What happens when you are addicted to a chemical substance? You lose control of your life. It doesn t matter what you are addicted to alcohol, nicotine or drugs the effects are the same. It is usually not easy to get rid of an alcohol and/or nicotine addiction. Most people find it difficult to give up these substances even after years in de-addiction therapy. Hence, it s prudent to let Ayurveda, the ancient science of healing handhold us in getting rid of addictions. 

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These cigarette ingredients include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. Perhaps this list of ingredients that are found in cigarettes is enough to make you want to quit smoking for good! - Lowell Kleinman, M.D., and Deborah Messina-Kleinman, M.P.H 

Addiction - The Ayurvedic View
Ayurveda considers alcohol and nicotine consumed in large quantities as  Visha  or toxic. According to Ayurveda, alcohol has the following properties-

Light or Laghu
Hot or Ushna
Sharp or Tikshna
Drying or Visada
Rough or Ruksha
Expensive or Vikaasa
Swift or Aasuga
Sour or Amla
Subtle or Sookshma
These properties are all opposite to the qualities that ojas possesses. Ojas has all life-giving properties and alcohol and nicotine have life-negating qualities.

Why do humans get addicted to alcohol and nicotine?
Human brain produces Dopamine normally and what alcohol does is to activate the nervous system to promote dopamine formation. The brain thus remembers the taste of alcohol and nicotine by creating special cells called receptor cells. As a person increases the quantity of alcohol, these cells also increase in numbers. When the person wants to give up his addictions these receptor cells agitate and create withdrawal symptoms with unpleasant and even dangerous symptoms.

De-addiction - Ayurveda Way
De-addiction treatments in Ayurveda comprise the following:

Purification therapies or Panchkarma: These are used for getting rid of all toxins present in the patient s body. These must always be done under the supervision of an ayurvedacharya as they are quite potent. After Panchakarma, the patient is given vomiting therapy or Vamana, followed by purgative therapy or Virechana, Basti or enema therapy and administration of Nasya or nasal drops therapy. All these help in detoxifying the body and mind and prepare the patient for further de-addiction ayurvedic treatments like Rasayana therapies which nourish and strengthen the body after Panchkarma. For treatment of addictions, Rasayana treatments include changes in diet and use of oral herbal medicines both.
Herbal medicines used in de-addiction: A range of herbal medicines and their combinations are used in the treatment of addictive problems in Ayurveda and these are to be consumed orally. Ayurveda prescribes Chamomile and Ashwagandha in combination to heal the lungs. These help in cleansing lungs of smoke- related problems. Doctors also prescribe congestion relieving herbs like ginger and pepper mixed with honey or lemon. 
In addition, herbs to improve memory, concentration and to fight depression are also given. These are:

Shankhpushpi
Kanphool or dandelion
Brahmi
Ashwagandha
In addition, herbs to treat sleep disturbances like Jatamansi, Sarpgandha, Brahmi and Jaiphal are also prescribed. Since most addicts have impaired liver function, herbs that improve liver function like Aloe Vera, Punarnava, Long pepper, Kutki, Tulsi are given to revive the liver.

Ayurvedic View on Alcohol and Nicotine De-addiction

A bad habit could range from smoking or drinking to knuckle breaking or nail biting. A bad habit is one that causes or is likely to cause you or the others in your life, harm. Here are eight steps that can help you break your bad habit:

Try to understand your habit: The most important thing to break a bad habit is to know it first. In case that some habit is hurting you then you certainly need to let go of it. You initially need to set your mind about bringing an end to that habit. It is also important to understand how this habit of yours is hurting you or the ones around you.
Change your thinking: Even when we get to know we have some unfortunate habit, more often than not we are not prepared to separate it since we have practised that habit since a long time and it is by all accounts intense to break that one. We have to change our reasoning about the habit and take a look at it in negative viewpoints since a thing having negative perspectives will be simpler to quit.
Begin small: In case that you have a negative behaviour pattern since quite a while then go slow to break it down in light of the fact that a bad habit is hard to separate at once. Try not to attempt to do everything at once since you would not have the capacity to do as such.
Make tiny improvements: Try not to make extreme improvements to your habit since it is your habit and it will some way or another takes its time to break. Rather make little improvements with the goal that it will not aggravate you and soon you will encounter a noteworthy change in your behaviour and afterwards you will separate the habit totally on a more lasting basis.
Change your environment: A few habits are built because of the environment we live in. The steady surrounding makes us construct that habit in a manner that it gets stronger day by day. So in case that you understand that some negative behaviour patterns have overtaken your life and are not going down, attempt to change your surroundings.
Keep a check: Simply going ahead to bring an end to any habit will not give you appropriate results. Keeping a survey helps you in checking on how much of your bad habit you have defeated and how far you are from breaking it completely.
Reward yourself: Offer yourself a reward each time you see that you have stopped behaving in a certain way, or practising a certain habit. This goes a long way in motivating the individual to strive towards that end goal of breaking the habit completely.

Want to Break a Bad Habit - 7 Steps You Must Follow!

If you are a heavy drinker and consume excess alcohol, you may face severe consequences related to short-term and long-term health. Alcohol has several negative impacts and affects on your heart. Although occasional drinking does not cause much harm, excess drinking may lead to many heart complications. There are chances of the development of cardiovascular diseases in an alcoholic person.
Alcohol affects the heart in several ways. Binge drinkers are more prone to face these complications. A person who drinks alcohol regularly, drinks very fast and drinks much more than the recommended consumption limit during a single session is called a binge drinker.

Here the ways in which alcohol affects your heart:

Alcohol weakens the heart muscles: Heavy drinking for a long span of time tends to weaken the heart muscles. A condition known alcoholic cardiomyopathy may be caused. When the heart gets weakened, proper contraction gets disrupted and the heart is unable to pump sufficient amount of blood. Due to this, a person may experience certain symptoms such as tiredness, irregular heart rhythm, shortness of breath and swelling of the feet and legs. This can also lead to a heart failure.
Alcohol affects your heart beat rate: Binge drinking and regular drinking over a long period of time may affect the rate of the heart beat or how quickly the heart beats. Alcohol may cause the heart to beat too fast, and irregular beating is observed. This is a condition known as arrhythmias, which may have grave consequences on your health. If you are not a regular drinker but drink too much in a day, you could face this condition.
Alcohol can lead to high blood pressure and also cause a stroke: Binge drinking leads to increased blood pressure, also known as hypertension. The blood vessels become stiff, and this causes the pressure to rise in the arteries and veins. Heavy consumption of alcohol may also trigger several stress hormones to be released, which cause a constriction in the blood vessels. This leads to increased blood pressure. Hypertension may lead to a heart attack or stroke.
In order to reduce the negative impacts of alcohol on your heart and overall health, you must practice drinking in moderation. You must not drink more than fourteen units of alcohol in a single week. Consume these fourteen units in three to four parts instead of consuming it all at once. You should give gaps and avoid regular drinking.

Alcohol - How It Affects Your Health?

In this fast-moving world, there is no room for self. Growth of IT firms and other long-hour demanding work has led to compromises in your lifestyle - long hours in front of computer, sleeplessness, late-night sleeping, quick bites, leaving us with emotions of anger, anxiety, stress and so on. This is a major reason why people today are hypertensive.

Diseases due to Hypertension: Tension and stress are the building blocks of numerous serious ailments like cardiovascular diseases, asthma, spondylitis (back pain) and grey hair. You may also suffer from gastritis leading to ulcer.

Natural ways to treat Hypertension : Ideally, tension and stress are not diseases. If you can control these, you can control the conditions that take root because of them. Naturopathic (or alternative medicine) treatments for tension and stress are most ideal.

Here are some natural ways to treat hypertension.



Sleep well: An adult should sleep for a minimum of 7-8 hours daily. Your body cells rejuvenate while you are in a relaxed state. Many jobs demand late-night work or night shift work. However, your body is meant to sleep early at night. Instead of working late night, you can start your work early.
Eat right: Stress leads to elevated levels of sugar in your body. Try to avoid sugary content food. Your body needs balanced diet of proteins, carbohydrates, less of fats, and more of vitamins and minerals. For proteins, eat fish, eggs or white meat. For vegetarians, you can have soy, cereals and protein drinks. Diet must include milk products like yoghurt, milk, vegetables rich in minerals and vitamins and roughage (salads).
Destressing exercises: Nowadays, most of the jobs demand sitting for long hours. Physical activity is one of the ways to de-stress your body. A 45-minute walk would also help. Alternatively, yoga or tai-chi type martial art helps to de-stress. Breathing techniques involved in meditation also play a vital role.
Anger management: Develop patience. That would automatically lead to anger management at your workplace as well as at home. Be a good listener. Laughter therapy also helps as it releases many happy hormones in the body.
Supplement for stress: This has to be the last tip when you do not perform the first four. Multivitamins containing vitamin B and minerals such as magnesium are recommended. You can count on certain herbs such as Ashwaganda, Ginseng, Rhodiola and St. John's Wort.
Despite following these tips, you may still face problems because every human is different and reaction to every remedy could be different. In such cases, approach for expert advice.

Naturopathic Treatment For Tension And Stress!

Have you ever noticed bar and clubs promoting energy drinks? You may have also bought energy drinks and alcohol, and tried mixing them. But what you don't probably know is consuming energy drinks with alcohol can be much riskier than drinking only alcohol. Since, very few people drink alcohol neat, a small shot of alcohol is usually mixed with juices, colas or more recently energy drinks to make a cocktail. While it is well-known fact that the sugar in these mixers is responsible for increasing the effect of alcohol on the body and weight gain associated with drinking, when energy drinks are mixed with alcohol, it can have an even more lethal effect on our bodies.

Studies show that this mix causes the brain to react in a similar way to how it behaves when in contact with cocaine. It can also cause permanent brain damage. This is because it stimulates the release of a protein cell known as FosB. This protein has the ability to permanently change the chemical connections inside the brain.

Some of the short-term effects of combining alcohol with energy drinks are:

Digestive troubles
Nausea
Loss of appetite
Depression
Hallucinations
Erratic sleep patterns
Violent behavior
Many of these effects can be a result of alcohol consumption as well and hence, it may not be attributed to the energy drinks being used as mixers. Regular consumption of such cocktails can increase your body s tolerance of this combination and make a person drink more. This can lead to long-term effects such as:

Malnutrition
Respiratory problems
Tooth decay and abcesses
Psychosis
Liver damage
Kidney troubles
Heart palpitations
Consuming alcohol tends to make a person feel sleepy and tired. However, when this alcohol is mixed with energy drinks, the caffeine in the energy drinks keep the person feeling energized and masks the effect of alcohol. This leads to a condition known as being  wide-awake drunk . In such a situation, the person begins to underestimate how much alcohol he or she is consuming. This creates a false sense of security and hampers with their judgement, balance and coordination. It also increases the risk of behaving erratically and getting into dangerous situations.

In addition to caffeine, energy drinks also have a high sugar content. A small can of energy drink can contain up to 30 grams of sugar. This is equivalent to about half the ideal amount of sugar one should consume in a day. The effect of consuming so much sugar is a fluctuation in blood sugar levels. If this fluctuation persists for a long time, it could lead to conditions such as diabetes and insulin resistance. Thus, along with understanding the ill effects of alcohol, it is also necessary to keep the effects of mixers in mind while concocting cocktails for your next weekend bash. 

Alcohol With Energy Drinks - Why It Should Never Be Mixed?

The World Health Organization defines Alcoholism as, chronic continual drinking, frequent episodes of intoxication, and preoccupation with alcohol, despite the adverse affects of it. It lays the perspective Alcoholics Anonymous (1939)-that alcoholism, characterized by the individual s loss of control over drinking and thus over his or her life, was a sickness -was carried into the scholarly literature in the 1950s in the form of the disease concept of alcoholism.

Alcoholism is on the rise as per the current global scenario. In fact, one of the main concerns after cigarette smoking is that of consuming excessive alcohol. Those who consume alcohol in an excessive quantity often create health hazards for themselves, and their behaviour makes it difficult for those who live in their immediate surroundings. For most people, a rehabilitation centre is the only option to treat alcoholism. But this is not so.

Homoeopathy too can effectively treat the problem of alcoholism. There are certain medicines which work wonders in getting you rid of this bad habit.

Nux Vomica: When your alcoholism is in its earliest stages, then it becomes easier to leave this addiction. For those people who have just started to fall prey to alcohol, Nux Vomica is a wonder medicine. It is administered for faster relief against your drinking problem. It starts showing its effects within a month s time.
Sulphur: Sulphur is a medicine which helps in curing many health issues. It is mostly prescribed to those who have started experiencing liver issues due to excessive drinking. One of the vital organs of the body, the liver, is affected when you drink excessively. Thus, to prevent degeneration of the liver, sulphur is usually prescribed.
Cannabis Indica: Marijuana is often treated as a medicinal plant. There are many extracts derived from this plant which is later on used to make many useful medicines. One such homoeopathic medicine is Cannabis Indica. It helps in not only detoxing the body against the ill effects of alcoholism but also helps in preventing associated symptoms to show up.
Natrum Mur: This medicine is derived from the extracts of what you know to be simple common salt. Once consumed it helps in blood cell production, cellular regulation, and albumin production. These help in coping up with extreme alcoholism. At times, alcoholism is triggered in people due to depression. Natrum Mur also helps in coping up with depression.
Avena Sativa: This is derived from the oat leaves. Just as oats themselves are considered to be one of the healthiest foods to consume, this medicine made from the oat leaves is no less. It helps to relax the senses and detoxifies the body against alcohol.
Acid Sulph.: A marvelous medicine if the patient has the family history of alcholism.
Quercus: Works wonderfully in mother tincture form.
Thus, these are some of the most important medicines that are administered on those who suffer from the problem of alcoholism. If you or any of your near ones have fallen prey to this habit, then it is recommended that you immediately take help of your homoeopathic practitioner to help you out of alcoholism.

Note: There are certain organizations that are actively helping people with alcholism and their families. A few are:

Brahmakumaris
Alcholic anonymus
Al-anon family group
Click, If you wish to consult for alcohol addiction and hangover symptoms.

Alcohol Addiction And Ways Homeopathy Can Help You Leaving It!

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