When I was a young boy my grandmother was our family doctor. She didn't have a medical degree, but possessed amazing knowledge as to how to treat each and every ailment that afflicted any one in the family. May be she inherited it from her Grand Mother. I never asked her at that time, as seldom I realized the value of her medical knowledge.
But when she was no more and when family members fell sick, every one felt the absence of our Grand Mother.
Modern medicine has now almost eclipsed the Grand Mother’s Medicines now. In fact many consider Grandma Medicine obsolete. But for many small ailments, Grandma Medicines still work wonders.
At one time I decided to collect Grand Ma Medicines and the result of this decision is what you see in this Blog.
All these are my collections from different sources which are very many to recall. But the end result of my own collection effort had been very satisfying. Hope these Grand Ma Medicines help people in need.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Problems in the Hair
Our head is like a city. In this city, new hairs are born every day and old ones die. And many hairs continue to live. Like men, their life depends on the person’s health. Thus hair fall could either be normal or abnormal depending on your health status. So to have a good population of hair, you need to follow the same rules, viz. good eating and cleanliness.
Hair grows at the rate of about half an inch per month. When old hairs fall, new ones start growing in their place. This hair growth is not at all dependent on any hair oil you use. They all at best enhance look of the hair, but with adverse side effects.
Internal stress and tension is one of the reasons for your hair fall
Lack of adequate vitamins and minerals in the body is another cause
Tight tying of hair, helmets, more pins or hair bands also cause it
The more the hair fall, the more the tension. This also causes a cycle
Keep your hairs clean
Avoid shampoos
Do not use combs with narrow teeth
Do not tie the hair when they are not dry
Let the oil application be light
Fruits, vegetables and intake of adequate water has good effect n hair
Use umbrella when you are for long under the sun
Keep your mood cheerful
Home Medicines
Following home medicines can help you solve your problems. Try any one of them at a given time
Hair Fall
1 Mix equal quantities of
Shade dried curry leaves, lime peel, shikakai, fenugreek seeds and green gram
Grind them finely
Store and use as substitute of shampoo or soap
2 Take fenugreek seeds and grind them in water
Apply on the head in general
Wait for 40 minutes before washing
Do it every morning for a month
3 Take a handful of neem leaves
Boil in 4 cups of water
Cool and filter
Use it for rinsing the hair
4 Grind kadipatta and shoe flower and apply on head before taking bath
Premature greying
1. Boil a handful of curry leaves in 1 tbsp of coconut oil. Wait till charred. When cool, use it as hair tonic. In addition, take curry leaves juice or chutney every day
2. Soak shredded ginger in honey and eat a spoonful every morning
3. Grind 1 tbsp each of amla pulp and lime juice. Massage this into the hair before going to bed and wash it next morning
4. Take strained juice of two limes
Take equal amount of warm water
Mix both and rinse hair with it
Allow 15 minutes to pass, if possible under the morning sun
Then rinse out
Do it for a few days
Lice
1 Grind 8 kernels of almond with 2 tsp lime juice and apply on the hair
2 Mix 1 tsp lime juice with 1 tsp garlic paste and apply on the hair
3 Take neem seeds and make powder
Mix in coconut oil and apply over night on head
Wash off next morning
4 Mix neem flowers to sesame oil and heat. Use that on hair before taking bath
5 Take seeds of custard apple, dry and powder. Add it to sesame oil, heat and use before taking bath. This powder can also be mixed with seekai powder
6 Kadukkai + Vasambu + Neem leaves. Grind and mix with coconut oil. Keep it in sunlight. Use this oil for applying on hair
7 After bath, apply Sambrani powder smoke for the hair. In that add also the dry neem flower to give that smoke anti-lice effect
8 Grind vasambu and apply on hair and take hair bath after an hour
9 Liquify alam in water and apply on hair
10 Grind Neem leaves + Vasambu + Black thulsi and apply on head and wait for an hour before taking head bath
11 Grind vasambu and apply on head and tie your hair with while cloth for 2 hours before taking bath
12 Heat coconut or sesame oil. Add snuff powder to it and apply on head before taking bath
Dandruff
1. Mix equal quantities of shade dried curry leaves, lime peel, shikakai, fenugreek seeds and green gram. Grind them finely. Store and use as substitute of shampoo or soap
2. Grind 1 onion, 1 tsp black pepper, ½ cup khuskhus in milk. Apply this paste on head. Wait for 20 minutes. Wash with warm water
3. Take a handful of neem leaves. Boil in 4 cups of water. Cool and filter. Use it for rinsing the hair
4. Grind sesame leaf into fine paste and apply on head. Rinse after 15 minutes
5. Grind pepper and jeera and add it to milk cream [malai] and apply on head and take bath after half hour
6. Apply powdered seeds of pavazhamalli
Hair Conditioner
1 Beat the papaya leaf in a bucket full of water
You would get rich lather
Use this water along with the lather and wash your hair
You will have the effect of hair conditioner
Baldness
1 Take 2 tsp of Atimadhuram [liquorice]
2 tsp of seeds of Dhatura [Oomathai] ---- Caution: It is poisonous
A little safron
1 tsp of milk cream
Make it a paste
Fry it in 2 tsp of coconut oil till charred
Apply on bald patches
2 Grind a tender fruit of dhatura with little water
Apply on bald patches
3 Take fenugreek seeds and grind them in water
Apply on the head in general
Wait for 40 minutes before washing
Do it every morning for a month
4 Grind 1 tsp of root pieces of atimadhuram with
¼ tsp of safron and 1 cup of milk
Apply this paste on head patches at bed time continuously
5 Boil 1 cup mustard oil with 4 tsp of henna leaves, gradually added
Filter and bottle
Massage on the bald patches regularly
6 Take Two cups of salt
Add 4 tbsp pepper powder and ½ cup of lime juice
Leave it under the sun for three days to dry out thoroughly
Once dry, powder and bottle
Take 1 tsp of this powder, add with water and apply on patches at bedtime
Wash off next morning and don’t apply soap or shampoo
7 Boil 250 gms of mustard oil and add 60 grams of Mehandi leaves gradually
Filter the oil in a cloth and store it in bottle
Massage regularly with this oil at the patches
8 Take show flower of simple five petals and rub on the spot daily
9. Grind the bark of drumstick into a very fine paste and apply on the patches daily
Hair grows at the rate of about half an inch per month. When old hairs fall, new ones start growing in their place. This hair growth is not at all dependent on any hair oil you use. They all at best enhance look of the hair, but with adverse side effects.
Internal stress and tension is one of the reasons for your hair fall
Lack of adequate vitamins and minerals in the body is another cause
Tight tying of hair, helmets, more pins or hair bands also cause it
The more the hair fall, the more the tension. This also causes a cycle
Keep your hairs clean
Avoid shampoos
Do not use combs with narrow teeth
Do not tie the hair when they are not dry
Let the oil application be light
Fruits, vegetables and intake of adequate water has good effect n hair
Use umbrella when you are for long under the sun
Keep your mood cheerful
Home Medicines
Following home medicines can help you solve your problems. Try any one of them at a given time
Hair Fall
1 Mix equal quantities of
Shade dried curry leaves, lime peel, shikakai, fenugreek seeds and green gram
Grind them finely
Store and use as substitute of shampoo or soap
2 Take fenugreek seeds and grind them in water
Apply on the head in general
Wait for 40 minutes before washing
Do it every morning for a month
3 Take a handful of neem leaves
Boil in 4 cups of water
Cool and filter
Use it for rinsing the hair
4 Grind kadipatta and shoe flower and apply on head before taking bath
Premature greying
1. Boil a handful of curry leaves in 1 tbsp of coconut oil. Wait till charred. When cool, use it as hair tonic. In addition, take curry leaves juice or chutney every day
2. Soak shredded ginger in honey and eat a spoonful every morning
3. Grind 1 tbsp each of amla pulp and lime juice. Massage this into the hair before going to bed and wash it next morning
4. Take strained juice of two limes
Take equal amount of warm water
Mix both and rinse hair with it
Allow 15 minutes to pass, if possible under the morning sun
Then rinse out
Do it for a few days
Lice
1 Grind 8 kernels of almond with 2 tsp lime juice and apply on the hair
2 Mix 1 tsp lime juice with 1 tsp garlic paste and apply on the hair
3 Take neem seeds and make powder
Mix in coconut oil and apply over night on head
Wash off next morning
4 Mix neem flowers to sesame oil and heat. Use that on hair before taking bath
5 Take seeds of custard apple, dry and powder. Add it to sesame oil, heat and use before taking bath. This powder can also be mixed with seekai powder
6 Kadukkai + Vasambu + Neem leaves. Grind and mix with coconut oil. Keep it in sunlight. Use this oil for applying on hair
7 After bath, apply Sambrani powder smoke for the hair. In that add also the dry neem flower to give that smoke anti-lice effect
8 Grind vasambu and apply on hair and take hair bath after an hour
9 Liquify alam in water and apply on hair
10 Grind Neem leaves + Vasambu + Black thulsi and apply on head and wait for an hour before taking head bath
11 Grind vasambu and apply on head and tie your hair with while cloth for 2 hours before taking bath
12 Heat coconut or sesame oil. Add snuff powder to it and apply on head before taking bath
Dandruff
1. Mix equal quantities of shade dried curry leaves, lime peel, shikakai, fenugreek seeds and green gram. Grind them finely. Store and use as substitute of shampoo or soap
2. Grind 1 onion, 1 tsp black pepper, ½ cup khuskhus in milk. Apply this paste on head. Wait for 20 minutes. Wash with warm water
3. Take a handful of neem leaves. Boil in 4 cups of water. Cool and filter. Use it for rinsing the hair
4. Grind sesame leaf into fine paste and apply on head. Rinse after 15 minutes
5. Grind pepper and jeera and add it to milk cream [malai] and apply on head and take bath after half hour
6. Apply powdered seeds of pavazhamalli
Hair Conditioner
1 Beat the papaya leaf in a bucket full of water
You would get rich lather
Use this water along with the lather and wash your hair
You will have the effect of hair conditioner
Baldness
1 Take 2 tsp of Atimadhuram [liquorice]
2 tsp of seeds of Dhatura [Oomathai] ---- Caution: It is poisonous
A little safron
1 tsp of milk cream
Make it a paste
Fry it in 2 tsp of coconut oil till charred
Apply on bald patches
2 Grind a tender fruit of dhatura with little water
Apply on bald patches
3 Take fenugreek seeds and grind them in water
Apply on the head in general
Wait for 40 minutes before washing
Do it every morning for a month
4 Grind 1 tsp of root pieces of atimadhuram with
¼ tsp of safron and 1 cup of milk
Apply this paste on head patches at bed time continuously
5 Boil 1 cup mustard oil with 4 tsp of henna leaves, gradually added
Filter and bottle
Massage on the bald patches regularly
6 Take Two cups of salt
Add 4 tbsp pepper powder and ½ cup of lime juice
Leave it under the sun for three days to dry out thoroughly
Once dry, powder and bottle
Take 1 tsp of this powder, add with water and apply on patches at bedtime
Wash off next morning and don’t apply soap or shampoo
7 Boil 250 gms of mustard oil and add 60 grams of Mehandi leaves gradually
Filter the oil in a cloth and store it in bottle
Massage regularly with this oil at the patches
8 Take show flower of simple five petals and rub on the spot daily
9. Grind the bark of drumstick into a very fine paste and apply on the patches daily
Problems in the Head
Heaviness
1 Grind the fresh fruit of amla into a fine paste and apply at the location
Giddiness
1 Make juice of ginger and add lemon juice to it and take
2 Grind ginger, jeera and jaggery and take one capsule of this in empty stomach
3 If giddiness due to tiredness, take one glass of water with lime juice, salt and sugar.
4 In fainting cases, boil ½ tsp powdered thippili in 1 glass of milk and drink
Headache
In most cases, headache is a symptom and not a disease. Be aware that your head ache may not be inside your skull. It may lie outside in the form of your relationships, your tensions, your eye defect and the like.
Many times our food could be the culprit. People who take food containing tyramine, say cheese, nuts, fish etc. it could activate headache. Alcoholic drinks which go through fermentation process would also cause headache as it affects the nervous system.
Headaches occur due to alterations in the blood flow. The head has the greatest amount of blood supply and has greatest number of nerves too. So this the part that gets affected whether there are alterations to the blood flow. And this blood flow is influenced by our mental and physical states.
Patients may have to check on themselves as what pressure they have within that causes this problem. It could be
A hostility
Anxiety
Depressed states
Situational tension
Negative behaviors
Being rigid
Suppressed rage
Repressed anger
Emotional feelings
Dietary misdoings
Pressure of work
Bad relationships
Discord or dispute at home or office
Since our body has mind-body link, these get converted into physical symptoms and burst upon us as headaches. Since most headaches are due to emotional or physiological stress which you can control, you yourself are responsible for your headaches.
Patients need to ask themselves and understand as to why head aches occur in them. In other words they should themselves identify the sources of their stress. And bring about due changes in their life style. They should know very clearly that their headaches are very much preventable.
You have two actions to take, one short term action and the other long term action. As a short term, massage of your temples usually helps. You can also press your ear lobes hard for about three seconds and repeat it every 15 seconds. Most likely your headache could disappear.
As a long term, make a life style change and become a very positive human being. It means
Be less fussy about minor details
Avoid tension and fatigue
Avoid worries, resentment, anxiety, disappointment etc.
Make your expectations from others flexible
Get satisfied with what you have and what you can do
At any rate, don’t consider head ache as part of life. It can be removed and it is within your power. You can try any of the following home medicines:
1 Grind the fresh fruit of amla into a fine paste and apply at the aching place
2 2 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp each of ginger, camphor and asafoetida
Grind in milk into a smooth paste and apply
3 Make a paste of cloves, water and salt and apply
4 Make fresh juice of coriander leaves or pudina leaves and apply
5 Coriander powder and chandan
Make paste adding water and apply
6 Take fresh juice out of fenugreek leaves
Take 2 tsp and add with honey daily
7 Rub dry ginger with little water on the grinding stone and apply
8 Apply ginger paste after slight heating [or ginger powder + water +
heated]
9 Take with honey ½ tsp of powdered lime leaves [intake]
10 Apply paste of onion on the head
11 Take juice of anar regularly
12 Tulsi leaves and chandan, make into paste and apply
13 Mix coriander seed powder with chandan paste and apply
14 Take neem flower, grind and apply on head
15 Take juice of leaf or flowers of agathikeerai as two nasal drops [or leaf juice plus honey]
16 If headache on one side,
Make mixture of [and store] camphor, nutmerg, cloves and cardamom 1 tsp each
Take 2 pinches with warm water
17 Buy fresh amla and shade dry
Make powder from it and store
Every night, just before you go for sleep, take one tsp, add to some hot water
Drink
Follow it by one glass of warm water – it prevents headache on a long term basis
18 Boil water, add coffee powder and inhale the steam.
19 Apply kumkum paste and expose to heat
20 Soften the cabbage leaves in warm water and apply on the affected
Parts
21 Put 3 drops of betal leaf juice into the nostrils and take rest
22 Powder dried sundaikkai berries and store. Sniff a little when in
Headache
23 Boil handful of leaves of kandankathiri in gingelly oil. Apply warm
24 Soak a handful of vettiver in a jug of water and apply the infusion
over forehead
25 Apply leaf juice of kuppaimeni
26 Apply paste of vasambu
27 Soak handful of fresh jasmine flowers in small cup of water for 90
minutes. Then add ¼ tsp of salt and stir well to dissolve. Instill 2 or 3
drops into nostrils twice a day
28 Grind black pepper. Extract the juice of drumstick leaves and mix and
make a good paste. Apply on the forehead
29 Mix finely powdered tail pepper and dried ginger in a little rose water
and apply
30 Make a fine paste of the rind [not the seed] of kadukkai and apply
Migraine
Migraine is more a sick headache. It is usually one sided with a throbbing pain accompanied by disturbances to the vision. Its attack can be on either side. Sometimes it also accompanies nausea and vomiting. Sometimes neck and shoulders also get stiff and neck movements could get restricted. In these cases use of pain killers would only do more harm in the long run than getting any permanent relief. Trained migraine patients may even have premonition of an attack.
It is caused by narrowing of the blood vessels to the brain. In ladies, it could even be connected to their menstrual cycles. This attack stops completely during pregnancy and disappears generally when the patient reaches 55 years.
1 Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil; Mix ½ tsp each of powdered cardamom and cinnamon
Apply on head
2 Grind ½ tsp mustard seeds with 3 tsp water and stain
Instill 2 drops in nostrils
3 Grind handful of jasmine leaves with 2 tbsp dried ginger and 2 tbsp milk. Heat the mixture and apply on the forehead. Tie a napkin tightly around the head
1 Grind the fresh fruit of amla into a fine paste and apply at the location
Giddiness
1 Make juice of ginger and add lemon juice to it and take
2 Grind ginger, jeera and jaggery and take one capsule of this in empty stomach
3 If giddiness due to tiredness, take one glass of water with lime juice, salt and sugar.
4 In fainting cases, boil ½ tsp powdered thippili in 1 glass of milk and drink
Headache
In most cases, headache is a symptom and not a disease. Be aware that your head ache may not be inside your skull. It may lie outside in the form of your relationships, your tensions, your eye defect and the like.
Many times our food could be the culprit. People who take food containing tyramine, say cheese, nuts, fish etc. it could activate headache. Alcoholic drinks which go through fermentation process would also cause headache as it affects the nervous system.
Headaches occur due to alterations in the blood flow. The head has the greatest amount of blood supply and has greatest number of nerves too. So this the part that gets affected whether there are alterations to the blood flow. And this blood flow is influenced by our mental and physical states.
Patients may have to check on themselves as what pressure they have within that causes this problem. It could be
A hostility
Anxiety
Depressed states
Situational tension
Negative behaviors
Being rigid
Suppressed rage
Repressed anger
Emotional feelings
Dietary misdoings
Pressure of work
Bad relationships
Discord or dispute at home or office
Since our body has mind-body link, these get converted into physical symptoms and burst upon us as headaches. Since most headaches are due to emotional or physiological stress which you can control, you yourself are responsible for your headaches.
Patients need to ask themselves and understand as to why head aches occur in them. In other words they should themselves identify the sources of their stress. And bring about due changes in their life style. They should know very clearly that their headaches are very much preventable.
You have two actions to take, one short term action and the other long term action. As a short term, massage of your temples usually helps. You can also press your ear lobes hard for about three seconds and repeat it every 15 seconds. Most likely your headache could disappear.
As a long term, make a life style change and become a very positive human being. It means
Be less fussy about minor details
Avoid tension and fatigue
Avoid worries, resentment, anxiety, disappointment etc.
Make your expectations from others flexible
Get satisfied with what you have and what you can do
At any rate, don’t consider head ache as part of life. It can be removed and it is within your power. You can try any of the following home medicines:
1 Grind the fresh fruit of amla into a fine paste and apply at the aching place
2 2 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp each of ginger, camphor and asafoetida
Grind in milk into a smooth paste and apply
3 Make a paste of cloves, water and salt and apply
4 Make fresh juice of coriander leaves or pudina leaves and apply
5 Coriander powder and chandan
Make paste adding water and apply
6 Take fresh juice out of fenugreek leaves
Take 2 tsp and add with honey daily
7 Rub dry ginger with little water on the grinding stone and apply
8 Apply ginger paste after slight heating [or ginger powder + water +
heated]
9 Take with honey ½ tsp of powdered lime leaves [intake]
10 Apply paste of onion on the head
11 Take juice of anar regularly
12 Tulsi leaves and chandan, make into paste and apply
13 Mix coriander seed powder with chandan paste and apply
14 Take neem flower, grind and apply on head
15 Take juice of leaf or flowers of agathikeerai as two nasal drops [or leaf juice plus honey]
16 If headache on one side,
Make mixture of [and store] camphor, nutmerg, cloves and cardamom 1 tsp each
Take 2 pinches with warm water
17 Buy fresh amla and shade dry
Make powder from it and store
Every night, just before you go for sleep, take one tsp, add to some hot water
Drink
Follow it by one glass of warm water – it prevents headache on a long term basis
18 Boil water, add coffee powder and inhale the steam.
19 Apply kumkum paste and expose to heat
20 Soften the cabbage leaves in warm water and apply on the affected
Parts
21 Put 3 drops of betal leaf juice into the nostrils and take rest
22 Powder dried sundaikkai berries and store. Sniff a little when in
Headache
23 Boil handful of leaves of kandankathiri in gingelly oil. Apply warm
24 Soak a handful of vettiver in a jug of water and apply the infusion
over forehead
25 Apply leaf juice of kuppaimeni
26 Apply paste of vasambu
27 Soak handful of fresh jasmine flowers in small cup of water for 90
minutes. Then add ¼ tsp of salt and stir well to dissolve. Instill 2 or 3
drops into nostrils twice a day
28 Grind black pepper. Extract the juice of drumstick leaves and mix and
make a good paste. Apply on the forehead
29 Mix finely powdered tail pepper and dried ginger in a little rose water
and apply
30 Make a fine paste of the rind [not the seed] of kadukkai and apply
Migraine
Migraine is more a sick headache. It is usually one sided with a throbbing pain accompanied by disturbances to the vision. Its attack can be on either side. Sometimes it also accompanies nausea and vomiting. Sometimes neck and shoulders also get stiff and neck movements could get restricted. In these cases use of pain killers would only do more harm in the long run than getting any permanent relief. Trained migraine patients may even have premonition of an attack.
It is caused by narrowing of the blood vessels to the brain. In ladies, it could even be connected to their menstrual cycles. This attack stops completely during pregnancy and disappears generally when the patient reaches 55 years.
1 Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil; Mix ½ tsp each of powdered cardamom and cinnamon
Apply on head
2 Grind ½ tsp mustard seeds with 3 tsp water and stain
Instill 2 drops in nostrils
3 Grind handful of jasmine leaves with 2 tbsp dried ginger and 2 tbsp milk. Heat the mixture and apply on the forehead. Tie a napkin tightly around the head
Eye Problems
Good Habits
· Never use Kajal or any such thing on your eyes. They can cause trachoma
· Never apply any eye drops yourself without doctor’s advice
· Avoid watching TV. If you can’t avoid, watch it from a good distance
· If you are using a computer, take a break of 10 minutes after every one hour
· If you are after 40, have a periodical check up including for glaucoma
· If you are under going any operation, never have it for both the eyes together
Home Medicines
We would now see some of our eye related problems and home medicines for the same. Don’t put anything into your eye, even if I say it. Eyes are a very delicate organ and we should do anything only in consultation with an eye specialist.
Burning eyes
1 Mash ripe banana with a little curd and water and take twice a day
2 Take equal quantities of fenugreek powder and shikakai powder
Wash hair frequently
3 Grind an onion with 1 tsp black pepper and ½ cup khuskhus in milk
Apply this paste on the head
Allow it to dry for 20 minutes and wash in warm water
4 Take juice of bottle gourd and mix with sesame oil at 4:1 ratio
Heat till the moisture is evaporated completely
Once cool, use it for massing the head
5 Apply castor oil on the eye lashes before going to sleep
Cataract
As we get old, our eye lens gradually thickens and loses its ability to focus.
1 In early stages of cataract, soak 10 almonds overnight in 1 cup water
In morning, remove the skin, grind with 10 pepper corns in 1 cup water
Drink after adding sugar to taste, once a day
2 Have two glasses of carrot juice daily
3 Take every morning a mixture - 1/3 cup each of carrot juice, onionjuice and dahi added with ¼ tsp of powdered pepper
Glaucoma
Our eye balls have a pressure which ranges from 10 to 20 mm of Hg. If this increases and goes beyond 24 mm, the condition is called glaucoma. Such increase in pressure is accompanied by terrible head ache around the temple.
Glaucoma causes gradual reduction in vision. Initially the patient may have difficulty in detecting road signals and would need to frequently change his head position. There would be frequent change of lens number for reading, seeing haloes around light, pain and redness in eyes and diminition of vision in evening hours. Gradually the vision may be reduced to making sight similar to seeing through tubes. Since it occurs very gradually over five to ten years, by the time the symptoms appear the patient might have already lost half the eye sight in one eye and half of it in the other eye. After the age of forty, it is better that every person periodically undergoes the ‘field test’ in eye sight for checking on glaucoma.
Many people believe that drinking huge amount of water in the morning is good for cleansing one’s body. One opinion is that more of water taken so suddenly in the morning raises eye pressure and could result in glaucoma in people.
The Home medicine for glaucoma is “Mix equal quantities of juice of carrot and arugampl and drink once a day.”
Other eye problems
In case of children, have their first eye check up done when they are 3 to 4 years. And thereafter have the have eye check up repeated every two years. In case you find the following symptoms, then too have their eyes checked up:
ü The child does not evince keen interest in outdoor games
ü The child is not interested to interact with people socially
ü An otherwise normal child, performs poorly at school
ü The child’s grades in the school are coming down
ü Child shows poor interest in work where visual concentration is needed
ü Child complains of head ache, blurred vision, eye strain, not being able to see black board, etc
ü The child has problems of watering of the eyes or of identifying colors
If your house has a television, make sure it is at the eye level and that the viewers have a good distance of say more than 3 meters from the television and that there is adequate light in the viewing area. Also make sure that none of you watch the television for long hours.
Eye Tests
Following are the Home Eye Test methods.
Eye Test No. 1
Look at the picture eye 1 E Chart from a distance of 3 meters
You can look at it with your specs on or with plain eyes
Don’t tilt your head or squint
Cover one eye with your other palm or a paper card
Read the letters as E, M, W, Reverse E
Continue reading till last line
If you can read line 4 or lower, you are OK
Do the same with the other eye, keeping the formerly tested eye covered
If you can’t, see your eye doctor
Eye Test No. 2
Look at the grid picture eye 2 from a comfortable reading distance
You can look at it with your specs on or with plain eyes
Don’t tilt your head or squint
Cover one eye with your other palm or a paper card
Focus on the center dot
1. See whether you can see all four corners without removing your focus on the dot
2. Do all the lines appear straight and continuous?
If yes, you have passed
If the lines appear wavy or distorted, see your eye doctor
Do the test for the other also, closing the formerly tested eye
Computer diseases
The infotech industry has virtually taken over many towns and villages and use of computer in homes has already become the norm. Now lots of people sit bunched up before their computers and work or play long hours at the computer. With this sustained and prolonged sitting before computers, instances abound of such people developing physical problems as under:
· backache
· neck and shoulder problems
· pain in wrists and hands
· sometimes stiffness and cramps
· severe eye problems
People who use computers should maintain neutral posture free from awkward positions and postures and avoid bending. The precautions to be taken to avoid eye problems are as under:
· The display screen should be slightly below eye level and be 18 to 24 inches away from your face
· The character on the screen should be clearly visible. The screen should be cleared of dust frequently
· The colors selected should be easy to the eye
· Brightness and contrast should suit lighting conditions in the room
· No reflections of light should be seen on the terminal
· The users should get their vision tested periodically
· Never use Kajal or any such thing on your eyes. They can cause trachoma
· Never apply any eye drops yourself without doctor’s advice
· Avoid watching TV. If you can’t avoid, watch it from a good distance
· If you are using a computer, take a break of 10 minutes after every one hour
· If you are after 40, have a periodical check up including for glaucoma
· If you are under going any operation, never have it for both the eyes together
Home Medicines
We would now see some of our eye related problems and home medicines for the same. Don’t put anything into your eye, even if I say it. Eyes are a very delicate organ and we should do anything only in consultation with an eye specialist.
Burning eyes
1 Mash ripe banana with a little curd and water and take twice a day
2 Take equal quantities of fenugreek powder and shikakai powder
Wash hair frequently
3 Grind an onion with 1 tsp black pepper and ½ cup khuskhus in milk
Apply this paste on the head
Allow it to dry for 20 minutes and wash in warm water
4 Take juice of bottle gourd and mix with sesame oil at 4:1 ratio
Heat till the moisture is evaporated completely
Once cool, use it for massing the head
5 Apply castor oil on the eye lashes before going to sleep
Cataract
As we get old, our eye lens gradually thickens and loses its ability to focus.
1 In early stages of cataract, soak 10 almonds overnight in 1 cup water
In morning, remove the skin, grind with 10 pepper corns in 1 cup water
Drink after adding sugar to taste, once a day
2 Have two glasses of carrot juice daily
3 Take every morning a mixture - 1/3 cup each of carrot juice, onionjuice and dahi added with ¼ tsp of powdered pepper
Glaucoma
Our eye balls have a pressure which ranges from 10 to 20 mm of Hg. If this increases and goes beyond 24 mm, the condition is called glaucoma. Such increase in pressure is accompanied by terrible head ache around the temple.
Glaucoma causes gradual reduction in vision. Initially the patient may have difficulty in detecting road signals and would need to frequently change his head position. There would be frequent change of lens number for reading, seeing haloes around light, pain and redness in eyes and diminition of vision in evening hours. Gradually the vision may be reduced to making sight similar to seeing through tubes. Since it occurs very gradually over five to ten years, by the time the symptoms appear the patient might have already lost half the eye sight in one eye and half of it in the other eye. After the age of forty, it is better that every person periodically undergoes the ‘field test’ in eye sight for checking on glaucoma.
Many people believe that drinking huge amount of water in the morning is good for cleansing one’s body. One opinion is that more of water taken so suddenly in the morning raises eye pressure and could result in glaucoma in people.
The Home medicine for glaucoma is “Mix equal quantities of juice of carrot and arugampl and drink once a day.”
Other eye problems
In case of children, have their first eye check up done when they are 3 to 4 years. And thereafter have the have eye check up repeated every two years. In case you find the following symptoms, then too have their eyes checked up:
ü The child does not evince keen interest in outdoor games
ü The child is not interested to interact with people socially
ü An otherwise normal child, performs poorly at school
ü The child’s grades in the school are coming down
ü Child shows poor interest in work where visual concentration is needed
ü Child complains of head ache, blurred vision, eye strain, not being able to see black board, etc
ü The child has problems of watering of the eyes or of identifying colors
If your house has a television, make sure it is at the eye level and that the viewers have a good distance of say more than 3 meters from the television and that there is adequate light in the viewing area. Also make sure that none of you watch the television for long hours.
Eye Tests
Following are the Home Eye Test methods.
Eye Test No. 1
Look at the picture eye 1 E Chart from a distance of 3 meters
You can look at it with your specs on or with plain eyes
Don’t tilt your head or squint
Cover one eye with your other palm or a paper card
Read the letters as E, M, W, Reverse E
Continue reading till last line
If you can read line 4 or lower, you are OK
Do the same with the other eye, keeping the formerly tested eye covered
If you can’t, see your eye doctor
Eye Test No. 2
Look at the grid picture eye 2 from a comfortable reading distance
You can look at it with your specs on or with plain eyes
Don’t tilt your head or squint
Cover one eye with your other palm or a paper card
Focus on the center dot
1. See whether you can see all four corners without removing your focus on the dot
2. Do all the lines appear straight and continuous?
If yes, you have passed
If the lines appear wavy or distorted, see your eye doctor
Do the test for the other also, closing the formerly tested eye
Computer diseases
The infotech industry has virtually taken over many towns and villages and use of computer in homes has already become the norm. Now lots of people sit bunched up before their computers and work or play long hours at the computer. With this sustained and prolonged sitting before computers, instances abound of such people developing physical problems as under:
· backache
· neck and shoulder problems
· pain in wrists and hands
· sometimes stiffness and cramps
· severe eye problems
People who use computers should maintain neutral posture free from awkward positions and postures and avoid bending. The precautions to be taken to avoid eye problems are as under:
· The display screen should be slightly below eye level and be 18 to 24 inches away from your face
· The character on the screen should be clearly visible. The screen should be cleared of dust frequently
· The colors selected should be easy to the eye
· Brightness and contrast should suit lighting conditions in the room
· No reflections of light should be seen on the terminal
· The users should get their vision tested periodically
Sleep Problems
People sleep because they have the instinct to sleep. But most people sleep without realising why does one sleep. They sleep because they feel sleepy, just as they eat because they feel hungry. Such people would sleep in such a condition that they would not wake up refreshed.
Many people find it difficult to get up in the morning after a good night sleep. Obviously they have nothing to look forward to in the day. They would be the people who even after sleep, would not get refreshed and would still be feeling drained and exhausted. Such people even when they get up in the morning, would feel weak or exhausted.
On days when something exciting is planned, man in general gets up early on his own. So, when a man does not get up early on his own, it is clear they have nothing exciting to perform in the day and so the nature makes it difficult for them to get up from bed. The nature knows that such people do not deserve to feel fresh in the morning as they are not going to be cheerful even while they are awake. Nature knows whom to reward with good sleep and freshness and whom to deprive of these.
So, the best medicine for solving insomnia is to be cheerful in the day and do something exciting, useful and rewarding.
Need for sleep
It is a great mistake not to take sufficient sleep. Seven hours is the general minimum needed for people. But normally 6 hrs of sleep every night is adequate for most people. It is nature’s way of re-charging our batteries for the next day’s work.
Some do equally well even with less sleep. Especially people who have a very strong nervous system they do reduce it even to five. With rising age, our requirement of sleep also diminishes. That is why old people often get going with less sleep.
But in the normal course, any reduction from six hours of sleep should be rare and ought not to be attempted without necessity. If the body is told to sleep only 2 or 3 hours it may follow if the will is strong enough, but afterwards it may get exceedingly strained and even break down for want of needed rest. The sleep is necessary because the entire parts of your body need the immobility in order to be able to live their own life independently.
Both during physical illness and for mental trouble sleep is a great help and its absence very undesirable because it would cause loss of curative power.
A couple of nights of short sleep made can make easier prey for viral infections like cold and flu. The good news is that as soon as you get enough sleep your resistance bounces back to normal. That is why when people are struck by fever, they are asked to sleep and take rest. Sleep has a direct connection with how well we resist infection. Immunity of sleep deprived people is lower than normal.
Why sleep problems?
The first reason could be physical. The restfulness of sleep is affected by food lying on the stomach. When the digestion is on it lowers the restfulness of sleep. Such people would feel the need to sleep more and they sleep more. If the person goes to sleep after digestion time [two to three hours after food], then he would have restful sleep and less sleep would be sufficient for him. Constipation, over eating, etc. could also add to our problems.
The second reason and most important reason for sleep problems is mental. The common cause is basically mental tension, i.e. . feelings like anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, worry, etc. If one’s mind conditions are perfect, the sleep would come by itself. Sleeping is not an act. It is an event. The conditions necessary for such an event are cessation of all thoughts, no lust, no discords, no fear, etc. Mind should have five qualities,
· self-control
· compassion
· forgiveness
· cheerfulness and
· surrender to God.
If these are present in mind, there would be no sleep problems. On the contrary, if you are mentally excited or depressed, you cannot sleep well. Sleep can also be a very active means of concentration and inner knowledge.
To recapitulate, there are many causes to insomnia. They are:
· Physical disability, pain or other medical reasons
· Worry and anxiety
· New baby in the house
· Snoring by your partner
· Your work hours are not regular, but erratic
· You don’t go to bed at a fixed time
· You take alcohol
· You are habituated to sleeping tablets
· Disturbing environments
· Poor digestion
· You consume chocolate, cheese and such other rich foods having tyrosine
· You fear you may not get sleep
· You had a nap during the day
· You have bad relationships
· You smoke or take soft drinks
Sleeping pills should never be opted for, since they cannot cure the problem. They are at best ok for one or two nights. Even there you run the risk of habit forming and needing progressively higher doses. What is basically needed is change in mental state and life style.
How to sleep
Sleep is a school one has to go through. The effective sleep is one where one knows how to use one’s nights as one uses one’s days.
When a person rests while on journey, he sleeps irrespective of no bed, no pillow and no ventilation. This should happen regularly.
In proper sleep, all physical parts should be put to total rest from the outer noisy life. This is necessary because rest and activity must alternate.
An individual who lies on a soft bed would in course of time develop spinal abnormalities. Hence it is advisable not to go in for spring and sponge mattresses and use only hard bed. Similarly high pillows would cause tension in the muscles and impede proper circulation of blood to the head. Then headache and backache would arise.
Sleeping with head to the east will save us from environmental ill effects.
Before going to sleep, we need to concentrate and relax all tensions in the physical body and relax completely like a rag, as though the body has neither bones nor muscles. We need to calm our body as much as we can, make it quiet and peaceful.
Therefore if one is physically tired, it is better not to go to sleep immediately but stretch and relax on the bed for sometime loosening all the nerves. The next step is to make the mind too peaceful and rest without any activity and bring it to quietitude and silence. Once we go sleep we must not carry the day’s thinking and ideas and make the mind make no effort, otherwise the mind would continue to work and you won’t be able to sleep well. When the mind continues to work, one cannot rest.
Many people who suffer insomnia often approach their bed with the worry whether they would get their sleep that day. And that worry itself would cause their insomnia for the night that day. Thus many times insomnia is its own cause. So if you fear you may not get the sleep, you may end up just achieving that.
Thus, for a good sleep, one must enter immobility in body and perfect peace with absolute silence in mind. Sensations or emotions had during the day must be allowed to drop off and given up. Those studying should not study till just before sleeping.
For a good sleep, a prayer would a good thing asking the God to watch over you while you sleep and then go to sleep.
If these are followed, one would wake up with the feeling of full energy, perfect freshness, contentment and joy.
How to make sleep come to you
People suffering from sleeplessness must find out for themselves as to what are the factors that are impeding the recharge of their energy during sleep and remove those defects. They should seek to purify their minds by adopting the five qualities above mentioned, so that they overcome all the tensions and relax. People who go to bed with a sense of fulfillment after having discharged their duties sleep well and get fully recharged during sleep. This is where the importance of one utilising his day time energy cheerfully in most constructive ways, lies.
If one does not get sleep despite all the above, he can try many methods to facilitate his entering the sleep state.
At physical level, a hot foot bath for about 20 minutes finished with a cold one for a few minutes would prepare oneself for sleep.
At mental level, if you are suffering from anxiety, the first thing you need to do is to stop thinking. If you can’t stop thinking, then divert your thinking away from your problems to something positives. Think of beautiful places you have visited, the beautiful babies you had had, their childhood, your past happy days, your visit to a temple, etc. Divert your attention.
At mental level, what is important is to prevent the mind from wandering and thinking of so many things preventing the sleep from coming. Hence the need is to have mind control. For achieving the mind control, we can do a number of things. Some of them could be as under:
1. Go into the state of Savasana and feel relaxed. Concentrate from toes to head, one by one all parts, and tell each of them to relax. Say
Toes…. Relax [three times]; then
Legs…. Relax [three times]
Move on similarly to every part, commanding each part of your body to relax. Let the commands be very slow and steady. As each part is told to relax, one can feel the relaxation and by the time all the parts are covered, the sleep is expected to come.
2. Focus on your mind and continuously and repeatedly tell it to “Go to sleep”. Say,
Mind… Go to sleep
Mind….Go to sleep
Repeated many times, the sleep is likely to come off. You know, our minds obey our conscious commands. For example, when we have to catch an early morning train, we go to sleep with an inner desire to get up early in the morning, say by 4 a.m. And to your amazement, even without an alarm clock, we would awake at 4 a.m. or little before. That is because your mind had heard your inner desire to get up by 4 a.m. and makes you get up by that hour. Thus, be aware that whatever conscious command you give to your mind, it does help you to achieve your desire.
3. While lying in the bed, visualise a little flame rising slowly from the earth and going up in the sky. Follow the flame to the sky, rising higher and higher, gently and slowly. Then visualise more such flames coming from different directions and gathering in the sky. When you do this, you would drop to sleep.
4. Imagine a field where there are a number of lambs are grazing. Then try to count the lambs one by one. As you go on counting them, you would drop off in sleep.
5. Simply start counting numbers from 1 to 100 and more. As the counting process goes on, you would drop asleep.
6. Observe your own breathing. Concentrate on the breathing as you inhale and exhale. Let your focus be on the tip of your nose and be watching the breath process taking place. If you are able to maintain this focus, you would sleep off automatically.
7. Some general guidelines for getting the sleep are
Maintain good relationships with others
· Avoid mid day naps
· Make sure you had completed your dinner two hours before your going to bed
· Walk for two hours before going to sleep
· Have a regular time for going to bed
· Make sure your room temperature and ventilation are fine
· In the winter, if you are sleeping on mats on floor, first put some newspapers on the floor and over that spread your spreads.
· Relax the jaw and allow your entire face to slack and get relaxed
· Check your eye brows. Let them get relaxed
· Tighten your each muscle and relax; do this repeatedly with every limb
· Relax your entire body
· Opt for having a good music 15 minutes before bed time
· Avoid reading in bed
· Never take any sleeping pill which are habit forming; they only borrow sleep from the next day’s quota
· Avoid worrying whether you would get sleep
· Make sure you have minimum six hours of sleep ever day
· When you don’t get sleep, don’t be looking at the clock
If you still don’t get sleep, be aware that insomnia has never killed any one. So don’t worry. But opt for life style change, both physical and mental.
The home remedies for sleep problems are as under:
Insmonia
1 Fry 1 tsp cumin seeds and powder
Mix with mashed banana and eat at night regularly
2 Make 2 tsp juice of from fenugreek leaves
Add with honey and take daily
3 Make powder of nutmerg / jathikkai
Take freshly extracted amla juice 1 tbsp and mix
Take 3 times a day. Do not prolong this as nutmerg may have side effects
4 Soak 1 tbsp pudina leaves to 1 cup of water for 30 mts. Take thrice a day
5 Tie a bunch of maruthani flowers in a muslin cloth bag and leave it near pillow while sleeping
6 Soak a handful of manuthani leaves in 1 cup coconut oil. Massage the head well before going to bed
Many people find it difficult to get up in the morning after a good night sleep. Obviously they have nothing to look forward to in the day. They would be the people who even after sleep, would not get refreshed and would still be feeling drained and exhausted. Such people even when they get up in the morning, would feel weak or exhausted.
On days when something exciting is planned, man in general gets up early on his own. So, when a man does not get up early on his own, it is clear they have nothing exciting to perform in the day and so the nature makes it difficult for them to get up from bed. The nature knows that such people do not deserve to feel fresh in the morning as they are not going to be cheerful even while they are awake. Nature knows whom to reward with good sleep and freshness and whom to deprive of these.
So, the best medicine for solving insomnia is to be cheerful in the day and do something exciting, useful and rewarding.
Need for sleep
It is a great mistake not to take sufficient sleep. Seven hours is the general minimum needed for people. But normally 6 hrs of sleep every night is adequate for most people. It is nature’s way of re-charging our batteries for the next day’s work.
Some do equally well even with less sleep. Especially people who have a very strong nervous system they do reduce it even to five. With rising age, our requirement of sleep also diminishes. That is why old people often get going with less sleep.
But in the normal course, any reduction from six hours of sleep should be rare and ought not to be attempted without necessity. If the body is told to sleep only 2 or 3 hours it may follow if the will is strong enough, but afterwards it may get exceedingly strained and even break down for want of needed rest. The sleep is necessary because the entire parts of your body need the immobility in order to be able to live their own life independently.
Both during physical illness and for mental trouble sleep is a great help and its absence very undesirable because it would cause loss of curative power.
A couple of nights of short sleep made can make easier prey for viral infections like cold and flu. The good news is that as soon as you get enough sleep your resistance bounces back to normal. That is why when people are struck by fever, they are asked to sleep and take rest. Sleep has a direct connection with how well we resist infection. Immunity of sleep deprived people is lower than normal.
Why sleep problems?
The first reason could be physical. The restfulness of sleep is affected by food lying on the stomach. When the digestion is on it lowers the restfulness of sleep. Such people would feel the need to sleep more and they sleep more. If the person goes to sleep after digestion time [two to three hours after food], then he would have restful sleep and less sleep would be sufficient for him. Constipation, over eating, etc. could also add to our problems.
The second reason and most important reason for sleep problems is mental. The common cause is basically mental tension, i.e. . feelings like anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, worry, etc. If one’s mind conditions are perfect, the sleep would come by itself. Sleeping is not an act. It is an event. The conditions necessary for such an event are cessation of all thoughts, no lust, no discords, no fear, etc. Mind should have five qualities,
· self-control
· compassion
· forgiveness
· cheerfulness and
· surrender to God.
If these are present in mind, there would be no sleep problems. On the contrary, if you are mentally excited or depressed, you cannot sleep well. Sleep can also be a very active means of concentration and inner knowledge.
To recapitulate, there are many causes to insomnia. They are:
· Physical disability, pain or other medical reasons
· Worry and anxiety
· New baby in the house
· Snoring by your partner
· Your work hours are not regular, but erratic
· You don’t go to bed at a fixed time
· You take alcohol
· You are habituated to sleeping tablets
· Disturbing environments
· Poor digestion
· You consume chocolate, cheese and such other rich foods having tyrosine
· You fear you may not get sleep
· You had a nap during the day
· You have bad relationships
· You smoke or take soft drinks
Sleeping pills should never be opted for, since they cannot cure the problem. They are at best ok for one or two nights. Even there you run the risk of habit forming and needing progressively higher doses. What is basically needed is change in mental state and life style.
How to sleep
Sleep is a school one has to go through. The effective sleep is one where one knows how to use one’s nights as one uses one’s days.
When a person rests while on journey, he sleeps irrespective of no bed, no pillow and no ventilation. This should happen regularly.
In proper sleep, all physical parts should be put to total rest from the outer noisy life. This is necessary because rest and activity must alternate.
An individual who lies on a soft bed would in course of time develop spinal abnormalities. Hence it is advisable not to go in for spring and sponge mattresses and use only hard bed. Similarly high pillows would cause tension in the muscles and impede proper circulation of blood to the head. Then headache and backache would arise.
Sleeping with head to the east will save us from environmental ill effects.
Before going to sleep, we need to concentrate and relax all tensions in the physical body and relax completely like a rag, as though the body has neither bones nor muscles. We need to calm our body as much as we can, make it quiet and peaceful.
Therefore if one is physically tired, it is better not to go to sleep immediately but stretch and relax on the bed for sometime loosening all the nerves. The next step is to make the mind too peaceful and rest without any activity and bring it to quietitude and silence. Once we go sleep we must not carry the day’s thinking and ideas and make the mind make no effort, otherwise the mind would continue to work and you won’t be able to sleep well. When the mind continues to work, one cannot rest.
Many people who suffer insomnia often approach their bed with the worry whether they would get their sleep that day. And that worry itself would cause their insomnia for the night that day. Thus many times insomnia is its own cause. So if you fear you may not get the sleep, you may end up just achieving that.
Thus, for a good sleep, one must enter immobility in body and perfect peace with absolute silence in mind. Sensations or emotions had during the day must be allowed to drop off and given up. Those studying should not study till just before sleeping.
For a good sleep, a prayer would a good thing asking the God to watch over you while you sleep and then go to sleep.
If these are followed, one would wake up with the feeling of full energy, perfect freshness, contentment and joy.
How to make sleep come to you
People suffering from sleeplessness must find out for themselves as to what are the factors that are impeding the recharge of their energy during sleep and remove those defects. They should seek to purify their minds by adopting the five qualities above mentioned, so that they overcome all the tensions and relax. People who go to bed with a sense of fulfillment after having discharged their duties sleep well and get fully recharged during sleep. This is where the importance of one utilising his day time energy cheerfully in most constructive ways, lies.
If one does not get sleep despite all the above, he can try many methods to facilitate his entering the sleep state.
At physical level, a hot foot bath for about 20 minutes finished with a cold one for a few minutes would prepare oneself for sleep.
At mental level, if you are suffering from anxiety, the first thing you need to do is to stop thinking. If you can’t stop thinking, then divert your thinking away from your problems to something positives. Think of beautiful places you have visited, the beautiful babies you had had, their childhood, your past happy days, your visit to a temple, etc. Divert your attention.
At mental level, what is important is to prevent the mind from wandering and thinking of so many things preventing the sleep from coming. Hence the need is to have mind control. For achieving the mind control, we can do a number of things. Some of them could be as under:
1. Go into the state of Savasana and feel relaxed. Concentrate from toes to head, one by one all parts, and tell each of them to relax. Say
Toes…. Relax [three times]; then
Legs…. Relax [three times]
Move on similarly to every part, commanding each part of your body to relax. Let the commands be very slow and steady. As each part is told to relax, one can feel the relaxation and by the time all the parts are covered, the sleep is expected to come.
2. Focus on your mind and continuously and repeatedly tell it to “Go to sleep”. Say,
Mind… Go to sleep
Mind….Go to sleep
Repeated many times, the sleep is likely to come off. You know, our minds obey our conscious commands. For example, when we have to catch an early morning train, we go to sleep with an inner desire to get up early in the morning, say by 4 a.m. And to your amazement, even without an alarm clock, we would awake at 4 a.m. or little before. That is because your mind had heard your inner desire to get up by 4 a.m. and makes you get up by that hour. Thus, be aware that whatever conscious command you give to your mind, it does help you to achieve your desire.
3. While lying in the bed, visualise a little flame rising slowly from the earth and going up in the sky. Follow the flame to the sky, rising higher and higher, gently and slowly. Then visualise more such flames coming from different directions and gathering in the sky. When you do this, you would drop to sleep.
4. Imagine a field where there are a number of lambs are grazing. Then try to count the lambs one by one. As you go on counting them, you would drop off in sleep.
5. Simply start counting numbers from 1 to 100 and more. As the counting process goes on, you would drop asleep.
6. Observe your own breathing. Concentrate on the breathing as you inhale and exhale. Let your focus be on the tip of your nose and be watching the breath process taking place. If you are able to maintain this focus, you would sleep off automatically.
7. Some general guidelines for getting the sleep are
Maintain good relationships with others
· Avoid mid day naps
· Make sure you had completed your dinner two hours before your going to bed
· Walk for two hours before going to sleep
· Have a regular time for going to bed
· Make sure your room temperature and ventilation are fine
· In the winter, if you are sleeping on mats on floor, first put some newspapers on the floor and over that spread your spreads.
· Relax the jaw and allow your entire face to slack and get relaxed
· Check your eye brows. Let them get relaxed
· Tighten your each muscle and relax; do this repeatedly with every limb
· Relax your entire body
· Opt for having a good music 15 minutes before bed time
· Avoid reading in bed
· Never take any sleeping pill which are habit forming; they only borrow sleep from the next day’s quota
· Avoid worrying whether you would get sleep
· Make sure you have minimum six hours of sleep ever day
· When you don’t get sleep, don’t be looking at the clock
If you still don’t get sleep, be aware that insomnia has never killed any one. So don’t worry. But opt for life style change, both physical and mental.
The home remedies for sleep problems are as under:
Insmonia
1 Fry 1 tsp cumin seeds and powder
Mix with mashed banana and eat at night regularly
2 Make 2 tsp juice of from fenugreek leaves
Add with honey and take daily
3 Make powder of nutmerg / jathikkai
Take freshly extracted amla juice 1 tbsp and mix
Take 3 times a day. Do not prolong this as nutmerg may have side effects
4 Soak 1 tbsp pudina leaves to 1 cup of water for 30 mts. Take thrice a day
5 Tie a bunch of maruthani flowers in a muslin cloth bag and leave it near pillow while sleeping
6 Soak a handful of manuthani leaves in 1 cup coconut oil. Massage the head well before going to bed
Ear Pain
1 Extract tulsi juice and put 3 drops in the ear
2 Add ½ tsp ajwain seeds to 1 tbsp boiling milk, cool, filter and use as drops
3 In 2 tbsp gingelly oil, put 1 tsp garlic and boil well, cool and filter. Use as drops
4 3 drops of ginger juice used as ear drops
5 In 1 tsp luke warm water, add few drops of lime juice and use as ear drops
6 Use neem leaf juice as drops
7 If pain due to entry of some insect into the ear, apply honey at the ear entrance. The insect might come out.
8 If the pain is due to entry of some insect into the ear, send torch light into the ear and the insect will get out.
9 Extract fresh juice of raddish, warm it and use it as drops
10 Crush the fruits of kandankathiri and take the juice and use as drops
11 Take equal quantity of paste of jasmine leaves and gingelly oil and boil to half. Cool and store. When cool instill 2 drops in ear
2 Add ½ tsp ajwain seeds to 1 tbsp boiling milk, cool, filter and use as drops
3 In 2 tbsp gingelly oil, put 1 tsp garlic and boil well, cool and filter. Use as drops
4 3 drops of ginger juice used as ear drops
5 In 1 tsp luke warm water, add few drops of lime juice and use as ear drops
6 Use neem leaf juice as drops
7 If pain due to entry of some insect into the ear, apply honey at the ear entrance. The insect might come out.
8 If the pain is due to entry of some insect into the ear, send torch light into the ear and the insect will get out.
9 Extract fresh juice of raddish, warm it and use it as drops
10 Crush the fruits of kandankathiri and take the juice and use as drops
11 Take equal quantity of paste of jasmine leaves and gingelly oil and boil to half. Cool and store. When cool instill 2 drops in ear
General Breathing Problems
At one time, all the parts of our body assembled to debate as to who is supreme and as to who is doing the most important work. When every part of our body was staking its claim for supremacy, the committee decided that each part would go on leave for about a month to see what happens. First it was the turn of the eye. It went on leave for a month and returned. Well, during the month the body was put to lot of inconvenience but it survived. Next it was the turn of the ear and so was the inconvenience but the body survived. After sometime, the turn of nose came. It went on leave. But even before it could leave the room, the entire body started gasping for breath and every part realized that without breathing none of them could survive. Immediately all the parts rushed to the nose and requested him not to go on leave.
That is the importance of breathing.
Our respiratory system starts with nose and ends with Alveoli in the lungs. We inhale and exhale air which consists of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
At the time a child is born its respiratory rate is 30 to 40 times per minute with heart beat of 140 to 150 per minute. This steadily reduces and gets standardised at adult stage with 14 to 18 times of breathing rate and 70 to 80 times of heart beat per minute. These can be measured and the normalcy of lung and heart can be checked.
The Respiratory centre in our body is part of our brain and any block to the respiration could affect one’s brain. That is the reason why, if a person stops breathing, then immediately artificial respiration should be given to him. Otherwise his brain could get affected. So, there is prime need to keep this life line running smoothly.
Gasping
Many times, even normal people gasp while climbing stairs, or while going some steep roads or up the hill. Some people gasp for breath in winter and at other times are functioning well. Here are some expert advice on tackling gasping.
When you are about to climb stairs
· Climb the first two stairs breath in
· When you climb the next two, breath out
· Keep this rhythm of two in and two out
When you walk up the hill
· Breath in first three steps
· Breath out the next three
· Keep this rhythm of three in and three out
In winter
· Take quick short breathing for thirty seconds
· Then slow and full breathing for next thirty seconds
· Repeat this sequence
Congestion/bleeding in nose
1 To relieve nasal congestion in children
Crush a fistful of ajwain seeds and tie up in a cotton napkin
And place it near the pillow
2 To check bleeding nose
Make juice from fresh coriander leaves and use as nasal drops
Or you can drop into nostrils, drops of lemon juice
3 fry 2 tsp of dried sundaikkai and fry in little ghee and powder. Take this with rice thrice daily
4 For sinus congestion, grind thippili, clove and rock salt and add 1 tsp to 1 cup boiling water and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes. Filter and drink while still warm
In this connection it would be advantageous to read the following article:
Solutions for Breathing Problems
By Robert Elias Najemy
Breathing difficulties can seriously handicap our ability to function and enjoy life. Air is our most vital source of energy and vitality. When we suffer from asthma, bronchitis, allergies, frequent colds or simply insufficient oxygen intake, we are prone to a lack of energy, vitality and /or mental clarity. Every cell within our body depends on an abundant supply of oxygen for proper metabolism and vitality.
Some Causes of Breathing Problems
1. Hereditary weakness may make our lungs or other organs of respiratory apparatus weak points in our system. Thus when tired, overworked, anxious or stressed, these parts of the body can start to malfunction.
2. Environmental factors may also aggravate the condition. Cold and humid weather tend to accentuate breathing problems. Pollen and other particles in the air may cause allergic reactions. Occupational conditions such as working in a dusty area or in a smoke filled room may also aggravate the problem. Pollution irritates our nasal passage and lungs. Smoking cigarettes obviously damages our lungs, cutting off our supply of oxygen.
3. An over production of mucus clogs up the breathing passages, obstructing breathing. Foods, which tend to cause excess mucus, are all dairy products, white flour, white rice and sweets.
4. A lack of sufficient liquid intake causes the mucus to thicken and cling to the lungs and other breathing passages. This creates a favorable environment for microbes to reproduce.
5. Blockages in the spinal vertebrae or tension in the muscles of the upper back may also obstruct the flow of nerve impulses and bioenergy to the lungs. This may inhibit the proper functioning of the lungs.
6. Emotional blockages are directly connected with our breathing. People, who experience anxiety, depression, fear, nervous tension or a poor self-image, tend to subconsciously hold their breath. Thus their breathing is tense, shallow, and sometimes spasmodic. Long-term emotional blockages may also affect the adrenal glands and thus hormonal disorders may also play their part in the problem. Negative emotions also depress or disturb the functioning of the immune system.
7. A lack of proper education in breathing is another reason why people suffer from breathing problems. It is entirely possible for us to learn to use our lungs more effectively for greater energy, vitality, peace and clarity of mind. This should be learned from an experienced breath coach.
Some Solutions
Surround yourself with large green leafed plants, which produce oxygen and absorb pollution. . Get out of the city frequently. Go the sea or mountains and breathe fresh clean air. Use regular deep breathing to clean out and rejuvenate your lungs. Deep breathing while walking can clean out a considerable amount of pollution from the lungs. If you smoke, then - love yourself - and stop.
2. Avoid all diary products, white sugar, sweets, white flour and white rice. When the problem has subsided, then we can start taking small quantities of dairy products while watching the body's reaction. b. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty (6 or 8 cups per day) of warm liquid daily. This may be water, herb teas, or water with lemon. Do not drink refrigerated or iced drinks.
3. When one has a cold, an onion and garlic soup spiced with pepper, cinnamon ginger and cloves, opens up the nasal passages and allows the congestion to flow out.
4. Facing emotional factors is essential for healing the cause of the breathing problems. There are various ways in which we can find relief from these emotional factors and then eventually analyze them and transcend them. a. Self-analysis or objective-self observation can free us from various emotional attachments and fears. Positive thinking, affirmations, and positive thought projection can neutralize negative emotions and tendencies.
5.With the help of various exercises and techniques under proper care of experts, we can seek to: remove the blockages and tensions To start with we can simply practice deep breathing exercises. These exercises will give us relief from tension and may even bring the cause for our emotional tension to the surface so that we may see it more clearly and objectively. Deep relaxation techniques are also very effective for relaxing the whole system so that the muscles of breathing may function more freely.
That is the importance of breathing.
Our respiratory system starts with nose and ends with Alveoli in the lungs. We inhale and exhale air which consists of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
At the time a child is born its respiratory rate is 30 to 40 times per minute with heart beat of 140 to 150 per minute. This steadily reduces and gets standardised at adult stage with 14 to 18 times of breathing rate and 70 to 80 times of heart beat per minute. These can be measured and the normalcy of lung and heart can be checked.
The Respiratory centre in our body is part of our brain and any block to the respiration could affect one’s brain. That is the reason why, if a person stops breathing, then immediately artificial respiration should be given to him. Otherwise his brain could get affected. So, there is prime need to keep this life line running smoothly.
Gasping
Many times, even normal people gasp while climbing stairs, or while going some steep roads or up the hill. Some people gasp for breath in winter and at other times are functioning well. Here are some expert advice on tackling gasping.
When you are about to climb stairs
· Climb the first two stairs breath in
· When you climb the next two, breath out
· Keep this rhythm of two in and two out
When you walk up the hill
· Breath in first three steps
· Breath out the next three
· Keep this rhythm of three in and three out
In winter
· Take quick short breathing for thirty seconds
· Then slow and full breathing for next thirty seconds
· Repeat this sequence
Congestion/bleeding in nose
1 To relieve nasal congestion in children
Crush a fistful of ajwain seeds and tie up in a cotton napkin
And place it near the pillow
2 To check bleeding nose
Make juice from fresh coriander leaves and use as nasal drops
Or you can drop into nostrils, drops of lemon juice
3 fry 2 tsp of dried sundaikkai and fry in little ghee and powder. Take this with rice thrice daily
4 For sinus congestion, grind thippili, clove and rock salt and add 1 tsp to 1 cup boiling water and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes. Filter and drink while still warm
In this connection it would be advantageous to read the following article:
Solutions for Breathing Problems
By Robert Elias Najemy
Breathing difficulties can seriously handicap our ability to function and enjoy life. Air is our most vital source of energy and vitality. When we suffer from asthma, bronchitis, allergies, frequent colds or simply insufficient oxygen intake, we are prone to a lack of energy, vitality and /or mental clarity. Every cell within our body depends on an abundant supply of oxygen for proper metabolism and vitality.
Some Causes of Breathing Problems
1. Hereditary weakness may make our lungs or other organs of respiratory apparatus weak points in our system. Thus when tired, overworked, anxious or stressed, these parts of the body can start to malfunction.
2. Environmental factors may also aggravate the condition. Cold and humid weather tend to accentuate breathing problems. Pollen and other particles in the air may cause allergic reactions. Occupational conditions such as working in a dusty area or in a smoke filled room may also aggravate the problem. Pollution irritates our nasal passage and lungs. Smoking cigarettes obviously damages our lungs, cutting off our supply of oxygen.
3. An over production of mucus clogs up the breathing passages, obstructing breathing. Foods, which tend to cause excess mucus, are all dairy products, white flour, white rice and sweets.
4. A lack of sufficient liquid intake causes the mucus to thicken and cling to the lungs and other breathing passages. This creates a favorable environment for microbes to reproduce.
5. Blockages in the spinal vertebrae or tension in the muscles of the upper back may also obstruct the flow of nerve impulses and bioenergy to the lungs. This may inhibit the proper functioning of the lungs.
6. Emotional blockages are directly connected with our breathing. People, who experience anxiety, depression, fear, nervous tension or a poor self-image, tend to subconsciously hold their breath. Thus their breathing is tense, shallow, and sometimes spasmodic. Long-term emotional blockages may also affect the adrenal glands and thus hormonal disorders may also play their part in the problem. Negative emotions also depress or disturb the functioning of the immune system.
7. A lack of proper education in breathing is another reason why people suffer from breathing problems. It is entirely possible for us to learn to use our lungs more effectively for greater energy, vitality, peace and clarity of mind. This should be learned from an experienced breath coach.
Some Solutions
Surround yourself with large green leafed plants, which produce oxygen and absorb pollution. . Get out of the city frequently. Go the sea or mountains and breathe fresh clean air. Use regular deep breathing to clean out and rejuvenate your lungs. Deep breathing while walking can clean out a considerable amount of pollution from the lungs. If you smoke, then - love yourself - and stop.
2. Avoid all diary products, white sugar, sweets, white flour and white rice. When the problem has subsided, then we can start taking small quantities of dairy products while watching the body's reaction. b. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty (6 or 8 cups per day) of warm liquid daily. This may be water, herb teas, or water with lemon. Do not drink refrigerated or iced drinks.
3. When one has a cold, an onion and garlic soup spiced with pepper, cinnamon ginger and cloves, opens up the nasal passages and allows the congestion to flow out.
4. Facing emotional factors is essential for healing the cause of the breathing problems. There are various ways in which we can find relief from these emotional factors and then eventually analyze them and transcend them. a. Self-analysis or objective-self observation can free us from various emotional attachments and fears. Positive thinking, affirmations, and positive thought projection can neutralize negative emotions and tendencies.
5.With the help of various exercises and techniques under proper care of experts, we can seek to: remove the blockages and tensions To start with we can simply practice deep breathing exercises. These exercises will give us relief from tension and may even bring the cause for our emotional tension to the surface so that we may see it more clearly and objectively. Deep relaxation techniques are also very effective for relaxing the whole system so that the muscles of breathing may function more freely.
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