If not for Edward Jenner, millions would have lost their lives to several diseases. The discovery of smallpox vaccination in the last leg of the 18th century marked the beginning of a new chapter of vaccination and became a lifesaver for the human race from fatal and limiting diseases like smallpox, polio, tetanus, rotavirus, etc.

World Immunization Day, observed each year on November 10, is celebrated to increase the awareness on getting vaccinations in time to protect individuals against preventable diseases. 

Immunization is very important to help create resistance and to prevent your body from getting infected with a number of diseases. Timely administration of vaccine can help protect both children and adults from major diseases. 

Why must you get vaccinated? Is it really important?
Yes, getting vaccinated is indeed important. It helps the body stimulate its own immune system to protect against subsequent infections and also prevents them from spreading through any form of contact.  Vaccination is more important for children because the immune system of a child developed through breastfeeding starts to diminish, once the development cycle of the new immune system begins.

Vaccinations are highly cost-effective and easy to access. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), timely vaccination has helped prevent up to three million deaths per year, but still, there are almost 19 million infants who are not given timely vaccinations.

Vaccination in India
The Universal Immunization Program (UIP) of India is one of the largest in the world in terms of the amount of vaccine given, the geographical area covered, and the number of people who have benefited from the program. The program has been in effect for more than 30 years. However, due to a lack of awareness among citizens, it has only been able to reach out to two-thirds of children all over the country. 

We should seek to achieve complete immunization of not only children but also of adults. Under the Mission Indradhanush, which was launched by the government in 2014, the program allowed all children of up to 24 months of age and pregnant women to get free vaccinations. 

Important vaccinations for children
The Indian Academy of Pediatrics recommends several vaccinations to be administered from 0 months to 10 years of age, the important ones being for polio, tetanus, rotavirus, typhoid, chickenpox, and MMR amongst others. It is essential for the parents to follow the immunization schedule and have the baby vaccinated against preventable diseases.

Vaccinations for adults
Vaccination is not just for children, but also for adults. All adults between the age of 20 and 30 should get a screening done for major preventable diseases like influenza, Tetanus, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B. An influenza injection should be administered once a year while a tetanus injection needs to be administered once every 10 years. 

Hepatitis A and B injections need to be administered during one's childhood. However, if adults aged above 19 and up to 49 years do not have any documentation of vaccination, it is strongly advised to take two doses of Hepatitis A and three doses of Hepatitis B.

Prevention is better than cure, and the most important gift that you can give your child and to yourself is good health. On this day, let's be aware of the importance of vaccination, and spread the same. Get vaccinated, stay healthy, and happy! 

World Immunization Day 2017 - Why Immunization Is Important?

If you are looking for an effective immunity boost in your body, you should choose Ayurveda and undertake ayurvedic procedures and remedies. Good health, according to Ayurveda, involves balancing of your doshas such as vata, pitta and kapha and making sure that your agni or digestive system is working smoothly. There are several Ayurvedic ways using which you will be able to boost your body s immune system and its capability.

They are as follows:

Keep your immune system in proper balance by eating proper food: A weakened immune system makes you prone to all sorts of illnesses and diseases. In case the immune system becomes overactive, it targets your body s own tissues, confusing them for foreign invaders and attacks them. Your diet is very important for balancing this fighting response within your body. If your body gets the right nutrients and eliminates toxins effectively, the immune system gets strengthened. You should consume leafy vegetables, whole grain, nuts, legumes and highly pigmented food.

Detox: According to Ayurveda, ama is a primary factor, which leads to the development of diseases. Ama is the name of stored toxins in Sanskrit language and if your body has unhealthy ama, an environment is created where invaders thrive. Ama may occur due to both mental and physical indigestion. Ama and indigestion prevent essential nutrients from reaching your tissues, which weaken your immune function. You need to detoxify your body at regular intervals if you have unhealthy eating habits or get exposed to harmful environmental toxins.

Keep your agni strong: The digestive system or agni is very important for your health and it highly influences your immunity and immune system capability. The ability of digestion, assimilation and absorption of nutrients by the body also determines your immune strength. If your agni gets impaired because of an imbalance within the tridosha, your metabolism is affected, which weakens the immune system and body s natural resistance. Eating food items which are harmful for the digestive system leads to excess ama formation. A toxic environment is created in the body. This factor interferes with the natural intelligence of every cell which is encoded with the will of living healthy and working as a whole, together. Ayurveda aims at restoring this intelligence factor. You can boost your agni by consuming hot water and ginger tea regularly.

Yoga and meditations are important for boosting immunity, according to Ayurvedic traditions. Yoga and meditation help in reducing stress and positively affect your immune system.

Immunity - How Ayurveda Can Help You Restore it?

As indicated by Ayurveda, good digestion, solid  agni  (the metabolic flame), quality functioning of the liver and an adjusted endocrine framework result in strong immunity. Immunity of the human body is said to be associated to an entity called  ojas  which is believed to be the subtle and positive essence of  kapha  an aspect which provides the body with vigour, strength, immunity and vitality. The general notion is that stronger the Agni, healthier the  ojas , although other factors play a major role too. Therefore, it becomes important to protect your  ojas . Protection of 'ojas' is possible when you are able to live in the present with pure and complete awareness. A number of ways to promote  ojas  and thereby, develop your immunity are listed below:

Diet: Agni is bolstered by a dietary routine that minimizes refined sugars, stimulants and processed foods. The focus must be shifted to consumption of whole and healthy foods while maintaining a proper schedule. Inclusion of garlic, ginger, black pepper, long pepper, cinnamon, asafoetida in the diet is advised as it destroys poisons and bad bacteria, kindles Agni, promotes normal body temperature maintenance and eliminates the extra kapha.
Get adequate sleep: It is proven that sleep deprivation in humans can cause a total loss of the immune functions of the body. Thus it becomes mandatory to adopt a balanced sleeping schedule where the minimum duration to be regularly maintained is 8 hours.
Exercise: Appropriate exercise discharges collected strain, moves stagnant emotional and mental energy, enhances circulation, encourages proper elimination, improves digestion, supports sound sleep and promotes relaxation in the body. All these contribute to a healthy maintenance of the immune system. Adversely, improper exercise can prove to be damaging.
Meditation and yoga: The different types of Ayurvedic practices, each having a different set of benefits, are advised to be adapted so that you can sustain immunity. Some of these practices include yoga, pranayama, meditation, etc.
Herbal support: Different types of herbs in the Ayurvedic tradition, each having an affinity for a certain type of tissue, are capable of supporting the immune system. The advisable herbal supports include chyavanprash, turmeric, ginger, Tulsi, Shatavatri, Ashwagandha, turmeric, tulsi, trifla, giloy, Bronchial Support Herbal Syrup, Immune Support tablets, etc.
Regular detoxification: Regular detoxification (by Panchkarma procedures) of body as advised in Ayurveda , keeps basic body doshas ( Vats, pitta, kapha) in balance.
Rejuvenation therapy- After detoxification certain ayurvedic drugs, herbs are given for a long duration for rejuvenation, longevity of life, immunity boosting. It also prevents and cure diseases.

How Ayurveda Helps in Boosting Your General Immunity?

The immune system within your body is what protects you from all the attacks of various microbes from the world outside. However, the immune system itself can face problems and can defend the body only so much. Thus it is wise to add some homeopathic medicines and help the immune system fight the possible intruders better. Let's have a look at some of them:

Gelsemium: this medication is extracted from the vine gelsemium sempervirens, and is known as a very effective remedy when you have flu like symptoms with the cold such as, exhaustion, body ache and fever.
Arsenicum album: a very well known remedy for food poisoning as well as other digestive disorders, arsenicum album can be very effective in treating a wide variety of stomach related illnesses caused by the reaction to foreign microbes.
Oscillococcinum: this medication contains trace amounts of duck liver and heart and is known to be a good immune booster. Effective in the cases of cold and flu like symptoms, oscillococcinum can effectively treat fever with flu and other symptoms, although it may take a bit of time for it start acting. It is thus best to consult with your homeopathic doctor before starting a course.
Allium cepa: if you have flu like symptoms with teary eyes and nasal congestion, allium cepa is a very good remedy. You have to take a few doses before the symptoms start subsiding. One dose contains three to five pellets and you might have to take about two to three doses daily for a couple of days for the symptoms to subside.
Combination medications: there are multiple medical combinations, which can help you boost your immunity as well. Consult your homeopathic doctor to get the best combination for your specific condition. Some of these combinations are:
Calcarea carbonica 30-1 dose, phosphorus - 1 dose, lycopodium 30-1 dose: this combination is very effective in treating sensitive colds where fever may or may not exist but causes extreme nasal blockages.
Lycopodium 30, sabadilla 30: this combination is very effective when the cold and nasal blockages are due to pollen sensitivity and occur during the pollinating season. This can be used in a regular dosage to not only stop the symptoms but to also stop the allergy from happening in the first place.

5 Homeopathic Medicines to Increase Immunity

The reason why you suffer from bad health every now and then is due to your poor immune system. Whenever there is a change in weather and you are attacked by the flu virus, stop blaming the weather because it is actually your weakened immune system that has let you down. Same goes for the particular food you eat or the way you heal from your wounds rather slowly.

So, if you really want to boost up your immunity system, then you can take a cue from the books of Ayurveda. Ayurveda not only believes in healing the body but makes sure that the root cause is weeded out so that you stay healthy for a longer duration of time.

Let us see how Ayurveda develops your immune system so that you can withstand all kinds of emotional, physical and most importantly, environmental challenges.

The first thing Ayurveda says is to stick to healthy and nutritious foods. That doesn t mean, you can t cheat once in a week, but make sure that you have a protein rich and less carbohydrate diet. Make sure your food is warm; neither hot nor cold when you consume it.
Cold foods and drinks are harmful to your body because they affect the digestive system. Say no to any kind of aerated drinks.
Avoid foods, which are oily and especially difficult to digest.
Take care of your muscles and skin by massaging daily with sesame or sunflower oil. They help in rebuilding the tissues of your body.
While taking a bath, apply some essential oils such as lavender, rosemary, eucalyptus or juniper oil in a tub of warm water. This will make you feel fresh and uplift your mood.
While cooking, add some spices to your food, especially turmeric, cumin, coriander or cinnamon. These will increase the food value.
There are some suggestions made by Ayurveda:

Make sure you get an adequate of 6-8 hours of sleep. Avoid sleeping less or oversleeping.
Exercise regularly; yoga, walking, free hand exercises which will increase blood circulations in your body.
Finally, avoid negative thinking. Make sure you are infused with a positive spirit, no matter what the situation is. Doing this, you will stay physically and mentally spirited.

Can Ayurveda Boost Your Immunity?

When you have soft drinks or sodas, the pancreas quickly start to make insulin because of excessive sugar. Insulin is a hormone the body uses to move sugar from food items or drink into the circulation system, where cells are then ready to use that sugar for energy purposes. Within 15 minutes, glucose levels increase and the liver reacts to the insulin by transforming sugar into fat for capacity. Here is how soft drinks affect our health:

Asthma: It is prevalently found in a large number of soft drink consumers. Soft drinks contain sodium benzoate, which is utilized as an additive to control microbial growth. Sodium additives get blended with the rest of the diet and decrease the amount of potassium in our body. This expands the odds of rashes, asthma and skin aggravation.
Tooth enamel: Soft drinks contain high responsive solvents, which when blended with saliva or acids in the stomach, become acidic in nature. This starts affecting the body immediately. Because of such a quick effect, our mouth and teeth get influenced. It is proven that with every sip of a soft drink, the layer of the teeth decreases by two percent. The skin in the mouth and throat is very delicate and is easily harmed. This also causes rashes on the face and leads to pimples some times.
Heart diseases: Soft drinks contain fructose corn syrup, which has been connected with an increased danger of metabolic disorder. This condition increases the danger of both diabetes and heart diseases. One of 40 deaths each day are caused by heart strokes, which is an aftereffect of consuming soft drinks.
Kidney issues: A number of soft drinks contain phosphoric acids. These phosphoric acids irritate the digestive system and healthy organs. The stomach-related framework is connected to kidneys. Phosphoric acid expands the odds of stones in kidney and other kidney issues and diseases.
Reproductive issues: Soft drinks contain tar in them which contains BPA (Biphenyl   A) and is a similar tumor-causing compound found in pet bottles, water bottles and tinned food cans. This affects the endocrine framework, bringing about untimely adolescence.
Osteoporosis: It is seen that calcium is urinated alongside phosphoric acids, by the use of these drinks. This leads to osteoporosis, which results in corrosion or thinning of bones.  This in turn leads to calcium deficiency, which is one of the vital minerals of the body.
Obesity: It is dangerous to gain weight because of soft drinks. So it is not encouraged to consume soft drinks regularly since they can lead to obesity-related issues.
Sugar over-burdening: After around 15 minutes of soft drink consumption, our glucose shoots up, bringing on an insulin burst. The liver acts by changing the sugar particles into fat. This excites the consumer and increases the pulse, which causes the liver to deposit more sugar into the circulatory system.


Soft Drinks - How They Affect Your Health?

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