Beat stress and enhance your energy

Stress has become an indispensable part of modern lifestyle, affecting people irrespective of age and social/economic background. Prolonged stress not only distress the mental functions, but also affects the smooth functioning of the immune system, reduces energy level, and makes one sick at various levels.

Stress is a complicated concept that includes both physiological and mental components. Though many forms of stress are psychological, they also create a variety of physiological changes. And these changes include ones in the immune function, indicating a relation between the stress and immune system.

Stress-related cases have grown over the last couple of decades. Stress makes one fatigue and decreases the body’s energy level. Today, we see a lot of things in the name of ‘energy drinks’ & ‘energy shots’ in the market, which gives an instant energy to the human body. The problem is that sugar and caffeine in those products, mostly fails to fix our energy level for very long, even if it says organic or artisanal forms. Actually, sometimes they make the things worse, causing one to be on a roller-coaster of sugar lows & highs, and eventually, energy and sugar crashes.

Adrenal stress response:

Our body has an entire stress response system that is built or hard-wired to protect us from danger. And, its base camp is none other than our adrenal glands, tiny organs that lie on top of our kidneys and organize a whole lot of our health from blood sugar to hormones to mood.

The system is meant to protect us from immediate danger. It rallies to protect us by pumping out adrenaline and cortisol, when the adrenal response system goes into action. Chronic stress will make the adrenal gland exhausted and ultimately they become too fatigued to meet the requirements of the body. 

Any major or chronic stress affects the adrenal gland. So, to be frank, it is not a gland that goes well with this modern day lifestyle. Now, let us compare our life with a saber-toothed lion chasing us. If we encounter a lion, we would need to fight against the lion to flee from it. This type of stress lasts only for a few minutes or just a matter of seconds, which is much different from the daily attacks we face. A terrible commute, a rocky relationship, a chronic illness or an impatient boss – there are lots of things to face a day. From the neck down the adrenal glands and the other organs respond when we undergo stress. We may run from a lion for short distances, but how about the other things that happens every hour of the day.

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Control cholesterol in the Ayurvedic way

In the last 2 decades, there has been an increasing importance for monitoring the cholesterol level and the treatments to reduce the high cholesterol. All for a lot of purpose, but mainly to lessen the risk of heart diseases.

The American Heart Association finds that around 98.6 million Americans who are aged 20 & above have cholesterol above the optimal level and hypercholesterolaemia is estimated to cause 56% of ischemia heart diseases (a disease characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart) and about 4.4 million deaths per year. A research says that about 72% Indians have low levels of the good cholesterol.

This article aims to show how Ayurveda is helpful in managing the hypercholesterolaemia, which is a leading contributor of coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is a greasy, fat-like substance found in the cells of the body. It is used to form hormones, cell membranes and other bodily functions, thus plays an important role in maintaining a healthy body. However, high cholesterol in the blood may lead to increase heart diseases.

Cholesterol can’t dissolve in the blood. They have to be transferred to and from the cells by some carriers known as lipoproteins. The main cholesterol carrier in the blood is low-density lipoprotein (LDL, known as bad cholesterol) and about one-third of blood cholesterol is carried by high-density lipoprotein (HDL, known as good cholesterol).

Risks of high LDL: Too much of LDL cholesterol in the blood can slowly build up in the walls of the arteries. When joining with other substances, this LDL can form a thick, hard deposit which blocks the arteries. And this is really not good for health, since artery is the one that conveys blood from the heart to other parts of the body.

Importance of high HDL:  High HDL levels decreases the risk of heart diseases. HDL reduces LDL cholesterol by transporting it back to the liver, where it can be reprocessed. Medical experts say that HDL removes the harmful bad cholesterol.

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Natural Remedies for Coughing

The common cough can be harmless, but it can also be a sign of more serious illness. We know that how irritating, disrupting, and painful a cough can be. Especially, when it affects the sleeping at night or when our job involves a lot of speaking and the cough disturbs from doing it. Annoying, disruptive, and loud, a persistent cough can put a restriction on your daily routine. Generally, coughs can be categorized by how long they last. The two main classifications of coughs are dry cough and wet cough.

Dry cough is a non-productive cough, where no mucus is formed. And this brief cough is caused by factors such a cold air, breathing dust, irritating fumes, or aspirating food into the airways.

A wet cough is the productive cough, where irritants and mucus from the lungs are formed during the cough. The persistent cough results from mucus and other secretions brought on by respiratory disorders such as the cold, the flu, tuberculosis or pneumonia. A persistent cough always should be checked by a medical practitioner, as it can be a symptom of a serious medical illness.

Natural Cough Remedies:

It is possible to cure cough with simple, natural home remedies without using any prescribed medication. Natural cough remedies help to treat the cough and reduce the uneasiness associated with persistent coughs. But still, it is necessary to find the type of cough you are suffering from before you start using the remedies. Identifying the type of cough will help you get the right remedies and in turn get the best results for your cough.

A few of the effective natural cough remedies for coughs are given below: 

 

Chukku (dry ginger), Pepper, and Thippili (Piperaceae family):

For cough and cold, take chukku, pepper, and thippili in equal quantities by weight and grind them into a fine powder. Mix this powder with honey and consume thrice a day. This helps in releasing the mucus and exorcises it.

Onions:

Onion is very good at stopping coughs. You can make your own cough syrup by using either baked onion juice or honey and comfrey tea. It is effective when taken on a daily basis.

To make an onion cough syrup: Mix honey, grated onion, lemon juice and boil in a pan over a pot of boiling water. Cover and let it boil for 2 hours. Then, drain liquid from the juice and consume 1 tbsp every alternate hour.

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People with Overweight Problems

Overweight:

A person who weighs more than the range of health for his/ her age, height, and gender is called as an overweight person. Being overweight is inconvenient and uncomfortable. People often make jokes or comments and do fun on them. These overweight persons face many problems from looking fine clothes that not only looks nice, but also cover & fit them properly.

Excess Weight Hurts Health:

Overweight or obese brings many problems, including breathing and sleeping troubles. It causes aches/ pains and makes a person feel tired. A weight problem can make one sad, angry or embarrassed. People eat more when they feel anxiety, which is not good. Overweight or obese kids have a chance of getting type 2 diabetes and other health issues. They have a risk of getting heart disease once they have grown up. Most of the people who battle with weight problems lose their esteem and self confidence. 

Reasons to Become Overweight or Obese:

A person is said to have obesity while the body weight is much more than the healthy range for his/ her age, height, and gender.

When a person consumes more calories, it means, he/ she stores more fat in the body. Yes, extra calories are stored as fat. The body gets extra calories, from food and drink, than it burns which leads the people to have too much fat.

Nowadays, it is easy for kids or adults to become overweight or obese. In this modern life, we spend much time in front of computers and TV’s, hardly gives time for exercising. We drive even to the nearby location instead of walking and prefer video games than physically active games. Leading busier lives, people find less time to cook healthy meals. They eat more ready-made and restaurant foods.

Overweight may occur due to a combination of factors like food additives, artificial flavors or colors, preservatives, lifestyle, and so on. There are also psychological reasons that contribute to a person's overweight. Don’t let the obesity or overweight to enter into your life.

Keep away From Becoming Overweight:

Be active to stay healthy. Dancing, jumping rope, running around or just being active in the backyard will get your heart pumping. Another part of staying fit is to eat healthy. Eat a variety of foods, low-fat milk over soda and other sugary drinks. Do exercise or join a sports team. Why don’t you try martial arts, swimming, and tennis to go fit? Practicing the right eating habits and following the correct weight loss habits helps to lose weight. You should like yourself when you see your reflection in the mirror.

Foods to reduce weight:

Some foods can help to drop body weight. Few are given below,

• ·         Dark Chocolate
• ·         Soup
• ·         Eggs and Sausage
• ·         Apples
• ·         Pureed Vegetables
• ·         Nuts
• ·         Beans 

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