Introduction to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Following on from my introduction to hypertension and lifestyle factors, I want to explore the link between diet and hypertension in this blog. Optimise your Gut Flora Compared to a placebo, people with high blood pressure who consumed probiotics lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 3.56 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by 2.38 mm Hg¹.  Including taking probiotics, its is helpful to avoid sugar and processed foods.  I should mention that naturally fermented foods in your diet, may contain about 100 times the amount of bacteria than found in a bottle of high potency probiotics. But I appreciate form a practical point of view, buying probiotics is much easier! Eat a Healthy Diet I appreciate this is very common advice.  In 1998 in the journal of Diabetes reported that nearly two-thirds of the test subjects who were insulin resistant also high high blood pressure.  Insulin resistance is directly attributed to a high sugar, high carbohydrate diet especially if combined with inadequate exercise. Avoiding processed foods (due to their being high in sugar/fructose, grains, trans fat, and other damaged fats) is my number one recommendation if you have high blood pressure². Instead, make whole, ideally organic, foods the focus of your diet. As you reduce processed foods, and other sources of non-vegetable carbs, from your diet, you’ll want to replace them with healthy fat. Read Part 4 References ¹ Hypertension July 21, 2014 ² Metabolism. 2012 May;61(5):641-51.

Mental health is all over the news.  Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions, and up to half of the 41 million  people taking antidepressants in [...]

Nearly 20% of people in the UK experience symptoms of anxiey or depression in 2014 according the Mental Health Foundation. A systemic review of five medical databases has found evidence to support the effictiveness of aromatherapy for alleviating depressive symptoms.  A team of scientists at the Hong Kong Polytechnic Univeristy found 12 randomiased controlled trials involving a total of 1,226 participants - 984 were female and 224 male, with an average age of 47.  Two of the five inhalation studies and five of the eight massage trails reported improvements in subjects conditions, with the aromatherapy massage found to be more effective. So if you feel depressed why not try and aromatherapy massage. Note: Vitality Therapy do not offer aromatherapy massage. References