It's Flu Season - Protect Yourself!Written by Sherri Allen
When you ask most people what season it is, they'll tell you it's winter. Many health professionals, however, will answer a little differently. They'll tell you it's flu season. Although flu can actually be caught at any time of year, heaviest flu activity occurs between December and March. That means, if you haven't already started flu prevention, you need to start now. Of course, number one method for preventing flu is vaccination. For a lot of Americans this year, however, that is not an option due to flu vaccine shortage. If you are in a high-risk category (i.e. over 64, suffering from a chronic illness, pregnant , child between 6-23 months or caregiver of child under 6 months) and haven't yet been vaccinated, you should contact your doctor or local government health department immediately to try to get a vaccination. For millions of Americans who didn't get vaccinated this year, here are some tips to help with flu prevention: * Wash Your Hands. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu virus spreads "in respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing." Imagine this scenario: someone with flu coughs into his/her hand. The flu virus is now on his/her hand. Then he/she touches a shopping cart, or a doorknob, or a checkout counter, etc. The flu virus is now on whatever he/she touched. Then you touch same object. The flu virus is now on YOUR hand. You touch your eyes, nose or mouth and flu virus has spread to you. You can see how washing your hands as often as possible will greatly reduce your chance of catching flu. If facilities for washing your hands aren't available, use an alcohol-based waterless hand sanitizer.
| | TAKING THE FEAR OUT OUT OF THE HYPNOTIC TRANCEWritten by Christine Hunter Master Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
Mention word “Hypnosis” to someone and chances are you will get one of three very different reactions: intense curiosity, nervousness, or disdainful skepticism. But truth is hypnosis is widely used today not just in medicine but also by top sports performers, business experts, and those in media to boost their performance and mental focus. Despite this, many members of public still view hypnosis with fear and suspicion especially when hypnotist talks about putting client into a “Hypnotic Trance” The first point to make is that, despite origin of its name, hypnosis does not involve sleep. When a person is in a hypnotic trance, body may be in a very relaxed state, but mind is alert and highly focused. It is also a very natural state. All of us experience a trancelike state many times in our daily lives. Those of us who drive cars are very familiar with phenomenon of driving along a well known route and arriving at our destination-and then being aware that we can’t remember journey at all. It is as if we were on autopilot for journey, and in a sense we were. We were in what we refer to as a kind of trance.The same can occur when we are engrossed in a movie, reading a book, listening to music, or gazing into eyes of someone we love. Time seems to stand still and we are oblivious of outside world, our attention completely focused on what we are doing at that moment. That to can be described as a trance. Many people also consider a trance to be state achieved in mediation or when we are daydreaming. The key difference between those described above and hypnotic trance is that during a hypnotic trance there is another person – hypnotist – who is guiding us into state. During a trance, aim of hypnotist is to talk directly to patient’s unconscious mind. The conscious mind can act as a barrier to this communication, and so it is either distracted or encouraged to be still. Once hypnotist has ensured that client is in desired hypnotic trance hypnotist then make suggestions to subject. These suggestions are triggers that aim to change people’s habits, boost their confidence, or help them come to terms with their past. Such suggestions are made not to our conscious mind, but to our unconscious mind, part of mind that controls so much of our lives.
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