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ORGANIC HEALTH & HOME, SEX & LIFE

How to Help Your Baby and Your Dog Bond

By Guest Blogger, Diana S.

How to Help Your Baby and Your Dog Bond

Your dog is your best friend and can sometimes even feel like your first baby, but what happens when you bring a new family member into your circle? Your four-legged baby may feel threatened by your bundle of joy, and that’s when problems arise. Letting a child bond with your dog is of great importance for their development since dogs provide many health and emotional benefits for people, so you’ll need to learn how to help your dog accept your newborn.

Prepare the dog for the encounter

You’ll have nine months to think about the best way to introduce your dog to your little one, and if you’ve been postponing the behaviour training, now is the time to finally do it. Having a dog that will obey and respond properly to commands such as “offâ€, “stop,†and “no†is imperative when you’re expecting. It would be a good idea to have a friend or relative who already has a baby come over and see whether your dog will be okay with an infant in the same room. You’ll get a chance to see if the dog becomes anxious around a baby and if you need to prepare the pooch even more or not. In addition, let the dog sniff your baby’s blanket and become familiar with the new scent.

Introduce them gradually

Before you bring the baby home, let your dog blow off steam and get rid of all the pent-up nervous energy so that it will be calm around the child. It’s crucial that the pooch is tranquil and obedient during the encounter. The mommy should enter the home alone first and greet the dog because it will be excited to see her after a while. The dog should be restrained on a leash while the mom is on the chair with the baby in her arms, covering its head with her hand to show the dog that she is protecting her baby.

Read: HOW TO BABY PROOF YOUR HOME

Set boundaries

Once the baby is old enough to play with the puppy, teach them how to act around and approach the dog. They shouldn’t run to them and grab them because the dog may be nervous at first, so the baby should be quiet and still, or they’ll scare the animal. Also, don’t forget to keep the dog clean and safe from various insects. This is especially important if your child is going to play with the dog a lot. It’s best if you use a treatment such as Advantix for dogs to keep your dog safe from ticks and fleas. This way, you’ll keep both your pet and your child safe and sound. Furthermore, teach your kids that they shouldn’t grab the dog, give them a big hug or pat their head, but instead explain that it’s much safer if they touched the animal on the side of their face or under their chin.

Let them play

To increase the bonding factor, you can let your child engage in various games with the dog. You can let them play hide and seek, piggy in the middle, or chasing, which will allow positive interactions between the child and the dog. Also, always supervise all contact between your dog and your baby because you need to be close to intervene if any problem arises. Considering both children and dogs love to play, it’s essential that they have separate toys because animals can be territorial. This is why you should keep all the baby’s toys away from the dog’s play space, and don’t encourage your child to play with the dog’s toys because that can lead to a confrontation.

Read: EASY WAYS TO BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE AFTER HAVING A BABY

Having a dog is a huge responsibility, and it becomes an even bigger challenge when you’re bringing a new baby home. So, if you don’t know how to make this transition smooth and help the pet bond with your newborn, the previously mentioned tips will help you make the process less complicated.

Tia and TipsfromTia.com are trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip, email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram.

FOR THE GUYS, ORGANIC HEALTH & HOME, SEX & LIFE

3 Natural Ways To Accelerate Muscle Growth

3 Natural Ways To Accelerate Muscle Growth

We’ve all been in this situation before; we look at ourselves in the mirror and just wish our muscles were a bit bigger and more defined. We feel like we put in a lot of work in the gym, so it’s not fair that our results aren’t as great as some of the units you see trampling around the gym floor.

Of course, most of the massive guys in the gym are packed full of so many steroids they could open up their own pharmacy. The question is, can you speed up muscle growth naturally? The answer is yes, and here are a few ways you can do it:

Increase testosterone levels for more muscle growth. Image

Boost Your Testosterone

Have you ever wondered why men are naturally more muscular than women? It’s mainly to do with the amount of testosterone we produce compared to them. Testosterone is the primary hormone behind muscle growth. As a result, if we produce lots of it, our muscles grow faster than someone with low testosterone levels. Consequently, if you want to accelerate muscle growth, then try boosting your testosterone. There are natural supplements on the market, like Tongkat Ali – which is an extract of an Asian plant. Things like this help you raise your T levels without adding anything unnatural to your body. It can take a few weeks for your testosterone to lift itself, but the results after this are astonishing!

It’s important to get your hormones tested to determine your current state. Your primary doctor or clinics like those that provide TRT Rowlett, and elsewhere, can easily test your levels to determine whether you can supplement with diet or need to consider testosterone hormone replacement.

Bad form will slow down your gains. Flickr

Improve Your Form

Loads of people have terrible form when they’re in the gym. Even some of the classic exercises, like a bicep curl, are done with bad form. Why does this matter? Because proper form means you take a muscle through the proper range of motion so it can contract and relax to its full extent. Getting an adequate stretch on a muscle is vital as it leads to more muscle fiber damage, which will result in more significant growth. In fact, your muscles will grow a lot faster if you lower the weight to a point where you can really crank out quality reps that your muscles are in full control of. Don’t assume that lifting heavy is always beneficial – particularly if your form is off. By all means, go as heavy as you can, but make sure your form doesn’t suffer.

Don’t forget to let your body rest and relax. Image Link

Rest Your Body

What’s the natural thing to do when you want to achieve muscle gains quickly? You work out more often and train pretty much every day. You think this helps as you can squeeze in two arm workouts a week, or two leg days a week. Surely, this means you’re overloading your muscles and helping them grow big and strong? Well, no, not really. If you don’t give your body the proper time to recover, then your muscles can’t grow properly. It’s recommended you have at least one rest day per week where you don’t train at all. As well as this, make sure you don’t train the same body part in consecutive days – give it time to heal. For example, train arms on Monday, then legs on Tuesday, then maybe chest on Wednesday, back on Thursday, and shoulders on Friday.

You don’t have to turn to unnatural things like steroids to supercharge your muscle growth. Try all of these ideas, and you’ll soon turn heads on the beach this summer.

​Tia and TipsfromTia.com are trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip, email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram.

ORGANIC HEALTH & HOME

How To Recover From An Accident At Home

How To Recover From An Accident At Home

Image Source Pixabay

If you’ve found yourself to be in a serious accident, this is always a scary time in your life where you reflect on all the things that are most important to you. Regardless of what actually happened – you’ve been hurt, and that not only takes its toll on your body physically, but mentally too. Going through a difficult experience can be hard on the mind. You may find that your outlook on things has changed, or you’re finding it tough to deal with exactly what has happened, and how your life may have changed, whether it be for a few weeks, months, or even permanently. With this, you may start to fall down a slippery slope and end up depressed, not knowing how to climb back out again.

Read: SUPPORTING A FRIEND WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

This is why it’s so important that you take the time to recover properly once you’re home.

Here’s what you need to do.

Ask for help

There is nothing wrong with asking for some help – it doesn’t make you any less of a person. Understandably you may not be able to do certain things by yourself right now, let alone try vacuuming the home. So don’t be afraid to call a friend or family member to help you out. This might be things like cleaning, washing clothes, or even doing your grocery shopping for you until you feel ready to venture out of the house yourself.

Doing this will also provide you with a bit of company, and that is always important. You should also seek the help of experts to facilitate your recovery. This could be a lawyer to help you get the settlement you deserve, a worker’s compensation advocate to help you recover lost wages from an accident at work, or you can talk to trucking experts who are skilled at giving evidence as witnesses in accidents involving trucks.

Install the aid   

No matter what your injury may be, you may realise that you can’t do things that you once could, whether that means walking up and down your stairs, or finding a comfortable position when sitting down. Your sofa might not be the best thing for your body right now because it doesn’t give you the necessary support it needs. If this is the case, you will want to look at Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare and see what products are available that will make things a lot easier for you around the home until you get better.

Speak to someone

You might be feeling as though you’re alone, or you’ve lost the purpose you once had because things have changed. If you’re low within yourself then it’s important that you reach out and talk to someone. It may be the last thing that you feel like doing, but you need to keep your mental health just as looked after as your physical. Make an appointment with your doctor and tell them how you’re feeling. They will be able to advise you on the best things for you, like having weekly therapy to teach you new techniques for dealing with how you feel.

Read: THE BIG PICTURE: HOW TO STOP COMPARTMENTALIZING YOUR HEALTH

Now you have a few ideas, make sure you bear them in mind. You should also try and get out of the house when you feel up to it because being stuck within four walls is never good if you already feel rather down.

​Tia and TipsfromTia.com are trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip, email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram.

ORGANIC HEALTH & HOME

Signs You Need a Hearing Test

Signs You Need a Hearing Test

Image – https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-woman-music-pink-3100/

Being able to hear is one of those things that we certainly do not appreciate until it’s gone. We take for granted the fact that we can hear people clearly day in, day out. We also take for granted that we can listen to our favourite songs and watch our favourite TV programs. Imagine how different your life would be if you had hearing loss. To try to prevent this scenario from occurring, you need to watch out for any symptoms that indicate you need a hearing test.

There are supplements and vitamins that have been known to help hearing loss or prevent it from happening altogether. Products like Cortexi can reduce inflammation in the inner ear, which is one of the major causes of hearing loss, but does it work? You can read reviews on Cortexi to decide for yourself if it’s the hearing loss prevention for you.

However, if you’re not sure if you’re suffering from hearing loss or just clogged up with a seasonal cold, read on to discover some clear signs that it is time to get an appointment booked sooner rather than later.

Missing out on everyday sounds

– First and foremost, one of the signs that you could have a hearing issue is if you are missing out on everyday sounds. One of the most obvious examples is if you keep sleeping through the alarm on your phone, yet you never used to do this. Of course, you could just be over-tired, but this is not the sort of thing you should just ignore. Have you stopped hearing the message tone on your phone when someone contacts you? Maybe you cannot remember the last time you heard birds tweeting outside your window? Little things like this may mean nothing, or it could mean you have a hearing problem. Either way, it is vital to find out.

You have ringing in your ears

– A lot of people assume that the only form of hearing loss is whereby sounds get quieter and it is more of a challenge to listen to people. However, there are many different hearing conditions that people can suffer from, and ringing in the ear is a common symptom that should never be ignored. This is also known as tinnitus, and it can be a warning sign of hearing loss. A lot of people experience ringing after exposure to very loud noise. If this ringing continues, then you definitely need to book a hearing test. This is something you also need to watch out for in your children. If your little one complains that he or she has ringing in the ears, this is not something you should simply ignore.

You have the volume cranked up higher than usual

– Have you found that you are listening to the television on a higher volume than you once used to? Does your partner or your children complain that you have your music and alike too loud? If so, this could be an indicator that you need to have your ears tested. Of course, there are some people that simply like blasting music, however, if this is something that people have never complained about before and now they are suddenly moaning about how loud your tunes are, this could be because your music is a lot louder than before and you have not realised it because of an issue with your hearing.

You can’t hear in places that are noisy

– Another sign that you need to look into hearing testing is if you cannot hear in places that are noisy. Hearing loss makes it very difficult to hear in places where there is a considerable amount of background noise. Examples include restaurants, parties, or when you are nearby a lot of cars.

“What did you say?â€

– Last but not least, do you find that this is a phrase you are saying more and more often lately? One of the biggest warning signs that you have a problem with your hearing is if you are always asking people to repeat what they have said. Does it always sound like people are mumbling or that their conversations are muffled? A lot of people find that children and women with high-pitched voices are the most difficult to hear at first. If this sounds familiar, these are not signs that you should simply ignore.

Do any of the signs that have been mentioned above? If so, it is better to book a hearing appointment sooner rather than later. After all, the quicker you pick up on a problem, the easier it can be dealt with. If you simply bury your head in the sand and don’t deal with it, you could end up suffering from permanent hearing loss, which could have been reversed if you had acted sooner.

​Tia and TipsfromTia.com are trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip, email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram.

ORGANIC HEALTH & HOME

Most Common Sports Injuries and How to Treat Them

By Diana S.

Most Common Sports Injuries and How to Treat Them

 

Even though physical activity is the best thing you can do for your body, when you are not being careful, many bad things can happen. Whether you are a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, or a rookie, you still have a chance to get injured. Some injuries may only require a great, hands-on professional sports massage. However, some might need more extensive treatment.

When it comes to injuries themselves, there are countless types and variations, but still, some parts of our body are simply more prone to damage than others.

And in the sea of countless sports injuries, here is the list of the most common ones, along with the ways to treat them.

Read: 3 FANTASTIC WAYS TO EXCEL IN SPORTS

Strained hip flexor

Hip flexors are actually the muscles on the upper front side of thighs. Their main functions are lifting knees towards the trunk and assisting with moving legs toward and away from each other. These muscles can become weak in individuals who spend a lot of time sitting and have a poor posture while sitting.

Sports injuries to this muscle are usually caused by sprinting, inclined running and other activities that involve quick turns and sudden starts.

Symptoms include pain while raising the leg, climbing stairs, or getting out of the car, as well as running. Bruising in the front of the upper thighs and groin may also occur.

The best way to treat a strained hip flexor is to rest and icing for approximately 20 minutes at a time for the first 72 hours. After those first days of recovery, it is time to apply heat for 20 minutes, followed by laying down and gently sliding heels and stretching hip flexor.

If symptoms, pain and limited movement are still present after two weeks, you should make an urgent visit to the doctor’s office.

Torn or strained ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is the major kneel stabilizing ligament. The most common cause of ACL injury is slowing down and trying to pivot, cut or change direction. When ligaments inside the knee are torn, consequences can be severe. 

Common ACL tear symptoms are instability when walking or turning corners and increased swelling in the knee. However, even though a light strain or tear can be healed with the help of ice and rest, a complete tear requires surgery and a couple of months of recovery with a very aggressive physical therapy regimen.

Pulled groin

This is also called a groin strain. The groin muscles run from the inner thigh right above the knee up to the upper inner thigh. They pull our legs together and can be injured when performing quick side-to-side movements. The injured person will notice difficulty with lateral movements such as getting in and out of the car, as well as bruising and tenderness in the inner thigh or groin.

Treatment includes rest and icing for 20 minutes periodically during the first three days and heat after those three days, followed by gentle and proper stretching and range motion exercises.

Shin Splints

The most common symptom of a shin splint is pain in the tibia – the lower leg bone. Usually, athletes who participate in activities that involve a lot of running (such as soccer players) are the ones who get this injury.

The best way to treat a shin splint is by icing, resting, and gradually increasing all running activities. Shoes with quality support also play a major role here.

Sciatica

This is actually a back pain that can travel down the back of your leg and even your feet. The feeling can be associated with burning, numbness, and tingling down the leg. It is usually seen in athletes who are often in a flexed forward posture, like cyclists, and ones who perform a lot of trunk rotation like golf and tennis players do. The pain itself can be caused by a pinched nerve or a bulging disc.

To alleviate the symptoms, try laying on your stomach or stretching your back and hamstrings. And if the pain persists for more than two weeks, seek medical assistance.

Strained hamstring

Hamstrings are muscles located on the back of the thighs. Unfortunately, they can get tight and are susceptible to strain and injury (pulled muscle). One of the biggest causes is definitely improper stretching and lack of stretching.

This can be treated with icing and rest in early phases, followed by gentle stretching and overall strengthening in order to prevent another injury. If the pain lasts longer than two weeks, the athlete should turn to physical therapy or ultrasound treatments.

Golf or tennis elbow

This injury is usually seen in athletes who perform many gripping activities, just like golf and tennis players – hence the name. Due to strong and repetitive action, forearm tendons become inflamed and make lifting things, making a grip, opening the door, shaking hands, and raising your hand or straightening your wrist very painful. Athletes also complain that their grip is weak.

Doctors treat this with anti-inflammatory medications and braces in order to take the pressure away from the area and prevent further injuries. Stretching techniques applied by a physical or occupational therapist can also break down that stiffness and build strength gradually.

Cracked tooth

Believe it or not, but according to American Dental Assistants’ Association, every year around 5 million Americans lose teeth in sports-related injuries and probably the most common of them is a cracked tooth.

A cracked tooth happens when a player sustains a sudden blow to the face. Symptoms include a sharp pain when biting down, constantly present tooth pain, especially when eating and drinking, and losing a section of the outer enamel shell. However, this injury isn’t always visible to the naked eye, and a person may not even experience any pain, so there is another reason for doing dental checkups regularly.

When it comes to treating it, it depends entirely on the dentist, but when it comes to preventing it, wearing custom dental sports mouthguards during a boxing or any full-contact sports session is mandatory.

A concussion is an injury to the brain due to head trauma when the brain is shaken or jarred. Concussions are extremely serious and should never be taken lightly. An athlete who experiences this injury should immediately seek the help of a professional who has experience in treating concussions.

Symptoms include confusion, dizziness, headache, nausea, slurred speech, light sensitivity, and delayed response to questions.

Common treatment involves rest with minimal mental or physical stress. 

Just because there is a risk of getting hurt, doesn’t mean you should now give up on doing sports. However, just like everything else in life, you have to be smart about it. Never forget to stretch, wear quality sports gear, and you won’t have to worry about anything.

 ​Tia and TipsfromTia.com are trying to keep you looking good and
feeling good from the inside out. If you’ve got a problem or a tip, email me! Be sure to Like and share on Facebook or Follow on Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram.