The consumption of tobacco by humans began many years ago and has taken many forms ranging from rolled tobacco leaves and pipes to cigarettes. Smoking is a habit that is easy to start, but is difficult to quit. Smoking has both short term effects such as bad breath, tooth and gum loss, premature ageing and weakened immune system and long term effects that impair the respiratory system and cardiovascular system. 

Smoking can cause and worsen diseases like cancer of lungs, throat, mouth, kidneys and blood and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Smokers also have a higher risk of conditions such as dementia, cataract, pulmonary fibrosis, psoriasis, osteoporosis and optic neuropathy. Smoking can also affect fertility, cause erectile disorders and speed up the onset of menopause.

It is said that a smoker s life expectancy is 10 years less than that of a non-smoker. There are three main components of cigarette smoke that can harm the body.

Nicotine: Nicotine is what makes cigarettes addictive and make smoking a habit. In the beginning, it may stimulate the brain but in the long run, your body can begin to crave for nicotine. If this craving is not fulfilled, it can cause irritability, restlessness, headaches and shortened attention span.
Tar: Tar in cigarettes contains many harmful chemicals and is deposited in the lungs. From here it enters the blood vessels and is carried to other parts of the body. In many ways, tar is akin to a poison.
Carbon monoxide: Carbon monoxide affects the blood s capacity to transport oxygen from the heart to the rest of the body. In the case of pregnant women, carbon monoxide can also reduce the amount of oxygen available to the growing foetus and hence cause complications in pregnancy. Children born to smokers are also said to have an increased risk of suffering from congenital defects and conditions like asthma.
The good news is that quitting it is possible and its benefits can be experienced right away. Within the first 72 hours of quitting, the bronchial tubes begin to open up and breathing becomes easier. If you stop smoking before the age of 50, you can reduce your risk of dying from smoking related complications by 50%. The most important part of quitting nicotine is your own determination and willpower. Nicotine replacement therapy in the form of gums, patches, lozenges and inhalers can also help deal with nicotine withdrawal symptoms and make the process easier.

Smoking - A Slow Poison?

5 awesome Bill Gates personality traits you can help your child pick up

Do you want to know what makes Bill Gates not just a mega-successful businessman but also a great human being? Well apart from outstanding business chops and an IQ of 160 of course. It is his attitude to life in general. If you want to see your child touch the peak of success personally and professionally, the apple of your eye should have certain integral personality traits. Here’s how you can effectively imbibe them in him/her. And there’s no better day to get started than today, the Microsoft founder’s Birthday!

1. Make your child a fighter.
We’ve often heard Bill Gates exhorting people to not give up despite the odds against them. “Life is not fair, get used to it” is his golden mantra. When your child seems down and beaten, always be there to support and encourage him, just like Gates’ parents were there to nurture his dream of computer programming from their club’s funds.

2. Inculcate traits of sensitivity and warmth.
A life lesson Gates champions is that of giving back to the society through his notable charitable endeavours such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So how do you teach your child to realise his dream in this highly competitive world without losing his compassion? The answer is simple; encourage your child to perform small, daily acts of kindness like donating part of his pocket money, helping an elderly to cross the road or feeding the poor.

3. ‘No’ to shortcuts. ‘yes’ to patience and honesty.
Bill Gates is a strong believer of hard work. He’ll tell you that you need to work hard to realise your dream with shortcuts being a no-go. If your child is tempted to indulge in shortcuts, do not hesitate to gently admonish him. To be patient and honest consistently is hard even for us adults. Nevertheless, make yourself a role model for your child.

4. Stay humble.
One of the reasons behind the immense success of Microsoft’s founder is that he sees great opportunities even in the smallest and lowliest of work. “Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity” He’s famously been quoted time and again. If you want your child to climb the ladders of success like this monumental man encourage him to get his hands dirty. You could begin with getting him to help out in household chores to get your point across.

5. Learn to learn from your mistakes.
The man of wisdom strongly advises to teach your child to learn from his mistakes. Whenever your child does something wrong, give him some time and space to understand his mistakes so that the lessons learnt remain with him for life. If the lesson turns out to be positive then the mistake made was worth it. In time, your little tyke will no longer depend on you or others to correct his mistakes. We’ll be looking at a self-sufficient person in his own right.

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Happy Birthday, Bill Gates! Top 5 Gates’ personality traits your child can pick up

Speech therapy helps in improving the speech, understanding the language skills, and also help in communicating in non-verbal ways such as listening and taking turns. Speech therapy treats various kinds of communication and swallowing problems.

Children with Cleft Palate are diagnosed with an opening in the upper tissue palate in the mouth. This condition causes Velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) which results in excessive airflow from the nose while speaking. Although it can be corrected with surgery, the patient will still be affected by VPD.

Speech therapists help in this condition by assisting the patient with speech and language skills. The speech therapy for such a patient can be categorized as auditory feedback and articulation practice.

Auditory Feedback

Before involving the patient with any speech therapy, it is essential for the patient to understand the difference between normal voice and nasal voice output.

For this purpose, the child is instructed to use a tube to listen to the voice of the normal person. To understand the difference, one end of the tube is then held near the ear of the child and the other is held near his nasal and then he is instructed to make sounds so that he understands the nasal voice.

After this understanding, the different approaches to speech therapy starts.

Articulation Practice

This is usually where speech therapy begins. In this practice, the different type of condition is understood that relates to different speech organs. The understanding of different vowels, consonants and related sounds is taught to the child for making the speaking sound less nasal.

Some of the methods for achieving these sounds are:

Pharyngeal Plosives: This sound is produced when the tongue is moving backward. The practice of making  ng  sound, and dropping the tongue and producing  k  sound.

Pharyngeal fricatives: When the tongue retracts but is not able to make contact with the pharyngeal wall is when this sound is produced. The speech therapists make the child learn the techniques of making sounds of  t ,  ts ,  ch , or  sh , and provide feedback for learning the proper positioning of the tongue.

Nasal Plosives: This sound usually occurs when the tongue is positioned improperly and it obstructs the vocal tract. A speech therapist may make the child yawn so that the back of the tongue is pushed down, and feel as the mouth stretches.

Palatal-Dorsal Productions: It occurs due to the malocclusion of the teeth. Practicing sounds like  t ,  d ,  n ,  k ,  g , and  ng  often helps in such condition.

Take Away
Cleft Palate is generally developed due to improper growth while the child was in the womb. The difficulty of producing proper sounds when there is excessive airflow in the mouth can be overcome by training and practicing certain sounds, as instructed by a speech therapist.

 Cleft Palate - How Efficient Is Speech Therapy?

Anger and temperamental issues are a very common part of a person s identity. It is there from birth and is thought to mirror the hereditary qualities. It can be permanently present or could be triggered in certain situations. Some people have a hot temperament than others. However, there are a few ways with which temperamental issues can be dealt with effectively. These are as follows:

Psychotherapy

Individual or group therapy sessions can be useful. A commonly utilised sort of treatment, psychological behavioural treatment treats people or groups with discontinuous unstable issues.
Distinguish which circumstances or practices may trigger a forceful reaction
Figure out how to overcome anger and control wrong reactions utilising procedures, for example, relaxing preparing, re-thinking circumstances (psychological rebuilding) and learning adapting attitudes.
Medicine
Distinctive types of medications may help in the treatment of temperamentally unstable issues. These medicines may incorporate certain antidepressants (particularly specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs), anticonvulsant mind-set stabilisers or different medications if necessary.

Controlling your outrage
Some portion of your treatment may include:

Unlearning issue conduct.
Adapting admirably to anger.
Rehearsing the systems you learn in treatment to help you perceive what triggers your fits and outrage and how to react in ways that work for you rather than against you.
Building up an arrangement. Work with your specialist to build up an arrangement of activity for when you feel yourself getting irate. For instance, in case that you think you may lose control; try to expel yourself from that circumstance. Go for a walk or call a trusted friend to attempt to quiet down.
Dodging liquor and other substance use. These substances can build forcefulness and the danger of harmful temperamental outrages.
Consider taking these actions before a crisis emerges:

Call someone at home or someone you trust for help and guidance.
Keep all guns away or covered up. Try not to give the abuser the key or use the gun.
Gather a crisis pack that includes things you will require when you leave, for example, additional garments, keys, individual papers, medicines and cash. Conceal it or leave the pack with a trusted friend or neighbour. Try to go away from the situation so hat you do not do something regrettable.
Educate a trusted neighbour or friend regarding your condition so that he or she can call for help if needed.
Know where you will go and how you will arrive back in case that you feel angry, regardless of the possibility that it implies you need to leave during the night. You might need to work on escaping your home securely.
Decide on a code word or visual flag that implies you require the police and tell it to your friends, family or your children.

Temperamental Issues - How To Deal With Them Effectively?

When the vocal cords suffer from the accumulation of non-cancerous and abnormal growth, these are known as vocal cord lesions. These lesions usually cause a variety of voice and speech related problems. These are also known as singer s nodules and nodes, which may be caused by pressure, stress and stretching of the vocal cords. Women between the age of 20 to 50 are more prone to this condition. Here is everything you need to know about the types, causes and treatment of these lesions.

Types: There are three kinds of vocal cord lesions, that is nodules, polyps and cysts. A vocal cord polyps may be caused on one side of the vocal cords and may also lead to many disturbances in one s voice. Another type of vocal cord lesions includes a mass of tissue that may manifest in the sac or membranes around the vocal cord. This cyst can be on the surface of the vocal cord or in the ligaments of the vocal cord. This may require surgical removal as well as voice therapy thereafter. Nodules are the third type of lesion that may form in the vocal folds. These are basically calluses that may disappear once the pressure and overuse of the vocal cords diminish.

Causes: These lesions are usually benign or non-cancerous growths that may be caused due to a variety of reasons. Screaming and overuse of vocal cords are few of the most common reasons for the eruption of such lesions. The heavy use of one s voice can cause quite a bit of trauma to the vocal cords and may lead to problems including lesions and disturbances in one s voice. Conditions like reflux and allergic reactions may also cause vocal cord lesions as a side effect.

Symptoms: From hoarseness to pain, there are a number of symptoms caused by this condition. A low pitch and difficulty while speaking are also some of the common symptoms of this condition. Patients suffering from the growth of such lesions will also find themselves making an effort in order to speak normally and to be heard. Constant throat clearing may be required as well.

Treatment: Besides giving your voice a rest and gargling warm saline water with salt, one can also have the condition checked by the doctor so as to ascertain whether or not it is a serious lesion that may require surgical removal and voice therapy. The doctor will usually prescribe medicines in order to deal with any underlying conditions that may have caused the lesions, including allergic reactions, reflux, sinusitis and other such ailments. One will also have to stop smoking so that there is less chemical pressure on the vocal cord. Finally, one will have to go through voice therapy for more serious lesions.

Vocal Cord Lesions - Causes + Treatment

Are you confused about whether you are a sex addict or not? Well, loving to have sex and being a sex addict are two completely different things and if you want to know the difference then you must look out for the signs of sex addiction.

Signs of Sex Addiction

One of the common signs of sex addiction is the urge to masturbate at most times. And it means literally at all times. If you find yourself doing it before going out to work, after lunch or even before sleep, then you might be a sex addict.
If you feel a constant crisis in your life, this could also be a symbol of being a sex addict. If you are constantly changing your sex partners and still find yourself in a crisis, then something is really not ok.
Thirdly, if you care only about yourself when it comes to sex, it is another sign that you are a sex addict. You might be a caring person in other cases, but when it comes to sex, you tend to become selfish and start exploiting others.
If you are having sex without the consent of your partner and do not think about the consequences attached with it, it is a sign that you are a sex addict.
How Can You Deal With Sex Addiction?
Sex addiction might seem impossible to deal with but there are ways which can help you out.

The first step towards dealing with sex addiction is that you should know the difference between healthy and unhealthy sex. You should be able to differentiate between the both.
Avoid the places that can trigger your addiction towards sex. You are the only person who will know your triggers. If it is a bar or a pub, then avoid going to those places, instead go on a dinner with your loved ones.
Try engaging in activities that interest you as this can help you get over the urge to have sex. These will also help you stay active and be more productive.
Cutting ties with contacts that help you fulfill your sexual desires can be a great way to manage sex addiction.
Always remember that your loved ones are always there for you. Confide in a close friend regarding your addiction and he or she will help you out. Sex addiction is not hard to overcome if you have the willpower to do so.
If the above-mentioned tips do not help, seek assistance from a professional.

Sex Addiction Symptoms - How Can They Be Dealt With?

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