[HEALTH] 7 Bad Habits That Destroy Your Heart

The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body, as it is responsible for pumping blood and delivering all the nutrients your body needs in order to function correctly. Nonetheless, some of our habits take their toll on our hearts and we do not realize this until it is too late. In this article you will find 7 bad habits that destroy your heart:

1. Increased Alcohol Consumption

Having a drink every once in a while will not have a major impact on your heart (especially if you consume wine, which has a series of health benefits), but if you consume alcohol regularly then you heart will suffer in the long run. In addition to the devastating effects alcohol is known to have on your liver, it can also harm your bones, affect your memory and it considerably increases the risk of heart disease along with the risk of hypertension.

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the US, and by quitting alcohol you can reduce the risk by up to 50% or even more. Remember that it is not the alcohol consumption itself that affects your heart, it is the abuse of alcohol that affects it in the long term.

2. Eating Too Much Salt

Food is tasteless without a pinch of salt, and that is a known fact. However, many of us overuse this ingredient, and that puts us at risk for high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke, therefore you might want to think twice before adding extra salt to your meals!

3. Lack Of Exercise
The lack of exercise is another underlying cause of heart disease, not to mention that people who do not do regular physical exercises are more prone to develop type 2 diabetes as well. The less we exercise, the more likely we are to gain weight, and extra pounds are known to destroy the heart, slowly but surely. Besides the fact that many people get stuck in front of the TV for hours, they also have the bad habit of continuously eating snacks of all kinds.

This is a deadly combination that can trigger a series of dangerous illnesses. Exercising, on the other hand, can elevate the mood, ensure the proper functioning of your heart and brain, improve the blood flow and cell oxygenation and so on.

4. Leaving Your Depression And Anxiety Untreated
Anxiety, depression and stress can have a tremendous impact on your overall health, not to mention that they also weaken your heart. However, if these issues are addressed in real time, their effects can be minimized – on the other hand, if left untreated they lower your immunity and energy levels, they decrease your appetite and they also have an impact on your nervous system. Negative emotions affect your heart health and that is not a secret!

5. Comfort Eating

It often happens that we eat even when we are not hungry, and the main problem is that we eat unhealthy foods: sugary products, high-fat products and foods rich in salt are some of our most common choices in terms of food. In addition to making us fat, comfort eating is a major risk for heart disease.

As a matter of fact, approximately three out of four men in the US are overweight while two women out of three have several extra pounds. If you know to be overweight, the answer is very simple: avoid oversizing your food portions, lower your sugar intake, increase your water intake and avoid fast food and fried foods.

6. Smoking

Smoking is a silent killer, but even if we are all well-aware of the side effects of tobacco cigarettes, there still are tens of millions of smokers worldwide. As statistics reveal, smoking is responsible for approximately 30% of the deaths related to heart disease – not to mention that it is also a high risk factor for certain types of cancer like mouth, throat or lung cancer.

7. Lack Of Sleep

Lack of sleep can lead to what is known as sleep deprivation. In turn, sleep deprivation leads to hormonal imbalances, which not only make you eat more but also have an impact on your heart. The stress hormone levels are also increased by the lack of sleep, and the side effects of stress have been detailed above. For a healthy heart, adults should get around 7-8 hours of sleep per night. - Reference.

[SCIENCE] 7 Myths About Drinking Coffee

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. This awesome beverage has become an important part of our mornings and keeps us awake when there’s a lot to do. There are different opinions about coffee based on different researches. Some say it does no harm, some say it is beneficial and some say it causes problems. Many times the arguments against coffee are wrong and are not based on any researches. This made some myths about drinking coffee popular. Here’s 7 of them:

Myth 1: Coffee makes you feel stressed out

Drinking coffee does not directly increase stress levels or make you feel anxious or nervous. Coffee is considered a natural stimulant which can have a relaxing effect on your mind. Coffee is not directly responsible for triggering stress but it blocks production of adenosine in the body which is a natural stress reliever.

Myth 2:Caffeine causes insomnia

This is a common myth about caffeine which is not true. When you drink a cup of coffee the body almost instantly absorbs the caffeine but it also discards it out quickly. Caffeine after being consumed is processed through the liver and almost half of it may be flushed out of the body within 4-5 hours and in another 5 hours almost 75% of it is eliminated out of the body. You should not face problems getting sleep due to caffeine if you just consume 2-3 cups of coffee on a daily basis.

Myth 3: Drinking coffee causes cancer.

Another common myth associated with coffee is that drinking it regularly can cause cancer. Several researches have been conducted over the years but the results show that there is no connection between regular coffee consumption and the development of cancer.

Some researchers even found that people who drink coffee daily are at a lower risk of getting cancer. Coffee contains beneficial antioxidants which help fight cancer. It also helps to reverse the effects of aging and make you look younger compared to your age.

Myth 4: Coffee has no health benefits

It is believed that coffee has no health benefits associated with it. This is not true as has been found out by scientists who have discovered some wonderful health benefits with coffee. Coffee contains useful antioxidants which have been found to improve your heart health and prevent and fight cancer.

It has also been found that regular consumption of coffee improves your concentration levels which in turn boosts your efficiency at work and personal life. It also can benefit people suffering from insomnia as drinking coffee can help you get better sleep.

Myth 5:Caffeine is addictive

People who drink coffee regularly say that they are addicted to caffeine because they feel that they can’t leave without it. Addiction is when a person strongly depends on a drug with severe withdrawal symptoms. He should have an urge to consume it more and more and is tolerant to a particular dose. Caffeine consumption does not qualify to be an addiction and researches too have shown that caffeine does not cause any kind of addiction. Alcohol or other drug addiction can have severe social and physical consequences but this is not the case with caffeine which further ascertain the fact that it is not addictive or does not cause addiction.

Myth 6: Coffee causes miscarriage, infertility and low birth weight

This is another misconception about coffee which has no strong evidence of being true. Scientist has found that there is no direct link between drinking coffee and miscarriages. Similarly women who take coffee regularly don’t necessarily give birth to babies with low body weight. Women who drink lots of coffee on a daily basis won’t face difficulty in getting pregnant or infertility.

Myth 7: Drinking coffee may cause Osteoporosis

This is another common myth about coffee which has no truth. Lack of calcium and vitamin D in your diet is the leading cause of Osteoporosis and coffee consumption has a role in it. Some other factors contributing to Osteoporosis are lack of physical activity, smoking, low body weight, menopause, high protein diet and low estrogen levels. Studies conducted over the years have proved that if you consume a moderate amount of coffee on a daily basis it does not increase the risk of getting Osteoporosis.

Reference

[TECH] 10 Essential Online Tools You Should Be Using

Check out a slew of apps to streamline a range of functions, including project management, customer service, social media, and email.

By: OWNER'S MANUAL | Jeff Haden

Is your workflow stuck in the past? Check out the following tools to make your business more efficient:

1. Manage and collaborate more easily: Blossom

Blossom lets you drag to-do items from one list to another in an intuitive way, using an interface that feels like rearranging Post-it notes on a whiteboard.

Blossom is an easy way to track the progress of personal projects, bigger projects, and really anything that comes to mind.

2. Streamline social media: Buffer

Trying to remember what you want to post--or, worse, flooding your social-media stream with updates--can be the bane of your (and your followers') social-media existence. Buffer lets you add links, photos, videos, etc. to a queue and automatically schedule them for publishing on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can publish time-critical updates right on time and space out less time-sensitive updates.

Plus, you can use Buffer's analytics to make smarter scheduling decisions. There are iPhone and Android apps as well as a great browser extension.

3. Take awesome notes: Evernote

Unless you're this guy, you probably need a note-taking app. Evernote is arguably the best, with apps for almost every platform and the ability to sync seamlessly across almost all devices.

And it has great search functionality to let you find what you've written.

4. Replace forms and tickets: Help Scout

It may be easier for you, but your customers don't like opening tickets or filling out forms to get the help they need. Help Scout lets customers send emails that you receive as easy-to-handle tickets in a separate, shared inbox. Responding is still easy for you, and you can organize and analyze queries, complaints, etc.

5. Test and improve calls to action: Hello Bar

Hello Bar is a well-designed tool that lets you place a bar at the top of your website that directs visitors anywhere you want.

Sounds simple, right? The power of Hello Bar is its built-in analytics and A/B testing tool. Test which messages resonate best with your customers and let Hello Bar do the hard work.

6. Communicate smarter: HipChat

You're working as a small team, so you create a Skype room to chat. But then what? Exactly.

Ditch generic IM platforms and try a business IM app like HipChat. It allows you to create multiple rooms for different focus groups, connect with your most important apps, and a lot more.

7. Track what you've done: IDoneThis

Getting stuff done is great--unless you can't remember what you've done or what your team has done. IDoneThis lets you and your team fill in what they did and then browse that information like a Facebook feed to like, comment, and get ready for what's next.

8. Track people, not page views: KISSmetrics

Instead of just finding out how much traffic you received, find out who did what on your site--and why. KISSmetrics lets you slice and dice data to make better decisions.

And make sure you check out its cohort analysis tools to measure visitor engagement over time.

9. Better live support: Olark

According to this study, consumers are willing to spend an average of 13 percent more with a company they believe provides excellent customer service.

Olark, a small pop-up you place at the bottom of your website that allows you to chat with your customers, could be one way to differentiate the level of service you provide. If you aren't available, you can still use the tool to send you an email.

Don't you want your support to be simple and efficient--and most important, helpful for your customers? Thought so.

10. Email smarter, not harder: TextExpander

You write a lot of emails, and some of what you write is fairly repetitive.

With TextExpander, you can write and store your most important or most common messages. Then just type a keyword to automatically paste that text into any email.

Consider prewriting boilerplate paragraphs, common instructions, and responses to certain types of inquiries. Why write anything important more than once? Craft it, perfect it, and insert it with one word.

[TECH] Review: Password-Management Tools

Four ways to create and store strong passwords.

Tips by: John Brandon

Illustration by Raymond Biesinger

 

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Weak passwords can compromise your business and personal data. Still, many people use the same, easy-to-remember password for all of their online accounts. These tools let you create strong passwords--and store them all in one place.

Best for managing passwords and checkout

Dashlane

This desktop software and mobile app lets you manage passwords and e-commerce account information. After downloading it on your PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android phone, you create a master Dashlane password. Each time you visit a new site, the service prompts you to save your username and password. You can also click a button to generate a random eight-character password for each site. When you revisit the site, Dashlane logs you in. You can use Dashlane to fill in e-commerce checkout information, including addresses. It also sends an alert if a site you visit is breached.Cost: Free

Best for superstrong passwords

1Password

Much as with Dashlane, you install this software on your computer or smartphone and create a master password. Each time you visit a site, it prompts you to save your username and password. You can also click a button to generate new passwords containing up to 30 characters for each site. Unlike Dashlane, 1Password, which is available for Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, does not fill in your login information when you visit a site. Instead, you must use a toolbar on your browser to log in. Cost: $17.99 for iPhone and iPad; $50 for PC and Mac; free for a limited Android version

Best for password-free login... coming soon

LaunchKey

Set to debut this month, LaunchKey does away with passwords altogether. First, you download the app on your iPhone or Android phone. When you visit a LaunchKey-enabled website on your computer, you type in your username and the service sends a push notification to your smartphone prompting you to press a button to verify login. LaunchKey alerts you if someone tries to log in to a site with your information. If you lose your phone, you can deactivate the service remotely. One drawback: The service currently works on only a handful of websites. Cost: Free

Best for thumb-drive storage

MyLok+

This metal USB thumb drive can store and encrypt more than 250 passwords. The 4GB device comes loaded with a browser plug-in that prompts you to save passwords as you log in to websites. You can also automatically generate a 20-character password for each site. To use the device, you insert the thumb drive and type in one four- to eight-digit PIN. Then, when you visit a saved site, MyLOK+ automatically fills in your username and password. The device works on PCs, Macs, and tablets with a USB port. One drawback: If you lose it, you're out of luck. Cost: $190

[MOTIVATE] 5 Ways to Get and Keep Motivated

A simple, easily-followed recipe from one of the world's top motivational speakers.

Write by: Geoffrey James

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I've posted about motivation many times, but I recently ran across this short and sweet recipe from Omar Periu, one of the world's top motivational speakers.  The toplines are adapted from my conversation with Omar, but the commentary is my own:

1. Always act with a purpose.

If you don't know why you're doing something, you're making that part of your life utterly meaningless. String together enough meaningless acts in your life and your entire life will be literally pointless--without a point.

Starting every action with a review of your purpose, however, puts everything you do into context. Having a purpose for every act keeps you aimed at your life goals rather than cooling your heels.

2. Take responsibility for your own results.

Most people misinterpret this concept.  They think it means taking the credit when things go well and taking the blame when things go wrong. But taking responsibility is not about blame or credit; it's about what you do next.

If you're responsible for your own results, you take ownership of whatever future that emerges from those results. You continue to move forward towards your goals, even when you encounter setbacks.

3. Don't wait for perfection, just do it now!

Perfectionists are the hugest losers in life because they either expect things to be perfect before they take action or, if they do take action, they can't enjoy whatever happens because it's not the perfect outcome.

The real joy of achievement doesn't come from what you achieve but from your efforts in trying to achieve it. The only thing that's perfect in this world is that you're perfectly free to take action.  Now, as in right now.

4. Eat wisely because success takes energy.

Our civilization currently suffers from a self-induced plague of obesity, caused by the mass consumption of addictive food products that give people life-shortening diseases after first making them listless and drained.

I'm not saying you don't eat the occasional donut. However, if you want the energy to act, the energy to achieve your goals, you need to give your body the kind of fuel that can create that energy. And it's not refined sugar.

5. Surround yourself with motivated people.

Numerous scientific studies have shown that the people around you influence your behavior. They define what you consider "normal" and thereby either bring you up (or down) to their level.

If you hang around people who are energized, purposeful and committed to making a difference in the world, that's what you'll consider "normal."  Being motivated will stop being something that you do and instead become who you are.