What you can eat and drink to combat stress, anxiety, and depression
Symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as high levels of stress, are common in people all over the world. Not only do these afflictions take a great mental toll, they can also manifest themselves physically—in weight gain. Unfortunately, stress-induced weight gain is a very real thing. When your body is under a high amount of stress, it releases the hormone cortisol, which leads to a rise in appetite. How does this happen exactly? Essentially a higher cortisol level creates higher insulin levels in your body and a drop in blood sugar, which is the perfect combination for junk food cravings to ensue. Anxious people are often not getting an adequate amount of sleep. A lack of sleep, like stress, contributes to your body producing more cortisol. Let the snacking begin... People who are stressed out are also more likely to emotionally eat and skip out on regular exercise. Not to mention forgetting to eat when you’re busy at work, which slows your metabolism and makes it more likely for you to binge later on in the day. While these are all difficult cravings to overcome, what if you could use food to help you minimize some of your symptoms and improve your mood? Instead of going for comforting junk food, try to grab one of these healthier options. You never knew food could have this much of an impact! Click through this gallery and find out how to use the power of these foods to improve your day-to-day life!
2024-03-12T11:50:58Z
The countries with the best healthcare in the world
How is healthcare defined? Generally, we understand it as a set of systems we depend on, that help us maintain our personal health through prevention or treatment of illness, disease, injury, or another kind of mental or physical impairment. Many governments provide nationwide healthcare to their citizens; however, the standard and quality of care ultimately received by the patient differs from country to country, and there are several reasons for this. Ranking the world's countries in order of the best healthcare services is no small task, and to do so several factors were taken into consideration. 1. The Legatum Prosperity Index measures the extent to which people are healthy and have access to the necessary services to maintain good health, including health outcomes, health systems, illness and risk factors, and mortality rates. 2. CEOWORLD Magazine's Health Care Index "is a statistical analysis of the overall quality of the health care system, including health care infrastructure; health care professionals (doctors, nursing staff, and other health workers) competencies; cost (USD p.a.per capita); quality medicine availability, and government readiness." Under this index, each country is scored out of a total of 100. 3. U.S. News & World Report is a valuable resource with a suite of health-focused rankings. Since 1990, the publication has compiled Best Hospital rankings. Taking these three metrics into account, countries were ranked for their healthcare system's performance. Intrigued? Click on to learn where in the world you'll receive the best healthcare.
2024-04-17T08:08:14Z
Cities with the worst air pollution in 2024
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 99% of the global population breathes unclean air, and air pollution causes seven million premature deaths a year. Indeed, air pollution remains a prevalent health crisis around the world. PM2.5 concentration (measured as micrograms per cubic meter, or µg/m3), which refers to inhalable particulate matter with a diameter equal to or less than 2.5 micrometers, poses the greatest health threat and is often used as a metric in legal air quality standards. WHO sets a recommended annual limit of 5µg/m3 as an indicator of clean air. However, many cities are recording dangerous levels of air pollution, in some cases 15 times above safe levels! Using average PM2.5 levels, the Air Quality Index (AQI) project has recently put together the 2024 updated ranking of the 25 cities with the worst air pollution in the world. As a general guide, air quality with a PM2.5 (μg/m3) of between 0-12.0 is considered good; 12.1-35.4 is moderate; 35.5-55.5 is unhealthy for sensitive groups; 55.6-150.4 is unhealthy; PM2.5 150.5-250.4 is very unhealthy; and 250.5 or greater is hazardous. Are you holding your breath? Click through and discover the world’s most polluted cities.
2024-03-21T11:04:11Z