Self Help Daily

Inspirational and Self Help Blog with a Save the World Complex...

You are here: Home / Archives for Self Help

Self Help

5 Pieces of Advice to Find the Best Plastic Surgeon and Clinic

by Leave a Comment

By Debbie 

The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reports that 25 min procedures are carried annually. It means that about 70,000 people improve their appearance every day! All of them want to receive a good result and impress everyone with a new look. However, not everyone will boast of the perfect outcome — the wrong choice of a doctor or a clinic may cost your beauty and health.

So, before entrusting your appearance and agreeing to have a cosmetic procedure, carefully check whether a clinic or a doctor you have chosen can provide highly-qualified service. The following recommendations can help you to avoid a mistake and get the best option.

Experience in plastic surgery

Experience is a key factor you should take into account while choosing a clinic or a doctor. Always check how many years a doctor has been practicing, what education he/she has got, how many plastic surgeries have been performed. Some clinics or specialists have thousands of plastic surgeries on their account that is a reliable indicator of their professionalism. Also, pay attention to whether a clinic/doctor has additional certificates that confirm their experience and qualification. These certificates can be given by international or local plastic surgery organizations.

Before and after photos

One more criterion of picking the right place to have plastic surgery is before and after photos of patients who have had an operation. You can find a portfolio on the official website of the clinic or request them. You have to estimate the result before your operation to make sure of the perfect outcome. A clinic or a doctor that are proud of their success will provide you with a portfolio immediately. If something confuses you — it is better to look for another option, even if the offer seems very attractive.

Reviews

Nowadays, you can find as much info you need concerning any issue. Plastic surgery is actively discussed on the leading forums, public in the social networks. So, you can info almost about any specialist or medical center. There, people share photos, their experience, and comment on the result of plastic surgery with pleasure. It is your lucky chance to glean the info, ask questions directly, and eventually decide what a clinic to choose.

Prices

Prices for plastic surgery may vary significantly depending on the country, where a clinic or doctor practices. For instance, clinics for tummy tuck may offer absolutely different prices — from $2,800 (abdominoplasty cost in Turkey) to $12,000 (price in the USA). So, if the cost is important for you and you want to choose an affordable option, pay attention to the clinics located in Turkey, India, Mexico, some European countries (Poland, Lithuania, etc.) The medical centers in these countries usually offer much cheaper plastic surgery without the quality loss than American, Canadian, German, Swiss, Spanish centers, for instance.

Location

Even if you have found an experienced plastic surgeon or an affordable deal for the operation, think over how long you will travel to the country and how much the flight tickets will cost. Sometimes, you can save money on the operation, but waste more on travel charges and accommodation in another country. So, always calculate all expenses and decide whether it is worth going abroad to have plastic surgery.

Summary

Choosing a clinic/doctor for plastic surgery is an important and responsible step for achieving a desired esthetic result. Even if the medical center or a specialist is ready to conduct plastic surgery at a very low price, don’t hurry up to agree — check the experience, see the portfolio, read the patient reviews at first, and only then decide whether a clinic/doctor has enough experience to manage your plastic surgery. Do not be risky! Always be careful when your health and beauty are involved.

How to Maintain Your Physical and Mental Health if You Lack Health Insurance

by Leave a Comment

by Brooke Faulkner

Healthcare is a necessity for most individuals, however, not everyone can afford health insurance. For a number of those who are able to get insurance, they still can’t afford to pay for the level of coverage they need. This puts people at risk in the event of a medical emergency.

In a medical emergency, people often end up having to opt for emergency medical care. This can be financially exhausting for hospitals and also put extra pressure on emergency rooms. To demonstrate how financially exorbitant it is, during the year that the Affordable Care Act was passed, hospitals provided around $40 billion worth of care they weren’t paid for. In some cases, hospitals will still try to bill a patient who seeks treatment but doesn’t have insurance.

If you don’t have insurance or what you do have isn’t adequate, looking after your health should be a priority. Preventative care is a way to lower the likelihood of you ending up in the emergency room because of a preventable illness. Here are a few ways that you can improve your health and hopefully, stay out of the hospital. You’ll also find tips regarding what you can do in the event that you need care and don’t have insurance.

The Importance of Preventative Care

You can’t predict what direction your health will go in, but you can influence the chances of a positive outcome. A way of doing this would be by taking preventative measures. This is something that should be considered whether you have insurance or not as poor health can negatively impact all aspects of your life. For those without insurance, in particular, leading a healthier life could mean worrying less about how you can fund a sudden or recurring illness.

Lifestyle Changes You Can Make

No matter how old you are, there are several things that you can do to improve your health. Below, you’ll find a few suggestions that could increase your chances of staying healthy and avoiding the emergency room.

Exercise

Health and exercise are somewhat synonymous. For this reason, it’s difficult to have a conversation about health without touching on the importance of being active. If you’re wondering why exercise is always recommended, it can combat health conditions as well as diseases. For instance, being active boosts your “good” cholesterol, thus preventing conditions like high blood pressure.

If you aren’t keen on physical activity, the good thing is that you don’t have to dedicate hours on end to fitness every day. Doctors suggest that you do at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day. However, if you can handle intensive exercise, then it goes down to 15 minutes daily. So that you’re exercising consistently, consider incorporating it into your daily routine. For instance, you could jog to work if it isn’t too far away or use the gym during your lunch break. In addition to helping prevent health conditions, exercise is also a way of managing existing ones.

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is another way to keep your body in shape that could be obvious to some. What you eat greatly influences your health, so make a conscious effort to choose nutritious foods. This doesn’t mean denying yourself of your favorite foods completely. It means finding healthy alternatives to ones that could cause issues in the long-term. For instance, you could decide to grill your chicken instead of frying it or start buying fresh foods instead of processed ones.

Don’t forget to include carrots in your diet so that you can maintain healthy eyes. Millions of Americans have some form of vision problems and it can be pricey to treat if you’re uninsured. Other ways to look after your eyes besides eating carrots are to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

In addition to watching what you eat, cut back on high-risk behaviors like smoking and drinking. These habits can cause illnesses longterm that could affect your lungs, veins, and liver. You should note that there is free health screening available so you can check to make sure you don’t have an undiagnosed illness.

Look After Your Mental Health

Your mental health counts as part of your health too, so don’t neglect it. If you aren’t sure how to take care of your mental health, it is about learning to take care of your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

That said, one way to look after your mental health is by learning to manage stress. To manage stressors in your daily life, try finding healthy distractions like keeping a gratitude journal or volunteering. These are things that could help remind you of the good happening around you and the things to be thankful for.

Not finding effective ways of managing stress can lead to sleep deprivation. It can also increase the chances of you suffering from sleep disorders like insomnia. This can have negative effects on your mental health as you may often feel depressed and on edge. For this reason, you should seek the advice of a doctor as they can offer appropriate advice and treatment. Sleep disorders aren’t something to take lightly as if left untreated, they can result in behavioral issues, heart attacks, high blood pressure, or strokes.

When you look after your body, you’re also looking after your mind. This is why watching what you eat is a form of preventative mental health care as well. Eating junk food can lead to inflammation in your body which affects your brain’s stress levels directly. Likewise, exercise is vital to keep endorphins flowing and your emotional health balanced. A final tip for looking after your mental health is to take a few minutes a day to meditate. It can help ward off negative thoughts and give you a more positive outlook.

Alternatives to Insurance

If you’re wondering what you can do if you can’t afford insurance, know that there are a few options for you to explore. Firstly, if you’re in urgent need of care, you have the option of emergency care. This means you can walk into any hospital and they cannot refuse to treat you.

In less severe cases where you have a minor illness or injury, you can always visit a free clinic. This will come at no cost as it’s funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program. There are almost 12,000 in the U.S., District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories, so check to see if there’s one near you.

If you can afford to pay something for healthcare, an option is a retail walk-in clinic. There are almost 3,000 operating in the U.S. and they offer treatment services for 30-40% lower than if you went to the doctor for treatment. Retail clinics are also suitable if you have an emergency and you’d pay up to 8% less than you would if you went to a hospital. Similarly, urgent care centers offer non-emergency care at relatively affordable rates too.

For those that are adamant about getting health insurance, Medicaid gives low-cost insurance if you’re a low-income family, have a disability, are elderly, or are pregnant. You could also try short-term health insurance that provides coverage for up to 364 days depending on what state you’re in. Supplemental insurance products can be taken into consideration too if you’d rather choose from standalone products.

We don’t yet live in a country where health insurance is something that is easily accessible to everyone. In the meantime, you can make efforts to look after your health and make the most of the options available to you.


Reducing Fear Around the What Ifs in the World

by Leave a Comment

If you are naturally a fearful or anxious individual, finding a moment of calmness in your own mind can be difficult as you are always wondering or worrying about what-if scenarios, even if they seem quite outlandish even to our own rational brains. Once you have a fixation on a circumstance or situation, it can be difficult to let go, relax and in so many words – get over the feeling of what’s bugging you.

Luckily, we don’t have to let fear and anxiety drive our lives and we have more control over our thoughts, feelings and reactions than we initially realise. Of course, you shouldn’t ever withhold or prevent a feeling – it’s natural to have emotions and feelings, even if they are quite strong compared to those around you – it’s how we act on these feelings and emotions that summarises who we are.

Gaining Control

Control is something that can make us feel confident but can quickly be pulled out from underneath us. When we lose this control, we feel suitably out-of-control of our own lives which naturally causes feelings of anxiety and fear. While we may not always be able to control the situation, we are able to control our reactions to it and work our way through the fear and nerves.

For instance, online security can be a fear for many people who have moved their important accounts online and are using smart devices to log into their sensitive inboxes and bank accounts. While you cannot control if and when a hack might occur, you can be sure to implement multi-factor authentication on all your accounts and practice safe browsing by never opening or clicking untrustworthy links.

Trusting in Others

The beloved people in our lives, be they friends or family, can be a huge source of anxiety and fear for people as they worry what could happen to these people and the impact it will have on our lives. Parents in particular can be a group that is hugely affected as they place their trust in schools and day-cares to take care of their young children while they go out to work and provide a comfortable lifestyle for their family. Trust in others is built over time, we cannot be expected to trust everyone as soon as we meet them, and it can be easily to become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of news stories regarding untrustworthy people. It’s becoming gradually easier, with the addition of smart technology that allows us to keep an eye on our homes by monitoring securely protected CCTV and other home or commercial surveillance devices.

However, we also need to remind ourselves that the true world isn’t full of monsters hiding around every corner and that news and social media platforms benefit from only releasing and reporting the bad stuff. Social media and online news platforms and blogs have made it easier than ever before to see the horrors going on around the world but just because we hear about it more frequently, doesn’t mean it’s happening more frequently, in fact, in many western countries, the world is the safest it’s ever been.

Confidence in Feelings

Sometimes fear and anxiety can be caused by doubting our own feelings or denying emotions to situations out of our control. Rather than immediately taking action against these feelings, make a record of them, take a moment to read what you’ve written and include details about the situation.

– What has happened to make you feel this way?

– How do you feel?

– Was this your initial feeling or have your feelings changed and developed in reaction to your first response?

Once you’ve got this on paper (or typed up in front of you) it’s easier to step back and look at the situation as a whole, address the feelings you had and what caused them and work out what you need to change about the situation in future to make you feel better about it. Our brains work in interesting ways and sometimes, the first thought we have in regard to a situation is simply what we’ve been conditioned to think or feel, it’s what we do next that decides the type of person we are and how much control we have over ourselves.

The world may seem like a scary place at first glance, full of what-if situations and terrifying news stories but take a closer look at your immediate world, your family, your neighbourhood, your local community – you might quickly find many smiling faces and supportive networks. We are the ones in control of ourselves, don’t let your emotions override your thoughts and instead, learn to let go of the little things that worry you and live a more peaceful, fulfilling life.

What to Do if You Slip and Fall in a Store

by Leave a Comment

by Maggie Hammond

If you slip and fall in a store, it can be an extremely stressful experience. We never expect them to happen, but sometimes, accidents do occur and they’re not necessarily your fault. If you do happen to slip and fall in a store, then there are some important steps you should follow.

The most important thing is that you’re OK and it’s safe for you to continue about your day, but if you do happen to be injured, this can have a big impact on your life. If this is the case, then you want to make sure your legal rights are protected, and the best way to do this is to speak to an attorney.

1.    Seek Medical Attention

When you’ve suffered a fall, the most important thing is your wellbeing. When you’ve been in an accident, your body produces extra adrenalin, which can help to mask pain. You might not feel in pain, but there can still be some hidden injuries that need to be treated.

The best way to ensure you haven’t suffered any serious damage is to get some medical attention. If nothing else, it can put your mind at ease, and allow you to continue on with your day.

2.    Document Your Memories of the Accident

Being involved in a fall can be particularly stressful, which makes it difficult to remember all the important details about the incident. These details can be important if you do end up making a claim, so it’s useful to write the pertinent details down.

Inspect the area where you had the fall and write down all the details you see. Any extra information you can put down can help you further down the line, so get as much detail as possible.

3.    Take Witness Details

If there were witnesses to your fall then it can be helpful to get their contact details to help your case further down the line. These people can back up your story and even add extra details that you might have missed.

Even if the person didn’t see the accident but was there in the aftermath it is worth taking their details. The better you can piece together the story, the better it looks if and when you come to make a claim.

4.    Speak to An Experienced Attorney

Whenever you’re involved in an accident, it’s important to have an experienced attorney on your side to protect your rights, and ensure you’re looked after.

Even the smallest accidents can have a huge impact on your life if you get injured, and the law is there to help protect you in these cases. However, the process of making a claim isn’t always straight forward, so having an experienced attorney is essential.

You shouldn’t have to suffer financially if you’re involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, so make sure you’re looking after your interests by getting a good personal injury lawyer.