According to a story ran by The New York Times, the study was done on over 11,000 Canadian adults. The results showed that people who are a bit overweight, but not obese, are less likely to die than those who are not overweight (READ: NORMAL weight). The category of overweight covers people who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9. In addition to this, people who are underweight – those who have a Body Mass Index of less than 18.5 – are more likely to die than the people who weigh normally.

Obviously, this finding is going to be well-received by many. The common way of thinking, prior to this study, is that being overweight automatically means more health problems, higher chances of dying earlier than normal. I guess this study gives us something new to think about.

Of course, we also have to take into consideration our lifestyles. Just because you have a BMI of anywhere between 25 to 29.9, it doesn’t mean that you can automatically say that you are going to be fine and that you have a lower risk of dying early. Smoking, drinking, no exercise, and other similar factors should be considered as well.

At least, when you get picked on because of a little extra padding, tell them that it just might be your insurance!

Bottom line: stress is NOT good. Too much of it can mess up your life so bad you’d wish you were never born!

The good news is that stress can be managed – for real. Even the busiest and richest person in this world can keep his stress levels down. Here are some things which can help you get started.

Get off your butt! Yep, good old exercise can do the trick. We all know this in theory but until you actually do it, you won’t feel the effects. You don’t have to go to the gym and do hardcore routines. Even a mere 30-minute walk or swim will do the trick. Get those endorphins flowing and you’ll breeze through your work day!

Fend off negative talk. It’s simple: stop joining office bitching sessions. When something’s not right at work – and there’s always something! – people tend to make it worse by getting together and venting. Venting is good – don’t get me wrong. Getting it off your chest is a great way to de-stress. But if you do it over and over again over the same little things, you just fan the flames. And guess who’s at the losing end?

Keep it simple. When you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, simplify things. Break huge tasks down into more manageable pieces. Take things one step at a time. You’ll get there eventually.

The gym should be near where you live or work. If its location is too inconvenient for you, you might not be motivated to workout regularly. Try to look for a Southampton gym that is at most 15 minutes commuting distance.

Next, check out the gym’s equipment. There should be plenty of variation to accommodate different weights, sizes and needs of people. A gym with only benches and dumbells is not a good place to workout. It doesn’t matter if they offer attractive pricing. Your health is more important. Check out the cardio machines. They should have enough because these are the frequently used equipment.

Going to the gym should be fun. Look for gyms in Southampton that offers free classes such as Dance, Yoga or Spinning. These healthy yet fun activities can break the monotony of working out with the machines. If you like group workout and interaction, then you definitely have to find a gym that offers a variety of class. Make sure that these classes are included in the membership fee.

The LA Fitness gym in Southampton provides free classes to all its members. The free classes include Dance Fusion, BodyPump, Step, Yoga, Spin, and so much more. But the best part is that they also have Crew Classes where you can learn how to properly use the equipment to suit your fitness regimen.

Think about this scenario: You toss and turn all throughout the night because you have a presentation the next day. You have prepared for this presentation for weeks, and you know the details in and out. You have anticipated possible questions that may raised. Still, you are afraid that things might become a mess. What if you forget the words? What if you overlook a detail?

This is just one scenario, but you can very well change the reason and you can still stress over things. Bottom line: you can worry all you want about something – anything!

How do you tap into the power of your thoughts? STOP thinking negatively. As I outlined, you have probably done all that you possible could given the situation. Thinking negatively will not help at all. Instead of dwelling on all the bad things that could happen, why not think about all the good things that could happen?

In the book Being Happy, the power of thinking positively is emphasized over and over again. I believe that this is for a reason: actions and events stem from what we think. The next time that you find yourself worrying yourself sick (literally and figuratively), remember this article. It just might help you.

Men are less likely to suffer from chronic pain due to extreme activities than men due to the hormone testosterone which has been shown to help lessen the damage to muscles and tissue, thus leaving women to suffer more. Statistically, women suffer an average of 15 episodes that can lead to depression due to their biology, having them experience fluctuations in their hormonal levels each menstrual cycle.

Headaches, if they are persistent enough should be consulted to a health professional for it may be a sign of underlying disease, or it may just be you drinking too much coffee through the day to keep you awake at your boring desk job!?!

In the last post, we had a reality check on relationships and the money of giving gifts. In this post, let us look at some other aspects of the Christmas celebration wherein we can reduce the stress we might experience.

The Christmas meal
I wrote meal because some people eat lunch or dinner for the “main event.” It does not really matter which meal you eat with the whole family – or group of friends – the important thing is to be able to handle the preparations without overly stressing yourself out. One commonly suggested thing is to make the meal potluck. Truth be told, this has been the tradition in my family for many years now. Each family brings his own dish (or dishes) and shares it with the rest of the group. Not only will this lessen the burden on the host family in terms of preparation but also in financial aspects.

You probably won’t get away with not cooking anything. So as much possible, you should stock up on your non-perishables NOW. Plan the dishes that you will be preparing and as early as now, go get the stuff that you need. Of course, vegetables and other perishables would have to wait till the day before but canned and dry goods can be bought way ahead of time to avoid the Christmas rush.

Don’t forget to sleep and rest!
In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, you might overlook your own health – and that is the worst thing that you can do. Remember to take care of yourself and to get much needed rest in order for you to have enough energy to breeze through the holidays.

When I am stressed I eat. The nearer Christmas time is, the more I get stressed. Does this mean that the nearer Christmas is, the more I eat? Sometimes! And I suppose it is not just me who feels this way. So how do we deal with the Christmas stress? Here are some tips that you can bear in mind as Christmas fast approaches.

Create a new method of gift giving.
I don’t know about you but in my family, the tradition is to give gifts to everyone. If you come from a big extended family, this will certainly put a strain on your budget. In order to avoid the stress that comes with astronomical spending, you could come up with a new scheme. Here are some ideas:

-Give gifts to the kids only. This will definitely lessen the number of gifts that you have to buy.
-Have an exchange gift. This will lessen your shopping even more since you only really have to buy one gift.
-Set a limit to the cost. This works especially for the exchange gift scheme. Put a cap to how much the gift can be. Make sure you get the consensus of everyone.

Keep your relationships in focus.
Sometimes, we tend to have great expectations when Christmas comes around. We think that everyone has to be happier, more giving, and nicer. Think about it – if you have been a certain way all year, who is to say that you will suddenly have a transformation for Christmas? It’s highly unlikely. As such, do not expect miracles. Be realistic – there will be tensions between people, irritable and moody people will probably have their moments. Deal with them the best way you can and don’t let glitches ruin your holidays.

I read about a poll that Associated Press-AOL Health undertook early this year. They surveyed about a thousand respondents in all the American states with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii. The results? Read for yourself:

27 percent had ulcers or digestive tract problems, compared with 8 percent of those with low levels of debt stress.

23 percent had severe depression, compared with 4 percent with low debt stress.

6 percent reported heart attacks, double the rate for those with low debt stress.

Ok, I take my statements back – maybe we do NEED to see these figures in writing to realize just how disastrous the link between debt and stress is. As you can see from the figures, the result of debt can be more than stress. Physical illness actually results from debt!

This got me thinking…so you get sick because of your debt problem. Getting sick means more expenses. With the person being in debt already, he’ll probably have more problems with the medical expenses. This would probably add more debt. Whew – it’s much like the chicken and the egg, isn’t it?

So what are we to do? If you are experiencing debt problems, you should probably take serious steps to deal with it. Otherwise, you might find yourself in more trouble than the financial sense.

For quite some time, I had been saying, jokingly, that because of the stress, I have had all sorts of symptoms – cluster headaches, inability to sleep, and hyperacidity. A couple of other team members agreed with me. It was not until this newest member – who lives a very healthy lifestyle and rarely ever gets sick – complained of really bad hyperacidity 2 months into the job that I realized that there really is a link between stress and this condition.

Here is this guy who never had serious health problems. He works with us for 2 months and suddenly, he develops all these symptoms that we have been experiencing ourselves! Is there a scientific basis to this?

Well, according to my doctor – whom I had to visit a mere 3 months ago because of severe hyperacidity – yes. Stress does cause the excess production of acid in the stomach. Of course, there are other factors like smoking, diet, etc.

So what should you do when suffering from recurrent bouts of hyperacidity? It really depends on each individual but lessening stress or dealing with stress the right way is a good starting point.