vision

Health benefits of Natural Wonders – Amla

For centuries, we have seen the benefits of Ayurveda – the age-old therapeutic science that originated in India and is now accepted across world as an alternative form of medicine. The very basis of Ayurveda is to enhance life by emphasizing on using resources found in nature in the form of fruits, vegetables, animal products and minerals. And one the most beneficial fruits, according to Ayurveda, is the Indian gooseberry, or what we commonly call ‘alma’.

Amla is considered to be an especially revitalizing herb with multiple nutritional qualities. This highly fibrous round fruit with 6 vertical lines contains a variety of flavours, ranging from sweet and salty to bitter and sour.
Amla and its rich nutrients

Amla is one of the richest natural sources of Vitamin C – 100 gram of Amla contains 700 mg of Vitamin C or ascorbic acid which is 20 times more than that found in other fruits. Amla is also an excellent anti oxidant and one of its best qualities is that the nutrients don’t reduce on cooking or drying. Amla is 80% moist and contains calcium, carotene, iron, phosphorous and many essential oils. Even the leaves and bark of Amla plant are a good source of tannin (tannin works as an astringent).

Health benefits of amla:

Including amla in your diet can be highly beneficial:
Treats respiratory system: Amla acts as an astringent and helps in drying cough. Being a good source of vitamin C, it’s very helpful when it comes to treating cold, bronchitis and respiratory problems

Treats constipation: The fruit is a good source of fibre and has proved to be an effective laxative. It’s been known to reduce constipation and even helps in the treatment of piles.

Treats skin ailments: Amla contains antibacterial properties which prevent skin disease and ulcers. It can even help in treating acne.

Good for hair: Amla can do miracles with hair problems and is an important ingredient in many products made for stimulating hair growth. Amla soaked in water and kept in an iron utensil overnight could be used as a shampoo-conditioner-hair colour to check hair greying and to make it shiny.

Read Also http://www.texilaconnect.com/ayurvedic-remedies-for-hair-loss/

Improves vision: Amla is good for the eyes and can help in correcting eye problems like trachoma, glaucoma and cataract.

Treats acidity: One gram of Amla powder with a little sugar if taken with milk or water can help reduce acidity.

Treats cardiac disease: Cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes are ailments that contribute to heart disease. Vitamin C helps in widening blood vessels and strengthening heart muscles which can reduce the chances of getting a stroke because of high cholesterol levels which may have accumulated on the walls of blood vessels. Regular intake of a powder mix of Amla and sugar candy taken with water can help stabilize cholesterol levels. If taken in powder form or as triphala – a mixture of Amla with two other herbs; harada and bihara – helps in controlling blood pressure. Amla mixture taken with jamun and bitter gourd powder helps to normalize an enzyme – alanine transaminase found in liver responsible for high level of diabetes.

Good for reproductive health: Amla can act as an aphrodisiac and is supposed to increase sperm count. Dried amla seeds mixed with honey can help reduce white discharge in women.

Treats anaemia: Amla is high in ascorbic acid, which helps in good iron absorption, thus reducing deficiency.

Good for general fitness: The multi-beneficial fruit that amla is, it’s been known to improve metabolism, thus helping in maintaining body weight. Furthermore, it improves human immunity, and provides all-round health benefits.

Source: mdhil

 

Sleeping on one side may worsen glaucoma: study

In a new study from South Korea, people with worsening glaucoma on just one side were also more likely to sleep with the affected eye facing downward.

The researchers say that position raises the eye’s internal pressure and probably hastens deterioration of the eye.

In glaucoma, the optic nerve is often damaged by increased intraocular pressure. The damage causes tunnel vision and eventual blindness.

According to the World Health Organization, glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness around the world, after cataracts.

“There is prior data from the early nineties, suggesting that in patients with glaucoma who sleep on their sides, the eye in the dependent position tends to have greater damage of the optic nerve,” Dr. Jeffrey Schultz told Reuters Health in an email.

Schultz directs Glaucoma Service at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York and is an associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

He was not involved in the study, but said it is “important in letting us know that there is potential for behavior changes in lessening the risk of blindness from glaucoma.”

The study was led by Dr. Kyoung Nam Kim, a researcher in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Chungnam National University hospital in Daejeon.

Treatments to decrease pressure in a patient’s eyeballs can slow progression of glaucoma in some cases. But other patients continue to progress even when intraocular pressure appears to be under control, Kim’s team writes in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Since lying down raises the pressure in the eyeball, and sleeping on one side consistently more than the other could be problematic for the eye on that side, the researchers decided to investigate whether a side- sleeping position might be part of the problem.

Kim and colleagues examined the sleeping habits of 430 glaucoma patients who had a visual field loss that was worse in one eye.

They found 132 of the patients preferred to sleep on one side. Of these patients, 67 percent usually slept with the worse eye downward.

They also compared the sleeping habits of patients who had glaucoma with elevated intraocular pressure (high-tension glaucoma) with those with normal pressure (normal-tension glaucoma).

Approximately 66 percent of the patients with normal-tension glaucoma preferred to sleep with the worse eye downward and 71 percent of the patients with high-tension glaucoma slept that way.

The results don’t prove that sleeping position accounts for worsening glaucoma on one side.

But they at least verify a link “between the preferred sleeping position and asymmetric visual field loss between eyes,” the authors write.

“Unfortunately, it is very difficult to control your body position during sleep,” Schultz said.

“Certainly, if one has severe damage in one eye it would seem to make sense to attempt to avoid sleeping on your side with that eye down,” he said.

It may help to sleep on the side with less eye damage – or on your back. But Schultz warns that sleeping on your back may not be the answer for people who are predisposed to sleep apnea, which is another risk factor for worsening glaucoma.

At this point there is no way to improve visual field loss in patients with glaucoma once it occurs, he said.

“The best thing that patients can do to lessen the risk of worsening, is to be compliant with the medical regime and to follow up as directed by the patient’s physician,” Schultz said.

Source: Reuters