Dry Facial Skin

When I was younger many of my friends were suffering from acne and I didn't. I had the opposite problem, dry skin. My friends thought I was lucky, but I knew better. I knew that they would likely outgrow their acne stage but I would have to deal with my dry skin for the rest of my life. Having dry facial skin presents unique challenges when it comes to finding proper skin care products. Here is some of what I've learned.

1. Be very careful of what types of soaps you use on your face. You need to find a soap that is gentle and has a moisturizer. Ideally you should use a totally organic product since, believe it or not, many store bought cosmetics including moisturizers have very harmful chemicals in them. Many of the chemicals in American made cosmetics have actually been banned from use in Europe.

2. Limit your exposure to extreme temperatures. Too much heat and sun in the summer can be just as damaging as too much cold in the winter. Whenever you are outside in extreme conditions take care of your skin. 

In the hot summer months use sunscreen and wear hats and other protective clothing. In the cold winter months make sure to protect your skin from the biting winds by using scarves and gloves.

3. Get plenty of exercise. It's important that you always remember that a healthy looking outside starts with a healthy inside. Exercise helps you skin in a couple of ways. For one thing it will increase blood flow which will give your skin that radiant glow that we all want to have.

Secondly, when you sweat you are getting rid of harmful toxins in your body. By exercising,and sweating, several times a week you are preventing the buildup of these toxins.

4. Drink plenty of water. Remember, all your healthy skin care starts on the inside. If you want to keep your skin properly moisturized you need to keep your body properly hydrated. Drink about eight glasses of water every day.

5. Find, and use, a good lotion, 'good' being the operative word. Like I mentioned above many of the products you buy at the store contain harmful chemicals. The minimum problem with them is that they simply don't work. The worst problem is that there is mounting evidence that these products can actually cause cancer.

When looking for good skin care products try to find those that are organic. When it comes to choosing an organic product don't pay too much attention to the label, since many companies will try to make it appear their product is organic when it isn't. 

Instead pay close attention to the ingredients. That will give you a better idea of what is truly in that product. Basically, if you see something listed and you have never heard of it, or can't pronounce it, stay  away.

Use these tips and you can make real progress in battling your dry facial skin. Having dry skin can be challenging to deal with, but it's not impossible.

Best Way To Relieve Sciatic Nerve Pain

The sciatic nerve is almost 3 feet long and it goes from the bottom of your spine down the back of your leg,  right down to the tips of your toes.  It is the biggest nerve in your body.  Sciatica pain is most often caused by a bulging disk. 

As the disk bulges it can cause irritation of the sciatic nerve, which causes the pain. People can actually have bulging disks and not experience any pain, but when there is pain, it can be quite extreme and it runs through your buttocks and down the back of your thigh. The pain only occurs on one side of your body.

People are frequently mis-diagnosed and any back pain is labeled as sciatica.  In reality there are many other conditions that can cause back and leg pain.  It is only sciatica if the sciatic nerve is irritated, otherwise it's something else entirely.

Your doctor can perform tests to determine if you pain is actually sciatica or something else.  It's important to get the problem accurately diagnosed in order to provide the proper treatment.  

Anyone who has ever suffered from sciatica knows how excruciatingly painful this condition can be.  If you are a sufferer the only thing on your mind is to find a way to  relieve sciatic nerve pain.

Prescription drugs to relieve pain are expensive, can have potentially dangerous side effects, and may even be addictive, and if you don't relieve the underlying problem you will suffer from continual flareups.   Besides you won't be able to stay on the pills forever, and then what?

It's always better to get the proper diagnosis and treatment for your pain, by addressing the cause and not just relieving the symptoms you will hopefully reduce any further painful flareups.

Many people would rather find natural forms of relief  and prevention instead of using drugs that just mask the pain but don't do anything to cure the problem.

Keeping your muscles flexible and strong with exercise can help prevent sciatica.  Also any low impact activities such as walking, swimming, bike riding, etc, can help by increasing blood circulation.

A better option for many sciatica sufferers is to use various physical therapies to help prevent painful flareups.

Many people have had great success in keeping sciatica pain at bay by implementing stretching, yoga, pilates, or a combination of all three into their daily routine.

These stretching exercises will help keep your muscles loose and increase the amount of space in between each vertebrae.  Stretching back, buttock, and leg muscles can relieve sciatica.  

Many health care professionals also advise exercises to strengthen the lower back muscles.  The idea is to form a 'muscular girdle' that will help keep your discs in proper alignment.  And the exercise will provide the added benefit of improving your overall health.

The most important thing I want you to take away from this article is that there are other ways to relieve sciatic nerve pain besides resorting to prescription drugs.  Find one, or more, methods that work for you.  Your body will thank you!