get a good night sleep

Break that bad sleep habit before it breaks you.

Long days and restless nights can be a deadly combination. No matter how stressful of a turn your life might take, your sleep is the one area you should be careful not to let suffer. If you're feeling like a full-blown insomniac lately, here's a few ways to get you back to bed.

Lose the Energy Drinks

If you're not getting enough sleep at night, it makes sense that you'd reach right for the can of ready-made energy. But since these cans are packed with lots and lots of milligrams of caffeine, the jolt lasts you a lot longer than you intend it to. That one drink could last you through bedtime -- it might give you wings, but it'll fly you right out of dreamland.

Wrap It Up

The easiest change you can make to your rest pattern is to just start your wind-down process early. Don't flop on to bed immediately after finishing an activity -- even if you're beat, your mind is still firing away. Instead give yourself a few minutes of cool down time, whether it be staring at a tv show or journaling your day. Most importantly -- don't go to your bed until you're ready to actually sleep.

No Time For Wine

Wine and other alcohol may make you sleepy at first, but once the buzz is gone it's a nightmare -- literally. A drunken sleep -- as many of us who've had long nights know -- brings troubled dreams and therefore a restless sleep. By all means, have a nice glass of red wine if that helps you wind down (it also is full of antioxidants so all things in moderation,) but stop there. Don't drink your way to sleep.

tips for a beautiful smile

A beautiful smile can boost your self-confidence. Dr. Bill Dorfman, creator of Hollywood’s hottest smiles and the featured dentist on “Extreme Makeover,” shares these tips for taking care of your teeth.

How to brush properly

• Place the toothbrush at a forty-five-degree angle against your gums. 

• Rotate the brush gently in small, circular motions. 

• Brush the outer surfaces of each tooth on both the upper and lower arches. 

• Repeat on the inside surfaces and chewing surfaces of all teeth. 

• Scrape the tongue with a tongue scraper to remove bad-breath-causing bacteria. Move it from the back of the tongue toward the front, sweeping the bacteria out of the mouth. 

• Rinse with water or alcohol-free mouthwash.

How to floss properly

• Pull out fifteen to twenty inches of floss, winding most of it around the middle fingers of both hands. 

• Hold the floss lightly between the thumbs and forefingers. 

• Use a gentle back and forth motion to guide the floss between the teeth. Once you‘ve gotten the floss past where the teeth touch each other, switch to a gentle up and down motion. 

• When you reach the gums, stop! Never “saw” into the gum tissue or you will destroy it. Instead, use an up and down motion. 

• Advance the floss so you continually use a fresh section of the floss. 

• Repeat this procedure on each tooth - even in the back.

great skin at any age

As you get older, you change inside and out. There are great ways to keep your skin looking fresh and vibrant, no matter what age you are.

In Your 20’s: Skin cell renewal drops by up to 28%.

- Avoid the mid-day sun, and always use skin protection. 

- If you’re a smoker, now is a good time to quit. Your skins renewal process is starting to slow down, and smoking not only causes fine lines around your mouth but it also has a premature aging effect.

In Your 30’s: Environmental damage and the effects of pollution begin to show.

- In addition to your daily skincare regimen, make sure you try to exfoliate at least two or three times a week. 

- Limit your alcohol consumption, and drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated.

In Your 40’s: You skin loses its elasticity, and wrinkles and lines start to form.

- Use creams that contain Jojoba or Rose oil to remove dead skin cells. 

- Use natural skin care products so you’re not introducing unnecessary toxins into your system.

boost your energy

Give yourself an energy surge with a few, simple changes.

Short days, long nights -- winter's rough. It's hard to stay sunny when you're not seeing much sunshine. If you can't get a cheery boost from Mr. Golden Sun, a few of these tips will help you feel brighter in minutes.

Lean Mean Protein

Instead of a bowl full of marshmallow-packed cereal, go for a protein-packed breakfast. Scrambled eggs and whole-wheat toast might not come in a box bedecked in cartoon characters, but it will help you get cheerier than a Care Bear in the dead of winter.

Take a Walk

Sitting at your desk, five days a week from 9-5 can really take your energy level down, so for a super-fast fix, go for a walk. Even if it's just to the water cooler, a little bit of movement will get your blood pumping and help motivate you to finish the day.

Ditch the Caffeine Fix

Sure, it seems to jumpstart your day with speed, but it actually isn't your energy that coffee is kicking in. The caffeine you reach for is only switching on your nervous system, not giving you a day's worth of energy. Limit your addiction to one cup in the morning and then reach for energy friendly green tea instead.

too much cola can cause muscle problems

Drinking too much cola can increase the risk of a muscle problem called hypokalemia, experts warn.

In people with hypokalemia, a drop in blood potassium levels results in problems with vital muscle functions. Symptoms can range from mild weakness to serious paralysis, say Greek researchers who conducted a review of people who drank between two to nine liters of cola a day.

Two of the patients were pregnant women who were admitted to hospital with low potassium levels. One was a 21-year-old woman who drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting. An electrocardiogram revealed she had a heart blockage, and blood tests showed she had low potassium levels, the researchers explained in a news release.

The second pregnant patient, who'd consumed up to seven liters of cola a day for 10 months, had low potassium levels and was suffering from increasing muscular weakness, the researchers noted.

Both patients made a rapid and full recovery after they stopped drinking cola and took oral or intravenous potassium. The case studies are described in the June issue of the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

"We are consuming more soft drinks than ever before, and a number of health issues have already been identified including tooth problems, bone demineralization and the development of metabolic syndrome and diabetes," and there's increasing evidence that excessive cola consumption leads to hypokalemia, Dr. Moses Elisaf, of the University of Ioannina, said in the news release.

Elisaf said the three most common ingredients in cola -- glucose, fructose and caffeine -- can contribute to hypokalemia.

"The individual role of each of these ingredients in the pathophysiology of cola-induced hypokalemia has not been determined and may vary in different patients," Elisaf said. "However, in most of the cases we looked at for our review, caffeine intoxication was thought to play the most important role. This has been borne out by case studies that focus on other products that contain high levels of caffeine but no glucose or fructose."

However, "caffeine-free cola products can also cause hypokalemia because the fructose they contain can cause diarrhea," Elisaf said.

TV causes learning lag in infants

Even infants zone out in front of the television, and it turns out this translates into less time interacting with parents and possible lags in language development, a new study finds.

"We've known that television exposure during infancy is associated with language delays and attentional problems, but so far it has remained unclear why," said lead researcher Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Research Institute and professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages television watching before the age of 2, a time when critical development, such as language acquisition, occurs. (Christakis said a baby's brain triples in size during the first two years of life, so there's a lot going on in that little noggin.)

To figure out the TV-language link, Christakis and his colleagues rounded up 329 2-month to 4-year-old children and their parents. The kids wore digital devices on random days each month for up to two years that recorded everything they heard or said for 12 to 16 hours. The researchers didn't determine whether the adults and kids were actively watching the television or if it was just on in the background.

Analyses of the recordings revealed that each hour of additional television exposure was linked with a decrease of 770 words (7 percent) the child heard from an adult during the recording session. Hours of television were also associated with a decrease in the number and length of child vocalizations and the back and forth between the child and an adult (called a conversational turn).

"Some of these reductions are likely due to children being left alone in front of the television screen," the researchers write in the June issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, "but others likely reflect situations in which adults, though present, are distracted by the screen and not interacting with their infant in a discernible manner."

And interaction is key for baby's brain.

"The reason it's concerning is because we know that hearing adults speak and being spoken to are critical exposures that play a role in infants development in language," Christakis told LiveScience.

With 30 percent of households having televisions on all the time, the researchers wondered how many fewer opportunities there were for children and parents to communicate and socialize.

"My recommendation first is that children under the age of 2 be discouraged from watching television," Christakis said. He added that even if the TV show is intended for the adults, the effect is the same for their children.

(Four of the authors on the paper were employed by the LENA Foundation, which paid for the data collection and develops technology for the screening, diagnosis and treatment of language delays and disorders in children and adults.)

foods you should be eating

Improving your health can be as simple as eating these items.

Eaten many coconuts lately? How about cherries or blueberries or grass-fed beef?

You should, because these are all foods with powerful health properties. However, few people pack their grocery carts full of these items.

Take kiwifruit. It's chock full of vitamin C--a whopping 115% of what you need to eat in a day. It's also low in calories--just 45 per fruit, sans skin.

"In America, most people don't eat three servings of fruit and vegetables a day," says nutritionist Jonny Bowden, author of seven books including, most recently, The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. According to him, there are 10 very healthy foods we don't eat enough of.

Ignore the Food Pyramid

Bowden says many Americans are misled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid, which is a graphic, pyramid-shaped depiction of nutrition guidelines, updated every five years, that tells Americans what to eat according to food groups. Bowden dismisses it as the product of interest group politics.

"It demonizes fat," notes Bowden. "Fat is an essential building block for many important compounds in the body." This is why Bowden puts grass-fed beef, wild salmon and, yes, coconuts, on his top 10 list.

Salmon, in particular, is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with heart and brain health as well as bringing down blood pressure and triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease. Omega-3s have also been found to improve mood and reduce inflammation, says Bowden.

Another food packed with nutritional value that's present--but not necessarily front and center in every grocery store--is kale. A member of the cabbage family, which Bowden dubs "vegetable royalty," kale contains indoles, a compound found to fight cancer. Kale is also rich in antioxidants, which also help prevent cancer, says Bowden.

If that's not enough for you, kale is also full of sulforaphane, yet another cancer-prevention agent. Kale has calcium, iron and vitamins A, C and K, and two nutrients that are great for the eyes, including zeaxanthin. Kale's pièce de résistance: Two cups packs three grams of fiber. Try sautéing it with garlic and butter, recommends Bowden. Or eat it like salad, with pine nuts, cranberries and olive oil.

Then there are coconuts, a terribly misunderstood food, according to Bowden. The fat in coconuts is a particular kind that's good for you. It's called MCT, or Medium-Chain Triglycerides. The body doesn't store MCT as fat, says Bowden, but rather uses it as energy, like a carbohydrate. Coconuts are also high in lauric acid, a fatty acid that tends to kill pathogens. In addition, coconut oil is great for cooking since it has a very high smoke point.

Eat Mediterranean

For Bowden, sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest way to eat. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and lots of olive and nut oils. The Mediterranean diet has indeed been proved by study after study to have multiple healthful properties.

If all that sounds just too darn healthy, consider the 10th food on Bowden's list: dark chocolate. Rich with a phytochemical called flavanol, found by a 2005 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology to improve cardiovascular health, chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content should be a regular on your shopping list.

Chocolate and coconut anyone? OK, but not until you've finished your kale.

relationship thing..a short one

i realized one thing about relationships, its not about the looks or the personalities but its all about what you're willing to give to your loved one..a common mistake of the lovers nowadays is that, they're only thinking of 'what's in it for them if the'd be involved in relationships'..its not about about what you're going to take, its about what you can give.. because giving someone sentimental is more worthwhile than taking something materialistic, am i right?

woah, you must be thinking that im already that mature..well, not yet..ahahahha...just saying this coz that's what i learned based on experience and my friends' stories..

did someone knew what's been happening lately?

omg..this morning after my claz, me and my clazm8 hang out for a while..well, we went to the canteen, sat there then talk..ya know, she shared something to me..about her life, her family, her friends, her love life and in my mind, i was saying like "woah, am i special to her?"..she actually shared her prob to me, how its like when she went home, and that she'd rather stay with her friends than to be with her family..and because of that..i was like 'enlightened'..she just taught me that there are more things in life that is more valuable than what we really needed in our lives

after that talk we had, i started changing all my goals and objectives..can you believe it?..im so glad we had that talk..and i couldn't wait to share this on my blog, i was excited to publish about this..its like 'hey, can i be your best friend?'..who am i kidding..anyway..she actually enjoys staying with her friends' family than to her family..she has a sister, a 3 lil bro..she actually supports her family..her sister married a foreigner but unfortunately her sister is always spending the money just to gamble..and also her father do this as well..when she went home she's giving her mom some money to buy food and for their other necessary expenses..but whenever she's giving her dad some money, her dad just spend it to gamble and nothing else...she mentioned that when it's time for lunch or dinner her dad invited some friends and gamble there..and you know what she said? "everytime i went home, when its time to eat, i just stand in a corner, i cant sit down coz my dad is gambling again, it really hurts my feelings that im the one who is supporting them then they will just spend the money to gamble, that's why i just go to my friend's house and spend my time there at least i feel welcome..i just give some money to buy for a meal and sleep there, im only coming back home when my dad is done gambling the money that i gave him"

her life is so sad, she isn't welcome to be home that's why she just stays at her friends' house..but if we look at the bright side, she always have someone who can help her..its just sad that her own family never appreciates her efforts and never realize her value..while others sees that in her..

i am enlightened by her story, yesterday i was like depressed coz of what's happening in my life lately..then this morning, when she told me her story..i looked at myself then i said "i can't believe that i took some things in my life for granted, i never realized how valuable something could me til others show us that its very valuable"..like this morning i had some regrets, but its never too late to change..

so guys, treasure what you have..=)

to start with..

its the same routine over and over again...get up, clean, prepare for breakfast, have my bath, go to school...this morning i asked myself "when can i get a real vacation?"..in case you were wondering, you see after i graduated high school, i never had a real vacation ever since...after i graduated i immediately went to college a few days after my grad, can you believe it?..went summer class so i wont have heavy burden during semesters..

my mom told me that i just need to enroll for summer class because im not doing anything on april and may..summer class then after 2 or 3 weeks enroll for the 1st semester, then before the semester ends i need to be enrolled as early as possible, have that 2weeks 'vacation' study again during the 2nd semester..then enrolled again for the summer claz...hayts..im tired of it, i've been doing this for 3yrs now..

i know what's on your mind, well i dont really get to enjoy things as you guys..my mom is strict and overprotective..ya know, i understand that she's just doing this for my sake, but i get so tied up (too much! believe me)..she's one of those parents who finds it hard to finally accept that their little angel is finally growing up and still they just can trust us that we can handle things on our own..im 18 yrs old by the way, yeah still on the critical stage of life..

but you know, i realized that i need to be happy in my own way..with my mom who always watch my every move, asking me wherever i go..it feels like i dont have a freedom anymore..i cant have peers to bond with every week coz of the bad influences of the others are getting, you see in that area, i can say that its not all about how you bond with them, but its all about who you bond with..what im trying to say is, if you choose the right ones who you can understand and understand you as well, now that's a real friend..BUT she's afraid that i might be influenced by those vices which other teenagers are doing, in short, "SHE DOESN'T TRUST ME AT ALL"