Friday, December 27, 2019

The Effects Of Stress On Mental Health - 1550 Words

Introduction: Stress is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as the brain s answer to any demand. Many things can set off this reaction, including change. For most people, temporary levels of stress drop soon after the stimulus has passed. For others, the symptoms of anxiety continue well after the distressing circumstance is over (National Institute of Mental Health). Stress can lead to memory retention problems, and memory recall problems, in turn impacting ones work, social interactions, and eventually negatively impacting the quality of one’s life. Every person’s reaction to a stressor differs and is based on the way we see the event and our capacity to react to the event in an effective way. According to Comer, stress has two components: a stressor, and a stress response. A stressor is an incident that causes a sense of threat by meeting a person with an order to change. A stress response is a person’s particular reaction to the stressor. Both the stress response and the stressor are influenced by how we assess the event that has caused us stress, and our capacity to react to the event effectively. If not dealt with effectively, stress can lead to serious stress disorders. There are two types of stress disorders: Acute Stress Disorder, and Chronic Stress Disorder. An acute Stress Disorder is an anxiety disorder in which panic and other symptoms are experienced soon after a traumatic or stressful event and last less than a month. A Chronic Stress DisorderShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Stress On Health And Mental H ealth Essay1619 Words   |  7 PagesOvercoming Stress Have you seen a mental health expert about a mental health disorder, or were you diagnosed for such a condition? Most people will answer no even if they had a mental or emotional health issue in the past. Heath includes physical health and mental health, it’s not just physical. A lot of people hate to admit that they have mental disorder, and they might even refuse to seek a professional health care. It’s really important for people to take care of any emotional or mental issue thatRead MoreThe Effects Of Stress On Mental Health1568 Words   |  7 Pagessubstantial amount of Canadians experience stress in their lives. In fact, nearly one-quarter of the population over the age of 15 are stressed on a daily basis (Statistics Canada, 2013). Stress can be defined as a mental and emotional state of tension, in which one perceives the environment around them to be strenuous and overwhelming. Although some stress is necessary for survival, it can adversely affect both the phy sical and mental health. Its detrimental effects include but are not limited to: lackRead MoreThe Effects Of Stress On Mental Health Essay1970 Words   |  8 PagesIt is known that humans are naturally going to have stress in their lives. Stress is caused by various events such as death of a spouse, paying bills and changes in common daily functions. Different individuals interpret these events differently. Recent research has shown that each person is different with how they cope throughout stressful situations (Pastorino Doyle-Portillo, 2016). The different situations of stress can cause mental health issues such as depression, extreme exhaustion and anxietyRead MoreThe Effects Of Stress On Our Mental And Physical Health926 Words   |  4 Pageswe learned in class, stress is any force that changes the body’s natural state, known as homeostasis. Stress does not always have to be viewed as a bad thing. For example, stress can motivate someone to study for an exam or plan a head in his or her agenda to stay organized. Its only when stress manifest out of control and is not addressed properly that it can have very negative effects on both our mental and physical health. Reflecting on the document we watched in class, Stress: Portrait of a KillerRead MoreThe Effects Of Stress On Mental And Physical Health Of A Person1129 Words   |  5 PagesStress impacts the mental and physical health of a person in many ways. Prolonged or frequent exposure to stress can be detrimental to a person s health. It is important to get counseling for stress management before it becomes chronic or life threatening. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is study of the ways the immune and nervous systems interact with each other and impact mental and emotional health. PNI research suggests that chronic stress can cause mood disorders such as depression and anxietyRead MoreThe Effect Of Stress On Mental And Physical Health1584 Words   |  7 PagesIn order to develop techniques to manage stress, you must first understand what contributes to stress. Stress is the body’s reaction to your environment that impacts the balance of your physical or mental being. Stress is the same for the body whether considered positive or negative. It elicits the same body responses for emotion and motivation whether it is from competitive sports or a near miss on the freeway. Emotion and motivation are the two fundamental components of affect. They guideRead MoreThe Effects Of Minority Stress On Mental Health Within The Transgender Community Essay1340 Words   |  6 Pagesto prove how minority stress correlates with mental health within the transgender community. As defined by Meriam-Webster Dictionary, transgender â€Å"is relating to, or being a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person s sex at birth† (Merriam-Webster, 2016). For example, male to female, or female to male. However, researchers in this study used the minority stress model, which suggested that the stress associated with stigmaRead MoreMental Health And Its Effects On Individual s Stress Level, Anxiety Levels, And Self Esteem Level1310 Words   |  6 PagesMany people in society experience some form of mental health issue in various aspects of their life at some point or another. In social settings or at home, a person can feel stressed, anxious, or even have issues with their self-esteem. In fact, â€Å"One in five American’s experienced some form of mental health issue in 2014† (Mental Health, n.d., p. 1). There are many way s to reduce stress and anxiety, as well as increase self-esteem in one’s life. For the purpose of this study, exercise is used asRead MoreMindfulness Meditation On The Classroom Essay962 Words   |  4 Pageschildren diagnosed with a mental disorder is alarming. According to Merikangas et al. (2010), 22.2% of American children and adolescents get diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder that is severe enough to impair their ability to attend school and learn (Bucci, Marques, Oh, Harris, 2016). Kids that are plagued by various psychological illnesses may experience a difficult time concentrating and staying focused in school. Additionally, the over-accumulation of toxic stress, either due to the pressuresRead MoreHealth Campaign Essay958 Words   |  4 PagesHealth Campaign Final Essay The health behavior that was chosen to promote during our campaign was yoga. We encouraged students, staff, and faculty members at Knox College to partake in yoga classes offered by the school in order to reduce stress and target a particular health/illness outcome. The main physical health/illness outcome targeted in this campaign was reduced blood pressure. Yoga is also seen to improve cardiovascular health. We chose to focus on the benefits of yoga to improve blood

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Essay on Judith Jarvis Thomson a Defense of Abortion

Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion – CRITICAL EXPOSITION The goal of Judith Jarvis Thomson in her defense of abortion is to sway the ideas of those who are against abortion by challenging the arguments they give for thinking so. She begins by stating a premise. â€Å"For the sake of the argument† a human embryo is a person. This premise is one of the arguments most opponents of abortion use, but as she points out, isn’t much of an argument at all. These people spend a lot of their time dwelling on the fact that the fetus is a person and hardly any time explaining how the fetus being a person has anything to with abortion being impermissible. In the same breath, she states that those who agree with abortion spend a lot of their time†¦show more content†¦She believes that, just a like a woman having the right to choose to save her life, a third party should be able to choose if he/she want to assist. The next issue is, in Thomson’s opinion, the most important question in the abortion debate; that is, what exact ly does a right to life bring about? The premise that â€Å"everyone has a right to life, so the unborn person has a right to life† suggests that the right to life is â€Å"unproblematic,† or straight-forward. We know that isn’t true. Thomson gives an analogy involving Henry Fonda. You are sick and dying and the touch of Henry Fonda’s hand will heal you. Even if his touch with save your life, you have no right to be â€Å"given the touch of Henry Fonda’s cool hand.† A stricter view sees the right to life as more of a right to not be killed by anybody. Here too troubles arise. In the case of the violinist, if we are to â€Å"refrain from killing the violinist,† then we must basically allow him to kill you. This contradicts the stricter view. The conclusion Thomson draws from this analogy is â€Å"that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of anot her person’s body—even if one needs it for life itself.† This argument again proves the basic argument wrong. The right to life isn’t as clear of an argument as I’m sure opponents of abortion would like it to be or believe it is. Similarly, the following analogyShow MoreRelatedA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1549 Words   |  7 Pagesif she did not have an abortion. In such circumstances, the woman’s right to self-defence outweighs a fetus’ right to life, however I would not allow that the mother’s right outweighs the fetus’ if the mother wanted to have an abortion of convenience because this denies the child of possible future experiences. Firstly, I will outline Judith Jarvis Thomson’s argument for self-defence. In her article, ‘A Defense of Abortion’, Thomson provides an analogy in favour of abortion. She asks the reader toRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson934 Words   |  4 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson is an American moral philosopher that is well known for her defense of moral justice and description of moral rights. She has published in prestigious papers in ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of law. Including the most widely written essay â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† , that was published in 1971 in the journal of philosophy and public affairs. This essay constructs abortion rights with pregnant woman’s rights to control her own body and it’s life support purpose, as opposedRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson951 Words   |  4 PagesIn Judith Jarvis Thomson’s A Defense of Abortion, Thomson explores the relationship betwe en the rights of a fetus and the rights of a human, in this case the mother. Thomson is an American moral philosopher and meta-physician. She is known for her defense of moral objectivity, her account of moral rights, her views about the incompleteness of the term good, and her use of thought experiments to make philosophical points. In the article, Thomson defends abortions in several certain circumstancesRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson921 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion is a major issue that has lead to many different opinions, ideas, and various debates. Proponents for abortion often use the fact that a fetus is not a moral person to justify their position, whereas those who are against the issue often claim that a fetus is a moral person and should deserve every right a moral person has, including the right to live. Judith Jarvis Thomson, however, takes an entirely different approach. In her article â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† Thomson argues tha t even ifRead MoreA Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson1354 Words   |  5 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson proposes her argument in her article, A Defense of Abortion. There, she explains to her readers during what circumstances is abortion justifiable. Thomson uses the argument by analogy strategy to explain to her readers her argument. She tries to reach her conclusion by comparing it to similar cases. The point she is trying to make is to tell her readers that abortion is morally permissible only in some cases, like when the mother has been a victim of rape, when contraceptionRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1302 Words   |  6 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson argues in â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† that abortion in cases of rape is acceptable because of the element of coercion. She makes a preliminary assumption that the foetus has a right to life, but she argues that this right to life does not necessarily include the right not to be killed. She m akes this argument in large part through a particularly vivid analogy of an unconscious violinist. Thomson claims that the analogy defends abortion in cases of rape by showing that if a woman’sRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1784 Words   |  8 Pages In Judith Jarvis Thomson’s essay â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† (1971), she defends the thesis that abortion is morally permissible. She argues that even if a fetus is a person, and possesses every right to life, that that in itself does not constitute the impermissibility of abortion. In this essay, I will defend and critique Thomson’s defense of abortion’s moral permissibility in light of apparent weaknesses that critics have pointed out. Thomson’s argues that abortion is morally permissible. She grantsRead More A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson Essay1075 Words   |  5 PagesA Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson In the article A Defense of Abortion Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that abortion is morally permissible even if the fetus is considered a person. In this paper I will give a fairly detailed description of Thomson main arguments for abortion. In particular I will take a close look at her famous violinist argument. Following will be objections to the argumentative story focused on the reasoning that one persons right to life outweighs anotherRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson Summary1133 Words   |  5 PagesIn â€Å"A Defense of Abortion† written by Judith Jarvis Thomson, the author analyzes premises for which she believes that abortion should be permissible, but argues in some cases abortion should also not be allowed. Her analysis is different from most papers on this subject, because she immediately throws the argument of if the fetus is a person out the window. She calls it a â€Å"slippery slope argument†(Thomson 54). Thomson, instead, presents that a fetus does have the right to life, but she uses thoughtRead MoreSummary Of The Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson1175 Words   |  5 Pages In her article, â€Å"The Defense of Abortion†, Judith Jarvis Thomson states an analogy involving a violinist. She first states that you are allowed to unplug yourself in the violinist scenario, second abortion after rape is analogous to the violinist scenario, therefore, you should be allowed to unplug yourself and be allowed to abort after rape (Chwang, Abortion slide 12). In this paper, I will argue that abortion is morally acceptable even if the fetus is considered a person. This paper will criticize

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Sole Purpose of Women in Othello Essay Example For Students

Sole Purpose of Women in Othello Essay The sole purpose of women in the play is to highlight the struggles of the male characters The sole purpose of women in ‘Othello’ is not to highlight the struggles of male characters, but in fact I feel it’s much the opposite. There is a strong emphasis on women as possessions and the idea that women are submissive. The three women in the play -Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca are rejected by their respective partners. In a modern reading, we can deconstruct the play to understand that the struggles of women seem to be highlighted; strongly aided by the male counterparts which drives the women to form a closer relationship with each other. In doing this, the portrayal of the male characters to a 21st century audience would seem somewhat pessimistic. Yet when we consider the time in which it was written, these were the social norms. Shakespeare has unconsciously positioned his audience over time to draw attention to the struggles of women, particularly through a feminist reading. Othello’s portrayal of women is that of a piece of property. The metaphor in the line â€Å"come my dear love, the purchase has been made, the fruits ensue† describes marriage as an act of purchase; the woman as the piece of property. Here it is suggested that a woman is bought by her husband and expected to fulfil his sexual needs without any feeling of emotion attached. Further emphasis is made in regards to performing sexual tasks in imagery similar to food consumption when Emilia says to Desdemona, â€Å"They are all but stomachs, and we are all but food/ They eat us hungerly and when they are full they belch us†. Emilia is expressing that women are used emotionally and sexually by their male partners, being defined by male’s sexual access to them. This reiterates the idea of women as male possessions and the feelings of emotional rejection associated with it. Despite the fact that the women of Othello are so submissive, they are rejected by their male partner. Society weighs heavily on the shoulders of these women; they feel that they must support the men and always act obedient, even if the actions of the men are questionable. In the line, â€Å"Your napkin is too little† we see Othello rejecting Desdemona’s act of kindness towards her husband. Notably, she does not seem fazed by his rudeness and rejection and replies with â€Å"I am sorry that you are not well. The symbolism associated with the handkerchief represents virginity and fidelity. It is also a symbol of Othello’s love for Desdemona. By dismissing the handkerchief because it is ‘too little’, suggests Othello’s diminishing love towards his wife because of her supposed infidelities. Here the audience is positioned to empathis e with Desdemona and to abhor to Othello’s quick judgement of character. Resulting from the feeling of rejection the women receive from their husbands, they start to form a closer bond with each other. Emilia begins to show genuine concern for Desdemona’s problems with Othello in Act 4, but once again Desdemona is portrayed as submissive when she tells Emilia that even when Othello is angry with her, she still finds â€Å"grace and favour. † The prolonged obedience demonstrates the inherent struggle women face to uphold the Venetian society values. Desdemona is unconscious in her act of obedience, to the fact that has little control over her life. She is always trying to please Othello despite the way he undermines her loyalty. The use of black and white imagery in the play helps to emphasis Desdemona’s innocence and Othello’s growing iniquity. When Othello says, â€Å"So I will turn her virtue into pitch† it suggests the stereotypes of whiteness as pure and virginal as opposed to black as corrupt and evil. In doing so, he positions himself as an outsider because he is corrupting her pureness just by being her husband. Desdemona, blind to this fact, continues to serve him well whilst the audience is exposed to Othello’s lack of trust in his wife and increasingly corrupt nature. .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba , .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .postImageUrl , .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba , .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:hover , .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:visited , .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:active { border:0!important; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:active , .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ue30a68b877573060cf098ca8f1c255ba:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Etymology of Court EssayThis then drives Desdemona to confide in Emilia as she notices differences in her husband’s behaviour. Highlighting woman’s struggle, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony. For example, the audience knows that Iago is manipulating Othello and that Othello plans to murder Desdemona. â€Å"With as little web as this, I will ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. † This simile in Iago’s soliloquy suggests intent, putting the audience in the know. The reference to animal imagery, the ‘web’ refers to a web of lies and deceit. Furthermore, associating Cassio with a ‘fly’ implies his irrelevance to Iago. The use of animal imagery foregrounds Iago’s predatory nature as he often uses images to plant ideas in other characters head, to further his own plans – leading to Othello’s downfall. The use of dramatic irony positions the audience to empathise with Desdemona as it foregrounds her undervalued character as Iago does not feel bad for using her as a tool in which he manipulates Othello for his own revenge. This in turn suggests an element of women’s worthlessness and the struggle to be independent and respected as a human being. In conclusion, the sole purpose of women in the play is to highlight the values of Venetian society through a male perspective and as such, draw attention to the struggles of women who are expected to be male’s sexual property, submissive and worthless. Of course, this reading of the play would not have been valid during Shakespeare’s time, and in saying this, was not Shakespeare’s initial intent. However, as society has changed, a contemporary feminist reading can gather the conclusion that males took women foregranted and had little genuine respect towards them.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

What You Can Do to Minimize WordPress Downtime

Its necessary for a website thats trying to build traffic to always be accessible (thats pretty much all websites!). In this post, well see what you can do to minimize WordPress downtime. But before that, well understand why it happens and the damage it causes.Were not talking here about planned downtime the time when the site is not accessible due to something that you are doing in the backend. There can be many other occasions when your website is down and youll not even be aware of it. Thats the kind of downtime that well discuss here.What happens if your website is down?When a Google bot or a visitor cannot find you on the internet, it sends out the wrong signals. As a result, your website can suffer many consequences:Revenue loss: Every second of downtime translates into loss of traffic.   Its estimated that Amazon suffered a loss of over $66,000 dollars per minute during a half hour outage in 2013. The loss can be huge for websites that cannot afford even a few seconds of do wntime, like banks or high traffic e-commerce websites.Dip in SEO: But financial loss is just the start. No visitor likes to see the Website Cannot Be Found message flashing on the screen. If your site is doing the disappearing act, it sets off warning bells. Think about it, whod want to transact with a website that cannot stay accessible?Its not only visitors who dont take kindly to website downtime, Google frowns on it too. If a Google bot finds your website down frequently, thats no good for your search engine rankings. However, Google does make an allowance for occasional downtime.Loss of credibility: And to top it all, youll lose credibility if you have a website thats not accessible. Itll blunt your competitive edge and mark you out as an unreliable destination. When visitors attempt to reach your website and cannot find it, youll also lose new leads.How Do You Know That Your Website is Experiencing Downtime?To fix issues relating to downtime and minimize WordPress downtime, y ou first need to be aware that your site is experiencing downtime. For this purpose, its necessary to monitor your website  using a plugin or an external service. These plugins and services continuously monitor your website and report any outage immediately. Some also provide analysis of downtime.Jetpack (Monitor Module): Jetpack is a free plugin from Automattic that checks on your website every five minutes and notifies you if the site is down. Its free and easy to use. Jetpack by WordPress.com Author(s): AutomatticCurrent Version: 7.8Last Updated: October 1, 2019jetpack.7.8.zip 78%Ratings 145,415,907Downloads WP 5.1+Requires Real User Monitor by Pingdom: Real User Monitor  is also a free plugin, and checks site accessibility from different locations around the world. Real User Monitoring by Pingdom Author(s): Pingdom ABCurrent Version: 1.0.4Last Updated: October 10, 2019real-user-monitoring-by-pingdom.zip 80%Ratings 15,091Downloads WP 2.1+Requires Uptime Robot for WordPress: Uptime Robot is an external solution, and it requires you to open a free account before you can use their plugin. Works great, though. (Its what we use at ThemeIsle.) Uptime Robot Plugin for WordPress Author(s): DownNotifier. It  checks your site every 10 minutes for free, and every one minute if youre a paying customer.Pingdom: Pingdom is a premium service, with customers like Google and Apple.In case you want a wider choice, Monitis,  Service Uptime and Uptrends  are also popular services worth considering.What causes downtime and what you can do to minimize WordPress downtime?Well list the possible causes of WordPress website downtime and then well see what we can do to minimize their impact.1. Has Your Domain Name Expired?Domain name registrations  are not forever, so check if youve overlooked renewing your domain. Check this by typing your domain name at who.is, or just go to your original registrar and see if there arent any missed invoicesLook up   the expiry date, and renew the registration if required. Go for the auto renew option, if its available with your domain name registrar.2. Is Your Name Server Configured Correctly?Even if your domain name registration is valid, not setting it up properly can cause WordPress website downtime.We surf the internet by typing in URLs in the address bar of the browser. Search engines translate these URLs into IP addresses (a string of hard-to-remember numbers) to find the physical location of the domain on the server. If the domain path is not configured correctly, search engines can lose their way.You can use DNS Check Test  to check if the DNS path is configured correctly. Many domain name registrars offer this service, so you can also check this with the registrar from whom you purchased the domain.One way to eliminate WordPress downtime on account of misconfigured DNS is to use  a secondary DNS service that you can fall back on when your primary DNS service is down. The secondary DNS complements the existing service and can take over seamlessly from this service.3. Sub-standard HostingThere are many hosting options like Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated servers, managed hosting and shared hosting, but the first two options are generally out of reach for smaller websites.When it comes to shared hosting, these are the probable issues that may arise,Hardware constraints:  There maybe many hardware constraints in the host server which affects your website. The host may allocate insufficient disk space or processing resources for your domain, the hardware used maybe outdated or it maybe kept in a physically unsafe environment.Software issues: Web server software  like Apache Web Server, MySQL, SQL Server, MariaDB  and PHP are necessary for smooth functioning of servers. The software on the servers may not be updated regularly, and this can also result in WordPress downtime.Other server-end vulnerabilities:  A good host should include firewall protection and protection against DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks are distributed denial of service thats a situation where hackers swamp a website with so much traffic that its unable to handle visits from regular users.Generally, as far as hosting services go, its mostly a case of what you pay is what you get. Most hosting services now offer 99.99% uptime, but you should check the track record of the host before you move into their servers. Check particularly for the quality of support.If you do not want to be hands on maintaining WordPress, look for a managed hosting service provider who specializes in WordPress. These service providers can take over the complete task of monitoring and maintaining your website.Here are some of our hosting reviews that might come handy when its time to select a better host for your site:FLYWHEEL REVIEW FOR WORDPRESS: A RELIABLE MANAGED HOSTING OPTION?A2 HOSTING REVIEW FOR WORDPRESS: FASTEST HOSTING YOUVE HEARD OF?INMOTION REVIEW FOR WORDPRESS HOSTING: A DARK HOR SE AMONG THE PACK?4. Is Your Website Secure?All webmasters know that keeping a website secure is not a one-time fix, its a constant vigil. Weak security for your website leaves it open to phishing and brute force attacks and many other security risks. Improving the security of your website will prevent malware and hackers from taking down your site.There are many small and big things you can do to improve site security. You can enforce strong passwords, improve security on the login page, update WordPress regularly, scan regularly for malware and much more.  Keep your websites security up-to-date at all times.Not only that, you can also rely on quality plugins like Wordfence  or services like Sucuri. Wordfence Security Firewall Malware Scan Author(s): WordfenceCurrent Version: 7.4.0Last Updated: August 22, 2019wordfence.7.4.0.zip 96%Ratings 135,846,747Downloads WP 3.9+Requires 5. Plugin/theme issues on your endOther reasons for WordPress downtime can be software issues at your end. New themes, plugins or any other software that you introduce may be incompatible with existing plugins/themes on your system.Its best to try out new plugins/themes in a staging environment after taking a backup, rather than on a live site and have it break.For a concise presentation on website downtime, take a look at this infographic from Kissmetrics.Minimize WordPress downtime: ConclusionIn spite of all the precautions you take, it may happen that your website goes down anyway. This is when youll fully understand the importance of a backup. With WordPress its easy to save your entire website, so you always have a copy from which you can restore.Even with the best safeguards in place, downtime can happen to any website, big or small. Stay calm and keep your visitors informed via alternate channels of communication such as social media. Give them a time when you expect the site to be up again. And work with your host to see how you can overcome the problem as quickly a s possible.Struggling to minimize WordPress downtime? Feel free to speak up in the comments.