Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is an illness that causes a person to be always in a state of fatigue or tiredness. People suffering from this disease experience fatigue that lasts for about six months and usually complain about headache, muscle pains, sore throat, loss of appetite, inability to sleep, difficulty in concentrating, and many other discomforts that are related to fatigue.

Although Chronic Fatigue Syndrome  has no known cause, there are some known ways of treating it, and most of these treatment are directed at relieving the symptoms. There are medicines that can treat some of the symptoms like muscle pains, sleep problems, anxiety and depression but many of the other symptoms can best be treated the natural way. Here are some things that will help a person suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome deal with the disease more easily:

• Enjoy your chocolate. In the past, people with CFS were advised to refrain from eating chocolates because it was believed that the caffeine and sugar in it may worsen the symptoms. But recent studies show that chocolate may actually help because it can boost the level of serotonin in the body, which is abnormally low on people with CFS. Serotonin has many functions which include control of appetite, mood, and anger.

• Be active. Although it is difficult to be active when one is feeling so fatigued, it is important for a person suffering from CFS to keep up some level of activity and exercise. Short brisk walks in the morning can help a lot. Don’t allow the fatigue to completely pull you down, but avoid exercising too much because people with CFS usually experience extreme tiredness that sometimes lasts for 24 hours after exercising.

• Try doing activities that require concentration. If your mind is left weighted down by the fatigue you feel, the symptoms will become more pronounced. By doing activities that make use of the mind, like reading and writing, you can fight the dead weight of CFS, which could be all in the mind.

• Try to socialize. If you are around people, your mind will be more active and this can help lead to recovery from the illness.

• It is also advisable to seek the advise of your doctor on what activities are best suited to you. Your doctor can give you a program to follow which is specifically designed to help you deal with an otherwise debilitating illness.

Depression is becoming more and more common today because in this fast-paced age where competition is very stiff and where the weak easily could be crushed in the daily grind, it is easy to feel threatened all the time with impending failure and defeat. The deadlines that can pile up on you and the daily struggles to adjust with difficult people in the workplace are just some of the many factors that can make a person depressed.

You may not know it, but you could be suffering from depression. If you exhibit symptoms, such as loss of appetite, feeling an unexplained sense of hopelessness, weight gain or weight loss, loss of libido, and irritability, chances are that you are suffering from depression. It is necessary to act immediately on it. There are medications for depression, but they are almost always associated with unwanted side effects. If that is the case, it is good to try natural ways of fighting and treating depression. Here are some of the natural things that you can try to fight and treat depression:

1. Exercise. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, you are more at risk for developing depression because your body cannot produce enough endorphins, the chemical that makes us feel good. When we exercise our bodies produce enough endorphins to help wash away the bad feelings.

2. Eliminate caffeinated beverages. Yes, coffee can give us that “lift” that we feel we need to get through the day’s hard work, but caffeine has also  its share of ill effects on our nervous system.

3. Change your diet. Try consuming more fruits, veggies, grains, fish, and other foods that contain antioxidants and other nutrients that your body needs in order to produce serotonin and other feel-good chemicals.

4. Be sure to get at least 10 or 20 minutes of sunshine every day. Enjoy it and let it light up you life.

5. Drink water. You may not know it, but water helps a lot in cleansing you physically and mentally.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, the season of heat has arrived.  And, as most people are aware, when the temperature increases you need to make sure that you keep yourself hydrated.   If you participate in sports or vigorous physical exercise in the heat, then you need to be even more vigilant about keeping hydrated.

Recently, I spoke with Seth Bovio from Ultima Replenisher.  As the child of a professional runner, and a runner himself, Seth has seen and experienced the need to stay hydrated during a race.  While water is essential, when working out intensely, such as running a marathon, electrolyte replacement is needed.

Watching television commercials, one could assume that sports drinks are the answer for electrolyte replacement.  However, according to Seth these drinks also contain chemicals and more sugar and sodium than are needed.  He explained, “Sugar gives a glucose rush, which increases the heart rate. Sodium increases blood pressure, and the chemicals cause stomach cramps.”

Ultima Replenisher supplies your body with the electrolytes it needs without additional sugar, sodium, or chemicals.  According to their website, this product has been recommended by nutritionalists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

If you are looking for another way to keep hydrated without purchasing this product, he had a simple recommendation.  Use food.  Seth’s best suggestion for a homemade drink was “4 parts water to 1 part coconut water, which reduces the amount of carbohydrates to 4 or 5 grams per serving.”  This mixture will eliminate stomach issues but supple the needed electrolytes.

As you prepare for your next high endurance activity during the summer, remember to stay well hydrated and add a few electrolytes to keep your body in top form.

Learn more about summer fitness topics, such as kids & exercise, warming up and cooling down, exercising in the heat, and using your smartphone for a workout.

Perhaps you do not know that your emotions affect your eating pattern. Have you noticed that when you are sad or feeling low emotionally, you turn to food for comfort? You tend to crave ice cream and sweets when you are feeling low. Of course, some people do not notice that it happens to them. It is human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain, so when you ache emotionally, you turn to something that can give you comfort and help alleviate the emotional pain. You turn to food.

Food not only nourishes but also gives comfort. We instinctively know this that is why we tend to overeat when we’re sad. But it is not only sadness and other forms of emotional pain that can cause us to eat more than what our body needs; it is also during times of happiness and emotional highs that we eat a lot. Experts say that about 75-80% of overeating is caused by emotions.

If you learn how to identify the emotions that trigger unnecessary eating, it will be easier for you to stick to your weight loss program if you are at present following one. Emotional eating is one of the reasons why many fail in their efforts to stay in good weight and shape. If you know the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger, you’ll be able to control your emotional eating.

But how do you know that something in you is pushing you to eat more than what you need?  When you think you are hungry, even if your stomach tells you that you are full, you are probably emotionally hungry and some void in your soul begs to be filled, and you confuse it with physical hunger. When the urge to eat attacks you and you know that your stomach is not really empty, turn to something that could fill the void in your soul– it could be a good book, a movie, or music.

When you crave for a particular food, like ice cream, pizza, or a very large slice of chocolate cake, chances are that the hunger is not physical but emotional so try your best not to succumb to it. It really helps to know the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger.

Is exercise good for pregnant women? You may think that because pregnancy brings a lot of changes in the body of a woman, exercise may not be advisable for those who are pregnant. But a new study shows that a well-designed exercise program could be beneficial for both the mother and the baby inside her.

Dr. Raul Artal, chairman of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health for the Saint Louis University School of Medicine says that women who exercise during pregnancy are less likely to develop conditions like gestational diabetes. Dr. Artal also says that “exercise maintains musculoskeletal fitness and women can cope with the anatomical and physiological changes of pregnancy better when they’re in good shape. Women who exercise can also tolerate labor better and recover more quickly from delivery as compared to those who do not exercise.”

But it is not only the mother who benefits from exercise, the baby also gets something very good out of the mother’s exercise. The baby reaps cardiac benefits in the form of lower fetal heart rates every time the mother works out. A 30 minute session of moderate exercise each day is recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. But a pregnant woman must first seek the advice of her doctor before doing any kind of exercise.

“A lot of things depend on the level of fitness a woman had before her pregnancy,” Dr. Thomas Wang, a family practitioner for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, said. An expectant mother should see to it that the kind of exercise she will do will give her a good level of exertion but not too much that it tests her pregnant body’s limits. ”Anything that involves impact or the chance of abdominal trauma, they should try to avoid,” Dr. Wang explained.

The best exercise that a pregnant woman could pursue is any one of the following: walking, light dancing, and light swimming. Exercise that involves the risk of falling should be avoided.