Natural Remedies

Once stay-at-home-restrictions are lifted and humans start going about their daily lives again, dogs are going to be very confused, according to an ABC News special report.

Steve Dale, a certified animal behavior consultant, said dog owners need to plan for this change.

“Suddenly, the dogs don’t get the email that it’s back to work or whatever that new normal is … I’m concerned we’re going to see a lot of separation anxiety,” he said.

Not all dogs will react the same. Here’s how owners can address dogs with different needs:

Dogs with previous separation anxiety

Many dogs suffer from separation anxiety when their owners leave the house. Dale suggests these owners be proactive and use the tools they have at their disposal, such as:

1. Probiotics

2. Pheromone products

3. Nutraceutical products

4. Comfort vest

Dogs without previous separation anxiety

Other dogs enjoy the company of their humans but also like a little time alone. Dale said owners should look out for any developing signs of anxiety. Signs of separation anxiety include:

* Dogs howling or crying when their owners leave their homes

* Housetrained dogs having accidents

* Dogs digging at the door, perhaps as a way to try to escape.

Newly adopted dogs

Dale said young dogs are quick learners, and owners can use this to their advantage.

“For dogs that were recently adopted or are in foster, here’s what you do: Go take a walk without the dog. If you can, set up a camera or leave treats out all over. If the dog gobbles up those treats, it’s a good sign that the dog wasn’t anxious.”

What do the scientists say?

Nestlé Purina scientists have focused their studies on the benefits of probiotics for dogs with anxious behaviors.

“In searching for a new way to address dogs with anxious behaviors, we focused on the bi-directional communication known as the gut-brain axis — a connection believed to be influenced by the gut microbiota,” said Dr. McGowan, Nestlé Purina Research Scientist. “Scientific evidence has shown that controlling gut bacteria through probiotic administration can have a positive influence on anxious behavior.”

“While anxious behaviors are often thought of as psychological, their effect on a dog’s physiologic state is real,” said Dr. McGowan. “By addressing this at a gut level, veterinarians can offer clients new hope for helping anxious dogs achieve peace of mind.”

Do you feel stressed out all the time?

Trouble sleeping? Restless legs at night?

Not sure why you feel tired so often?

All of this could be due to a magnesium deficiency.

Maybe that sounds too simple. But consider the following…

Magnesium is critical for hundreds of biochemical processes in your body. It plays a major role in nearly all aspects of your well-being, including:

• nervous system function
• muscle function
• blood sugar control
• blood pressure regulation

There is simply no way you can be your best self without enough magnesium.

The bad news is, most people have a magnesium deficiency.

But here’s the good news: this problem is easily fixable.

Signs of Magnesium Deficiency

If your body isn’t getting enough magnesium, there are some clues:

• muscle craps
• restless legs
• anxiety
• insomnia
• low energy
• depression

Of course, these symptoms can also be due to other causes. But if you notice that you’ve experienced more than one of these symptoms for an extended period of time – and you aren’t sure why – a magnesium deficiency could very well be the case.

Magnesium Deficiency Causes

In some cases, magnesium deficiency is caused by an illness or aging.

But in the vast majority of cases, it is our diets that cause magnesium deficiency.

Processed Food

Processed food is a major part of the average person’s diet. According to marketplace.org, processed food makes up about 70% of the average American’s diet!

As you can probably guess, these processed foods don’t provide you with nearly enough magnesium. But that’s not all.

It turns out that processed food can actually increase your body’s need for magnesium. So not only do you not get enough magnesium from your diet, but your diet ends up making you need even more magnesium than normal!

For example, if you eat a lot of saturated fat (which is VERY common in processed foods), your intestines will require additional magnesium for digestion.

But you aren’t even getting your minimum recommended amount of daily magnesium. This quickly leads to a magnesium deficiency.

Your Water

Have you heard of “water softening”? It’s a process in which your drinking water gets treated to eliminate certain minerals.

This is done to make it more useful for cleaning and other purposes. But it also means that the water you drink is stripped of magnesium. Water is naturally a source of magnesium, and so this further adds to the depletion in your body.

Too Much Calcium

The fact is, calcium supplements can deplete the amount of magnesium in your body.

We would never suggest to avoid taking calcium. It’s often necessary – especially for women reaching menopause.

But be careful to limit the amount of calcium you take to only what you need. Some calcium supplements provide many times more than the daily recommended amount. This does nothing to help you, and can create a magnesium deficiency.

Medications

Many prescription medications lead to a reduction in magnesium. Unfortunately this is unavoidable, as these medications are often necessary for our overall health.

But the good news, again, is that you can still correct the deficiency with a diet change and with the right magnesium supplement.

How To Tell If You Have a Magnesium Deficiency

Currently the medical diagnostic tests for magnesium deficiency are not that accurate. This is partially because most of your magnesium gets stored in bones and muscle tissues, rather than in your blood. That makes it hard for a blood test to give you good information about your magnesium levels.

The best way to tell is to start increasing the amount of magnesium in your diet, and through supplementation. If you notice an improvement in your symptoms (described above), chances are you have been magnesium deficient.

Correcting Your Magnesium Deficiency

The two main methods for fixing your deficiency are 1) changing your diet, and 2) using a supplement. Both are usually necessary for full recovery.

In terms of diet, the fix is twofold: eat less processed food and more magnesium-rich foods.

It goes without saying that soda, crackers, chips, microwaveable meals, and the like are all highly processed and cause a deficiency.

According to Healthline, foods rich in magnesium include:

• legumes
• pumpkin seeds
• sunflower seeds
• nuts
• dark chocolate
• fish
• bananas
• leafy greens

(Read the full article for a great explanation on why these foods help.)

Supplements

You can go a long way toward correcting your magnesium problem through diet. But a good supplement will greatly accelerate the process.

Pill supplements can have mixed results. A quality pill that is absorbable will help, but lesser quality pills will give you nothing more than “expensive pee”.

Topical supplements (applied to skin) are a much better option. In most cases you simply spray it on an area of your skin with lots of blood vessels beneath it, such as the bottom of your forearm. Then you rub it in so it gets absorbed directly into your bloodstream. This is a much more efficient and effective way of taking magnesium, as compared to absorbing it through your digestive system.

Try our #1 Recommended Fast-Acting Magnesium Supplement

Today we’re going to learn how to lower your blood pressure fast. In fact, these techniques can work within minutes.

Best part? These are 100% safe methods for treating hypertension. And not only do they work quickly, they also set you up for long term control of your blood pressure.

If that sounds interesting to you, keep reading.

Is It Possible?

Whenever you hear claims about “instant” solutions to long-term problems, skepticism is warranted.

This site is all about skepticism, but in this case the evidence is convincing. You can lower your blood pressure very quickly. But probably not in the way you think.

Most medical treatments revolve around medication and diet changes. Both can work, but it usually takes some time.

Related Reading: Does the Blue Heron Health high blood pressure program work?

The following quick ways to lower blood pressure work because they target your mind. The mind-body connection is incredibly powerful. The only safe methods to lower blood pressure immediately are those that start with the mind.

How To Lower Blood Pressure Instantly

We searched the web for techniques to reduce hypertension within a matter of minutes. We found that mindfulness-based strategies appeared again and again.

Our list only includes techniques that are easy for beginners. There are a lot of cool advanced mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques out there that were too detailed for this post. But we recommend checking out people like Jon Kabat-Zinn to learn more:

So these are all simple things you can do right now to reduce hypertension. Let’s take a look.

1. Buteyko breathing exercises

The Buteyko breathing method is a way of focusing your mind on the breath and controlling your breath’s rate and volume.

You can actually go get instructed by a trained Buteyko teacher, but we found a small sample of how their exercises go from Dr. Mercola:

The following is a Buteyko breathing exercise that can help reduce stress, control anxiety and quell panic attacks. This sequence helps retain and gently accumulate carbon dioxide, leading to calmer breathing and reduced anxiety. In other words, the urge to breathe will decline as you enter a more relaxed state:

1. Take a small breath into your nose, followed by a small breath out
2. Then hold your nose for five seconds in order to hold your breath, and then release your nose to resume breathing
3. Breathe normally for 10 seconds
4. Repeat the sequence

Full article published here.

2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation

You can do a guided progressive muscle relaxation to lower blood pressure. Doing this targets your autonomic nervous system and inhibits the fight-or-flight response.

Here’s a simple stepwise approach you can follow, from National Jewish Health:

Follow this progression:

1. Chest – Take a deep breath. Beginning with the abdominal area, fill the lungs with air while feeling the tension in the chest area from the” expanded lungs. Expire from the top of your lungs t6 your abdomen while relaxing.
2. Right foot and lower leg – Keeping the heel down, curl the toes back until tension can be felt in the ankle and calf muscle.
3. Right upper leg – Tense the top of the upper leg (quadraceps) and the bottom of the upper leg (hamstring).
4. Left foot, lower leg and upper leg – Repeat the process identified in numbers 2 and 3.
5. Right hand and forearm – With the palm down, lift the hand until tension can be felt in the top of the hand, the wrist and the forearm.
6. Right upper arm – Tense the bicep and tricep.
7. Right shoulder – Shrug the shoulder toward the ear and roll the head toward the shoulder so that shoulder and ear are touching.
8. Left hand and forearm, upper arm and shoulder – Repeat the process identified in numbers 5, 6 and 7.
9. Jaw area – Without damaging the teeth, bite down until tension can be felt in the jaw area.
10. Mouth – Purse the lips as if whistling.
11. Chin – Place the bottom of the tongue on the roof of the mouth and push upward.
12. Forehead – Wrinkle the brow.

Read the entire article here.

3. Use Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is trendy, but in this case it really works. Here are some suggestions from Healthline on how to incorporate it into your diet to reap the benefits:

• Add it to cooked popcorn.
• Drizzle it over meat or vegetables.
• Add it to a smoothie.
• Mix it with olive oil and herbs for salad dressing.
• Try it in a tea mixed with water and a bit of honey.
• Make a cayenne pepper tonic by adding 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 1/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper to a cup of water.
• Drink a shot of apple cider vinegar in place of coffee.

Full article here.

If you follow any – or even better, all – of these steps, you will almost certainly lower your blood pressure. You should always follow your doctor’s advice if you have any questions or concerns.

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The kidneys are incredibly important organs in our bodies because they are a type of filtration system, removing waste and toxins found in our bloodstream. The body is exposed to numerous toxins on a daily basis, from the food we eat and the air we breathe, to the things our skin touches, and more. These toxins can affect every element of our body, leading to ill health and various other problems. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it is crucial that you keep your kidneys healthy, as they are one of our most important lines of defense.

As with all things about health, keeping your kidneys in good condition starts with leading a healthy lifestyle. You must commit to eating a balanced, nutritious diet, drinking plenty of water, and getting lots of exercise. Without doing this, your body will start to build up more toxins than your kidneys can manage, and this can have an impact not just on kidney function, but also on your other organs. In fact, if left unchecked, you could start to develop various problems, such as high blood pressure, kidney disease, and kidney stones.

Kidney Problems

Various kidney problems can start to develop if we do not look after our health properly. While many of these can be resolved quite easily, they can also be a sign of developing chronic kidney disease, or CDK. Once you have CDK, the damage to your kidneys has become irreparable. Furthermore, this can eventually lead to full kidney failure, which is a life-threatening condition.

It is hugely important, therefore, that you learn to know and recognize the signs of kidney problems. In so doing, you can take steps as soon as they occur, thereby helping you to prevent CDK in the long run as well. You must become body aware, knowing what is and isn’t right, and contact a primary physician as soon as you notice that something isn’t as it should be. This can help you to prevent very serious and significant problems.

So what are some of the most common kidney problems to be aware of?

1. Blood in Urine

If you notice blood in your urine, there may be a problem with your kidneys. That said, you could also have a problem with a part of your urinary tract, although the two are closely linked. You do not have to panic, however. It does not, for instance, immediately mean that you have some form of kidney disease. However, it does mean that there is something wrong, and that problem must be treated. A physician will be able to find out what is causing the presence of blood in your urine and then develop the most appropriate treatment.

2. Protein in Your Urine

The presence of protein in your urine is one of the most common, and earliest, indications that you may have kidney disease. Protein is present in everybody’s blood. When your kidneys function properly, they filter fluid and waste out of your bloodstream, ensuring only healthy elements, like protein, is left. If there is damage to your kidney’s tiny filters, then albumin, a type of protein, can escape from the bloodstream and find itself in the urine. It is very important that this issue is treated as soon as it is spotted, as it will otherwise only get worse. The only problem is that there is no visible indication of having protein in your urine. It is often not discovered until you go through a routine examination with your physician.

3. Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are incredibly painful, but quite common. Generally speaking, they happen when various minerals start to clump together and even crystallize inside the kidneys. If they become large and then move down your urinary tract, they can be incredibly painful. A lot of people have small kidney stones but aren’t even aware of it, because they pass so easily. What this means is that the stone is expelled through the urine. Only when kidney stones become large and painful, or if they are recurring, do they need treatment. This is also because most people will not be aware of having them until they get to that point.

4. Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)

AKI happens when, in a matter of just a few hours or a few days at the most, your kidneys completely stop working. This is a life-threatening medical emergency that requires immediate care, as it can lead to death. Generally speaking, people who are already hospitalized and are very sick tend to develop AKI. However, in some cases, it is the result of a traumatic injury or an infection. In fact, it can even be a side effect of some medications.

5. Kidney Infection

Generally speaking, a kidney infection happens when there is an overgrowth of certain bacteria somewhere in the urinary tract. It is associated with a number of common symptoms, such as pain in your groin, sides, or back, vomiting, and fever. Kidney infections are more likely to happen in women than in men, due to the way that the female anatomy is constructed. It is important to treat a kidney infection as soon as possible, as untreated infections can lead to permanent damage to the kidneys.

6. Kidney Pain

If you feel a pain, which can be dull, sharp, or shooting, in your sides and/or the upper to middle back, it may be your kidneys. However, don’t assume any pain felt in that area automatically means that your kidneys are damaged. Kidney pain is generally of a passing nature, although it can be precursor to one of the other problems mentioned above.

7. High Blood Pressure

A lot of people don’t know that high blood pressure can have significant effects on the kidneys. In fact, it can lead to kidney disease, CKD, and even kidney failure. The kidneys contain a system of nephrons, which in turn receive blood through a dense and complex network of blood vessels. Virtually all of the blood in your body flows through these. If your blood pressure is uncontrolled, the arteries that feed the kidneys can become narrower, and will eventually harden or weaken. Once this happens, they are no longer able to supply the kidneys with sufficient blood.

When your kidneys’ arteries have been damaged, they will find it increasingly difficult to properly filter the blood. The nephrons receive their supply of blood through capillaries, hair-fine blood vessels. When there is damage to the arteries, it is no longer possible to supply the nephrons with the nutrients and oxygen they need. The result is that the kidneys cannot function properly anymore, struggling to properly filter the blood, and being unable to regulate the salts, acids, hormones, and other fluids in the body.

Another key problem is that, once the kidneys are damaged, they are no longer able to properly regulate blood pressure. This means it has become a vicious cycle of damage. If the kidneys are healthy, they will produce aldosterone, which is a hormone. This hormone is responsible for blood pressure regulation. When the kidneys are damage, blood pressure often becomes uncontrollably high, leading to further kidney damage, and so on. This negative spiral is incredibly dangerous, and can be fatal over time.

Protecting the Kidneys the Natural Way

If you have any of the problems above, it is of vital important that you seek medical attention. The kidneys are incredibly precious to our overall survival, and if they are damaged, the consequences could be very severe. Physicians will be able to find the most appropriate treatment for your needs, in an effort to save your kidneys. This can include medication, dialysis, or even kidney transplants. These are things that people would prefer to avoid. Fortunately, it is certainly possible to avoid kidney problems through natural means.

You have to be proactive when it comes to your health, making sure you don’t just treat problems when they occur, but that you stop them from happening in the first place. What you may want to consider, therefore, is regularly cleansing the body, and thereby also the kidneys, ensuring that they remain healthy.

It is actually very easy to cleanse the kidneys, and you don’t have to shop for complex tools or pieces of equipment in order to be able to do it. There are several things that you can do, and they should all start by drinking plenty of purified water every day. Drinking enough water is the key to keeping your kidneys functioning properly, and it is completely natural. That being said, what purified water does is hydrate you, and while that does help to improve the functioning of your kidneys, it is often not enough. So besides this, you should regularly consume one or all of the following:

1. Cranberry Juice

It has been known for years that drinking cranberry juice is the best way to heal and cleanse the urinary tract. In fact, various pieces of scientific research have conclusively proven that it helps to fight infections of the urinary tract. It is believed that it does this by making it more difficult for bacteria to adhere to the urethra and the bladder. On top of that, it is believed that cranberries can help to remove calcium oxalate from the kidneys, which is one of the elements that is known to cause kidney stones.

Cranberry juice can be purchased from any reliable grocery store. However, make sure that you choose a product that has been certified to be organic. Also read the label to make sure it contains no artificial flavors, preservatives, or added sugars. If you aren’t sure, then consider purchasing a juicer, so that you can make your own instead.

2. Beet Juice

Beets are full of betaine, which is a very important phytochemical. This has strong antioxidant properties it helps to make the urine more acidic. In so doing, struvite and calcium phosphate will find it more difficult to build up within the kidneys. When calcium is removed, kidney function is improved, while at the same time making it less likely for you to develop kidney stones.

3. Lemon Juice

Lemons are filled with natural acids. Scientific evidence has shown that consuming them raises the level of citrate in the urine. This means that it is more difficult for kidney stones to form. If you want to have a quick cleanse using lemons, simply squeeze the juice of four to five lemons into a quarter glass of cold water. If you also want to warm it a bit, squeeze one and a half lemon into eight ounces of hot water. You can do this every day.

4. Juice Cleanses

This is really the only thing for which you will need some equipment, which is a juicer. However, it is for good reason that juicers are so popular nowadays. For a juice cleanse, you need to create a beverage that contains all the nutritional benefits of vegetables and fruits. These beverages are packed full of nutrients and antioxidants that can help you remove toxins from your body. This means they positively impact not just the kidneys, but also the colon and liver. Plus, they can help lower blood pressure. If you have a juicer, experiment with peaches, pineapples, pears, peeled oranges, apples, spinach, kale, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, and celery.

5. Supplements

Whether or not you want to use supplements is a personal choice. It is undeniable that they contain nutrients that will benefit the health of your kidneys, particularly if your diet is not as nutritious and balanced as it should be. Make sure, however, that you use high quality supplements. Because the market is not regulated by the FDA, this can be quite difficult to do. You should also make sure that you speak to your physician about your decision to take supplements, because some of them can interact with various conditions and with other medications.

Overall, adding these natural methods to your lifestyle may just help you prevent the development of serious kidney problems that would require intensive pharmaceutical medication. One program we recommend is the Kidney Disease Solution, which is a guide for treating kidney disease naturally. You can read our full review here. There is another similar program called the All Natural Kidney Health and Function Restoration program, which you can also read more about here.