Helpful health information.

Muscle Health For relevant product please click here

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.

Tips for a Healthy Brain For relevant product please click here

1. Stay physically active

Walk, run, swim, cycle or play golf and reduce your risk of stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Even after a stroke, exercise is important. You can retrain the brain to compensate for the damage and increase your chances of regaining speech and movement.

2. Stay mentally active

Whether you learn a new language, play bridge, or tackle a crossword, you are exercising your brain. Florey scientists have shown in experiments with mice that they can delay the onset of Huntington’s disease symptoms simply by keeping the mice mentally and physically active.

3. Detect and treat high blood pressure

High blood pressure is a risk factor for dementia and stroke. Get your blood pressure checked and if it is high, make sure it is adequately treated.

4. Increase folic acid

Taking this B vitamin can decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke. Good sources of folic acid, or folate, include beans and other legumes, leafy green vegetables, asparagus, nuts, oranges and folate-enriched breakfast cereals.

5. Reduce your stress levels For relevant product please click here

Stress impairs your brain’s ability to think clearly and function normally. Take up yoga, meditate, laugh, exercise, or care for a pet.

6. Take antioxidants in your diet. For relevant product please click here

Antioxidants are substances that mop up free radicals, which are implicated in illnesses including cancer and heart disease and dementia. Florey scientists have shown that antioxidants in red wine, green tea, prunes and blueberries can prevent the brain cells that are damaged in Parkinson’s disease from dying. Antioxidant-rich foods might slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in its early stages.

7. Eat oily fish For relevant product please click here

Salmon, sardines, mackerel, sword fish and ocean trout contain omega-3 essential fatty acids, or EFAs, which the body needs to make brain chemicals and cell membranes. French researchers have shown that elderly people who eat fish or seafood at least once a week are one-third less likely to develop dementia than those who rarely or never eat fish.

8. Recognise the signs of stroke and act quickly

These include: weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg; difficulty speaking or swallowing; dizziness; loss of vision and headaches. Seek medical help quickly if you suspect a stroke. Patients who get to hospital early increase their chances of a good outcome.

9. Talk to your doctor

Many people think they have dementia when memory loss is actually due to stress, depression, illness or medications, so it’s important to rule those out. On the other hand, an early diagnosis for dementia means that you can access support services, information and medication, and make plans for the future.

10. Drink alcohol in moderation and quit smoking

Excessive drinking damages brain cells and smoking cigarettes increases your risk of having a stroke, dementia, heart attack and developing certain cancers. By contrast, mild-moderate alcohol intake (up to two glasses per day) may actually be protective against cardiovascular disease and dementia.

Heart Health For relevant products please click here

What is coronary artery disease?

Coronary artery disease occurs when fatty deposits called plaque (say “plak”) build up inside the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries wrap around the heart and supply it with blood and oxygen. When plaque builds up, it narrows the arteries and reduces the amount of blood that gets to your heart. This can lead to serious problems, including heart attack.

Coronary artery disease (also called CAD) is the most common type of heart disease. It is also the number one killer of both men and women in the United States.

It can be a shock to find out that you have coronary artery disease. Many people only find out when they have a heart attack. Whether or not you have had a heart attack, there are many things you can do to slow coronary artery disease and reduce your risk of future problems.

What causes coronary artery disease?

Coronary artery disease is caused by hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis occurs when plaque builds up inside the arteries. (Arteries are the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood throughout your body.) Atherosclerosis can affect any arteries in the body. When it occurs in the arteries that supply blood to the heart, it is called coronary artery disease.

Plaque is a fatty material made up of cholesterol, calcium, and other substances in the blood. To understand why plaque is a problem, compare a healthy artery with an artery with atherosclerosis:

• A healthy artery is like a rubber tube. It is smooth and flexible, and blood flows through it freely. If your heart has to work harder, such as when you exercise, a healthy artery can stretch to let more blood flow to your body’s tissues.
• An artery with atherosclerosis is more like a clogged pipe. Plaque narrows the artery and makes it stiff. This limits the flow of blood to the tissues. When the heart has to work harder, the stiff arteries can't flex to let more blood through, and the tissues don't get enough blood and oxygen.

What are the symptoms?

Usually people with coronary artery disease don't have symptoms until after age 50. Then they may start to have symptoms at times when the heart is working harder and needs more oxygen, such as during exercise. Typical first symptoms include:

• Chest pain, called angina (say “ANN-juh-nuh” or “ann-JY-nuh”).
• Shortness of breath.
• Heart attack. Too often, a heart attack is the first symptom of coronary artery disease.

Some people don't have symptoms. In rare cases, a person can have a “silent” heart attack, without symptoms.

Stress For relevant product please click here

“Here we go, just put it over there, just like in practise, keep it away from that water and those trees. I hope it goes there.”

“It doesn’t feel like it does on the range, maybe I just need to adjust my stance. Where was I hitting this again??”

“Just think of tempo and hips – and loose hands.”

“Try to put the ball there. What will happen if I don’t?”

Does this sound familiar?

What is Stress?

Research and practise have given us many definitions of stress in sport; I tend to relate it back to the simple balance of resources and demands. Players get stressed when they feel like the demands of a situation outweigh the resources or the skills. Stress tends to show its face in many emotional forms – the most common on the course include anxiety, anger, and depression. It is important to realise that individuals demonstrate stress on the course in different ways just like they do in their lives outside golf.

So in keeping with our aim of focussing on thoughts and actions to make an impact, let’s look at how the body reacts when we are experiencing the stressful emotions.

When the mind is angry, the body can become tense, agitated, uptight, and rigid – the physiological symptoms of anger include increased heart rate, increased muscle tension, and a clenched jaw.

When the mind is anxious, the body can shake, sweat, and stiffen up – the physiological symptoms include a dry mouth, increased heart rate, increased respiratory rate, feeling nauseous , and frequent urination or bowel movement.

When the mind is depressed the body can be lethargic, heavy, and slow – the physiological symptoms may be stooped body language, slow walking, and frowning.

All of these symptoms may not occur, and these lists are definitely not exhaustive, but they give you an idea of some of the physiological symptoms that may occur when the mind puts the body under stress.

What To Do

Try to break up your time at each shot into segments:

1. Information gathering – Get all the information you need to make a shot and make a decision for your plan-of-attack – Do this behind the ball before the club is in your hand
2. Commit – Use this time to revise any cues that you might have for shot execution and commit to your decision – This is still behind the ball but with club in hand – You may like to do practice swings
3. Execute – This is the automatic time when you walk into the ball and let it happen – if there are small cues you need to get set up right then use them but keep them brief and not many!

Energy                  For relevant product please click here

Adrenal Health          For relevant product please click here

Nutritional and botanical support for the individual experiencing signs and symptoms of stress largely involves supporting the adrenal glands. Long-term stress and corticosteroids cause the adrenal glands to shrink and become dysfunctional, aggravating the stress symptoms anxiety, depression, and chronic fatigue.

An abnormal adrenal response, either deficient or excessive hormone release, significantly alters an individual's response to stress. Often the adrenals become "exhausted" as a result of constant demands put on them. An individual with adrenal exhaustion usually suffers from chronic fatigue and may complain of feeling "stressed out" or chronically anxious. He or she typically has a reduced resistance to allergies and infection.

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia refers to a difficulty in achieving or maintaining normal sleep. There are two basic forms of insomnia. In sleep-onset insomnia a person has a difficult time falling asleep. In sleep-maintenance insomnia a person suffers from frequent or early awakening.

What causes Insomnia?

The most common causes of insomnia are psychological: depression, anxiety, and tension. If psychological factors do not seem to be the cause, various foods, drinks, and medications may be responsible. There are numerous compounds in food and drink (most notably caffeine) that can interfere with normal sleep. There are also over three hundred drugs that interfere with normal sleep.

Joint Health For relevant product please click here

What is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis (also known as degenerative joint disease) is a form of arthritis (inflammation of a joint) caused by degeneration of cartilage. Cartilage serves an important role in joint function. Its gel-like nature provides protection to the ends of joints by acting as a shock absorber. Without the cartilage in the joint, bone literally rubs against bone leading to pain, deformity, inflammation, and limitation of motion in the joint.
The onset of osteoarthritis can be subtle. Morning joint stiffness is often the first symptom. As the disease progresses, there is pain on motion of the involved joint that is made worse by prolonged activity and relieved by rest. There is usually local tenderness, soft tissue swelling, joint crepitus (cracking sounds), bony swelling, restricted mobility, and bony nodules. X-ray findings show narrowing of the joint space (the area between the bones taken up by cartilage). The weight-bearing joints such as the knees, hips, and spine as well as the hands are the joints most often affected with the degenerative changes of osteoarthritis. These joints are under greater stress because of weight and use.

What causes Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is divided into two categories, primary and secondary. In primary osteoarthritis, the degenerative "wear-and-tear" process occurs after a person turns forty years of age. The cumulative effects of decades of use leads to the degenerative changes by stressing the collagen matrix of the cartilage. Stress on the cartilage results in the release of enzymes which destroy cartilage components. With aging, the ability to restore and manufacture normal cartilage structures decreases. So, what I am saying is that aging is the primary cause of osteoarthritis. But, just because you may be getting older doesn’t mean that you have to suffer from the pain of osteoarthritis.
Secondary osteoarthritis is associated with some predisposing factor which is responsible for the degenerative changes. Predisposing factors in secondary osteoarthritis include: inherited abnormalities in joint structure or function; trauma (fractures along joint surfaces, surgery, etc.); presence of abnormal cartilage; and previous inflammatory disease of joint (rheumatoid arthritis, gout, etc.).

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis? For relevant product please click here

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the entire body, but especially the joints. The joints typically involved are the hands, feet, wrists, ankles, and knees.
The onset of RA is usually gradual, but occasionally is quite abrupt. Fatigue, low-grade fever, weakness, joint stiffness, and vague joint pain may precede the appearance of painful, swollen joints by several weeks. Several joints are usually involved in the onset, typically in a symmetrical fashion, i.e., both hands, wrists, or ankles. In about one-third of persons with RA, initial involvement is confined to one or a few joints.
Involved joints will characteristically be quite warm, tender, and swollen. The skin over the joint will take on a ruddy purplish hue. X-ray findings usually show soft tissue swelling, erosion of cartilage, and joint-space narrowing. As the disease progresses, deformities develop in the joints of the hands and feet. The common terms used to describe these deformities include: swan neck, boutonniere, and cock-up toes.

What causes Rheumatoid Arthritis?

There is abundant evidence that RA is an autoimmune reaction, in which antibodies formed by the immune system attack components of joint tissues. Yet what triggers this autoimmune reaction remains largely unknown. Speculation and investigation have centred around genetic factors, abnormal bowel permeability, lifestyle and nutritional factors, food allergies, and microorganisms. RA is a classic example of a multifactorial disease, wherein an assortment of genetic, dietary and other factors contribute to the disease process.

What is Gout?                    For relevant product please click here

Gout is a common type of arthritis caused by an increased concentration of uric acid (the final breakdown product of purine—one of the units of DNA and RNA) in biological fluids. In gout, uric acid crystals are deposited in joints, tendons, kidneys, and other tissues, where they cause considerable inflammation and damage. Gout may lead to debilitation from the uric acid deposits around the joints and tendons, and kidney involvement may result in kidney failure.

What are the signs and symptoms of Gout?

The first attack of gout is characterised by intense pain, usually involving only one joint. The first joint of the big toe is affected in nearly half of the first attacks, and is at some time involved in over ninety percent of individuals with gout. If the attack progresses, fever and chills will appear. The first attacks usually occur at night and are usually preceded by a specific event, such as dietary excess, alcohol ingestion, trauma, certain drugs (mainly chemotherapy drugs, certain diuretics, and high dosages of niacin), or surgery.

What causes Gout?

Gout is the result of either increased synthesis of uric acid; reduced ability to excrete uric acid; or both over production and under excretion of uric acid.
Several dietary factors are known to be trigger gout, including consumption of alcohol, high-purine-content foods (organ meats, meat, yeast, poultry, etc.), fats, refined carbohydrates, and excessive calories.

Immune System

What is Low Immune Function?            For relevant products please click here

Low immune function refers to an underactive and poor performing immune system. The immune system’s prime function is to protect the body against infection and the development of cancer. Support and enhancement of the immune system is perhaps the most important step in achieving resistance to disease and reducing susceptibility to colds, flus, and cancer. Supporting the immune system involves a health-promoting lifestyle, stress management, exercise, diet, and the appropriate use of nutritional supplements and herbal medicines.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, it is a sign that your immune system needs support:
- Do you catch colds easily?
- Do you get more than two colds a year?
- Are you suffering chronic infection?
- Do you get frequent cold sores or have genital herpes?
- Are your lymph glands sore and swollen at times?
- Do you have now or have you ever had cancer?

Recurrent or chronic infections—even very mild colds—only occur when the immune system is weakened. Under such circumstances, there is a repetitive cycle that makes it difficult to overcome the tendency toward infection: a weakened immune system leads to infection, infection causes damage to the immune system, which further weakens resistance. Enhancing the immune system can provide the answer to breaking the cycle.

What causes Low Immune Function?

The health of the immune system is greatly impacted by a person’s emotional state, level of stress, lifestyle, dietary habits and nutritional status. Nutrient deficiency is the most frequent cause of a depressed immune system. An overwhelming number of clinical and experimental studies indicate that any single nutrient deficiency can profoundly impair the immune system.

What is the Common Cold?            For relevant product please click here

The common cold is an upper respiratory tract infection that is caused by a virus. Typically, the individual with a cold will experience general malaise, fever, headache, and upper respiratory tract congestion. Initially, there is usually a watery nasal discharge and sneezing, followed by thicker secretions containing mucus, white blood cells, and dead organisms. The throat may be red, sore, and quite dry.

What causes the Common Cold?

The common cold can be caused by a wide variety of viruses that are capable of infecting the upper respiratory tract (the nasal passages, sinuses, and throat).