessary. Although the number of obese women is a little higher than the one of obese men, this has been a very big problem over the last years, and the percentage of people affected by obesity is growing. This might have two causes: either your thyroid is not working as it should work or you really eat very much. Or maybe both. You have to go to the doctor and he will be able to check if you have thyroid problems and give you proper treatment which will help it work again. You can establish a diet plan together with him and in a few months you can go back to your normal weight. The thyroid can work the other way around too. If you are too skinny and eat very much at every meal, than you might have a problem. Most people are very glad that they can eat everything they want and not put on weight but this is bad, because in time it will affect other organs that it is related to.



Another health question for men is related to the alcohol consumption. The alcohol consumption is to be made moderately. If you do not drink large quantities alcohol is good for the health, it is the doctor’s recommendation that you drink a glass of wine during your meal. But if the glass turns into a bottle, than we have a problem.

There are a few things that everybody that wants to buy a horse needs to know about equine health. The horse should be kept in a stable and cleaned every day. This aspect is compulsory for its health and hygiene. Making the daily toilet of the horse is a good time to check the state of its skin, legs and hooves.



In a wild environment horses have many ways of cleaning their skin and getting read of the parasites: mud baths, rolling in sand and water, scratching against tree trunks. If the horse is kept in a stable, this thing is up to the owner’s good will. The combing of the hair carries out mud, muck and dust, cleans the skin and untangles the mane and the tail.



This is also a form of massage that releases muscle tension and stimulates blood circulation. During the making of the toilet, the owner can notice small abrasions of the skin, skin rashes, abnormally warm zones of the body and inflamed areas. Briefly, making the horse’s toilet is the best way to check equine health. Horses are strong animals, that is way some diseases may be discovered when it is too late and they can not be treated any more. This is why you have to pay attention to any sign of weakness or distress your horse may present.

Make sure that you have the equipment for the daily toilet: you need a comb (preferably one made of rubber), a stiff brush with long hairs, maybe a brush made from roots and a soft brush. You have to tie the horse outside before combing it; this will keep you and him from inhaling the dust that comes out of its hair. Clean the hooves at first, a lot of mud and muck stick to the horse shoe, and the horse itself will never be able to clean it on its own. If you disregard this operation you may find out later that one of his legs got infected, and leg troubles are very hart to treat on horses due to their weight and to the fact that they very rarely lie down, so the leg has no time to recover.



The combing will make him look and feel better because it cleans the hair and thrusts away the parasites that may be found on the horse’s skin. He will feel more comfortable, so he will be more willing to cooperate with you when you are going to ride it or train it. Horses are very sensitive animals, they scare very easily and will feel your affection, the combing will be a good way to get closer to them and make friends. So this is a good method to strengthen your relationship with the horse.

There are two kinds of health products: the regular ones and the ones that pretend to be made from natural products only. There are a lot of products that pretend to be made only from natural ingredients, but if you look closer on the label you will find all sorts of additives and compounds that have nothing to do with nature, but are of industrial origin. This applies very much to the cosmetic health products. You will find a wide range of products like this in the so-called “natural products shops” which have increased very much their number these days.



They are indeed different from the classical products, but no one will be able to guarantee that they are better or more effective than the other products you will find on the market. It is quite a fashion these days to chase the natural products when it comes to food, but when it comes to health products, too. If you are able to find a range of products that are really made out only from natural ingredients stick to it, because they are great and they work really well, but watch out for the fake ones, which have filled the shop windows and are most of the times more expensive than the classical ones.



Watch out for the label that lists the content of the body lotion or face mask you intend to buy and you will see there the entire composition of the product you are going to buy. The real natural health products usually have a very short validity period, because the ingredients that they are made from can not last in their original shape for a very long period of time. I mean, you can not put cucumber juice in a face mask and expect it to be ready to use for a whole year.

It is ok to use these types of products but make sure that they are the real thing, and try to get information, on the internet or at the drug store about their origin. You will find reviews on most of the products on the internet, and user opinions, too. You can also get informed on the exact type of product you have to buy, because they are not divided into categories like regular products (dry skin, normal skin or oily skin face cream).



If the natural product you bought is good for you, then you can use it for a long time without changing it because skin does not react to natural products as it does in the case of regular cosmetics. The classical cosmetics need to be changed after a few years or even a few moths, because the skin stops reacting to the chemical ingredients.