Do you exercise regularly? Do you spend quality time with the people you care about most? Are you saving for the future? Are you proud and satisfied with the way you conduct your business and private lives? Our businesses should be a means by which we attain life goals. For far too many small business owners, the business IS the life goal. Are your days planned out? Are you happy with the amount of money you take out of the business? I think there is some food for thought here, don't you?.

I am sure that a lot of you feel the same way.There are many things you can do to de-stress and beready to get back to business.** Exercise is one of the best stress relievers thereis. Walking, aerobics, dancing, or whatever form of exercise you choose has many more benefits also.** One thing I do when business gets the better of me,is to shut the computer down for the day and turn my attention to other things that need to be done. Just taking a small break from business can help. When things are really stressful, we may need to take a longer break.** Another thing I do, is to take a few moments andjust reflect upon how lucky I really am. I have a home,wonderful family, great job, my health and I also getto live on this beautiful planet.

I do not take any of these things for granted for even one minute because in a minute it could all be gone!!** As you are taking those few moments to think about what you do have instead of what you don't, you shouldalso be taking some nice, deep cleansing breaths.And also stretch out some of those tired muscles.I guarantee doing these things will revitalize and refresh your mind and body.** Take some time to think about why you started your business and if those reasons still apply.Are your goals still the same, do you still have the motivation? If the other areas in your life need more attention right now, that is fine, it happens to all of us. Just do what you need todo and then get back to business. Do not make the decision to quit when you are stressed out or trying to deal with other problems. Wait until youcan think clearly!** Here are some sites that might give you some more good ideas for de-stressing and life management.http://www.stresscure.com/http://www.stressrelease.com/strssbus.htmlhttp://imt.net/~randolfi/StressLinks.htmlStress is a serious matter and should not be ignored.But it can be controlled and reduced. Do not make any life changing decisions when you are over-stressed.Take a break, clear your mind, de-stress and thingswill look a lot different!.

Sweating, nausea, and vomiting that are accompanied by intense pressure in the chest. A radiating and intense pain in the chest that extends from the chest to the left arm. A shortness of breath for more than a few minutes. If you have any of the above you must consult the doctor or go to the emergency rooms.

If you even think you are having a heart attack you must call for a cardiac care ambulance, and put under your tongue a sorbitrate or chew an aspirin. If you are allergic to aspirin don't take one.

At the hospital care will include rapid thrombolysis, cardiac catheterization, and angioplasty. They will also administer intravenously clot busting medications.

The risk factors for a heart attack include: smoking, diabetes, high levels of cholesterol, hypertension, family history of heart diseases, atherosclerosis, lack of exercise, obesity, and fast foods.

Reduce the risks of a heart attack by:

1. Quitting smoking.

2. Eating healthy. Avoid fatty foods, excess salt, and red meats.

3. Controlling high blood pressure and diabetes.

4. Ensuring regular exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Walking is most beneficial.

5. Preventing obesity. Doing all you can to maintain weight.

6. Choosing to live a healthy lifestyle.

7. Practicing meditation.

8. Doing regular relaxation and breathing exercises.

9. Undergoing periodic cardiac evaluations.

10. Including foods that are rich in anti-oxidants in your diet.

A killer disease, according to the American Heart Association approximately 58.8 million people in the US suffer from heart diseases.

And, about 950,000 Americans die of heart ailments each year. Heart diseases and death from it can be prevented by maintaining your health. Find a balance in life between work and other activities, abandon the couch for the outdoors, don't watch sports on television play sports instead and you can hope to live a long and fulfilled life.

Be a well informed and caring citizen, read all about heart diseases and preventive care at: University of Maryland Heart Center for Preventive Cardiology --http://www.umm.edu/heart/preventive.html; or the American Heart Association --http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000; or the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion -- http://www.cdc.gov/doc.do/id/0900f3ec802720b8/ .

The norm prevention is better than cure could lead a whole nation towards good health and well being..

Lead the way You need to set a good example. Kids, especially younger children, naturally follow their parents. So make sure you arelooking after your own health and making physical activity a priority in your life.2. Do it together In today's overscheduled world, we need to make sure we are spending quality time with our children. What better way thanto be active together.

Since kids can't be alone roaming the neighborhood, parents need to play with them.3. Make it fun Put on some music and dance. Play tag. Roller blade. Basically just play.

Provide them with toys and equipment thatencourage them to be active while having fun. Bikes, scooters, hockey sticks and baseball bats willget your kids moving and active. For preschool children,ride on toys that get them exercising like pedal cars, bigwheels and tricycles are always a great parenting decision.4. Cheer them on Create positive reinforcements withencouragement and support. Help them find sports andactivities that build their self esteem.

Attend theirsporting events and let them know you are their biggest fanwhether they win or lose.5. Turn it off Of course, we need to limit the time our kidswatch TV and play video games. But make sure you do it in apositive way. If they are angry that you just turned offtheir favorite show, they might not be too excited aboutgoing out rollerblading with you. Allow screen time during designated hours, preferably after homework is done and when physical activity is finished, like in the evening or on Saturday morning when tired parentsmight need to catch a few extra minutes of sleep.Adding more physical activity into your family's routinewill help you all feel better and get you having more funtogether.

Most importantly, as you model a healthylifestyle you will help instill in your children lifelonghabits and healthy attitudes toward exercise and physicalactivity.Susan Carraretto's most important job is parenting and shealso runs two online stores. Get your children moving withexciting, active and affordable ride on toys atPedal Cars and Retro Collectables..

In fact, the experience of some exercisers with fitness equipment that would not make the best treadmill list is the very thing that directed them towards a Landice treadmill. While personal preferences may differ from user to user, issues of comfort and safety are universal and are met perfectly with a Landice treadmill. While some Landice treadmill supporters place their machine on the best treadmill list because of its durability or its ease of use ? factors that are undoubtedly important in deciding which machines earn a place in your personal best treadmills compendium ? others have experienced those dreaded poor quality treadmills, and know all too well the safety and comfort benefits of a Landice treadmill.

With precision construction and a sturdy frame, the Landice treadmill offers the running or walking support you need to keep you comfortable while you exercise, and also to protect the joints in your legs, which can often take a pounding when you run. After a few sessions on one of those less than best treadmills and you will appreciate just how safe and well supported a Landice treadmill keeps you while you exercise.

Fitness is clearly important to those of us who invest in a treadmill, so we want to be sure that we choose the best treadmill that we can. A Landice treadmill helps you exercise safely, reducing the amount of aches, pains and more serious injuries that can you off your feet. You want to exercise with confidence, so exercise with a Landice treadmill. You won't go back from the best.
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Here are a few ideas to begin with.

Exercise: It may be difficult to begin an exercise program but once you start it will become easier. Exercise helps to blow off steam and gets rid of excess stress. So you benefit by reducing your tension and obtaining a workout as well. Of course talk to your physician before beginning an exercise program.

Relax: Yes it is hard to relax when you are stressing. Try taking in a deep breath slowly.

Now as you breathe out picture all the stress leaving you. You may find that doing relaxation techniques on a regular basic when you aren't stressed out to be beneficial.

Learn relaxation techniques such as: ? Meditation ? Yoga ? EFT ? Z-Point ? Bio-Feedback ? Listening to some soothing music. ? Prayer ? Asking for Assistance ? Joining a Support Network

Look into what causes your stress: You may not know what is inducing you stress. Try to understand where the source is coming from if possible. Once you understand what is causing your stress you can try to modify these problem areas.

If you can't, can you substantially reduce them? Maybe you can look at these stressors in a different way.

Have a Positive Attitude: Always look on the bright side of things. Don't think about what may go wrong. Take positive steps to improve yourself, your business and your spirit. Work on your ambitions. Find methods to enhance your routine activities.

At the end of the day understand that you have done all you can to maintain a healthy lookout on life. Now you can relax and enjoy the remainder of the evening either by yourself or with family and friends.

Nutrition: A healthy diet with the proper nutrition is one key to balancing you physical, mental and emotional health. Frozen TV dinners or Big Macs are not good choices. You need to consume as much unprocessed food as possible. Try to eat as much organic products as possible to eliminate pesticides from your diet.

Eat plenty of fresh vegetables, raw if possible, and some fruit. Drink plenty of clean water to keep those brain neurons communicating.

Get Enough Rest: Getting enough sleep at night is crucial to keeping stress at bay. Try to relax the best you can in the evening. Exercise early so that you aren't all wound up. If you watch a movie ensure it's not too violent are exciting.

It may be better to watch a comedy, read something soothing or listen to soft pleasant music.

If your stress is so severe and you can't seem to find relief regardless of what you try then you may desire to request professional help.

So there you have six ideas that will help you reduce stress and enjoy life more. Don't delay. Start on these recommendations right away. Don't stop there. Keep looking for new ways to manage your stress and genuinely enjoy life once more.
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A clot lodged in the leg vein breaks off and travels through the body to the lung, where it becomes lodged causing severe breathing difficulties. Untreated, up to one in ten people who suffer a pulmonary embolism die as a result.

This is a condition that is more commonly associated with people taking long haul flights. Apparently you can however suffer from this by sitting at your desk at work for prolonged periods of time without exercise. Case law has provided evidence in the UK from a reported case in the UK and New Zealand. In both cases it occurred to people who had been sitting at their desks for eight hours plus in one day without getting up and moving around to exercise.

The case in the UK involved a freelance computer programmer from Bristol. He collapsed with a DVT after an eight hour shift.

How do you prevent DVT at work?
Plan you activities of computer use so that your daily work is periodically interrupted by suitable changes of activity away from your PC monitor screen. This will also help your eyes recover fully form staring at the screen potentially causing headaches or eye strain. Any opportunity for exercise should be taken away from your desk environment.

Try to ensure have a mixture of screen and no screen based work. This should not entail a major rethink, as most jobs to some extent can be taken away from your desk.

If they don't then think about incorporating some job rotation into your working day which includes getting up and moving around at regular intervals.

Foot exercises whilst sitting down are also beneficial in preventing DVT. Rotating the ankles and wiggling the toes prevents blood pooling in the feet then struggling to climb up through the veins. So fidgeting is good for you.


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Make sure what you've written down is specific, measurable and attainable. e.g. Lose 5 kgs. ..by 30/2/05. 3.

Write no.1 against the most important goal. Write no.2 against the next most important goal. Continue numbering the rest of the goals. 4. Look at the goal with no.1 next to it.

i.e. lose 5 kilos. Start a separate list with the heading . .. Lose 5 kilos.

by 28/2/055. Write down the action steps you need to take to achieve this goal:a. Join gym b. Decide which specific days and times you will attend c. Purchase gym gear d.

See nutritionist 6. Enter the action steps into your diary/electronic organiser on the day(s) you will do these:Jan 15th - join gym Jan 16th - book nutritionist Attend gym Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 6.00 a.m. Ensure when you book time for yourself in your diary you treat it as a top priority. Unless there is an earthquake or equally devastating disaster occurring, keep that time sacred. To ensure your goals are achieved it is imperative to write them down and then plan the appropriate steps to take in your diary.

Otherwise your goals could end up being wishful thinking! Goal/Dream ChartHaving visual reminders is a great way to prompt and keep you motivated to follow through. Cut out a picture of the body you'd like to have from a magazine and stick a photo of your head on top of it. Alternatively if you want to recapture the way you were some time ago, find an old photo of yourself. You can place these on your desktop, car dashboard and the fridge at home. Do this for your other goals (minus the head).

In fact having a dream chart with pictures or words of the things you want to achieve is a great stimulus for your sub-conscious mind. Sticking these reminders onto green paper is even more effective. I have one of these in my office and guess what? It actually works! Action Is The KeyOnce you've identified what you want, written it down, planned when you will take action and done your goal/dream chart, nothing will happen unless you get off your butt and take action towards those goals.Avoid the 'Too Much Too Soon' Syndrome Often people try making many changes at once then get disillusioned because there are too many things to do and just give up. If you've done this in the past, tackle one goal at a time. If you really have difficulty going it alone, you may benefit from using the services of a coach like myself who will keep you on track.

The right person will help you accelerate your success. Jenny's StoryOne of my clients was extremely overweight by at least 30 kilos. Apart from her business goals, losing the weight was her highest priority ?or so she said. We looked at her diet and exercise and worked out a plan, according to what she was committed to do. Notice here I've said committed.

Over the three months I worked with Jenny she was like most people in this area?inconsistent. She'd exercise regularly and eat healthily for a couple of weeks and then make excuses as to why she couldn't or wouldn't stick to the plan. There was no reason why she couldn't achieve her weight loss goal, after all the program we worked out together was easy to do. A few changes to her eating habits, regular exercise and planning would do the trick. The only challenge was Jenny.

She wouldn't consistently do it. It all boiled down to that she wasn't serious enough about losing the weight and was not prepared to make the changes?yet. I did suggest seeing a nutritionist or making contact with a specific weight loss organisation to provide her with continuing support. However, Jenny was adamant that she could manage herself. After three months of coaching, Jenny lost 5 kilos.

It was certainly better than nothing, however she could have lost much more if only she took the necessary action, consistently. A few weeks later I rang Jenny to see how she was progressing with the various changes she had made through coaching. She excitedly told me she had finally got her act together as a result of the progress she had made with me, joined Weightwatchers and lost another 20kgs! She got committed. Dare to FailIn Billi Lim's bestselling book "Dare to Fail" he shares the following story: A woman once walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch."I couldn't help noticing how happy you look", she said. "What's the secret for a long happy life?'"I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day', he said.

"I also drink a case of whisky a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise.""That's amazing, the woman said. "How old are you?""Twenty-six", he said.The Final WordYou too can achieve your 2005 goals if you really want to. The goals you set must fit in with your values. For instance if you really value your health and well-being (and you should?you're no good to anyone if you're sick or even worse?dead,) then it will be easier for you to take action around this area. Plan and get off your butt now because it won't be long until you hear that familiar cry "I'm too busy, I don't have the time!".

They are the same people that think a French fry is a vegetable.

I shouldn't be too hard on this guy because most of the time the health professionals that have these wacky new fads at least go for something that is usually considered a sin. The Atkins diet lets you eat bacon and hamburgers, just set that bun down okay. This diet still suggests that you eat fruits and vegetables, except eat one particular fruit for the whole day. Yummy, I think I'll eat apples today. I'll have Fuji apples for breakfast, red ones at lunch, and those green ones for dinner.

Is that really going to attract a whole bunch of people to buy this book?

Here's my point. It is almost getting to the point where eventually there will be a book called, "The Sit Down With Remote in Hand Weight Loss Diet." This is what people want and as a personal trainer, I'm getting sick of reading these articles. What was that recent book called, "The French Diet???"

Look do you really want to lose weight?? Then, I'm going to tell you the bad news; you are going to have to work at it. Yes you are going to have to watch what you eat, and exercise. If you notice all these articles on these new diet trends, even this last one on the flavors, they all have a one or two line blurb saying, "oh by the way you might want to exercise as well." I'm tired of seeing my clients try the latest new diet that has them lose weight only to gain it back and then some.

America wake up and smell the coffee.

There is not going to be some magic pill that will make you lose weight. If there were, someone would be making money off it. Right now the only people who are making money are all the authors of these so-called diets that are lining their pockets with your hard earned cash, while you follow diets that don't work. Or if they do, it only works for a small percentage.

Suck it up people. Take charge and control of your destiny.

Accept the fact that you will have to exercise for the rest of your life. You will have to watch what you eat, even though you can splurge once in awhile. If you have to lose weight, yes it might take some time, but it will come off (it didn't come on in a day did it?). If you accept these facts and implement them right now, I guarantee you will have a very fulfilling life that will be so much better than wondering how many peaches you have to eat today.
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And the number of calories burned depends upon the duration and intensity or the activity. Slow and steady is the rule of thumb. And note daily progress. For those who have never been very active at all, it may be advisable to begin slow like with walking 10 minutes each day, gradually building up time and distance with increased "brisk" pacing. Turn everyday activity into exercise.

Even if you can't get out to walk, bike or swim, take stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Clean your house (changing bedding is great exercise!). Clean your car. Wash windows. Wash your dog.

Check out exercise videos, cassettes and workout books from the public library and put some of their ideas into action. Check out your local fitness centers, YMCA, community center, too, for ideas. Partner up with a neighbour to walk or join a community volleyball team. There are unlimited ways to be active and enjoy life at the same time without using painful weight loss strategies.

Here are some more tips.

* Hide your remote control and get up and down to change the channels.
* Try balancing on one foot without support while putting on your shoes and socks.
* Instead of sitting in the stands while watching your kids play at a ballgame, try pacing the field instead.
* Take a brisk ten minute walk each morning, afternoon and evening.
* Plant a vegetable garden. You'll have all that terrific food to eat and exercise in the process!
* Walk your dog and keep pace.
* Take a Frisbee along and play in the park with your dog.
* Park in the furthest parking space.
* Take a brisk ten minute walk each morning, afternoon and evening.
* Learn a new dance.

Starting today .

. . right now . . .

this very minute, make a conscious decision that you no longer accept ownership of excess weight. You are not what you weigh. You are a unique human being and entitled to all the gifts that this life has to offer..