Beauty and Personal Grooming

I've mentioned umpteen times in many posts that strength training and weight bearing exercises are extremely good for your bone health and help prevent dreaded diseases like osteoporosis or the brittle bone disease . And no, strength training exercises don't bulk you up -- they in fact help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass and make you look fitter and leaner.

Miscarriage can be devastating for any woman who's looking forward to hold her baby in her arms after a long wait of 9 months. In most cases, it's often difficult to ascertain the exact cause of miscarriage; in fact most missed abortions occur for reasons you have no control over.

Painful menstruation or having menstrual cramps can be very annoying and discomforting. Several methods such as popping over the counter pills as well as home-remedies are tried out by suffering women during this period. While some self-care methods and home-remedies work to relieve menstrual pain to a great extent, few know that exercise during this period can help too . And that includes treadmill workout too! Yes, treadmill workout can relieve period pain . But is it the only exercise to ease pain during menses? No. Then why the emphasis on working out on a treadmill? But before you seek an answer to your questions, take a look at the reasons that cause menstrual cramps and period pain.

Well, for most of us this may be unbelievable but a new research conducted by Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia has found that in addition to our nose we can smell with our tongue also.

Petroleum jelly aka Vaseline is a versatile product that has innumerable health, beauty and skin care uses. For minor cuts and burns, application of vaseline is recommended to protect the skin and lock in the moisture. Even the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends the use of petroleum jelly for wound care! According to AAD , application of petroleum jelly after washing the area with soap & water, prevents the wound from drying out and forming a scab and  also helps prevent a scar from getting too large, deep or itchy.

When I read about a study that says "Fewer reproductive years in women linked to an increased risk of dementia", I was intrigued. Earlier, I had mentioned about a study which links being underweight to hitting menopause early . Early menopause is linked with a higher risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson's disease and dementia.

Our neck being very vulnerable must not be subjected to extreme bending positions. Especially the backward bend is way more dangerous. Way back, I had posted about the "Sink Shampoo Syndrome", also called as "Beauty Parlor / Salon Stroke Syndrome" which is caused by leaning back into the hard portion of the salon sink with the neck tilted backwards, either for a head massage or for shampooing hair. Apparently, placing the neck in such an awkward position can not just cause severe neck pain but also lead to life threatening conditions like stroke. Read all about it in " Can a shampoo session in a beauty parlor trigger strokes ?"

Miscarriage is a devastating experience for any pregnant woman who looks forward to hold her baby in her arms. Whether she loses her baby in the first term,  second term or for that matter even after completion of the full term, the loss is extremely traumatic and catastrophic for her. It takes several months or sometimes even a year to come out of the mental, physical and emotional trauma of the unfortunate incident. Do read the gut-wrenching account of one woman who had to go through the agony of missed abortion and how she had suffered terrible headaches and nightmares in the period leading to her ill-fated loss . While such a calamity should never befall anyone, things don't work out as per our wishes and in the event of an unfortunate miscarriage here are some tips and home-remedies to cope up with it .

Men do have a distinct advantage over women as far as skin ageing is concerned. Men’s skin, apparently being slightly thicker, ages more slowly than that of women’s. At least that’s what studies say. Do read the post Does a woman’s skin age faster than a man’s? However it’s also true that women deal with aging better than men and contrary to popular belief, are more accepting of their age and wrinkles as compared to men.

Being a night owl is associated with a host of health risks. Recent studies have found that night owls or people who stay up late are more likely to die early compared to morning larks who rise early. But being a night owl has some advantages also. [ Source ] Night owls are found to be creative, smart and with better reasoning skills. They are also found to have more mental stamina than early birds. Early risers have a distinct advantage in terms of health over the night owls.

You all must probably be wondering why something as trivial as itching is being given so much importance and why researches are conducted to find ways of relieving it! Well, for most of us, if we do get an itch, we scratch it for a while and forget about it. Do read the post Why scratching an itch provides relief and home remedies to relieve itching .   But for those who have eczema , extremely dry skin , psoriasis or any skin ailment that causes chronic itching, it’s not at all that simple. They go crazy unable to bear the severe itching and the incessant scratching that follows to relieve it. It’s for this reason that a search for a long-term, effective cure for itching is still going on!   Image credits:Wikipedia

If you are a smoker and need to have a tooth pulled, you are likely wondering whether you’ll be able to smoke after the procedure. The truth is that smoking immediately after a tooth extractions is extremely risky and delays your healing process. You will be encouraged to wait at least 72 hours after your tooth has been pulled.

One day when I was doing my regular yoga poses / asanas in the privacy of my cozy room, the doorbell rang. I hastily rushed to open the door only to find the courier boy who had come to deliver some parcel. Strangely, the very next morning, I found that I was unable to move my left arm. Photo by sixninepixels at freedigitalphotos.net I carried on somehow for days, asking my part-time maid to help me while dressing and doing my hair. I decided that age was catching up on me and that I would have to put up with all these body ailments, joint pains, disability of movements, etc. But I started feeling more and more uncomfortable as the days passed by and my whole body slowly started to get stiff. Eventually, I consulted a surgeon.

We are all familiar with the golden yellow spice called turmeric ( haldi ), which is  used in everyday cooking by almost all families in India. It's for sure a  miracle healer from the kitchen. Turmeric is used in a wide variety of therapeutic preparations for both prevention and treatment of many ailments.The presence of an active substance called curcumin in turmeric imparts it with several medicinal properties. For instance, there is this Turmeric Milk / Turmeric Latte or the quintessential Haldi Doodh that is used as a remedy for sore throat , colds and coughs and is known to most people all over India. Turmeric milk is a highly potent beverage and its efficacy is unmatchable to OTC medicines for the same ailments.   Do check for more medicinal uses and home remedies with turmeric in this post. Turmeric, with its antiseptic and antibacterial properties is widely used in skin care, to treat acne , hyperpigmentation etc. Read all about it in Turmeric a...

We all have have been bombarded with advice such as "Think positive", Banish negative thoughts", "Always try to be in a good mood.", "See the brighter side of life" , "Count your blessings" and so on and so forth. Self-help books are rife with such advice about positivity and the superiority of being in a state of happiness all the time. But is forcing oneself to be happy all the time a good thing?

Instead of reaching out for that cough syrup when your child is suffering from an incessant, nagging cough that worsens at night, you might try good old honey as a home-remedy .

If you have a tendency to put on weight, better keep a watch on your sleeping hours. A Canadian study has found that too much or too little sleep could lead to unhealthy weight gain.

Chewing gum is perhaps one of the oldest candies in the world. There is some evidence of pre-historic people chewing clumps of tree resin or tree sap. Ancient Greeks, Mayans, early American colonialists - were all into some kind of gum chewing. In today's time, most of us chew gum just for the heck of it or simply to sweeten our breath. However, chewing gum does much more than to just freshen breath. Health benefits of the humble chewing gum are multifarious. Below I've listed some uses of chewing gum .

We have such grandiose plans for improving our health and well-being and making our lives easier and better; but most of the time these plans are hardly implemented and we continue with our old  monotonous habits as before. Why is it so? The problem with most of us is we tend to think in terms of big things, whether it is about losing enormous amount of weight or following a strict diet plan. We often neglect little things of life; those little changes and hygiene habits that can make a lot of difference to our health if we incorporate them in our daily routine.

Women may reach early menopause for a myriad of reasons. The reasons for this can vary from genetically inheriting this condition, diseases like cancer, premature ovarian failure (POF), Turner's Syndrome and surgeries like  hysterectomy. Besides these, some uncommon reasons that increase the risk of early menopause are reaching menarche before the age of 12 and being childless, precocious puberty or early puberty - all of  which I have shared in the post " Mother's obesity may cause early puberty in daughters ".