Thai massage can help with Parkinson’s symptoms

Here are more tips to get a good nights sleep:

1. Read a book or a magazine - I appreicate this is very old school.  The reason is studies have shown that brain activity during sleep is better regulated after reading a physical book compared with reading a screen.
2. Have a hot shower or bath at night.  When you get in all your blood comes to the surface of your body, so when you step out, your core temperature starts to drop.  This stimulates sleep.
3. Go to bed at the same time every nights - it's possible to "programme" the body to get used to falling asleep at a certain time every night.
4. Yoga or light exercise can help relax muscles and release any tension.
5. Complementary therapies -  these promote relaxing, reduce stress and anxiety and are therefore ideal for a good night's sleep.
6. Breathing exercises or medication - taking deep breaths helps the body switch off from the flight or fight more to rest-and-digest mode.

In my previous post, I shared the evidence of how nature can restore you.  I appreciate that not everyone in London lives within easy access to a green space, and it turns out that it may not be necessary to visit the green space just look at a green space. This first occurred to me a few weeks ago, when I was in Manchester.  In the hotel reception they had screens playing a short video clip of a roaring log fire.  A roaring log fire just happens to be another of those things that I find both calms me, reduces my stress levels and restores me.  What I noticed is that I had a positive response to the video clip, even though it was just a film of a log fire rather than an actual log fire.  So this made me think, would just looking at a picture of nature on your PC have the same positive impact as going out in nature. Li & Sullivan in a randomised controlled experiment demonstrated that views to green landscapes promote attention restoration and help individuals to recover from stress.  In another study, researches in China, have discovered that viewing nature based scenes were restorative and those with more openness but no people were more lived to reduce stress.  So maybe you could just look at a picture instead. So for those of you where its not practical to spend 5 minutes in nature per day, why not look at a picture of a green landscape (without people) on your mobile phone  or tablet or pc, and see if it boosts your attention levels and restores you. References D Li and W C Sullivan, Impact of views to school landscapes on recovery from stress and mental fatigue.  Landscape and Urban Planning, vol 148, 2016, pp 149 - 158.

The injury to a brian caused by stroke can lead to problems with talking, seeing, thinking, remembering, moving, eating, swallowing and more.  It's no wonder stroke is a leading cause of disability in adults worldwide. Here are some lifestyle tips to cut the risk of suffering a stroke:

1. Eat at least 3 to 5 services of fruit and vegatables a day - the more the better.
2. Exercise most days of the week.  Brisk walking for an hour a day five days a week can cut the risk of a stroke in half.
3. Maintain a health weight, and especially watch out for abdominal fat.
4. Limit alchol to no more than two drinks per day if you drink.
5. Eat more grains such as oats, quinoa and brown rice.
6. Eat more sources of good fats such as fatty fish, walnuts, flaxseed and chia seeds.
7. Destress - psychological stress is a known risk factor for stroke.