10 Habits for a Stronger Heart

The smartest plan for attacking a heart attack is, of course, preventing one from ever happening. Choose three of the following strategies and make them a habit. The closer to the top, the more you reduce your risk of heart disease.

1. Convince Your Wife to Stop Smoking
Nonsmoking husbands of smoking wives face a 92 percent increase in their risk of heart attack. Breathing secondhand smoke boosts bad cholesterol levels, decreases good cholesterol, and increases your blood's tendency to clot.

2. Work Out for 30 Minutes, Four Times a Week
Middle-aged men who exercise vigorously for 2 or more hours cumulatively per week have 60 percent less risk of heart attack than inactive men do.

3. Lose 10 to 20 Pounds
If you're overweight, dropping 10 to 20 pounds lowers your risk of dying from a heart attack. A 10-year study found that overweight people had heart attacks 8.2 years earlier than normal-weight victims.

4. Drink Five Glasses of Water a Day
Men who drink that many 8-ounce glasses are 54 percent less likely to have a fatal heart attack than those who drink two or fewer. Researchers say the water dilutes the blood, making it less likely to clot.

5. Switch from Coffee to Tea
A recent study found that people who drink three cups of tea a day have half the risk of heart attack of those who don't drink tea at all. Potent antioxidants, called flavonoids, provide a protective effect.

6. Eat Salmon on Saturday, Tuna on Tuesday
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that eating fish at least twice a week lowers heart-disease risk by more than 30 percent. The magic ingredient is the omega-3 fatty acids.

7. Ask Your Doctor About Vitamin E and Aspirin
Men who take both cut the plaque in clogged arteries by more than 80 percent, according to a recent University of Pennsylvania study.

8. Eat a Cup of Total Corn Flakes for Breakfast
This cereal contains one of the highest concentrations of folate (675 micrograms) of any cereal. Taking in that much folic acid daily cuts your risk of cardiovascular disease by 13 percent, according to researchers.

9. Count to 10
Creating a 10-second buffer before reacting to a stressful situation may be enough to cool you down. Men who respond with anger are three times more likely to have heart disease and five times more likely to have a heart attack before turning 55.

10. Eat Watermelon
It contains about 40 percent more lycopene than is found in raw tomatoes, and a new study shows that your body absorbs it at higher levels due to the melon's high water content. Half a wedge can boost heart-disease prevention by 30 percent.

www.menshealth.com

One Wish

If I could have just one wish,

I would wish to wake up everyday

to the sound of your breath on my neck,

the warmth of your lips on my cheek,

the touch of your fingers on my skin,

and the feel of your heart beating with mine...

Knowing that I could never find that feeling

with anyone other than you.

I'm So Sorry

I'm really sorry if I made you mad

Coz sometimes I don't use my head

I say things that I do not mean

And now I don't know where to begin

I'm sorry if I disappointed you

That I know I could not argue

Though all I ever wanted for us

Is to have happiness that will last

I'm sorry if I got you confused

Baby I don't know what words to use

I can't even describe this feeling

Coz we have an indescribable something

I'm sorry if can't be that perfect

I'm no superhero what can you expect

I bleed, I tire, I fail like everyone else

But I can also care for you and love you...

Like no one else.

Celery Might Be the New Viagra

We’re constantly learning more each day about the benefits of a healthy diet. Now it turns out that the unsexiest vegetable may be the best one for your sex life! Yes, it's true; new research goes to support the notion that men who eat celery are better at attracting mates.

It all comes down to pheromones. The consumption of celery leads to an increase in androstenone, a naturally-occurring steroid (artificial androstenone can actually be credited with Mark McGwire’s record-setting home runs). This stimulates pheromone production through sweat, which in turn functions as a biological aphrodisiac for women.

But that’s not all! According to Dr. Judy Gaman, Dr. Mark Anderson, and Dr. Walter Gaman, authors of the bookStay Young: Ten Proven Steps to Ultimate Health, celery has some other effects, too. It reportedly increases sex drive and leads to a more intense orgasm.

What’s the best way to get maximum results from eating celery? “We recommend that a guy work out, have a nice warm shower, chomp on a few sticks of celery, brush his teeth, and then head out the door smelling good,” said Gaman, et al.

For those who are interested, other great aphrodisiacs include:

• Asparagus

• Almonds

• Avocados

• Bananas

• Basil

• Chocolate

• Figs

• Garlic

• Oysters

• Honey

Most of these foods simply function to increase overall circulation, so getting your blood pumping through regular exercise can be a great aphrodisiac as well. And remember that no matter what research goes to show, living a healthy life is your best means of achieving sexual satisfaction.

10 Things Women Do Better Than Men

Women drive better than men.

Well this reverses a social myth – that women are bad drivers. Carnegie Mellon University researchers found after analyzing a lot of traffic data in 2007 that men are 77% more likely to die in a car accident than women, keeping the miles driven constant. So next time when your husband asks you to hand over the car keys, just give him this article.

Women remember appearances better than men.

Some would say, “Why not? Don’t women pay all their attention to appearances?” Well, say what you may, but only a loser complains about somebody for being better than him! Terrence Horgan, research fellow in psychology at Ohio State University, and her co-researchers found in a study that women are more accurate in describing appearances after seeing people once. The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Women cooperate better than men.

We can see this everywhere, but still if you want a citation, here it is. A study by Rolf Kuemmerli and other researchers at Edinburgh and Lausanne universities indicated that women cooperate better than men. In the research, based on games played by 100 Swiss students, women cooperated with others almost twice as much as men did.

Women eat better than men.

This is probably not so obvious, for rarely do we notice gender differences in eating habits. A survey involving 14000 Americans, conducted by University of Minnesota, revealed that men are more likely to eat frozen pizza and meat, whereas women are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables.

Women perform better than men in timed tests.

So if time is precious, women are better at preserving it than men. A study by Vanderbilt University researchers in 2006 found that women score better in timed intelligence tests than men. The study, published in the May-June issue of the journal Intelligence, didn’t find much difference in un-timed tests, which meant women had a quicker mind.

Women perceive their relationships better than men.

Talk about relationships and most men will frown. Now you know why – they know so little about their relationships! A Hebrew University of Jerusalem study, after surveying 97 couples in the United States, found that women are more perceptive than men in describing their relationships. The study, published in ScienceDaily, reported that women were much more accurate in describing the perception of their partners than men.

Women communicate better than men.

This is now scientifically proven and acknowledged. Louann Brizendine, neuro-psychiatrist at the University of California at San Francisco, found in a study that women can process 20000 words a day compared to men’s 7000 words (Louann Brizendine,The Female Brain, Morgan Road Books). This difference, as per Brizendine’s study, is more biological than social, which starts as early as the fetal stage.

Women learn better than men.

That is why girls get better grades in school on an average than boys in many parts of the world. Dr Simone Kruger of Edge Hill University, UK, found in her research based on remote learners that women learners were more successful in sharing ideas and experiences with each other, and hence learn t more efficiently than men.

Women invest better than men.

You don’t believe it, do you? We all know fewer women invest in stocks than men do, but the few women who invest in shares do better than their male counterparts. A study by the National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC) for the University of California found that women earn on an average 1.4% more than men in their share portfolios.

Women cope with stress better than men.

A study at the University of California, Los Angeles, published in the July 2000 issue of Psychological Review, found some biological and behavioral differences in the ways men and women cope with stress. It found that women tend to seek contact with others and social support when they are under stress, which is a psychologically much better way of coping with stress than the “fight-or-flight” approach of men.

Of course, there are other studies which indicate men are better than women in various skills. The point I want to make is not that women are better than men in everything, but that men should stop underestimating women after being proven wrong time and again.