Month: August 2007

Categories
Ailmemts & Remedies

Atherosclerosis

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Atherosclerosis is a disease that results in the arteries becoming narrowed. the condition can affect arteries in any area of the body and is a major cause of stroke, heart attack and poor circulation in the legs. the arteries become narrowed when fatty substances, such as cholesterol, that are carried in the blood accumulate on the side lining of the arteries and form yellow deposits called artheroma. these deposits restrict the blood flow through the arteries. in addition, the muscle layer of the artery wall becomes thickened, narrowing the artery even more. platelets (tiny blood cells responsible for clothing) may collect in clumps on the surface of the deposits and initiate the formation of blood clots. a large clot may then completely block the artery and result on an organ being deprived of oxygen.

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Atherosclerosis is much more common in the US and northern Europe than in developing countries in Africa and Asia. the condition also becomes more common with increasing age. In the US, autopsies on young men who have died in accidents reveal that nearly all have some artheroma in their large arteries, and most people who die in middle age are found to have widespread atherosclerosis when autopsied. however, the condition rarely causes Symptoms until age 45-50, and many people do not realize that they have Atherosclerosis until they experience a heart attack or stroke.

The female sex hormone estrogen helps protect against the development of atherosclerosis,, as a result, the incidence of atherosclerosis is much lower in women before menopause than in men. By age 60, the risk of women developing atherosclerosis has increased until it is equal with the risk for men. however, women who take hormone replacement therapy, which contains estrogen, may continue to be protected.

What are the causes?
The risk of developing atherosclerosis is determined largely by the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream, which depends on dietary and genetic factors. Since cholesterol levels are closely linked with diet, atherosclerosis is most common in western counties where people eat a diet high in fat. Some disorders such as diabetes mellitus can b associated with a high cholesterol level regardless of diet. Certain inherited disorders also result in a high level of fats in the blood.

In addition to high blood cholesterols levels, factors that make atherosclerosis more likely are smoking, not exercising regularly, having high blood pressure, and being overweight, especially if a lot of fat is around the waist.

What are the symptoms?
There are usually no symptoms in the early stages of atherosclerosis. later, symptoms are caused by the reduced or total absence of blood supply to the organs supplied by the affected arteries. If the coronary arteries, which supply the heart muscle, are partially blocked, symptoms may include the chest pain of angina. if there is a complete blockage in the coronary artery, there may be a sudden, often fatal, heart attack. Many strokes are a result of atherosclerosis in the arteries that supply blood to the brain. If atherosclerosis affects the arteries in the legs, the first symptom may be cramping pain when walking caused by poor blood flow to the leg muscles. If atherosclerosis is associated with an inherited lipid disorder, fatty deposits may develop on tendons or under the skin in visible lumps.

How is it diagnosed?
Since atherosclerosis has no symptoms until blood flow has been restricted, it is important to screen for the disorder before it becomes advanced and damages organs. Routine medical checkups include screening for the major risks factors of atherosclerosis, particularly raised blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and diabetes mellitus. Some current recommendations suggest that all adults should have their cholesterol levels measured at intervals of at least every 5 years after age 20.

If you develop symptoms of atherosclerosis, your doctor may arrange tests to assess the damage both to the arteries and to the organs they supply. Blood flow in affected blood vessels can be imaged by doppler ultrasound scanning or coronary angiography. If your doctor thinks that the coronary arteries are affected, an ecg may be carried out to monitor the electrical activity of the heart and imaging techniques, such as angiography and radionuclide scanning may be used to look at the blood supply to the heart. Some of these tests may be done as you exercise to check how the heart functions when it is put under stress.(TMT)

What is the treatment?
The best treatment is to prevent atherosclerosis from progressing. preventive measures include following a healthy lifestyle by eating a low-fat diet, not smoking, exercising regularly, and maintaining the recommended weight for your height. These measures led to lower than average risk of developing significant atherosclerosis.

If you are in a good state of health but have been found to have a high blood cholesterol level, your doctor will advise you to adopt a low-fat diet. You may also be offered drugs that decrease your blood cholesterol level. For people who have had a heart attack, research has shown that there may be a benefit in lowering blood cholesterol levels, even if the cholesterol level is within the average range for healthy people.

If you have atherosclerosis and are experiencing symptoms of the condition, your doctor may describe a drug such as aspirin to reduce the risk of blood clots forming on the damaged artery lining.

Ayurvedic Recomendation: Arjunin , Cholecurb
Ayurvedic Recommended Therapy: Virechan

What is the prognosis?
A healthy diet and lifestyle can slow the development of atherosclerosis in most people. if you do have a myocardial infarction or a stroke, you can reduce risk of having further complications by taking preventive measures.

Click to learn about Atherosclerosis

Meditation Helps Reduce Heart Disease Risks

Reduce the risks of heart disease through meditation

Care Your Heart With Herbs

TREATMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES WITH CHINESE HERBS

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.

Source: http://www.charak.com/DiseasePage.asp?thx=1&id=187

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Categories
Yoga

Sarvangasana

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Posture : It is considered as the best asana among all the asanas, as it activates most of the important glands and help improve their function. Even old books on Yoga proclaim importance of this asana.

Pre position: Supine Position.
How to do the Asana:

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1. Exhale and inhaling start raising both the legs upward and stop when they make angle of 90 degree with the floor. Attain the Uttanpadasana posture.

2.Exhaling raise the waist and push the legs backward over the head.

3.Support the waist with both the hands, using your hands get the legs, waist and back in one straight line and stabilize them in this position, stretch the toes towards sky. Keep the sight on the toes.

4.Continue normal breathing.

Position: One should concentrate on getting the legs, waist and the back in one straight line and this line making 90 degrees with ground. In this asana the arms up to the elbows are placed on the floor. The body from feet to the shoulders is in straight line, only the chin is placed in the Jugular notch forming a tie which is called ‘Jalandhar Bandha’. Because of this ‘Bandha’ jaws can’t be opened.


Releasing :

1.Inhale and exhaling, slightly lower the legs towards head and maintaining the balance of the body remove the hands supporting the waist back to the normal position.

2.Inhaling , place the waist on the ground keeping legs straight as in the Uttanpadasana.

3.Exhaling, bring legs back to the normal position without jerk or speed.

Duration : This asana is difficult in the beginning especially for women with heavy hips and men with big belly’s. Initially you can take help of other person while raising the hips and waist. This asana should be maintained for 2 to 3 minutes after sufficient practice to get the desired results.
Benefits:

Most of the times we remain either in standing or sitting position. Quite opposite position is taken in this asana. This helps improve the blood circulation as impure blood easily reaches the heart.
The ‘Jalandhar Bandha’ pressurizes the thyroid glands and to some extent pituitary gland thus helps improve their function.
To some extent you can get the benefits of Shirsasana (up side down) in this posture.
This asana controls and cures the diseases related to genital organs, constipation.
It also helps cure varicose veins and haemorrhoids.
Precaution : People suffering from headache, brain diseases, blood pressure, heart related ailments etc. should not do this asana without expert guidance.
Do & Don’t Do
– Keep the legs straight in knees with toes pointing to the sky.
– Raise the entire back & buttocks off the ground.
– Legs, hips and back are in one straight line.
– Hands, upper arm & elbows on the ground while supporting the back behind chest.
– Shoulders resting on the ground.
– Head straight and eye sight fixed on the raised toes.
– The chin resting in the sternal notch. (In Chin lock position)
Don’t  do
– Do not bend the legs in knees.
– Do not take the legs over your head in the position, but you can take the legs over your head while taking & releasing the position.
– Do not move the neck or overstrain it in chin lock position.

NOTE: As the Jalandhar bandha is practiced in this asana, it becomes necessary to practice the Matsya Bandha immediately after releasing the Sarvangasana. One should practice Matsyasana.

Source: http://www.yogapoint.com

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Categories
News on Health & Science

Improve Lifestyle to Avoid High BP

High blood pressure toll to boom within 20 years.

Unhealthy lifestyle might bring a boom in high blood pressure, with the sufferers exceeding a billion within 20 years, a new study has found. One in four adults suffer from high blood pressure which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and death.

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Lifestyle factors, such as physical inactivity, a salt-rich diet with high fatty foods, and alcohol and tobacco use could see the problem spreading from developed to developing economies, like India and China.

According to The Lancet medical journal, the number of BP patients may rise to 1.56 billion by 2025, up from 972 million in 2000. Another editorial has claimed that the rise in BP is due to poor observance of medication by patients.

“Many patients still believe that hypertension is a disease that can be cured, and stop or reduce medication when blood pressure levels fall. Physicians need to convey the message that hypertension is the first, and easily measurable, irreversible sign that many organs in the body are under attack,” the editorial was quoted, as saying.

“Perhaps this message will make people think more carefully about the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle and give preventative measures a real chance,” it said.

Currently, a person in the Western world has a greater than 90 per cent lifetime risk of developing high blood pressure or hypertension.

Dr Isabel Lee, of The Stroke Association insisted that many strokes can be prevented by the control of high BP. “Every five minutes someone in the UK has a stroke — that’s 150,000 every year. Yet, over 40 per cent of these strokes could be prevented by the control of high blood pressure. Whilst it is important to get your blood pressure measured regularly, it is equally important that people who are prescribed blood pressure medication continue to take it even once their blood pressure is back under control,” Lee said.

“GPs need to ensure that patients are made fully aware of the importance of continuing with their blood pressure medication. People can also take additional steps to help improve their lifestyles and reduce their risk of high blood pressure by stopping smoking, having a healthy diet and exercising regularly,” she said.

Source: The Times Of India

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News on Health & Science

Vegan Diets

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Information on Vegetarian and Vegan Diets

A good place to begin is the Vegetarian Starter Kit
also available in Spanish-language Guía de Iniciación una Dieta Vegetariana

and our fact sheet Vegetarian Foods: Powerful for Health
also available in Spanish-language La Comida Vegetariana: Poderosa para la Salud

For additional information, check out
FAQs About Vegetarian Diets
Find answers about issues such as protein, milk, eggs, athletic performance, essential fatty acids, lactose intolerance, calcium absorption rates in foods, vitamin B12, vegetarian diets for correctional facilities, and incorporating vegetarian meals on college campuses.

FAQs About General Nutrition Issues

The New Four Food Groups

Information About Diabetes

If you’re pregnant, be sure to read
Vegetarian Diets For Pregnancy

To raise vegan children, read our fact sheets:
Vegetarian Diets for Children: Right from the Start
Vegetarian Diets: Advantages for Children
a comprehensive report by PCRM‘s Nutrition Panel

Healthy Snacks for Kids

Restaurant Vegetarian Starter Kit

Source:http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/index.html

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Herbs & Plants

Summer Savory (Satureia hortensis)

Botanical Name: Satureia hortensis
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Satureja
Species: S. hortensis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales
Summer savory is called :cimbru in Romanian and chubrica in Bulgarian

Habitat: Summer Savory   is native to S.E. Europe to W. Asia . It grows on  dry gravelly and stony slopes to 1500 metres.
Part Used: Herb.
The genus Satureia (the old Latin name used by Pliny) comprises about fourteen species of highly aromatic, hardy herbs or under-shrubs, all, except one species, being natives of the Mediterranean region.
Several species have been introduced into England, but only two, the annual Summer or Garden Savory and the perennial, Winter Savory are generally grown. The annual is more usually grown, but the leaves of both are employed in cookery, like other sweet herbs, the leaves and tender tops being used, with marjoram and thyme, to season dressings for turkey, veal or fish.

Both species were noticed by Virgil as being among the most fragrant of herbs, and on this account recommended to be grown near bee-hives. There is reason to suppose that they were cultivated in remote ages, before the East Indian spices were known and in common use. Vinegar, flavoured with Savory and other aromatic herbs, was used by the Romans in the same manner as mint sauce is by us.

In Shakespeare’s time, Savory was a familiar herb, for we find it mentioned, together with the mints, marjoram and lavender, in The Winter’s Tale.

In ancient days, the Savorys were supposed to belong to the Satyrs, hence the name Satureia. Culpepper says:
‘Mercury claims dominion over this herb. Keep it dry by you all the year, if you love yourself and your ease, and it is a hundred pounds to a penny if you do not.’
He considered Summer Savory better than Winter Savory for drying to make conserves and syrups.
John Josselyn, one of the early settlers in America, gives a list of plants introduced there by the English colonists to remind them of the gardens they had left behind. Winter and Summer Savory are two of those mentioned.

Description: This is a compact, bushy annual, growing to 18 inches tall. The 1-inch long leaves are aromatic and become tinged reddish purple in late summer. White to pink flowers are borne in whorls in leaf axils from mid summer to frost. This herb self sows.

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Summer Savory is a hardy, pubescent annual, with slender erect stems about a foot high. It flowers in July, having small, pale lilac labiate flowers, axillary, on short pedicels, the common peduncle sometimes three-flowered. The leaves, about 1/2 inch long, are entire, oblong-linear, acute, shortly narrowed at the base into petioles, often fascicled. The hairs on the stem are short and decurved.

Cultivation:
Summer savory prefers a rich, well-drained soil and full sun. It is easily grown from seed, but plants can also be purchased. Space the plants 8 to 10 inches apart. They tend to become top-heavy; therefore, you should stake or brack them. Harvest the tops at any time you prefer, and dry them in a warm place.

Summer Savory is raised from seeds, sown early in April, in shallow drills, 9 inches or a foot apart. Select a sunny situation and thin out the seedlings, when large enough, to 6 inches apart in the rows. It likes a rich, light soil.

The seeds may also be sown broadcast, when they must be thinned out, the thinned out seedlings being planted in another bed at 6 inches distance from each other and well watered. The seeds are very slow in germinating.

The early spring seedlings may be first topped for fresh use in June. When the plants are in flower, they may be pulled up and dried for winter use.

Harvesting: Both varieties appreciate mulch, seaweed tea and compost. Grows well with beans.

Aftercare Instructions: Pick the leaves as required and for dried herbs August is the best month.

Edible Uses: As a pot-herb, Savory, which has a distinctive taste, though it somewhat recalls that of marjoram, is not only added to stuffings, pork pies and sausages as a wholesome seasoning, but sprigs of it, fresh, may be boiled with broad beans and green peas, in the same manner as mint. It is also boiled with dried peas in making pea-soup. For garnishing it has been used as a substitute for parsley and chervil.

This herb is usually preferred over winter savory for cooking because of its leaf texture and milder flavor. It is used to flavor meat, fish, poultry, soups, stews, stuffings, beans, potatoes, eggs, and sausage. It can also be added to sachets and potpourris. Summer savory also makes an excellent container plant.

Instructions: Use in infusion or to flavor meats and vegetables, especially beans.

Medicinal  Uses: Savory has aromatic and carminative properties, and though chiefly used as a culinary herb, it may be added to medicines for its aromatic and warming qualities. It was formerly deemed a sovereign remedy for the colic and a cure for flatulence, on this account, and was also considered a good expectorant.

Satureia hortensis and S. montana , Summer and Winter Savory. Used for indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, sore throat and menstrual disorders. Acts as carminative, expectorant, a warming herb, reduces flatulence. Use for all local infections and weaknesses of the body.

Properties: Anti-parasitic, anti-infectious, anti-fungal. General stimulant.

Culpepper tells us that:
‘The juice dropped into the eyes removes dimness of sight if it proceed from thin humours distilled from the brain. The juice heated with oil of Roses and dropped in the ears removes noise and singing and deafness: outwardly applied with wheat flour, it gives ease to them.’
He says:
‘Keep it dry, make conserves and syrups of it for your use; for which purpose the Summer kind is best. This kind is both hotter and drier than the Winter kind…. It expels tough phlegm from the chest and lungs, quickens the dull spirits in the lethargy, if the juice be snuffed up the nose; dropped into the eyes it clears them of thin cold humours proceeding from the brain . . . outwardly applied with wheat flour as a poultice, it eases sciatica and palsied members.’
Both the old authorities and modern gardeners agree that a sprig of either of the Savorys rubbed on wasp and bee stings gives instant relief.]

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
James C. Schmidt Department of Horticulture Michigan State University
http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/savsum24.html
http://www.lyraesherbpages.homestead.com/medicinalherbsQ-Z.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_savory

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