Don’t Put Your Job Before Your Health

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Career Discussions and Health/Wellness. A significant portion of the lives of employees is spent at their jobs, such that their jobs can almost become the basis for their lives. As such they can have adverse effects on the employee’s personal health. There must thus be a balance. The following contributed post is entitled, Don’t Put Your Job Before Your Health.

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Many of us work hard so that we may be able to enjoy a better quality of life. However, hard work can have the opposite effect and it can make our quality of life worse by damaging our health. Here are several ways in which you should you be putting your health first.

Don’t put off seeing a doctor

Many of us don’t take time off work to see a doctor. This can cause health concerns to get gradually worse. Whether you’ve got an employer or you happen to be your own boss, there’s no excuse not to see a doctor. You can schedule an appointment with a primary care doctor in advance allowing you to time to make arrangements or you can look into out-of-hours services. There are even doctors that you can call out to your workplace.

Pay attention to health and safety

Health and safety in the workplace is important. Make sure that you’re wearing the right equipment to protect yourself against injuries and follow safety protocols to minimize further injuries. If you’re self-employed, it’s your job to implement these health and safety measures. Consider talking to a health and safety adviser who can help you to introduce health and safety measures into your business.

Protect against RSIs

RSIs (repetitive strain injuries) often get overlooked because they’re long-term. However, these injuries are just as important to avoid, so that your quality of life isn’t negatively affected later on. If your job involves a repeated action such as typing, make sure that your posture and hand position is right as you type to avoid strain (ideally, your wrist should be the same level as your keyboard). Using specific equipment may also help to prevent RSIs in certain cases. For instance, power tools that don’t vibrate as much are less likely to lead to RSIs.

Know when to take a break

Everybody needs a break now and again. If you’ve recently sustained an injury, taking a break from work could be essential for helping it to heal, especially if certain job tasks are likely to aggravate the injury. Taking a break could also be important if you’re experiencing a lot of stress at work. As well as causing mental health problems, stress can take its toll on your physical health leading to high blood pressure and fatigue. In fact, stress is thought to be a leading cause of heart attacks. A break could not just allow you a chance to destress, but it could help you gain perspective as to whether your job is worth the stress.

Is Health And Fitness The Business Niche For You?

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Health/Wellness. A major business sector is health and fitness. If run properly, these businesses can be very lucrative business niche for those who run them. The following contributed post is entitled, Is Health And Fitness The Business Niche For You?

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Pixabay. CCO Licensed.

Health and fitness has become a huge industry in the last couple decades. If you’ve been considering starting a business within this niche, here are just several tips to help you succeed.

Choose your business angle

There are many different roles that you can take up within the health and fitness sector. You could become a personal trainer, you could start your own gym, you could start your own nutrition class or you could invent a fitness gadget (that’s only a handful of the options). Consider where your strengths lie.

Find your sub-niche

Health and fitness is one of the few sectors where it really benefits to specify in order to help you stand out. If you’re becoming a personal trainer, you may want to cater your training to a specific type of fitness – this could include long-distance running, strength training or weight loss. You could even cater to a certain group such teenagers, pregnant women or people with disabilities. The same applies to nutrition or fitness tech.

Get educated

Being an expert in your field is important both for providing the best service and gaining trust from customers. By getting educated, you can feel confident knowing that you’re qualified. You’ll find all kinds of specific courses such as physical therapy courses and macrobiotic courses online. Take your time to compare courses so that you’re getting the best education for your needs. Online courses have the advantage that they can be studied around other commitments.

Do your competitor research

Whatever sub-niche you get into, you’re likely to have competition. Researching your competition is important so that you can find a way to single yourself out. Don’t get too caught up trying to offer the cheapest service – think about what will make you unique. For instance, if you’re starting a gym, you could try investing in unique gym equipment, hosting unique classes or offering unique benefits to members (some gyms offer discounts to local services or even give out free wearable tech to loyal members).

Invest in marketing

Marketing is how you will attract customers in the first place, so it’s worth investing money into a variety of marketing channels. This could include designing a website, printing off business cards, trying SEO, getting involved in social media marketing and even designing your own app. Word of mouth is also a valuable marketing strategy and it could be worth dedicating time to networking to build connections.

Lead by example

Health and fitness is more than an occupation – it’s a lifestyle. You need to be an inspiration to the people that you’re marketing to, which means keeping in good physical shape and taking on healthy behaviours. Make sure that you’re committed to such a lifestyle and that you’re not simply going through a fitness phase.

5 Signs You Need To Think About Improving Your Health

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Health and Wellness. Maintaining and improving your health, is a key component to a successful and prosperous life. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Signs You Need To Think About Improving Your Health.

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Image by skeeze from Pixabay

One of the hardest things to do during your adult-life is to think about your health. Although you may feel as though you don’t need to make any changes when it comes to staying on top of your health, there are lots of reasons why you should be making it your main priority. Whether you’ve had a recent health scare or you’re experiencing lots of health-related issues, you need to ensure you’re doing all that you can to look after yourself. With that in mind, here are 5 signs you need to think about improving your health:

  • Someone In Your Family Has Suffered From Bad Health

If you have someone in your immediate family who you know has suffered from health problems that are hereditary, you need to think about whether or not this can impact your future. Although it is not written in stone that you will have the same issues, you need to think about what you can do to prevent them from having a serious effect on your life. If it helps, it might be worth speaking to your doctor about any preventative measures you can take. To find out more about hereditary illness, you can visit this site here.

  • You’ve Had A Recent Health Scare

If you have had a recent health scare, it’s definitely a sign you need to be doing more to look after your health. Whether this means improving your diet or ensuring you get regular exercise, you need to be sure you’re doing everything you can to live a healthy lifestyle. For tips and tricks when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, you can visit this site here.

  • You’re Experiencing A Lot Of Issues

If you find you’re experiencing a lot of major (or even minor) health issues, it’s definitely time to start thinking about what you can do to improve your health.

Although some issues cannot be helped, there are lots of things you can do when it comes to working on your overall healthy lifestyle. Whether that means working with a macrobiotic counselor or finding yourself a personal trainer, you need to ensure you’re making changes for the better.

  • You Want To Improve Your Overall Health

One of the most obvious reasons to improve your health is because you want to start leading a healthier lifestyle, of course. If you have started to notice that you’re spending a lot of time eating out and drinking, or you think your exercise routine is starting to slip, taking the time to look at the potential changes you could make could be the motivation you need to live a healthier lifestyle.

  • You Want To Encourage Others Around You To Be Healthy Too

Finally, if you want to encourage your friends and family to live a healthier lifestyle, you need to look at whether or not you’re being as healthy as you can be first. After all, you may find that you need to lead by example in order to encourage them.

Are you worried about your health? What lifestyle changes could you make to ensure you’re being as healthy as you can? Let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.

You Can’t Ignore Health And Safety

Two of the focuses of blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter what kind of business you’re operating, a key aspect is employee health and safety. Neglecting this aspect of your operations can cost you a lot of money moving forward. The following contributed post is entitled, You Can’t Ignore Health And Safety.

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Health and safety is an important aspect of running a successful business. Businesses that fail in their health and safety duties run the risk of damage, personal injuries, lawsuits, and ultimately, closure.

While there are regulations in place to help make sure you carry out your operations safely, there’s always more that can be done to make sure your business is a safe and secure place for employees and customers.

Don’t ignore health and safety, take a look at some of the ways you can go above and beyond to put safety at the heart of your business.

Image Credit: Unsplash under Creative Commons

Provide employees with the right training

Many accidents in the workplace happen because employees haven’t had the right training to prevent them. Every employee on your books needs to have health and safety training, whether for manual handling or what to do in the event of a fire. You can run this training as an online module, as well as some face-to-face training to help the message sink in. Health and safety training is something that should be refreshed regularly, so make sure it’s a part of your ongoing onboarding program.

Make your policies clear

Your health and safety policies need to be clear and visible to all. There are some useful resources available to help you draft a health and safety policy to share with your employees. Be unstintingly clear what is acceptable within your business, and what is not. If some of your employees will be working at height, you need to address what is expected of them when they do so. Whether this means they need to be wearing fall protection lanyards, or harnesses, or have crash mats in place, what’s essential is that everyone knows what is expected from them in order to ensure safety is maintained. In addition to your health and safety policy, you need to make sure that your liability insurance is in place and that you have lawyers on had to advise you on any health and safety issues that could become serious.

Don’t scrimp on supplies and materials

While saving money is in the best interests of your budget, it’s not always in the best interests of your business. Choosing materials because they’re cheap could cause problems later on if they’re not of a high standard. When it comes to safety, only the best should do. An ABS butterfly valve can be a valuable item for your equipment, and choosing an inferior product could pose a major risk. Choose suppliers you can rely on and are trustworthy, the reassurance will far outweigh the cost.

Remember to pay attention to wellbeing

While you might have the safety of your employees covered, have you given much thought to their wellbeing? You can improve employee wellbeing in a number of ways, including promoting fitness in the workplace, encouraging healthy eating and making the workplace a more sociable and positive place to work. Paying attention to the wellbeing of your employees helps them to feel more valued, which can boost your turnover rates and make your company a better place to work.

Ensuring the health and safety of your business is one of those common challenges that all business owners face, but it’s also one of the most important. Make sure you make health and safety a high priority in your business to ensure it’s longevity and demonstrate that you’re a smart and successful business owner.

3 Ways To Show Your Patients You Care In Your Healthcare Business

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Health/Wellness. The Healthcare Business is one that will likely always be needed. That said as a business, there is still level of competition. How do you separate yourself from your competitors? The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Ways To Show Your Patients You Care In Your Healthcare Business.

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Running a healthcare business is much the same as any other business. If you show your customers that you care (or in this context, your patients), you will retain their loyalty and receive the financial rewards to your business. And if you don’t show that you care? Well, the reverse is true. You won’t be the only healthcare business in your community, and you might lose your patients to somebody who is doing more than you to care for their needs.

So, to ensure you stand out in the healthcare sector then, here are just a few of the ways that you can show your patients that you care.

1: Listen to what your patients have to say

Do your patients feel cared for? Are you meeting their needs? You would never know unless you asked them, so to ensure they know that you have their best interests at heart, make every effort to listen to what they have to say. This begins at the reception desk when your patients express their needs to your receptionist, and it continues into their appointments when they are talking to your healthcare professionals.

So, ensure your receptionist staff have customer training behind them. Make sure appointment times can be scheduled so your care staff have sufficient time to get to know and understand your patients. And ensure feedback forms are available, so if your patients have something to say, be it good or bad, you can then take the appropriate actions when necessary.

2: Show your patients your appreciation

If it wasn’t for your patients, you wouldn’t have a business, so to retain those that you do have on your books, show them that you care for their needs by finding ways to reward their loyalty to you.

So, you might offer your loyal patients discounted services, or you might show your appreciation by revamping your practice’s waiting areas. Check the medical fit-outs at Levitch, for example. You might also adopt an incentive scheme, so if your patients can direct others to your business, you might reward them with a free gift (such as an electric toothbrush if you were in dentistry) or money off their next visit.

What you do depends on the area of healthcare your business is in, but for some general inspiration, here are some other ideas on how to show patient appreciation. Your patients will then show you their appreciation by returning to your business.

3: Educate your patients

To show your patients that you care about their health needs, you can take extra steps to keep them informed. So, you might run special classes in your business, with expert advice from your clinicians and outside professionals to educate your patients on any health issues that pertain to their situation. You might also send out newsletters to your patients, be that through e-mail or snail mail, not only to market yourself to them but to give them new information that relates to their needs.

By educating your patients, you are showing them that you aren’t only interested in their money. They will see that you are going the extra mile to give them better care through the information you relay, and this will do them and your business a world of good.

Thanks for reading!

Thoughts On An Effective Healthcare Space

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. While the healthcare administered is the most important aspect of any healthcare facility, the appearance plays a key role too. The right space will make your patients feel comfortable will likely encourage them to return. The following contributed post is entitled, Thoughts On An Effective Healthcare Space.

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Martha Dominguez de Gouveia

Taking care of our health is very important, but can be intimidating and unwelcoming at times. Whilst being looked after in the comfort of your own home can be a better compromise, healthcare practices are often seen as drab spaces with fluorescent light and cold tiled floors. However, an increasing number of practices are shifting towards producing warm and relaxing surroundings which make patients feel at home and comfortable. Regardless of who you are and in what point you’re at in your own life, walking right into a clinic that provides you with a sense of comfort, security and enjoyment will always elicit a favorable response compared to entering a clinical and cold area in which you feel dread and anxiety. This is the reason why it’s critical to make patients feel at ease.

The layout and design of any office are very important for productivity, efficiency, and comfort for the occupants. Fantastic design can play a critical role in the medical business, particularly when accuracy, professionalism and anxiety management are regarded as crucial elements for any clinic. Health practices are a place to be appreciated, somewhere individuals are going to want to return to and also a favorable location for employees. Straightforward design variables such as a splash of color and furniture changes may alter a practice’s dynamic. Significant elements of a thriving clinic comprise an aesthetic layout and excellent decor which will endure the test of practicality and time. The layout should make the lives of both patients and staff simpler. First impressions are also very important to any company.

Strategies for space and growth of future services have to be considered in as much detail because of the positioning of the lighting and doors. Not allowing enough layout time can be detrimental, which will not promote effective decision making for many parties involved, causing the finished product to be jeopardized for quality & decent design.

Creating flow and associations between design elements, while at precisely the same time being aware of visual focus is paramount for great designers. Throw in the additional components of organic light and compliance with statutory construction code requirements and you’ve got the raw ingredients for the perfect practice.

So why is the design of healthcare practice significant? When we come into a practice to wait for therapy, or work in a clinic, this has a significant impact on our emotional and physiological reaction. It’s the aesthetics which could tell individual and the team just how much the professionals care in their job and therefore are an imperative function which predetermines a patients expectations and expertise.

The most significant marketing components to any health clinic are the surroundings and the men and women working inside it. The way a patient feels in the start, during and following a consultation period is paramount to the company’ marketing efforts. It’s similar to a website that’s simple to navigate and is informative. A well-designed health practice functions in precisely the exact same manner. When the workflow is great and the practice is nicely put together, you’re more inclined to return there.

6 Reasons You Should Cycle To Work

A key focus of my blog is Health and Wellness. Many people cycle to work for health and productivity benefits. There are numberous other benefits such in the realms of economics and the environment as well. The following contributed post is entitled, 6 Reasons You Should Cycle To Work.

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Photo by Jonny Kennaugh on Unsplash

Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, cycling to work is becoming more and more of an option. Whilst it may not be your ideal method of transport, cycling to work is actually one of the best things you can do when it comes to saving money and looking after your health. Whether you want to lose a few pounds or you’re saving for something special, here are some great reasons to start cycling to work:

– It’s Much Cheaper Than Driving Every Single Day

As mentioned above, cycling to work is a great way to save money. Whether you drive to work or use public transport, you can cut practically all of your costs if you choose to cycle instead. In fact, the only time riding a bike to work will cost you is when you buy your bike. If you’re struggling to purchase a bike outright, you may also find that there are cycle to work schemes you can join. Not only does this mean you can buy your bike immediately, but it means that you’ll barely notice the payments being taken from your account as they’ll be deducted from your pay before you receive it. For more information about cycle to work schemes, you can visit this site here.

– It’s Great For Your Health And Fitness Levels

Cycling to work every day, no matter how far you have to cycle, is great for your health. Not only is it a great way to ensure you’re getting exercise on a daily basis, but it will also encourage you to improve your fitness further as you start to get used to the daily exercise you’re doing.

– You’ll Be Helping Lower CO2 Emissions

Another great thing about cycling to work every day is that you’ll be helping to lower CO2 emissions. Although it may be the quickest and easiest ways to travel, one of the worst things about everyone driving to work each day is that in reality, it’s really bad for the environment. Whilst there are lots of ways you can help when it comes to the environment, one of the best ways to use your car as little as you possibly can and taking your bike instead. For more tips when it comes to helping the environment, you can visit this site here.

– It’s Easy To Keep Your Bike Safe In A Shelter

One of the most common things that stops people from taking their bike to work each morning is not having a space to put it. Whilst that may be the case for some people, lots of workplaces are now using dedicated bike shelters to encourage people to cycle to work instead of drive. If your workplace doesn’t have a bike shelter yet, you could always encourage them to put one in.

– It’s Much Quicker Than Walking Or Using Public Transport

Depending on where you live, cycling to work could be a much quicker method of transport. Not only do you get to cut traffic, but if you’re cycling instead of using public transport you will also be able to miss out all of the unnecessary stops. If you have a long way to travel it will definitely take longer than driving, but once you start to get the hang of it you will pick up your pace and learn the fastest routes.

– It’s Fun And Encourages Happy Endorphins

One of the best things about exercise is that it encourages you to be happy and increases your endorphins. It’s a great motivator for the start of your day and chances are you’ll arrive at work feeling happy and energised. If you struggle to wake up in the mornings, this could be the best possible solution for you.

Are you thinking of cycling to work? What benefits could it bring you? Let me know in the comments section below.

The Major Failings Of The Healthcare Industry

Two key focuses of my blog are Current Events Health/Wellness. The Healthcare Industry like many others is not perfect and faces its own unique sets of challenges. Whether you’re looking for care or looking to impact the industry in some other way, it’s important to understand what’s happening in it. The following contributed post is entitled, The Major Failings Of The Healthcare Industry.

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The healthcare industry is something that we just couldn’t live our lives without today. We rely on it so heavily, that we’re actually crippling it. No matter what part of the world you go to, there will still be some part of their healthcare system that’s struggling to cope. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier, either. With new health problems working their way into society, and old problems becoming even more prevelenant, it’s no wonder why people are flocking for medical treatment that could potentially save or change their life. But with all of this pressure from the public, and the obvious financial turmoil that’s facing most countries in the world, it’s no wonder why so many are facing major healthcare failings. There just simply isn’t the funding, the staff, or the hours in the day to be able to do everything perfectly. But the failings are causing such a risk to the population, and that’s what we want to discuss today. If we warn you of some of the failings, you might be able to look out for a thing or two, and make sure that your care is not faulted. So keep on reading, and see what you think of the healthcare industry.

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The Malpractice

There is definitely a lot of malpractice happening in hospitals and health centres around the world, and for the most part, it will go unnoticed. You will find that so many little things fly underneatht the radar, simply because the person at fault was lucky enough to not cause serious harm. But there are cases that need to be taken further if you’re ever involved in them. A medical malpractice attorney will be able to give you a consultation, and tell you if they think it needs to be taken futher. But generally, you’re looking for things such as a misdiagnosis, wrong medications being given,surgeries going wrong, and anything else inbetween that might seriously affect your health. Always make sure you’re confirming everything, and you’re doing your own bit of research to make sure the actions they’re taking are the right ones.

The Staffing Problems

Staffing problems is one of the biggest failings of the healthcare industry. If there are problems due to poor care and malpractice, you can probably put it down to poor staffing problems. People are overworked, underpaid, and not exactly treated right under pressure. To solve a lot of the problems with healthcare, staffing problems need to first be addressed, and this can be done by increasing wages, bringing in more staff, and decreasing shift hours to prevent exhaustion.

The Failure To Discover

There are so many different health problems out there that don’t have treatments. So many lives are ruined, and so many are ended early simply because we’re failing to discover treatments. Again, this is due to poor funding, and poor staffing issues. There are so many lives that could be changed if treatments or cures were discovered, so if you want to do your part with it, get donating to a charity that’s working tirelessly to do just that. Or, take part in clincal trials that could unlock the future of healthcare.

4 Healthy Indicators Of High Self-Respect

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Health/Wellness. Self-Respect is important not just for yourself but in terms of interacting with others as well. A high level of self-respect can drive your decision making and ability to navigate life as well. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Healthy Indicators Of High Self-Respect.

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Being able to look after yourself and respect yourself is hugely important. Not only does it make for a happier and more fulfilling life, it’s also hugely effective in terms of keeping you physically healthy too. The mind and body are essentially two sides of the same coin, and the more that you pay attention to one, the more the other benefits alongside too. But if you are feeling as though you might not allow yourself the right level of self-respect, then you are probably keen to do something about that. As it happens, there are a whole host of ways in which you can hope to improve your self-respect, and it all starts firstly by understanding it as a process as well as you can. In this article, we will look into some of the healthy indicators that you have high self-respect. If you can see these qualities, you know that there is a lot of self-respect there too.

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Good Physical Health

We have already alluded to the way in which physical and mental health work together. It works both ways, and if you happen to have good physical health which you keep up with a lot of the time, it’s highly likely that this is mostly down to having a good level of self-respect. When you respect yourself, you are much more likely to push your body and to improve it through training, as you both want it to be in the best possible shape and you feel much more able to do the necessary training to get it there. Conversely, if you are not in great shape, it will almost always indicate that you are not quite as happy with yourself as you could be.

The trouble here is that it is the kind of thing that can easily become a cyclical problem. If you allow your physical health to worsen, that will cause a decline in your emotional health, and then you will feel less keen to go out and exercise again. Before long, you are going to find that you are letting both slip, and that is not a situation that you want to be in. So make sure that you are staying on top of your physical health as well as you can, and you will find it helps to keep your self-respect up high as well.

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The Ability To Self-Regulate

This is something vital that we should all have, but which can become undeveloped or forgotten in many people at different stages of their life. Self-regulation is the term for being able to act in ways which you know are for your best future interests in the long term. This should generally trump anything else such as immediate desires which you know will cause you damage – although in practice, everyone in the world engages in some kind of damaging act at least sometimes. But the ability to self-regulate is a hugely powerful indicator that you have a high self-respect, and if you happen to notice that you don’t really have this yourself, then it’s likely you have self-esteem problems somewhere.

As with many things, this is something that usually starts in childhood. The process of teaching self-regulation to young students and children can be hard, and for many parents it doesn’t ever become a priority. Those children will then not develop a natural sense of what it means to take care of themselves for the long-term, and once you become an adult you might find that this shows up in a variety of poor behaviours which you then try to fix. Idf you find yourself in this position, don’t fret – it is still something you can work on at any point in your life, and you should never feel as though all is lost. But you will need to start actively thinking about what matters for your health and wellbeing, and to make the right steps and changes to make it happen. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, until eventually you are going to find it is a fairly natural skill which you have developed.

Confidence

Who doesn’t want to be confident? Confidence is much-admired, but mostly misunderstood, and it’s that misunderstanding which stops people actually being able to take it for themselves. A lot of people feel that confidence is somehow always being on top in social settings, or even being domineering of those around them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Actually, confidence is much more like not caring whether or not others like you, and doing whatever you want, regardless of whether other people like it. Clearly, this kind of no-nonsense get-what-you-want attitude is a sign of a healthy self-respect, and it is for this reason that you should seek it out. Of course, as with anything, you can practice either and you will get more of the other – and if you don’t feel you have much confidence, you can do a lot to generate it in yourself.

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The best way to build confidence is to make a point of focusing primarily on yourself, and doing what you want. Pleasing number one firstly is the best thing you can do. You should then think about slowly but surely stepping outside of your comfort zone, until you are at the point where you can appreciate that you are capable of more than you thought. In this way, you will surely and slowly build up your confidence, and at the same time your self-respect will start to soar as well. Confidence is hugely addictive, so it’s exciting to get started in building it up.

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Kindness

Funnily enough, even being kind to others is a sign that you respect yourself, as long as it comes from a healthy place. If you are over-pleasing, then it’s not healthy, but if you are instead being normally kind because you want to be, then that is a very good sign indeed. It takes a strong self-awareness and understanding to be kind to others, and this is one of the first things you should think about developing if you are keen to respect yourself more. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes.

Stopping The Epidemic Of Health Hazards

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. A major concern is that our current health system as currently stands, poses numerous inherent hazards to the patients. The health industry is vast and has numerous moving parts. The following contributed post looks at the many health hazards in the industry and what can be done about them. It is entitled, Stopping The Epidemic Of Health Hazards.

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The health industry resembles a mythical monster. It has multiple heads. Its tentacles expand in many directions at the same time. And more importantly, nobody knows how to manage it. In a modern take on the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the health industry, like the Nine-headed Hydra of the mythology, has more than one heads you need to pay attention to. Indeed, on the one hand, doctors and hospitals are in charge of providing a service. The second of its third head is science and research, which keeps the sector relevant to modern day issues. And finally, the third head is for health hazards, all the dangers within the health industry. While Hercules finally conquered Hydra, we are not at a stage where the health industry can yet be safely managed. It is vital that we understand the diversity and range of risks for each head. This article focuses on exploring health hazards.

Hercules slaying the Hydra

There’s medication for everything and everything in your medication
A few days ago, the US Food and Drug Administration issued further recalls for the blood pressure medication losartan. Indeed, impurities that have been discovered in the recalled lots – NMBA, or N-Nitroso N-Methyl 4-aminobutyric acid – are potentially carcinogen. The presence of the chemical is, so far, unexplained, but it is suspected to be linked to a potential risk of contamination in a medical factory. Indeed, the contamination risks in a pharmaceutical plant are extremely high as there are many interactions with equipment, workers, and suppliers during the manufacturing process. Consequently, despite strict sanitary and hygienic policies, a human or mechanical error can, unfortunately, introduce harmful compound to the final product.

I can just bin it, right?
More and more often, households are the origin of devastating health risks. Indeed, homes with pets and young children are careful to keep medication out of reach of the most vulnerable family members. However, everyday health-related items can be disposed of without a second thought about their potential danger, such as aerosols or even UV lamps for light therapy treatment. Waste removal and especially hazardous waste disposal should be entrusted to professionals only, as the chemical elements contained in some healthcare items could threaten your health if they were accidentally exposed. Additionally, they also lead to environmental damages if they are not handled with care.

Marketing without research could be a slow death sentence
It’s not uncommon in a fast-moving market to launch products that might seem safe at first, but that lack appropriate testing. Ultimately, it doesn’t take long to come across products that we know are harmful today but that were once promoted as a health savior. Radioactive toothpaste was highly popular in the first half of the 20th century, as it was thought to give your teeth a natural and healthy glow. A French makeup brand even recommended radioactive lipstick for a vibrant red shade. Nowadays, the next hype product that lacks research is the vaping pipe. Indeed, long-term effects are unknown. Additionally, some pipes have exploded and caused serious injuries.

The bottom line is that the health industry Hydra hasn’t yet reached its final shape. However, we need to gain a deep insight into the diversity of health hazards that Hydra has in store for us. Ultimately, you can only defeat what you know.