Flavonoid, present in green tea is an antioxidant which helps in maintaining the pliability of the blood vessels. It does so by preventing tissue inflammation. These substances also help in preventing the formation of clots, which are primarily responsible for causing heart attacks. So if you have a family history of blood pressure, heart diseases etc, it might actually be a great idea to become a green tea drinker!

We can practice chromotherapy is our daily lives too by eating those vegetables/fruits which contain these colors. Different colors can have a different affect on your body.

Yellow: Joy and happiness are associated with this color. It stimulates the brain, liver and the spleen. It also acts as a diuretic and laxative. Yellow is found in grapes, lemon, lime, banana, mango, melon and pumpkin.

Red: The color represents anger, fire and heat. Red energizes and stimulates the human body. It makes the cold extremities warm by stimulating arterial blood. Tomatoes, radish, water melon, red berries contain this color. Red is found in most of the red skinned fruits.

Purple: The color is made up from red and blue. It has a soothing and calming effect on the nervous system, ears and eyes. It’s also a great stimulant. Purple is found in all food items with violet and blue colors.

Orange: The color is associated with pride and prosperity. It helps is energizing the nerves and stimulating the blood supply. Orange is found is various vegetables and fruits like orange, carrot, peach, papaya, mango and apricot.

Blue: this beautiful color helps in alleviating pain and reducing bleeding. It also helps in healing of burn wounds. Blue is found is blueberries and blue grapes.

Green: This color results from a combination of soothing blue and stimulating yellow. Green is often seen as a color of harmony. It has a mild sedative effect on the human body. The color is quite naturally found in most of the green vegetables like lettuce, spinach, gourds, pears and peas.

Our core body temperature rises when there is too much heat generation. The body is not able to loose enough heat to compensate for the excessive heat which is being produced. It can be due to excessively high environmental temperature or when sweating is impaired. If you are suffering from any other illness or taking drugs like diuretics, you are more likely to suffer from these heat illnesses. Old age is yet another risk factor.

There is actually a spectrum of illnesses that can occur due to excessive heat. The first one is Heat Cramps. If you exercise vigorously in hot weather and sweat a lot, you will have heat cramps. These are painful muscle contractions which will go away with salt replacement. The good thing is that this condition doesn’t increase our core temperature and hence it is not dangerous! The next is Heat Syncope which is a common ill effect of heat. In this a person standing in the sun for too long becomes pale and collapses suddenly. This happens due to dilatation of blood vessels which results in low blood pressure. The brain doesn’t get enough blood supply and thus the person faints. It’s not a very serious condition and person gets back to normal within few minutes. The affected person should be made to lie down in the shade, with the head slightly down. This will increase the blood supply to the brain and the patient will recover quickly. Like heat cramps, this condition too doesn’t increase the core temperature.

Heat exhaustion is more severe than heat cramps and heat syncope. It typically occurs after several days of high temperature. The core (rectal) temperature rises, between 37 and 40 degrees centigrade. The affected person feels dizzy. They can also have profuse sweating, headache and weakness. The patient should be immediately removed from the heat source. Cool sponging and fluid replacement should be done immediately. Oral rehydration mixtures are given, however if the patient is unable to take orally then intravenous fluids can also be given. If this condition isn’t treated, it will lead to the most severe form of heat illness, Heat Stroke!

Heat stroke occurs when our core temperature exceeds 40 degree centigrade. It is basically the failure of the heat regulating mechanism in the brain. The skin becomes hot and dry. They patient can have vomiting, headache. They can also have convulsions which can lead to unconsciousness. This is a life threatening condition and can lead to shock, kidney and liver failure if not treated immediately. Cerebral and pulmonary edema can also occur. It can actually lead to multi-organ failure! The treatment consists of rapidly cooling the body in ice water bath. The core temperature should be monitored regularly. Fanning should be done to increase heat loss by convection. Cold crystalloid intravenous fluids are also given. Some patient may also need benzodiazepines for sedation. With correct treatment, most patients usually recover.

So next time you are standing in sun for too long, make sure you consume enough water and salt because too much heat can be really dangerous! It can actually kill you!

Tobacco consumption in various forms is quite common all over the world. The smokers not only harm themselves (active smoking) but also the people who stand close to them while they smoke. The bystanders inhale the smoke and this is known as passive smoking, which is as dangerous as active smoking.

Smoke has a huge number of constituents, around 4000! That’s a huge number indeed. And that’s not where it stops; it actually has 40 known carcinogens (like nitrosamines, tar) substances which have been known to cause cancer. Scary isn’t it? There is carbon monoxide which reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood. Thus all your tissues will eventually get a decreased amount of oxygen. Smoke also contains ‘Formaldehyde’ which irritates your respiratory system.

These substances present in the smoke can lead to a number of diseases. Basically all the systems of the body can are affected. The lungs are affected the most. Tobacco smoking irritates the respiratory mucosa and leads to what is known as ‘chronic bronchitis’. It can also cause other lung diseases like Asthma, Emphysema (I will talk about these diseases in detail later on). Smoking is one of the major risk factors for developing atherosclerosis which is thickening of the arteries due to lipid deposition. Atherosclerosis can ultimately lead to heart failure. If the arteries of the brain are involved, stroke can occur.

Pregnant women should never smoke because it increases the risk of having stillbirths and spontaneous abortions. Babies born to such mothers are more likely to have growth retardation.

The biggest risk associated with smoking is of course – Cancer. It has been associated with a number of cancers especially lung cancer. Smoking can also lead to cancer of esophagus, stomach, oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, pancreas, kidney, bladder and cervix. That is a long list indeed! So think twice before you smoke again!

The harmful effects of smoking depend on a number of factors like for how long one has been smoking and also how many cigarette one smokes every day. Obviously more the cigarettes more are the chances of having one of these diseases. The good news however is that it is never too late to quit smoking. It has been proved that smoking cessation for 15-20 years reduces the risk of having these diseases so much, that you actually come on the same level as a non-smoker! So quit smoking today, if you don’t want to land up with one of these life threatening diseases. It is not too late yet!