Saturday, September 15, 2012

Medicines that makes you Smarter

Humans have always devised ways to overcome our shortcomings- we couldn’t fly, so we invented aeroplanes; we couldn’t breathe underwater, so we invented submarines and scuba-diving equipment; we couldn’t analyse huge amounts of data in our heads, so we invented computers. This ability to devise machines to enable us to do things that would otherwise be impossible has allowed us to expand to fill almost every corner of the planet, and to perform feats of science, art and engineering that would be impossible for any other animal.
As well as creating machines to help us, we have always searched for ways to make ourselves more efficient, faster, stronger, and smarter. Millions of people rely on the caffeine in their morning cup of coffee to give them the kick to get out of bed, and sport is a minefield of legal and illegal drugs and techniques designed to help athletes to perform to the best of their abilities (or even better!). Now a new generation of drugs are being used expressly to enhance our mental capacity. These tablets can, quite literally, make you smarter.
Most of these drugs were originally developed to treat various medical conditions, and have only recently begun to be used by the healthy population for a mental ‘boost’. Ritalin, for example (the chemical name of which is methylphenidate), is a stimulant related to amphetamine, and is prescribed mainly for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is useful in these cases as it increases attention and helps prevent the easy distraction that is so common in the disorder. It does this by blocking reuptake of dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain, so increasing the availability of these neurotransmitters. For the same reasons, Ritalin has become a popular drug for students to take whilst studying for exams.
Other commonly used drugs include modafinil, which is intended to help those who suffer from narcolepsy by relieving their daytime sleepiness, and beta-blockers, which help reduce anxiety. A survey by Nature found that 20% of the 1400 respondents had used one of these 3 drugs for non-medical reasons. As well as students using it to help with studying, it is used by shift workers to keep them alert, and by travelers to avoid jet lag. It has been shown that it can be effective in relieving shift work sleep disorder, however there are worries that people may become too reliant on it, or start to believe they can go without sleep at all, which could be hugely damaging to the brain.
These drugs could have major benefits for our society, but the negatives of their long term use are unknown. The debate over how, or whether, to control these substances has high profile supporters on both sides, and it is unlikely the issue will be resolved any time soon. What is clear is that the field of neuroethics is growing in importance, and it is likely that as brain science progresses the need for discussions of the philosophical, medical and even political aspects of cognitive enhancement will only increase.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Some Cool Healthy Tips to avoid Doctor

One of the complex machine in the world is nothing but Our human body. There are lot of amazing things that are yet to be learned from the human body. Not all things are know to our body, there are few cool tricks that we can teach our body.
So Here are some tips:
  1. If you've got an itch in your throat, scratch your ear. When the nerves in the ear get stimulated, they create a reflex in the throat that causes a muscle spasm, which cures the itch.
  2. Having trouble hearing someone at a party or on the phone? Use your right ear it's better at picking up rapid speech. But, the left is better at picking up music tones.
  3. If you need to relieve yourself BADLY, but you're not anywhere near a bathroom, fantasize about RELATIONS. That preoccupies your brain and distracts it.
  4. Next time the doctor's going to give you an injection, COUGH as the needle is going in. The cough raises the level of pressure in your spinal canal, which limits the pain sensation as it tries to travel to your brain.
  5. Clear a stuffed nose or relieve sinus pressure by pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth thenpressing a finger between your eyebrows. Repeat that for 20 seconds it causes the vomer bone to rock, which loosens your congestion and clears you up.
  6. If you ate a big meal and you're feeling full as you go to sleep, lay on your left side. That'll keep you from suffering from acid reflux it keeps your stomach lower than your esophagus, which will help keep stomach acid from sliding up your throat.
  7. You can stop a toothache by rubbing ice on the back of your hand, on the webbed area between your thumb and index finger. The nerve pathways there stimulate a part of the brain that blocks pain signals from your mouth.
  8. If you get all messed up on liquor, and the room starts spinning, put your hand on something stable. The reason: Alcohol dilutes the blood in the part of your ear called the cupula, which regulates balance. Putting your hand on something stable gives your brain another reference point, which will help make the world stop spinning.
  9. Stop a nose bleed by putting some cotton on your upper gums right behind the small dent below your nose and press against it hard. Most of the bleeding comes from the cartilage wall that divides the nose, so pressing there helps get it to stop.
  10. Slow your heart rate down by blowing on your thumb. The vagus nerve controls your heart rate, and you can calm it down by breathing.
  11. Need to breathe underwater for a while? Instead of taking a huge breath, HYPERVENTILATE before you go under, by taking a bunch of short breaths. That'll trick your brain into thinking it has more oxygen, and buy you about 10 extra seconds.
  12. You can prevent BRAIN FREEZE by pressing your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much surface area as possible. Brain freeze happens because the nerves in the roof of your mouth getextremely cold, so your brain thinks your whole body is cold. It compensates by overheating which causes your head to hurt. By warming up the roof of your mouth, you'll chill your brain and feel better.
  13. If your hand falls asleep, rock your head from side to side. That will wake your hand or arm up in less than a minute. Your hand falls asleep because of the nerves in your neck compressing so loosening your neck is the cure. If your foot falls asleep, that's governed by nerves lower in the body, so you need to stand up and walk around.
  14. Finally, this one's totally USELESS, but a nice trick. Have someone stick their arm out to the side, straight, palm down. Press down on his wrist with two fingers. He'll resist, and his arm will stay horizontal. Then, have him put his foot on a surface that's half an inch off the ground, like a stack of magazines, and do the trick again. Because his spine position is thrown off, his arm will fall right to his side, no matter how much he tries to resist.
  15. Got the hiccups? Press thumb and second finger over your eyebrows until the hiccups are over - usually shortly.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Are you confident in yourself?

Even if you know, do not hesitate to answer because you are afraid not to look ridiculous? Or give up a position that suits you, just because you are in doubt in their abilities?
According to psychologists, if not most cases, are trying to achieve what you want because you are afraid to try, this is the first and most important indication of the existence of uncertainty in themselves. Before work on complexes, must look them in the face. We hope this will help you test, developed by specialists psychologists. Be honest with yourself. Moreover, even the strongest willed and sometimes people feel uncertain and it is completely natural.
If you feel that your indecision stop you from trying something, but you can overcome it, you can be proud of yourself. Everyone has had failures, but only very cautious lose faith in yourself, because ultimately there is nothing to congratulate themselves.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Eat Citrus Fruits regularly to Lower Stroke Risk


A compound in citrus fruits may reduce women's stroke risk, a study has said. The study examines how consuming flavonoid subclasses affects the risk of stroke, Xinhua reported. Flavonoids are a class of compounds present in fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate and red wine. "Studies have shown higher fruit, vegetable and specifically vitamin C intake is associated with reduced stroke risk," said Aedin Cassidy, lead author and professor of nutrition at the University of East Anglia in Britain.
"Flavonoids are thought to provide some of that protection through several mechanisms, including improved blood vessel function and an anti- inflammatory effect."
The study was published on Thursday in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Cassidy and colleagues used 14 years of follow-up data from the Nurse's Health Study, which included 69,622 women who reported their food intake, including details on fruit and vegetable consumption every four years.
Researchers examined the relationship of the six main subclasses of flavonoids commonly consumed in the US diet -- flavanones, anthocyanins, flavan-3- ols, flavonoid polymers, flavonols and flavones -- with risk of ischemic, hemorrhagic and total stroke.
As expected, the researchers didn't find a beneficial association between total flavonoid consumption and stroke risk, as the biological activity of the sub-classes differ. However, they found that women who ate high amounts of flavanones in citrus had a 19 percent lower risk of blood clot-related (ischemic) stroke than women who consumed the least amounts.
More studies are needed to confirm the association between flavanone consumption and stroke risk, and to gain a better understanding about why the association occurs, the authors said.

Depression Medications and their side-effects


Ours is an age of worries and tensions and because of these increasing woes that relate to our different aspects of life, you would find that nearly every third person seems depressed. A majority of people don’t even know that they have become the victim of depression, as they don’t know what real symptoms of this social trauma are. People, who know that they are suffering from depression, always look for better depression medication.

There is a wide range of anti-depressant drugs available these days, but majority of people seem to trust in Lexapro and Effexor. Most of people prefer to Lexapro to treat their depression. Similarly, there are many patients who trust in effexor and want to know about a reliable source where they can Effexor. They both are considered two trusted anti-depressants.
Both these drugs are quite effective in treating depression as they increase level of serotonin in the brain which leads to create a balance in different chemicals found in the brain. Serotonin is a substance that influences our moods and its increased levels can make people out of their gloomy self-surround cover. Lexapro and Effexor prove quite effective and offer nice help to depression sufferers.
Different clinical trials show that these drugs begin their process to treat depression symptoms within one or two weeks, but depression sufferers have to keep taking these drugs for a long time. Before taking any of anti-depressant medication, you must consult with your doctor and if you are using these drugs, do not withdraw from them in a sudden and should continue its use as long as your doctor doesn’t suggest withdrawal from it.
These anti-depressants also have some side-effects including insomnia, nausea, ejaculation problems in men, fatigue, increased sweating and somnolence, but these side-effects are temporary.

Use of Natural Medicines

We live in the world where we are surrounded by different health problems and situations because of the fast life that we live and therefore many people often tend to stick to their medicines at all times.

However, going for synthetic medicines is not good for health because they contain synthetic ingredients that can have their own side effects and can ruin our overall health in the long term.

Earlier people were not aware of the side effects that synthetic medicines can give us but things are changing now as more and more people are becoming aware of the problems that can occur because of synthetic medicines.

Hence, people are now deciding to move on to herbal medicines and other homeopathic medicines which are safer and that do not have side effects.

In one of the research done by The Hartman Group on behalf of Boiron, world leader of homeopathic medicines it was found that 82% of the women in the United States are now looking for over the counter medications that do not have synthetic ingredients that can give them side effects in the future. Hence, it was found that majority of the women in the US are now very particular about selecting their OTC medications and they are aware that synthetic drugs are not good for them. In the study it was also found that 42% of the people gave importance to purity and healthfulness and 31% gave importance to lack of chemicals.

Apart from that there were 1400 women across the United States that took part in the survey and it was found that people are now looking for alternatives instead of synthetic medicines. However, it was also found that people are now aware of the homeopathic medications available in the market. Medicines like Oscillococcinum are good for health problems like flu, headaches, body chills, fever and feeling run down but there is not much awareness among the people. Hence, shoppers were given an option where information was provided to them about these medicines and eventually one third of the people were ready to try these homeopathic medicines.

Interestingly, 15% of the people said that they have used homeopathic medicines in the past 12 months and 14% said that they have been using homeopathic medicines for their children as well. Hence, the study by the Hartman Group clearly indicated that people today are not only giving importance to getting well but they also pay importance to the long term effects that these medications have on their mind and body.