Tag: Health

Foods to prevent hair loss

Hair fall can be caused due to a lot of things such as diet, stress, hormonal change. Eating a balanced diet with the right nutrients can help promote hair growth. Vitamins, zinc, protein, biotin, and essential fatty acids promote hair growth.

When the protein intake is reduced, it may shut down the production of non essential protein which could include hair growth. After about 2 or 3 month of drastic reduction of protein intake, one might be able to notice hairfall. 10% to 30% of your calorie intake should be from protein.

Eggs, fish, tofu, cottage cheese are a great source of protein which promote hair strength. Meat is extremely rich in iron. Biotin is essential for the production of a hair protein called keratin. Consuming biotin can help improve your hair growth.

Spinach. Healthy green vegetable that’s loaded with beneficial nutrients. Rich in vitamins, and nutrients like folate, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C, all of which are essential for hair growth. If you are not too fond of the Indian-style spinach sabzi, you can also have it as a smoothie.

Carrot and Sweet potato. It’s perfect source of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for hair thickness. They are extremely nutritious for the scalp.

Dairy products. Calcium is an extremely essential mineral for hair growth. You can add berries to your yoghurt for natural sweetness. Berries are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants that may promote hair growth. Ex. Strawberries, berries. Fruits like oranges, guava, pomogranate contain a number of antioxidant and vitamin C to produce collagen, a protein that helps strengthen hair.

Lentils and green leafy vegetables. Pulses are loaded with protein, iron, zinc, and biotin which are all essential nutrients for your hair. It contains folic acid which makes your hair stronger and prevent breakage.

Nuts and Seeds. Replace your unhealthy snacks with the healthy one, like roasted almonds, walnuts, peanuts. Peanuts can be soaked overnight, can be added to salads, or just eaten as a snack. Nuts contain a variety of nutrients including vitamin E, zinc, magnesium and biotin content, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids that may promote hair growth. Nuts help in strengthening hair cuticles and nourish the scalp. Seeds like flax seeds, chia seeds, methi seeds add elasticity to your hair.

If you think you’re lacking any of these nutrients, including vitamins A, C, D and E, zinc, B vitamins, iron, biotin, protein and essential fatty acids try adding some of the above foods to your diet. None of these foods have a side effect, it’s best to consume all of them in moderate quantities.

BENEFITS OF SANDALWOOD

BENEFITS OF SANDALWOOD FOR SKIN :

1. Helps in Removing Tan:

It is imperative to save yourself from the harmful rays of the sun. The natural oils present in sandalwood help to get rid of a sun tan.

It also helps to soothe a sun burn and has a cooling effect, reducing the redness caused due to a sun burn.

2. Has Anti-inflammatory Properties:

Its anti-inflammatory properties help to any kind of burning sensation caused due to acne or sun burn.

Sandalwood essential oil can be used to treat insect bites or any other skin wounds

3. Acts as an Astringent:

Sandalwood causes coagulation of skin proteins, further protecting your skin from any breakouts, allergies or abrasions.

It brings about minor contractions in your soft tissues of the skin and tightens your pores.

This is precisely why many facial packs and toners use sandalwood as one of their primary ingredients.

4. Used as an Antiseptic:

Sandalwood has antiseptic properties that prevent pimples, acne and sores from developing.

Exposure to dust and dirt can cause bacterial growth on your skin which can further lead to skin problems.

Applying sandalwood powder mixed with milk on your face or the affected area can really help.

5.It removes wrinkles:

Sandalwood oil contains antioxidants that help maintain the buoyancy and structure of the skin cells.

It also reduces dryness and replenishes the moisture in skin, increasing elasticity.

TEA CONNOISSEUR

Tea is not a word but an emotion for Indians. Be it masala chai, black tea, green tea or even kashmiri kahwa. A hot cup of tea suit’s every season and emotion. Happy? It will add up to your mood. Anxious? It will calm you down. Sleepy? It will keep you awake. Insomnia? It will help you relax and sleep.
So now you might be wondering, how does one tea provide so many services where most of them contradict one another?

To answer that, the quality and benefits of the tea depends on its Level of Oxidation. The four major types of tea i.e. WHITE TEA, GREEN TEA, OOLONG TEA and BLACK TEA, comes from the same plant called Camellia sinensis. However, they are differentiated by the level of oxidation they undergo. This adds to its level of flavour, aroma and health properties.

The two major compounds in tea are Catechins and Xantheines. Catechins is present in the form of ECGC which are naturally occurring antioxidants that reduces the oxidative cellular damage in the body and Xantheines in the form of caffeine that provides a gentle energy boost without the harmful side-effects of coffee. The presence of these compounds depends on the oxidisation of the tea leaves. Higher oxidisation leads to more of Xantheine and less of Catechins, where’s lower oxidized leaves contain higher Catechines and less Xantheine.

White Tea is most delicate of all the tea’s as it’s uncured and unfermented. Famous for it’s floral, fruity and naturally sweet flavour, it contains the highest amount of antioxidants as is least oxidized (So it has most of it’s natural Catechins). Hence, it possesses major health benefits because of the absence of caffeine. It’s known for its anti-aging and most potent anti-cancer properties.

Green Tea is the most famous health tea for the past few decades. It is darker compared to White tea as it is slightly more oxidized, however it contains high number of antioxidants that is beneficial for promoting good metabolism and weight-loss. Some of the numerous health benefits of green tea include growth of bladder, stomach, pancreas, lungs; reduced risks of neurological disease like Alzheimer’s; lower blood pressure; prevent cancer; lowers cholesterol levels; prevents tooth decay and many more.

Oolong Tea comes after green tea in terms of its antioxidant content as it’s more oxidized compared to the latter. Its properties depend upon the level of oxidation which is mostly between 30% -70%. It is aromatic and highly fragrant. It is known to lower bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and increase the production of good cholesterol (HDL). It has higher amount of caffeine hence it is known to increase mental alertness and increases concentration

Black Tea is rich, hearty and bold. It’s over 80 % oxidized and hence contain highest levels of caffeine compared to all the others. Hence, this makes it best for an instant energy boost. It is known to protect the skin against excess UV radiation exposure, boost immunity, protect lungs, improve heart health and lower the risk of kidney stones.

Hence, who wouldn’t want to enjoy a hot cup of tea on a pleasant evening (Specially, if it’s good for your health as well as taste buds).

Memories – The unforgettable demons

Memories are reminders of what you have lost. They remind you of a good time in a bad way. They are out there challenging you to face them, to remember them and to be devastated by them. They hurt you sometimes and sometimes they don’t. You can’t control them. Nobody can. They break your heart, they hurt you in a way nobody does and probably nobody can and you don’t even know it. They remind you of what you can’t have anymore. They make you suffer. They remind you of what happened. Or they silently accuse you of what you did to lose it all. They cover you in so much guilt that you can never get out of it. They hurt you in more ways than you can imagine. They attract you with the hope of remembering everything in a beautiful way. Instead they set you up for hurt, for betrayal, for lies. Lies you didn’t know were not true. And you fall into their trap, thinking there is still hope for something good.

Photo by KoolShooters on Pexels.com

They make you addicted to them in such a way that you can’t stay away from them ever. They bind you with such a strong rope of expectations that maybe someday you can have it all back, even if it is all in your head. For a long time or maybe forever, they haunt you, they never leave your back, never let you go off them. You are forever bound to them whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not. You always come looking back for them, for more good times, for happy moments, even if you suffer even more. They make you believe that maybe you can live with the idea of what could have happened.

Memories are the unforgettable demons living in our minds. They don’t go away. They eat you alive and let your mind rot. They are like the uninvited guest in your house. They live rent free in your mind and create chaos to remind you of everything. They clog your mind with the thoughts of the past and that hinders your thinking for the future. They don’t let you live in the moment, in the present. Memories force you to regret your bad deeds when all you want is to let them go. When you try to move on from something, memories come back rushing and fill your mind. Don’t let them overpower you. Don’t let them control your thoughts. Control yourself from walking straight into their trap hole. They will suck you right into the past and will hold on to you for eternity. You don’t hold onto memories instead the memories hold onto you. You want to let go but they have such a strong hold on you that you can’t find the strength to run away from them.

They will always and forever be with you no matter what. But this is not in a good way. They will never let you out of that hole you fell in. Sometimes they will not let you live in the present or think about your future, without having to deal with your past. Just don’t let them ruin you. Try to take control of yourself as much as you can.

WATER BODIES AREN'T BINS.

Would you value something, you would die without?

Image source

Well looking at the picture above I think, Indians doesn’t seem to be having this thinking. Such disregard of Water, the thing which makes our life possible definitely has to be one of the most irresponsible thing done by humans. Especially, Indians who worship these seas and rivers themselves are the one’s polluting it the most. The holy river of GANGES, which is generally called the most pure river in the whole country itself is the most polluted one. Severly polluted Ganges river which provides water to 40% of India’s population in total of 11 states serving an estimated population of 500 million people, is the fifth most polluted river in the WORLD. Sewage discharge from cities, towns and some villages is the most prevalent cause of water pollution in India. Major cities of India produce 38,354 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage, but the urban sewage treatment capacity is only 11,786 MLD. The scientific analysis of water samples from 1995 to 2008 indicates that the organic and bacterial contamination is severe in water bodies of India. This severity is increased at an even more rapid rate until 2020. According to A reliable source, Around 80% of India’s water is severely polluted because people dump raw sewage, silt and garbage into the country’s rivers and lakes. This has lead to high scarcity of drinkable water. Experts predict that 40% of people may not have a connection to a clean water source by 2030. Then how come are we yet not sincere about not just saving water but Ourselves? As urban areas households get more and more facilities of 24*7 running water taps and availability of drinking water, lesser is the value of the latter. Around 70% of wastewater from household, industries, etc. goes untreated and each day, more than 40 million liters of wastewater flows directly into India’s lakes, rivers and ocean. This waste while travelling from small to big waterbodies, go on contaminating all of it along with the organisms living within. Lakhs of fishes and other underwater living organisms die as they eat or get caught in this waste. This waste even covers the inner and outer surface area of the water at times and thus disbalancing the oxygen levels in the water, due to which the organisms die in huge quantities. This water also enters the groundwater and makes it polluted and undrinkable as well.

Further, this water when reaches to households it immensely affects the health of individuals especially, children. Each year, more than 1.5 million Indian children die from diarrhea. It affects the irrigation systems in fields as this water doesn’t allows the crops to grow properly due to it’s I’ll properties, infectious and diseased bacteria into it. Because of the poor infrastructure and absence of sewage control, 38 million Indians suffer from waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and hepatitis every year. Worldwide, waterborne diseases cause more deaths than AIDS, tuberculosis and measles combined in children under 5-years-old. This severity of pollution affects humans and other organisms, plus our food security and the GDP growth of nation. As the diseases spread, the more people get ill and cease work which decreases productivity of companies, crops damage reduces the agricultural revenue too. Hence proved, that this problem is not as small as we think of it. Be it socially or economically it has a bad effect on the country as a whole. It is necessary for all the people to get educated regarding the same as soon as possible and start contributing their part in preventing water pollution and wastage.

Steps taken..

India is taking several steps to rebalance the quality of its water source, from flocculation and reuse of industrial water to the contributions that local Indian startups are making. In Chennai, a city in Eastern India, industrial water reuse rose from 36,000 to 80,000 cubic meters in 3 years, from 2016 to 2019. VA Tech Wabag, a water company quartered in Chennai, also built numerous water reuse plants all across India. As of 2020, VA Tech Wabag contributed immensely to the production of more than 18 million cubic meters of clean water every day, which has positively impacted almost 100 million people globally. In Gujarat, a state of more than 70 million citizens, the government launched its Reuse of Treated Waste Water Policy, which aims to drastically decrease the use of the Narmada River. It will install 161 sewage treatment plants all across Gujarat in order for industrial and construction sectors to use the treated water. Evaluations offer that in 2015, the Indian government installed almost 16,000 reverse osmosis systems in Karnataka and 281 solar electrolytic defluoridation plants in Madhya Pradesh.

But the most important part is we all have to remember that only Government officials and workers alone couldn’t sort this situation for the whole country. Ech and every individual has to do their part to ‘save water and save future’.

Why Indians are Shorter on Average

Indians are among the shortest people in the world on average. Despite impressive rates of economic growth in India over the past decade or two, India remains one of the worst performing countries worldwide in terms of height, among both children and adults. This is unusual because data and research has shown that over time people become progressively taller as living standards improve. There has, however, been an increase in average height in India itself as the standards of living have increased. Between 1914 and 2014, the average height of Indian men increased by about 3cm to become 165 cm, while women grew taller by about 5cm to become 153 cm. Also, it seems that children in India today are much taller than their parents were at their age, according to studies conducted into the matter. But why are Indians still shorter than the global average while Most countries have shown an increase in height over the past century or so?

Some Factors

Genes contribute to only a small portion of a person’s height, and so most scholars around the world have disregarded the hypothesis that genetic factors are of prime importance in explaining the small stature among Indians relative to international standards. Instead, it has been identified that environmental factors such as the mother’s health, infant and child nutrition, sanitation and environmental pollution are the major reasons for smaller heights in India. Nutrition here not only implies that there is malnutrition in the country, but also the fact that India has a very large vegetarian population. This means that many people are not gaining nutrition from a very good source: meat. Protein obtained through meat is great for growing height. Though vegetarians can get protein from dal or soybean, they are not nearly as good sources of protein, and the best quality of protein comes from animal sources. Apart from this, the low status of women in Indian society, high rates of gastro-intestinal infections spread by the widespread practice of open defecation (especially in rural areas), and certain eating habits are said to contribute to height.

Furthermore, research has shown that forward caste men are the tallest in India, and scheduled caste and scheduled tribe men are the shortest. This is proof of the fact that better living conditions and nutrition helps in height growth. Thus, there is decreased importance of genetic factors in explaining the disappointing growth performance of Indians, and it is more of the socioeconomic and environmental factors prevailing in India. This is evidenced by the fact that ethnic Indian adults in England are much taller than in India, because of their standard of living and environment.

Conclusion

Today in India, children are definitely much healthier and better-fed than they used to be, and adults are gradually getting taller than their previous generation. However, Indians are still much shorter than Americans or Europeans, and it is estimated that the height difference will take around 250 years to eliminate at the British growth rate. And the reason behind all this is not Indian genetics, but rather things like malnutrition and poverty in the country. Today, nearly 40 percent of Indian kids today are short enough to be classed as stunted by international standards. Furthermore, it is mostly Indian men that we see gradually growing in height to meet the international average, while women are growing taller at less than a third of the rate at which Indian men are growing taller. This matches the pattern of discrimination that we often see in India, which is a mostly patriarchal country. Hence, we will only be able to increase in average height if we are able to raise the standard of living for everyone in the country and aim for equitable treatment of all.

WHAT CAUSES DANDRUFF?

Dandruff is a common condition that causes the skin on the scalp to flake. It isn’t contagious or serious. But it can be embarrassing at times and difficult to treat and get rid of permanently. Mild dandruff can be treated with a gentle daily shampoo.

Dandruff is considered to be a mild form of Seborrheic dermatitis. It is a common skin condition that mainly affects the scalp and causes scaly patches, red skin and stubborn dandruff. It can also affect oily areas of the body such as face, sides of the nose, eyebrows, ears, eyelids and chest. In babies, Seborrheic dermatitis is called Cradle Cap. This condition is more common in infants within the first three months after they are born. In adults, between 1% and 10% people are affected. Males are more often affected than female. The cause of Seborrheic dermatitis has not been fully clarified. The condition is thought to be due to a local inflammatory response to over-colonization by Malassezia fungi species in sebum-producing skin areas including the scalp, face, chest, back, underarms and groin.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF:-

Dandruff may have several causes including:-

  • irritated, oily skin.
  • not using shampoo frequently.
  • an yeast-like fungus Malassezia that feeds on oils on the scalps of most adults.
  • dry skin.
  • sensitivity to hair care products.
  • other skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema.

WHAT IS MALASSEZIA?

In about half of the human population, it’s activity causes dandruff. Our skin hosts billions of microbes. Malassezia yeasts make themselves at home on our skin shortly after we are born. Follicles, the tiny cavities that grow hairs all over our body, make for especially popular living quarters for these. Malassezia are found in these follicles because they contain glands that secrete an oil called sebum, that’s thought to lubricate and strengthen our hair. Malassezia evolved to consume our skin’s proteins and oils and because of it’s many sebum-secreting follicles our scalp is one of the oiliest places on our body and consequently one of the yeastiest.

As these fungi feast on our scalp’s oils, dandruff may form. This is because sebum is composed of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fats perfectly pack together whereas unsaturated fats contain double bonds that create an irregular twist or curl in their structure. Malassezia eat sebum by secreting an enzyme that releases all of the oil’s fatty acids but they only consume the saturated fats, leaving the unsaturated ones behind. These unsaturated fats(irregularly shaped) soak into the skin and pry it’s barrier open allowing water to escape. The body detects these breaches and responds defensively causing the inflammation that gives dandruff it’s itch. It also makes the skin cells proliferate to repair the damaged barrier.

TREATMENT:-

Usually our skin’s outer surface, or epidermis completely renews itself every two to three weeks. Epidermal cells divide, move outwards, die and form the skin’s tough outer layer which gradually sheds off in single cells far too small to see. But with dandruff cells churn out quickly to correct the broken barrier, meaning they don’t mature and differentiate properly. Instead they form large, greasy clumps around the hair follicle that are shed as visible flakes. Currently the most effective way to get rid of dandruff is by using Antifungal shampoos or as recommended by the Dermatologist.

Abortion : Life or Choice?

Introduction:
Abortion is ending of the pregnancy by killing the embryo. This could take place for many reasons, the mother may not be ready to take responsibility of the child yet or it could be due to the sex of the child or it could be as there may be abnormalities in the child.

Pro-life v/s Pro choice :
People who choose not to end the pregnancy by getting an abortion are pro-life. People who choose to end their pregnancy for a number of reasons, valid or not, are pro-choice. Free will is definitely a factor in both of these choices. For many reasons, it could be considered ethically and morally wrong but there are equal number of reasons why it should not be a judge of character and there should be an understanding as to why it is done.
Abortion could take place due to a medical issue. There are two ways of aborting a child, namely, non-surgical and surgical methods. Non-surgical methods include abortion pills and morning after pills. Some people may not find this morally right as according to them a life holds a lot of importance. But, what they don’t understand is sometimes it is necessary to get an abortion so that the mothers life is not In danger and everything cannot be morally correct.
Selective abortion sometimes takes place when the parents find out the gender of the child. Sex selective abortion, even though, illegal is still practiced in many places due to the preference for the male child.
Many a times, a child is aborted as it poses a threat to the mothers life. Sometimes, parents don’t want to have a child with an abnormality as it might affect the child later in life and they might have problems coping with it. People argue that it is better to at least give them a chance to shape their life instead of just ending their life.
Sometimes, pregnancy is unintentional and the woman might be using contraception but it may have failed as a measure. When this happens, the parents cannot be blamed for the abortion as they never wanted the child in the first place.
Ethically, people still believe that if the parents weren’t ready for a child then maybe they shouldn’t have been having sexual relations.
The mother could get an abortion as it might affect their lifestyle. The child could be an obstacle for achieving their dream or it was very sudden and it doesn’t exactly work out with what they have planned for their future. Though, people argue that the child has rights of its own and it had the right to live and it should at least be given a chance to have their own life, it still depends on the parents.
Some people think that abortion is a way to punish the man but it is not a fact at all. The mother could be having her own problems or complications with the pregnancy and the man just doesn’t want to accept that as for some men, family means everything. If people think it doesn’t affect the woman at all, they are absolutely wrong. It affects her mentally and physically. So, we just cannot blame the woman without getting to know the root of the problem.
Sometimes, a woman gets an abortion as she mislead the father about the fact that she actually wanted a child or wanted a family. Usually, the man is blamed but in some cases, it isn’t true.

Conclusion:
Personally, I support abortion. Pro-choice is what I believe in. There are many reasons a woman would want to abort a child and it should be up to her to make that decision as free will plays an important role in my life and therefore, I would like to know that every other person, at least, has the choice of their own. People usually look down on women who get an abortion but that shouldn’t be the situation at all. We need to understand their needs and think about all the reasons why they wouldn’t want the child and we should also respect their decision and support them.

Learning at the school garden

India Requires All Schools to Have Kitchen Gardens
  • A one of its kind initiative, Edible Schools has been launched by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Kalpetta, Kerala in association with Botanical Garden Conservation International (BGCI) to familiarize school children with food crops and family farming. 
  • The aim of this program is to engage the children in food production and farming activities under the guidance of trained and caring leaders, who lead the children into discovery and exploration of soil, water, biodiversity and the science of agriculture production and consumption.

Teaching gardening in schools

  • This project was launched in 2 schools of Waynad – Hill Blooms School, Mananthavady and Government High School, Thrikaipetta, in January, 2021 and it is a huge success till date. The programme was initiated by developing a nutrition garden and fruit garden at both schools following COVID 19 protocols. 
  • These gardens were designed on approximately 870Sq.ft land and fruit trees were planted as part of the campus greening. The nutrition garden has been cultivated with mostly leafy greens such as Amaranthus, Spinach, Curry leaves and Moringa and the commonly consumed vegetables such as Brinjal, Okra, Beans and Cow peas as well as medicinal plants , fruit trees, wild food plants and larval hosts have also been planted. 
  • The first harvesting from the nutrition gardens at the edible schools was done by the students and they were guided by their leaders. They were very excited to see their produce as well as fruit garden saplings of Guava, Custard Apple and Mango seeds growing into healthy trees. 

Although during pandemic the students couldn’t visit the school campuses much, the nutrition gardens have been extended to their homesteads. Training was given to the students for the collection and multiplication of the seeds of wild native trees like Venga, Njaval, Athi etc.  The seedlings planted by the students will be handed over to MSSRF and hence, the students will be a part of the reforestation programme

reference-https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/teaching-from-the-garden-creating-transformative-learning-landscapes-at-schools

School Gardening Curriculum

Chakras

Have you ever attended a yoga session before? Have you ever heard about these chakras? 

If yes, that’s great. If not, that’s fine we are going to cover it in this article.

Chakra is a word that comes from Sanskrit, meaning wheel. There are seven wheels or chakras in a human body. Each is located in sequential order along our spinal cord. 

Activating these chakras are important to have a physical and emotional balance. If any of them is imbalanced it means that your chakras are blocked and there is a need to activate them.

But how do we do that? Before answering that question let’s learn about the position and significance of each chakra.

Okay, let’s start from the bottom.

1. Root chakra- Muladhara: 

Color– Red

Represents– the Earth

It is located at the bottom of the spine. It provides a foundation for your life. Gives a sense of commitment, energy, vitality, and independence in life. Helps you to stay grounded. 

If this chakra is blocked. The consequences may be like this- anger, possessiveness, insecurity, fear, low self-esteem, etc.

How to activate/balance this chakra?

You can activate this chakra by performing yoga or meditation.

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

2. Sacral Chakra- Swadhisthana:

Color– Orange

Represents– Water

Located below the belly button.

This chakra deals with one’s creativity, emotional identity, desires, and pleasure. Gives a feeling of compassion, a good sense of humor, intuition, sense of belonging. 

If this chakra is blocked it gives a sense of shyness, guilt, irritation, lack of creativity, etc.

How to activate this chakra?

By following the mudras mentioned below you can balance the chakra.

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

3. Solar plexus chakra- Manipura:

Color– yellow

Represents– Fire

Located in the stomach area. This chakra deals with the sense of belonging and mental understanding of emotions. This makes you feel energetic, confident, intelligent, focused, good digestion, and productive.

If this chakra is blocked you feel timid, depressed, judgmental, angry, and fear of rejection.

By following the mudras mentioned below you can balance the chakra

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

4. Heart Chakra- Anahata:

Color– green

Represents– Air

Located at the center of the chest. It reflects a person’s social identity and affection like love, trust, forgiveness, and wisdom. Makes you motivated, compassionate, emphasized, sense of completeness, friendliness, etc.

If this chakra is blocked you might feel difficulty in love, lack of hope and compassion, mood fluctuations, and feeling low.

By following the mudras mentioned below you can balance the chakra

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

5. Throat chakra- Vishuddha: 

Color– Blue

Represents– Sound

It is located in your throat. Deals with creativity, effective communication skills, faith, expression, listening skills, and all.

If this chakra is blocked it may cause indecisiveness, weakening of willpower, lack of expressiveness, low level of creativity, and proneness to addiction.  

By following the mudras mentioned below you can balance the chakra

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

6. Third eye chakra- Ajna:

Color– Indigo

Represents– light

Located between the eyes. It is responsible for intuition, imagination, wisdom, self-awareness, insight, understanding, and reasoning. It gives clear thinking, a healthy imagination, strong intuition power, good concentration, and focus.

If this chakra is blocked it results in poor judgment, confusion, fear of truth, poor concentration, and addictions.

By following the mudras mentioned below you can balance the chakra

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

7. Crown chakra- sahasrara:

Color– Violet/white

Represents– Conscience

Located at the top of the body, the crown chakra is to maintain a spiritual connection and consciousness. Gives a feeling of oneness, open-mindedness, thoughtfulness, etc. 

If this chakra is blocked you feel a sense of fear, lack of purpose, lack of inspiration, disbelief in spiritual and devotional practices.

By following the mudras mentioned below you can balance the chakra

Hand Mudra
yoga poses

credits to the right owners of the pictures used.

sources: pinterest

DOPING

To continue the fight against doping - Fondazione Gianni Benzi Onlus

Doping is not new to the people . In ancient Greece, there were specialists who used to offer athletes nutritional ingredients in order to enhance their physical performance. Those specialists may be compared to the current sports medicine specialists . During the Olympic Games in the third century BC, the athletes tried to increase their sports performance by taking mushrooms and opium . In the Ist centaury AD, the Greek runners used to drink a herbal beverage to increase their strength and become capable to run long distance races. Gladiators are also reported to use various substances for enhancing strength . In the modern era , the use of performance enhancing substances and techniques by the top sportspersons across the world has been a presistent issue in the world of sports for nearly four decades. Since the beginning of the 21st century, many athletes have been engaged in taking such substances. Some of them have been tested positive such as Tim Montgomery, Marion Jones, swimmer Phelps, etc.

Concept of Doping

‘Doping’ is the word, which is used in the field of sports, to refer to the situation when athletes use prohibited substances or methods to unfairly improve their sporting performance. In general terms, doping is the use of performance enhancing substances or methods by athletes to gain an advantage over their competitors . In fact , some athletes take illegal substances to enhance their performance . This activity is known as ‘doping’ . Doping in sports is the deliberate or inadvertent use by an athlete of a substance or method banned by the International Olympic Committee. In fact, the ban or prohibition on such substances is necessary to protect the athletes from the unfair advantage which may be gained by those athletes who use prohibited substances or methods to enhance their performance and also from the possible harmful side effects which these substances or methods can produce. The following definitions of doping may help in understanding its exact meaning:

According to International Olympic Committee, ‘‘Doping is the use of any method or substance that might harm the athlete, in a quest to gain an unfair advantage, over his/her fellow competitors”. In fact, doping is the use of prohibited substances or methods designed to enhance an athlete’s physical or mental abilities or to mask the use of such substances or methods during preparation for or participation in a sports competition .

According to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ,” Doping is defined as the occurrence of one or more of the anti-doping rule violations set forth in Article 2.1 through Article 2.8 of the code.”

Dreams: Our own fantasy world

When we are asleep in this world ,we are awake in another .

What is a dream.

Dreams are stories and images that our minds create while we sleep. They can be entertaining, fun, romantic, disturbing, frightening, and sometimes bizarre.

Phases of sleep.

Dreams most likely happen
Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange

There are five phases of sleep in a sleep cycle:

Stage 1: Light sleep, slow eye movement, and reduced muscle activity. This stage forms 4 to 5 percent of total sleep.

Stage 2: Eye movement stops and brain waves become slower, with occasional bursts of rapid waves called sleep spindles. This stage forms 45 to 55 percent of total sleep.

Stage 3: Extremely slow brain waves called delta waves begin to appear, interspersed with smaller, faster waves. This accounts for 4 to 6 percent of total sleep.

Stage 4: The brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. It is difficult to wake someone during stages 3 and 4, which together are called “deep sleep.” There is no eye movement or muscle activity. People awakened while in deep sleep do not adjust immediately and often feel disoriented for several minutes after waking up. This forms 12 to 15 percent of total sleep.

Stage 5: This stage is known as rapid eye movement (REM). Breathing becomes more rapid, irregular, and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly in various directions, and limb muscles become temporarily paralyzed. Heart rate increases, blood pressure  rises, and males develop penile erections. When people awaken during REM sleep, they often describe bizarre and illogical tales. These are dreams. This stage accounts for 20 to 25 percent of total sleep time.

Some interesting facts about dreams.

1. You Forget 90% of Your Dreams.

Within 5 minutes of waking half of your dream is forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone.

2. Blind People also Dream

People who became blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any visuals, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion

3. In Our Dreams, We Only See Faces That We Already Know

Our mind is not inventing faces – in our dream, we see real faces of real people that we have seen during our life but may not know or remember. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces throughout our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.

4. Not Everybody Dreams in Color.

A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number have full color dreams. Studies from 1915 through to the 1950s maintained that the majority of dreams were in black and white, but these results began to change in the 1960s. Today only 4.4% of the dreams of under-25 year-olds are in black and white. Recent research has suggested that those changing results may be linked to the switch from black-and-white film and TV to color media.

5. Emotions

The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety Negative emotions are more common than positive ones.

even though we have stressful days with alot of failures, but at night in our dreams we can live a life filled with happiness , we also can do things we want to do and can be the way we want us to be …..

Applications of Artificial Intelligence-II

In part-I, we have discussed the meaning, scope, stages of AI, few applications, and benefits/uses of AI in society. in this article, we are going to see about the transportation and medical applications of AI.

AI in Social Problems:

Litterati

It is a crowdsourced litter clean-up app and a global database for litter. Identifies litter type, distribution, and location and helps to find more sustainable solutions.  

In 2017, 1.1 billion cigarettes were found all over the world.

AI in Road Transportation:

Road transport is a major sector where AI can be applied more prominently. AI can make transportation modes much safer, cleaner, smarter, and more efficient. 

Self-driving cars

Self-driving cars are a combination of sensors, cameras, radar, and AI technologies like machine learning and neural networks. Developers use a large amount of data from image recognition systems. Neural networks identify the pattern in data i.e., images from the cameras and sensors. It identifies the traffic signs and signals, boundaries, trees, pedestrian walks..etc.

One such technology developed by Google is Google Waymo Vehicle

Google Waymo Vehicle

It is an example of self-driven cars. It is almost an autonomous vehicle but still needs a human to perform certain functionalities but can drive in ideal conditions. 

Levels of Autonomous Cars

LEVEL 0: No Advanced Driver Assistant System(ADAS) is used. The human driver should drive.

LEVEL 1: ADAS assists the driver by its alert systems by its rear-view cameras, but the driver should take care of the steering, brakes, and acceleration

LEVEL 2: Human presence is important even though ADAS will take care of the steering, brakes, or acceleration.

LEVEL 3: ADAS can take driving tasks and parking can be performed under certain conditions. But still, human is the main driver here and need to take care of the circumstances.

LEVEL 4: The driver need not pay much attention as ADAS can take over the driving.

LEVEL 5: No human help is required. ADAS can drive the vehicle under any circumstances.

Truck platooning

Truck platooning is also an example of Artificial intelligence. It is a heavy coupling of trucks. The first truck is occupied by the human driver and the rest are fully automated. They maintain a minimal distance between them and accelerates at the same rates. It might be a risk during traffic and unexpected accidents might occur. In the future, the risk factor is expected to be less.

AI in Medical Sector:

AI helps health professionals to diagnose the patient faster and more accurately. 

AI is developing innovative drugs and treatments by reducing medical and diagnosis errors by predicting adverse reactions. Lowers the cost of healthcare work providers and patients.

Problems at the healthcare centers

Due to more number of patients, general practitioners and primary care surgeons are over-burdened because of which there are extremely long waiting at the hospitals.

Solution  

Your.MD

Your.MD aka Healthily is the world’s first AI-based health assistant which provides personalized advice about their medical complaints. This app records the symptoms and, maps them with the clinical data compiled from public sources. Engages about thirty doctors to research illness.

Research

It creates a pre-primary care market and eases the burden of medical staff and helps improve their work through digital screening of non-accurate conditions.

Google Launchpad Studio

Creates an ecosystem of applied Machine Learning startups and focuses on healthcare.

BYTEFLIES is the first company to use this studio.

Supervises Learning for Telemedicine 

Technology can be used for good and bad so there is a need to be vigilant. The latest technologies are typically applied to the wealthy. 

But,

“AI has the potential to extend knowledge and understanding to a broader population. Image-based AI diagnoses of medical conditions could allow for a more comprehensive deployment of the telemedicine”. 

Google deep mind

Google deep mind can diagnose diabetic retinopathy like a highly trained ophthalmologist via telemedicine.

‘BETTER DIAGNOSE WITH LESS HUMAN EFFORT’

It uses a portable fundus camera which is deployed in the screening site and transmits images securely to the cloud software platform for analysis and automatically generates a report which facilitates compliance with follow-up examinations.

credits to the right owners of the images used.

Basics of Vaccines

Latin word Variolae vaccinae is the origin of the word vaccine. In 1798 for the first time Edward Jenner developed first vaccine to prevent smallpox. Now vaccine is a biological preparation. It is produced from living organisms. And it will help to induce immunity or sometimes cure the disease. Vaccines can be administered orally or by injection or by nasal routes. Mostly vaccines are in liquid form.

there are types in vaccines
  1. LIVE-ATTENUATED VACCINE: In this type, vaccine is prepared using the living microbes which cause the disease. In laboratories a culture of these organisms is grown and the isolated organisms are weakened or disabled. Even though the microbe is alive, it will loose the capacity to cause harm. The organisms can be disabled by culturing them in sub optimal conditions. These are relatively safe and produce strong response and create long memory. But these are very expensive to produce.
  2. INACTIVATED VACCINE: Here the disease causing microbe is killed or we can say inactivated through various means. Treating with chemical agents or thermal treatment. These inactivated microbes are purified and formulated into vaccine. This type of vaccine are very safe but the memory created will be comparatively of shorter duration.
  3. RECOMBINANT SUB-UNIT VACCINE: Here the microbe is genetically modified and their potential to cause harm is reduced or removed. Some of the components of the microbe can be prepared separately by genetic recombination. Like only a part of protein or DNA can be synthesized and formulated into vaccine.
  4. TOXOID VACCINE: If the disease causing microbe is affecting because of the toxic substance that produces, the toxin can be isolated and purified through cultures of the microbe. And then this toxin can be treated chemically so that it will not cause any harm but will be enough to cause the immune reaction in the body. The inactivated toxin is formulated into the vaccine. This type of vaccine is easy to produce and is very safe. But these will also have shorter memory.
what dose a vaccine contains?

The vaccine is not only composed of the antigen in bulk. It contains some additional fluid also. They contain preservatives to have a good shelf life and to ensure sterility and check contamination. These preservatives will not be toxic at the concentration used. The may sometimes have saline or water. Vaccine may also contain adjuvants. An adjuvant is a substance which helps the vaccine to generate stronger immune response. You can say they make vaccines work better. Aluminum salt is a common example for adjuvant.

working of vaccines:

If you get infected, the body will show defense against the foreign substance and immune reaction would have been initiated and the person will get sick. The vaccine is the mimic of the disease causing microbe and will generate immune response without making the person sick. The mimics trigger the antibodies production in the body. Antibodies bind to these mimics and destroy them with the help of immune cells. This helps the immune system to quickly recognize the enemy if they enter again.

Vaccines have great impact on public health. They help to reduce human mortality. They prevent the entire population from the risk of infectious diseases. Many diseases were due to vaccination programs. Polio is an example to that. So everybody should get vaccinated to conquer the pandemic that we are currently facing.

The effects of video games on a child’s behaviour

Video gaming has become a popular activity for people of all ages. Many children and adolescents spend large amounts of time playing them, although no one should have more than two hours total of screen time in a day. Video gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry, bringing in more money than movies and DVDs combined. Video games have become very sophisticated and realistic and some games connect to the Internet, which allow children and adolescents to play online with unknown adults and peers.

While some games have educational content, many of the most popular games emphasize negative themes. They promote the killing of people or animals, the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, criminal behavior, disrespect for the law and other authority figures, sexual exploitation and violence towards women, racial, sexual and gender stereotypes, and foul language obscenities and obscene gestures. Examples of video games not acceptable for children because they have these themes include the popular ones Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Mortal Kombat.

There is growing research on the effects of video games on children. Studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become immune or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see and show more aggressive behavior with greater exposure to violence. Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with video games, leading to poor social skills, time away from family time, school work and other hobbies, lower grades, reading less, exercising less, becoming overweight, and having aggressive thoughts and behaviors.

So how can you, as a parent, protect your child against these types of video games? First, you can check the Entertainment Software Rating Board ratings to learn about the game’s content. Every video game will actually have a label on the front to tell you what type of game it is. If it says M for mature, it’s not for your child.

Play the video games with your child to experience the game’s content and know exactly what your child is playing. Set clear rules about the game’s content for both playing time in and outside of your home. Strongly warn your children about the potential serious dangers of Internet contacts and relationships while playing online. There are a lot of online predators that will look for children specifically playing video games and this can lead to them meeting in real life. Finally, remember that you are a role model for your child. Make sure the video games you play as an adult are ones that you would want your child to play.

If you are concerned as a parent that your child is spending too much time playing video games or your child starts becoming obsessed with aggressive or violent video games, make sure you set some limits. You’re not allowed to play games for one hour after all the homework is done and encourage your child to participate in other activities so they’re not drawn to those video games. By being aware of what games are out there, you can help your child make appropriate decisions about gaming no matter where your child plays.