Dr. Sumaiya Khan

Sugar (cane sugar) is not only a big industry but has been a part of many of our traditional foods. Somehow, today sugar has been given a tag of being an 'unhealthy' food. What we don't realize before we demonize a food the reason for it to suddenly become unhealthy. Sugar in small required amounts does not cause any health issue. What we don't realize is the amount of sugar that we are unknowingly consuming through foods like packaged cereals ,juices , health drinks , pastries, burgers and even the so called 'low fat' packaged foods marketed as healthy foods. Excessive sugar in these forms can definitely become harmful. So, rather than banning sugar from your diet, try to make better food choices.

The steps you can take to reduce sugar intake in a week are -
1. Stay hydrated and avoid health drinks and packaged juices - Replace so-called health drinks and packaged juices with fresh drinks like lime water, coconut water, herbal teas and home-made fruit drinks like raw mango juice / aam panah and Water. The natural electrolytes will stop any craving for excessive sugar laden foods.

2. Limit caffeine intake - Drinking coffee in the morning causes caffeine kick which spikes the energy levels in the body. As soon as this spike wears off, there is an intense sugar craving in the body.

3. Eat more complex carbohydrates - Increasing consumption of complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and yams helps in stabilizing blood sugar levels in the body. This happens as they are digested slowly and help in controlling sugar cravings.

4. Restrict salt intake - Excessive salt consumption can increase cravings for sugary foods. Eating too much salt can cause the body to balance out the flavors thus leading to increased sugar cravings.

5. Exercise - Exercise causes perspiration in the body which helps in flushing out the salt and making the body alkaline thus reducing sugar cravings.

6. Limit processed food intake - Eating naturally occurring foods such as grains and fruits are healthier than eating packaged foods. Packaged foods generally contain both added sugar and salt which tend to increase sugar cravings and promotes weight gain.

Effects of Smoking on Sexual Health

Smoking, in general, has a negative effect on the human body. It can cause a host of disorders such as mouth cancer, blood pressure problems, and lung cancer. Smoking affects the sexual performance of both men and women.

Here are some effects that smoking has on sex :-

1. Impotence: Smoking can damage the blood vessels that lead to erectile dysfunction (a condition where the penis cannot sustain an erection).

2. Decrease in libido: Smoking can cause various physical problems such as stamina reduction and lack of desire for sex. An individual who smokes won't be able to give an optimal sexual performance and this can further lower satisfaction levels.

3. Erectile dysfunction: Smoking can cause problems related to the circulation of the blood in the body. It can narrow the arteries that supply blood and this is directly linked with erectile dysfunction.

4. Tissue damage: Smoking can damage the tissues inside the penis thus impairing your ability to have an erection during sexual intercourse.

5. Early onset of menopause: It can affect the estrogen (a sex hormone) levels in the female body; so, women who smoke tend to reach menopause early.

6. Reduction in penis size: It can reduce the penis size in men by damaging the blood vessels and the structure of the tissue around the penis. This is more common in younger men.

7. Reduction in stamina: Smoking can cause a reduction in the stamina, thus a person will not be able to perform well sexually. It can lead to fatigue and tiredness during sex.

Of course, there are a lot of therapies which can help you recover from the damage already happened because of smoking and prevent further damage.

Related Tip: Smoking and Its Effect on Teeth

Getting hallucinations is a mental condition where a person sees, feels, hears, and tastes things that actually don't exist beyond one's heightened imagination or delusion. It involves the experience of perceiving something not present.  Hallucinations can be pleasing or frightening. However, there is almost always an identifiable cause behind it. 

They can be triggered by:

1. Taking hallucinogenic or psychotropic substances
2. Mental conditions like dementia and schizophrenia
3. Neurological conditions like Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease
4. Macular degeneration, leading to loss of vision
5. Migraines and brain tumor can also lead to such delusions

Some of the signs of hallucinations:

1. Hearing voices: The medical term for hearing voices is called an 'auditory hallucination'. A person may sense sounds or noises coming from inside or outside of their mind. The noise might be random or disrupting. One might also feel the voices talking to each other or trying to tell them something. Most of the times, these voices come from inside the person's mind; or in some cases, one's heightened perception may make a normal noise delusional.
2. Seeing things: This is also called visual hallucinations. For instance, one may see unnatural things like a floating chair in thin air. It all depends on a person's perception. Sometimes these hallucinations appear as bright flashy spots or rays of light.
3. False sense of taste and smell: Technically, these are known as gustatory and olfactory hallucinations respectively. One may feel a kind of odor coming from one's body or surrounding; or a person might feel that something he/she is drinking or eating has an odd taste. This is again too much thinking, causing delusional sensory activities. 
4. Tactile hallucinations: This is when a person feels things that don't exist. One may feel that he/she is being touched or tickled even when no one else is around or that insects are crawling beneath the skin. One may experience strange sensations, which are not a part of a reality.

Disregarding genital tract infections and issues including the symptoms of the same can lead to problems when it comes to fertility. It may also cause problems in your sexual life. Genital problems can also lead to infertility. These days, infertility is a noteworthy and very important occurrence that plagues many couples.

Common Infections: A large portion of these genital tract diseases occurs because of infections. Salpingitis happens in close to 15% of ladies in their reproductive age and 2.5% of all ladies get to be infertile as an aftereffect of salpingitis by age 35. Many times, symptoms of conditions and STDs like Chlamydia  trachomatis trachomatis are usually nonexistent. The real rate of ladies with upper genital tract infections is presumably underestimated.

Infection and Infertility: Infectious agents can hinder different vital human functions, including reproduction. Bacteria, fungi, infections and viruses can meddle with the reproductive capacity in both genders. Diseases of male genito-urinary tract represent around 15% of the instance of male infertility. Diseases can influence distinctive areas of the male regenerative tract, for example, the testis, epididymis and male sex organs and glands. Urogenital diseases at various levels of their advancement, development and transport can affect the sperms themselves in this manner. Among the most widely recognized microorganisms required for sexually transmitted diseases, meddling with male fertility are Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhea.

Symptoms: If the following symptoms of a genital tract infection are ignored, it can definitely lead to the person being infertile in some stage of life or immediately. These are as follows:

The signs and symptoms in males are

1. Changes in the way you discharge
2. Bleeding while urinating or discharge
3. Thick white, yellow or green release from the tip of the penis along with pain in urethra or pain while urinating
4. A hard but painless sore on the penis along with swelling of the lymph hubs in the crotch
5. Pain or uneasiness while urinating or discharge from the urethra
6. Difficult or irritated red spots and small blisters on the penis
7. Chestnut bits on the hair around the penis
8. Gentle delicacy around one of the testicles
9. Delicate swelling in the scrotum on one or both sides
10. Extreme pain after injury to your penis

The signs and symptoms in women are as follows:

1. Irregular vaginal discharge with a pungent smell
2. Burning sensation while urinating
3. Tingling or itching in the outer area of vagina
4. Uneasiness and pain during sex
5. Sore vagina
6. Foamy greenish-yellow discharge with a foul smell
7. Light bleeding after intercourse
8. Warts in the vagina

Regular check-ups and visits to the gynecologist are very essential. One should always keep the partner updated about their sexual health problems to practice a healthy and honest relationship and to avoid further contagious infections from occurring.