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Many people know the symptoms of the most common influenza virus strain. Many people contract the influenza virus strain each flu season, but few people know how many strains there are and the differences between each influenza virus type. This is important information that you and your family should be aware of. Everyone is susceptible to this illness, so you should be aware of all the different influenza virus strains that can be contracted.

Three Different Types Of Viruses

There are three different types of influenza: type A, type B and type C. These are the three influenza virus strains that humans can contract. The differences between the three influenza virus strains are by what carries the disease and how the particular influenza virus strain changes. Type A is the most common type that is found and carried in wild birds. Birds who carry the type A influenza virus strain rarely get sick from the virus. Domestic poultry can, however, be susceptible to contracting the flu.

On the subject of strain changes, the type A influenza virus strain is the type that finds itself in the antigenic drift category. This means that the influenza virus strain changes over a long period of time. The changes can be kept up with in the yearly flu shots that you can get from your doctor.

Type B influenza virus strain can be found in the antigenic shift change category. This is the change in the virus strain that happens much more quickly and usually happens right in the middle of the flu season and can be serious for people at risk for complications from contracting the flu. Normally, when an antigenic shift happens, there is little doctors can do to prevent it from spreading besides normal prevention from getting sick.

The best way to keep you and your family from having to deal with a new influenza virus strain is to get your annual flu shot. Even if a new strain appears and the shot does not protect you from the new strain, it will still protect you from all of the older strains. It would also be a good idea to make sure to take regular precautions such as keeping your hands over your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing. Wash your hands often and avoid coming into contact with someone that you know has the flu or flu-like symptoms. This way, you will be able to protect you and your family from contracting any strains of flu that may not be covered by your flu shot that year.

Don’t me a macho idiot and think sun block is for wimps because it is not, it is a life saver that we all should be using in todays changing climate of global warming as this article explains.

Sun protection is not just for sissies. Protection from the suns damaging rays is important for anyone who wants to grow old gracefully. Its also an absolute must for anyone who wants to limit his or her risk of developing skin cancer.

People are finally beginning to realize that although sunshine is an important component of most outdoor activities and a great mood enhancer, excessive exposure can lead to much unpleasantness. A painful sunburn is the most immediate consequence of excess exposure. Long term, excess exposure can damage the skin making it prone to wrinkling and worse, the development of skin cancer.

When do you need sun protection?

Doctors will tell you that sun protection is needed all the time and they are right. Realistically however it’s important anytime you’ll be outdoors between the hours of 10:00 am and 3:00 pm, when the sun is at its highest.

People do not realize that they can still burn even though the sun isn’t shining. Overcast days are some of the worst times for being in the sun unprotected. And because ultraviolet rays can reflect off certain surfaces, people need protection from the sun when snow covers the ground and also when in the water, when lying or playing on the sand and even when on a cement or grass surface.

Understanding UV rays

Ultraviolet rays are the different wavelengths of energy that are produced by the sun. Even though harmful, the sun’s energy is necessary to all human life. Fortunately, as life on earth has evolved so has the capacity to tolerate UV rays. The most important protection against the damaging ultraviolet rays is the ozone layer - a layer in the stratosphere that absorbs most of the various types of UV rays before they reach the earth’s surface.

Most of this radiation or energy from the sun is invisible to the naked eye. The fact that the radiation is mostly invisible is likely the reason why the sun can be so harmful. It’s hard to convince a person to protect against something that can’t be seen. Of the ultraviolet rays, the two that are responsible for skin damage are UVA and UVB rays. The sun also generates UVC rays, but fortunately these extremely damaging rays cannot penetrate the ozone layer and therefore pose no threat to humans.

The longer and more prevalent of the two, UVA rays are responsible for long-term skin damage because they absorb deep into the skin. Their strength remains uniform regardless of the time of day or time of year. UVB rays are shorter and are what causes skin to tan or sunburns. Our bodies need UVB rays to produce Vitamin D, an important vitamin. Their strength varies based on time of day, time of year, altitude and also distance from the equator.

The UV Index is a scale measuring from 0 ? 11 (low to extreme) and it’s used to determine the intensity of the sun’s radiation, particularly the likelihood that skin will or will not redden when exposed to the sun for various periods of time.

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Did you know skin grows faster than any of our other organs and we keep on renewing our skin for our entire lives?

Can you really believe everything you read? When it comes to selecting skin care products, the answer might surprise you. A debate rages on as to whether products containing all natural ingredients are really better than those containing synthetic ingredients. With both sides of this issue taking a firm stand, and publishing ‘official’ report after report, it is the consumer who most often becomes lost in the maze of unfounded marketing promises and supposedly guaranteed results.

Are skin care products with natural ingredients better?

This seems to be the million dollar question, literally. Skin care product manufacturers right now are spending millions of dollars researching everything from alfalfa to yucca in an attempt to not only gain a competitive edge, but to grab more of consumers’ dollars.

With marketing departments working overtime, manufacturers of skin care products work hard to cleverly combine catchy phrases, attention grabbing packaging and testimonials from ‘experts’ in the field of natural product research and development. The end results of these efforts are expensive moisturizers, cleansers, shampoos, masks, exfoliants and cosmetics that claim to work miracles on your skin, safely, and most importantly, naturally.

But are these claims true? Once again, that depends on which side of the fence you’re on when it comes to supporting natural products versus synthetic products. Before you take a side on this hotly contested issue, there’s one very important fact that you need to know.

The federal government has yet to define guidelines and regulations governing use of the term, natural. That means marketers can use the term any way they choose, irregardless of the ingredients used in their products or the manufacturing processes used to produce those products.

Although a skin care product might very well contain natural products like aloe or vitamin E, what you’re not being told is that the processes used to extract these components often utilize many synthetic materials. And even once natural ingredients are extracted, they are usually combined with synthetic products such as preservatives and stabilizing agents that help prolong shelf life.

One of the biggest risks involved with using natural ingredients is the potential for an allergic reaction. Lots of people have food allergies, so putting products containing plants or plant extracts on their skin may increase the risks of an allergic reaction. And even if a full-blown allergic reaction doesn’t occur, natural ingredients often cause skin irritation and/or sensitivity.

Focus more of your attention on putting natural ingredients into your mouth and not onto your skin. One thing everyone can agree on is that eating a diet loaded with antioxidants and vitamins is extremely beneficial to healthy skin. The body is very efficient at processing natural foods and using the blood stream to transport these nutrients to the skin.

Find a skin care product line you trust and that works well with your skin type. Then become a loyal customer of that product line. Your skin will be happier as a result.

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Stress is NOT an American illness. In the UK for instance the British Health and Safety Executive say that of the 67 million working days lost each and every year approx. 60 percent of them are stress related. With production losses like these effecting the western world it is no wonder that there is an urgency in the attempts to curing stress.

There are several techniques for curing stress or at least helping to cope with stress. A relaxing walk, a distracting creative effort, a good workout and others can help relieve symptoms. But coping is not curing. To deal effectively with chronic stress - the type that is severe and long-lived - it’s necessary to examine its twin roots.

Stress is the result of both external and internal factors - what happens combined with how you evaluate its seriousness and your ability to cope. A lost job, a dissolved marriage, a serious illness or any of hundreds of other circumstances can prompt stress. But for those to result in stress, especially long-term, an individual has to evaluate them and him or herself in a certain way.

A person who feels confident in his or her ability to quickly overcome hurdles (and at a modest ‘cost’) is much less likely to feel stress for long. A person who identifies situations realistically, and who believes they have the capacity to deal with life’s inherent difficulties may feel challenged. But that is normal life and a healthy reaction, it is not stress.Chronic stress is harmful and very few harmful conditions are ‘natural’ in the sense that they are inevitable, nor are necessarily devastating, or can not be overcome. If life were predominantly disasters we couldn’t cope with, insurance companies wouldn’t make the fortunes they do.

So, to deal with chronic stress well it’s necessary to have an objective view of the actual damage external circumstances entail. Many situations in life result in a loss of values, a loss (temporarily) outside our control. But companies that experience business reverses do recover, injuries heal, relationships mend or form between new partners, new friends are found.

Even losses that are permanent - an amputated leg, the death of a loved one, a bankrupt business - are not equivalent to the loss of life or hope. Individuals can, and do, compensate. Time alone doesn’t heal all wounds, but thought and effort can go a long way toward doing so.

When an individual focuses on what is valuable and possible, acute stress is minimized. When thought and effort combine with a realistic attitude toward the inherent hurdles in life, chronic stress is all but impossible.

It isn’t advisable to have a Pollyanna attitude that ‘everything is always ok, no matter what’. Bad things do happen and realism requires seeing that. But that same realism can be the basis for seeing things in perspective. Things may be, in fact, as bad as they seem. But, they rarely have to stay that way.

Acknowledging what is real and recognizing that it’s possible to create or acquire new values to replace a loss are key to avoiding long term stress. Long term stress, which often accompanies or leads to depression, tends to be self-reinforcing. You feel bad, so things look bad. Things look bad, so you feel worse.

Objectivity and re-committing oneself to the achievement of values is essential for breaking the cycle. But recognize that gaining those values is an achievement, one requiring thought and action. Rarely do they simply arrive in some equivalent of a big lottery win.

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With thousands of skin products on the market, the basics of < >skincare can seem overwhelming. The truth is that if you want great skin, you do need to gather information before you even step into a store, spa or cosmetic spa.

Masks should be used once or twice a week. Most masks are made so that you just apply them to your skin and wait. While you wait the mask will begin to dry and you may feel your face tightening. This is normal and indicates the mask is doing its job. After waiting for 10 to 15 minutes, you will need to rinse the mask off of your face. You can do this with a wash cloth, or you can use water alone. After using your mask, dry your face completely and apply a moisturizer. Since masks take a little hydration from your face, you must replenish it.

In addition to face masks, you can also get full body masks. These masks work the same way as a facial mask and will rejuvenate your entire body. Many spas are now offering body masks. They can help tighten and smooth the skin on your entire body. Be sure to drink plenty of water after you get a full body mask however. Body masks draw toxins from your body and may leave you a little dehydrated, so drinking water is essential.

FACIAL CARE
* Transparent gloss

I’m off on holiday to a warm place …
* If your hair is difficult to manage or sensitive, bring your treatment with you. The shampoos in hotels tend to be for normal hair.Knowing about lotions, ointments, and masks will help you get the skin you desire. The most important thing to remember is proper hydration. Be sure your skin is always hydrated with lotions. You can also drink water to help your skin hydrate from the inside. If you take care of your skin, you will notice that your skin will always look radiant.