The Truth About Acne Skin Care

The Truth About Acne Skin Care
 by: John Lenaghan
Let's face it, you are engaged in an ongoing battle when you are afflicted with acne. While acne treatments for a mild case of acne are usually successful, moderate acne is a greater problem. Even dermatologists cannot cure a severe case of acne but can only provide an acne treatment regimen.
However, you can support your acne treatment efforts with proper acne skin care in order to reduce the recurrence of acne flare-ups and not aggravate existing acne.
Knowing What You're Doing
One of the first pieces of advice is to make sure that you understand and follow the directions for any acne remedy that you are using. If you are taking a prescription acne medicine, read the patient leaflet that accompanies the medication carefully. Typically for moderate to severe acne a dermatologist may prescribe several acne medicines, each with its own treatment protocol and directions.
In order to achieve the acne free skin that you desire, it is important to use all the acne treatments properly and in the correct order. Consider bringing a tablet of paper, a pen, and a friend or relative with you to your appointment with your dermatologist. Simply jot down some notes about the order and time of day for applying each acne medicine and what its purpose is.
Remember, just because the acne clears with the use of your acne medicines doesn't necessarily mean that you have succeeded in curing acne. Most people with moderate to severe acne must continue to use their acne medicine long-term to prevent any recurrence of their acne problem. Using the acne treatments properly should translate to clear skin and freedom from acne scars.
What About Over-the-Counter Remedies?
Besides using medications prescribed by a doctor, there are a large number of products on the market labeled as skin cleansers, facial cleansers, pore cleansers, and facial pore cleaners that can be used in curing acne.
When cleansing skin that is afflicted with acne, an important point to remember is not to scrub the skin; never scrub your face with a washcloth. It is a misconception that acne is caused by dirt clogging the pores of the skin. You don't scrub away the offending dirt; you can't scrub away the offensive acne and achieve acne free skin.
Over-washing or scrubbing skin afflicted with acne only serves to aggravate the condition. Rather use only a gentle skin cleanser, lukewarm water, and a gentle motion with your fingertips as your primary acne skin care regime. When you wash your face with your hands, be sure to first thoroughly wash your hands.
Do Natural Treatments Really Work?
Look for gentle cleansers that are sold as acne solutions. When you're evaluating skin cleansers for acne, include natural acne treatments in your search as well. For example, a soap made from Echinacea and other herbal ingredients is an effective antibiotic facial cleanser that helps fight acne and restore clear skin. Tea tree oil also has known antibiotic properties and serves as a mild anesthetic that will soothe the irritated skin.
Oily skin is implicated as a one of the causes of acne. It doesn't necessarily make sense to use a moisturizer on oily skin as a means of achieving clear skin. But many of the acne treatments, whether they are prescribed or available as over-the-counter products, have a tendency to irritate the skin while curing acne.
A moisturizer is a boost to irritated skin and keeps skin from becoming overly dry due to the acne treatments that have been applied. Look for a moisturizer with the following properties: oil-free won't clog pores (non-comodogenic) containing a sun-screen
Besides a great desire to just scrub away the acne, many people try to remove the acne pimples by hand as a way to get clear skin. People who are afflicted with acne should avoid touching their face except to gently wash it with mild cleanser as already discussed.
By trying to remove pimples by hand you run the risk of creating acne scars that will last for a lifetime. Instead, have patience and rely on your prescription or over-the-counter acne treatment to work. Acne remedies usually take 6 to 8 weeks before curing acne.
For male acne sufferers, the daily ritual of shaving can be a problem. One acne sufferer has recommended the Gillette Sensor Excel as a gentle and effective razor to use. Other males prefer to try an electric razor. The advice is to shave delicately to avoid nicking the skin and to shave only as often as necessary. Finding a moisturizing shave gel may be one way to enhance your acne skin care program.
Female acne sufferers have their unique problems too, in finding the right cosmetic products to use. Females who are accustomed to using a foundation product may find that the foundation is difficult to apply smoothly if the facial skin becomes irritated due to the acne treatments being applied.
You may have to abandon the use of some cosmetics during the acne treatment period. Be sure to select only oil-free cosmetics and ones that are labeled as non-comodogenic (won't clog pores) to use on your road to clear skin.
Proper acne skin care is a necessary addition to your arsenal for fighting your battle with acne and achieving clear skin once again.

Combat Stress

Combat Stress
 by: John Moore
Tips To Ease Tension
We all know what it feels like to get emotionally mangled by the weight of day to day struggles. Our bosses yell at us, our spouses yell at us - it feels like an endless circle where getting ahead at the office can leave us with so little energy for home that home turns into battlefield that leaves us with no energy for work.
Is mere survival all you can ask of a hassle-filled world ? No. Stress, in fact is not only something you can beat, but a force you can turn into an advantage. You don't have to run from it, and you don't need any special stress management. The following tested tips show you how to combat stress - and win.
Work On Your Attitude.
The most important point you can make about stress is that in most cases it's not what's out there that's the problem, its how you react to it. Changing the way you think can change a life of stress and discomfort to a life of challenge and excitement.
Think About Something Else.
Distract yourself - to break the thoughts that are producing your stress, you must think about something else. Anything will do, as long as it breaks the chain of bad thoughts.
Think Positive.
Thinking about a success or a past achievement is excellent when you're feeling uncertain, remind yourself of all the good things you've achieved in the past, and tell yourself that you're going to do the same in the future.
Take A Mental Vacation
Imagine yourself lying in warm sand on a beach in the Bahamas, a cool wind blowing off the ocean, the surf rolling in quietly in the background. It's amazing what this can do to help you relax.
Take Deap Breaths
Belly breathing is what some people call it. It's an old and useful trick for defeating anxiety and nervousness.
The basic idea is act calm, be calm. When your experiencing stress, your pulse races and you start breathing very quickly. Forcing yourself to breathe slowly convinces the body that the stress has gone, whether it has or not.
The correct way to breathe is abdominally - feeling the stomach expand as you inhale, and collapse as you exhale.
Stretch
A lot of us respond to stress with muscle tension. Ideally, we'd prefer to eliminate the cause of the stress, but stretching the muscles at least reduces the sensation of stress - the muscles relax, and we feel less tense.
Take A Hot Soak
Hot water works by defeating the stress response. When we're tense and anxious, blood flow to our extremities is reduced. Hot water restores circulation, convincing the body it's safe and that it's ok to relax. Cold water must not be used because it has the opposite effect, and will increase tension.
An office alternative might be running hot water over your hands until you feel the tension starting to drain away.
Excercise.
Regular exercise will burn off some of the stress chemicals tension produces, and exercise will tire your musles - a tired muscle is a relaxed muscle.
Listen To Music
Music soothes as perhaps nothing else does. You can use it in two basic ways - to relax or to inspire. New - Age music is very relaxing.
I trust these points will be of benefit to your wellbeing. Thank you for reading my article. Author John Moore

The Cause of Aids

The Cause of Aids
 by: Padrone Desusid
AIDS is acquired immuno deficiency syndrome. It is a fatal disease caused by a rapidly mutate retrovirus which attacks the immune system and leaves the patient susceptible to infections, malignancies, and neurological disorders. It was first recognized as a disease in 1981. The virus was isolated in 1983 and was ultimately named the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There are two forms of the HIV virus, HIV-1 and HIV-2. The majority of cases worldwide are caused by HIV-1.
It is transmitted primarily by exposure to contaminated body fluids, especially blood and semen. In 1999 an international team of genetic scientists reported that HIV-1 can be traced to a closely related strain of virus, called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), that infects a subspecies of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Africa. Chimpanzees are hunted for meat in this region, and it is believed the virus may have passed from the blood of chimpanzees into humans through superficial wounds, probably in the early 1930s.
In a process, HIV infects the CD4 cells of the body's immune system, cells that are necessary to activate B- lymphocytes and induce the production of antibodies. This is still imperfectly understood. The body fights back producing billions of lymphocytes daily to fight the billions of copies of the virus. The immune system is eventually plagued and the body is left vulnerable to opportunistic infections and malignancy.
Some people develop flu like symptoms shortly after infection, but many have no symptoms. It may be a few months or many years before serious symptoms develop in adults; symptoms usually develop within the first two years of life in infants infected in the womb or at birth. Before serious symptoms occur, an infected person may experience fever, weight loss, diarrhea, fatigue, skin rashes, shingles thrush, or memory problems. Infants may fail to develop normally.
The definition of AIDS has been refined, as more knowledge has become available. In general it refers to that period in the infection when the CD4 count goes below 200 from a normal count of 1,000 or when the characteristic opportunistic infections and cancers appear. The conditions associated with AIDS include malignancies such as Kaposi's sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, primary lymphoma of the brain, and invasive carcinoma of the cervix.
Opportunistic infections characteristic of or more virulent in AIDS include Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, herpes simplex, cytomegalo virus, and diarrhea diseases caused by cryptosporidium or isospora. In addition, hepatitis C is prevalent in intravenous drug users and hemophiliacs with AIDS, and an estimated 4 to 5 million people who have tuberculosis are coinfected with HIV, each disease hastening the progression of the other.
Children may experience more serious forms of common childhood ailments such as tonsillitis and conjunctivitis. These infections conspire to cause a wide range of symptoms like coughing, diarrhea, fever and night sweats, and headaches and may lead to extreme weight loss, blindness, hallucinations, and dementia before death occurs.
HIV is not transmitted by casual contact. Transmission requires a direct exchange of body fluids, such as blood or blood products, breast milk, semen, or vaginal secretions, most commonly as a result of sexual activity or the sharing of needles among drug users. Such a transmission may also occur from mother to baby during pregnancy or at birth. Saliva, tears, urine, feces, and sweat do not appear to transmit the virus.