Dr. Ajith Virkode

Know Ayurvedic approach to cure chronic diseases

Nobody wants to be around a dirty or unhygienic person. This is true for children and adults alike. The former can become targets of bullying while the latter may find themselves socially ostracized. Good hygiene not only enhances your overall appearance but also helps prevent diseases and infections, apart from letting you steer clear of unpleasant psychological issues.

Following are some of the major reasons why you must maintain a good personal hygiene:

• Social reasons - You'll hardly find a person who wants to be talked about, particularly in a negative manner. By keeping your body well presented and clean, you can be assured of projecting a confident body image that mirrors your personality.
• Psychological reasons - By being clean and well groomed, you can feel more optimistic, especially in your social circles. Your probability of succeeding in social settings, at work or even in the case of romantic liaisons is likely to get enhanced with good personal hygiene.

The amazingly complex herb, ashwagandha, happens to derive its name from the two sanskrit words, "ashwa" and "gandha".It is an exquisite herb, which can significantly cater to your body in more than one way due to its numerous health benefits.

Here are some of the most common advantages and risks of consuming this herb.

The Benefits

1. Enhances your brain: Ashwagandha is an antioxidant and helps keeping free radicals at sea, and prevents them from damaging your brain cells.
2. Fights emotional imbalances: Sudden emotional imbalances and even more sudden mood swings are probably the biggest and the most imminent problems of the youth today. Ashwagandha cuts out the stress stimuli and has a soothing effect on you, thereby making sure your emotional imbalances do not come in the way of your well being. Ashwagadandha can naturally lower cortisol levels.
3. Cures wounds: Ashwagandha is also believed to cure your physical wounds, and a controlled amount of this herb, is believed to save you from one-sided paralysis of your body.
4. Is anti- cancerous: Ashwagandha, according to a few studies, acts as an anticancer agent because it helps in slowing down the growth of cancer cells and cancerous tumors.
5. Treats insomnia: Ashwagandha has its rejuvenating properties as well, which help in calming your nerves down, relieves you of your stress. It is considered to be an effective tool in treating patients with insomnia.
6. Helps in weight loss: Cortisol not only acts as a stress hormone in the body, it can also make you fat. Ashwagandha is known to naturally lower cortisol - the stress hormone.
7. Lowers Blood sugar levels: Ashwagandha also potentially decreases fasting blood sugar levels, which means that it may also help to improve glucose metabolism.

But, like every other herb, ashwagandha also has some risk factors associated with it.

The Risks

1. Pregnancy issues: According to a few studies, this herb can have an adverse effect on you if you are a pregnant woman, putting you at the risks of stillbirth. Though there hasn't been much research to back up this fact, it still remains one of the largest concerns during pregnancy.
2. Hyperthyroidism: Certain studies claim, that ashwagandha can majorly contribute to hyperthyroidism, although even this, hasn't been proven. So, if you happen to be patient of hyperthyroidism, you should consult a physician before consuming the herb.

# Dengue fever is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with a dengue virus. The mosquito becomes infected when it bites a person with dengue virus in their blood. It can’t be spread directly from one person to another person.

# Symptoms, which usually begin four to six days after infection and last for up to 10 days, may include:

• Sudden high fever,
• Severe headaches,
• Pain behind the eyes,
• Severe joint and muscle pain,
• Fatigue,
• Nausea,
• Vomiting,
• Skin rash, which appears two to five days after the onset of fever,
• Mild bleeding (such a nose bleed, bleeding gums, or easy bruising).

# Diagnosing Dengue Fever
Doctors can diagnose dengue infection with a blood test to check for the virus or antibodies to it. If you become sick after traveling to a tropical area, let your doctor know. This will allow your doctor to evaluate the possibility that your symptoms were caused by a dengue infection.

# Treatment for Dengue Fever
There is no specific medicine to treat dengue infection. If you think you may have dengue fever, you should use pain relievers with acetaminophen and avoid medicines with aspirin, which could worsen bleeding. You should also rest, drink plenty of fluids, and see your doctor. If you start to feel worse in the first 24 hours after your fever goes down, you should get to a hospital immediately to be checked for complications.