So you're watching all the sporting events at the Summer Olympics and by now you're probably wondering, 'how are they dealing with injuries' or 'what do they do to help avoid injuries'. Well the truth is that there are a few things they work on as part of their regular regimens that help to protect them from injuries as much as possible. 

Sun exposure is not necessarily dangerous if you make the proper precautions, but the facts need to be clear on both the benefits of some exposure to the sun and the UV rays’ harmful effects. The most obvious and immediate danger of too much UV exposure is sunburn. By looking at sunburned skin under a microscope, the damage is clearly apparent. With repeated sun damage, the skin starts to look dry, wrinkled, and leathery.  However, the sun's most serious threat is the development of skin cancer, which has now become the most common of all cancers. The vast majority of dermatologists agree that most skin cancers can be avoided by preventing sun damage.

Many of us have been told repeatedly that we need sunlight for our bodies to make vitamin D, since vitamin D is not found naturally in most foods. However, many foods are now fortified with vitamin D during the manufacturing process, not to mention the availability of purchasing vitamin D supplements. Therefore, regular sun exposure is not as important for the body's vitamin D supply as it had previously been. But let’s face it, being outdoors makes us all feel good, and being outside is great for activity. It is not necessary to cut outdoors activities out in order to prevent damage from the sun – you can still protect yourself from the sun's damaging effects while enjoying being outdoors.

Staying out of the sun is obviously the best way to avoid sun damage, but it’s not practical. Most of us go outdoors regularly. Always take these precautions when going outdoors:

- Use sunscreen when out in the sun for more than 15 minutes. Make this a habit daily, if you think you may be out in the sun for longer than this amount of time. Also, make sure the SPF is high – at least 15 SPF. This is a good SPF rating if you’re wanting protection, but still want a tan. If you’re really sensitive to the sun or do not care for a tan, an SPF of at least 30 is needed. Make sure you re-apply every hour – it loses its effectiveness after this amount of time. Use the sweat and water resistant kinds if you’re likely to be sweating or will be out in the water.

- Try to avoid being out in the sun during the peak hours of the day of ultraviolet ray strength. This is usually between 12 pm and 3 pm.

- Cover your skin well when out in the sun. Wear long-sleeved shirts, a wide-brimmed hat, pants covering the legs, and cover up the skin as much as you can. This may not be so practical if it’s really hot outside, so refer back to sunscreen use if this is the case.

- Wear sunglasses that filter UV light. You can damage the retina in your eyes even if you’re not looking directly at the sun. Just the reflection or brightness from the sun can harm your eyes’ retina.

The warm Summer months are a great time to set aside your indoors fitness routine in exchange for creative outdoors activities. There are so many options for outdoors exercise – including hiking, biking, swimming, jogging, among many others. Also, gardening and other work outside while the weather is nice are great for keeping you active as well during this time of the year.  

It’s important to keep in mind that exercise does not necessarily need to be a consistent bout of 30 or 40 minutes of exhilarating activity. Recreational activities can also be great exercise as well. Bouts of activities throughout the day which raise your cardiovascular output for just 5 or 10 minutes will add up. Something is better than nothing. This time of the year provides many opportunities for such activities.

If you’re near a lake, you can take up canoeing for recreation. Canoeing is an invigorating way to enjoy the lake and the nature surrounding you. It’s also a great way to get or stay in shape. It’s a great total body workout, allowing you to work multiple muscle groups. While canoeing, you are working the shoulders, abdominals and obliques, and the back. Just remember to keep in mind that you need to work both sides of your body – If you’re rowing on one side for a while, be sure to also row on the opposite side of the canoe for the same amount of time to provide balance in your muscles worked. It’s not ideal to strengthen one side of your body more than the other.

Another way to get in some exercise while enjoying nature is hiking. Make a drive to the mountains and find a trail. This activity is good for the muscles of the hips, thighs, and legs – working the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles. If you’re going up a very mountainous or rocky terrain, pole hiking is a good idea. With pole hiking, you are adding in the upper body and core muscles as well – engaging the arms, shoulders, abdominals and obliques. This is another great total body workout. Just go at a pace you can handle. Take short breaks when you need to. You are engaging in interval training, getting in cardiorespiratory and resistance exercise, all while enjoying the great outdoors. Not a bad way to exercise.

Then there’s the beach. There are so many activities you can do here. Snorkeling is a great activity to get in some swimming exercise while enjoying the beautiful sea life and other colorful features underwater. While you may not be getting an intense cardio workout when snorkeling, you are engaging the lower body and back muscles while swimming with fins. It’s quite a pleasurable way to exercise during your vacation at the beach. 

If you aren’t really into being out in the water while at the beach, you can also play some beach volley ball, throw the frisbee, or pass the football with someone. These activities can get you winded rather quickly, providing great cardio exercise while having some fun.

Just walking on the sand at the beach is exercise, as it gives you added resistance that walking on a treadmill or on the street will not give. You are having to work the stability muscles in your ankles far more while walking on the sand than you would by walking on other surfaces. It’s also better on the knees, ankles, and hips, since the sand has plenty of give to it – you get practically no give from concrete.

Just remember while engaging in activities outdoors this Summer to stay hydrated. The heat can be dangerous, particularly if not taking in a sufficient amount of fluids and electrolytes. Keep water on hand wherever you go when you think you’ll be outdoors for more than 30 minutes in temperatures above 80 degrees, particularly if you are going to be active during your time outside in the heat.

Sleep is critical to your health and well-being. Getting sufficient quality sleep can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and even your safety. The way you feel while you're awake depends largely on how well you’re sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development. The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant (such as a car crash or other major accident due to lack of focus), or it can harm you over time. For example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. Sleep deprivation will affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.

Sufficient sleep helps enhance your learning and problem-solving skills by allowing you to be more attentive,  which in turn helps you to make decisions more neffectively, and helps with your creativity. For children and teens, the lack of sleep has a major impact on their learning and cognitive development. Deficiency in sleep alters activity in some parts of the brain. Its common to have trouble making decisions, solving problems, and controlling emotions with lack of sleep. Sleep deficiency over time leads to heightened chances of one developing or suffering from depression, suicide, and risky behaviors.

Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. It is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Overtime, the lack of quality sleep could lead to heart disease, kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, and stroke. Sleep also helps your body maintain a healthy balance of the hormones that cause the feelings of hunger (ghrelin) and satiety (leptin). Without sufficient sleep, the body's levels of the ghrelin hormone goes up, while leptin decreases. Therefore, lack of sleep will in thiw way make you more likely to eat more than normal. Your body's reactions to insulin, which controls your blood sugar level, will be affected with lack of sleep as well. Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, leading to an increased risk for diabetes.

Sleep can affect so many aspects of your health and well-being. Your physical, mental, emotional, and psychological health are all directly related to the amount and quality of the sleep you give yourself every night. So make sure you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Your body will thank you.

I hope you are aware that we are only on this beautiful earth for a certain window of time. Life simply will not last forever. But this fact should not sadden you. What you need to focus on is what you can control. The quality of your days on this earth is something you certainly can be the driver of.

With that said, you must learn how to make your life full of, well, life. You cannot do this by wishing away and dreaming. Now, having hopes and dreams is a very good thing, but without action, those hopes and dreams will never come to surface. Let’s look at some of the best ways you can enrich your life:

Setting goals. Write them down, keep them in a place such as a journal or on a sheet of paper and stick it to your refrigerator to keep as reminder for yourself of these goals. Set goals by month, year, 5-year, and 10-year periods. Carefully consider what all it is you want to achieve for each of these periods, and be sure to look back and see if you actually made the progress you wanted. This list will no doubt evolve and change often as time goes on and life changes happen, and you likely won’t reach every one of your goals, but writing your goals down will make it more likely that you will achieve them.

Avoid jealousy. Jealousy is a destructive emotion. It is also a good sign that you’re not living your life to the fullest. People who feel fulfilled in their lives will typically celebrate other people’s success. People who aren’t fulfilled will fill their emotional void with negative emotions.

Stop complaining. If you’re not happy with something in your life, you can complain about it, or you can actively work to change it. The former is destructive and unproductive, while the latter can get you headed in the right direction.

Take good care of your body. This is the shell you will remain in all of your life, after all. Eat a healthy diet, get a sufficient amount of sleep each night, and exercise regularly.

Take good care of your mind. Avoid feeding it with junk. A little downtime is okay, but don’t dedicate much time to watching reality television, reading gossip blogs, checking sports scores, and wasting valuable time on other stuff that requires little mental energy. Even the news can be a negative source of energy for your brain, with its constant bombardment of negativity and biased content. These things are all a waste of time—while you could instead address your mind to the attention of mentally stimulating activities, such as reading non-fiction educational books, attending social events, or learning a new language. Keeping your attention on mind-stimulating activities will allow you to improve in various aspects through much better use of your time.

Live consciously. It is far too easy to get stuck into ruts and routines that you just get used to every day, but remember—you only have a limited number of days on this earth. Don’t put your life on auto-pilot. Each day, you should ask yourself this question: Why am I doing this? If you wake up too many mornings in a row without a good answer, then it’s time for you to make a change.

It’s true—what you eat can affect your immune system. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet will not only help your body, it'll help your immunity as well. Your food choices actually have a major impact on the strength of your immune system. If you eat a variety of healthy foods, rich in fruits and vegetables, lean sources of protein, whole grains, and healthy fats, you will be in great physical shape, and will have a robust immune system as well.

There are some nutrients that are particularly important for your immune system. These include antioxidants, like vitamins A, C, and E, as well as minerals like zinc and selenium. Vitamin A is found in sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin—several orange-colored foods. It's also found in dark green, leafy vegetables like spinach and kale. Vitamin C is found in many fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits. Vitamin E is abundant in nuts, especially almonds. Selenium is abundant in brazil nuts, as well as a variety of fish and seafood, and various types of grains. Zinc is found in abundance in oysters, as well as various types of lean meats and seafood.

While food is always best, if you think your diet isn’t well balanced, you can choose a vitamin supplement or a daily multivitamin to help fill in the gaps in your diet. Just be careful not to depend on your multivitamin supplement too much—nothing can replace the consumption of foods containing these important vitamins and minerals. The reason for this is that the nutrients within natural food items are combined with several other nutrients and phytochemicals that work together in a way that cannot be replicated. If you’re eating fast food or junk food, but taking a multivitamin to get your recommended daily allowance of all the needed micro-nutrients, be aware that your body will not utilize the nutrients in the same fashion as it would with foods that contain them.

Probiotics are also important. These are actually healthy bacteria that are found in the digestive system and are critical for immune system function. These are found in abundance in yogurt with live active cultures. Other foods with probiotics are fermented foods like miso soup and sauerkraut.

As for foods to avoid if you want a strong immune system, you first need to avoid a diet with lots of sugar. Sugar can negatively impact the immune system function, so limit desserts and candy to a minimum. Also, alcohol should be limited as well. Too much alcohol can deplete your body of certain nutrients. Alcohol is a sugar, so too much alcohol will act like too much sugar and therefore will negatively affect your immune function. Being overweight is also bad for your immune system, as an excess of body fat releases inflammatory chemicals that affect your entire body, including your immune system.

We all deal with some amount of stress in our lives. While not all stressors that you have from day to day may be detrimental to your well-being, there exists a chemical effect which can negatively impact your body. This chemical reaction within your body’s tissues is known as free-radical oxidation – and it can ultimately be hazardous to your health if you don’t work to control it.

Fortunately, there’s an abundance of food sources within reach that help fight such oxidation. Most important of which is those foods containing a high content of anti-oxidants, such as vitamins and minerals. While it is true that you could take a multi-vitamin and consume all the daily recommended dosage of the majority of vitamins and nutrients, it’s just not the same.  It is very important that they are from actual food sources, as the foods we eat containing high amounts of micro-nutrients have certain ratios and combinations that the body needs in order to utilize them effectively.

Aside from eating foods with nutrients that fight oxidation, there are other important components to fighting stress with the foods you consume. One is eating to maintain a steady level of blood sugar. High sugar foods that spike your insulin level causes stress within the body. There are many foods that also help increase the production and release of chemicals in the body that can help to reduce stress. And there are foods containing nutrients that work as natural anti-inflammatories for the body, as inflammation is a by-product of stress.

The most anti-oxidant rich food items by density is undoubtedly those of the green leafy vegetable category. Spinach, kale, collards – all are super foods that are jam-packed with oxidation-fighting micronutrients. What’s more, such greens contain folate – which produces dopamine, a pleasure-inducing brain chemical.

Another power-packed food that is high in anti-oxidants is the blueberry. The high content of antioxidants and phytonutrients found in blueberries help improve your body's response to stress and fight stress-related free radicals.

When you’re stressed, you in effect increase your body’s levels of anxiety hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.  These hormones can result in inflammation and potentially damaging effects over time. Salmon, an excellent food source of omega-3 fatty acids, is great for this. The Omega 3s you get in salmon have anti-inflammatory properties that may help counteract the negative effects of stress hormones.

Fruits and vegetables are of prime importance in a person's diet, as they contribute a plethora of benefits due to their nutrients and other food components. These antioxidant-rich foods are necessary in fighting off oxidation that results from pathogens, stresses, and other damaging agents that wreak havoc on your body when your immune system becomes compromised. Although you can replace some of the vitamins and minerals with supplements, no dietary supplement can substitute for all of the compounds found in fruits and vegetables, nor can they assume the potential nutrient interactions found in those foods that contribute to their healthful effects. Not including these foods as part of a well-balanced diet can result in significant health consequences.

Avoiding fruits and vegetables can lead to a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Many fruits and veggies contain B-vitamins that help derive energy from food, vitamin C that assists in wound healing, vitamin A for healthy skin and eyes, and vitamin K that helps support blood clotting. Minerals in many fruits and vegetables include calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium, which contribute to skeletal, nerve, and cardiovascular health. Avoiding these foods can impact any of these functions.

Balancing potassium and sodium in your diet is a prime factor in managing your cardiovascular health. Many of us in today's society consume too much sodium and too little potassium in our diets. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in potassium and naturally low in sodium, can help restore the balance of these minerals. Not eating these foods may increase your risk of high blood pressure or stroke.

Controlling your weight is another great benefit to consuming fruits and vegetables daily. Most fruits and vegetables have a relatively low energy density, meaning they offer few calories per unit of weight. Because of this, these food items provide bulk to your diet but don’t overload you with calories. Additionally, their water and fiber content helps you feel full and can prevent you from overeating. This is quite beneficial if you are trying to lose weight. Excluding fruits and vegetables in favor of foods with a high energy density, such as cheese, fatty meat, or dessert items, can hinder your efforts to maintain a healthy body weight.

Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States, for both men and women. Over one-third of Americans have two or more risk factors for developing heart disease. These risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. While it is true that some people have a genetic predisposition for heart disease, people can take simple steps in changing parts of their lives to the betterment of their health and to ultimately prevent this silent killer disease.

Here are some of the ways in which you can prevent heart disease:

1. Cut out as much stress in your life as you can. Recognize what is stressing you out, compartmentalize this stress, and find activities that de-stress you, such as exercise, yoga, or meditation.

2. Eat clean. Don't go for the quick fix to your hunger pangs by heading to the nearest fast food joint. Instead of having a greasy, preservative-loaded burger, go for fruits, vegetables, and lean protein foods such as fish, nuts, or tofu.

3. Get leaner. If you're overweight, your heart is having to work harder than it should. Cut your weight down to the appropriate number

4. If you smoke, then quit. Smoking is as damaging to your heart as it is to your lungs.

5. Exercise for fun, not just because you feel like you have to. You are more likely to be active if the activity you choose to do is fun to you. So if playing tennis sounds more fun to you than hopping onto the treadmill, get involved with a tennis club.

Remember to consult your doctor. Make sure you don't miss your annual wellness exam each year. Inform your doctor of any concerns you may have regarding your heart, and ask for his or her advice on preventative measures. Your doctor can help you focus on developing healthy habits for heart disease prevention like the five strategies we've listed above. Your doctor can also help you figure out if your family's medical history puts you at higher risk and may also let you know if there's anything else you should or should not be doing to keep the chances of developing heart disease at bay.