Updated Trends: Many people face a lot of difficulty in getting sound sleep at night. Many times people feel sleepy yet are not able to sleep due to various reasons. Sleep is not an optional activity, it is very essential for the body as it gives rest to the body after a day’s long work and if you miss out on it, you’ll end up cranky, irritated and inattentive.So just incase you are struggling to get some sleep at night, here are a few ways to get a sound sleep at night.

1. Eat less – Before going to bed, you should eat less. At the night time, you must see that you rest and if you go on and stuff yourself with food, then you may feel uneasy and might hamper your sleep too.

2. Create a good atmosphere to sleep – Make sure that one creates a good atmosphere to sleep. If one is facing problems in lighting, add some dark curtains in the room, which will make the room darker. Also take care about the temperature in the room.

3. Use bed only for sleep and sex – Do not use your bed for any other activities or it may become difficult for you to rest on the bed. That means – don’t get your laptop or game console in your bed, else the whole purpose of sleeping on a bed could get lost.

4. Exercise in day time – Exercise is equally important as sleep. Workout in the day time will help in making you tired and will force you to sleep. Do not exercise at night at any cost.

5. Prayer - It’s always good for your mental health to say your prayers and read the Scriptures before you head off to bed. It will not only calm you down, but will give you a sense of peace.

Updated Trends: A recent study found that people who swear often are more likely to get relieved of pain, but only if people are polite. People who do not use bad words can get maximum relief from pain with the help of swearing.

Some of the researchers from the Keele University found that people who do not often swear regularly could hold their hands longer in ice water that those who often used bad language. It was found that swearing helped in relieving the pain.

Those who were not regular in swearing were able to hold their hands for 140 seconds when they actually swore , which is twice as twice as long when they used a neutral word. On the other hand, people who used to swear at least 60 times a day could hold their hands in cold water for just 120 seconds as they used foul language and the same when they used a neutral worlds.

Richard Stephen and Claudia Umland conducted the research from Keele’s School of Psychology and was published in ‘The Journal of Pain’. It is normally believed that swearing most of the time helps people in tolerating pain better with the help of provoking an emotional response leading to analgesia induced by stress.

Religious groups choose to disagree to this study and state that a person’s reaction to pain also depends on their mental and spiritual well-being and faith in a higher force.

Updated Trends: You are making your loved ones’ favorite dish and you end up putting more spices in it by mistake. Instead of just throwing the whole dish away, there are also a few solutions which can help in reducing the spiciness of the dish and making it just as scrumptious as you had in mind. Here are a few ways to decrease the spiciness of a dish.

1. Lemon – Try adding a few drops of fresh lemon juice or some crushed pineapple. The acidity in the dish helps in balancing the lemon or the pineapple, which makes it less spicy and edible.

2. Yogurt cream – You can also add yogurt or sour cream, which helps in neutralizing the spiciness of the dish. Over spiciness makes the dish hot and sometimes it becomes hard to eat it as a meal.

3. Sugar – Sugar is also a great alternative to reduce the spiciness of the dish. Make sure that you do not add sugar more than a teaspoon or according to the amount that you have prepared. Adding jaggery/whole cane sugar is also a good option.

4. Serve dairy products – While dining, you can offer some neutralizing dairy products like cheese along with the dish so as to balance the spicy feel of the dish.

5. Dilute – Adding more tomatoes, potatoes or carrots ( as per the dish) can also help reduce the spiciness.

Updated Trends: The common cold is the most irritating ailment that one can have. Though it does not do much harm to the body, it can make a person irritable and leave the person with an infection, a stuffy nose and even cough. Things become even worse while sleeping as one usually faces problems while breathing. Here are a few ways to get rid of common cold.

1. Plug your ears – It may sound silly, but plugging your ears with cotton before going to sleep can help in preventing the condition from worsening. Ears and nose have a connection and plugging the ears can prevent the ventilation of the air, which helps in preventing further infection.

2. Drink fluids – Make sure that you drink enough water or fluids so that the throat as well as nasal passages are well hydrated. It is best to have drinks rich in vitamin C as they are good in building your immunity to fight common cold.

3. Comfortable environment – Make your environment warm and comfortable so that you get sound sleep which is important to get rid of common cold. Turn off the TV, phones and the lights so that your sleep is not interrupted.

Updated Trends: A recent study has mentioned the importance of making love in order to lead a happy life after retirement. A study has found that people who have an active sex life after the retirement are more likely to enjoy their life as well.

The researchers found that there was a direct link between the number of times over the age of 65 having sex and their chances to lead a content life and a happy marriage. According to the figures, older couples who make love more than once a more were 50 percent more likely to describe themselves as happy.

The research that was lead by Adrienne Jackson, said that the study would help in opening the lines of communication and would also spark the interest in developing the outside the box approaches which dealing with the issues like preventing or limiting the older people in indulging in love making.

For the study, more than 238 married people over the age of 65 were studied in the US. It was found that the frequency of sexual activity was directly linked to the general happiness and the marital happiness. Figures said that 60 percent of the people who had sex more than once in a month were very happy in their general life.

Updated Trends: Apart from unhygienic public doors and lifts, infection can also be spread through food. Contamination through harmful bacteria can cause illness and sometimes even death. One should make sure to take some preventive measure in order to escape from the infections that spread rapidly through food. Here are a few ways to avoid food-borne infection.

1. Wash hands – Before cooking or after cooking, wash your hands thoroughly with a good antibacterial soap. Even while cooking and after washing vegetables/meat, wash your hands before you proceed to the next procedure.

2. Cooking temperature – The food should be cooked at an appropriate temperature so that the heat kills all the harmful bacteria, if any. The temperature of the food can be checked by inserting a thermometer when it is being cooked.

3. Refrigeration of food – The left over food should be refrigerated immediately. If left outside then the bacteria starts building immediately even at room temperature, not forgetting dust and germs.

4. Frozen food – After the frozen food is thawed, it should be cooked fully and should not be refrigerated again.

5. Check expiry dates – While purchasing frozen food, make sure that you check the expiry dates of the package. If the frozen food is expired then it must be thrown out immediately.

Updated Trends: A new study in the UK has mentioned that screenings of bowel cancer can cut the number of deaths by more than a quarter. The National Cancer Research Institute had mentioned evidence which states that the risk of death had reduced by 27% if people attended screening compared to those who did not attend screening.

In the process of screening of bowel cancer, the patients are made to use faecal occult blood test, which the people carry out at home. The research was funded by the Scottish government which had helped to show the impact of the screening in bowel cancer.

Robert Steele, the author of the study, said that for the first time they can see the effect of a FOBt based colorectal cancer program in the real world of the NHS. About 370,000 people aged between 50 to 69 had participated in the pilot study of bowel screening.

The study ran between 2007 and 2009, before the national program was introduced. The researcher then also observed people who did not belong to any health boards and did not take part in the pilot study. The figures had given evidence that the screening of bowel cancer had helped in lowering the number of deaths.

Updated Trends: For years dentists have always been telling people about the benefits of getting teeth professionally cleaned regularly. A new study says that regular cleaning of teeth gives a radiant smile and also decreases the risk of heart attack or stroke.

The recent study was presented at the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida and was conducted by the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. Researchers observed that people who regularly got their teeth cleaned and scraped by a dentist or a dental hygienist had a 24 percent lower risk of stroke when compared to those who had never been for a dental scraping.

For the study, more than 1,00,000 people were observed for an average of seven years. The researchers said that people should get their teeth scraped at least twice in the year and had called it ‘occasional’ if it was less than two times in a year.

Emily Chen, a cardiologist from the Veteran General Hospital, said that protection from heart diseases and stroke was pronounced in the participants who had got the tooth scaling done at least for once in a year. The professional tooth scaling helps in reducing the bacterial growth, that can lead to heart strokes.

Updated Trends: A recent report from the UK stated that lung cancer sufferers in the most deprived areas were more likely to die of the disease compared to those who live in other parts like Scotland. According to a report by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, the people from deprived areas were almost twice likely to have lung cancer than someone living in the urban areas.

The study also showed that once people living in the deprived areas got the disease, they are more likely to die of the disease than those living in the better areas of the United Kingdom. In Scotland, lung cancer is considered as the major cancer killer. On an average, 11 people die of the disease every day and in total more than 4,000 die in a year.

On the other hand, reports have also shown the importance of the geographical significance estimated in a year’s survival. It was found in Fife that one in four lung cancer patients are alive for a year after being diagnosed with the disease.

In Borders and Lothian, one in three people survive for at least a year after they are diagnosed. The NHS Border has the highest survival rate estimated in a year at 35.6%.

Updated Trends: A new study has shown that women who use contraceptive pills might be indirectly responsible for the global increase in prostate cancer. It was found that the regions where the use of contraceptive pills was higher, there were higher incidents of this type of cancer.

Scientists argue that they still cannot be sure about what causes the link. At the same time, the scientists also say that the male exposure to oestrogen could increase the risk.

It is already known that excess amounts of oestrogen exposure leads to cancer and that widespread use of these pills can lead to more oestrogen. This cannot be broken down easily and can enter the water and food chain.

In order to reach to the conclusion, researchers used the findings of the International Agency of Research on Cancer and also the United Nations World Contraceptive Use reports that pointed out the rates of prostate cancer and the associated deaths. This data was compared with the women who used contraceptive pills. The researchers found that the use of condoms, coil and other barrier devices were not associated to the risk of prostate cancer. But it was observed that the use of pills had significant link with the deaths from prostate cancer.