So when I was contacted by a PR person and asked if I wanted to review a couple of Tempur-pedic pillows, I was all for it. But I figured that they wouldn’t want to send them all the way out to New Zealand.  Surprisingly they did.

The first thing I noticed when opening the large box that contained the two pillows – a comfort pillow and a  neck pillow – was a strong chemical odor. Not unusual apparently, but probably more pronounced due the distance travelled. A little sticker on both pillows indicated that the smell would go away after a couple of days. The reality was, at least for me, that the odor lingered for a couple of weeks during which time the pillows spent a great deal of time outside airing.

Once the smell dissipated, the testing began. First up, the neck pillow (price range $79 – $159). This oddly shaped pillow ‘that’s ergonomically contoured to support your head, neck, and spine in perfect alignment’ lasted all of five minutes before I threw it off the bed. I tried a couple of more times over the weekend but simply could not get comfortable with it. Yes, I know it’s meant to provide support for the neck but all it seemed to do was give me a neck ache.

But then not all pillows are going to suit all people.

By Monday, I decided that the only way to get a true test of this neck pillow would be to get someone else to trial it. And I knew the perfect person – a colleague at work who had suffered from a neck injury a few years ago. So I packed it back up and took it to work. A week later, a very happy colleague pronounced that, for her, the neck pillow was just the thing. While it took a few nights to get used to it, she found that  the ‘neck pillow was excellent, soft enough for comfort but firm enough for support. Since using the pillow, there was less tingling in the left arm/hand and less neck pain.’ 

Meanwhile, I started testing the more traditionally shaped comfort pillow (price range $79 – $159) and found it more to my liking. It did take a week or so to get used to the heaviness of the pillow (made from viscoelastic material, they are not light and should never be used in a pillow fight ). But once I did, I found that the comfort pillow lived up to it’s name in comfort and sleep. It is, I’ve decided, a keeper.

Which brings me to an important question? How do you choose a pillow to buy? After all, it’s not something that is all that easy to return it doesn’t suit. Not a real issue when buying cheap pillows. But Tempur-pedic pillows are not cheap. So my suggestion would be to do your research and figure out what type of pillow you are looking for.  And then go shopping a few pillows and take them over to a display bed, lie down, and rest your head on a pillow or two. It might just help.

Tempur-pedic pillows, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, all come with removable, washable allergen and mite resistant covers.

Head on over to the Tempur-pedic website to find out more about their pillows. They also sell beds, and office and travel products.

Post from: Healthbolt

Many have tried to answer this question but in the end, death and the possibility of an afterlife, remains a mystery.

The directors of a new documentary The Path are hoping to remove some of this mystery surrounding death, dying, and, in particular,  the afterlife.

It features interviews with 13 individuals – well renowned authors, practitioners and well respected local practitioners in Upstate New York - who offer their their expertise on their own souls path, what they have learned along the way and their knowledge about the afterlife.

You can watch the trailer here.

According to the Michael Habernig and April Hannah, creators of The Path, they hope that people watching this documentary will…

 ”…take away some knowledge about other possibilities of the afterlife [and]  feel empowered to become their own explorers and researchers. We want people to leave the theater feeling like they need to find out more answers for themselves and begin to experience other possibilities as to what may be out there after we die. We are also hoping that the fear of death will subside as our documentary does give hope that consciousness lives on and never dies.”

The Path is due for release 12th Febuary and I have to admit I am intrigued to hear what they have to say.

Healthbolt’s got a copy of The Path DVD to giveaway.

So if you’re interested, all you need to do is leave a comment telling us why you want to see this DVD.

Entries close 11th Febuary 2009 and the winner will be announced on the 12th February 2009.

Post from: Healthbolt

It’s everywhere.

In fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid and according to Dr Scott Olson, in his book Sugarettes, it’s as addictive as cigarettes.

I’ve just finished reading Sugarettes and I got to say, it was a real eye opener. Who knew that sugar was so prevalent in society today? Seems that everything we eat and drink has sugar in it and the more processed the food, the more the sugar content. 

In Sugarettes, Scott Olson looks at how sugar affects the body and why we should look at it as an addiction and a leading cause of not only obesity but also other medical illnesses of our times.

This is a must read for anyone interested in improving their diet and their health.

Healthbolt has three copies of this fascinating book to giveaway to anyone anywhere in the world.

Here’s all you have to do….

- leave a comment with your email address about why you want a copy of this book by 8th December.

-  No email address left in the comment = no entry.

- winners will be announced on 9th December and sent an email with the subject heading ‘Healthbolt Giveaway Winner’ with instructions on how to claim their prize.

Post from: Healthbolt

- three times more likely than men to suffer from some types of back pain
- more susceptible to a whiplash injury
- prone to low back pain

And that bra straps, high heels, and hormonal swings add to the chances of women suffering from an aching back.

Christine Lasich MD knows all this and more. Having suffered from chronic low back pain herself and acutely aware of the lack of gender-specific information on preventing and dealing with back pain, Christine has written the highly informative and entertaining High Heels to Hormones: A Woman’s Guide to Spinal Care.

Featuring short easy to read chapters illustrated with pencil stick cartoons, High Heels to Hormones is an effective self help guide for woman. The contents include information on how everything from bras, hormones, and high heeled shoes to convenience foods, smoking, exercise, high-achieving, and multitasking lifestyles will affect your back.

And while it is all evidence based information, there is a distinct lack of med-speak in this book. Instead, the tone is fun and light. For example, here’s Christine’s take on the importance of good posture: “Did I threaten your sense of decency by telling you to stick your chest out with the shoulders back? Don’t be shy, because shyness creates an unhealthy, slouched posture.”

Women of all shapes, sizes, and ages will benefit from the advice that Dr Lasich dispenses. It could easily be the best resource yet to help women say goodbye to sore necks and aching backs and instead be able to enjoy strong, healthy spines.

High Heels to Hormones has the Healthbolt Seal of Approval and therefore, we are happy to be able to offer a copy to one lucky reader.

Simply leave a comment by end of day Friday 25th July and we will do pick a winner using the trusty random number selector.

By the way, you can increase your chances of winning by heading over to Alzheimer’s Notes where another High Heels to Hormones Giveaway is being run.

Post from: Healthbolt

The Healthbolt Carnival is back once again, full of interesting, informative, and entertaining posts about ‘everything to do with health.

So grab a coffee and have a read. You’ll be amazed at what you find.

Walter from Highlight HEALTH writes about The Upside of High Food Prices, saying, “As the price at the gas pump continues to climb, so does the cost of diary, grain and meat products. However, there is a healthy upside to the increasing cost of food.”

Trisha at Women’s Health Research News tells us in a review of the new fad diet Sensa that There’s no magical way to lose weight.

Petra Ioni from Fountia suggests that Caffeine After Workouts Refuels Muscle. Sounds like my kinda of exercise!!!

Dean Moyer from The Back Pain Blog responds to a reader’s question about herniated discs in his post Can Herniated Discs Really Heal?

Mad Kane’s Humor Blog provides us with another humorous post, this time about De-Stress Or Distress?

Mike Remer from My Path To Fitness Blog offers a quick weight loss tip in A Great Weight Reducing Secret | My Path To Fitness Blog.

The Joshua Seth Blog offers a few Summer Weight Loss Tips saying, “”It’s swimsuit season and chances are if you’re like most people your old New Year’s Resolution is about to become your new summer weight loss program. Oops! Here are 3 simple things you can do today to start losing weight this summer…”

James Chambers from Hyperhidrosis tells us about Hyperhidrosis Causes.

James Brausch at Weight Loss Dude looks at Diabetes posted at .

Tip Diva provides us with Top Ten Tips – Avoiding Foot Pain saying, “If you’ve ever gotten home, kicked off your shoes and announced, “Oww, my feet hurt,” then you’re probably not wearing proper shoes. Here are ways to alleviate common sources of foot pain”

Ralph Jean-Paul at Potential 2 Success gives us a list of presents The 20 Healthiest Foods You Shouldn’t Live Without, saying, “Get your hands on these foods and begin to experience the powerful health benefits they provide.”

Peter Murphy at Communication Skills Power has advice on How to Get Your Man to Express his Feelings.

Matthew Philip from EnviroHumanImpact writes a Sigg Water Bottle Product Review | EnviroHumanImpact, saying, “We recently did a product review of the Sigg metal water bottles as an alternative to typical Nalgene plastic water bottles. Many people have made the switch after it has been found that Nalgene style bottles tend to leech nasty chemicals into the water inside them. Our health conscious readers have made this one of our most popular articles to date.”

Carl Mills from Master Carl Mills reports on KARATESIZE – Basic Kicks saying, “Learning Karate techniques will give some great benifits!!”

Ed Pudol of Healthy life style looks at Becoming A Healthy Eater

Toni Graybill at Maximize Health and Wealth suggests that the The Secret to Better Grades is Dancing? saying, “Music, dancing and its effect on health”

Neelakantha from NursingDegree.net provides this amazing resouce The Ultimate Guide to Yoga: 100 Blogs, Tutorials, and Resources while Sagar Satapathy, also from NursingDegree.net lists 77 Surprising Health Benefits of Yoga.

Elizabeth Day writes about Alternative Cancer Treatments.

Well, that’s it for this edition of the Healthbolt Carnival.

Hope you all enjoyed it and prehaps learned something new.

The Healthbolt Carnival will be back again in a couple of weeks.

So don’t forget to submit your blog article to the next edition of Healthbolt Carnival using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

And if you want to host Healthbolt Carnival, drop us a line and we will set it up…

Technorati tags: a healthbolt carnival, blog carnival.

Post from: Healthbolt

The pictures are fine, but what’s far more entertaining are the Stumbleupon reviews.

A few choice gems:

“Those of you who think this has significance are idiots. Those of you who who are mad that this page exists are also idiots.”

“It kind of looks the same…hooray?”

“Neural structure and cosmic structure exhibit some similarities, leading to the ridiculous statement: ‘Physicists discover that the structure of a brain cell is the same as the entire universe.’”

Bottom line: we humans are hardwired for pattern recognition and we love to construct meaning out of it. (We make dozens of logical fallacies every day.)

If you’re into psychology with an edge (smarty):

Check out Mind Hacks and Psyblog.

Click for more. You’ll like it.

It’s never a bad time for incredible photos of life on this planet.

Deep-sea siphonophore (a little like a jellyfish).

This bedazzled buddy hasn’t been named yet. Ornamental Kiss?

Ping-pong tree sponge.

See, the New York Times isn’t all bad.

Post from: Healthbolt

What I am talking about is hormone crazy. Time of the month crazy. Don’t you dare ask me if it’s my time of the month crazy. MAYBE I AM JUST LEGITIMATELY ANGRY, YOU JERK (cue crying).

You’re sitting there together watching Colbert and you’re poking your girl’s squish like any other day, just ‘cuz. Normally she just pushes your hand away and tells you to stop touching her fat (all two ounces of it) but today, for some reason, touching her indicates that you clearly think she is obese and do not love her or find her attractive. Why else would you be touching her? Obviously you are breaking up with her. Fine, she can do better anyway. What, you’re Mr. Perfect with your gut and receding hairline?

Panic buttons are popping all over your brain. What happened? Where did it go wrong? Does this mean I will not get to touch her later? No! Not the crying! Sh*t! Must make it stop. Must make it stop. One minute everything was fine. You were totally content to be eating the meal she prepared, thoughtfully not drawing attention to the burned edges and more importantly the lack of meat, just minding your own business pestering her anatomy, and all was well in girlfriendland. And then you said something really, really insensitive, like: “Come here.” You poor fool. You are no match for estrogen.

Hormones are brutal, and we all have ‘em. If they get screwed up, either by a stupid lifestyle habit or genetics (or both), life can truly suck. Cortisol? Hello, gut. Serotonin? Hello, depression. Testosterone? Hello, prison. Estrogen? Hello, crazy.

Gentlemen, allow me to offer up a fresh perspective. Everybody goes crazy now and then, so why not learn about all the possible reasons why? We’ll all feel better. Give your girl a big, fat drink with an umbrella in it, take her down to the gyno, and learn about the IUD. It will not be the most pleasant girl doctor trip (not like those trips are ever really fun). But it may just be a wonderful thing. I’ll explain:

Birth control pills are the most popular way of preventing your own real-life version of Knocked Up (in which you cannot ever hope to get Katherine Heigl). For some women, taking extra hormones actually helps to balance them out over the course of the month, which is great. Plenty of lucky chicas never have any hormone swings even when Aunt Flo is in town. This is just my own private observational “study”, but I have found that for a lot of women, taking birth control hormones creates serious anxiety issues, mood swings, and, well, crazy (not to mention all the regular side effects the FDA warns you about, like cancer and blood clots).

Hormones are a big deal, but we pop them like it ain’t no thing. I happen to know that birth control has decimated many a potentially awesome – and expensive – vacation. We live in a society that is very reliant on pills for everything, from pain to weight loss to contraception. But there is a very common, very safe alternative you might not know about. I didn’t, either, until a friend told me. She discovered that what she thought was her “moody personality” was actually just her birth control pills. She had been taking them for ten years – since the age of 16 – so she figured the moody mama routine was just her adult personality. We’re so used to birth control pills, it doesn’t occur to a lot of us that perplexing episodes of “crazy” might have an alternative. They just don’t tell you about it. It’s the IUD.

Now, the IUD (intra-uterine device, ick, I know) is an incredibly popular little gadget over in Europe. You know, that place where they have healthcare and way fewer teen pregnancies. The IUD comes in a few varieties: the kind with hormones and the kind without. Both types are more effective than birth control, have fewer side effects, and last for anywhere from 3 to 10 years (you pick). You (well, your lady) cannot see it, feel it, or even really remember it. It can be dangerous, but very rarely, and it won’t cause cancer. We don’t use IUDs much in America because the first kind had a defect, and it created a scare, and don’t you know Big Pharma was all over that with the glorious benefits of birth control pills. Yeah, right.

I’m not saying birth control pills are terrible for all women. They’re great for some women. I am also not suggesting you inform your girl she is nuts. That won’t go over too well. But if y’all are in a monogamous relationship, and she feels like an emotional poopmuffin half the time, and it’s not because she’s got a nasty boss or is suffering from depression (or suffering from you), maybe birth control isn’t so great for her. Look into some alternatives. The IUD has a better pregnancy prevention rate and is actually safer than the pill, and even the hormone version is cool because, duh, it’s localized. The IUD won’t prevent STDs, so don’t be an idiot. But remember, the pill doesn’t prevent those nasty things, either.

Just check it out.

(No IUD company asked me/paid me to write this.)

That is me! Hi!

Post from: Healthbolt

Seriously, folks. Blue Bunny Root Beer Float bars rock my socks. I consider my self a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to root beer. (A&W, please, and thank-you.) So, my endorsement of these is something special. They’re cold, root beer-y, ice-creamy and they’re only 80 calories. What’s not to love?

(No I don’t own any Blue Bunny stock, nor I am being paid to gush about this product. In fact, no one will pay me to gush about they’re products, despite my best efforts. (*sad face* (Look ma, nested parentheticals!)))

Anyway, they’re good. Summertime is quickly approaching, go get some cool heaven on a stick.

Post from: Healthbolt

The same company that makes the Sweat Gutr we reviewed and gave away has sent me another product to review. The Ice Cap. It’s your basic water bottle but the lid has a stick attached to it that you freeze to keep your stuff cold.

Well, I’ve used it for a week and my verdict is as follows:

Form:** (out of 5)

It’s an average water bottle with an average looking lid (from the outside). Nothing special here, it’s even white.

Function: **

This thing scores low for me. My main complaint is the weight. When I throw ice in a bottle and hit the road on my bike, the ice keeps my drink cold, and then when it melts I can drink it, too. So the freeze-y stick in this thing is just added weight to me. Plus it takes up volume in the bottle that could be filled with hydrating liquids, which is important when you’re on a 30 mile bike ride (which is even considered short by a few of the hardcore bikers I know). Oh, and it also makes the bottle hard to squeeze, because you run into the stick in the middle. Maybe I just crush bottles when I squeeze them or something, but this seems like one of those products that the person who made didn’t use much or they’d have noticed this.

I will say that this would be fine for toting around in the car or something where wieght is a non-issue, I guess, but you still lose volume to the stick. Or if you’re nuts about your sports drink mix ratios, this eliminates ice and potential dilution. But I’ve found that people that are that fanatical about their setup are even more nuts about weight, so they’d never use this thing.

It still gets two stars because it does keep your drink cold, while not watering it down, which IS it’s stated purpose. There’s just too many cons from my point of view to warrant any more than two.

Value: **

$11.99 is kind of a lot for a bottle I only find appropriate for casual use.

Overall: **

I was surprised at how low I scored this thing, because this is the same company that sent me the Sweat GUTR, which I loved. The Ice Cap just wasn’t for me. It does keep your drink cold while avoiding dilution, but at the cost of weight and volume available for liquids. The trade-off just doesn’t work for me.

I know I’ve done giveaways for the last two products I reviewed, but I was only sent one of these, so no giveaway, sorry. I would give you mine, but it’s got chain grease on it and is a little scuffed up. (Not because I’m hardcore, but because I’m clumsy.)

Product Page (pops)

[tags] ice, cap, review, gear, cycling, product, water, bottle, cold [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt

I like to bike and I like to listen to music. On public streets these things do not mix well, as you could easily find yourself humping the grill of grandma’s Lincoln if you can’t hear her bearing down on you.

Slipstreamz allows you to hear your music and your environment all at the same time by moving your in-canal ear buds to about an inch or so away from your ear. You just stick your buds into the Slipstreamz and stick them on your helmet, and you’re good to go. Or so they say. Let see how they really work in the real world:

Form:**** (out of 5)

These actually look OK. They pretty much get an extra star gratis since when you’re checking out how they look in the mirror, you’re already wearing a bike helmet. I mean, it’s like asking someone if putting their hand in boiling water will hurt when they’re already fully engulfed in flame. The answer: not really.

These things fit to the sides of your head nicely. My wife had seen me wrestling to get them attached to my helmet (more on this later) and had laughed in anticipation of an upcoming dumbo impression, but when I walked into the room a few minutes later wearing my helmet with the Slipstreamz on, she was surprised at how low-key they are.

On a side note not worth any points starz, what’s with the “Z”? Are they extreme? I’m guessing this is a copyright or domain name issue or something.

Function: ***

The good – They do what they are advertised to do. I could hear ambient noises well right along with Kissing the Lipless and, if the music is off, they even act as a sort of wind buffer allowing you to hear the ambience around you at speed better than without them. They stay in place VERY well, which is nice considering how small the amount of fiddling is that you’re able to do while piloting a bike on a public street.
The bad – Umm… They do their job well, but getting them set up is a pain. Enough of a pain to lose them a star. I installed a bike computer on my wife’s bicycle last week, and it was less stressful than this. It took me 34 minutes from the time I laid the folded instructions down in front of me to the time I snapped my chin strap.

I consider myself a pretty sharp fellow, as well as being rather dextrous. After all, I can kill an Ultra Honor Guard Elite in Legendary without breaking (much) of a sweat. I’ve also built office furniture with Asian-language only directions, and I even used to be pretty handy at small scale manufacturing Gundam models, as well as models of cars and other things, but those Slipstreamz, watch out…

OK, I’m making it worse than it was, but 34 minutes is the truth. It is a one-time process, though. I can pretty much just pick up my helmet and go now, but what a process. It’s also not super-easy to get my buds out of the Slipstreamz now, should I want to use them by themselves or use the helmet sans soundtrack. It would definitely take a few minutes of fiddling.
Like I said, once you get them on, though, you’re good to go and they stay where they are supposed to surprisingly well, doing exactly what they’re supposed to.

Value: *****

At the moment, a pair of these will set you back £7.49 (about $13) in the U.K. I was sent no pricing info with my Slipstreamz, but, assuming they’ll be similarly priced when they come out here later on this month, I say they’re a steal, if music + biking is truly your thing.

Overall: ****

If you MUST have music while you ride, and you MUST be safe while doing it, Slipstreamz are the way to go. These would also be handy for snowboarding or any other helmet-on adventure that could benefit from rythm and melody.
FYI:

This is officially your last last chance to enter to get your very own set of these shipped to you by yours truly. Just go to the original thread and post a comment and you’re entered to win.

I’ll hold off on the drawing ’till the end of the workday so we can get a few more entries.

[tags] Slipstreamz, review, gadget, gear, bicycle, iPod, music, giveaway, free [/tags]

Post from: Healthbolt