rhinopotamus.com

apple ipod
Sudoku Puzzles are brain teasers that have also been called wordless crossword puzzles. Sudoku Puzzles are often solved through lateral thinking and have been making a large impact all across the world.

Also known as Number Place, Sudoku puzzles are actually logicbased placement puzzles. The object of the game is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell that is found on a 9 x 9 grid which is sundivided into 3 x 3 subgrids or regions. Several digits are often given in some cells. These are referred as givens. Ideally, at the end of the game, every row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral from 1 through 9. Patience and logic are two qualities needed in order to complete the game.

Number puzzles very much similar to the Sudoku Puzzles have already been in existence and have found publication in many newspapers for over a century now. For instance, Le Siecle, a daily newspaper based in France, featured, as early as 1892, a 9×9 grid with 3×3 subsquares, but used only doubledigit numbers instead of the current 19. Another French newspaper, La France, created a puzzle in 1895 that utilized the numbers 19 but had no 3×3 subsquares, but the solution does carry 19 in each of the 3 x 3 areas where the subsquares would be. These puzzles were regular features in several other newspapers, including L’Echo de Paris for about a decade, but it unfortunately disappeared with the advent of the first world war.

Howard Garns, a 74yearold retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor, was considered the designer of the modern Sudoku Puzzles. His design was first published in 1979 in New York by Dell, through its magazine Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games under the heading Number Place. Garns’ creation was most likely inspired by the Latin square invention of Leonhard Euler, with a few modifications, basically, with the addition of a regional restriction and the presentation of the game as a puzzle, providing a partiallycomplete grid and requiring the solver to fill in the empty cells.

Sudoku Puzzles were then taken to Japan by the puzzle publishing company Nikoli. It introduced the game in its paper Monthly Nikoli sometime in April 1984. Nikoli president Maki Kaji gave it the name Sudoku, a name that the company holds trademark rights over other Japanese publications which featured the puzzle have to settle for alternative names.

In 1989, Sudoku Puzzles entered the video games arena when it was published as DigitHunt on the Commodore 64. It was introduced by LoadstarSoftdisk Publishing. Since then, other computerized versions of the Sudoku Puzzles have been developed. For instance, Yoshimitsu Kanai made several computerized puzzle generator of the game under the name Single Number for the Apple Macintosh in 1995 both in English and in Japanese language for the Palm (PDA) in 1996 and for Mac OS X in 2005.

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psp games
PsP handhelds is the best and most fun ways to play games, watch movies and listen to music. PsP movies are just some things that you can do on your psp besides just games. PsP movies are fun and easy to download.

There are many places on the net were one can find psp movies to download. Some sites have you pay per song or movie basis and sometimes charge up to a couple dollars for each download. Other sites require a membership and a monthly fee were user share files. This method sometimes can be frustrating when you are in the middle of a download and the user signs off before the download is complete.

I prefer to use sites that have a onetime membership for psp music, psp movies, psp games and psp software downloads. The best sites have their databases jammed pack with over a million songs, movies, games, and software available for downloading. Some of these sites have no limit to the amount of downloads you do per day.

There are some sites were the database does not have quality psp movies and psp music downloads and they might be very slow to download. I have placed a link at the top of this site for a one that has quality psp movies, psp music, psp games and software downloads. You may want to check it out.

Once you have downloaded some psp movies, psp music and games you can take them anywhere you go. This is great when you have places to go or have long travel times to get somewhere. It really helps to pass the time away, while your having fun either listening to psp music or watching a psp movie or just playing a new game. There are so many games available you should never run out of games to play music to listen to and movies to watch.

Make sure that what ever site you choose either comes with a money back guarantee in case your not satisfied with their database of music songs, movies, games and software. I have been using the above site for over three months and never had the need to ask for my money back. I now have so many psp movies, psp music and games downloaded that I often find it hard to decide which game to play, song to listen to, or movie to watch. If you’re wise and make the right choice you will be having fun all day long with your psp.
The best site I have used is psp blender. You can find a link at the top of my site if you would like to check it out. Come back and visit to check for new reviews and tips for getting psp movies.

Please visit some of my other sites a href”httppspmovies.freeinforeview.com” title”PsP Movies”PsP Moviesa and a href”httppspmoviedownloads.freeinforeview.com” title”PsP Movie Downloads”PsP Movie Downloadsa

apple ipod

x box 360
When you watch live action on movie screens, you get excited. Combined with sound effects the action can be a real thrill. Some actions that we watch takes the breath away. How about Action games on computers?

Some of the makers of action games make great animations and may include a story line. Stories always attract us. Tell a story and everybody will listen. The action games on computers use this very well to produce games that can take your breath away thinking of the imagination and artistry applied by the maker.

Adventures, space fights, planes colliding in mid air, think of any action and you will find it used in a game. Most of these games are free online. Action games give great thrill and despite called for teenagers they are for the family to enjoy them together. Action games test the response of the player and sharpen the judgment. Such games are not pure fun. They can help as training tools if used properly.

Other free online games that are currently becoming very popular are Arcade Games, Board Games, Card Games, Casino Games, Strategy Games, Sports Games, Shooting Games and, Puzzle Games. Most of the online games are free. Look for a good website and play the games. They are a fabulous way of enjoyment. As I said in the heading these games can become addictive. Take small doses and life will be a joy.

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Copyright 2006 strengthtrainingwoman.com

Seems like an odd question for a personal trainer to ask her clients, but I do. I have a theory that not every one is willing or able to accept that the sole outcome of their fitness and nutrition program is based on personal responsibility. There are a few circumstances in which an individual has no control over their weight gain or weight loss, but for the majority of us our results can be expressed by our resolve.

A few things prompted me to write this little article about personal responsibility. One is a television show that I watched last night. Other reasons include a few emails I received this past week and a personal friends comments to me. Each of these situations taught me something rather interesting. Something I already knew, but didn’t quite think about until now.

There is a race to melt fat, tone up, slim down, and feel great about your body before the summer hits. Have you noticed an increase in diet pill commercials lately? What about exercise gadget infomercials or new diet books? The dreaded warm weather means many of us are about to bare skin that we’d rather keep hidden.

In this frenzy to shed the weight I have been receiving a bombardment of emails from folks looking for a magic solution. They are convinced I know something they do not. A few emails this past week blew me away. One of them accused personal trainers of knowing the secret to weight loss, but thought they refused to tell anyone the answer so they wouldn’t lose clients. Another email practically begged me to spill my guts about my training program because the person thought I had a superduper program that only personal trainers use.

Admittedly I got a bit upset at first. I mean do people actually think personal trainers know the secret to fat loss, but are unwilling to share it with others? Nonsense. We share it with folks all the time. Its all about eating well and enough and being active out often. And just for the record my nutrition and exercise routine are the exact same routines I talk about on my site and in my ebook. I actually follow my own advice!

Two other things worth mentioning happened to me within the past week as well. I watched a television show about changing your family lifestyle. The point is to become active and eat healthy so that children grow up healthy. I loved the idea behind the show and that is why I watched. About half way through this particular episode I was in shock.

The children, aged 8 and 10, were actually eating better and becoming more active. They were following the rules the nutritionist had set for them. They were healthier and happier. Guess who was unwilling to change? Mom! She sat out on her front porch swing, smoking a cigarette, and talking to the camera about how this show was supposed to be for and about her children and not her. Therefore she should be able to eat when and what she wants.

Lastly I had a friend approach me and tell me how lucky I was to be fit. She went on to talk about how she wishes she could go kayaking and hiking as much as I did. She talked about how I am so lucky to work in the fitness industry and what a coincidence it was that I enjoyed my job. She went as far as to say she wishes she could have some of my luck.

Between those few emails, the television show and my friends comments it became abundantly clear that many people lack personal responsibility. Each scenario boiled down to one basic tenet only you are responsible for you. No one can make you lose fat. Not even me! I cannot force you to stick to an exercise program. I cannot demand you kayak more or love your job. I wish I could, but I cannot.

Only you can make changes in your life. You are the only person who can create a happy, healthy, vibrant, loving and thriving life. I can provide the tools and motivation, but you are the master of your destiny. You are the sole force that determines how successful you will be in your life. Ask yourself these questions

Do you love waking up in the morning because you are excited about your day?

Are you truly happy with your body?

Are you thrilled with your personality?

Do you really believe that you are in control of your life?

Do you acknowledge that your thoughts are not enough? Action is key.

I help many people find a path to joy through living healthy and fit lives. I can beyond a shadow of a doubt proclaim that once you push aside the excuses, once you really step up to the plate, you will hit a home run. There will be hard times, but with the proper tools, motivation and goals you can and will overcome them.

Personal responsibility is the main success factor in fat loss. It is not luck that I find time to hike and kayak. It is not coincidence that I love my job. We all have 24 hours in a day. How we decid to spend that time really determines our lifes outcome. Watching 4 hours of television each night is not conducive to you if your goal is fat loss. Its all about personal responsibility and doing what you know is right for you. So I ask, are you responsible enough to lose fat?

Out Plans For Weight Loss

ipod touch 8gb
Is your PC slowing down? Or maybe it crashing more and more, Well if that’s the case it just might because your PC is suffering old age! Yes that’s right just like people PCs suffer from the aging process too.

But there’s good news

But unlike people you can actually turn back the aging process and bring your beloved PC back to life. All it takes is a couple of easy to follow tips to ignite your PC’s performance to full speed again.

Just follow these easy to follow steps

System configuration utility
Even when your computer’s sat there doing nothing it could be running at least 50 programs! These are programs that a munching away at your poor old CPU and not to mention having a right good go at your memory as well. The reason for this is because over time the more stuff you install the more crap that builds up and even if you don’t even use that program, there’s a damn good chance that it’s running in the background.

To see what I mean hit CTRL ALT DELETE then press the processes tab. It will show you how many processes that are running in the background.

1. To solve this little dilemma just go the Start or Run for XP owners, and type MSCONFIG.

2. The System configuration will appear and from in there go to the STARTUP tab.

3. Once you’ve selected the STARTUP tab you’ll be presented all the programs that are running in the background of your PC. What I would recommend is turning everything off apart from your anti virus.

If you do see anything what you do want on for example MSN massager by all means keep it on but the more you have running in the background the more it’ll sap your PC’s performance and will also affect you’re your Boot times as well.

System configuration utility part 2
Now still hanging around in the System Configuration Utility, go to the second tab called SERVICES and go to and untick the HIDE ALL MICROSOFT SERVICES. We’ve got to do this (unless you’re a bit more experienced) because if you go and turn one of Microsoft’s services you could just mess your entire PC up and we don’t want that do we.

Once you’ve unticked the box you should be just left with all the non Microsoft services.

once again I would recommend to turn them all off but the anti viruses services. Once you’ve decided what and what not gets the chop click apply and you’re done.

Performance Options
Depending on which OS (operating system) your using, this could make or brake it. If your using Windows Vista? I would recommend turning some the visual effects of especially on the lower end systems. However if your using XP, the performance will be less impressive but I believe every ounce of performance is crucial. Besides, you won’t even notice half of these switched of anyway.

Now as much as I would love to tell you how to get to these options, the ways to get there are very different when compared to Vista and XP. So a way around this (and probably a cop out as well) I’ll just tell the vista owners to type in PERFORMANCE into the search bar, select PERFORMANCE INFORMATION AND TOOLS and click ADJUST VISUAL EFFECTS and you’ll find your way there.

For XP owners read on

1. Go to Start, Control Panel and select PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCE.

2. Then ADJUST VISUAL EFFECTS you should find yourself there.

Now I would recommend turning them all off barring the last one. The last one keeps the modern Windows feel which I personally like but hay, everyone’s different.

Uninstalling
A fast Hardrive is a empty hardrive. So if you’ve got an hardrive full to the brim, delete the programs and games you don’t need to speed up your Hardrive and watch those boot times fly!

Tip If you’re a gamer (like me) What you can do is save the save game file and uninstall the full game. This way you can get the wanted gigs of space back but not lose your place on Crysis. Cool eh.

Defragging
Now there’s hundreds of other tips I wanted to share with you but I wanted to keep this article as short as possible to prevent you been bord to death. but the ver last thing I would do to my PC once I finish optimizing it is to defrag it.

Now your probably thinking that yes I already know that James. But what I would recommend doing is using a different defragger especially if your using the dreaded Vista defragged.

Now as you’ve probably gathered, I can’t stand Vista’s defragger, I think it’s actually a step backwards, not a step forward. But what really annoys me about it is that you have no idea how long it will takes and how defragmented your hardrive is.

But don’t worry, because I’m going to show you to download a much better one that Vista’s own shoddy attempt. Auslogics Disk defragger is its name and I think you’ll find it quick and easy to use and it seems to do quite a good job as well.

And another thing.. It’s completely free to download as well. Just Google “Auslogics Disk defragger” and you should find it in no time.

x box 360

wii system
Most people understand the rules for Freecell, but not everyone understands Freecell PowerMoves. Understanding PowerMoves is one of the most important keys to winning Freecell, and knowing how they work will increase your chances of winning Freecell.

A Freecell powermove (also called a supermove), is simply a shortcut move. It lets you move a sequence of cards in one move, instead of doing lots of individual moves.

It isn’t a special move though.

It’s just a shortcut, to move all the cards in the sequence in one move, rather than several moves using the available freecells and empty columns.

The number of cards you can move in a supermove sequence is based on how many freecells and empty columns are available. Some freecells games implement this incorrectly, and let you move any number of cards in a sequence.

But this is wrong. If you couldn’t move the sequence using individual card moves, then you can’t move the sequence using a powermove either.

A freecell supermove uses the empty columns and freecells as efficiently as possible, to ensure you can move the maximum number of cards. To work out how many cards can be moved, the following formula is used

(1 number of empty freecells) 2 (number of empty columns)

This is easier to understand by looking at the following chart…

A Empty Columns
B Empty Freecells
C Card Sequence Length

A B C
0 0 1
0 1 2
0 2 3
0 3 4
0 4 5
1 0 2
1 1 4
1 2 6
1 3 8
1 4 10
2 0 4
2 1 8
2 2 12
2 3 16
2 4 20

This assumes you are moving the sequence to a nonempty column. If you are moving into an empty column, then the column you are moving into does not count as empty column.

A freecell powermove can always be broken down into several individual moves. Suppose you have 1 empty column, and 1 empty freecell. From the chart above you can see that we can move a sequence of 4 cards. Suppose we want to move 9,8,7,6 sequence onto a 10.

The moves would proceed as follows
Move the 6 to the freecell (Now one empty column, no empty freecells)
Move the 7 to the empty column (Now no empty columns, and no empty freecells)
Move the 6 onto the 7 (Now no empty columns, and one empty freecell)
Move the 8 to the freecell (Now no empty columns, and no empty freecells)
Move the 9 onto the 10 (Now no empty columns, and no empty freecells)
Move the 8 onto the 9 (Now no empty columns, and one empty freecell)
Move the 6 to the freecell (Now no empty column, no empty freecells)
Move the 7 onto the 8 (Now one empty column, and no empty freecell)
Move the 6 onto the 7 (Now one empty column, and one empty freecell)

So in this example, the powermove has saved us time by allowing us to do 1 move instead of 9.

There are a few things to notice in this example
The freecells and empty columns are used temporarily. At the end of the powermove, the number of empty freecells and columns is the same as at the start of the powermove.
The freecells and empty columns are used as efficiently as possible. There is no way that any more cards could have been moved.
Only the empty freecells and empty columns were used. Cards in other stacks were NOT used as temporary storage spaces.

This last point is particularly noteworthy. A supermove will only use the freecells and empty columns. It doesn’t account for any other cards in the tableau. This means you can often move a longer sequence by breaking doing the moves yourself, or doing several powermoves.

In the example above, if there had been a spare 9 in the tableau with the right color, a much longer sequence could have been moved. The 8,7,6 sequence would be moved onto the other 9 first. Then we could move another 4 cards using a normal powermove (Because we still have an empty column and freecell). So we could now move 9,10,J,Q onto a King, and then move the 8,7,6 onto the 9 again. So by breaking the sequence up into 2 moves, we are able to move a sequence of 7 instead of 4.

Being aware of this shortcoming of supermoves will allow you to move longer sequences, which helps a lot in winning some of the harder freecell deals.

The other thing to be aware of with supermoves is how important empty columns are. If you look back to the chart above, you will see that empty columns are very valuable in freecell. Four empty freecells lets you move a sequence of 5 moves, while two empty freecells and two empty columns lets you move a sequence of 12! So try and empty up columns as soon as you can!

xbox360

xbox 360 controller
A PC game is a game that is played on a computer just like it is played on a PSP or an Xbox. You just put the game in the system and start playing. If you do not play video games then you shouldn’t be reading this article. A computer game is just like a video game a do not know why other people tend to disagree. In a video game you have all the same things you have a processor that processes the game. Then you have your graphics card or cards. Yes graphics cards are in every gaming system so if you thought a computer was different then video games then you are wrong. The only reason that computers will get better graphics is because video games are limited to their upgrades and that is why you will get booted out of games because you are not supposed to upgrade a system that is already upgraded enough.

You all have probably heard all we had back in my day was pong. Well pong is long gone and the age of the video game has taken over. There are so many video game systems that you can buy to play video games on these days. Like you have the PS2, you have the Xbox, you have the Xbox 360 and now you have the PS3. Like what is going to come next after the PS3. I don’t think anything can come next. I mean I have heard something about a PS4 but I am pretty sure that wont happen anytime soon at least while I am in the video game era. All of these gaming systems are expensive but they are all worth the money if you like to play video games.

Today we live in the world of video games and fantasy. So you are going to have those games that are out there and are kind of crazy. You are also going to have those games that are fun to play and are hard at the same time. You are even going to have games that require you to use your brain and think through the game. Those types of games tend to be the types of games that you have to be sneaky in like the new splinter cell and those kinds of games.

The end of the 70’s is when you were seeing the first home based video game systems and systems that you could plug into the wall and start playing all you had to do was hook it up to the TV and the plug in the wall and you could start playing.

Soon came to be the PC the personal computer. That soon became the weapon of the future and everyone would soon be using one of these. If you didn’t have a computer by the 90’s you were still considered to be living in the dark ages.

There are all kinds of different games that you could have played. You had fighting. Shooting, shooter, racing, I mean you had all the games that you could think of to play and people chose to get computers and start playing computer games.

Even though video games are something that you like to do everyday and wish that you could skip school instead of going to your class you still have to go to school to get your work done so you just need to go to school and then when you get home you still have so many hours to play before you have to study for that test. You just need to focus on what you need to do, not what you want to do.

ps3

world of warcraft
Last week we started to get into the motivation of the gamer. We discussed challenge and its ugly stepsister competition, two of the most common motivators. Today, we look at two more on the way to forming an overall model for what moves us.

Perhaps less common than the first two motivators, creativity is nonetheless an important driving force in the gamer psyche. Though at first gaming doesn’t seem like a particularly creative act, what with its formalized rules and structured systems, there is much more room for self expression than one might think. Some games play to this directly through unique presentations or artistic themes. Music games and many of the Sim titles are basically just expressive outlets that happen to be governed by a computerized system of rules. Other creatives find their outlet in multiplayer gaming. The modern MMORPG sports equipment and decorative combinations numbering well into the millions. The Creatively Motivated gamer takes pleasure in designing how their character looks as well as changing how they interact with their environment. Creatively Motivated gamers thrive when outlets are available. Anything involving a high degree of expression, decoration, or a large abstract component draws them. They wilt in gaming environments governed purely by numbers, and in those where presentation is extremely homogeneous.

Though we sometimes don’t like to admit it, escapism is a motivation that lives in the heart of every gamer. By design, a game creates an inherently different world. Even games which have as one of their primary goals simulation of some aspect of the real world recast the player into some role they find more exciting than their own. Escaping into the role of adventurer, pilot, quarterback or even zookeeper provides motivation for nearly every gamer. Escapism Motivated gamers seek out games where the environment is rich, comprehensive, real. They thrive in worlds where suspension of disbelief is high, where they can lose themselves in the depth and complexity available to them. They gravitate toward role playing and simulation, environments where the world is rich and believable. They tend to avoid abstract games where the underlying reality is difficult to believe or understand. It is a strange sort of paradox that MMORPGS, with their incredibly deep histories and expansive worlds, are not as attractive to Escapism Motivated gamers as pure RPGs. This effect arises from the multiplayer aspect. Players talking in a public channel about out of game topics or, worse, about the mechanical and numerical aspects of the game world may well ruin the escapists experience and cause them to seek the company of non player characters or others who share their motivation.

Much has been made of the downside of escapism. A gamer who spends too much time in a world not their own can begin to lose touch. This sort of disassociation with reality can, and has, lead to all sorts of problems with work, school and personal relations. This does not mean, however, that escapism is itself an unhealthy thing. It is a basic part of the human experience. The reason we vacation, watch moves, enjoy sporting events or go camping is inherently escapist. As people, we are often unsatisfied with out lot in life. It’s natural to seek out activities that allow us to experience something outside of our day to day. Gaming is no different. However, as gamers, we are an oft misunderstood community. We owe it to ourselves and to the world at large both to fight with information, by spreading the positive realities of gaming and gamer culture, and to fight internally against obsession. No matter how good a substitute for the real world a game may seem it is, in the end, only a pastime. Leave it once in a while.

Next week, we conclude with Social Interaction. Then, we’ll move on to some sort of unified theory about all this.

guitar hero world tour

Bulimia is an eating disorder compels people to binge on food and then purge through selfinduced vomiting, diuretics or laxative abuse, or excessive exercise. People with bulimia tend to feel guilty and disgusted about food and fat. Even though most people with bulimia begin at normal weights, they think of themselves as fat. Roughly 90 percent of the people with bulimia are women, and the disorder usually begins a few years after puberty. Genetics, social pressures, and emotional problems like depression, low selfesteem, and extreme perfectionism contribute to bulimias development.

Without bulimia treatment, people with bulimia become dehydrated and malnourished. This causes mineral and vitamin deficiencies, resulting in dry skin, nails, and hair. Many people with bulimia are constipated from laxative abuse. Constant vomiting brings up stomach acid that irritates the throat and mouth. Many people with bulimia have heartburn, gum infections, swollen salivary glands, and cavities from the acid eroding tooth enamel. Without treatment, some of side effects, like kidney failure, can become fatal. Dehydration can lower the bodys electrolyte levels, causing heart problems or even death. About 10 percent of people with bulimia will die from it.

Bulimia, however, is completely treatable. The sooner a person begins bulimia treatment, the sooner the recovery. Successful recovery depends on the work of psychiatrists, doctors, dieticians, and the patient. Psychiatrists work with the patient to break the bingeandpurge cycles and to educate the patient about what she is doing to her body and mind. The psychiatrist and patient must identify the triggers of a bingingandpurging episode, as well as help the patient cope with an unhealthy body image. The patient must learn to communicate openly and must increase his or her selfesteem. Doctors work with the patient to treat the effects of bulimias dehydration and malnutrition on the body. A dietician helps the patient develop healthy eating habits.

Group therapy and support groups are also helpful for people recovering from bulimia. Information about many support groups can be found online.

Correct Weight

If you are seriously trying to lose weight, chances are have tried several different programs. Many of you are still not getting down to your desired or ideal weight. One big reason could be that you are having problems with one little molecule.

Iodine is the basis for the extremely important Thyroid Hormone in your body. That hormone regulates everything from your metabolism to your digestion. Because it usually slowly creeps up on you, it is very common to not realize that there has been a change in your energy level, memory, mentrual periods and skin texture. You could even be losing your hair over this one.

The lack of enough Thyroid Hormone in your body is called Hypothyroidism. There are several things that Hypothyroidism will cause that make you gain weight. First of all, it decreases your basal metabolic rate and overall metabolism. That is the rate that you use up energy. Basically what that means is that the normal muscle tone is lost and your muscles tend to be much more relaxed than normal. Your internal organs that use muscles will also be affected. You will probably notice that mostly by a change in your bowel habits. You will tend to become constipated. Just what you needed!

Muscles need to remain toned to keep your joints in the proper position. So, they will always normally be a little tight. This uses calories (yeah!). Obviously, when they are more relaxed than normal, you tend to gain weight.

Secondly, lack of Thyroid Hormone will make you lazy. At least that is my excuse. hehe.

Dr. Oliver Sacks (made famous in the movie Awakenings) describes one man that had to be helped out of bed in the morning. He was then fed and led to a chair in the corner. In the evening he was led back to bed. During the day he would not even talk. This happened day after day for years! Finally, for some reason, he ended up at the doctors office and was found to be severely hypothyroid. He returned to normal with treatment, but did not even remember all those years where he was a zombie.

If you suspect that you might have hypothyroidism consider these associated symptoms dry skin, brittle nails, constipation, irregular or heavy menstrual periods (if you are male, you probably won’t develop this one), feeling tired and weak, cold skin, coarse, retaining water or thinning hair. Any, or all of these can occur.

You have an increased chance of getting this condition if you have a swelling in the front of your neck called a goiter, diabetes, patches of light skin (not always, but there is a specific condition causing this that also affects the thyroid), iodine deficiency and some medications. Some women develop this as a complication of pregnancy.

If you always buy salt with no iodine, there is a slight chance that you could develop hypothyroidism as a result of the lack of iodine. Remember, iodine is part of the thyroid hormone molecule. Without iodine, your body cannot make the hormone.

When you think you may have hypothyroidism, you should see your medical doctor to get a blood test. One thing that most doctors won’t tell you is that you need to be otherwise feeling pretty good during the test. There is one condition called Euthyroid Sick Syndrome that will cause low Thyroid Hormone levels when you are sick. But the hormone levels can return to normal when you get well. So, it is better to get the levels checked when you get well in order to have an accurate test.

Assuming that you have guessed right, your doctor will prescribe a thyroid hormone supplement that will get you feeling better. The only problem at this point is that it is often tricky to get the right amount into your system. You will often bounce back and forth between feeling weak and tired and feeling jittery. But with your doctors help, that should diminish fairly quickly.

The good news is that once your thyroid is in control, you are going to feel much better, have more energy and be back on track with your weight control.

Size Weight Chart