Notebook Archives

There are some sure-fire steps to bust stress:

1. Meditation is the best way to improve concentration and sharpen your focus.
2. Sleep, provides instant energy; so complete your dailt eight-hour quota to invigrate your mind and body.
3. To recharge your battery take occassional breaks from work. Utilize break-time to take complete rest, spend time with friends and family, read a book or catch up on your favorite movie.

Concern occurs when cells multiply uncontrollably and form masses called tumours. Breast tumours grow slowly and may have been developing for some time before they are large enough to be felt. A yearly mammogram (an X-ray of the breast) can detect tiny tumours in their early stages before they can be felt. Detected early, cancer is often curable.

Many women fear losing their feminity if a breast is removed. Though not in itself life-threatening, a breast tumour, left untreated, implies a high risk of cancer spreading to other organs via the lymph nodes or bloodstream. This makes early detection of malignant tumours imperative. A mastectomy (removal of the entire breast) isn’t always necessary. If the disease hasn’t spread, a small tumour and the surrounding tissue may be removed by a lumpectomy, leaving the breast largely intact. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are other options.

All women are at risk for breast cancer, and approximately 80 percent sufferers have no family history of it. With early diagnosis and treatment, most can return to a normal life.

Myths on the cause of cancer:

• High doses of X-rays cause cancer, so mammograms cause cancer.
• Women with small (or large) breasts aren’t at risk for cancer.
• A blow to the breast causes cancer.
• Excess caffeine causes cancer.

For women who cannot afford an annual mammogram, many organisations sponsor free or low-cost mammograms. Ask for more information at local hospitals or from relevant NGOs in your city.

• A lump or swelling, usually painless, anywhere in the breast or underarm area (but most commonly in the upper and outer region of the breast).
• Changes in the appearance of the skin of the breasts, including flattening, indentation, dimpling, creasing, redness or scaliness.
• Changes in the nipple, including indentation, an itching or burning sensation, and dark or bloody discharge.
• Changes in the size or symmetry of the breasts.
• Discomfort or pain in the breast in advanced cases.

Given the importance of early detection, it is vital that women make a serious note of what they need to do on a regular basis.

When to call your doctor?

• If you find a lump anywhere in the breast or under arm. Most lumps are not cancerous, but a biopsy is necessary to diagnose – or rule out – breast cancer with any certainty.
• If you notice any change in the size, shape or appearance of the breast.
• If you experience any discharge from the nipple.

If statistics are anything to go by, homeopathy seems to have found worldwide support today. A survey published in the British Medical Journal recently points out that even allopathic physicians have started referring patients their counterparts in homeopathic practice for certain specific ailments. In Europe, it is often practiced alongside conventional medicine, particularly in England, France, Germany and Greece.

Homeopathic treatment is also gaining farther afield, in the New World – in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and South Africa. In Britain, homeopathy is even patronized by the Brazil royal family and is on the National Health Scheme. In the United States of America, the number of patients opting for homeopathy is growing at the rate of 20 percent per year.

Approximately 40 percent of the French public has used homeopathic medicine at some point; about 20 percent German physicians utilize homeopathic medication; and 39 percent of French physicians have prescribed homeopathy to their patients.

If your pooch is not eating, is vomiting, is lethargic, seems depressed or is ‘just not himself’, do not hesitate to see the vet. Don’t wait for him to get worse.

And take care to choose the right vet: Go with recommendations from other dog lovers or check out a reliable pet magazine. Consider these points: Does the vet ask you questions about your pet? Does your dog like him or is he scared of him? (It is natural for a dog to be a bit nervous of a vet, but he should not seem too frightened.) Do you feel comfortable with the way he treats your dog? And, finally, the most important query – does your vet have a proper license?

A sneeze. A scratch. A tear. Typically, these reflexes barely register on your consciousness or, if they do, its as an annoyance. In reality, however, each is an unconscious action that, in its own way provides essential protection against disease causing microbes or toxins before they can do harm.

Scratching is a natural reaction to itching, which is triggered by tiny receptors in the skin’s nerve endings.

Coughing helps to clear mouth, throat and lung tissues of foreign invaders, such as moulds, pollen, dust mites and pet dander, as well as mucus laden with microbes. The irony of this is that many respiratory infections may be spread by droplets of pathogens put into the air by the cough.

Sneezing is like coughing but directed through the nose. We also sneeze to get ride of microbes that multiply in the nasal passageways, as the result of having cold.

Vomiting occurs when harmful substances in the stomach are identified by the receptors in the walls of the digestive tract.

Tearing keeps the surface of the eyes moist and sterile. Tears also protect the eye when dust or debris irritate it. Crying, a natural response to stress, flushes away certain harmful chemicals produced by anxiety.

Despite this impressive range of barriers, reflexes and chemicals, dangerous invaders do occasionally manage to penetrate the body.

You know the saying, you can take a horse to the water, you can’t make him drink. I am taking you to water via different routes. Enjoy it.

• Don’t eat food in portions larger than your fist.
• Do-it-yourself. Do you own laundry. Dust your won shelves, buy your own groceries. Don’t leave it to your domestic help.
• Takes the weight off you.
• Avoid buffets. Be the diva and get the chef to make you something special. Ask nicely.
• Therapeutic massages help control stress and put your body in a state of relaxation, allowing it to internally start a healing process. And no, it has nothing to do with sex.
• While oil and carbs are the big guns of bad health, the word is out that no carbs and no oil is even worse. Low carbs is the mantra.
• The bad news. You can stay on the treadmill for hours and not lose weight. The good news. You can stay on the treadmill and watch your calories. It works wonders.
• If you are a chronic sufferer of migraine, blood pressure, and other ailments that refuse to go away, ask your doctor to enrol you for a biofeedback reading. It enables you to monitor your body, to recognise stress build-up and to make you more aware of when the monster is going to strike again. Our grandmothers were right: Prevention is really better than cure.
• Change your routine. While there is great comfort in habits, health and fitness experts claim that changing routines frequently keeps you alert because you are entering new territory which could throw up surprises, good and bad. It helps the body cope with new obstacles, lower immunity to situations and generally helps you cope better with life situations.
• Stay balanced. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, join a dance class, a trekker’s club, in short, stay active. If you are a travel guide, join a book club, watch movies that make you laugh, in short, stay passive.
• When you are tempted to take a second helping, give yourself 20 minutes before you do. Research shows it takes that long for the stomach to signal to the brain that it has had enough.
• Rise with the sun, sleep with the moon. Ancient wisdom. Still applicable.

1. Do not sleep with lenses on. Continuously worn contacts rub away the cornea, causing tiny rips that invite infection and may lead to vision loss.
2. Never use homemade saline solutions. They might harbor a microorganism that can scar the cornea and cause partial or complete blindness.
3. Never wear two pair of lenses simultaneously. Never wear cosmetic lenses over your corrective lenses – they may get stuck!
4. Clean and disinfect lenses when you remove them. If they are disposable, throw them away within the time prescribed.
5. Stick with one lens-care regimen. Follow the routine specified for your lens type.
6. Remove lenses before swimming/bathing. Hard lenses may float out when your eyes get wet; soft lenses are likely to absorb impurities in the water.
7. Get glasses before cleaning up. Make the switch whenever using household cleaners containing ammonia or other volatile chemicals.

Being in an aeroplane can make certain medical conditions worse. Ask your doctor whether you need to reschedule your trip if:

1. You’ve had abdominal, eye or chest surgery in the last couple of weeks. Gases inside the body expand during flight, causing swelling that’s painful and that could also interfere with wound healing.
2. You’re wearing a rigid cast. The limb in the plaster cast is likely to swell.
3. You have a cold or other respiratory infection that’s blocking your eustachian tubes. But if you really must get on a plane, taking a decongestant (nasal spray or pill) can help keep tubes open; also drink lots of water to counter the plane’s dehydrating effects.