Have you been thinking about acquiring a memory foam mattress or a memory foam topper or pad? You must have seen hundreds of persuasive adverts this year on memory foam products.

The fact of the matter is that memory foam is a first rate product that has been around for forty years and the simple reason why you have the opportunity to purchase some now, is because the cost has fallen greatly over the last two or three years.

Forty years ago there was just one company producing this revolutionary new foam which was a spin-off of the NASA space programme and production costs were horrific, but these days production costs have dropped and many more businesses produce memory foam and the competition has lowered the cost too.

Memory foam has always been a godsend to sufferers of bad backs, arthritis, allergies and sensitive skin, because as it wraps itself around your body it increases the surface area by which your body is supported and increased surface area means less pressure.

The cell structure of memory foam allows you to adjust its temperature very easily because it draws in the surrounding air. In regular foam, the bubbles are permanently sealed so your body heats up the air trapped within and it remains hot because it can not escape.

However, the bubbles of air in memory foam are not entirely sealed, so as you move about, air is passed from one bubble to another. This means that some air is squeezed outside the mattress and more air is sucked in. Therefore, you can control the temperature of the mattress by regulating the temperature of the air in the room.

The first maker of memory foam mattresses thirty years ago was Tempurpedic and they are still often perceived as the brand leaders because they have the most experience making mattresses from memory foam, but they are also the most costly.

Other manufacturers are Sealy, which is no new-comer to the world of mattresses, being the largest manufacturer of mattresses in the world. Serta is also in there.

There are two basic kinds of memory foam: high density and low density and both of them have different properties. High density reacts more to weight and low density reacts more to heat, so when you go shopping for a memory foam mattress, you will have to understand what these terms mean. Some manufacturers have put layers of either sort in order to try to gain advantage from every feature.

There is no doubt that memory foam mattresses have come down in cost a lot recently and they will probably continue to fall in price, but if you want to dip your toe in to find out more, you could get a decent memory foam topper or pad to put over your existing mattress. That option costs less than a hundred dollars. Look on eBay or Amazon.

Only one last piece of advice on this wonderful new foam, if you decide to get a memory foam topper instead of a memory foam mattress, do not purchase anything that is less than two or three inches thick..

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with the pillow top mattress pads. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Egg Crate Mattress Pad For Sale.

Posted under Allergies

Medicinal mushrooms have been immensely popular in Asia for millennia. Today, Americans are waking up to these powerful nutraceuticals. In the wake of this new awareness follow issues of product quality claims made by competing brands.

All species of medicinal mushrooms appear haunted by this issue. Particularly so, it seems, is red reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), the oldest medicinal mushroom in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Please note, however, that the information in this article applies generally to all medicinal mushroom species.

First off, stay clear of cheap, mass-produced medicinal mushrooms. If they are just dried and pulverized, then the medicinal compounds are still inaccessible behind the mushrooms' cell-walls. You'll be wasting your money on inert matter.

There are many real therapeutic brands on the market, though. But even among them, there are significant differences. They all claim to be the best, naturally, because they all want to sell their particular brand. So let's sift the data, get the facts straight, and clear up misleading information that is out there.

Following are the three primary ways of creating reishi extracts. Each method yields different medicinal compounds, all of which are shown in scientific studies to have important properties.

1. Hot Water Extraction (polysaccharides, etc.)

2. Alcohol/Ethanol Extraction (triterpenoids, etc.)

3. Fermenting (arabinoxylanes, etc.)

The water soluble compounds, primarily polysaccharides, are powerful anti-tumor agents, immune enhancers and strong antioxidants. [1]

Through alcohol extraction, we get triterpenoids, a large group of lipids with many sub-groups. Research shows triterpenoids help regulate clotting, blood pressure and cholesterol. More importantly, they are the anti-inflammatory compounds that are the reason why reishi often gets recommended for arthritis, asthma and allergies. [1]

Finally, by fermenting the red reishi, the original medicinal compounds break down to form new compounds with unique healing properties. These "secondary metabolites" have among other things been shown to be immune enhancing and help regulate blood sugar, as well as having unique anti-tumor properties. [2]

This article is intended to give general guidelines to help you choose an effective reishi product, not to recommend any particular brand. But there are at least two reishi companies on the market which both state only hot water extract is useful while alcohol extracts are of no value.

Naturally, the reason they say so is because they want to sell their own brand. However, those statements are scientifically untrue. Hot water and alcohol extractions both contain critical compounds.

To find the best red reishi products, look for those brands that use at least the first two extraction methods in combination: Hot Water Extraction and Alcohol Extraction. Better yet would be brands that incorporate all three extraction methods, including Fermentation.

As a last point, when you look for the best reishi extract, one thing to look at is the form it comes in. For example, any reishi extract that fully dissolves in a water-based liquid such as coffee probably only contains hot water extracted reishi. So while reishi/ganoderma coffee certainly makes for a superbly delicious and healthy cup loaded with polysaccharides, it won't include the important anti-inflammatory triterpenoids.

On the other hand, alcohol tinctures can actually contain both water soluble polysaccharides and alcohol soluble triterpenoids. The way you know is that the polysaccharides will fall out of solution because of the alcohol, and will make the tincture cloudy. That's alright though; you just need to shake before you take. Capsules and tablets may be one or the other or both. The only way to know is ask the manufacturer or read their information.

[1] Boh B, Berovic M, Zhang J, Zhi-Bin L, 2007. "Ganoderma lucidum and its pharmaceutically active compounds." Biotechnology Annu Rev 13:265-301.

[2] Tang YJ, Zhang W, Zhong JJ. "Performance analyses of a pH-shift and DOT-shift integrated fed-batch fermentation process for the production of ganoderic acid and Ganoderma polysaccharides by medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum." Bioresour Technol. 2009 Mar;100(5):1852-9.

Dr. Rafael has worked with natural health since the 1990's, recently focusing on medicinal mushrooms. He partners with Davida Sara on premium reishi extract and cordyceps extract plus the newly popular mesima mushroom and more.

categories: herbs,herbal,supplements,wellness,nutrition,medicine,allergy,arthritis,asthma,diabetes,blood pressure,cancer,disease,self help

Posted under Allergies