Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Facial Exercise - Natural Homemade Remedies for Anti-Wrinkles

Facial Exercise - Natural Homemade Remedies for Anti-Wrinkles
Let's face it, aging is unavoidable and sooner or later we'll all have to face it at some point in time. But what's important is that we age gracefully.
Source: EzineArticles.com

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Dr. Robert Oexman: Can A Mattress Really Impact Your Sleep?

Dr. Robert Oexman: Can A Mattress Really Impact Your Sleep?

Sleepless nights, tossing, turning and exhausted mornings -- we all know the feeling. But did you know that sleeping on the right mattress can help alleviate these problems and remind you what it feels like to be rested? We now know that mattresses really do matter when it comes to getting a good night's sleep!

According to a study by Research Triangle International and Drs. Andy Krystal and Jack Edinger from Duke University, you may not have to be a princess to feel the pea under your mattress. Their four-year study looked at how different support levels of mattresses impacted sleep, pain and daytime functioning. More than 16,000 nights of sleep were evaluated on 128 subjects, making this one of the largest studies ever completed on normal pain-free sleepers and how mattresses impact their health.

Previous Studies Stumble

Very few studies have looked at the effect mattresses have on sleep and pain, and the ones that have been done only looked at small numbers of people or small numbers of mattresses. The small sample sizes often led to the conclusion that "medium-firm" mattresses are the best for sleep. The error in this conclusion is two-fold. First, there is no recognized definition for what a "medium-firm" mattress would feel like. A 250-pound person may describe a mattress as soft while a 125-pound person may describe the same mattress as firm. Second, there were people in the study that slept well on other mattresses. Should they sleep on medium-firm mattresses even though they slept better on a softer or firmer mattress?

Other studies have come to the conclusion that mattresses have no impact on sleep. These studies have typically used small numbers of subjects or have used university students. The use of university students is a poor choice, since this group is often very sleep-deprived. These students, given an opportunity, can sleep just about anywhere -- laying on the floor or sitting in the classroom!

Mattresses Matter

The study by Krystal and Edinger overcame the shortcomings of previous studies by examining a large number of people (128), a large variety of different firmness of mattresses (seven), and a large number of nights on each mattress (four weeks). After evaluating more than 16,000 nights of sleep it was clear that even small differences in mattress support (soft, medium, firm) correlated with changes in sleep and pain. This is a clear indication that mattresses really do matter. However, the study had a second powerful conclusion: We may not be able to determine which mattresses are best for us when we are awake.

Attention Shoppers!

The fact that people are very poor at selecting which mattresses would allow them to sleep pain-free should immediately interest consumers in the midst of mattress shopping. What's the reason for this phenomenon? The answer lies in what happens to our body while sleeping. We pass through different stages of sleep each night. One of those stages called "rapid eye movement" (REM) is the stage of sleep when our most vivid dreams take place. To prevent us from acting out our dreams, we lose skeletal muscle tone. The skeletal muscles that support our back relax and we lose spinal support. So, a mattress that felt supportive while you were awake with the muscles active may perform differently when you are in REM sleep.

It would appear that we can all be a princess (or prince) when we sleep, meaning we really can feel those mattress differences, especially when we're catching some Zzzs.

Disclosure: The Sleep to Live Institute sponsored this research.

For more by Dr. Robert Oexman, click here.

For more on sleep, click here.

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Stars Who Packed On The Pounds For Movie Roles

Stars Who Packed On The Pounds For Movie Roles

When you're an actor, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to nab that dream role -- including dropping and gaining weight to portray a character.

And that's exactly what some of Hollywood's biggest stars have done.

From George Clooney and Matt Damon to Charlize Theron and Renee Zellweger, celebrities have packed on the pounds (and we're talking serious, serious pounds) for films they are truly invested in.

But a little cellulite never hurt anyone, especially when all those cupcakes and donuts put you in the running for an Academy Award.

Check out 15 stars who've chowed down for movie roles:

  • George Clooney

    George Clooney gained 30 pounds to play former CIA agent Robert Baer in 2005's "Syriana." Thankfully, the weight gain paid off -- he won an Oscar!

  • Matt Damon

    Damon gained 30 pounds for his role in "The Informant!" in 2009, but the actor says packing on the weight was "fun." “It was very, very easy to gain the weight. Very, very fun,” he <a href="http://www.accesshollywood.com/matt-damon-talks-gaining-weight-for-the-informant-it-was-very-very-easy_article_22621">confessed</a>. “I just basically ate everything I could see for a few months.”

  • Renee Zellweger

    Zellweger gained 28 pounds (twice!) for her lead role in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason." Reportedly, she'll be reprising her famous character for another installment of the franchise, "Bridget Jones's Baby." Another round of weight gain?

  • Charlize Theron

    Theron gained 30 pounds to play serial killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster." She also gained something else along the way -- an Academy Award for Best Actress!

  • Jared Leto

    Leto put on 67 pounds to play John Lennon's assassin, Mark David Chapman, in "Chapter 27." The movie didn't get the best reviews, and Leto's body took a beating. Let's just say he probably won't do it again.

  • Gwyneth Paltrow

    Paltrow added 20 pounds to her thin frame for her role as a washed out country star in "Country Strong." <a href="http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20316530_20440520,00.html">With the help of her personal trainer</a>, Tracy Anderson, she dropped the pounds in two weeks!

  • Ryan Gosling

    Ryan Gosling and his "Blue Valentine" co-star Michelle Williams each gained 15 pounds for the movie, in which they played a couple stuck in a troubled marriage.

  • Julia Roberts

    Roberts gained 10 pounds to accurately portray Elizabeth Gilbert in "Eat, Pray, Love," which is based on a true story. Gilbert gained 30 pounds in real-life, so Roberts figured she needed to pack on some pounds to be authentic.

  • Christian Bale

    Not only did Bale lose over 60 pounds for his leading role in "The Machinist," he also gained tons of muscle weight to play Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, in Christopher Nolan's epic trilogy.

  • Russell Crowe

    Russell Crowe gained 63 pounds for his role in 2008's "Body of Lies." He did it <a href="http://socialitelife.com/russell_crowe_explains_weight_gain-09-2008">with a little help from his food friends</a> -- cupcakes and cheeseburgers.

  • Hilary Swank

    Swank didn't just have to gain weight for her role in "Million Dollar Baby," she had to bulk up! The actress put on 19 pounds of pure muscle and walked away with an Oscar.

  • Eric Bana

    In 2000, the normally buff Bana put on 28 pounds to play a murderer in "Chopper." But, no worries. Bana was allegedly back in tip-top shape within months.

  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    The former "Third Rock From the Sun" actor turned into an action star for the final Batman flick, "Dark Knight Rises." Just like his co-star Christian Bale, Gordon-Levitt packed on the muscle (and it shows).

  • Robert De Niro

    How could we forget De Niro, who made gaining weight for a role cool thanks to "Raging Bull"? He famously gained 60 pounds for the movie and paved the way for Hollywood body transformations.

  • Chris Pratt

    The funny guys is currently eating up a storm while his wife, Anna Faris, tries to shed her baby weight. He has already gained 40 pounds since June in preparation for his role as a lawyer in the upcoming comedy "Starbuck."


Source: www.huffingtonpost.com