You may think that it is just a harmless drink or two at the end of the day to help you relax. it's just a few drinks when you get together with friends. or it's just that you need to get rid of the office stress. We all need to catch a break sometimes, which makes our favorite brand of drink our best friend. Trouble starts when 'a drink or two' moves to a level where you can't hold the drink anymore. It affects your ability to think straight and take decisions that you may regret in retrospect. Alcoholism not only has serious health consequences but also can ruin your life and relationships. Don't tread down the path of self destruction, or this is what you'll find:
1.        Conflict: It is not a coincidence that fights are common when one or both partners are caught up with alcohol abuse. It is said that if there is too much alcohol in your system, it hampers with your ability to make rational decisions. It allows you to become inconsiderate about others, and give more importance your addiction over their requirements. It, to an extent, numbs you to what others feel, and makes you drink even more.
2.        Financial loss: Alcohol costs money. And the more you spend to keep up with your addiction, the more money flows out of your monthly household expenses, monthly savings and retirement plans. And this money literally goes down the drain. Like any other addiction, once you start alcohol abuse, you need it everyday. Drinking may go on to impact your ability to hold on to your job as no one will eventually want to hire someone who has alcohol on their breath at 9 am during client meetings. Alcohol is a strict restriction in certain professions where you may put other people at risk. At the very best, you'll be left with a warning. At the worst, you'll lose your job and end up with no work and no money to support your addiction.
3.        Accident prone: In 2014, 9,967 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 53 minutes. This may sound only like a statistic to you - until you speak to the families who lost their loved ones or have to see them suffer through loss of limbs or brain function to bear lifelong suffering. And as far as you are concerned, you may end up seeing the wrong end of a prison. Such things have a profound impact on your relationship - many of which fail to last through the ordeal. 
4.        Infidelity: You've seen it a thousand times in movies - which actually might get reflected in reality, if you wake up next to someone whose name you don't know. 
5.        Infertility: Alcohols and babies don't mix. Too much alcohol intake can stop women from making and keeping a baby. 
6.        Divorce: An alcoholic husband or wife is a valid ground of mental trauma applicable in a divorce. 

6 Ways How Alcohol Abuse Can Ruin Your Relationship

Most people will give you a blatant No. And they are quite right to do so. But if you have been a habitual offender who can't unwind without their drink, pregnancy is going to be a big problem. So does the rule stand in all cases? What if you drank when you didn't know you were pregnant yet? What if you had a light drink here and there, will it literally spell disaster? Let's find out.

Contradictory advice everywhere: Most doctors will advice you to stay away completely from alcohol as soon as that first positive emerges in your test. Others may give you a little leeway and let you have an occasional drink. There are friends who'll confess to have cheated during their pregnancy and snuck in a beer or two and say that their kids turned out just fine. There are other friends will scorn on you for even thinking such a thing. Same goes for your relatives. Like all things in pregnancy, random advice will just not work.

How much can you drink? Let's assume that you are confident nothing will happen and want to be adventurous and give it a cautious try. Danish researchers have some good news for you. Some studies have shown that low to moderate consumption of alcohol does not harm the baby. In fact, in 2012, Danish researchers released a highly publicized study that found no major problems in children below 5 years whose mothers had consumed 1- 8 alcoholic drinks a week during pregnancy.

Unfortunately, not all research is made equal. With pregnancy, each mother, each child and progression of each pregnancy is different. It really has to be on a case by case basis and nothing can be taken on face value. Most people will still advise you to completely go off alcohol as there is 'no safe' amount during pregnancy. Some women have a larger quantity of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. If a woman with lower levels of this enzyme drinks alcohol, it is more likely to harm her unborn child as the alcohol will remain in her bloodstream longer.

How alcohol can affect your child?

A number of disorders that can affect your child when in the womb and even after because of alcohol consumption. These disorders are collectively called 'Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder'. It is characterized by increased risk in miscarriage and stillbirth. It can also result in the baby having low birth weight and increase problems with learning, speech, attention span, language and hyperactivity. Alcohol consumption may also affect girl child and a baby boy differently. While both may turn out to have aggressive and delinquent behaviour, girls are more likely to develop mental health problems too.

If you are unable to give up on alcohol, you need to immediately get professional help to overcome your addiction. Also note that the term 'non-alcoholic' beverage is misleading as they can contain trace amounts of it. Consult a doctor today on which drinks are safe for you.

Alcohol in Pregnancy: Is it Safe?

Effects of Alcohol on Mental Health

Alcohol consumption is a common tool which is generally used by people in order to relax, calm down or temporarily change the way they think. People often use it also to hide their depression or anxiety or other such mental conditions. Alcohol can temporarily boost your mood, but along with that, it can also give you long term mental problems. Some of the common effects of alcohol on your mental state are enlisted below.

Has an impact on your brain chemistry - The human brain functions on the basis of the balance of various kinds of chemicals excreted by the brain. Alcohol, if consumed in large amounts frequently can turn out to be a depressant and can change the signals that your brain transmits, hence causing undesirable mental effects like anxiousness, depression or aggressiveness.

Anxiety and stress - People usually tend to take a drink after a hectic day so that they can relax and calm down their minds. But if you are frequently becoming dependent on alcohol to relax your mind, then it can be extremely dangerous. This happens because alcohol tends to interfere with the neurotransmitters in your brain exposing you to developing anxiety and stress.

Depression - If you are resorting to regular and frequent drinking, then you are also lowering the level of serotonin inside your body. Serotonin is a chemical in your brain that helps to regulate your mood and kill depression-related thoughts and feelings. This depression can also affect your relationships in an adverse manner.

Memory damage - Alcohol can also affect your memory in more ways than you can imagine. Alcohol consumption generally leads to your brain not recording information on a regular basis. This is the reason why people tend to forget whatever they say or do once they are under the influence of a heavy alcohol dosage.



Effects of Alcohol on Mental Health

Back pain can take away all of your energy and stop you from doing your daily chores. Therefore, it is very important that you get the right kind of treatment. Ayurveda has proven to be a very crucial player in treating lower back pain.

The following solutions diminish the Vata dosha, which is responsible for the lower back pain:

Remain warm: One of the fundamental characteristics of Vata dosha is that it is cool. That is the reason, at whatever point you come in contact with something cold or even consume cold food items or beverages, your lower back pain somehow spikes up. During winters, this pain becomes excruciating and keeps you from doing your everyday activities. Therefore, it is very important for you to stay warm. For that, you can either put on a warm belt or get a warm balm massages on your lower back.
Lessen your intake of extremely impactful flavours: Consuming a lot of extreme flavours in your food, for example, red and green chillies and wasabi can have an extremely drying impact on the body. Since dryness is another of the primary characteristics of Vata dosha, it gets expanded with drying substances, and this can lead to constipation in your body. This increases the lower back pain.
Eat warm foods: Devouring frosty foods and beverages cause an increase in V;ata dosha,k which leads to a lot of pain. Coldness makes your lower back tightened and causes certain body parts and areas to clog. Whereas, the fitting amount of warmth gives relieve and allows smooth bowel movement in the body and helps them remain open with the goal that we can finally dispose of the processed food. This also helps relieve the pain that comes from constipation.
Practice padahastasana: Padahastasana (leaning forward-overlay stance) is an incredible Yoga posture for lower back pain specifically on the grounds that it permits the Vata dosha to stream all through the body, wiping out the blockage of the stool-conveying channels that causes both constipation and lower back pain.
Oil your body: Ayurveda shows how stress, tension, exhaustion, and tiredness are all expansions of the Vata dosha, and a lot of collected development of Vata dosha leads to early maturing, a lot of pain in different parts of the body, particularly the lower back. Therefore, oiling the body can help unclog all the parts in the body and increase the blood flow.
Drink Bishop's weed seed tea: Bishop s weed seeds (called Ajwain seeds in Hindi) can be found in practically any grocery or departmental store and many health and clinical stores as well. This Ayurvedic flavour is very useful for pain and in addition constipation. It can be securely taken by anyone.
Kati Vasti: Kati Vasti is a miraculous Ayurvedic treatment very effective for various ailments connecting to the lower back and spine. The treatment involves retention of specially prepared warm medicated oil over the lower back or other parts of the spine for a certain period, to tackle all types of backpain, sciatica, spondylosis, and also to cure disc prolapse and spinal dislocations.
Cold/Heat therapy: Cold therapy can help reduce inflammation, muscle spasm, and pain. Cold therapy may be recommended immediately following a sprain or strain. Apply cold to your back using cold packs, ice cubes, iced towels/compresses, or take a cool bath.

Lower Back Pain - How Ayurveda Can Help You Get Relief?

Drinking too much alcohol has its effects and these are manifested morning after, called as a hangover. Although it affects different people differently, anxiety, dizziness, headache, sensitivity, fatigue and accelerated heart beat are common symptoms.

Here are 5 easy ways to get rid of hangover-

1) Hydrate: Since alcohol causes dehydration, it becomes imperative to drink lots of water to rehydrate your body. It dilutes the toxins left in your body. You can also add electrolyte replenishing sports drinks. Avoid Tea/Coffee or other dehydrating beverages.

2) Go Lemons: Lemons help in reducing effects such as dizziness, muscle pain, sensitivity to light and sound. It also rebalances the body by controlling the blood sugar level and adjusting the pH level. Add Honey helps counter the side effects too.

3) Have Tomato Juice:  Tomato Juice contains fructose, a type of sugar that supplements elimination of alcohol from the body quickly. Tomato is rich in mineral, vitamins and enzymes that help the body in recovering.

4) Eat Banana:  excessive drinking makes you lose lots of potassium. Having bananas replenishes potassium quickly and also restores other electrolytes. Bananas calm the stomach and boost your energy levels.

5) Have Toast &amp; Egg: Having few slices of toast with an egg can help in more ways than one. The carbohydrates in toast reverse the depletion. Carbon in the burnt part of the toast acts like a filter by removing impurities. Egg provides cysteine that breaks alcohol down and reduces toxins in the body.

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Overcome Hangovers - 5 Best Ways

You might be feeling that spending time on any social media network is a simple way to pass time and is a common habit. But a recent study by University of Chicago Booth School of Business says that social networking sites can be more addictive, than alcohol. The desire to consume alcohol can be controlled and turned down, but the desire to check Facebook is simply uncontrollable for most people, and it s a serious addiction.

About the study
The ground breaking study was done on 250 people in and around Germany aged between 18 and 85 years of age. They were sent messages at specific intervals to report their desires and cravings. It is found that most people had the desire to sleep and have sex during the day that they were able to control. But the desire for checking Facebook was much higher.

Reasons for Facebook addiction

One of the major reasons is that availability of Facebook is much easier and higher than alcohol availability.
Also, it is thought that the cost of checking Facebook is much less than consuming some amount of alcohol on a regular basis.
Even if a man wants to resist his desire, but due to easy availability and lesser cost, he is prone to use it again and again.
Alcohol consumption is prohibited in public and during office hours in many countries. But checking Facebook updates have no restrictions. People can check it whenever they feel the desire.
The most shocking part is the urges drove the people to such an extent, that they couldn t even resist themselves even if they wanted to do so.
Effects of Facebook addiction

Drainage of time: No matter how good we feel while checking Facebook updates, can you deny that it s simply a waste of time?
Self esteem reduced: When you see your peers enjoying their life with flying colors, no wonder you will feel depressed. But we are reluctant to believe this fact, that nobody shows his tragic part of life on Facebook. So, whom you think is the happiest person in the world, may be the saddest and is drowned in his own miseries.
Remedy of this so called addiction
The study says that when we are much worn out, we are unable to control our desire and our will power is depleted.

So, if you find yourself posting your status on Facebook at the midnight instead of sleeping, then it is high time you should try to come out of this addiction and give yourself a better life and health.

Facebook Vs Alcohol - Which Is More Addictive?

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