Over 60 million people around the world suffer from epilepsy. This can be described as a brain disorder that causes seizures. However, it is important to note that seizures are not synonymous with epilepsy. A patient may be diagnosed with epilepsy only if there have two or more seizures that are unrelated to other medical conditions. Here are five facts you should know about epilepsy.

An epileptic person can have many different types of seizures.
Seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain cells. There are many different types of seizures. Seizures can make a person make abnormal movements, make him or her stare into space, make him or her unable to speak or make them shake vigorously and fall to the ground. Some seizures are easy to identify while others may go unnoticed.

Epilepsy can be caused by many factors
There are a number of factors that can cause epilepsy. The most common amongst them are - deprivation of oxygen at the time of birth, brain infections, head injuries, stroke, neurological diseases, tumors and genetic disorders. Infections can also cause epilepsy. In some cases, the actual cause may be difficult to identify.

A healthy diet, protecting the head from trauma (by wearing a helmet) and exercising can help prevent epilepsy. Expectant mothers should also follow a healthy prenatal plan.

The effect of epilepsy is much more in women as compared to men
Both men and women are susceptible to epilepsy. However, epilepsy can be harder to manage in women. This is because of their hormone structure. Pregnancy can also make epilepsy hard to manage and the seizures could also affect the baby. Thus, it is essential for pregnant mothers with epilepsy to take extra precautions and follow their doctor s advice strictly.

Epilepsy can be treated
Though epilepsy cannot be cured, there are many ways of treating epilepsy. The best form of treatment depends on the patient s medical history and neurological exams. Medication to stop seizures is the most common form of treatment. A special diet may also be prescribed along with this. In some cases, surgery may also be advised. Nerve stimulation may also be used to treat this condition.

Epilepsy is not contagious
Anyone can suffer from epilepsy but it cannot be transferred from one person to another. Thus, if you see someone having a stroke, you must immediately try to help them without worrying about your own health.

Epilepsy - 5 Common Facts About It!

A lot of smokers now are well aware of the dangers of smoking, but yet they find it hard to quit this habit. In fact, even repeated attempts to quit smoking fail after a few days as they tend to give in to a variety of withdrawal symptoms. In case you are searching for a permanent solution to de-focus and avoid tobacco intake, yoga is the way to venture out of the smoke and free yourself of the addiction.

Compelling well-being programs that plan to improve people and bring back their focus on things that help them lead a solid and happy life can be sought. In this manner, their friends and families get a chance to inhale fresh air as well. Yoga is one such measure which can be used.

Here are a couple of yoga poses that are helpful in getting rid of tobacco addiction:

Kapal bhati pranayama (skull shining breathing procedure): This asana tends to enhance the blood flow, improve the sensory system, restore brain cells and quiet the mind. This pranayama likewise clears the nadis (the energy channels) and fights the temptation of smoking.
Nadi shodhan pranayama (alternate nostril breathing procedure): Discharge accumulated stress, quiet your brain, sanitise and adjust your naadis (unobtrusive energy channels) with this pranayama. The nadi shodhan pranayama works effectively for some respiratory problems and helps you cope with your addiction of tobacco.
Bhujanagasana (cobra posture): The cobra posture improves blood circulation and expands your abdomen. It lessens exhaustion and is additionally useful for people with respiratory illnesses. This yoga acts as a stress reliever and minimises the desire of smoking.
Setu bandhasana (bridge posture): The bridge posture opens up the lungs and enhances the supply of oxygen to the body. It additionally extends different parts of the body, quiets the mind, diminishes tension, depression and stress, which keeps you far from smoking.
Shishuasana (child posture): The child posture unwinds the body, quiets down the nervous system and eases the body from stress.
Trikonasana (triangle posture): The triangle posture extends and strengthens different parts of the body. This yoga pose is an extremely powerful physical and mental balance for the body. It also diminishes nervousness and stress, and helps you fight the desire of tobacco.
Sarvangasana (bear stand): The shoulder stand supplies the mind with more blood and also calms it down. It additionally mitigates stress and misery, thereby killing the desire of smoking.
Shavasana (corpse posture): The corpse stance should be performed last as it releases the body into a profound, reflective condition of rest and alleviates tension. This yoga posture restores the body and diminishes stress and tension.
Yoga is a very beneficial form of releasing stress and tension as well as your addictions. It takes a long time to show results but the results are long-lasting and highly effective.

Tobacco - Can Yoga Help You Quit it?

Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a type of neurological and developmental disorder. Children are the ones primarily affected by this type of disorder. Children suffering from autism usually face problems in communication or social interaction.

According to a report in 2014 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1 in 59 children are suffering from ASD. However, according to the prediction of MIT researchers, by the year 2025, nearly one in two children will be diagnosed with ASD in the USA. The incidence and prevalence of ASD has been increasing phenomenally worldwide.

These increasing estimates cannot be ignored and there is a dire need for a solution to cure Autism. There are many treatments and therapies available in the field of medicine. However, to reach all communities that suffer from Autism, there is a need for a "solution" that can be easily accessible and help in limiting the symptoms of Autism.

This is where technology works brilliantly.

How does technology help in curing autism?

Using technology to cure or help in dealing with Autism is one of the most effective Argument and Alternative Communication (AAC) strategies. Let s explore how technology impacts the quality of life, development of social skills and relationships, and educational access of an autistic child.

Here are some of the ways one can use technology to help autistic children.

Apps for Autism Solution:

There are many apps out there on both Google Play Store and App Store, which help parents to deal with their autistic child. These apps are blessing for the parents of children with Autism. These apps help parents access scientifically proven Autism treatments that are already working and effective for healing Autism permanently. These apps directly deliver the solution to parents of children who are suffering from Autism. These apps mainly target two factors:  diagnosis  and  treatment .

With the help of these apps, parents of autistic children can easily access the diagnosis and treatment methods of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Most of such apps provide a survey about an autistic child. On completion of the survey, which hardly takes 1-3 minutes, parents receive results and information about Autism solutions. Parents can explore the provided solutions and choose the one that is best suited for the child.

Autism Success Stories at ALEXA:

Amazon Alexa has also proven to be a boon for parents dealing with Autistic kids. There are many Autism related stories on Alexa. One can listen to stories of other patients and learn how they cure the condition to help an autistic child. Listen Autism Success Stories for free by just downloading them from the Alexa Store on Amazon. These success stories will help an autistic child to learn the following skills:

Non-Verbal autistic children can learn to speak with these stories in 10 sessions or less

Seizure disorder can be cured without medications

Sensory processing issues will disappear

Gut issues will also disappear

These stories will help to establish a healthy immune system

Improve the cognitive abilities of the child

These stories will help a child to socialize with ease

Children will become independent with the help of these stories

Take Away:

These are some of the Alternative methods for treating Autism. These technologies are very effective and will help a person to take a step forward in curing and removing Autism symptoms from the child or loved ones. However, it is always advisable to personally consult a neurologist as every child is different.

Autism & Technology - What Should You Know?

When it comes to the brain and the iq, is bigger the better? does size really matter? is there really a connection between the size of your brain and intelligence? with the help of findings by neurologists 
And scientists, we seek to find out!

1. Ailments and the brain: scientists have found that children with autism have a brain that has grown in a disproportionate manner in the very first year of their life. This prevents the child from making connections with normal behaviour. On the other hand, children and adolescents who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or adhd have shown signs of having a much smaller brain size. Many scientists have shown that the size of the brain shrinks as we age, and this does not have any visible effect on our cognitive abilities.

2. It's all relative: the size of the brain does not really have a bearing on the way a person's cognition gets shaped. Even large mammals like elephants and whales are finally hunted and tamed by humans who have smaller brains in comparison. The brain is made up of billions of neurons which need to function properly. It may be seen that scientists consider the brain mass in relation with the rest of the body so as to speculate about the cognitive abilities of the person. Why is this required? large animals need a well functioning and proportionate brain size to control and run their organs with proper cognition for satisfactory results, which is what we humans seem to have done.

3. Neanderthal brains: historically, the earliest man or the neanderthals are said to have had larger brains than we do. These people are believed to have brains that are at least 10% larger than the brains that we have in our modern times. The shape of their brain was different too. They were also heavily muscled people which had a bearing on the size and shape of the brain and bodies as well as the lean tissue within the brain. They also survived very successfully for a period of over 200, 000 years, which obviously points to some form of elevated cognition, as per many scientists.

4. Animals: while animals with small brains like lizards and reptiles do not perform too well on iq tests, the animals with bigger brains like elephants and dolphins perform much better. But the medium sized brains of monkeys, lemurs and other animals are said to perform in the best manner. The correlation between the body size and the brain does not seem to hold good here, as per various researches.

So the verdict as per medical science and research stands divided!

Is There an Association Between Brain Size and Intelligence?

We all have mood swings but not all mood swings have the same intensity. People who have extreme mood swings ranging from depression to manic highs are said to be suffering from bipolar disorder. These extreme moods are known as episodes and usually, last for a few days or even a few weeks. A person suffering from bipolar disorder could have an episode several times a year. This is a very common psychological problem and can affect both children and adults. Though it cannot be cured, this disease can be managed with medication.

There are no known causes for bipolar disorder but genetics may play an important role in triggering Bipolar Disorder. Hence, if a parent or sibling suffers from this condition, you have a risk of developing it as well. An imbalance in the neurotransmitters in the brain may also play a part in the development of this condition. Stress or traumatic events like the loss of a loved one can also increase your risk of suffering from this condition. Given that mood swings affect almost each one of us, bipolar disorder can be difficult to diagnose. Some of the things to look out for are:

Change in self-esteem
Unusual talkativeness or quietness
Being increasingly prone to distractions
Decreased need for sleep
Agitation
Recklessness in terms of spending decisions, relationships etc
It must be kept in mind that a person must display at least 4 of the above symptoms simultaneously to be diagnosed as bipolar. Also, none of these symptoms should be a result or side effect of any kind of medication, drugs, alcohol or other intoxicants.

There are four main types of bipolar disorder:

Bipolar I: In such cases, the person has at least one episode of elevated moods and associated abnormal behaviour in his or her life. This may be preceded or followed by depressive episodes.
Bipolar II: In these cases, the person must have suffered from at least one depressive episode. It is very similar to bipolar I except that in bipolar II the highs never reach the manic stage.
Rapid Cycling: Some people can have 4 or more manic and depressive episodes a year. In such cases, they are said to be rapid cycling. This condition affects 10-20% of bipolar cases.
Mixed Bipolar: Usually, bipolar patients show mood swings that alternate between manic and depressive moods. However, sometimes a person may experience both elation and depression simultaneously or in rapid succession of each other. These cases are known as mixed bipolar.
Once diagnosed, bipolar disorder can be managed with a combination of medication and psychotherapy. In some cases, electroconvulsive therapy may also be needed.

All About Bipolar Disorder

Anger is an emotion found in every human being. There is nothing wrong with being angry. However, if it gets out of hand there might be serious consequences. Knowing a few things about anger management might help the next time you are struggling to manage anger. 

The Wrong Approach
Before knowing, what are the right things to do, it is necessary to know what doesn t work well. This will give a better insight on anger management. 

Often, we think suppressing anger might be the right thing to do. But, it is not. Trying not to react to a situation and keeping it under wraps, might affect your health and can even be the root cause of heart disease. However, suppressing it often lessens the intensity of the anger.
Just like suppressing it is not a good idea, venting it out completely is not the right approach as well. Venting might help you to cool down faster later on, but initially, it might hurt the other person and also have a negative impact on health. Venting anger occasionally will also make the person aggressive in nature.
Thinking or using words like always, never, should/shouldn t, must/mustn t do not usually help. Thinking about  he should never talk to me like that  or  they are always being unfair to me , brings about negativity and doesn t help in calming down.
The Right Approach

Counting to 10, the age old approach to anger management often helps in cooling down and giving a clear perspective. When we are angry, we end up saying and doing things we don t mean to. Counting gives us some time and helps us calm down a bit.
Breathe slowly when you are angry, say experts.  Instead of talking or reacting to the situation, just breathe in and out slowly. When you breathe out more, your body will calm down and make you relax.
Talk to someone who understands you when you are angry. Instead of venting out or suppressing it, talk it out with a friend or a family member. Tell them your feelings and why you are angry. This will help you a lot in relaxing. It works as a counselling session.
To manage anger, in the long run, one should always lead a healthy lifestyle. It means not just having a healthy diet, but also having proper sleep, not being stressed about anything, doing exercise, etc. 
Doing something creative often takes your mind away from angry feelings. Join a dance class, an art workshop, start keeping a journal, it will definitely help in the long run.
Leave the place immediately for few moments and drink water slowly when angry. Don't prolong the anger, come back and start conversation normally.

Anger Management - What Works and What Doesn't

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