7 dangerous things that smoking does to your skin

Most people think that having a smoking habit adversely affects only the lungs and the heart. But apart from known links to lung cancer and heart disorders, smoking also causes skin damage. The intensity of damage is directly proportional to the number of cigarettes one smokes in a day and the number of years one has been smoking for.

Here are 7 of the horrible things that smoking does to your skin

1. Premature ageing: the process of skin ageing is accelerated by a smoking habit. The chemicals that are ingested through the smoke cause your skin to age much faster, making it look loose, dull and coarse, with uneven colouring. Most smokers have a muted orange or grey tinge to their complexions.

2. Wrinkles and lines: the nicotine from smoke constricts blood vessels in the outer layers of the skin, thereby cutting off the supply of oxygen and nutrients. This causes the skin to develop visible fine lines and wrinkles at a faster rate.

3. Scarring and pigmentation: since blood is not flowing properly to the outer layers of the skin, it is more susceptible to broken capillaries and veins, which can cause dark scarring and pigmentation on the face and other areas.

4. Darkening of the lips: constant exposure to heat from smoking causes stark darkening and pigmentation in the lips, which also become dry and coarse.

5. Delayed wound healing: the presence of nicotine, tar and other chemicals in the blood causes cuts and wounds on the skin to heal at a much slower pace with an increased risk of infection, blood clot formation and death of skin tissue.

6. Increased risk of skin disease: smoking makes the skin prone to various diseases and conditions like psoriasis, which happen as nicotine adversely affects the body's immune system.

7. High chances of skin cancer: skin cancer and oral cancer are the two lesser known variants of the diseases that can be caused by smoking. Skin cancer is far more common among smokers than among non-smokers.

The harmful effects of smoking on the skin are not entirely discernible until after 10 years of prolonged smoking. Fortunately, your skin starts to heal itself when you kick the habit.

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Related Tip: E-cigarettes : Good Or Bad?

7 Dangerous Changes that Smoking Causes to Your SKIN

Top tips to help you fight anxiety

Anxiety is the latest problem affecting a majority of the population, owing to our hectic and fast-paced lifestyles. All of us are so busy in our lives that we forget to provide our mind and body with the basic care that they need in order to function effectively. Here are five useful tips to help you overcome anxiety, on a daily basis.

1. Maintain the right diet
Though it may sound like a cliche, maintaining a healthy diet on a regular basis is the key to beating anxiety. Try and consume food products rich in Vitamin b which is known to improve mental health; and Omega-3s which can effectively counter severe anxiety and depression.

2. Get adequate sleep
Not getting enough sleep not only affects your mind but has an adverse effect on your body as well. Even anxiety can result in irregular sleep patterns and thus ensure that in any situation, you manage to get six to seven hours of sleep on a daily basis.

3. Engage with people
Man is indeed a social animal. People make us happy. The hormone oxytocin significantly reduces anxiety levels and it is released during the process of socializing; thus it is essential to be in contact with your close group of people.

4. Keep your immediate environment clean
A cluttered home or workplace not only adds to physical clutter but contributes towards building up mental clutter as well. Spend a few minutes every day in keeping your immediate environment clean and organized. You are bound to feel calmer and more relaxed.

5. Indulge in breathing exercises
When your brain is tensed, your breathing pattern automatically becomes short and shallow. In order to send relaxing signals to your brain, try taking deep and long breaths and continue the process for a few minutes.

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5 Most Effective Ways To Drive Anxiety Out Of Your Life

Epilepsy is a disease that affects the brain's nerve cells and triggers the release of abnormal electrical signals. This can cause temporary malfunctioning of the other brain cells and result in seizures and sometimes loss of consciousness. Epilepsy can affect both children and adults.

Causes of Epilepsy

The cause of this condition isn t very evident; however, few causes of epileptic seizures to metion are brain tumours, injury, infections in the brain or birth defects. Some doctors believe that epilepsy is caused due to genetic mutations and is an outcome of abnormal activity of cells in the brain. Other causes for this condition can be alcohol or narcotics withdrawal and electrolyte problems.

 Symptoms

Repeated seizures

Impaired memory

Bouts of fainting

Short spans of blackout

Sudden bouts of blinking and chewing

Panic

Inappropriate repetitive movements

Types of Seizures
A seizure, also known as fit, is usually a brief episode characterised by uncontrollable jerking movement and loss of awareness due to abnormal neuronal activity in your brain. A collective occurrence of these seizures causes epilepsy.

 There are three types of seizures based on aetiology:

Idiopathic: This kind of seizure has no apparent cause.

Cryptogenic: The doctors believe that there is a cause for the seizure but cause cannot be detected.

Symptomatic: These seizures occur due to a reason, as a symptom of some neuro-medical condition.

Role of Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a form of healing based upon the principle of  Similia similibus curentur  or  like cures like . It was founded by a German doctor, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in 1810. Homoeopathy offers vast scope in the treatment of various illnesses, both acute and chronic including epilepsy. Homeopathy takes into account the entire person like the patients family history, past history, etc. Homoeopathic doctors study each case thoroughly, analyze and evaluate the symptoms and then prescribe the medicine.

Homeopaths treat the patient s mental, emotional and physical make-up i.e. the constitution. This is known as  constitutional treatment . Constitutional treatment treats the disease and removes it from its roots. The Constitutional method is employed in the treatment of epilepsy in Homoeopathy. This method is gives amazing results in many cases.

Homeopathy has immense scope in the treatment of Epilepsy. In fresh cases, where the child is new to epileptic treatment, homoeopathy can relieve complaints by giving  constitutional treatment .

In other cases where the child is already taking treatment, homoeopathy can taper off the doses gradually and thus treat the patient effectively. Thus, in both the cases, homoeopathic treatment is beneficial in treating epilepsy.

In either of the cases, a constitutional medicine is given to treat epilepsy. Constitutional treatment relieves the patient from seizures, convulsions, etc. Thus the child can attend school daily and concentrate on his studies. In about 1/3 cases of epilepsy, a surgery known as  seizure surgery  is performed. Regular constitutional treatment is very useful in such cases.

Homeopathic medicines are completely side-effect free and are not habit-forming. They can be taken by children, adults and even by pregnant women. They must be taken only after consultation from a homoeopathic practitioner.

Epilepsy - Causes, Symptoms & Homeopathic Treatment Of It!

Firstly, what you need to realise is that Alzheimer s is not dementia and the main point you need to remember about the difference between the two is that the former is a disease while the latter is a syndrome. Alzheimer s is a neurodegenerative disease, it breaks down the cognitive functions of the brain and reduces a person s ability to function properly. It s one of the foremost reasons for untimely senility in middle-aged to old-aged persons.

It can be a scary time for the patient themselves as well as for friends and family alike but fear not, there are ways to reduce the chances of suffering from this painful predicament. Here are a few easy hacks to keep in mind to stave off the risk of Alzheimer s:

Fix your diet: Cut down on saturated fats and construct a diet combining lots of healthy vitamin and mineral rich foods, fruits and vegetables. Vitamin E is essential as well as vitamin B12 which can also be taken in the form of supplements. Vitamin E can be found in foods like spinach and even nuts. Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago has, after a lot of research, developed the MIND and DASH diets. The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet collates portions of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet to create the perfect combination that has been shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimer s by 53 percent.
Exercise mental and physical: A sedentary lifestyle is one of the major causes of Alzheimer s because it leads to slower brain activity and an overall unhealthy lifestyle. To break out of this you need to regularly exercise and not just physical exercises but also mental exercises such as solving mental maths and crosswords and reading books and newspapers. There are a lot of apps concerning games that help boost brain activity on the market that can help as well. Physical exercise can include swimming, brisk walking, joking and even gardening.
Reduce stress: Stress proves to be a huge issue for the brain contributing to its damage by putting a lot of pressure on it. Try to relax more by improving your sleep cycle, resting as and when required, and not overworking yourself.
Aromatherapy: Essential oils have been shown to work wonders, by reducing stress and relaxing the mind. Lavender, rosemary, lemon and even orange are some great options you can try out. These oils can help rejuvenate damaged brain and nerve cells.
Meditation: Studies have shown that regular meditation helps boost grey matter in the brain, and along with yoga, keeps the minds and bodies of middle-aged people active and better focused contributing to the overall health of the brain.

Life Hacks! How To Beat Alzheimer's

If someone in your family or your partner is suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder, your mental health is at stake too. You will have to take care of yourself and your emotional needs first. Life can be frustrating for you all the time. But, you need to identify your  feel good  activities and take some time out of your daily life to relax and calm down. Remember, you can succeed in the critical task of appeasing or pleasing your dear one with BPD, only when you are at peace with yourself first. Destress yourself to fight back the depression or emotional drainage caused by handling a BPD patient.

Here are few things that can help you have a better life while being in a relationship with a person suffering from BPD:

1. Don t isolate yourself: You must be in touch with people you like to be with. You need emotional support from friends and family to deal with life. Spending some quality time with friends and family members can add little happiness to your life. It will boost up your energy level to fight back the dark side of life. You must remember that you have a life as well.

2. Take care of your health: Sometimes, relatives of BPD patients forget to take care of their physical health. They forget basic stuffs like having proper meals, exercising, etc just because they are caught-up in a stressful relationship. But, remember you can help your loved one better only when you are physically fit.

3. Manage stress: Don t get anxious or depressed with the ongoing stress in your life. It will only add to your existing problems. Keep your nerves cool to have a better life for yourself as well as your sweetheart with BPD.

4. Believe in the 3c s formula: Well, it is a formula recommended by most of the mental health practitioners. Don t blame yourself for the irrational behaviour of your friend or dear one. The patient with BPD is solely responsible for his or her destructive behaviour or abnormal outburst. You will have to remember these 3c s: I didn't cause it; I can't cure it; and I can't control it.

5. Careful communication: You have to be very careful while communicating with BPD patients. Don t argue or try to convince them, when they are already in a disturbed frame of mind or agitated. They might end up getting destructive. Listen to their words carefully and patiently. Occasional nodding in between a conversation is advisable to let them feel assured about the fact that they are being heard and understood.

Don t forget to acknowledge their feelings. It is also important that you stay calm when the patient is angry and has turned destructive.

How to Deal with a Person Suffering from Borderline Personality?

The World Health Organization defines Alcoholism as, chronic continual drinking, frequent episodes of intoxication, and preoccupation with alcohol, despite the adverse affects of it. It lays the perspective Alcoholics Anonymous (1939)-that alcoholism, characterized by the individual s loss of control over drinking and thus over his or her life, was a sickness -was carried into the scholarly literature in the 1950s in the form of the disease concept of alcoholism.

Alcoholism is on the rise as per the current global scenario. In fact, one of the main concerns after cigarette smoking is that of consuming excessive alcohol. Those who consume alcohol in an excessive quantity often create health hazards for themselves, and their behaviour makes it difficult for those who live in their immediate surroundings. For most people, a rehabilitation centre is the only option to treat alcoholism. But this is not so.

Homoeopathy too can effectively treat the problem of alcoholism. There are certain medicines which work wonders in getting you rid of this bad habit.

Nux Vomica: When your alcoholism is in its earliest stages, then it becomes easier to leave this addiction. For those people who have just started to fall prey to alcohol, Nux Vomica is a wonder medicine. It is administered for faster relief against your drinking problem. It starts showing its effects within a month s time.
Sulphur: Sulphur is a medicine which helps in curing many health issues. It is mostly prescribed to those who have started experiencing liver issues due to excessive drinking. One of the vital organs of the body, the liver, is affected when you drink excessively. Thus, to prevent degeneration of the liver, sulphur is usually prescribed.
Cannabis Indica: Marijuana is often treated as a medicinal plant. There are many extracts derived from this plant which is later on used to make many useful medicines. One such homoeopathic medicine is Cannabis Indica. It helps in not only detoxing the body against the ill effects of alcoholism but also helps in preventing associated symptoms to show up.
Natrum Mur: This medicine is derived from the extracts of what you know to be simple common salt. Once consumed it helps in blood cell production, cellular regulation, and albumin production. These help in coping up with extreme alcoholism. At times, alcoholism is triggered in people due to depression. Natrum Mur also helps in coping up with depression.
Avena Sativa: This is derived from the oat leaves. Just as oats themselves are considered to be one of the healthiest foods to consume, this medicine made from the oat leaves is no less. It helps to relax the senses and detoxifies the body against alcohol.
Acid Sulph.: A marvelous medicine if the patient has the family history of alcholism.
Quercus: Works wonderfully in mother tincture form.
Thus, these are some of the most important medicines that are administered on those who suffer from the problem of alcoholism. If you or any of your near ones have fallen prey to this habit, then it is recommended that you immediately take help of your homoeopathic practitioner to help you out of alcoholism.

Note: There are certain organizations that are actively helping people with alcholism and their families. A few are:

Brahmakumaris
Alcholic anonymus
Al-anon family group
Click, If you wish to consult for alcohol addiction and hangover symptoms.

Alcohol Addiction And Ways Homeopathy Can Help You Leaving It!

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