Act On Tips

Drugs can control symptoms, but in severe cases or after a heart attack, surgery may be the only option. Some risk factors you can change and improve upon, but some you cannot. Therefore it is vital that you make all the possible changes to your lifestyle to reduce as many risk factors as possible.

Two of the biggest causes of death in the Western world are heart disease and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis clogs up the hearts arteries and is then known as coronary artery disease or heart disease. Heart disease may develop slowly and the first symptom may be a heart attack.

When one or both coronary arteries get blocked by deposits of atheroma, the tissue beyond that blockage no longer receive a healthy blood supply and results in the heart muscle dying due to oxygen starvation. The risk factors for heart disease are the same as those for atherosclerosis. In order to predict your risk factor your doctor will probably ask you questions about your state of health, your exercise routine, check your blood pressure and smoking habits. Some risk factors you can change and improve upon, but some you cannot. Therefore it is vital that you make all the possible changes to your lifestyle to reduce as many risk factors as possible.

The risk factors that you cannot change are: • Genetic inheritances - Heart disease can often run in families and seems to be more common in people originating/living in northern Europe. • Gender - Men under 65 years are more likely than women under 65 years to suffer heart disease. This may be as estrogen gives women protection until menopause, but after menopause they are as equally at risk as men. • Ethnicity - Certain ethnic groups have indicated a higher risk of suffering from heart disease. • Age - Heart disease is more common with increasing age. • Diabetes - Diabetics are more at risk of developing heart disease or suffering a stroke. Controlling glucose levels will lessen the risk, but it is especially important to control other risk factors too.

Risk factors that you can change are: • Smoking - Between 30 and 40 per cent of deaths from coronary artery disease can be linked to smoking, therefore the more you smoke, the higher the risk. With smoking there is no safe level, not even one cigarette a day. After giving up smoking, the risk factor of heart disease does significantly decrease, but it can take up to 20 years to reach the level of a nonsmoker. • High blood pressure - Managing your high blood pressure can reduce your level of risk, although it will always remain higher than someone with normal blood pressure. Hypertension increases your risk of heart disease. • High cholesterol levels - Doctors agree that there is a link between high levels of cholesterol in the blood and heart disease. • Obesity - Being overweight definitely affects the health of your heart and the risk of heart disease is three times more than a person of a healthy weight. • Inactivity - Participating in regular physical exercise will reduce the risk of developing heart disease quite dramatically.

In the early stages of heart disease there may be no symptoms, until the later stages. The first symptom in the later stages is usually chest pains or possible heart attack. Some people develop arrhythmia and suffer from dizziness and heart palpitations. Drugs can control symptoms, but in severe cases or after a heart attack, surgery may be the only option.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Heart Disease

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Very Precise Fortune Cookies By David Leonhardt

I cracked open the fortune cookie and read the little slip of
paper on the inside. Immediately I realized that it had been
written by a weather forecaster.

“You will be approached in the late afternoon by a pink
polka-dot octopus…”

It continued on the other side: “… and asked to provide
details of your application for a yellow cloud mulching permit.”

Two things struck me about this particular fortune. The first is
that they have come a long way in their ability to predict
exactly what will happen and when, just like weather
forecasters. This is undoubtedly due to recent technological
developments. Laser technology, for example. Nano technology.
Robotics. Bioengineering. And so many other specialized fields
have been developed to points of precision unimagined just a
generation ago.

And it’s not just the weather forecasters.

In London, Ontario, specialists are performing microscopic
cardiac surgery on patients miles away using a robot named CSTAR
(Can’t you just wait for new parents to start naming their
children after the famous surgeon, CSTAR?). This has opened up
the door to many benefits, such as sending robots to remote
locations without having to worry about a surgeon replacing the
wrong organs due to jet lag.

But the real benefit was revealed when one surgeon confided in
me: “You know the world is a better place when we don’t have to
scrub our hands before surgery anymore.”

I can call anybody in North America on the telephone and they
will answer in real time. Not only is this a better response
than I can give people face-to-face, but the telephone cables
direct my call to the exact person I want, saving the other 400
million telephone subscribers the inconvenience of having to
say, “Wrong number…again!” Just a few decades ago, Switchboard
Suzie was manually connecting everybody.

“Janice Land? No problem. I’ll connect you.” CLICK.

“No, wait. I wanted to speak to Janet Lam. Hello?”

My father can pinpoint the exact amount of blood sugar he packs
in his veins. Not very long ago, people could not care less how
much sugar was in their blood, as long as they had plenty of it
in their double-fudge sundaes.

Yes technology has come a long way, allowing us to send and
received very specific information in great detail and in great
volumes, allowing such thrilling 21st century innovations as
spam (I know, I know, the great spam innovators you admire most
did their heroic deeds in the 20th century, but you ain’t seen
nothing yet!)

Despite the volume of information I receive in my inbox, there
is one very disturbing element to all this extra free
information, which brings me back to the second thing that
struck me about my fortune cookie message.

It was wrong.

I waited all day for that pink polka-dot octopus to approach me,
and it never did. Just because modern technology can deliver
huge volumes of laser-detailed information, does not make that
information valuable or even accurate.

Which brings me back to the revelation that a weather forecaster
is now writing fortune cookies. Weather forecasts have become
increasingly more precise. For instance, I am told that today it
will hail in the town just east of here and be sunny in the town
just west of here.

Once upon a time, the forecast would be simply “Sun and hail
expected to pass through the region.” Less accurate and less
wrong. Just as useless, though.

Maybe we should hire CSTAR to make the fortune cookies. Surely
CSTAR would deliver fortunes that are not only precise but also
accurate, right? As a bonus, the pastry chefs won’t have to
scrub their hands before baking.

And I wouldn’t have to wait for a pink polka-dot octopus all
afternoon.

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They say that in life, there are just two types of people - vanilla lovers and chocolate addicts. This may be true but do you know that when it comes to credit cards, there are only two primary kinds that you’re going to be acquainted with? The rest are just, shall we say, sub-categories or sub-flavors (is there such a thing?) like _mocha, caramel and all other flavors that are similar to the taste of chocolate. And with credit cards, these are only the types that matter: reward credit cards and non-reward credit cards.

Today, we shall simply focus on one type and that’s going to be the reward credit card. As you can probably already guess from the name itself, credit cards of this class offer rewards to their users or owners. But how does this work?

The Reward System

Here’s the wonderful thing about reward credit cards - there’s no need for any forms to fill up, requirements to meet or all sorts of financial documents to submit in order to qualify for the rewards being given away by the credit card company. The moment you’re given your own credit card by the company, that’s it! You’re instantly and immediately qualified to earn and win rewards!

Now, if you’re wondering how you’re going to earn rewards, here’s how it goes. Every time you swipe that card for any purchase at all, you’re given a certain number of points. The quantity or value depends on your credit card company. It could be that for every five dollars you spend using your credit card, you earn one reward point.

These points must then be accumulated until you reach a specific number that’s being asked of you in order to win a particular product of your choice.

The Variety of Rewards

You may not have thought of asking this because of feeling overjoyed of the fact that all you have to do is use your credit card to earn reward points but have you wondered about the types of rewards or prizes being offered? What if all of the prizes are items that no one in his right mind would ever want to win? In that case, you were duped, plain and simple.

BUT luckily for you, that’s not how it goes. Truth be told, the rewards being offered by some credit card companies are so wonderful you get this urge to use your credit card every minute of the day, even when there’s no need. Credit card companies make sure that their rewards are varied enough to suit any type of user. Travelers may avail of the free gas or holiday packages while heavy spenders could win for themselves something as expensive as a brand new car!

Nice, isn’t it? And that, ladies and gentlemen, are the benefits of owning a reward credit card.

Michael Colucci is a technical writer for Low Interest Credit Cards - A site that offers credit cards with an intro rate of 0% for 12-15 months.

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An adjustable rate mortgage is called as ARM in short and it is a type of mortgage where the interest rate is linked with economic index, in this adjustable rate mortgage your payment and interest rate are adjusted accordingly when there is an ups and down in the changes of the index. An adjustable rate mortgage is just opposite to fixed rate mortgage and in this adjustable rate mortgage the monthly payment and interest rate may vary time to time. Adjustable rate mortgage are the right choice as the interest rate will be decreased whenever the interest rates goes down and when you are planned to have the home for a short period of time.

The important features of ARM are Index, Margin, Adjustable frequency, Initial interest rate and Interest rate caps. Lenders uses Index as a guide to measure the changes in interest rate. The index guides used by the lenders are 1,3 and 5-year treasury securities, but there are so many other index guides are also available. The lenders markup is the margin that would stand for the lenders cost for doing the business as well as the profit they will make out of the Adjustable rate mortgage, this margin will be added up to the index rate in order to arrive the total rate of interest and this remain the same for the entire lifetime of your loan.

Adjustable frequency is how often the rate of interest gets changed that is called as reset date. The adjustable frequency differs from one ARM to the other. The adjustable frequency gets changes every year normally, it can also be once in 5 years or it could change once in a month. It is better it changes less often as your financial risk gets lower as there will be change in the loan payment.

The initial interest rate is the rate of interest you would be paying until your first reset date, this will determine the initial payments of your loan and the lender may use this for qualifying you for the loan, normally the initial interest rate is less as your monthly payment will increases after the first reset date.

The interest rate caps will limit the amount that your monthly payment and rate of interest can increase, the most common caps includes initial adjustment caps, periodic adjustment caps, and lifetime caps

The questions would arise in your mind why should you go for ARM if the payments can go up, the answer is simple the initial interest rate in adjustable rate mortgage is lower compared to the fixed rate mortgage and will remain the same during the entire life term of the loan, this means lower interest rate is lower loan payment and this will in turn helps you to qualify for huge amount of loan.

David is the owner of Loan Lenders, and Finance Basics websites. David provides great resources for people seeking information regarding loans, mortgages and remortgages.

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Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re interested in the conversation, and it shows.

Most of us dislike putting on our “salesperson persona” when we make cold calls. We think it’s needed, however, because we’ve been trained to make the sale. And yet we’re interacting with a live, breathing person without having any real connection to him or her. It often feels fake, and it often is.

This artificial role puts a great stress on us, and sabotages our cold calling conversations. When we aren’t genuine, it’s a red flag to the other person that we have a sales agenda. This puts nearly everyone “on guard.” They’ve never met us and are wary of possibly being manipulated.

Have you ever noticed that most cold calls break down the moment we try to “move” things along towards a sale? It’s as if we’re getting ready for battle, and the tension pushes us along.

But the person we’ve called doesn’t know us. The momentum we’re trying to impose puts him or her in a defensive position. They’re protecting themselves from a potential “intruder” who might have a self-serving agenda.

So how can we to shift into something more positive? We begin by focusing on the relationship rather than salesmanship. We call with the anticipation of meeting someone new, and looking forward to a pleasant conversation to find out whether we can be of service. This mindset is subtle but powerfully felt by the other person.

Building relationships humanize our cold calling conversations — and ourselves. We are less artificial. Cold calling conversations become more natural. And people tend to respond with more warmth and interest.

The point is not to use the “technique of building relationship” to improve sales. That’s having a hidden agenda rather than a relationship. Our goal is to see if we can provide something that will benefit the other person. If it doesn’t, then we prefer not to continue interrupting their day. That’s a real relationship, even if brief.

When we’re being real people treating others as real people, the difference is amazing. Both people are both more at ease. We anticipate talking with someone who may possibly have an interest in what we have to offer. And if they don’t, we’ve enjoyed our time with him or her.

When others feel this relaxed mindset from you, they are much more likely to welcome you into their day. But if you rigidly follow a script or launch into a mini-presentation, then your call is immediately pegged as something initiated primarily for your own gain. And that puts most people into resistance.

Here are 8 keys to building relationships in cold calling:

*Focus on the other person’s needs rather than on securing a sale
*Surrender to the outcome of your cold call so you can connect with your potential client at a human level
*View the human connection as an exciting journey in which you encounter new and interesting people
*Speak graciously and naturally as you would with any new acquaintance
*Remember it’s about how you come across, not about how many people you call
*Allow the conversation to evolve naturally
*Invite both of you to decide together whether it’s worth your time to pursue the conversation further
*Use phrases that are non-aggressive yet very effective

So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus from salesmanship into a place of relationship. You’ll find that your genuine enjoyment of the conversation rubs off on the other person. They’ll be less defensive and more likely to share with you truthfully.

One of the best ways to build relationship is by using phrases that carry the human element very well. Start out by asking, “Hi, could you help me out for a minute?” The most common response will be, “Sure. What do you need?”

Your next question might be to ask whether they are open to the idea of looking at different ways to, for example, reduce their expenses. Most of the time the reply will be something like, “Well, sure, what kinds of expenses are you talking about?”

Now you are able to open the conversation between the two of you and build an initial relationship. It’s easy and comfortable to continue from there.

When you do this, you’ll experience so much success and satisfaction that it will really change the way you do business. And it will bring sales success beyond your imagination

With a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and over a decade of experience creating breakthrough sales strategies for global companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM, Ari Galper discovered the missing link that people who sell have been seeking for years.

His profound discovery of shifting one’s mindset to a place of complete integrity, based on new words and phrases grounded in sincerity, has earned him distinction as the world’s leading authority on how to build trust in the world of selling.

Leading companies such as Gateway, Clear Channel Communications, Brother International and Fidelity National Mortgage have called on Ari to keep them on the leading edge of sales performance. Visit http://www.unlockthegame.com to get his free sales training lessons.

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