Health, Fitness, and Fashion

Who is killing us?

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:11:00 -0700

Today’s day-to-day work pressure and running after money for a luxurious life are dragging us to a very common disease called ‘Depression’. It is no more an unidentified and uncommon disease in human life. We are quite acquainted with that very word and also suffering most of us due to this disease.

Depression is caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals. Like any serious medical condition, depression needs to be treated. To fight against depression we need to understand the cause behind it. Before discussing the cause, it is to be mentioned that study has shown that it is not just state of mind but also physical changes caused by the imbalance of a certain chemicals i.e. Neuromitters.

Factors causing depression are listed below:- 1) Trauma and Stress: Few common traumatic situations of the which can not be avoided can bring depression, e.g.- sudden demise of a loved ones, split up of relationships, sudden experience to view any accidental or shocking scenes, sudden falling in financial condition etc. People can also get depressed even on normal has-to-be matters like getting married, passing out from school or colleges, starting a new job.
2) Pessimistic personality: Low level depression which is also known as Dysthymia causes by low-self esteem and negative outlook or thinking.
3) Family History: Depression can be caused due to genetic condition. Research has proved that often depressed mother’s gene can cause depression to her baby.
4) Physical Conditions: Any medical conditions like Cancer, HIV or any non-curable diseases can lead any patient to depression. Sometimes during pregnancy mothers feel depressed due to some hormonal changes.
5) Other Psychological Disorders: Anxiety disorders, anorexia, schizophrenia and especially substance abuse line up with the depression.

Mood Swing related to Depression: Psychiatrist can detect depression by seeing the major shortfall in patient’s behavior or lifestyle:-
1) Feeling sadness, irritability or tension unnecessarily.
2) Feeling of worthlessness, guilt or hopelessness.
3) Attempting suicide frequently.
4) Change in eating habit or appetite disorder, causing obesity or underweight syndrome.
5) Either restlessness or slowed down in work.
6) Decreased ability to take decisions or loss of concentration.
7) Loss of energy, feeling tired despite lack of activity.
8) Sleeping disorder, either insomnia or sleeping too much.
9) Loosing interest in regular activities and strong feeling of monotony.

Let us now disclose few terms related to depression :

Dysthymia: People who have it may feel mildly depressed on most days over a period of at least two years.

Seasonal Affective Disorder: It is the recurrence of the symptoms during certain seasons that is the hallmark of this type of depression.

Postpartum Depression: It is a type of depression that can occur in women immediately after delivery. It normally persists just few months after delivery but can continue a year long for some cases. It is, hence, different from “Baby-Blues” which occurs the first few days after delivery and resolve spontaneously.

Bipolar Disorder: It is previously known as “Manic Depression”. The bipolar is now used to indicate 2 poles, or extremes. If the North Pole is mania, then the South Pole is depression.

Ratio of depression among people: Women are on the top of the list and become depressed double the count of men. It is mainly due to hormonal changes during pregnancy, puberty, menstruation, menopause etc. Risk of depression is lesser in men than women. They are more likely to go undiagnosed. Due to this, suicidal attempt is four times more likely than women. Elderly people, after losing their loved ones become depressed due to loneliness. Other family members attribute the signs of depression as the results of ageing. They become reluctant to take to the consultant. Youngsters of today’s generation face the disease due to their high ambition or failure in love relations.

Brain transmission during depressive disorder: Human brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons. Neurons send and receive messages from the rest of the body parts by using neuromitters, chemicals of a brain.
When depression happens these chemicals can not deal with the messages correctly, causing miscommunication in between human brain and human body.

Treatment tips: 1) Start taking anti depressants. Although it takes time to reciprocate but you can feel better within a couple of weeks.
2) Without consulting your doctor, do not discontinue antidepressants once it starts working.
3) It may take long term treatment, but stay adhered to it, it will work.
Some more tips:
• Think positive and be optimistic
• Do not let any external factor to disturb your mind and snatch the peace of your life.
• Be involved in work which interests you.
• Make an effective social circle and discuss something positive and fruitful with them.
• Do not take any drastic step while worried.
• Give yourself ample amount of time to delve deeper into the problem and solve it.
• Do not hesitate to take expert’s help.
• Try meditation and little yoga.

So, after a long discussion here is to conclude that life is yours and life is beautiful. Every one has the right to enjoy it. Be anything causing negative with your life, you make yourself armed to fight against the cause. Almighty has given immense power within us. Life is a mystery. Do not get perplexed. Try solving it, and stay happy. Enjoy!

Eat Healthy, Live long

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:11:00 -0700

This article is not only the guideline for what to eat but also about how much to eat. Healthy eating habit gives us more energy for hard work. It improves our immunity to combat any kind of disease. Also of course not to forget, it gives us shapely body and delays our aging process. Thus, discussing about the connection between eating healthy and living long is not an odd topic, rather interesting.

So let’s have in-depth discussion about the healthy diet plan and one should know how much should be our daily intake.

Healthy diet chart

First we should know what kind of food is healthy for our overall health and how much to take.

Grains: Daily intake of grains should be at least 6 to 8 servings. Whole grain should be served at least 3 times a day. Grains include pasta, bread, cereal, rice etc. Amount of each grain serving should be like 1 slice of bread, 1 serving of rice, ½ cup of cooked or 1 cup of ready to eat serving of cereal, ½ cup of cooked pasta.

You can satisfy your tongue with the small amount of croissants, donuts, muffins etc once in a while.

Fruits and vegetables: Intake of fruit should be 2 to 4 servings and vegetables should be 4 to 6 servings. Fruits and vegetables have immense health benefit for its contribution in fiber, vitamin, and minerals to our body. Thus, taking fruits and vegetables everyday in a fresh, boiled or in cooked form with less oil is good for our health. Fruits and vegetables can be used in salad but use of fat laden toppings like butter, mayonnaise etc should be once in a while.

Meat, fish and nuts: Meat, lamb, fish, and poultry products should be cooked in low oil or steaming them is a better option. It is better to remove all kind of fats from them before cooking, and you can season them with herbs, fat-free marinades and spices. You should take them at least 2 to 3 servings daily.

Dairy products: Take dairy products like low-fat yogurt, cheese, and toned milk at least in 2 to 3 servings. One serving of milk or yogurt should be equal to 1 cup and cheese should not be more than 2 ounces.

You should not discard oil, fats and sweets from your diet. You should take it in moderation

Following this diet chart for a lifetime will definitely show you good result.

Drink water, Stay healthy

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:10:00 -0700

It is said, “Water is our life”. Truly, if water is not there we could not have survived on this earth. Life means it has included every beneficial aspects of water in the life of a living being. But here we will disclose the truth how water suffices our bodily need.

We can see how water comes out from our body through urine, sweating, and breathing. Thus, to keep a balance in our body water level we need to refuel our body’s water need through drinking water or water based substances like fluids, juice, watery foods etc.
Our body demand for water depends upon the factors like how much physical activity we do per day, what is the climate where we are living, what kind of a medical condition we are experiencing and many other reasons.

Benefits of water

Water is the protective agent for our body: When we hydrate our body by quenching our thirst, water helps to monitor our body temperature. It maintains our body tissues. Water hydrates certain sensitive part of our body like nose, eyes and mouth etc. It is also beneficial for our brain, blood and bones. Along with it, water protects our spinal cord. It works as the cushioning or lubricating agent for the joints.

Water is detoxifying agent for our body: Water flushes out waste products of our body with the help of urine, feces and sweat. Kidney and liver do the work of flushing out excreta from our body. Water makes the constipated bowel movement smooth and helps to move food in the intestinal tract

Water supports in digestion: Digestion starts from the enzyme present in the saliva. This saliva is water based. Enzyme present in saliva helps to break down foods and makes it digestible. Moreover, water makes fiber rich food more soluble and makes it easy to pass by softening it as a smooth stool.

Water hydrates our body: Our body loses water by different means like sweating; urine etc. Body becomes dry if any kind of illness like dehydration, vomiting etc takes place. Also water evaporates through sweating when we do vigorous exercise. Nursing mothers loses body water content when they breast feed their baby. Thus, in every situation more intake of water is highly recommended.

How to check water deficiency in your body
Experts say that check your urine color. If it’s clear then you’re perfect about water intake. If it’s dark in color then you should take more water.

Thus, it is seen how water affects our health. So, make sure that your body is properly hydrated with sufficient intake of water or any other fluid.

Eradicate eye problem with diet

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:10:00 -0700

Among any other diseases, eye diseases are one of the alarming diseases to the human body. According to the research, more than twenty million Americans suffer from cataract over the age of 40 years and ten million Americans over the age of 60 suffer from eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration or shortly AMD.

The main causes behind this kind of eye disease are growing age and improper daily diet.

Cataract takes place due to the lack of protein in the lens. These proteins helps prevent the blurring of the lens. AMD takes place when macula cells get damaged. Those eye diseases can be prevented if you’re taking proper diet.

What are the healthy diets for better eye health?

Major nutrients linked to prevent eye problmes are carotenoids,lutein, beta carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, zeaxanthin, zinc; and vitamins C, E, B9 (folic acid or folate),B6, and B12. Certain antioxidants like lutein reduce the risk of AMD with the production of waste product in retina.

Just check out few healthy foods, which are good for eye health:

Fruits and vegetables are important becasue they are the source of vitamins C and E.
Dark green vegetables like spinach (source of lutein, vitamin E), kale etc
Orange and yellow and fruits and vegetables, which are the source of zeaxanthin and beta carotene
Sources of omega-3 fatty acids are herring,tuna, mackerel, anchovies,salmon, trout, white fish, and sardines
Sources of zinc are eggs, beef,lamb,pork, whole grains, peanuts, and milk
Vitamin B6 is found in chicken,pork,fish,bananas,dried beans,potatoes
Vitamin B12 is found in eggs, shellfish, meat, and dairy products
folic acid is found in fortified cereals,dried beans, citrus fruits, green leafy vegetables, mushrooms,liver, peas, and nuts

Carbohydrate diet with high glycemic index like white rice, pasta, and white bread are not good for eye health as they might raise the risk of AMD. Instead, it is better to take brown rice, whole grain pasta and breads.

Nutrition Supplements treating eye problem

Certain nutrition supplements like high doses of beta carotene, vitamin E, zinc,and copper are good to prevent AMD at intermediate stage from reaching advance stage.

But it is always advisable that taking leafy vegetables, fresh fruits, and fishes are good for eye health instead of going for any supplements.

The best secrets to weight loss

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:09:00 -0700

Are your extra bulges raising your eye brows? Are your jeans not fitting you properly? Every exercises and all diet plans have failed to reduce your body weight.

Don’t worry! You can get your desired shape and targeted weight permanently. To know the best secrets to weight loss, following tips will help you thoroughly. Many overtiring exercises and crash diet have proved to be the worst way to loose weight. Just to get perfect body shape and weight, you need to be focused on regular routine of your life- like what you do and how you do. Just by changing few nominal habits you can achieve what you want.

Wake up routine: Try to wake up in the morning in a good mood and keeping your body posture straight without taking the help of your two hands. This simple change can help you burn at least ten calories a day.

Change in Breakfast: Choose some cereal over fried food followed by some high-protein diet. Try to avoid protein at night. It will help you to burn more than three hundred calories a day.

Stop munching fried options: In a daytime, if you feel hungry don’t go for fried option. Instead you can carry some fruits and salads with you all the time. If you crave for finger chips, why not then opt for low calorie chip to munch on.

Interval exercises: Do some squat and side or front bending whenever you’re leaving your workstation for a short break.

Parking trick: Park your car little away from your office. So that you can take little walk and keep your calorie-burning process on.

Add apple: Taking apple a day can keep you away from being obese.

Shop till drop: Make a good shopping plan and burn calorie by trying many outfits one after another. You need not to buy every time but trial won’t make you pauper for sure.

Climb up: Avoid lift and climb up stairs. It’s a nice way to burn body fat.

Start with Soup: Always start your dinner with clear soup. It will fill your tummy and clear soup has lesser calorie count.

If you just change and follow the above regime on a regular basis, then some times over eating in a lunch or dinner party won’t add up more fat in your body.

Solution to Your Top Skin and Body Issues

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:08:00 -0700

Looking great and becoming head turner with the proper make-up and dress is desirable to every woman. It becomes very imperative after certain age and stage of your life that you should know what make-up you should wear and how you should look good. But do you know the fact if your skin is not healthy from inside it becomes very difficult to look great even after putting on right kind of costly and branded make-up.

Thus, taking care of skin and sorting out the problem of different skin type is very important. It is not only the matter of facial skin; you need to take care of your skin of the entire body. To find the solution of your skin and body issues, you should know what the main problems are and how to get rid of them.

Rough and Dry Skin: Skin should glow and shine while you put on make-up. But with rough and dry skin, make-up doesn’t look good. To supple your skin, you have to do proper scrubbing, followed by toning and moisturizing every day. You should not forget to take care of elbow and knees while taking care of dull and dry skin.

Black heads: Removing blackheads from nose and other areas of your face is mandatory. Blackhead is the resultant accumulation of dirt, dust, dead skin, and sebum or oil, which gets cumulated in the open pores of the skin. So to keep pores hydrated, you should drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day. You should wash your face with plain water. You should choose a good scrub for exfoliation followed by other cleansing regime and moisturizing routine.

Back-ne: Back acne is a huge problem these days. To get rid of it, instead of using good odorous body wash , use some scrubber to rub your back, then apply salicylic acid pad on back acne after the back gets dried followed by moisturizing process.

Skin flakes:Flakes can be seen in many faces and lips due to dehydration and pollution. To stay away from it, take good amount of water every day, take care of your cleansing process, and try to make your skin dirt and dust free.

Never forget to remove make-up before hitting the pillow. Never forget to wash your face after coming from outside. Nowadays air is much polluted. So taking care of skin on regular basis will definitely give you good result.

Poodle skirt

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:05:00 -0700

Poodle skirt was the fancy of 1950’s woman of America. Its uniqueness of design and feminine fashion made this poodle skirt very popular.

It’s spun around design became the most-wanted skirt among dancers, and thus its full circle style caught the public demand. This in-vogue poodle skirt became the rage in teenage girls.

Easy to sew approach and low price of this felt skirt further made its furor on demand. French poodles became trend for its unparallel appliqués and involuntary color combination. These felt skirts also caught customer’s phantasm due to the silvery telephones and records surrounded by the words "See ya later, alligator".

People of 1950 used to get embellished with the poodle skirt and ponytail, and with chiffon scarves, crinoline petticoats, and cats eye glasses. This kind of petticoat under the poodle skirt used to give more feminine touch.

Poodle skirts with saddle shoes in the black and white oxford requiring more polishing were must-wear for teenagers during those days. Those shoes were accompanied by white cotton socks.

This kind of style statement was very popular among teenage girls in the malt shops and sock hops of the 50's. Many theme parties today can be based on this particular poodle skirt and saddle shoe mode. So if you want to take the essence of 1950’s retrospect then poodle skirt fad is must for all teenage girl crowds in a theme party.

Thus, to catch the era and aura of 50’s, poodle skirts can do wonder in fashion fiesta even today.

Designer Sunglass

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:04:00 -0700

Sunglasses are generally meant for eye-protection. While glasses are needed to protect eyes from sunrays then we call them sunglasses. But if they are making your fashion statement too, then probably wearing them would add on more points to your beauty quotient.

If you’re going trendy and need pinch of accessory to boast your persona to a different level, then no doubt designer sunglass will solve your purpose judiciously. Wearing nice pair of sunglasses not only enhances your personality but it also attracts envious eyes to your own fashion trend. Proper eye-protecting sunglasses are in vogue from more than a decade. Just your right pick and choose can do a wondrous change in your overall charm.

So what are you waiting for? Go and grab the smart brand of colored glasses to protect your eyes as well as increase your podium of allurement.

It is easily seen everywhere how the growing trend of wearing designer sunglasses are capturing the market nowadays. For every stratum of people and for every age, it has become mandatory to deck up and enshroud two valuable eyes behind a good pair of sunglasses. Thus, different brand-sellers are as well very finicky about selling their products with the help of popular brand ambassador. Many Hollywood celebrities are endorsing this kind of a product with the charisma of their fame. Since celebrity styles have immense effect on public aura, thus their brand promotion makes a huge difference in case of designer sunglasses as well. Hollywood heart throbs like Nicole Richie, Tom Cruise, Jessica Simpson, and Brad Pitt are there to catch your eyes to the lucrative publicity of certain brands.

You can shop and stop with the choice of your own brand of designer glasses online. Various online stores are readily available to make your purchase viable to you through large directory listing. You can pick your own stylish brand only by sitting at your chair and clicking on the mouse. But before purchasing, be ensured of the damage repair and return policy very distinctively. Since designer sunglasses are expensive and valuable buy for you, so get the assurance of ultraviolet protective lenses and tensile frames at the time of order. These lenses must protect your eyes from dirt, dust and smoke, so that eyes should be safeguarded from different harmful eye diseases. Also with designer sunglasses, authenticity of the product raises the eye brows of the consumer. As many brands are duplicated in a very tricky way.

To name a few leading brand of designer sunglasses are Burberry, Christian Dior, Oakley, Ray-ban,Gucci, Smith, Lacoste etc. Few brands are highly famed for its well-known logo, e.g.-crocodile logo of Lacoste.

Cost of these designer sunglasses vary widely. Extensive array of these famous brands start from approximately 30 dollars. Foster Grant costs 30 dollars. Cartier Frames ranges from 1000 dollars. Cost of oversized Burberry sunglasses are generally 200 dollars. Guess Wraparound sunglasses are found in 90 dollars.

Thus, if you’re really dainty about your brand of colored glasses, then shop a good pair of designer sunglass and let your face look more eye-catching with a fashionable eye-wear.

How to Dress Fashionably On a Budget

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:00:00 -0700

Is it expensive to remain trendy? Is cutting your coat according to the cloth that massive expenditure?

How about going smart within the pocket! Does it really give you nightmare?

Dress fashionably on budget is no more heart-wrenching task nowadays. In-vogue brands are undoubtedly approaching every door with the range of nice price tags.

Be it regular clothing or formal wear, dress yourself with a leading brand of your choice. But don’t compromise your other expenses; since you can easily get gorgeous or stay handsome within the stipulated budget.

If you’re getting carried away with the windows of the retail store. If mannequin carrying a nice pair of clothes aren’t soothing your day-dream for its value label. Then shake your shoulder and follow few little steps to get paid-fortune and go trendy!

1. Know your choice of clothing. Are you finicky about any particular type of attire? Knowing your nose when it squeezes with the fashion trend is the must-do while choosing your garb.

2. Don’t go harsh with your body type and body color. Go for clothing, which grabs your personality, not the showiness of the mannequin. Visual merchandisers set mannequin with the flow of the recent mode. Make sure your attire should hug you properly where it is required. Ugly fitting clothes, no matter how costly it is, are never entertained.

3. After knowing your choice and style of clothing, you must choose your destination. You can park your car outside any popular retail store or it can be your next door small shopper’s stop, your choice and their quality ultimately matters. Good quality garbs may not suit your pocket all the time. Good brand with great quality outfits also come with high price tag entangled with it.

4. If your wardrobe is not being able to accommodate designers outfit every time. Then don’t look glum.Look for year-end or season-end sales. You can avail good designer outfit at discounted price, which can be reasonably on the budget purchase for you. Local vintage boutiques and second-hand stores sometimes give you wide range of choice, which may suit your pocket and doesn’t go beyond your fashion statement. So no matter if leading brands aren’t fulfilling your expectation, you can find your pair of products from some place else.

5. Not only good garments that gain attention of the viewer. You need to add some pinch of good accessories along with it. Go for good watches, which is trendy yet not much expensive. Get finicky with the choice of bangles and ear-accessories.

There’re wide array of good accessories available in the local market, where price is not that high but range is on higher side.

So going good with your own choice and getting trendy is not only the matter of big budget plan. Thus, bank robbery is not only the solution for look good and feel good factor. Your own plan of action matters and you need to follow only few steps to take a plunge on the greatness of fashion good-buy.

Simplicity sewing pattern

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:55:00 -0700

Simplicity sewing has been witnessed as the most popular sewing pattern for several decades. If you fancy learning this sewing pattern, probably this article is the best destination to learn the some simple tips about this Simplicity sewing pattern very quickly.

Measurement tips

While to adorn your family member or yourself with a self-made cloth, then exact measurement becomes the foremost consideration. But for this you might need a help of your friend. You might not be able to measure your own height. For this, you have to take off your shoes.

One measurement tape and taking your perfect height holding you against a wall can solve the purpose. You need to take measurement of your hip and bust at the fullest point. Too tight on those areas may not suit the style.

Few More Tips To Consider:

After few years of practice, you might have to consider few more tips for simplicity sewing patterns. Few handy and easy tips can prove to be helpful in case of dealing with big project.

-When to sew on button, use of clear scotch tape to hold it in a place of garment is mandatory. You have to sew right through the tape and have to discard the peel of tape after sewing.

-When you are dealing with big projects like dresses or drapes with the Simplicity sewing patterns, then while working on top portion of the project golf weights can be used to hold the bottom of the project down.

Is there (sex) life after a heart attack?

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Tue, 6 Apr 2010 01:47:00 -0700

Are you worried about your performance on bed as you had a heart attack recently? Are you concerned about the risk factor involved having sex after mild stroke?

But it is also important to take care of sexual health once you’ve heart attack.

Heart attack highly affects the erectile condition of the men. While artery sends blood to the penis, erection takes place. But after heart attack due to lack of blood flow (this situation medically termed as atherosclerosis) gives birth to erectile dysfunction or even impotence.

Other conditions like more smoking habit, diabetes, high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol level leading to heart attack may give birth to impotence.

Taking PDE 5 inhibitor, which is a medication for erectile dysfunction, is not possible at this stage. This inhibitor has the capacity to make better blood flow to the penis by widening the artery. This inhibitor produces nitric oxide, which helps to widen the artery. But it also widens the artery of the other part of the body, which gives birth to fall in blood pressure level. Moreover, those who are already taking nitrates may face the problem of blood pressure level in a life threatening stage. Nitrate works on nitric oxide. That’s why using PDE 5 inhibitor with nitroglycerin leads to fall in blood pressure level.

Thus, it is seen that with the experience of stroke or heart attack in past 6 months, or having any past record of unstable angina, low blood pressure, abnormal level (more than 170/110 mm Hg) of high blood pressure and with the already user of nitrate, taking PDE 5 inhibitor is risky. If you’re occasional user of nitrate then you should consult your doctor and might use PDE 5 inhibitor. But studies have shown that using sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra) etc is better to use. Using tadalafil (Cialis) is not recommended as it has long effect on PDE 5 inhibitor.

Avoid nitrate for at least 24 hours after taking (Levitra) or sildenafil (Viagra). After taking tadalafil (Cialis), avoid nitrate for 48 hours.

People become reluctant to have sexual intercourse with the fear of another cardiac arrest. But studies have shown that having sex after heart attack is as exhausting as climbing up two stairs. Thus, daily dose of proper exercise can reduce the risk of heart attack during or after of sex act in a man.

Simplicity sewing pattern

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Tue, 6 Apr 2010 01:20:00 -0700

Simplicity sewing has been witnessed as the most popular sewing pattern for several decades. If you fancy learning this sewing pattern, probably this article is the best destination to learn the some simple tips about this Simplicity sewing pattern very quickly.

Measurement tips

While to adorn your family member or yourself with a self-made cloth, then exact measurement becomes the foremost consideration. But for this you might need a help of your friend. You might not be able to measure your own height. For this, you have to take off your shoes.

One measurement tape and taking your perfect height holding you against a wall can solve the purpose. You need to take measurement of your hip and bust at the fullest point. Too tight on those areas may not suit the style.

Few More Tips To Consider:

After few years of practice, you might have to consider few more tips for simplicity sewing patterns. Few handy and easy tips can prove to be helpful in case of dealing with big project.

-When to sew on button, use of clear scotch tape to hold it in a place of garment is mandatory. You have to sew right through the tape and have to discard the peel of tape after sewing.

-When you are dealing with big projects like dresses or drapes with the Simplicity sewing patterns, then while working on top portion of the project golf weights can be used to hold the bottom of the project down.

Tai Chi

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:06:00 -0700

Tai chi is the form of martial art. It can also be said that it is a kind of moving meditation. It is originated in China during 12th century. In the form of martial art, Taoist monk Chang San-Feng first introduced Tai Chi. Different movements in Tai Chi is derived from the movement of snake and crane in the battle field.

Tai Chi is actually the combination of flexible exercise, aerobics, balance and weight-bearing exercise. This form of meditation is very smooth and gives excellent flexibility to the body.

Tai Chi is widespread worldwide because of its balancing act of mind, body, and spirit. It is said that it is a safe and low-impact martial art, which can be practiced individually or in group.

According to Chinese Philosophy, this entire world contains two elements called “Yin” and Yang’. Yin is the representative of femininity, coolness, and stability. While Yang hold qualities of masculinity, brightness and fire. According to this philosophy, life energy, which is also termed as ‘qi’ should flow properly and freely throughout our body so that it can maintain the emotional and physical health of the human being.

Tai chi has shown its benefits in cardiovascular health, stress, anxiety, respiratory problem, high blood pressure, arthritis, certain pains etc. Aged people can get benefited by practicing Tai chi and can regain their flexibility, balance and strength.

Tai Chi is the combination of breathing, movement, and meditation. Thus, Tai chi has a good effect on health.

Since it is a weight-bearing exercise, it benefits in making certain muscle groups stronger, which leads to more strength, flexibility, coordination, agility, endurance to the human body.

Since it is an aerobic form of exercise, thus it helps to improve cardiovascular health. It helps to flow more oxygen in your heart thus it helps to reduce heart and cholesterol problem. Tai Chi breathing technique helps to improve lung capacity and flow of oxygen.

Since it is meditative technique, it helps to rejuvenate your concentration, emotional health, and also blood pressure.

Tai Chi also helps to improve overall immune system and digestion problem.

You can practice Tai Chi for few weeks or few months according to your need. But before joining any class for Tai Chi, you should consult your doctor. It will definitely show its good result.

Know the risk factors of Mesothelioma

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:33:00 -0700

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer, which happens due to the exposure to asbestos. Mesothelium is the term, which is used to describe membranes of the different organs of the body. Mesothelial tissue acts as the protective tissues of the organs. Different mesothelia of the body include:

The pleura- covering the lungs
The pericardium- protecting the heart
The peritoneum-surrounding the abdominal cavity walls
The tunica serosa uteri-covering the internal part of female reproductive organs
The tunica vaginalis testis- encasing the internal part of male reproductive organs

This cancer can happen in any of the mesothelia, but it is mostly seen in the pleura.

Risk factors of Mesothelioma
The main risk factor of Mesothelioma is the long-term or short-term exposure to the asbestos. When asbestos fibers are deposited at the bottom of the lungs due to continuous exposure to the asbestos then it becomes cancerous to the pleura. It happens to the mesothelia of other organs of the body as well. It can further be triggered by other factors like over-smoking tendency or family history.

Inhaling asbestos fibers on the long-term basis are included those person who are exposed to asbestos due to their work and they are:
Manufacturers of asbestos products and textiles
Asbestos miners
Heating and construction industry workers
Workers in the shipyard

Even people with short-term exposure to the asbestos can get this disease. For example, asbestos removal workers, firefighters, drywall removers, automobile workers, demolition workers can also get this disease.

Though it is not known how the risk factor related to asbestos can be aggravated but it is said that certain parameters can determine the reasons, like:
Exposure to the specific amount of asbestos
Time span of the exposure
Types, shape and size of the asbestos fiber
Any other habit like smoking tendency

In this context, it is to mention that asbestos are of two types- straight fibers or amphibole and curly fibers or chrysotile. Both types of fibers can aggravate Mesothelioma. But according to recent research, amphibole asbestos are more responsible than chrysotile.

Other risk factors causing Mesothelioma:

Over-smoking habit is found to be one of the commonest risk factors of Mesothelioma
Sometimes this disease is related to genetic condition.
Thorium dioxide, which is X-ray radioactive contrast medium is found to be another risk factor for this disease.
Minerals found in volcanic rock, known as Zeolites, are found to trigger the possibility of pleural Mesothelioma
Simian Virus 40 (SV40) is also linked with the cause of this disease

Thus, when we know the risk factors of this rare disease so taking prevention would be easier for us now.

Knock your dermatologist for Dermapril

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:52:00 -0800

To remove wrinkle, Dermapiil has visible effect on it. This wrinkle removal crème is the product of Rauscher Bekke, LLC out of South Florida. This age-defying crème has shown many good results in removing fine lines and creases from the human skin. It has an ingredient called Matrixyl 3000, which is an antioxidant. This patented ingredient is the main key ingredient of this product, which has power to treat wrinkly and sagged skin. This ingredient actually is the combination of two peptides, and they are palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3 and palmitoyl oligopeptide. According to the makers, this is known as European anti-ageing compound, which has shown its effect to diminish wrinkle volume and density. It also enhances the firmness and suppleness of the skin. This product also has white and green tea extracts in it. It has other important ingredients like Cetearyl Alcohol, Purified water, Stearic Acid, Hydroxlated Lexithin, Glyceryl Stearate, Glycerin, Dehydroacetic Acid, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Butylene Glycol, Benzyl Alcohol, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20 etc.

This product is clinically tested, thus it is reliable and safe. It shows result very quickly. It is advised to use it twice a day- in the morning and evening. But it is expected to give one month to show its result properly. But after one month of use, you can reduce its application to one time a day regularly. It has quite a visible result in a wide range of users, thus it is popularly used as an anti-ageing and anti-wrinkle cream. Thus, using this product saves the money of painful surgeries for removing wrinkles and sagging of the skin.

Do you reserve Resveratrol?

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:51:00 -0800

Resveratrol Pills

Resveratrol is derived from the plant extraction. It is a phytoalexin, and is derived when plant is attacked by pathogens like bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol was initially found in ground dried grape skins and seeds. Then it was synthesized from Japanese knotweed. It can also be chemically synthesized. It has commercial use as a food supplement. Resveratrol is an antioxidant, which is found in plants like mulberry, blue berry, red grapes, raspberry, cranberry etc. It is also found in knotweeds, peanuts, and in few pine trees.

Resveratrol extracted

It has various healing effects on health. It acts as an anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, blood-sugar-lowering agent, and also affects in cardio vascular disease. It also cures Alzheimer disease. It has the effect for enhanced longevity of life. It helps in increasing athletic performance. It acts as a protection from stoke damage. It prevents health from damage caused by radiation exposure. It has even effect of muscle gain. It is also beneficial in weight loss. But high dose of Resveratrol can cause weight gain as well. It helps to prevent cellular damage, which is the result of free radical.

Resveratrol does not have any significant side effect. Thus, this is a reliable and safe product. It is clinically tested and has proven good results in human health.

You can sip a red wine and that will give you the benefit of Resveratrol. If you are taking manufactured Resveratrol, then the percentage of it would definitely be more.

Thus, Resveratrol is the natural way of curing diseases and no harmful chemical is involved in it.

Case Studies on Resveratrol

Your wrinkly things are kinky enough

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:49:00 -0800

When we see wrinkles in a cloth, we prefer to iron it. Because who wants to wear wrinkly clothes, which do not look good? The same way our skin can get affected with the wrinkles due to several reasons. Wrinkle means fold, crease, or ridge on the skin.

Wrinkle of the skin is the result of wrong facial expression for longer time, damage due to sun ray, aging, smoking, lack of hydration etc. Over exposure to the water for a longer period of times may cause wrinkle too.

Due to wrinkles, skin start getting sagged near the areas like eyes, necks, cheeks, and hands. Over stress and tension may lead to wrinkly skin with the age according to various studies.

The way every skin disease has certain remedy and treatment. Wrinkles too have various treatments from natural to surgical. Various chemical products available in the market with the name of anti-wrinkle and anti-ageing creams claim to remove wrinkle and make skin healthy. But going natural way to treat this problem may show more effective result. You can also take the help of face lift, which is the form of stretching to remove fine lines from the skin surface. Various home remedies like make a paste of sugar cane and turmeric powder with the desirable proportion, rub it on your face, neck, and cheek, and then leave for few minute. After few minutes, removing it with the clean water will help to heal the wrinkle in a natural way. Even Botox surgery is said to have visible effect on wrinkle removal. You can do certain Yogas or facial exercises, which have certain remedial effects on wrinkle removal.

How to take care of your skin

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:47:00 -0800

With the growing influence of pollution and global warming, it has become imperative to take good care of our skin on regular basis. Especially when we are always exposed to the environment due to the demand of our work, we need to nurture the skin cells and maintain the suppleness of the utmost outer part of human body. Our skin even gets damaged due to the hectic urban lifestyle, lack of proper diet, and scarcity of adequate sleep.

We can use different commercial products, which protect our skin from loosing moisture. Various sunscreen products are readily obtainable in the market to protect skin from harmful UV rays of the sun. Many leading brands have come up with the solution of anti-wrinkle and anti-ageing products for younger looking skin. But in our day-to-day life if those pricey commercial products are the matter of nightmare, then sticking to various home-made remedy can give you better solution. Those granny’s remedies are really helpful to protect our epidermis and also other layers of the skin from huge damage.

But end of the day, not only superficial care do wonders for healthy skin. If you are keenly lingering for soft and beautiful skin, then you need to give yourself at last 6-8 hours of sound sleep, proper diet with the inclusion of fixed portion of vegetables and fruits, and regular physical exercise.

Gastritis: take care of your digestive health

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:18:00 -0800

Gastritis

Number of different digestive problem falls under the single umbrella of “Gastritis”. In Gastritis, stomach lining gets inflamed.

GI Tract

Reasons for Gastritis
Reasons for Gastritis are myriads. The main reason for Gastritis is the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or shortly NSAIDs. Various painkillers like naproxen (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) can cause irritation or inflammation in the stomach lining if taken on regular basis.

Other reasons for Gastritis are:
Smoking and drinking alcohols
Viral infection
Infection caused due to stomach ulcer bacteria named H. pylori
Thinning of stomach lining tissues
More production of stomach acid

Quit Smoking

Risk factors involved in Gastritis
Those who have weaker immune system are more prone to Gastritis.
Gastritis can also be hereditary. If there is family history of Gastritis, then people become more susceptible to Gastritis
Those who are taking pain killers on regular basis to heal pain due to some other medical conditions
Apart from drinking and smoking regularly people who take acidic drinks like coffee
Those who are stressed out for different reasons in their day-to-day life

Heart Burn

Symptoms of Gastritis
Gastritis symptoms vary widely. But knowing the signs and symptoms of Gastritis is very important. Because you can be misguided with different symptoms of other diseases if proper symptom of Gastritis is not known to you. There may be minor or serious both kind of symptoms seen in gastritis.

Symptoms include:
Pain in abdomen
Nausea
Vomiting
Hiccups
Indigestion
Flatulence
Belching Heartburn
Bloating
Feeling full or lack of appetite
Dark stools
Bleeding in stool

Endoscopy

Diagnosis of Gastritis
Gastritis can be diagnosed with the help of clinical history of the patient. It can be diagnosed with the help of an upper Endoscopy, where a tube with the small camera is inserted inside the body to look the problem inside your body.

Treat Gastritis

Treatment of Gastritis
Gastritis can be treated with the means of different techniques depending upon the severity of the problem. This digestive problem is treatable with the help of medicines. Patients can be asked to stop their smoking, drinking and acidic drink consumption.

Good Mood Food

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:03:00 -0800

We face stress in our day-to-day life. Not only stress but also tension, depression etc are the common mental health problems in urban life. But do we know that to boost our mood we can include some food in our diet list?

MOOD SWING

Have you ever noticed that you feel very drowsy once you have some rice in lunch or dinner? If your day starts with bread and you find it difficult to open your eyes properly and you have frequent yawning, then these are nothing but the effect of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates have the relaxing effect on our mind.

How mood swing affect our body
Any kind of stressful situation like getting late for office, rushing for important meeting, baby sitting or examination knocking the door etc can give birth to tension. Under these situations, our blood pressure rises up, cortisol hormone secretes giving birth to various heart diseases, and our body starts producing glucose to give us more energy to combat the situation and thus leading to diabetes and obesity. This way mood swing gives birth to different diseases and makes us more weary.

Obesity due to mood swing

Know the mood boosting foods
Carbohydrates are known to be the mood boosting foods. Complex carbohydrates like whole grain breads, whole grain cereals, legumes etc. are helpful to handle our mood swing. Certain starchy vegetables like potato and corn fall under the same category.

Why carbohydrates are good for mood?
Our mood hormone in brain is serotonin. It uplifts our mood, enhances emotional energy, and relaxes any pain. Carbohydrate has the ability to produce this hormone more.

More information
Simple carbohydrates have the ability to produce more serotonin with the release of glucose. Simple carbohydrates are those who fall under the category of refined or processed form like cookies or doughnuts. But it is to know that to make serotonin work; you have to take it in empty stomach and without the intake of protein. But if you add jelly or something more fattening as a topping with the carbs then you will add up more calories to your body leading to sudden weight gain.

PMS solution
If you find it difficult to combat irritability due to the reason of premenstrual syndrome, then you can try out complex carbohydrate foods. Some complex carbohydrate beverages are available in the market for the escape of PMS.

Stress: can we live without it?

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:14:00 -0800

In our hectic day-to-day life, while traffic jam is the regular scenario during office hour, who has the ability to keep his heart pumping less and hold his breath patiently? In any awkward situation, while we feel restlessness within our throbbing heart, then it causes stress. It is stress in layman’s term. In medical term, it is an emotional and physical repercussion of the strain, which causes due to sudden changes in a situation related to you.

Life without stress is apparently impossible. Even very calm and patient person having no creases in his forehead muscles can also be the victim of stress. In our life, this symptom is like a part and parcel of everything.

What are the symptoms while your stress level is abruptly high:

Stress has two kinds of symptoms: Mental and Physical

Mental Symptoms caused by stress involve
• Trouble sleeping or insomnia
• Concentration problem
• Irritability
• Tension
• Feeling of tiredness

Physical Symptoms caused by stress involve
• Increased heart rate or palpitation
• Palms Sweating
• Bowel Problem
• Frequent urination
• Numbness in limb
• Muscle pain and strain or cramp in muscle
• Dryness in mouth

Some causes of stress due to some overburden situation:
1. If you are staying in a joint family. You are working fulltime and so your spouse is. Your baby and your job both require your attention the most. There is some erratic schedule of day-to-day life. There is no spice of life due to overloaded situation of family and work. It might cause stress in a huge amount. In this situation, you are always tied up between work-family demands. You have no time for yourself to laze around or spend some leisure time with own self at least by reading a book.

2. If you are a single parent and divorced with your former spouse. If sharing of responsibility of your children with your spouse is not smooth. If he/she is causing you pain in legal and financial matters upon trivial issues to make your life more complicated. This particular situation might raise your stress level in abundance.

3. If you are living all alone. No one on this earth is there to take care of you. You are likely to bear all your expenses and regular bills. No one is there to lend his/her hand to help you out, not even while you are ill. Your loneliness may lead you as a stressful person.

4. If your work is over-demanding and boss is bossy in an excessive way. It might lead to stress in a high level. Working in a stressful environment and under non-cooperative boss can make your life miserable.

Thus, it is seen that stress is everywhere in our life. But as there is way out for every problem, stress also has different solution. So to enjoy life, make your life stress free.

What causes stress and how it affects our life?
Stress does not mean it has to be the effect of any unpleasant situation or event.
Stress can be the result of any pleasant surprise like wedding planning, newly born baby or its care, or any new purchase.

Regarding this Stress, many researchers have given different views. But as per "Holmes-Raye" scale, statistic of stress is according to the certain life situations:
• Death of a spouse causes stress up to 100 points
• Divorce rate rises stress level up to 73 points in this scale
• Marriage is the result of 50 points stress
• Pregnancy also gives birth to 40 points of stress.
• Out of over excitement on purchasing a new house might rise your stress level up to 31 points
• Christmas causes stress up to 12 points.

Few more researches show that stress due to over demanding jobs take place in the society. As per Jobs Rated Almanac, top five stressful career options are:
1. President of the United States
2. Race car driver
3. Senior corporate executive
4. Taxi driver
5. Firefighter

As per Jobs Rated Almanac, least stressful career options are:
1. Medical records technician
2. Forklift operator
3. Janitor
4. Forklift operator
5. Florist

What are stressful situations for you?

Stressful situation varies highly from person to person. Few people are stressful under very common situation. And few are really relaxed even in a highly panicky situation.
So, stress level in human being varies:
• human nature
• upbringing
• family history or heredity
• physical structure
• past experience
• level of perceiving things
• any mental illness

Given below are few situations where few people are normal and others are not:
• Some people are really cool under over workload, and some are hypertensive under the same situation.
• Some people are very comfortable in social gathering, some are highly reluctant and stressful while to face people.
• Some people are mad at waiter or at poor restaurant service while some are non-complaining about the situation.
• Some people are excessively annoyed at traffic jam, rebuking the signal and watching their watches every now and then, some are highly relaxed, listening music and singing.
• Some people engage themselves in a several festival as an initiator; some are very tensed and stressed out while they are given such responsibility.
• Some people gladly help others in difficult times some are not much comfortable rather stressed out under this situation.
•
It means that few people are overtly vulnerable to stressful situation, while few are not.
So, many situation and events cause stress in our life. We just need to know how to handle them and stay happy in our life.

Stress Signs and how it affects our body

Different people are susceptible to stress in a different way. Stress causes different changes in our life situations. It changes our life to a great extent if it is staying with you for a good period of time. It causes harm in different phases of our life, like:

• Changes in our physical health or body functions
• Changes in feelings and emotions
• Changes in thought process
• Changes in attitude and behavior

How stress changes our physical health or body functions:
• Dry mouth
• Backache or body ache
• Tiredness
• Muscle cramp
• Breathing problems
• Stomach problems
• Frequent urination
• Dizziness

How stress changes feelings and emotions:

• Irritability
• Sadness
• Worried
• Tension
• Anger

How stress changes attitude and behavior:

• Sleeplessness or over sleeping
• Overeating or less eating
• Increased libido or no desire for sex
• Boozing excessively
• Getting doped frequently

How stress changes thought process:
• Negative thinking
• Forgetfulness
• Lack of concentration
• Helplessness
• Hopelessness

Now it is a major food for thought how stress affects physical health to a great extent.
Under certain stressful circumstances human body releases “stress hormones” or adrenaline. After pumping out stress hormone, certain changes in body functions occur like:
• Rate of heart beat increases.
• Due to raise in heart speed, more blood goes to our brain and goes up 400 percent more.
• Then digestion functions get upset.
• Tension in muscle goes up.
• Breathing rate goes up and it sends more oxygen to the muscle.

How stress can cause harm to our health:

• Stress causes irritable bowel syndrome or IBS, chronic fatigue and dizziness, headaches, body ache, and back ache.
• Excessive stress can cause hyper tension, high blood pressure, and that can lead to stroke at any age.
• Stress can affect the immune system by causing harm to your blood cells, which can make you more prone to common cold, allergies, and several other diseases.
• Due to stress, you can feel short of breathing sometimes and it can worsen asthma problem.
• Stress causes certain problems in behavior like lack of confidence and concentration, overeating or binge eating disorder, alcoholism, drug addiction, excessive smoking etc.
• Stress leads to lack of libido in men and women at any age.
• Stress further makes situations worse while people want to give up smoking and overeating but finds it impossible.

Thus, if stress is not cured or treated properly it can be life threatening and it might cause huge problem in your life. So, try to find some solution of your stress and lead a normal, stress free life.

How to manage Stress

To make your life stress free, you really need to work hard and practice certain things to get rid of this situation. Stress can become life threatening if it is not treated on time. So to get away from stressful life few help from the expert or certain self-help strategy is very much desirable.

Certain therapies and expert support can help you beat the stress:
• Autogenic training
• Conflict resolution
• Cognitive therapy

You can opt for some relaxation techniques like:
• Artistic Expression
• Fractional relaxation
• Progressive relaxation

At the same time, few things for which you don’t have to go anywhere you can do on your own to beat the stress:

Regular exercise: Getting involved in any kind of physical exercise on regular basis gives you good reason to become stress free. Jogging over a treadmill or swimming at least for an hour is a great relaxation process, which helps you to get rid of stress very easily.

Spa Visit: No doubt after a hectic routine of daily life, while you lie down on a spa bed and any expert masseur relaxes your body muscles with the help of his/her specialized massage, it soothes your nerves and makes you relaxed.

Time spending with nature: Different hues and views of nature make you very enchanted and rejuvenated. It gives you real treat for major relaxation. Thus, spending some quality time in fresh air and speaking your mind with flying birds or passing breeze can be your stress buster.

Hobby pursuing: Your favorite time pass activity can make you extremely refreshed while you’re overtly stressed out with your daily routine. Hobbies like painting, singing, dancing etc. can give you good amount of pleasure to get rid of stress. Many people find their solace in reading books, cooking, gardening etc. So, main agenda is to get relieved from the stress whatever you do and choose as your hobby.

Meditation: There are many meditation centers ready to help you with the definite meditation process. You can also practice deep breathing and meditation at your own place regularly. Meditation keeps stress level low and your concentration goes up.

Some Products: Few products like stress balls, some stress relieving medicines etc. are helpful in beating the stress and those products give you stress free, normal life. In this regard, it is always good to go for natural medicines to get away from stress.

Some more techniques like both Time Management and Anger management are very much essential to get rid of stress.
Listening to good music can give you good relaxation from stress. Thus, your iPod or MP3 player can be your best friend while you are at stressful situation.

Thus, there are many methods, which you can apply as your stress buster. To make yourself happy, pick and choose any of the techniques and stay stress free.

Who is killing us?

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:12:00 -0800

Eat Healthy, Live long

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:50:00 -0800

Drink water, Stay healthy

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:49:00 -0800

Eradicate eye problem with diet

reflection.aarshi@gmail.com (Aarshi C. Dikshit) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800