Dr. Indrani Salunkhe

People who eat fruit and #vegetables as part of their daily diet have a reduced risk of many chronic diseases. Usda's my plate encourages making half your plate fruits and vegetables.

Vegetables are an important part of healthy eating and provide a source of many #nutrients, including potassium, fiber, folate (folic acid) and vitamins a, e and c. Options like #broccoli, spinach, #tomatoes and #garlic provide additional benefits, making them a superfood!

Potassium may help to maintain healthy blood pressure. Dietary fiber from vegetables helps reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower risk of heart disease.

Folate (folic acid) helps the body form healthy red blood cells. Women of childbearing age who may become pregnant and those in the first trimester of pregnancy need adequate folate to reduce the risk of neural tube defects and spina bifida during fetal development.

There are few things more exhausting or more irritating than the four month long Indian summer. With soaring temperatures and the sun raging outside, mangoes and lychees don't seem like much of a silver lining. 

So, here are 8 health hacks that will make your summer a little better:

1. Replace soft drinks with water: When you are out on the streets or sweating at home, a sweet fizzy drink does seem tempting but try resisting and have a glass of sparkling water instead. The preservatives and chemicals in the soft drinks do nothing to help your metabolism, which is slowed down by dehydration. Add a bit of lemon juice if only water does not appeal to you.
2. Try yoghurt instead of ice cream: The primary difference between the two is that one contains cream and the other does not. Yoghurt is lighter and has lesser fat content. Excess fat consumption during summer actually makes you sweat more.
3. Use honey instead of butter: Butter like cream has a heavy fat content and your metabolism (which is slower in summer to retain water in the body) takes longer to break fat down. So, ditch butter this summer and spread some honey on your crunchy breakfast toast.
4. Stock up on cucumber: Cucumber is an underrated blessing. You can munch on them anytime you like without worrying about calorie intake or stomach aches. Rubbing some cucumber on your skin can soothe sunburns and itches.
5. Aloe Vera can work wonders: You must have heard about the boon that aloe vera is when it comes to skincare. It is the best solution to nasty sunburns, especially aloe vera gel frozen in small Ziploc bags, can heal burns and prevent skin peeling and chaffing.
6. Lower the pH value of your skin: Application of citrus fruit juices like apples and lemons or vinegar can lower the pH value of our skin and prevent the multiplication of bacteria. This keeps both sweat and body odor away much more effectively than deodorants.
7. Make small sacrifices in terms of diet: Some of your favorite things like coffee, alcohol, spicy food, sugar and cigarettes are best consumed minimally in summer because they all aggravate the functioning of the apocrine glands and cause sweat and body odor.
8. Shower before you workout: One of the good things about summer might be that you have an excuse to skip work out. But, if you start with a cold shower or a swim, or keep a cold, wet towel round your neck, workout can be surprisingly refreshing. You can do the same after your workout,  it lowers the body temperature and cooling the muscles can heal soreness very quickly.

Have you ever approached a pharmacist to buy antibiotics without a prescription? The answer would most probably be a ‘Yes’. And, most of us are not surprised, because self-medication has become a veritable epidemic, but the fact that it can be dangerous is somehow Not catching up.

Self-medication is when a person decides to treat themselves without consulting a doctor. This is not only dangerous but can also cause serious problems and in some cases worsen the situation. Today over 7,000 drugs and drug combinations are available in the world and many of these have been released for general use and are sold directly as over- the-counter or OTC drugs. On the other hand, medicines that are available only with a prescription are called prescription medicines.

Most OTC drugs usually fall under the category of pain relievers, cough remedies, anti-allergies, laxatives, vitamins, tonics, antacids etc. The term “responsible self-medication” is often used to stress the responsible use of OTC medicines by patients with healthcare professional support, where necessary.

Due to various sociocultural and economic factors, self-medication is a very common practice in India. However, the benefits of the same are much lesser than the potential dangers one might face as a result of self-medication. Let’s take a looks at the benefits and dangers of self-medication.

Dangers of self- medication
Self-medication is not only risky, but can also prove to be life-threatening in some cases. If you want to self-medicate, you should be able to recognise the symptoms that you are treating and should be confident that your medical condition is suitable for self-medication, and you should also be able to choose an appropriate medicine, and finally, you must also be able to follow the directions for use of the medicine as stated on the product labelling.

Now these are big asks. Not everyone is capable of ticking all the above boxes. This makes self-medication particularly dangerous. The doctor or a health professional is responsible for interpreting both signs and symptoms of an illness and the side effects of a medicine.

Patients can’t decide by themselves which medicine to take for what symptoms and what are the contraindications or side effects. For example, you may decide to self-medicate for a headache and this medicine interacts with another medicine that you are taking for a chronic issue and you land up in the ICU due to the two medicines interacting.

Here are some potential risks that can be posed by self-medication:

1. One may misdiagnose
2. Wrong dosage
3. Allergic and adverse drug reactions
4. Drug interactions and resistance
5. Contraindications
6. Mask a severe illness
7. Make a mistake in identifying the right drugs
8. Taking the right medicine at the wrong time

Lay persons don’t know that people vary greatly in their sensitivity or reaction to drugs and that an appropriate dose for one person may not be appropriate for another and may actually be dangerous. This situation is further worsened in many countries around the world where the regulatory mechanisms controlling drug sale are weak and most drugs including certain prescription medicines are available to the lay person without a doctor’s prescription.

It is important that you realize that self-medication can prove to be extremely dangerous for your health and may also be responsible for making an illness worse; so, one should consult a doctor before self-medicating to avoid any kind of medical emergencies and fatalities. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a General Physician.

In order to spice up their relationship, couples can sometimes consider the option of anal intercourse instead of vaginal intercourse. Some recent studies have suggested that anal sex is actually bad for your health and can also result in severe and life threatening conditions.

Below are a few reasons that will make you aware of the risks of involving in anal sex. They are as follows:

1. Fissures or piles: The anal tissues are non-stretchable and thereby an insertion of the penis into your partner’s anus can lead to tearing of the anus which might make your partner prone to anal fissures or piles. Besides, anal sex can cause severe pain while excretion the morning after, as there can be a significant weakening of the anal muscles.
2. Increases the chances of anal cancer: If you and your partner frequently engage in anal sex, your partner’s chances of getting anal cancer increases as the act can initiate the transmission of the Human Papillomavirus (the virus responsible for anal cancer).
3. Bacterial infection: Anus is a place designed to hold and facilitate the passing of faeces. This makes it a fertile breeding ground and holding area for bacteria. Through insertion, there is a high chance that you can be infected through your partner’s bacteria. Also if vaginal intercourse occurs immediately after anal intercourse, your partner can also get affected by the bacteria that transfer from the anus to the vagina. It can cause UTIs or urinary tract infections at the least and more serious infections as well.
4. Sexually transmitted diseases: Contrary to popular opinions, having unprotected anal sex can actually increase the chance of getting HIV and other deadly STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). As the anal tissues are extremely fragile, the risk of the transmission of sexually transmitted infections in the bloodstream remains quite high for both the partners involved. Even if you’re using a condom whilst engaging in the act, the chances of getting STD’s looms large as condoms are more prone to breakages during anal sex.
5. You can still get pregnant: Engaging in unprotected anal sex does not really mean that you cannot actually get pregnant from it. There is a slight chance of semen leakage from the anus which can seep into the vagina and result in pregnancy. If you wish to discuss about any spIfecific problem, you can consult a sexologist.

Health Benefits of Apple
 

Apples strengthen the heart, quench thirst, lubricate the lungs, decrease mucous and increase body fluids.

Swelling can be lessened by placing a cold compress. Take all medication prescribed by doctors.