Menopause is a condition that marks the end of the menstrual cycle. It is a normal phenomenon that women experience with age. Menopause affects the bone health adversely. Bone health is directly tied to oestrogen, the hormone responsible for reproductive cycles, pain sensitivity. As a woman moves out of her fertile years there is an internal change in the reproductive system and the consequences can be seen and felt all over the body, including the bones.

The years just preceding menopause, with their hormonal fluctuations can set the stage for later health issues like bone weakening. As the oestrogen level drops, the bone density starts to decline which continues for a long period of time. The bone loss can become significant during perimenopause (the decades making up to menopause) and will speed up in the first few years of menopause.

The oestrogen level directly affects the process known as bone remodelling; the constant breakdown and the remodelling of the bone in the skeleton. With less oestrogen in the body cells called osteoclasts are able to absorb bone at a faster rate than osteoblasts (bone-building cells) are able to regenerate new bone. Thus the bone remodelling equation is no longer equal and the bone density continues to decline.

The osteoporosis risk after menopause is a serious one, yet so many women refuse to pay it much attention. Perhaps it s because the bone damage isn t visible, or that bone loss continues so gradually for so many years. While the bone loss cannot be completely halted, there is plenty that can be done to slow it down. Here are some ways to take care of your bone health before or after menopause.

Stay active: Adopting an active lifestyle after menopause helps in protecting the bones. It's recommended that adults between 19 to 64 years of age should do moderate to intense activity. This could include activities such as cycling or brisk walking. Sitting for long hours should be avoided. Weight-bearing exercises and resistance exercises are particularly important for improving bone strength and helping to prevent osteoporosis.
A balanced healthy diet: A healthy, balanced diet that includes calcium and vitamin D will help maintain healthy bones after the menopause. Good sources of calcium include green, leafy vegetables (but not spinach), nuts, seeds, dried fruit, tinned fish with the bones in, and dairy products like milk, yoghurt and cheese. Good food sources of vitamin D include oily fish, eggs, and fat spreads or breakfast cereals
Hormone replacement therapy: HRT can be an effective treatment for common menopausal symptoms like night sweats, sleep disturbance and achy joints. It works by replacing oestrogen, which naturally begins to lower post menopause. HRT can also help to maintain bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

Bone Health - Know How It Is Affected Post Menopause!

Just as children grow at different speeds, they respond to a speech therapist at different paces. Some children may need only one or two classes to master a sound, while others may need much longer. Some of the ways to make working with a speech therapist more productive are:

Have Clear Goals: When a speech therapist enters your family, the parents, therapist and child should have the same goals. Therapy would not help if the parents and therapists wanted to focus on different things. For example, the parents might be concerned with the child s vocabulary while the therapist may want to focus on articulations. Similarly, if the child does not understand the goal, he or she may not show much improvement. Ideally, a goal should be clear, measurable, realistic and be associated with a time frame. It should also be challenging but not out of reach.
Homework: A therapist has a limited amount of time to spend with the child. A majority of this time must be spent in learning something new each session. However, this will not be possible unless the child has made progress since the last class. Hence, it becomes important for the therapist to give the child homework and for the parents to oversee this. Video tutorials can be very helpful here. This helps parents know exactly what the child is supposed to practise.
Trust: A speech therapist may be an outsider to the family but he or she must be trusted to do their job in the way they think best. Very often, parents and therapists may not have the same views about how the child should be taught. Here, it is important to remember that the therapist is the expert and knows what he or she is doing. This is another reason why it is important to set clear goals together at the onset of therapy.
Speak Up: While the therapist may be an expert on how to build vocabulary and improve speech patterns, parents are experts on their child. Thus, it is important to communicate openly with the therapist. Answering therapist questions honestly can help him or her assess where the problem lies and in turn address it. Similarly, if you have questions, do not be afraid to speak to your therapist about them. Share the child s progress and changes that you have noted so that the therapist can adjust the lessons accordingly. 

Tips To Make The Speech Therapy More Effective!

While it's assumed that numerous eye injuries are inflicted at work, just about the same number of them may happen while at home. Luckily, most eye wounds are preventable. Find ways to prevent eye injuries, as the eyes are very sensitive and delicate.
Here is a list of some of the most common eye injuries and tips on how to prevent them:

1. A lot of eye injuries happen from dust particles entering the eyes, causing itching and burning sensation. Protective glasses should be worn when doing any kind of activity in a dusty area with flying particles.

2. Pencils, scissors, forks, knives and all similar sharp objects can cause a serious eye injury. Day to day household items like bungee cords, wire coat hangers, rubber bands and fishhooks are capable of causing eye injuries. You must always remain aware and super conscious while using such objects.

3. While performing activities such as dusting, sweeping or lawn mowing, make sure to protect your 
eyes well as dust is involved.

4. Children are very curious by nature. Thus, all hazardous stuff like fertilizers, acids should be kept away from their reach. These contain harmful chemicals, which may inflict fatal damage to the eyes.

5. Cooking powder and spices like chili powder can cause injury to the eye. Always wash your hands 
after using these items, so that you don't harm the eyes if you by chance rub them with your hands.

6. Precautions should be taken while dealing with heat or boiling water or oil. They may spill and cause damage to the eyes.

7. Secure floor coverings and railings. On the off chance that a kid or elderly man lives in your home, use a safety gate at the top and base of stairs, and consider covering sharp furniture edges and corners with a padding material.

8. While travelling in a car, abrupt jerking or breaks may cause the head to bump and cause injury to the eye. Always put on your seat belt and do not allow children to sit in the front of a car.

9. Many modern toys, which are very attractive have got sharp edges because of their fancy design. Abstain children from playing with these kinds of toys.

10.  Laser pointers, a common fun gadget for children is very harmful and causes permanent damage to the retina. Stay away from laser pointers.

11. Wear eye gear to protect your eyes during sports activities. Also wear goggles during swimming as chlorine in swimming pool water damages the eyes.

Eye injuries may happen out of nowhere. You must always remain alert to avoid eye injuries.

Most Common Eye Injuries That Happen and Prevention Tips

The immune systems in your body are always at work trying to fend of many of the attacks that happen on it every day. Although it is able to protect the body most of the time, sometimes it fails in doing so. While medicines can help to restore the balance, it is advisable to include certain food items in your diet, which boost the immune system naturally. Let's take a look at six vegetables which can help your immune system in getting supercharged:

Ginger - This food item is very good in regulating mobility within the gut and regulating bowel movement and is also known to relieve nausea, cramping and bloating. Ginger is also known to have many anti-inflammatory properties as well as being an antioxidant and antimicrobial. All of this makes ginger very good for the immune system.

Wheatgrass - One of the most densely packed green nutritional food ingredients when consumed in the form of a juice, it helps the liver by increasing its ability to flush out toxins. This results in an improved immune system. Wheatgrass is also rich in B complex vitamins, beta carotene, chlorophyll, magnesium, potassium and many other vital nutrients.

Garlic - This vegetable has been used for centuries in home remedies such as to lower blood pressure, prevent blood clots and many others. Garlic is also known to boost healthy cholesterol. Inclusion of garlic in your diet will not only boost your immune system but it also contains 'allicin', which is known to improve the health of your heart.

Papaya - An extremely good food for digestion as well as digestion problems, the extracted enzyme from this plant known as papain, is used in many medications. Papaya is full of beta-carotene that is very well known to be good for the health of tissue, skin and the eyes as well as boosting the immune system through the production of vitamin A within the body.

Carrots - This is one vegetable which has been encouraged to be included in diets as it contains copious amounts of beta carotene and is extremely good for the eyes as well as boosting the immune system.

Turmeric - Possibly the most talked about ingredient on this list in the last few years, it is known to have almost an unending list of health benefits. Turmeric has detoxifying properties as well as being anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and is great for digestion along with boosting the immune system.It is a rich source of minerals, such as Zinc, Iron, B group vitamins and Manganese, turmeric is also known to have cancer preventive properties.

Top 6 Vegetables that Supercharge your Immune System

Diabetes is caused in your body due to an insulin imbalance or improper functioning of insulin, and it can affect multiple parts of your body within a short time. Therefore, regular check-ups of your body are very essential to know if you have diabetes.

Once you find out that you have tested positive for the disease, you need to become even more thorough in your testing to find out if your blood sugar levels are rapidly fluctuating. If they get out of hand, they may cause medical emergencies that may be impossible for you to tackle alone at home.

Hence, daily monitoring of blood sugar is of great importance, and can be done in the following ways-

  Monitoring with a meter - In this rather simple but effective way, you have to draw blood from a small puncture on your skin made with the help of a needle or small pricking device. The blood is placed on a strip and then introduced on a testing meter, which displays accurately your blood sugar levels.

  Meters that monitor blood from several body parts - There are meters that monitor glucose levels in blood from several parts of the body. These parts include the base of the thumb, and the forearm too. This method of diagnosis is particularly helpful for those whose blood sugar levels constantly fluctuate, as this device provides an average of blood sugar levels from different parts of the body, as a composite whole.

  Continuous glucose monitoring systems - Known as interstitial glucose measuring devices popularly, they give results not as accurate as the other two devices, but still a fairly accurate estimate.

How to keep your sugar levels in constant control?

If your blood sugar levels are too high or too low, you have to bring them to normal via treatment, and if they are at a harmless level, you have to maintain it at that mark. There are several ways to maintain your sugar levels at acceptable rates. They are-

  Daily regulated exercise - Daily exercise dramatically helps your health if you have diabetes because it increases your insulin sensitivity and promotes better utilization of it in your body. Exercise is also helpful to guard you against other illnesses related to high bad cholesterol, or a weak immune system.

  A balanced, healthy diet - A balanced diet helps you keep your sugar levels in check while providing you with the requisite nutrients for making your body even healthier. Make sure to include an abundance of fresh fruits and green leafy vegetables in your diet, and cut down intake of fast, processed and extremely sugary foods/beverages.

  Drinking plenty of water - Drinking adequate water hydrates your body, and contributes to a healthy diet. It also reduces your risk of diabetes and guards you against diseases like gallbladder stones which are caused due to a lack of water in your body.

  Stay mentally sound and stress-free - Controlling your stress and anxiety levels can work wonders for your diabetes. If you make it a goal to stay stress-free about factors that are beyond your control, and be optimistic about life in general, it could work wonders for control of your diabetes.

Diabetes is a potentially life-threatening disease with a host of secondary complications. To avoid the worst of it, make sure you go for regular medical checks. If you do happen to be diagnosed with it, perform regular tests to check your levels, and take adequate measures to keep it under firm control.

Ways To Monitor Blood Sugar And Followup Care!

There are valves in the each of the four chambers of the heart. These valves make sure that blood flows in one direction only. The blood flows from the atria into the ventricles through the mitral and the tricuspid valves. The pulmonic and the aortic valves allow the blood to flow out of the ventricles. Valve problems occur when the normal functioning of the valve is impaired. 

Impaired valve function leads to blood flow obstruction, which in turn can lead to stenosis of the valve. This puts lot of strain on the heart muscles, forcing it to work harder. It may also lead to the blood flowing backwards through the valve and back into the heart.

The various causes of valvular heart disease are:

Valvular heart disease: If you are suffering from rheumatic fever, it may lead to valvular heart disease
Congenital heart disease: Congenital heart disease refers to various defects in the heart which are present since birth. In some cases, these defects may include being born with abnormal valves.
Heart attack: If you have suffered a heart attack, your heart muscles may be damaged or impaired.
Cardiomyopathy: This is a genetic disorder that is characterized by an inability of the heart to pump blood efficiently.
Age: Ageing may cause certain changes in the body that lead to valvular heart disease. 
Valvular heart disease is treated by various homeopathic remedies that do not have any side effect. It takes a holistic approach to healing the body as it gets to the root of the disease. The various homeopathic remedies for valvular heart disease are:

Cactus grandiflorus: This remedy is used in a number of heart complications such as stenosis of the valve. It helps in getting rid of the inflammation in the heart muscles, so that the heart can pump blood efficiently.
Digitalis: Digitalis is another remedy that helps in healing the muscles of the heart by regulating the pulse. 
Kalmia latifolia: Kalmia latifolia is a homeopathic remedy that is used in treating various complications of the heart. It also helps in symptoms of rheumatic fever that may lead to valvular heart disease.

Valvular Heart Disease - Homeopathy Medicines to Treat It?

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