A genetic disorder, Down s Syndrome is caused due to extra genetic material during cell division. It is the faulty arrangement of chromosomes which results in the Down s Syndrome. It approximately affects one in 800 births around the world, across a wide spectrum of race, gender, region, and socio-economy. Since it is a naturally occurring condition whose underlying cause cannot be controlled or regulated, there is nothing one can do to undo this condition. Instead, people with Down s Syndrome, because they are generally socially and intellectually underdeveloped, are equipped with learnings and interventions related to life-skills from very early in life and striving towards making them independent. Various therapies can be incorporated for improving the overall quality of life of the people born with Down s Syndrome.

Occupational Therapy and Down s Syndrome -

Development of motor skills is delayed in the children born with Down s Syndrome. This is due to their certain physical characteristics like low muscle tone (hypotonia), loose ligaments or ligamentous laxity making the joints extra flexible, and decreased strength.

The aim of the Occupational Therapy for children born with Down s Syndrome is to facilitate or enable the development of movement patterns optimally, as against accelerating the rate of development which is a general assumption. It helps in achieving developmental milestones in an efficient manner. Occupational Therapy hence helps children in developing a good or correct posture, aligning their foot properly for proper balance and movement, improving their walking pattern, and helping them generally through developing fine and gross motor skills for carrying out daily activities.

Moreover, Occupational Therapy helps in teaching self-care skills like getting dressed, eating, toileting writing, using a computer, etc. For teenagers, Occupational Therapy helps in identifying suitable skills, careers, jobs, and vocations to match with strengths, capabilities, and interests. Sensory integration activities help in teaching the child to produce an appropriate response to any situation, and in developing attention and concentration.

Occupational Therapy Assessment -

Children with Down s Syndrome have delayed gross and fine motor skills, and lack basic cognitive and communication skills among many other issues they face due to their condition. Occupational Therapy addresses all these shortcomings of development for comprehensive management of the disease.

Occupational Therapy checks the sensorimotor components like muscular tone, strength, endurance, coordination, balance, range of motion, hand function, and posture. It also checks the perceptual and cognitive components like memory, attention, figure-ground, and directionality. For checking social skills, areas like peer relationship, verbal and non- verbal communication, and group interaction are assessed.

According to the assessment results, intervention strategies and fun activities are devised for the child to promote optimal function of motor senses.

Take Away -

Down s Syndrome cannot be cured but can be managed through methods like Occupational Therapy which helps in teaching basic life skills for making the patients confident and independent to face the world on their own.

Down Syndrome - Know How Occupational Therapy Can Help!

Many people enjoy having alcohol on the weekends after long working hours and hectic weekdays. There are many people who consume alcohol to deal with stress or simply because they enjoy it. But consuming alcohol very often, especially every day can lead to many health issues. Medical experts call alcohol a toxin that affects each and every organ of the consumer s body and disturb its processing. The individual s body has to go through the recovery process every time after its consumption. Giving up alcohol is not easy, especially for the people who tend to consume it every day. Almost everyone is aware of how alcohol affects our mind and body but not everyone is aware of what happens when they give it up only if for a month or even lessen their consumption.

What Happens to Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol?

One might not believe how fast his/ her system improves when he/ she stops drinking. They can actually see and feel the changes in their life pattern.

Quitting alcohol helps in losing weight as the body can now focus on burning other extra calories.

Drinking hinders one s sleeping pattern. Alcohol drops the production of melatonin hormone, responsible for controlling the sleep pattern, which affects the quality of one s sleep and escalates the production of adenosine in the body. This disturbance in the chemical production within the body affects the sleeping pattern. The alcohol consumer may suddenly wake up in the night or feel sleepy at work. Giving up alcohol helps one get better sleep making their days more productive and restful.

The liver is responsible to clean the toxins out of the body, including alcohol. Drinking alcohol affects the liver severely over time. It can cause many liver issues such as fatty liver disease, liver inflammation, cirrhosis, and liver failure. Intake of alcohol can disturb the digestive system as well by overproducing the gastric acid and damaging the gastrointestinal tract. Giving up on alcohol can improve digestion and organ functions.

Alcohol leads to diuresis (increased urine production). Consumption of alcohol drop the level of Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH) that leads to the increased urine production and less water holding capacity in the body. This can eventually lead to kidney ailments, even its failure. This causes dehydration. When a person quits or decreases the amount of alcohol, his/her body restores the level of ADH to its natural level and the kidneys resume to function in its natural state. This helps the body retain hydration that improves the overall health, including the proper pumping of blood and better kidney function.

Drinking alcohol on a regular basis affects the immune system, making the body more prone to diseases. It can also cause inflammation in the body that can lead to many other health problems. Quitting alcohol can decrease and reverse inflammation and thus improves and strengthens the complete immune system. How One Can Quit Drinking Alcohol? It is not easy for an individual to quit drinking alcohol but a sincere effort is highly desirable.

The very first step towards quitting alcohol is to know that it is unhealthy and can lead to various health issues and even death.

One should then know the benefits of quitting alcohol consumption.

Next step requires determination to reduce the alcohol consumption in unusual quantity, reducing the days of drinking, avoiding parties, and gathering that includes alcohol and to follow upon these processes sincerely.

Another important step is to reduce and avoid interaction with friends and people who consume alcohol, at least till one has not taken a commendable control over his/her drinking habit.

One should not feel ashamed of taking the decision of quitting alcohol and should not hide the fact from his/her friends and family so that they could not force him/her for a drink.

One can go to the rehabilitation centers if it is difficult for him/her to control his/her drinking habits.
Takeaway

Alcohol might help people deal with stress but it also makes them feel more fatigued and affects their overall health. Quitting alcohol is not easy for someone who is habitual of consuming it every other day. However, stopping its consumption even for a small time period can have visible health improvements. One can quit alcohol by reducing its intake over a week or month but if he/she finds it difficult to have control over their desire for consuming alcohol. He/She can also take help from doctors and medical experts who work in the areas of helping people trying to quit alcohol. One should not assume that once he/she gets the taste and habit of alcohol, it is impossible to quit. It is nothing but all about their will power and effort in the desired direction.

Giving Up Alcohol For Just A Month Has Amazing benefits!

Saif and Kareena show you how to bridge the age gap perfectly in relationships

There?s a lot to learn from the love story of the 10th nawab of Pataudi, Saif Ali Khan, and the Bollywood actress, Kareena Kapoor. Despite the 13 year age gap between them, the two have a very strong and mature relationship. So what keeps the two sticking together through thick and thin? here?s how saif and Kareena have bridged the age gap to emerge as a powerful couple.

1. They know that age is just a number

For saif and kareena the 13-year difference is not an issue. They know that what matters, in the end, is not how old you are but the kind of personality you have. Both saif and kareena have a mature personality, and they gel perfectly well with each other. This is the reason why they are able to connect and maintain a strong and healthy relationship.

2. They care about each other?s family

Kareena has a very strong relationship with Sharmila Tagore, Saif?s mother. Not only that, Kareena has also made sure she is on good terms with saif?s children from his previous marriage as well. Accepting each other?s family and past is a very important step in making a relationship work. Not only that, their families act as a support group for them, which helps them going on despite the difference of years between them.

3. They share common interests

Another thing that makes their relationship work is the fact that they share several common interests, which help them in coming closer and making their bond stronger. Saif and Kareena often go on trips together, attend cricket matches together and make it a point to go out for regular romantic dinner dates.

4. They respect each others? views 

Nothing could be more important in a relationship than respecting each other?s decisions. The pataudi family tradition had women changing to Islam after marriage, with even Sharmila Tagore converting after her marriage. However, Kareena did not want to, and Saif fully supported her decision. Even their marriage ceremony was a mishmash of their differing religions. So, if you want your relationship to work, be very open and accepting of each other?s differences and views.


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Saif and Kareena Show How to Bridge the Age Gap Perfectly in Relationships


A new relationship involves a lot of weighing from both the sides. Learn what really matters to win people over in this post. When you want to build a new relationship, whether it is for work, business, personal, marriage, friendship etc there are several factors that help take off and bloom the relationship. These factors are broadly the same in different age groups as far as psychological impact matters. Some of the most important influential factors from a psychological point of view have been highlighted here. 

1. Presentation- When you want to draw someone into relationship with you for any reason, it is important that you present yourself at you best levels be it physical or mental. Like they say that the first impression is the best impression, your display of you strengths creates an impression that helps people decide what they want to do with you. This doesn't mean you should hide all your weaknesses but highlighting your strengths is as important as making your weaknesses clear. Always learn to put your best foot forward as sometimes that itself may not be enough. You can't really send your neighbour for your job interview!! There are many instances when people send different photographs in their applications and different ones appear for the exams. This is mere cheating and not winning.

2. Plan – Let people know what you want to do with them and what they can they can do with you. No one can say they don’t have a plan. There is always some plan. Knowing it strengthens why you want to have that relationship in the first place. Otherwise it's like something which is there but you can never want to do anything with! When you are honest with your plans and they workout as you described it, it creates confidence in relationship or else it is destroyed forever. You can cheat a person with your plans once, not forever.

3. Possibilities- Will this relationship bring me trouble? Obviously nobody wants to get into a relationship with anybody that brings them trouble be it physical or mental. Next question is whether it will benefit me? Small or big depends on person's needs. Some relationships neither bring us trouble nor benefits us, such relationships are better than the ones which can cause harm.

4. Potential – Question. Does this relationship you are trying to develop have any possibilities of growth a few or many years down the line. Obviously we have a lot of friends who wither by passing of time. Does this relationship have an expiry date irrespective of how well or bad it goes? Like when we join college we know for sure that the friends will be with us till the duration of the course and that's it. We will know that if we study together it will help us achieve great grades in college and hence a great life later. These kind of growth possibilities or possibilities of deterioration are important to be well aware of and will naturally decide the course of relationships.

5. Progress – No matter what our initial assessments are, how the relationships helps us fare in the outside world will ultimately decide the future of any relationship. Loss, sorrow, tragedy, degradation in any aspect of life, insults, injury, loss of health etc will never help any relationship continue or last.

6. Partnerships – When we want to build a relationship with someone, the best way to do it is to obviously partner with that person in as many activities as possible. The more interested a person is the more activities that person will involve you in and try to do it with you. This type of partnership activities, be it spending a few hours in the evening, or a few minutes on phone, or an association of months or years are a foolproof way to show you are interested. Conversely a person who doesn't partner with you in anything is extremely unlikely to ever have any sort of relationship with you. Partnership in activities is the only way to show and know that you are interested or the other person is interested respectively. After all chasing the moon, stars and rainbow are activities of people who don’t realize its out of their reach. Sensible people are busy with what their eyes see, hands feel, ears listen, tongue tastes and thinking perceives as appropriate.

7. Positioning attitudes- As a tree bends with the winds to prevent from cracking, we all have to be flexible with our attitudes towards each other. Being too rigid about our protocol on how relationships should run irrespective of the reality and circumstances of the person we are having a relationship with is naturally going to break relationships. After all a doctor who heals and prevents all illnesses is better than a doctor who abuses his patients for falling ill but never does anything for them. Eg: You get bed and good food in a hotel as well as at your home. A hotel will provide food only on payment of money, but family will provide it whenever your hungry. Hence hotels can never expect the same emotions as family can, and this is as natural as it should be. Hence be careful what you want from a relationship. Whether you want to be treated as a hotel or family is entirely how you play yourself with others. After all only families can expect loyalty not hotels.

8. Politeness- In any relationship, many years down the line, what our long term memory retains is how comfortable we were in that relationship. Even if we profit from a particular relationship, the fact that it shook us mentally and emotionally will never allow us to go back or retain that relationship. Life is short and the only thing that matters is to spend it comfortably. Not destroy our peace for some benefit that destroys our peace of mind.

9. Personation- While sending a representative of your organization for a client meeting may work in business, you cant really send a representative to meet you wife or kids at home. In personal relationship, lack of your physical presence obviously means that you don’t have time for them. In any relationship, individuality matters a lot. Just imagine, if all actors acted exactly the same in movies, why would you prefer any particular one over the other as your favourite? The nuances and differences in our personalities are what makes us all unique. We are not robots from a particular brand to behave exactly the same way. If a person in a relationship doesn't sense your individuality you are wasting their time by trying to have a relationship with them, especially a personal one.

10. Positive reinforcement- When we get into a relationship, it is important that we feel good about ourselves and what we are doing. If you feel like a shoplifter entering a shop, you will not feel good about that relationship. When a shopkeeper welcomes us, shows us his products, tells us their details and provides all the explanations on how we will be well off with the product, provides his guarantee for it, confirms its essence, many people buy it even if they don’t compulsively need it. It’s the same in relationships. On the same side if a shopkeeper is arrogant, avoidant, abusive, insulting etc you are very unlikely to buy anything in that shop because you are not sure that the shopkeeper means any good and will be happy with the shopkeeper s product. The experience of buying is as important as the product we buy. Nobody is happy about something they got when they weren't treated the right way or is interested in retaining it when they don’t get good service for it.

11. Persistence on all Ps – Obviously when we want relationships to last, we need to be persistent on all the above P's. Otherwise it wont take long for a relationship to be counted in “once upon a time”!! A simple conversation even if for a few minutes every now and then when you need it may make it seem that you are still there for a person. Without even that people may even find it hard to remember that they even had something to do with you sometime before keeping in mind the the numerous activities we involve daily to maintain our lifestyles.

“KNOWING IS DOING AND NOT KNOWING IS UNDOING EVEN IF DOING!”

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How To Win Over New Relationships

Epilepsy is a form of chronic disorder and it is characterized by recurrent seizures. The episodes of epileptic seizures may differ from person to person. These seizures could be a result of a genetic disorder or a result of trauma or stroke. During a seizure, a patient may also experience symptoms of neurological disorders and sometimes lose consciousness.

Medical help for epilepsy
Epilepsy itself cannot be cured using medication, but proper medicines help in eliminating recurrent seizures. These medicines stabilize the electrical activity within the brain preventing seizures.

How effective is the medication for epilepsy?
The success of controlling seizures using medicines depends on the type and severity of epilepsy. Medicines for epilepsy are usually very effective and may fully keep seizures under control. However, controlling seizures caused due to brain problems may be more difficult. Usually, epilepsy medicines can control seizures for a long period of time when they are taken regularly.

When is medical help needed?
The decision about when to start medicines for epilepsy is a tricky one. This is because a first seizure cannot confirm whether a person has an on-going epilepsy problem. A second seizure may occur after many years or may not happen at all. Prediction of seizures is also quite difficult.

The severity of seizures also indicates when to start medicines for treatment. In case a first seizure is quite severe, medication should be started at once. Some people have very mild seizures even though they may be recurring in nature, and medication can be avoided in this situation.

The decision of starting medication will vary from case to case and in most cases, medications may be prudent after the first seizure itself. You should always consult a doctor to know when you need to start taking medicines to treat the condition.

For making the most out of the medicines to control seizures, you should follow certain steps:

You must take medications exactly as your doctor has prescribed.
Before switching to generic versions of your medicines or before taking other prescribed medicines, you must consult your doctor.
You should never stop taking the medicines.
In case you experience enhanced depression, mood swings and suicidal thoughts, you should talk to your doctor immediately.
In case you have the migraine, you should let your doctor know so that he can prescribe you anti-epileptic medicines, which also prevent migraines.
Medicines cannot treat the underlying cause of epilepsy, but these help in controlling seizures and this is the most common symptom of epilepsy. Medication should be started at a proper time and must be continued without stopping.

Epilepsy - When To Seek Medical Help?

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental and emotional condition that is characterised by a heavily distorted thought process as well as hallucinations and even extreme fear that borders on paranoia. Let us find out more about this debilitating disease:

Causes:
1. Genetics: genetic factors play an important role in the development of schizophrenia.
2. Environment: possible environmental factors include obstetric complications, the mother's exposure to influenza during pregnancy or starvation. It has also been suggested that stress, trauma even migration can lead to the emergence of schizophrenia. 
3. Neurodevelopmental factors: schizophrenia appears to be a neurodevelopmental disorder. That is changes that cause the illness have been occurring from the earliest stages of development even in utero, and may continue to influence the development of the brain over the first 25 years of life. 

Symptoms: 
This disease has a variety of symptoms include cognitive and emotional ones that can vary in the degree and severity. One of the most common symptoms included hallucinations and delusions where the patient may end up imagining things that do not really exist. The patient may also be gripped by sudden and crippling fear like paranoia, which can be debilitating as far as everyday functioning of the person goes. The symptoms can also interfere with the way a person deals with situations and life skills on a cognitive basis. Withdrawal and hopelessness are also a part of this disease.

Treatment: 
The earliest signs and symptoms must be referred to a psychiatrist. The treatment involves the management of the case of an individual basis along with psychological rehabilitation programs and inclusion of the patient in self-help groups. Housing and employment programs must also be availed so as to keep the patient busy. Also, behaviour therapy will be required in such cases. The mode of counselling should usually be on a one on one basis, although many doctors also suggest that group therapy can help in showing examples of progress so as to encourage the patient to change and get a new lease of life.

Schizophrenia: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

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