Your Thinking can make you Super-Human

Very few people utilize the power of thinking or the power of mind. Most of us believe in physical strength and some believe in power of brain (tricks/technology to make tasks easier), but very few know that our thinking in the key to everything. If a muscular guy feels defeated in his thinking, then a physically inferior but mentally strong guy can easily defeat him.

Do you know that Wim Hof climbed mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts. He believes that its done due to his will power (the power of thoughts) which made his body capable of handling such cold temperature.

Here we will discuss some facts related to your thinking and physical abilities. These abilities might seem difficult to earn, but if earned then they can make you super human. Super-humans are not made by just their physical abilities but their thinking abilities.

You are only as tired as you think : In a research some subjects were told that their REM Sleep will be measured, to measure their sleep quality. In the morning half of them were told that REM sleep record was good and they had a good sleep, while half of them were told that their REM sleep was much lesser than normal and they didn't get enough quality sleep. The truth was that nobody was measuring their REM sleep. But those who were told that they slept good, remained active and awaken throughout the next day, while those who were told about their bad sleep, felt tired and inactive. It shows that we only feel as much tired as we think we are. It also means that we can fool our brain by our thoughts.
Note : Here is a simple trick that you can practice yourself. If you are capable of doing 30 push-ups and you usually count it from 1 to 30 before taking a break. The next time you do it, count it from 1 to 15 and then again start counting from 1 without any break. You will definitely go above 15 (total above 30) very easily. Earlier the 30th pushup might have been the most demanding, but when you divide your counting into two, then your brain thinks that it is still 15th and don't let you feel tired.

Placebo works : Placebo are those medicine, which are really nothing but just plain sugar or starch. But in most of the cases they work, as the patient thinks that it is some actual medicine which will make him healthy. Here again the power of our thinking does the job. It means that our thinking can make our immune system stronger, we just need to fine tune our thinking.
Note: Placebo works even when a patient is told that he/she is taking a placebo (with full explanation), along with the information that placebo work better than actual medicines. It simply means that if we believe in something then it works. It is the power of thinking.

Do you know that if a doctor tells you about the possible side-effects of some medication, then chances of getting those side-effects doubles. It is because you start thinking about those side-effects and you get them.

How to trick your body to be in shape: If you can fool yourself that the daily work that you do is far more better than exercising and most of the people don't do such work which is equivalent to workout, then in a few weeks or months you will find that you are in far better shape than before. Researchers did such research on people in similar work environment and found that those who were told their daily work is equivalent to workout at gym, get into better shape than before, while no such effect was found on other people.
Similarly if you know that your habit of eating fast food is making your obese and eating salad don't stop your craving as you want to eat a burger, then use a trick. After eating salad just say it to yourself that you just ate a burger, and make your brain believe it. If you succeed then you will definitely feel full for a longer duration.

A $2.50 pain medication will work better than a 10 cent medication, even if both of them contain same salts, just because we believe that costlier means better and effective.

Your thinking can make you energetic : If two people drink same energy drink, but one was told it was nothing but plain water and other was told that it was most powerful energy drink, then the later one will definitely feel more energetic and will perform better than his/her normal ability.

The power of thinking developed eyesight of a blind women : According to Washington Post it happened. A 37-year-old blind German woman who was suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (also known as Multiple Personality) developed vision in one of her personalities. After through research scientists proved that she was not faking it. Her eyes worked only with some of her personalities out of the 10 distinct personalities she had. Reference

If you have listened about Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret", then you might be aware of the power of positive thinking. That books suggests that if you think a lot about something then the vibes of that thinking work for you and you get what you think. It works for both positive and negative thinking. If you think that you are diseased, then you will be in sometime. The author also suggested how your positive thoughts can be made more effective by implementing those thoughts in your words and activities.

Maharishi Effect: Transcendental Meditation techniques, not just affect your body in a positive way, but also the environment and the thinking of people around you. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted this effect in 1960 and then in 1976 scientists confirmed that when 1% of a community practiced the transcendental meditation, the crime rate was reduced by 16% on average. It shows the power of positive thinking and its impact on society.

So next time you imagine a super-human, don't predict him/her to be very muscular, but a normal human being with an average body but a strong mind with very powerful thinking ability. Real strength lies in your mind, not your muscles.

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Medical Conditions that affect Driving Skill

Driving is a necessary skill in modern life, as we can't even imagine living properly without it. Every day-to-day work includes driving skill. When we talk about those medical conditions that can affect driving skill then most common things that come in our mind are problems of eye sight or some problem in hands/legs or problems of spine. These are something common that anyone can think about, but there are some lesser known medical conditions that can make your driving experience worst. So it is better to be aware of those problems.

Here we will list some medical conditions that should be treated adequately, so that you can keep enjoying your driving experience.

Medical Conditions that affect Driving Skill

• Dementia: This disease usually occurs as a side effect of  Alzheimer’s disease, stroke or brain injury. Dementia affect our judgment, memory, and decision-making skills. These effects of dementia can make driving not just unsafe for ourselves but risky for others as well.
• Epilepsy: It is a neurological disorder that can cause recurring seizures. These seizures make temporary loss of awareness or consciousness and can easily lead to problems while driving.
• Sleep disorders: Sleep disorders often disturb your sleep during night and might result in sleepiness while driving and it can be extremely dangerous. Sometimes even lack of sleep can create problems while driving for normal people, who don't suffer from any sleep disorder.
• Diabetes: Uncontrolled diabetes can cause lack of consciousness while driving. Diabetes can also affect your eyes and nervous system, which are extremely important while driving.
• Blackouts and fainting while driving can also be harmful, but these symptoms indicate some underlying medical conditions.
• Mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia and panic attacks may affect your behavior. Sudden changes in behavior can cause improper driving like rash driving, lack of concentration and improper decision making.
• Herniated disc: Also known as slip disk can cause difficulty while driving. Sometime the back pain can get worst while driving. So if you are a patient of slip disc then its better to periodically take advise from your doctor regarding driving. 
• Cataract: It blurs you vision and affects your driving skill depending on the severity of cataract. A timely treatment of cataract can help you in driving properly.
• Some Medications: Yes ! Some medicines can definitely impact your driving as the side effects of some medicines don't allow you to drive properly. Some of these medications are anxiety medicines, sleeping pills, epilepsy medicine, antidepressants, antihistamines and opioids. These medicines can cause drowsiness, dizziness, weakness of muscles, blurred vision, confusion, lack of alertness and slow reflex. These conditions can easily cause any mis-happening on road. Some medications are equivalent to drinking more than legal amount of alcohol while driving.

Apart from above listed conditions. there are some temporary medical condition that can affect your driving such as sports injuries like concussion, muscle tears and strains. Some anesthesia given by doctor might also make you unable to drive for some hours or a complete day, depending on the treatment you are getting. In such cases use your common sense to decide if its safe to drive or you may ask an expert.

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Why Health Care is so Expensive in U.S.

U.S. Healthcare sector is worth more than $3 trillion. If we consider it as a country, then it will be fifth largest economy. This amount is more than twice, what is spent in any other developed country. However U.S. is top spender in medical sector, but its healthcare system has never ranked in top 25 countries. Why is it so ? U.S. spends the most on healthcare sector, but its healthcare is not even in top 25. There must be some reason behind that. Here we will try to analyse the reasons behind that. This article might be an eye opener for some of us.

On an average every person in U.S. spends around $8000 every year on healthcare expenses. It includes insurance premiums as well, but still it is a large sum for a family with lesser income resources.

Why Health Care is so expensive in U.S. ?

• Higher Administrative Cost: 25% of total healthcare cost is spent on administrative sector. The count of billing clerks in some hospitals is far more than number of beds in that hospital. No other country employs so much administrative staff.
• Higher Drugs Cost: In U.S. the government have lesser power to control drug prices, while some other developed countries can control the drug prices. If U.S. government make some laws to negotiate drug prices then this factor can be easily handled, but it will negatively influence the earnings of some top drug manufacturers.
• Doctors are afraid: Doctors in U.S. don't directly prescribe the medicines without doing all necessary tests, even when they are sure about disease (due to their experience). They remain fearful to get sued for prescribing medicines which should be given only after positive test results. It cause additional expenses on defensive medicine and higher expenses on medical tests. It also increases the duration of treatment.
• Specialists are preferred: U.S. population prefers to get treated by a specialist instead of a primary-care doctor, even when specialist is not necessary. It increases the treatment cost. In other countries people visit a specialist only when recommended by a  primary-care doctor.
• More usage of technology: People of U.S. believe in technology much more than any other country. Mammograms are used thrice, MRI are used two-and-a-half times, and C-sections are done 31% more than any other country. It increases the equipment cost at every medical facility and ultimately gets paid by end user.
• Branding in Medical Sector: Some top most medical facilities can demand much more for the same treatment which is available at lower cost at a lesser known medical facility. Everyone thinks that more price means better treatment and thus overall income of medical sector increases. Sometimes prices are made depending on who is going to pay it.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped in lowering the medical expenses, but still a lot is necessary to get U.S. a good rank in WHO rankings. The higher medical cost often make some people move towards medical tourism to get treated at lower cost and get a better treatment.

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Cigarettes are killing our Kids

The title might be suggesting you that here we are going to talk about passive smoking or secondhand smoking, but what we are going to tell here is much more worst than that. Some smokers might save their kids from passive smoking by smoking outdoor, but the can't save their kids from the danger that every kid on this planet is facing due to smoking. Ranging from production of cigarettes to their disposal in a dustbin, everything is harming kids in some way. What we are going to discuss might open eyes of a few people.

Child labor in Tobacco farms

Child labor in tobacco farms is not only stealing their childhood but put also taking more generations into poverty. 1.3 million children, below the age of 14 were working in tobacco fields in 2011 and by now the count must have increased. Most of it is happening in backward countries where no law can be implemented effectively. These kids are basically working for cigarettes of people living in developed and developing countries. They are also putting their health at risk and earning nothing as they are not paid for that, but still work as a helping hand for full day. Bigger Cigarette manufacturers don't take the blame of themselves and provides some misleading facts. According to them they are just purchasing their crops and who is employed in the farms is not their responsibility, and they ask them not to use child labor. But the truth is that these manufacturers are utilizing the poverty of these farmers and absence of laws against child labor in those countries. What shames the humanity is that, when a news reported asked one of those kids that why he is working here then he answered that he is here to help his mother and father who are working so hard.
Some researchers find it as an unnoticed scandal, as the top players are earning millions, which the labor is not even getting enough money to feed himself and their kid (who also works as an unpaid labor). Such task is not just limited to boys, as even girls and their mothers also work there.

Poisoning Ground, Water and Food

I have seen people throwing cigarette butts on ground or drains, thinking that they are biodegradable and will ultimately fertilize the soil. What these people don't know is that they are highly toxic and poisoning both ground and water. This poisoning is also killing millions of birds and fishes every year as they eat it assuming some kind of food. Most of the cigarette butts contain tiny plastic pieces, which takes at least 5 to 10 years to biodegrade. Apart from it the chemicals present in cigarette butts intoxicate soil and water. Even underground water is intoxicated. Greenery on such soil is also intoxicated, which is ultimately eaten humans. Some dairy animals also eat that intoxicated greenery, which also land in our plates as some dairy product. All of this toxin is also landing into the plates of our kids. If you or your family is fond of sea food, then be aware that most of the sea food is also intoxicated due to those cigarette butts and ultimately landing into you and your kid's stomach.

Such pollution of our food might not be harming adults but kids must be getting affected. The affect may be lower immunity or bad digestion. So just saving your kids from passive smoking might not be sufficient for them. Convince people to quit smoking. It will not just help you kid or grand-kids from further intoxication but will also save millions of other kids who are risking their health and childhood in tobacco farms.

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Environment is paying cost for Human Smoking

Environment of our planet Earth is not an asset for only human use. Different species living on land and water are equally affected by the human behavior. Smoking of 6 trillion cigarettes every year not just harm humans but these innocent species as well. You might have considered smoking as a bad habit, but the facts provided here will change your view from "just a bad habit" to "an inhuman act". If you are a smoker then it will motivate you to quit, but if you are not then you will get some good facts to motivate others to not smoke.

How our Environment is paying cost for Human Smoking

• 300,000,000 kilograms of Nicotine waste is produced every year, which is highly toxic for all forms of life. Most of it is dumped in waterways or soil and ultimately it pollutes the underground water then plants, which are consumed by man and dairy animals.
• 1000 deaths and 3000 injuries are caused every year in US due to fires caused by smoking. Most of the affected people are either kids or non-smokers.
• About 17,000 people worldwide die each year because of fires started by cigarette lighters or discarded burning cigarettes.
• 2262 million kilograms of manufacturing waste and 209 million kilograms of chemical waste is created every year while these cigarettes are manufactured.
• More then 5 trillion cigarette butts, which are not properly disposed, land on soil and water ways. A single cigarette butt can easily kill small fish or bird.
• Consumption of cigarettes butts by marine animals and birds results in death of millions of marine animals and birds every year. It includes fishes, seals, tortoise and birds, who eat these butts assuming it as some food. If you are a vegetarian smoker, then you should regret it more.
• 5.3 million hectares of fertile land is used every year to grow tobacco. Once used for this purpose, it no longer supports any other crop due to heavy usage of chemical pesticides. 
• If this land is used to grow other crops then it can feed 20 million people every year.
• 1,800,000 tonnes of packaging waste, composed of paper, ink, cellophane, foil and glue is thrown by smokers every year.
• 64 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is produced every year in manufacturing of cigarettes.
• 2,600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and about 5,200,000 tonnes of methane is produced every year due to smoking.
• One tree is cut for every 300 cigarettes, which is used to make paper for its rolling and packing.
• Thus it accounts for cutting of 20 billion trees every year. 
• 600 million trees are cut and burned annually to dry and cure tobacco leaves. 
• 440 million tonnes of carbon dioxide can be consumed by these trees every year, if they are not cut.

We hope that these facts will inspire some people to quit smoking and don't let the above burden fall on their shoulders. Quitting not just helps you, but helps whole earth in being a better place for all species.

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Are you a Smoker ? Read it and Answer !

Whenever a non-smoker asks somebody to quit smoking, the very first thought that comes in mind of the smoker is "I am harming myself, not others. I don't want to quit ! Why the hell you want me to". Non-smokers ask somebody to quit either because they care for him/her or they know that ultimately smoking by anybody is harming everybody indirectly. Most of you will think that i am talking about secondhand smoke or passive smoking, but what i am going to describe here is much more than that.

The number of people killed due to Cigarette are more than those killed by guns every year. Guns at least need licence in most countries but cigarettes don't. Those killed by cigarettes are not just smokers, but even non-smoker adults, kids, pets, dairy animals, fishes and other marine life. All of then are not killed by passive smoking but by the litter caused by smokers.

Do you ever wonder where does the cigarette butts and packs end up. Most of the smokers throw them anywhere they want, and most of the cigarette butts end up either in soil or water ways. Most of the smokers think that these cigarette butts are bio-degradable, while they are not, as they contain some amount of plastic. It takes them 5 to 10 years to dispose themselves depending on where the end up.

Some of you might not be aware of the fact that cigarette butts are toxic waste, and thus need to be disposed properly. It is one of the most visible litter in US. You will be surprised to know that 1,362,741 cigarettes/butts, 18,555 cigarette lighters, 74,399 cigar tips, and 36,397 tobacco packages were removed from waterways of United States in 2009.

Chemicals leaching from single cigarette butt can kill a fish in a 1 Liter jar of water.  

One tree is cut to make paper for rolling and packing of every 300 cigarettes. Deforestation is also done to get land to grow tobacco. The land once used for tobacco farming can't be utilized for any other crop, as it become very toxic due to use of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals used in the cultivation of tobacco. Some trees are even cut to burn wood to dry the tobacco leaves. Ultimately it is one of the biggest causes of deforestation.

Deforestation is also done due to the fires caused by discarded burning cigarettes or cigarette butts. 17000 people die every year due to these fires and thousands are left homeless. A large number of these people are non-smokers or kids.

Smoking globally emits nearly 2.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide, 5.2 billion kilograms of methane and 209 kilograms of chemical waste into the atmosphere each year. The air pollution caused by forest fires due to cigarette butts is not included in these figures.

How Cigarettes are killing everything we know ?
Cigarettes are actually killing our ecosystem. Cigarette contains about 600 chemicals, 69 of which have been proven to cause cancer. It can produce over 7,000 chemicals when lit. The worst fact about these chemicals is that they are highly soluble in water.
All of the cigarette litter contaminates soil and water. Birds and pets like cats and dogs ingest cigarette butts and face serious health consequences like tremors, vomiting, respiratory failure, cancer and even death. It kills and disease the marine life as well. Fishes and other marine animals either get get killed by them of face health issues due to contaminated water.
Ultimately the toxins come back to human food. Grass growing in contaminated soil is eaten by cows, their milk and dairy products are used by us. Most of the contaminated marine animals also get served in our plates as most of them are caught from sea shores, which are dumping ground for cigarette litter.

Just one cigarette butt is dangerous if ingested by a human, a whole cigarette may be lethal if ingested.

Proper disposal of cigarette litter is necessary. Chemicals used in cigarettes begin to leach arsenic, acetone, ammonia, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, and toluene when introduced to water.

I hope that after reading this article no smoker will ever say that he/she is only harming himself. He/she is actually killing everything we have seen, even some innocent kids.

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Cigarette Butts - The lesser known Murderer

When we talk about smoking, we usually forget that what remains after smoking a cigarette is its smoke and cigarette butts. Cigarette Butts are used to filter the smoke and mostly considered as biodegradable. But the truth is that they contain some minor amounts of plastic, so it takes at least 18 months to breakdown. Even after such a long duration plastic particles remain in soil. Cigarette butts are toxic which can leach into soil and pollute the water as well. After reading this article your view about cigarette butts will definitely change and you will yourself call them murderers.

Facts about Cigarette Butts

• 4.5 trillion filtered cigarettes are smoked everyday around the world, which means equal number of cigarette butts.
• This amount of cigarette butts create 500,000 tons of pollution every year.
• Cigarette butts are the number one item littering U.S. roads.
• In 2005, 28% of visible litter in Texas was made up of cigarettes.
• Cigarette Butts are toxic and have a huge impact on marine life. 30% of total litter along US shorelines are cigarette butts.
• Breakdown of cigarette butts in fresh water takes 15 months, while in sea water it takes around 5 years.
• Within one hour of contact with water, cigarette buds start leaching harmful toxic chemicals.
• Cigarette buds are found in stomachs of fishes, birds, whales and other marine animals. It not just causes digestive problems, but sometimes death as well. 

Cigarette Butts and carelessness costs a lot

90,000 fire incidents are caused by careless throwing of cigarette butts. It results in 900 deaths and 2500 injuries every year. Out of the death toll, approximately 100 are children and nonsmokers. Such fires cost around $6 billion of property.

Still if a person thinks that he is only harming himself through smoking, not anybody else, then he is fooling himself and dragging the whole humanity into the litter of cigarette buds.

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Snake venom and Bee Sting to Improve Immunity !

Most of the people think that snake venom and Bee Sting contain poison which can harm humans to a great extent. In our last article we put some light on the fact that even cobra venom, which is considered as a neurotoxic poison of highest grade is non-lethal if taken orally. Today several medicines are being made using snake venom, scorpion venom and bee sting. A number of people are known around the world who take small dosage of these venom to create an immunity against them. But does drinking or injecting small doses of these venom really improve overall immunity or just immunity against that particular venom.

• Mithridatism is an old practice used before 100BC in which a person ingests poison in small amounts to build immunity against it. It name originated from King Mithridates VI, who practiced this phenomena to protect himself from poison.
• Similarly in India around 300BC King Chandragupta Maurya was made immune to poison by his chief advisor Chanakya, as he was fearful that enemies may try to poison him. This concept was known as "Vish-Purush" (Poison Man) in India.
• This phenomena is widely used in some Novels, TV series and Movies, to make a hero or villain immune to poison.

Before anybody start practicing it on himself, he/she must know that this technique is not applicable on all types of poison. Some poison can accumulate in body and then harm you when sufficient quantity has been accumulated. However our liver can create certain enzymes to digest a poison when small doses are ingested and ultimately full immunity will be developed, but that immunity won't work on other types of poison.

But when we talk about Snake venom and bee sting, the case is different. At Stanford University School of Medicine researcher's gave non lethal doses of honey-bee sting venom to mice, which caused an allergic reaction and produced some antibodies in their blood. The antibodies protected the mice when they were again given a lethal dose of same venom [2]. Human beings have gone through a long process of evolution, and most probably we also have capability to develop immunity by using this technique.

A report was published on CNN in Dec 2016, where a man named Steve Ludwin was injecting snake venom in his body for past 30 years with his own belief of improving immunity. Today he is more than 50, but looks like 35. Researchers at University of Copenhagen are using his blood thrice a year to develop antivenom [1] , just like horses are used to develop antivenom by injecting venom in their blood and then extracting antibodies from their blood.

Tim Friede, an American former factory worker claimed that he has developed immunity to the deadliest snakes cobra and black mamba. According to him he was bitten by snakes around 100 times and it acted as an immunization to develop immunity against any type of snake venom. Mr Friede calls it "venom immunotherapy".[3]

All of the above examples prove that immunity can be developed against venom by injecting controlled doses, but it may not happen with everybody. Every year more than 125,000 people die due to snake bites and more than 300,000 get some part of their body surgically removed to save themselves from death. So never try such experiments on yourself. Let researchers do their best to develop some technique to save these lives.

Reference:
[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/21/health/snake-venom-injection-research/index.html
[2] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/10/why-bee-sting-might-be-good-you
[3] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-immune-deadly-snake-venom-2346650

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Drinking Cobra Venom : Deadly or Not !

If you are asked to drink cobra venom, then most probably you will not. But do you know that some people really drink it. Cobra is one of the snake species known for its deadliest neurotoxic poison. One bite of cobra have enough venom to kill 20 men or even an elephant. In-spite of such facts some people survived after drinking cobra venom. Is it really possible, or it is just a magic trick where audience are made to believe that the person is drinking venom, while he/she just sips a energy drink. The answer to this question is going to surprise a lot of people.

My curiosity to get an answer to this question arise when i watched an Indian Guru ingesting the cobra venom. I was sure that he was not doing any sort of cheating. He even told some benefits of the cobra venom.

Note: Never try to drink any kind of venom after reading this article as sometimes it can cause threat to your  life.

Drinking Cobra Venom : Deadly or Not !

When i researched about the drinking of cobra venom, i came across some very interesting facts. These facts are listed here.

• One liter of snake venom costs more than $200,000 . So King Cobra Venom will definitely cost more than that.
• Cobra Venom is used is used to made medicines and beauty products. Pain killers made using cobra venom are 20 times more effective than any other pain killer. Some venom are even used in cancer treatment.
• Pain killers developed from cobra venom have no side effect, which is some thing very unique.
• Cobra Venom contain a protein named Ohanin, which is a small protein made up of 107 amino acids. This protein is unique and not found in any other snake family. It is responsible for medicinal properties of cobra venom.
• Cobra venom is not poison. Poison are such type of things which can kill you when ingested. 
• Cobra Venom is a protein, which contain some neurotransmitters, that can harm you only if it enters your blood stream and then attack your nervous system to paralyze you to death.
• If you ingest cobra venom then the proteins present in it will be broken down by saliva and acids in the stomach.
• Drinking cobra venom can harm you only if you have some ulcers in your stomach or a cut in your mouth as it will give the venom the way to enter blood stream.
• Cobra snake is considered as a holy creature in India as lord Shiva wears it as garland. According to Hindu mythology, the consciousness level of King Cobra is very high, and no other animal can attain that much consciousness.
• Cobra is the only snake which builds nest, and keep their offspring in it.
• Cobra is considered as a shy snake and don't harm humans unless it feels danger.

Those who practice drinking venom do it either with a belief to improve their immunity or to be known as superhero. They start it by drinking very mild amounts and then increasing the amount over a period of months and years after analyzing its effect on body.
At the end of this article, we wound again suggest you to never try it. This article is only for information purpose, so that you know the science behind drinking cobra venom. One more thing told in this article is that snake venom are source of some of the best medicines and researches are still going on to find cure for some deadliest diseases by using them.

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Is Homeopathy a Medical Fraud !

Homeopathy is an alternative medicine system developed in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann. Today a number people consider it as a fraud. But if it really didn't work, then why is it still in practice after more than 200 years. Is homeopathy really a medical fraud or is it just a trick of medical community to defame it. Here we will try to find the truth by analyzing some facts about homeopathy.

A majority of people don't know that homeopathy is not a medically approved medicinal system. It is an alternative medicine system, just same as we use home remedies for some diseases. Homeopathy is pseudoscience, but presented as an actual science in front of general public.

What is the science behind Homeopathy ?
"A substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people".  Yes you read it right, it is the basic principle of homeopathy. Preparation of a homeopathic medicine uses an actual medicine ( or substances extracted from plants, animals or minerals) which is diluted in alcohol or distilled water to a level where actual medicine does not exist any more.

Why does Homeopathy treat some people successfully ?
Yes, it is true that homeopathy treated some people successfully and some clinical trials also suggested the same. But that successful treatment can only be attributed to placebo effect of homeopathic medicines. Usually a homeopathic practitioner asks several questions before prescribing a medicine such as symptoms, disease history, lifestyle, personal traits, psychological state and life history. When a patient is asked all these question, he/she believes that there is something in the medicine which will definitely cure him/her. It initiates a better placebo effect, where a person's own body treats the disease, not any medicine.

Why Homeopathy is a fraud ?
Some people may say that if homeopathy treats some people, even without giving actual medicine, then how is it a fraud. Such people should know that even general medical practitioners use placebos to treat some diseases, but they don't use them in all cases. Some diseases can't be cured using placebos. The worst thing about homeopathy is that it discourages the use of actual medicines, which can sometimes be very unhealthy for a patient.

Some Facts related to medical fraud of homeopathy

• Homeopathy is very popular in developing countries as people of these countries are less aware about medical science. Even advanced countries are not far behind as $3 billion a year are spent by Americans alone on homeopathic medicines, which has got no scientific evidence behind it.
• WHO has warned against using Homeopathy for treatment of serious diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhea and flu. [1]
• Sir Mark Walport, Chief Scientific Advisor in UK from 2013 to 2017, once said in a conference that homoeopathy is nonsense, it is non-science. [2]
• According to economist.com ingredients like crushed bees, stinging nettles and even arsenic are used in homeopathic medicines. [3]
• Most of the homeopathic medicines are just sugar pills as the original medicine is diluted to such an extent the there is not even a single molecule of medicine in it.
• Most homeopathic medicines lack sufficient clinical trials and any scientific study behind it.

Following international bodies has considered homeopathic treatment as ineffective and decided not to fund homeopathic practices. [4]

• Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
• United Kingdom's House of Commons Science and Technology Committee
• European Academies' Science Advisory Council
• Swiss Federal Health Office

According to betterhealthfacts.com , those who are cured by homeopathy will never believe the above facts. The definition of science differs for different people. Even if placebo can improve your body to treat a disease itself, then there is nothing better than that. But believing homeopathy to an extent that it can treat serious life-threatening disease is not correct.

Reference:
[1] https://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b3447
[2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10003680/Homeopathy-is-nonsense-says-new-chief-scientist.html
[3] https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2014/04/01/why-homeopathy-is-nonsense
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

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Are Hallucinations something real or fake ?

Those who have it feel that they are real, but others think they are fake. Apart from medical community, some people have created a completely distinct theory of watching ghosts or souls in the name of hallucination. Before we put some light on the topic of hallucination, you must know the difference between real and fake. Whatever we see, if others agree with the same view then it is real, but if others don't see what we see then it is fake. However this definition sometimes gets wrong. This article will change the way you think the reality is.

We are slave of our senses !
Brain is a super computer, analyzing all sensory information to create a video with sound, smell and 3D view. Our brain integrates the input that it get through eyes, ears, nose and combines these sensory inputs to tell us about conditions outside body. Actually it is our brain that creates the images, as our eyes are just a machine to transfer the light information from outside to our brain. There is a huge processor in our brain that analyzes that information.

Our brain can cheat us very easily !
Our brain is not just a processor, but it has also got a very large hard disk, which is beyond your imagination. Every image, every sound and every smell stored in it can be utilized by it. Even a slight smell of something can make you remember a dish that you ate decades ago. That is the power of brain, which can easily cheat us. Sometimes our fear can make brain create projections of unreal things in the real life view. Just as an animated character interacts will actual actors in a Hollywood movie. What type of characters it can make depends on your imagination power.

Our dreams are also hallucination!
Yes, it is true. Our dreams are also hallucination, the difference is just that we watch them while sleeping. In our dreams we rarely suspect that it is fake. During dreams our brain creates a full HD video of events and sometimes we even remember the details after waking up. Dreams make full usage of brain database to create scenes of our interest or our fear. It can make you fly with your arms as your wings and make you jump as if you are doing it on moon. It can also create dangerous creatures that you have never seen, with teeth of a lion, face of a man, feet of a horse and tail of a monkey. You may want to know some amazing facts about sleep and dreams.

If we watch dreams with open eyes and we can't distinguish the difference between real and unreal then it is hallucintion.

People often misunderstand hallucinations as watching a ghost, whom only they can see. Instead of falling prey to such thinking, one should consult a psychiatrist or a neurologist to get the cause diagnosed. Some of the most common causes are listed below.

What causes hallucination ?

• Illegal Drugs : Some illegal drugs can create hallucinations, which are so strong that some people jumped from balconies believing that they can fly. 
• Some legal drugs: Even some legal medication used to treat conditions like parkinson’s disease, depression, psychosis, and epilepsy can cause hallucination.
• Lack of sleep : Enough sleep is a basic necessity of our body. Continuous lack of sleep can make our brain work in an unexpected way, which can create hallucinations as well. Sleeping too short or too long can affect your health.
• Mental Illness: Disease like Schizophrenia, dementia, and delirium can cause hallucinations.
• Some trauma : Some horrible event in real life can sometimes make brain create hallucinations of such even again.
• Withdrawal Symptoms: Some heavy addicts of alcohol when trying to withdraw it can face hallucinations as a withdrawal symptoms. 

Treatment of Hallucination depends on the cause, so finding an expert can get you a better treatment for this medical condition.

Sometimes people misunderstand some diseases as hallucination. There is one such disease named Prosopagnosia, where a person can't remember faces, and the worst thing is that sometimes the patient standing in front of mirror don't recognize himself and treats himself as someone else (most probably ghost).

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Is your Doctor Rude and Insensitive ?

Today there are laws to protect the doctors and their hospital premises from relatives of those patients, with whom some thing worst have happened during hospital stay. Some friends and relatives often blame medical staff for their rude behavior and inability to treat a patient. Both sides have their own points to prove themselves right. But apart from that some patients themselves complain that their doctor was a bit rude and insensitive towards them. Not just that, some patients even complain that their doctor feels that they are dumb. Where is our medical industry lacking when it comes to behavioral traits. Is a doctor only responsible for treating a disease, or his behavior also counts in the mean time.

A study done on 840 American doctors in year 2013 found that more than 65% doctors witnessed their colleague doctors behaving badly with patients and hospital staff.

• Inappropriate jokes cracked by some doctors can also be considered as a bad behavior by some patients. Such as joking about their physic, lifestyle and disease.
• Some patients even complain that their doctor don't even listen to them to get their problem correctly and treat them as a dumb, who know nothing about human body and its working.
• Some patients told researchers they listened to lewd remarks made by specialists when they were under anesthesia.
• Sometimes even silent gestures and unintended slights do the job, as patients easily understand such things due to the condition they are going through.

Such behavior is not just limited to doctors and specialists, even some nurses don't listen to patients properly. I have heard a case where a lady kept complaining about severe pain after a surgery, but nurses kept saying that it happens and she need to help herself instead of relying on others all the time. Later an infection was found the reason behind her pain, which was not normal at all.

A 2012 study found that doctors posted information about their patients on social platforms and websites, even with some remarks for their patients. In many cases it resulted in  serious disciplinary actions.

When it comes to patients suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer, they need more psychological strength along with finest medical care. If they get rude and insensitive behavior then most probably patient will die thinking worst of himself/herself. Even if a patient can't be saved with finest medical care, the remaining part of his life can be made worth something with good behavior.

"Life is short but there is always time for courtesy."  -  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rude behavior can be behavioral trait of any person, but medical staff have a added responsibility to treat their patients and people least expect it from them. Sometimes rude behavior can also occur due to work load and lack of support staff. Doctors often describe these issues as a reason behind such behavior. Medical practitioners should understand that Good Medicine is not just medicine but the behavior as well. Sometimes good behavior can do magic when mixed with quality medical treatment.

Some doctors are famous for their good behavior and patients often praise them on social platforms as well. Such things should be appreciated so that others can learn from that. Good behavior of a doctor not just earns him a reputation among patients, but also bring more business for a hospital. However here business should not be goal, but still no body have a right to don't let hospitals earn good money through good behavior.

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Being Humorous can make you Successful

Everybody know that being humorous is a healthy habit and good for your heart. It can even make others happy and improve their health too. It is because humor releases such chemicals in our body which are good for health. But can humorous behavior make you successful as well ? When we researched this fact, we found some interesting information that is worth reading. It will definitely encourage you to being a little bit more humorous.

Is it necessary to be humorous at work ?
It is not compulsory, but it can create a better work environment for you. A little humor help you in being open with other colleagues. But too much humor can sometimes be unpleasant to others, so keep that in mind.

Type of Humor Matters

• The humor should should not target a specific person, as it can act against you.
• Don't be too loud. Loud humor can disturb those who are doing their own work. So keep your tone low, especially when you are talking to a single person.
• Vulgar humor at work should be strictly avoided, however most of the people don't do it. Accidental vulgar humor with colleagues of opposite gender can be considered as violation of behavioral conduct.
• Don't make humor of your boss or manager, especially in front of those who can convey it to them.
• If you are new then you should indulge in humor only with your colleagues and subordinates. Being humorous with boss can sometimes create a negative impact.

What are benefits of humor at work ?

• It creates a better communication and chances of communication gap is reduced.
• It reduces the work related stress. Humor is a good tension breaker at work.
• Others will enjoy working with you, as they will take you as a human instead of a robot just doing his work.
• The humor brings the real person out of a worker. The nature of humor helps others understand that person better.
• Humor builds trust and relationship among employees which is critical for success.
• Humor and fun at workplace encourages people to come to work.

Being humorous is a quality of good leadership
Being humorous is a part of good leadership, as it helps you in getting mixed with your team and get the work done in a better way. When you do some humor with your colleagues, then it creates a better communication. It even encourage people to share their work among a team. A humorous boss is more approachable by subordinates, which make a better work culture and employees don't hesitate in sharing their innovative ideas. But being too much humorous can sometimes do the opposite, so maintaining a balance between humor and strictness is necessary for a leader.

A study done by Bell Leadership Institute found that employees want their leader to be humorous along with strong work ethic.

But still a number of people don't like to laugh at work, as it can make them look less sincere towards work. In such case you need to relax and take your work a bit less seriously. Being too much serious during office hours can also cause psychological problems, which will hamper your performance.

Robert Half International survey found that

• 91% executive believe that humor is important for career development.
• 84% believe that humorous people do better work.

Do you know that some companies attract employees by advertising their work culture full of fun and humor.  

Every person counts in a business, especially if he/she is a leader. Humor and fun increases productivity.

Why Being humorous can make you successful ?
It is because people like to work with such people as they feel comfortable with them. Humor allows them to open up. Humorous environment increases productivity of any business, as people enjoy working is such environment. Work no more remains a hassle, while working with someone humorous. One fact that most of us ignore is that humorous people and usually more intelligent than others with increases their chances of success.

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Does Health Insurance Improve your Health and Lifespan

All of us know that Health Insurance can save us financially, when we need it the most. But does health insurance also affect our health ? After-all the main motive of health insurance should be insuring the health of a person, not the money. When betterhealthfacts.com tried to know if there is any effect of health insurance of overall well being of the insured person or family, some interesting facts were revealed. We were not the only one trying to connect health insurance with health of the insured, but a number of researchers were conducting studies to know the impact.

As we came across a number of studies, one thing was sure that health insurance affects the health and lifespan of insured person in a positive way. We don't know the magnitude of effect, but life expectancy is increased and improved health is the basic reason behind that. Those studies also take into account other factors that affect health and lifespan, such as obesity, smoking, alcohol abuse,  gun violence, environmental hazards and occupational safety, but still the positive impact of health insurance was clearly visible.

Studies supporting the fact:

• A study done by Harvard School of Public Health found a significant decrease in all-cause mortality and increases life expectancy.
• Institute of Medicine conducted a study in 2002 and estimated that death rate (mortality) of uninsured is 25% more that insured people of similar group. According to that estimate 18000 excess deaths occurred per year during those years as 40 million Americans lacked health insurance at that time.
• Medicaid expanded its insurance coverage for pregnant women during 1980s and 90s. It resulted in decreased infant and child mortality.

How does Health Insurance make people healthy ?

• It gives people an emotional support and they know that they won't be under debt if something goes wrong with their health. This emotional support saves them from any psychological disorders.
• Routine medical checkup and screenings that come with Health Insurance make people aware about their increasing weight and blood pressure which may result in diseases like obesity, diabetes and hypertension. People take their health seriously and timely react to keep themselves healthy.
• Routine medical checkup and screenings also help is diagnosing some diseases at early stages, where they can be treated easily and chances of early death are greatly reduced.
• Uninsured people comparatively don't get their disease timely diagnosed, which results in more expenditure and financial dis-balance of whole family and chances of psychological disorders of other family members. During such times other family members also don't take good care of their health. All these factors affect the health of whole family, which starts from a single person.

 While studying the effect of health insurance on health of a person, we found that most studies don't take into account the health of others who are closely related to an insured person. Its obvious that health insurance affects health of an insured person in positive way, but it also positively affects the health of other family members. If your mother or father are in good health, then you can take better care of your own health as well. And if something goes wrong with their health, then your workout schedule and diet pattern gets disturbed and thus affects the whole family's health.

When we ask about health of an insured person then most expected answer is "good" while it is not so in case of an uninsured person. Several factors work behind as mentioned earlier. Getting Health Insurance also means that you are aware about your health and take steps to keep it in good state.

So investing in health insurance policy not only saves tax and financial stability but also saves your health, increases your lifespan and also improves health of your whole family.

Reference: 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/12/stateline-health-insurance-death-rates/8999769/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/09/08/what-we-know-about-how-health-insurance-affects-health/?utm_term=.6e54e03a10d5

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Are Refined Vegetable Oils Unhealthy

Half a century ago soy, safflower and linseed oils were used to make paint and varnishes, but then chemists discovered technique to make it from petroleum oil, which was cheaper. At that time due to lack of any merchant to purchase their crops, farmers fed the soy and safflower to their pigs. As a result the pigs got fat. Then scientists developed a technique to purify the vegetable oils and remove their paint-like bad smell, and that process was used to manufacture refined oils. Now these vegetable oil became taste less and odor-less and widely accepted by society, as even doctors of that time preferred it over animal fat (such as butter). Refined vegetable oils were also cheaper than other traditional animal fat derived from cow milk.

The oil once used for making paints and later used to fed pigs is now being used in our kitchen. So the question is if the refined vegetable oil is healthy or not ? 

What is a refined vegetable oil ?

Refined vegetable oil means vegetable oil that has been "purified". Here purification may mean a number of treatments, such as filtered, deodorized, neutralized, treated with acid, purified with alkali or bleached. Natural antioxidants and nutrients are also removed from vegetable oil in the process of purification. Such treatment of any food product can make it unhealthy.

Some refined vegetables oils also undergo hydrogenation, which turns oil into solid state and increases its shelf life. Such hydrogenated oil contains a large percentage of trans-fat, which is considered very unhealthy. According to an estimate by FDA more than 90% of prepared cookies, crackers and frozen breakfast contain trans fats. Such readily available food items and food served in restaurants usually contain hydrogenated vegetable oil, which increases the profit but degrades the health. Next time when you purchase any packed food, check its ingredients if it contain trans fat.

Do you known that New York became the largest city in US, where restaurants are asked to go trans-fat free. 

Refined Vegetable Oil may cause Cancer

Some recent researches have found that animal fats don't contribute to heart diseases while vegetable oils do. According to a research consumption of butter has decreased from 18 lbs per person per year to just 4 during past century. Refined Vegetable oil has taken place of butter, and researchers fear that it might be a reason behind increased heart diseases and cancer cases. [1]

N‐Nitrosodi-n-butylamine is a carcinogen found in Soybean oil, one of the mostly used refined vegetable oil. Concentration of this carcinogen in Soybean oil is 290 μg/kg. Same carcinogen is also found in cheese at 20 to 30 μg/kg , in smoked meat at 3.9 μg/kg and at 0.003 μg  per cigarette. [2]

Health Facts about Refined Vegetable Oil

• Soybean oil (used in 75% of American Kitchens) increases obesity, which is directly linked to heart diseases and diabetes.
• Since introduction or refined vegetable oils in 1960s , the reported cases of heart diseases and cancer has increased tremendously.
• Soybean oil creates imbalance of Omega-6 and Omega-3 in body. Each table spoon of soybean oil contain 6807mg Omega-6 and 917mg Omega-3, while it should be in our body in equal amounts.
• Omega-6 creates inflammation, which is sometime necessary to heal cuts and wounds. But overdose of omega-6 creates unnecessary inflammation, which can cause a number of health issues.[3]  

Note: Before starting to use any new vegetable oil, make sure that you know how it is made and what are its effect on health. Your awareness can save your health and also your medical expenses.

Reference:
[1] http://www.happilyunprocessed.com/the-basics/refined-oils-and-why-you-should-never-eat-them/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean_oil
[3] https://www.nutritionadvance.com/harmful-effects-of-soybean-oil/

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Circumcised Foreskins are used for Surprising things

Have you ever wondered about the circumcised foreskins, if they use to throw them in garbage bins or they use it somewhere ? The answer to this serious question might surprise a number of people. Before telling you the answer, let me tell you that each foreskin is worth thousands of dollars in market. Several religions and communities make it compulsory for boys to get their foreskin circumcised. A number of hospital and surgeons do these minor operations to remove the foreskin. They collect these foreskins and sell them to some research laboratories and some private organisations, as these foreskins have a lot of value.

Usage of Circumcised Foreskins

• Some high-end skin cream manufactures use foreskins. Some skin creams contain fibroblasts, which is compound grown on foreskins and harvested from it. Same foreskin can used for many years to harvest fibroblasts from it. Fibroblasts produce Collagen, which is a protein that can hold connective tissue together and hence helps in maintaining smooth and youthful skin.
• Skin grafts are another major usage of foreskins. Burn victims are treated with these foreskins as a new skin to replace old burned skin. Baby foreskins suits best in this usage as their chances of rejection by the recipients immune system are very less.
• Cosmetic Testing is also done on foreskins. Instead of using a real human subject or a lab-rat to test the newly developed cosmetics, foreskins often act as a better subject to test upon. Thus it saves humans and rodents from any possible side-effect on skin.

Are such usage good or bad ?
Different people may have different views on that. Those who feel it right due to religious beliefs, will find these uses beneficial for the society, but they might also feel themselves cheated as doctors usually don't reveal such facts to those who visit them for circumcision. Those who are already against circumcision and take it as mutilation of human body, find something good being done with it, but they also feel that doctors and religious clerics might be earning a lot by prescribing such mutilation and endangering the lives of kids. We are nobody to decide the good or bad unless the parents of such kids don't know the complete truth of circumcision.

The motive of this article is not to hurt religious sentiments of people, but to tell the truth. Most of the innocent public don't know how some people are earning a lot through their baby's skin.

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Diseases that affect after 50 : Common Health Problems

The fear of getting old with a number of diseases / health problems is one of the worst fears. Everybody want a long life with a healthy body. However a lot of things depend on your lifestyle and healthy habits, but still somethings can't be managed, such as your genes. After 50 years of age people often find themselves surrounded by some health problems. Even if they are not, the talks among the age group of over 50 often comes to diseases they are suffering from. Here we have brought some common diseases that start affecting your body after reaching that particular age group.

Diseases that affect after 50

The diseases listed below are not meant for everybody. But if you neglect your health and don't adopt a healthy lifestyle the chances of getting these health problems are quiet high. 50 Years is a mark where your health starts deteriorating due to ageing process and your metabolism and immunity level also starts decreasing. So here is the list of common health problems that you should be aware of if you are about to approach the 50 year of age.

• Obesity: Obesity has made 73% US Adult population its playground. Obesity is not just a health condition but a disease in itself that increases chances of several other diseases. Chances of being obese increases with age.
• Hypertension: Increased blood pressure often results from obesity due to increased fat content of body. Hypertension increases the chances of kidney disease, stroke and heart failure. Why does blood pressure increase with age ?
• Heart Problems: Heart problems often result from obesity and hypertension. Being obese after the age of 50 increases your chances of heart diseases to a great extent.
• Diabetes: Obesity is mostly the real culprit behind diagnosis of diabetes. 
• Asthma: Chances of getting affected with asthma increases with age. It is condition when our air ways get allergic to certain substances in the environment. It often results in coughing and difficulty in breathing.
• Cancer: The chances of getting affected by cancer increases with age. There is no fully confirmed reason behind it but some experts believe that degrading immune system with increasing age might have increased its occurrence.
• Sight Problems: Glaucoma and Cataract is common in elderly people. Certain sight related problems can make the old age even worse. Some of them are Diabetic Retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMB).
• Gum Disease: If you don't follow proper dental hygiene then you are at risk of gum disease. Smokers have 70% more chances of developing it. If you are one of those who brush just once daily and sometimes even forget that one time then you have 33% more chances of developing it.
• Hair Loss: Some experts say that it happen due to lack of nutrition, some believe Male-Pattern-Baldness is due to DHT and some believe that it is due to genes. But this health condition has give opportunity to whole hair-loss industry to make good money out of baldness.

Exercises to help you live longer

The above list of diseases are not meant for everybody that reach the age limit of 50, but they affect those who are either not serious about their health or who can't take care of their health due to other responsibilities. Our motive behind writing this article is to tell you that health is wealth. If you choose a better lifestyle at an early age then you can protect yourself from a number of common health problems. Even some genetic diseases can't affect you, if you choose to override those genes by your strong will and healthy habits.

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Why Viruses are more harmful than Bacteria for Humans

Virus and Bacteria, both are known as harmful microorganisms that can harm our body. But virus has got a bad reputation compared to bacteria. Bacteria are sometimes good for us as they help in several functions of body, but it is not same for virus. Virus are known for some of the worst diseases that mankind has faced, such as HIV and Ebola. Virus are usually harmful and we will tell you the reason why.

What is a virus?
Virus is a protein, either DNA or RNA. It is a genetic material which needs some host cell to survive. So you can say that virus is a genetic material with no cell. Cell is known as the smallest living entity. Virus don't have a cell of their own, so they are always in need of a host cell that they can infect to multiply themselves.

Size of virus vs bacteria
Virus vary in size and they range from 17 nanometer to 1000 nanometer. One nanometer is 0.000000001 m. This size is so small that you can't see it even with a light microscope. Electron Microscope are necessary to study a virus. Size of virus is so small that they can be compared to atoms. Size of a hydrogen atom is 0.1 nanometer. Bacteria are much bigger than virus. They range from 200 to 10000 nanometer.

When were Virus discovered ?
Existence of virus was suspected near the end of nineteenth century when biologists were unable to find any bacteria responsible for some diseases/infections. They found these microorganisms much smaller than bacteria and they were unable to multiply in a solution as they were extracted out of a living body.

Virus is neither dead nor alive !
Viruses can't live on their own, so some biologists consider them as dead. They need a host body made up of living cells to let them survive. When virus enter a cell, then it replicates its proteins and infects other cells, which makes it something living. Virus is something between living and dead. It is a non-living genetic code without any cell and needs a host cell to be something living.

Are viruses more harmful than Bacteria ?
Yes, in most of the cases. Name of diseases like Ebola and AIDS can take your breath away. But there are some nasty bacteria like Neisseria meningitidis which can make you dead within a  day even after taking antibiotics. Some bacteria are equally harmful as viruses. There are lesser medicines to fight viral infections. New generations of resistant bacteria are equally harmful as we don't have any antibiotic to kill them.

Why viruses are more dangerous ?
It is because of the fact that virus can infect a cell. Both bacteria and human cell are prone to that infection. Virus is not a separate entity, as it infects by entering itself into a cell. Virus is nothing but a genetic code which disrupts the working of a cell and then starts multiplying itself. There are several good bacteria inside the human body, which can also be infected with a virus. To kill a virus we need to kill the infected cell itself which makes it more harmful for any living creature including humans.

How do our immune system fights with virus ?
Different types of white blood cells (WBC) are main part of our immune system and they can reach any part of body as they reside in the blood. Our body makes millions of them in the bone marrow every day. Macrophages (a type of WBC) destroy any germ that the detect inside the body, but virus infected cells need more advanced defense system. In order to do that more advance WBC known as T and B lymphocytes come into action. B cells make antibodies that bind themselves to virus infected cell in order to tag them and stop them from replicating. T cells act as the guard dog and informs other cells of immune system about the viral infection. Now other cells of our immune system can easily identify these tagged infected cells and kill them to destroy the virus completely. Even when a virus a destroyed some advance T and B cells creates an "acquired immunity" in our body to make our body more safe from the same virus. This acquired immunity can sometimes save our body from the same virus for complete life.

Even after all these facts about virus and bacteria, virus should be considered as more harmful. Our body has already got more bacterial cells in it than human cells. So we are more bacterial than human. But virus is something harmful to both bacteria and human cells. Virus can infect even a bacteria.

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Truth about Supplements to increase your Height

Being taller is a wish of almost every person. Normally we grow till puberty and chances of getting taller after that age are minimal. There are a number of diet supplements in market claiming to grow your height. The advertisements of these diet supplements often show themselves as a magic pill which can make you taller within weeks. Some of them claim themselves as natural ingredients while some claim themselves as hormonal medicines. The truth about these supplements to increase your height is yet to come in this article.

The truth is that no supplement can make you grow taller once you have reached puberty and your bones have stopped growing. You should never take these supplements without consulting a doctor. Those supplements that claim to grow you taller after puberty don't have any solid research and test results to prove that.

How do we grow taller?
If you study the science behind growing taller than you will find that our height is defined by length of our bones. Epiphysis or growth plates are a part of our bones located at their terminal ends. Epiphysis remains soft till puberty and allows long bones to grow further. At the end of puberty phase epiphysis begins to fuse and solidify. Once it has become solid, no further growth is possible. Under normal circumstances girls reach the end of puberty by 18 years and boys by 20 years of age.

Some supplements claim to reverse the solidification of epiphysis to increase your bone size and overall height of a person. But such claims don't have any actual testing behind them.

Growing taller is a wish of every person and this desire often develops after we have attained puberty. Increasing your height is not possible after reaching that age, but some pharma companies utilize that desire to make big profit. They sell placebo in the name of an effective supplement to increase your height. Placebos may not harm you but some manufactures sell some medicines which can disturb the hormonal balance in your body and you may face some serious side effects. So before taking any such supplement it is better to consult your doctor.

FDA has approved a HGH hormone that can be used as a medicine for children experiencing abnormal growth. But this hormone works only till puberty. But some pharma companies sell fake supplements in name of HGH Hormone, despite of knowing the fact that it will not work on adults.

 Food and Drug Administration neither test the ingredients of health supplements nor it regulates any statement mentioned by health supplements for their advertisements. So it is better to check the ingredients list mentioned on the package of such health supplements and know its actual usage itself. In some of them you may find just some natural multivitamin and mineral supplement to improve your overall health and has nothing to do with your height.

You will find a number of online advertisements claiming to grow you taller within 30 to 60 days. So of them publish very inspiring testimonials with photoshop images to prove their claim. So of them even give moneyback guarantee to sell their useless product. Don't fall prey to such things and believe in the fact that your height does not define you. It is your self confidence and your talent that defines you.

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Can you remember your Dream !

People often say that they can't remember what they dreamed about last night except some situations when the dream is either too joyful or a scary nightmare. Even if you can remember a dream just after waking up then most probably you will forget it within a few hours. Chances of remembering dream are more when you get awake in middle of it. Those who study sleep and dreams know the reason why you can't remember all your dreams.

Dreams are meant to be forgotten

On an average we sleep for one-third part of our life. 20% of that time is REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep during which we dream. Everyday we dream at least 5 different dreams. If our brain remembers all those dreams then it will take a lot of memory. Remembering all those dreams can also make it harder for us to distinguish between real memory and dream memory, as sometime dreams revolve around real subjects and circumstances. We are meant to forget dreams only to make our life easier. Sometimes the dreams are either too joyful or too scary and remembering them for long duration can take us away from reality in actual life. Usually we remember only the last dream that we had last night and the chances of forgetting that dream within a few hours are quiet high. The probability of remembering a dream increases if we wake up in middle of it.

Science behind Sleep and Dreams

If you study a little about sleep cycle the then you will come to know that sleep can be put into two main stages: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep and Non-REM Sleep. Non-REM Sleep can be further partitioned into four different stages. Out of these stages "Stage 4" is the deepest sleep during which we never dream and our body repairs broken tissues and builds bones and muscles. We dream during REM phase and the duration of REM phase increases as the sleep cycle increases and so does the duration of your dreams. So most probably your last dream will be lengthier than other dreams and may take up to 1 hour of your sleep. If you try to remember your last dream within 45 seconds after waking up then most probably you will remember that.
50% sleep time of babies is dedicated to REM sleep, while this duration decreases to 20% in adults. It means that kids dream more than adults. You may notice the kids dreaming by noticing the movement of their eyeball inside their closed eyes, which is easily visible (that is why they call it REM, Rapid Eye Movement). Due to more REM sleep in kids, the probability of remembering a dream increases in them.

The more time we take after REM phase to wake up, the lesser are the chances of remembering that dream. So now you know why we remember some dreams while some we don't. And the dream that we remember is usually the last dream of that sleep.
Creative people do remember their dreams more often. A number of extra ordinary scientists have have accidentally made some discoveries through their dreams.

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