Home Remedies

5 ways to protect your child in flu season

To help prevent your child from having to seek care for influenza or a similar illness, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Make sure your child gets this season’s flu vaccine.

While the vaccine cannot completely prevent children from getting the flu (it’s about 62% effective, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), it can shorten the illness if they do get sick and keep symptoms milder.

2. Practice good cough etiquette and social distancing.

Flu germs can spread up to 6 feet through coughs and sneezes, so teach children to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue and to throw away the tissue. Make sure to clean their hands afterward!

Also, keep your kids home if they are sick (and discourage sick kids from visiting). This may mean canceling play dates or postponing birthday parties. If possible, ask teachers to keep desks in the classroom separated rather than pushing them together to form larger tables.

Keep sick children in their own room, or if the rest of the family is already sick, “quarantine” children without symptoms to keep them away from the flu virus.

If flu is hitting your community hard, consider avoiding large crowds (such as going to movies or out to dinner) until things settle down.

3. Keep hands and shared objects/surfaces clean.

This is the most important time of year for hand-washing. Teach kids to their wash hands for at least 20 seconds — or about the time it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song.

Flu viruses can live up to 8 hours on surfaces, so try to remove germs from toys, handles, counters, tables, phones, TV remotes, etc. using hot soapy water or a cleaning product that removes influenza. The EPA has a list of disinfectants that are effective against the flu.

4. Stay healthy.

The usual good health practices still apply during cold and flu season; good nutrition, moderate exercise and adequate rest help optimize the immune system.

Offer your child a well-balanced diet including fruits, vegetables, milk and water. Make sure your child gets plenty of sleep (at least 10 hours for school-age children and 12 hours for toddlers). Encourage at least one hour of physical activity on most days of the week.

5. For kids with flu, treat the symptoms and keep them comfortable.

Home remedies should include rest and plenty of fluids. Offer your child honey for the cough (for kids over 1 year, it’s a good cough suppressant without potential side effects), medicated chest rubs for cough/congestion, a humidifier/vaporizer, and saline nose drops.

Fever reducers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin) can help, but remember to avoid aspirin, which can cause a serious illness called Reye Syndrome in children with a viral illness.

An antiviral medicine like Tamiflu or Relenza may be prescribed for certain patients within the first 48 hours of the illness; the medication can shorten the symptoms and severity of the flu as well as the child’s contagiousness.

Most healthy kids over 2 years old get better within a few days without any antiviral medicine. Just be sure to watch out for worsening fever or cough, as this may be a sign of a complication such as pneumonia.

Source: cnn news

What to do when kids ingest poison

Many common household items can be dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands.

We recently received this question from a viewer: Dr. Manny, What should a parent do if they think their child has ingested poison? Should I induce vomiting or wait until I see symptoms before taking them to the hospital? This situation can happen to any parent. If you think your child has swallowed a poisonous substance, you should definitely call your poison control center right away. Look for symptoms like: – Abdominal pain – Drowsiness – Difficulty breathing – Seizures It is important to seek medical attention immediately. For more information on this topic, I spoke to Dr. Michael Lucchesi, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York. “Call your local poison control center, and have the product with you,” Lucchesi said. “They are going to ask you exactly what you took, and you can read it off the product. If you have taken something of significance, you will be asked to seek emergency care.” Lucchesi said you should never induce vomiting on your own and don’t try to neutralize the product. Always remember, prevention is the best way to keep your family safe. Source: Dr Manny’s notes in fox news

Tea made from mamala tree may help fight AIDS

The prostratin compound shows both preventing HIV from infecting human cells and awakening dormant HIV viruses that are hiding inside human

A compound found in a medicinal tea brewed from the bark of a tree could help fight AIDS, scientists have found.

The tea used by tribal healers on the South Pacific island of Samoa to treat hepatitis contains the compound prostratin, extracted from the bark of the mamala tree.

Scientists have found a way to isolate the compound and synthesise it so it is 100 times more potent.
The new version of prostratin shows promise in laboratory tests for both preventing HIV from infecting human cells and awakening dormant HIV viruses that are hiding inside human latently infected cells.

Latent HIV cell reservoirs are untouchable by today`s antiviral medicines. Antiviral medicines reduce active virus levels in patients` blood and keep patients healthy.
But when patients stop the medication, the hibernating HIV in reservoirs awakens to resupply active virus. Prostratin flushes HIV out of its cellular sanctuaries so that antiviral drugs can attack and hopefully eradicate the HIV from the body.

Speaking at the American Chemical Society`s meeting in Indianapolis, Paul A Wender from Stanford University described efficient new ways of making prostratin.
Wender and colleagues first developed a way to make the tea ingredient, prostratin, in large amounts from readily available ingredients.

He described how that initial synthesis broke down a major barrier to probing prostratin`s antiviral effects. Until then, scientists had to extract prostratin from the bark of the Samoan mamala tree, and only tiny and variable amounts were so obtained.

Samoa is where another scientist, Paul Cox, in 1987 heard a native healer praise mamala bark tea as a remedy for viral hepatitis. It led scientists at the National Cancer Institute to analyse the bark and identify prostratin as a key ingredient.
Wender`s synthesis of prostratin opened the door to research on the substance and enabled his team to change prostratin`s architecture.

“We now have made synthetic variants of prostratin, called analogs, that are 100 times more potent than the natural product,” Wender said.

Wender`s group also synthesised bryostatin, a substance that occurs naturally in sea creatures called bryozoans, and appears even more effective for AIDS and have applications for Alzheimer`s disease and cancer.

“Bryostatin has shown great promise in laboratory experiments as the basis for development of potentially transformative medicines for cancer, Alzheimer`s disease and the eradication of HIV/AIDS,” Wender said.

Researchers have designed simpler and more readily synthesised analogs of bryostatin which are up to 1,000-fold more potent in flushing HIV out of its hiding places than prostratin.

Source Zee News/health

To help kids shed weight, change up home routines

To help kids fight the battle of the bulge, a new study suggests changing up household routines with a few simple strategies.

In a new study published online September 9 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, US and Canadian researchers implemented a home-based intervention to help young kids lose weight, by curbing TV time, increasing sleep time, and encouraging families to dine together, LiveScience reports.

While childhood obesity is looming large around the globe, the US is especially struggling: some 17 percent of US children are obese, with the problem particularly acute among minority groups and low-income families, the report added.

One solution: a holistic lifestyle change, Aaron Carroll, a pediatric obesity expert who penned an editorial to the study, suggested to LiveScience.

“Rather than drill down to a specific eating or exercise change, creating a healthier household may be a better way not only to improve weight, but overall physical and mental health as well,” he wrote in the editorial.

In the study, researchers from Harvard Medical School and Ontario’s University of Guelph enlisted 121 families with overweight kids in a six-month study, with 59 families assigned to a control group. Prior to the study, all of the children slept in a room with a television.

In the intervention group, families received in-home counseling about healthy habits, and children increased their sleep by a half hour per day, cut down their television time by one hour per day, and in turn reduced their body mass index (BMI) by 20 percent.

Children in the control group increased their BMI by 20 percent.

In a separate 2012 study from Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, researchers found that televisions in bedrooms can put kids at greater risk of obesity. A separate 2011 study in the journal Pediatric Obesity also found that electronic devices — TVs, computers, and mobile phones — in kids’ bedrooms are linked with both poor sleep and obesity.

Cinnamon may help diabetics

Cinnamon, a common kitchen spice, may improve blood sugar levels for patients with type 2 diabetes, new research has found.

In a review study, researchers looked at data collected from 10 randomised control led trials involving 543 patients with type 2 diabetes.

These studies compared people who took cinnamon in a pill form, in doses ranging from 120 milligrammes to 6 grams a day, for a period of four to 18 weeks, to people who did not take cinnamon.

They found that people with type 2 diabetes who took cinnamon supplements had lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with people who didn`t take them.
The most popular form of the supplement, which was used in six out of 10 trials, was Cinnamomum cassia, which participants were advised to take before, during or after their meals, `LiveScience` reported.

The review also found that cinnamon benefited several important measures of heart health: It reduced total cholesterol, LDL “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and increased HDL “good” cholesterol.

“When we combined the results of all the trials, we found that in patients with type 2 diabetes, there was a benefit on blood glucose and cholesterol levels,” said study researcher Olivia Phung, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.

Preliminary studies have suggested that the compound, cinnamaldehydein, is responsible for cinnamon`s health effects.

Researchers suspect this substance may stimulate the release and effect of insulin, providing cinnamon its power to improve blood sugar.

“By enhancing insulin activity, it`s assumed there`d be better control of blood glucose,” Phung told the website.

The researchers have not yet determined the exact dose of cinnamon that may be helpful for people with type 2 diabetes, or the length of time or frequency the supplement should be taken.

The study was published in the journal The Annals of Family Medicine.

Home remedies to cure dandruff

http://www.thefitindian.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dandruff.jpg

Dandruff mainly occurs due to growth of fungal infection on the scalp and is an infectious condition

Dandruff is a hair and scalp problem which is very common and is one of the most embarrassing hair conditions that one can face. It also leads to lower one’s self confidence eventually and in worst cases, constant itching can lead to acne.

There can be many causes of dandruff, but it mainly occurs due to growth of fungal infection on the scalp and is an infectious condition. The problem of dandruff can arise simply because of extreme exposure to heat and cold, or may be due to a complex problem like dermatitis. One might not be aware but problems like hormonal fluctuations, stress, neurological disorders can also lead to itchy, flaky scalp.

But, you need not to worry much as we bring to you seven easy home remedies to get rid of those pesky flakes:
Lemon wash: Take peels of around 3-4 lemons and boil them in water. After the solution cools down, apply it on your hair and then rinse it off. Repeat this activity at least twice a week and see the change.

Fenugreek (methi) paste: Soak fenugreek seeds overnight in water and then make a fine paste out of it. Now, apply this paste for around 30 minutes on your scalp and then wash it off later. Repeat this procedure for at least four weeks.

Aloe Vera gel: Aloe vera contains antibacterial and antifungal properties which help a lot in keeping a check on dandruff. Take some aloe vera gel and apply it on your scalp for around 30 minutes. Later, wash your hair with some mild shampoo. Repeat this remedy at least twice a day to keep dandruff under check.

Beetroot and ginger paste: Take some ginger and beetroot and grind them to make a fine paste. Now, apply this paste on your scalp every night and massage them well. Later, wash it off in morning.

Neem leaves paste: Take some neem leaves and boil them for 30 minutes. Now, crush them and make a paste. After this, apply this paste on your scalp for around an hour and then rinse it off later. You will notice that your hair look much healthier.

Tulsi and Amla paste: Tulsi (basil) is known since eons for its healing properties. Take few Tulsi leaves, make a paste of them and then mix this paste in amla powder. Apply this paste for around 30 minutes on your scalp and then wash your hair thoroughly. You will see that this remedy works wonders.

Reetha: Yes, reetha which is mainly used to wash hair is also a wonder home remedy when it comes to treating dandruff. You can either use reetha soap or one can also make a paste using reetha powder and apply it on your scalp. After two hours, wash it thoroughly with shampoo.

Try these home remedies and you can surely be able to say bye-bye to dandruff in a healthy and natural way.

 

4 first-aid remedies in your kitchen

http://www.lunasgrimoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/kitchen-remedies.jpg

Some of the best first-aid tools can be found in your kitchen

Some of the best first-aid tools can be found in your kitchen. While you should always have some Band-Aids and first-aid ointment in your bathroom cabinet, there are some things in your house you may not have thought about that could help out in a health crisis.

Here are a few that will help out in a pinch.

1. Onions
Onions can be used as a topical treatment for burns. Apply a cut onion to the burn as soon as it happens, and it will help to alleviate the pain. It can also be used on bee stings.

2. Green tea
Green tea has a laundry list of health benefits – from longevity and immunity-boosting properties to heart-healing power. But, did you know green tea can also be used to soothe puffy eyes? The caffeine helps reduce swelling and shrinks blood vessels.

3. Honey
Honey can sweeten a dish – and treat a hangover.

It’s true – honey helps your body metabolize alcohol quicker, and it’s packed with potassium, which your body loses after a night of drinking.

4. Salt
Salt is an excellent anti-inflammatory. Use it to combat a sore throat – gargling with salt water will ease the pain.

 

Diabetes: 5 healthy lifestyle tips that can save you

following simple healthy lifestyle habits, one can easily stay away from the fangs of the killer Diabetes

The emergence of diabetes is turning out to be debilitating day-by-day. It has become a common disease these days just like any other whacky flu or cough and cold. The disease is mainly a result of modern erratic lifestyle, lack of physical activity, obesity, stress and consumption of junk and fast foods.

According to the World Health Organization, there are about 346 million people worldwide with diabetes, with more than 80% of deaths occurring in developing countries. India has nearly 63 million diabetic patients, with the situation becoming grimmer mainly because of the sedentary lifestyle prevailing across key metros and big cities aggravating the situation. Studies show that a major chunk of Indian population suffers from Type 2 diabetes which is closely associated with obesity and consuming junk and fatty foods.

In order to put a check on diabetes in India, the Government of India has initiated a National Program for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) in 100 selected districts in 21 States. This effort, however, is yet to show any major changes in the spread of the disease in the country.

But don’t worry, as by following simple healthy lifestyle habits, one can easily stay away from the fangs of the killer Diabetes.

–Be physically active: Yes, exercise is the key to say no to diabetes. It not just helps reduce weight, but also regulates blood sugar levels. Half-hour of exercise whether aerobic exercise, or activities like dancing, playing tennis, brisk walking etc. reduces risk of Type 2 diabetes by 30%. Also, while one is in office, a fifteen minute walk after each meal helps in regulating blood sugar levels thereby reducing the risk of developing the disease.

– Healthy diet: Consuming a healthy diet is a must to keep diabetes at bay. Eating foods that are rich in fibre helps to naturally balance sugar levels in the body. Avoid the habit of overeating and instead divide your meals into 5-6 including snacks, juices etc. to stay healthy. Also, don’t do emotional eating as it leads to weight gain and eventually diabetes. Junk food is a strict no-no as they are a major reason of obesity and diabetes.

–Take proper sleep: Sleeping for at least 7-8 hours in a day is a must as proper sleep will make one feel energetic, put a check on cravings for high-calorie food and hence save one from being a victim of obesity and eventually diabetes.

–Manage stress: Stress is the major reason of why people fall prey to diabetes. Stress can actually play havoc on one’s health. As a result, the stressed out person tends to resort to unhealthy food habits like eating junk food, eating after long gaps, emotional eating etc. Also one might start smoking, consuming alcohol etc. Besides that, stress hormones may alter blood glucose levels directly increasing the risk of the diabetes. So it is important to keep a check on one’s stress levels by adapting to yoga, meditation, exercising, listening music or anything that makes you happy and stress free.

–Regular check-ups: It is highly recommended for people above 45 years of age to go for blood glucose screening. But if you have known risk factors (like high blood pressure or obesity), discuss them with your doctor.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/diseases/diabetes-5-healthy-lifestyle-tips-that-can-save-you_23621.html

 

Top 10: homemade remedies to cure acidity

http://www.charak.com/images_up/photos/16_22_sym.jpg

Acidity

Do you have unpleasant burning sensation in your stomach? Don’t worry; we bring you simple and effective home remedies that can help you to reduce the intensity of acidity

http://www.satvikshop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/cloves.jpg

cloves

 

Cloves

If you are suffering from gastritis, then clove acts as the wonder drug to relieve from this sensation. Just take about two cloves and slightly bite them so that juices keep oozing out. Soon, the problem will vanish.

 

Cumin Seeds

Cumin seeds

Take a teaspoon of cumin seeds, roast, and crush them in such a manner that they don’t become powder. Then add a glass of water and have it with every meal. It does wonders.

 

 

 

Jaggery

Jaggery

Jaggery can help a lot in treating heartburn and acidity.

Consume a small lump and allow it to get dissolved in your mouth to get relief from acidity. But, this remedy should not be tried by people who have diabetes.

 

 

 

 

 

Raita

Raita prepared with curd added with grated cucumber and coriander will surely aid in digestion and eliminate acidity.

 

 

 

 


Basil leaves

 

Basil leaves are popular for their medicinal properties. Chewing around 5-6 basil leaves relieves acidity. One can also make a blend of crushed basil leaves and dried leaves which can be consumed with water or tea or simply be swallowed.
Butter-milk

Simple and most easy homemade remedy to treat acidity is consuming butter-milk mixed with a ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder. 

 

 

 

 

Mint 

mint juice or chew raw mint leaves after meals everyday to keep acidity and indigestion away from you.

 

 

 

 

Ginger 

Ginger is considered as a cure-all herb as it helps in treating so many different kinds of conditions. Consume the right amount of ginger about half an hour before each meal and feel the difference.
Milk 
Milk contains large amount of calcium which helps in preventing build-up of stomach acid. So, drink a glass of milk after your meal to soothe your stomach after having a spicy meal.

 

 

 

Vanilla ice cream 

A cup of vanilla ice cream not just savors your tooth but also helps gastritis. This is an easy home remedy to fight acidity.