Water is imperative to all our bodily functions and being dehydrated can be dangerous. But drinking too much water can not only cause headaches or vomiting, but it can actually kill you. Too much water can swell body cells causing them to bust as they try to absorb the water to balance the sodium and electrolytes levels in the blood which has been diluted. If the cell swelling occurs in the brain it can affect the nervous system and cause brain damage or death.
Exercise is an essential component to an overall healthy lifestyle, but sometimes this can be taken to the extreme and people over exercise. This can cause us harm but putting us at risk of fatigue leaving the body to tired to fight illness, unnecessary injury, and doesn’t allow for the muscles or the body to recover and repair itself. Too much exercise can actually destroy the muscles.
First Hand Evidence
When you think of hands you’re more likely to be worrying about dry skin and the state of your nails than analysing the bumps on them, but what if these unexplained lumps held the truth about your wellbeing?
Experts have been looking into the connection between health and hands for many years, with the results being published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, among other places.
It is thought that hands provide a map to the body, much like feet in reflexology, so when your body contracts an illness it can manifest in your extremities.
Handy to know
A recent example of this hand diagnosis method in action is that of a 74-year-old woman who complained of painful lumps that had developed on her palms. She sought medical advice but doctors were baffled as she appeared otherwise healthy.
Luckily the team at the Royal Free Hospital in London had read about paraneoplastic syndrome, where a disease or symptom signifies a presence of cancer in the body, in this case, the thickened skin on the woman’s hands. She was later successfully treated for ovarian cancer.
Having read this you’re probably sat there examining every nook and cranny on your fingers and palms, so here are a few things to be on the lookout for.
Finger length
New research by Cambridge University has revealed that those who have ring fingers that are longer than their index fingers are more likely to be successful in their jobs.
It is thought that this is to do with exposure to the male hormone testosterone in the womb, which can affect the way the brain develops.
Palms
Reddened palms can set alarm bells ringing as they are often related to liver problems, according to Dr Graham Archard of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
This is known as palmar erythema and occurs when hormone levels in the body become unbalanced as a result of liver disease. Watch out for red patches beneath the little finger and thumb.
Sweaty palms often occur in moments of anxiety or stress, but if you’re experiencing constant sweatiness then it could be a sign of an overactive thyroid. Responsible for how quickly the body burns energy, the thyroid can sometimes go into overdrive causing your metabolism to speed up.
Nails
You may be one of many people who have those little white flecks on your finger nails, but contrary to popular opinion, these are unlikely to be caused by a lack of calcium or zinc in the body and will disappear with time.
What you do need to lookout for are things such as red splintering or haemorrhages in the nails which can indicate an infection in the heart or blood.
Clubbed nails are also one to watch. This is where your nails bend inwards at the top and could be due to a lack of oxygen in the blood caused by heart or lung disease.
Nails which are thin or dipped in the centre can also be the first sign of anaemia, which is caused by a lack of iron in the body and results in weakened nails.
Knuckles
Rheumatoid arthritis could be one cause of knobbly knuckles, particularly if the ones on the lower finger are lumpy.
High cholesterol can be hard to detect without a test, but fattened knuckles might provide a first warning sign. Fatty deposits known as tendon xanthoma can collect around the knuckles causing hard, yellow bumps.
Water is imperative to all our bodily functions and being dehydrated can be dangerous. But drinking too much water can not only cause headaches or vomiting, but it can actually kill you. Too much water can swell body cells causing them to bust as they try to absorb the water to balance the sodium and electrolytes levels in the blood which has been diluted. If the cell swelling occurs in the brain it can affect the nervous system and cause brain damage or death.
Exercise is an essential component to an overall healthy lifestyle, but sometimes this can be taken to the extreme and people over exercise. This can cause us harm but putting us at risk of fatigue leaving the body to tired to fight illness, unnecessary injury, and doesn’t allow for the muscles or the body to recover and repair itself. Too much exercise can actually destroy the muscles.
First Hand Evidence
When you think of hands you’re more likely to be worrying about dry skin and the state of your nails than analysing the bumps on them, but what if these unexplained lumps held the truth about your wellbeing?
Experts have been looking into the connection between health and hands for many years, with the results being published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, among other places.
It is thought that hands provide a map to the body, much like feet in reflexology, so when your body contracts an illness it can manifest in your extremities.
Handy to know
A recent example of this hand diagnosis method in action is that of a 74-year-old woman who complained of painful lumps that had developed on her palms. She sought medical advice but doctors were baffled as she appeared otherwise healthy.
Luckily the team at the Royal Free Hospital in London had read about paraneoplastic syndrome, where a disease or symptom signifies a presence of cancer in the body, in this case, the thickened skin on the woman’s hands. She was later successfully treated for ovarian cancer.
Having read this you’re probably sat there examining every nook and cranny on your fingers and palms, so here are a few things to be on the lookout for.
Finger length
New research by Cambridge University has revealed that those who have ring fingers that are longer than their index fingers are more likely to be successful in their jobs.
It is thought that this is to do with exposure to the male hormone testosterone in the womb, which can affect the way the brain develops.
Palms
Reddened palms can set alarm bells ringing as they are often related to liver problems, according to Dr Graham Archard of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
This is known as palmar erythema and occurs when hormone levels in the body become unbalanced as a result of liver disease. Watch out for red patches beneath the little finger and thumb.
Sweaty palms often occur in moments of anxiety or stress, but if you’re experiencing constant sweatiness then it could be a sign of an overactive thyroid. Responsible for how quickly the body burns energy, the thyroid can sometimes go into overdrive causing your metabolism to speed up.
Nails
You may be one of many people who have those little white flecks on your finger nails, but contrary to popular opinion, these are unlikely to be caused by a lack of calcium or zinc in the body and will disappear with time.
What you do need to lookout for are things such as red splintering or haemorrhages in the nails which can indicate an infection in the heart or blood.
Clubbed nails are also one to watch. This is where your nails bend inwards at the top and could be due to a lack of oxygen in the blood caused by heart or lung disease.
Nails which are thin or dipped in the centre can also be the first sign of anaemia, which is caused by a lack of iron in the body and results in weakened nails.
Knuckles
Rheumatoid arthritis could be one cause of knobbly knuckles, particularly if the ones on the lower finger are lumpy.
High cholesterol can be hard to detect without a test, but fattened knuckles might provide a first warning sign. Fatty deposits known as tendon xanthoma can collect around the knuckles causing hard, yellow bumps.
A girl who loves to daydream. currently studying at SMK Seafield. Archieholic. Born on 19th February. Mixture of Aquarius and/or Pisces.
Loves my friends that stick by me through thick and thin, my family and everyone out there...
Dreams to go to the Louvre museum, Espana, and maybe travel round the world?? Oh, and meet David Archuleta in person..
My ambitions are.. to be a doctor. But if I can, I'd love to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Have to work really hard for that.
sounds impossible.. but i might achieve it.. there's always a chance and time for everything.
I would love to have new friends as it is always nice to have friends.. so.. leave a word on my tagboard please.. :)
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.
-Leonardo da Vinci
"Don't ever let yourself believe that the role you play in the lives of other's is not an important one, especially in the lives of the ones you love and who love you. No matter how big or small that role is, or may seem, it's a very important one, and it is one that only you can play." Don't underestimate yourself. Someone out there may need you. -David Archuleta
Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
Mother Teresa
Every time you see someone in distress, you have the opportunity to work as a team with Heaven's angels. You become the channel for your angels to provide loving care to those in need.-Doreen Virtue
Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
- Groucho Marx
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
-- Albert Einstein
缘分是本书，翻的不经意，会错过细节，读的太过认真，又会流干眼泪。
I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
Emily Bronte
Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.
Charles Dickens
MSN health column articles
