How Does Supplemental Maternity Insurance Work?

Every woman that plans to give birth at some point of her life has to get supplemental maternity insurance. Unless the insurance company pays for part or for all the medical expenses that incur in pregnancy, it is terribly difficult to afford them. Those costs are very high and can discourage a woman from procreating. There is an imminent risk of financial disaster for those women who don't have a proper health plan with maternity coverage included.

The costs of medical care are constantly increasing. During pregnancy a woman requires more medical services than before and she has to receive regular check-ups very often. There are also laboratory tests that need to be made and the delivery itself is very expensive. Without supplemental maternity insurance, a woman needs to dispose of a huge sum of money. Many women believe that if they have a health insurance plan this will automatically cover for the expenses with pregnancy and child birth. This is not true and there are also health plans without maternity coverage included.

This does not mean that you should give up your current health plan and get another one. Maternity coverage can be bought additionally. There are health insurance plans with a supplemental maternity insurance and those will cover for your needs. You must pay attention to buy the rider several moths before getting pregnant. Most insurance companies have a waiting period which varies between a couple of months and a year. Before this waiting period passes, insurance companies only pay limited benefits, if they pay at all. If you don't have a health insurance plan at this moment you should get one that also covers maternity from one of the insurance providers in your area. Once you add the supplemental maternity insurance your premiums will increase. Nevertheless, make sure you have it in your plan because otherwise you might end up covering yourself for all the expenses.

Once you add the rider to your policy all you have to do is to allow the waiting period to pass and then you can get pregnant and you'll have your benefits paid by the company. Take this waiting period into account when you make your plans for enlarging the family and check its length with your insurance company.

Even so, there are many women who get pregnant and remain uninsured. In such an unfortunate case, you can try to negotiate directly with the hospitals or the health care providers to get discounts during pregnancy and delivery.

Mental Retardation - Ayurvedic Herbal Treatment

Mental Retardation (MR) is a neuro-developmental disability which originates during the developmental period, that is, from conception up to the age of 18 years; and results in significantly sub-average general intellectual function, with concurrent deficits in functional life skills. The diagnosis of MR requires an intelligence quotient (IQ) score of less than 70 and equivalent deficits in at least two areas of functional life skills. MR can be categorized as syndromic or non-syndromic, with at least 800 recognized syndromes being associated with MR. For the vast majority of individuals with MR, there is no identifiable cause. Prenatal exposure to toxins, prenatal thyroid dysfunction, and postnatal exposure to lead and other toxins are some of the causes of MR. Children with MR are more likely to be born into families of low socio-economic status, low IQ and little education. Symptoms of MR include: behavioral disturbances; language delay; fine movement and adaptive movement delay; gross movement delay; and neurological and physical abnormalities.

The Ayurvedic treatment of MR is aimed at attempting to reduce or reverse identifiable causative factors or apparent brain damage, and improving cognitive function. Medicines from the 'Medhya' category are very useful in this condition. These include Brahmi (Bacopa monneiri), Shankhapushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis), Vacha (Acorus calamas), Mandukparni (Centella asiatica), Jyotishmati (Celastrus panniculatus), Kushmand (Benincasa hispida), Ustukhudoos (Lavandula stoechas), Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia), Yashtimadhuk (Glycerrhiza glabra), Chitrak (Plumbago zeylanica), Haritaki (Terminalia chebula), Amalaki (Emblica officinalis) and Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus). Medicines which act on the 'Majja" dhatu (tissue) are also very useful in this condition, and include Guduchi, Amalaki and Musta (Cyperus rotundus).

Medicines which act on the nerves, muscles and neuromuscular junctions are also useful in this condition. These medicines include Yograj-Guggulu, Kaishor-Guggulu, Trayo-Dashang-Guggulu, Panch-Tikta-Ghrut-Guggulu, Vat-Gajankush-Ras, Maha-Vat-Vidhwans-Ras, Ekang-Veer-Ras, Tapyadi-Loh, Agnitundi-Vati, Vish-Tinduk-Vati, Suvarna-Malini-Vasant, Abhrak-Bhasma, Trivang-Bhasma and Suvarna-Bhasma.

Regular massage of the entire body is also believed to help in neuro-muscular development and coordination. Medicated oils are used for this purpose, which include Mahanarayan oil, Mahamash oil, and Mahasaindhav oil. Known causes of MR, if present, can be treated concurrently.

It is important to note that treatment needs to be given for prolonged periods ranging from several months to several years in order to get noticeable improvement.

Post Natal Injury Prevention

Common complaints for new mothers include lower back strain, shoulder and neck and arm pain, and headaches. The good news is that all of these conditions are preventable. The aim of this article is to help you to understand the cause of these symptoms and how to prevent them. Following are some tips on posture and correct lifting techniques, along with some preventative exercises.

It is important to remember that all exercises should be absolutely pain free. If you experience any pain while attempting them stop immediately. The chances are that you need some treatment so do not attempt the exercise again until you have sought medical advice.

Injury Prevention

The time you are most susceptible to back injury in particular, is in the weeks following the birth. The abdominal and pelvic muscles and ligaments are stretched and weak, dramatically reducing the core stability that protects your back as you repeatedly bend to lift your babies and toddlers, and go about your normal household chores.

The first thing you need to learn is how to contract your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles before you lift your child, and keep them contracted as you lift and while you are carrying them. Strengthening these muscles will protect your back and reduce the incidence of bladder problems.

The Exercises

You can do these standing, sitting or lying down, or even as you walk. You will probably remember the pelvic floor exercises from post natal care at hospital. These are the muscles which prevent the flow of urine. Squeeze these muscles now so that you can feel the contraction internally. Try and hold them in contraction for as long as possible. It is not uncommon for you to have difficulty feeling this contraction soon after birth, but it is very important that you keep trying. At first they may feel very weak and you may only be able to hold the contraction for a few seconds. Work up to holding for a full minute, this may take several weeks to accomplish. Practice the exercise several times a day.

The next stage is to begin to increase your awareness of the interaction between the internal pelvic floor muscles and the abdominal muscles. Again contract internally and keeping those muscles tight, move your focus to the area between your pubic bone and navel. Slowly contract this area until you feel your naval sink towards your spine and your waist get smaller. This is called "bracing".

In the weeks and months following the birth it is absolutely essential that you practice this exercise several times a day. I suggest you try to build to 10 in a row. These are the muscles that you should contract before you attempt any activity which requires bending or lifting.

A major cause of back pain is incorrect lifting techniques of your baby.
Next time you go to lift your baby out of the cot, notice your posture; if your feet are close together you will be forced to lean over more to reach the baby, your arms will be stretched away from your body, and as you lift your wriggling infant, you will put enormous strain on your back. Take time to notice if you are twisting from the hips too - this will cause pain in the muscle between your hip and ribs. Notice your head and neck, there should be no tilting or rotating of your head as this will lead to neck pain and headaches.

Correct lifting techniques

Taking the baby from the cot

Before you attempt to lift your infant from the cot, spread your legs and feet wide, with hips and knees slightly flexed, as though you are sitting astride a horse. Have your thighs leaning against the edge of the cot. Brace your abdominal muscles as above, and lower your self by bending your legs so that you are closer to the baby. As you take hold of him, draw him closer to you without lifting him, until your arms are close to your trunk. Now make sure the abdominal muscles are braced, and gently lift and draw the baby to your body, using your legs not your back to straighten up.

Lifting toddlers

Always bend at the knee, get down to their level, brace abdominals, and draw the child in close to your body, then lift with your legs. Lifting toddlers in and out of cars usually requires some incredible contortions. You can reduce the risk of injury by keeping your legs bent, back straight and your head, arms hips and feet all pointing in the same direction. Try and keep the child's body as close to yours as possible and manoeuvre yourself as close to the child seat as possible before placing them in it.

Neck and Arm Pain

You may have experienced a strange discomfort, ranging from a toothache like pain in your arm, to tingling, numbness or weakness. This can come from a combination of poor lifting techniques, and your posture while breast feeding.

Once again, notice your posture while you are feeding the baby. Tension in your neck and shoulders may be from supporting the weight of the infant, and a tend to tilt your head as you watch it suckle. This distorted position is going to lead to muscle strain. Nerve impingement may arise from muscle and connective tissue placing pressure on the nerve, or from mal-alignment of the skeleton, and this can give rise to the arm pain and other symptoms I have mentioned. If you do have any of these symptoms, then you should seek treatment to avoid more serious injury.

To prevent these injuries, you need to experiment with the way you support the infant. Try placing them on an extra pillow so that you are not supporting their weight, and once they are settled, avoid prolonged tilting and rotation of your neck.

Exercises for upper back and shoulder tension
First, take a look at your posture. Stand in front of a mirror, try to stand as you would normally. Ideally your shoulders should be relaxed and not elevated. The rounded tops of your arm (humerus) should be sitting level and not forward of your collar bone. Your palms should facing the side of your thigh, with your thumbs approximately in line with the seam of your pants or skirt.

Its very rare that I see this ideal posture, so lets assume that you are perfectly normal and could do with some help in this department!

Shoulder Rolls

Stay in front of the mirror.

1. Bring your shoulders up towards your ears, as high as you can. Remember this
should be pain free.

2. Next squeeze your shoulder blades back as though you are trying to get them to
touch.

3. The next step is vital; relax your shoulders and imagine your shoulder blades
gradually sliding down your ribs. Let gravity do the work. Watch the top of your shoulders in the mirror, you should see that they are totally relaxed. Don't be tempted to use these muscles to push the shoulders down.

4. Once the shoulder blades are relaxed into place, imagine that you are now going to take them as far apart as possible, look in the mirror again. The movement must come from the shoulder blades, not from the arms, and again, the upper shoulders must be relaxed and not lifting. As you separate the shoulder blades, arch your mid to upper back, imagine lifting this section of your spine back and up, until you feel a good stretch between the shoulder blades. If you like you can hold this position for 30 secs.

That completes one full shoulder roll, now you can start over again, repeat a minimum of six repetitions several times a day.

Posture Correction Exercise for the Neck and Shoulders

This involves the first three steps of the shoulder rolls.

1. Once again raise your shoulders towards your ears.

2. Squeeze shoulder blades back, and relax.

3. Allow the shoulder blades to slide down the ribs into a resting position. This time, keep them in that position, that is, don't let your shoulder roll forward.

Now you will probably feel like your neck is hanging forward, so let it relax back onto its new center of gravity. You will also feel like you are sticking your chest out. This is probably because the pectoral muscles are tight. Check that you are not sticking your tummy out, if you are, relax your pelvis and spine. This should reduce the any tension in your back, and to some extent, your chest. It will take a while for this new posture to feel normal. What you should feel is reduced tension in your neck and upper shoulder, while the muscles between your shoulder blades should be gently contracted. This too will feel unnatural for a while, as these muscles are unused to working for a living!

When you should seek advice

I believe in the old adage that prevention is better than cure. This information is designed to help you to maintain a pain free status. If you are already in pain or discomfort then you may need to seek treatment. Most people put up with pain for too long, in the belief it will go away. In reality, the longer you have had pain, the longer it will take to resolve. As a rough guide, if pain persists, worsens or recurs after 3 days then it is advisable to seek treatment, to prevent the condition from becoming chronic. Remember that pain killers treat the symptoms not the cause of pain. Persistent symptoms need to be investigated. Most muscular pain is easily remedied by remedial massage, but it is a good idea to speak to your doctor first.

How to Sharpen Your Memory in Terms of Studying

Today, studying is not just about reading through books and scanning your notes for possible answers to possible questions. Although each students have their own techniques on how to study, they usually end up on the wrong end of the stick and would rather study at the last hour before the exam. To correct such routine, these tips will help you study better.

Always study when you are at your sharpest time of the day. If you are a morning person then study in the morning when you wake up or at least have had your breakfast. If you are able to concentrate more during mid-day then do study during the mid-day.

In studying, there are certain aspects that need for you to get by. One such is comfort. Always choose the right chair and the right table. An uncomfortable chair will distract you from your learning process.

While you are busy jotting down notes for you to study, keep everything that is not connected to your studies away from the table. They will only distract you from studying and would most likely cause you to skip studying and straight to leisure.

The mind can only take so much information in a single hour so at the very least try to take some break every hour or two while studying. It will help get off some steam inside your skull making room for more information to store.

Always study at the same time and at the same place. Our body is used to having routines that once it is out of its elements, it will have to adjust again to accommodate the comfort levels of our body. If you keep on switching places to study, the body will have difficulty coping up with different environments taking your focus off from studying.

Recite items as you study to give you a better idea of what you are talking and studying about. Reciting what you have just learned makes the brain more familiar with the concept and more likely to permanently remember it. Sure you can jot down notes to help you remember but the best way for your brain to store information is when you verbalize it.

Always get enough sleep when you are at your studying period. The more you let your mind and body rest the more you will be able to accommodate more information and the sharper your mind will get if it gets enough rest.

Pregnancy Tips - Do's and Don'ts - The Don'ts

Help your spouse steer clear of these pregnancy no-nos to help keep her and the baby safe and healthy:

* Avoid fish with lots of mercury in her diet. Get correct information from your dietitian on what fish to eat and what fish to avoid when she is pregnant.

* Don't disregard food borne illness. Eat, cook, handle and clean food safely! According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, food borne illness can cause serious health problems - or even death for both mother and baby.

* Protect her from using chemicals. Products including herbicides, pesticides, paint, stains, and some cleaning solutions may be harmful to your baby. If she must use these things, make sure she wears gloves, a mask, and keeps the room well-ventilated.

* Don't let her clean or change a cat's litter box. This could put her at risk for an infection called toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite that cats can carry in their feces. Toxoplasmosis can harm a fetus.

* Don't let her take very hot baths, hot tubs, or saunas. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, high temperatures can be harmful to the fetus, or causing the mother-to-be to faint.

* Discourage her from using scented feminine hygiene products. Pregnant women should avoid scented sprays, sanitary napkins, and bubble bath. These products might irritate your spouse's vaginal area, and increase her risk of a urinary tract infection or yeast infection.

* Don't let her douche. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, douching can irritate the vagina, force air into the birth canal and increase the increase the risk of infection

* Avoid optional x-rays. X-rays are a form of radiation that is linked to a very small risk of cancer for an unborn baby. But x-rays are usually safe during pregnancy. So if your doctor says your spouse needs x-rays for a health problem you should follow her advice. But sometimes doctors can use other tests in place of x-rays. And other times, x-rays can wait until after the baby is born.

* Don't let her smoke tobacco. Tell your doctor if your spouse smokes. Quitting is hard, but she can do it. Ask your doctor for help. Smoking during pregnancy passes nicotine and cancer-causing drugs to your baby. Smoke also keeps your baby from getting needed nourishment and raises the risk of stillbirth and premature birth (a small baby born too early).

* Discourage her from drinking alcohol. Your spouse should stop drinking alcohol if she drinks it regularly. Experts are still unsure of the exact amount of alcohol needed to cause problems in your baby. But, both drinking every day and drinking a lot of alcohol once in a while during pregnancy can harm the baby.

* Don't let her use illegal drugs. Tell your doctor if your spouse is using drugs. Marijuana, cocaine, heroin, speed (amphetamines), barbiturates, and LSD are very dangerous for your spouse and the baby.

Health Insurance - Piece the Family Together by Breaking Up the Pieces

Buying health insurance as a family is like sitting around the coffee table putting a puzzle together. But instead of one possible outcome, the pieces can fit together to make an album of finished puzzle pictures. The strategy, however, is no different. The key to completing the puzzle is to find the corner pieces or flat-sided pieces so you can fill in the middle accordingly.

The corner pieces to your health insurance puzzle represent the make-up of your family. How many members are there and what is your budget? A Family Health Insurance plan can start with just two people. It is very common for a party of two or more to purchase a "Family" health insurance policy assuming their will be value-added benefits in terms of cost and coverage. In fact, the opposite is usually true. The overall benefits might be greater when you split the plan up if your family has three or less members.

Often times a family policy for two people can cost more in monthly premium than two separate policies combined. Plus, the deductibles and limits per person don't change. A family of three will be somewhat similar. A family can really start to save money on purchasing a plan together when there are four or more members because the monthly premium stays the same after three family members and the combined yearly deductible can decrease.

The flat-sided pieces to your puzzle represent the needs of each family member. Some health insurance plans are more appropriate for males and others are more appropriate for females. Plans that don't include maternity benefits can cost much less in monthly premium, often have low or NO deductibles, and can usually only be purchased by an individual. Some of these plans are even appropriate for women because they have an "escape clause" that allows the member to slide into a high-deductible maternity plan should she become pregnant.

How does your puzzle look now? It is time to fill in the middle and complete your puzzle. The final piece to this puzzle is your health insurance agent. Your puzzle's picture can change from year to year and your agent's job is to help you solve it.

By Erin Fish

Agent/President

EMF Insurance Agency, Inc.

erin@emfinsurance.com

www.EMFinsurance.com

EMF Insurance Blog

(866) 601-8790

Jasmine Oil and Its Properties

Jasmine essential oil is extracted from Jasminum grandiflorum and is also known as royal jasmine. It originated from China and northern India. Currently France, Italy, Morocco, Egypt, China, Japan and Turkey are producing the best essential oils. The name Jasmine is derived from the Persian word 'yasmin'. The Chinese, Arabians and Indians used it for medicinal, aphrodisiac and other ceremonial purposes.

The pure jasmine oil is extracted from the small white star-shaped flowers of this evergreen shrub using solvent extraction. The flowers are picked at night, when the aroma is most intense. Jasmine essential oil has a very sweet, exotic, rich floral fragrance and is harmonising, sensual and asserting.

There are well over 100 constituents found in jasmine oil, but the main chemical components are benzyl acetate, linalool, benzyl alcohol, indole, benzyl benzoate, cis-jasmone, geraniol, methyl anthranilate and trace amounts of p. cresol, farnesol, cis-3-hexenyl benzoate, eugenol, nerol, ceosol, benzoic acid, benzaldehyde, y-terpineol, nerolidol, isohytol, phytol, etc.

Anti-depressant, antiseptic, aphrodisiac, anti-spasmodic, cicatrisant, expectorant, galactagogue, parturient, sedative and uterine are the main therapeutic properties.

This wonderful oil is very relaxing and highly beneficial to the emotions. It can be used to balance hot, dry and very sensitive skin types. It is also highly valuable as it greatly helps in boosting confidence and self-esteem of doubtful people.

Jasmine essential oil is used in severe depression as it soothes the nerves, generating confidence and optimism, while revitalizing and restoring energy. It facilitates in childbirth, providing relief in delivery pain. It is also very effective in post-natal depression and promotes the flow of breast milk. Due to its deeply soothing and calming nature, jasmine oil also helps with sexual problems such as impotence, premature ejaculation and frigidity. It also has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system, by soothing irritating coughs, hoarseness and laryngitis. It is greatly helpful with muscle pain, sprains, and stiff limbs. Further it aids in dry, greasy, irritated and sensitive skin, stretch marks and scarring.

In short, although expensive, this 100% pure jasmine oil has an exquisite fragrance, deeply relaxes, lifts depression, boosts confidence and eases childbirth. It helps with sexual problems, sooths coughing and improves skin elasticity, reduces stretch marks and scars.

Jasmine oil is non-toxic, non-irritant and non-sensitizing. Due to its emmenagogue properties it should not be used in pregnancy. Excess usage of this oil could impede concentration, as it is deeply relaxing oil. It blends particularly well with Bergamot, Rose oil, Sandalwood oil and all Citrus oils.