How Snooze button is damaging your Brain

After reading this article, most of the health conscious people will never hit the snooze button in the morning. It is a reflex action of most of the people to hit the snooze button on their smartphone or alarm clock to get few more minutes of sleep. Those who are a bit more lazy hit snooze several times. You might think that you are getting 5 to 10 minutes of more sleep by doing so, but actually that sleep is doing more worst to your brain, instead of making anything better. You will understand it completely by the end of this article as we will explain your sleep and sleep cycle.

Understand the Sleep Cycle

Our sleep can be divided into 4 stages. One sleep cycle lasts for around 90 minutes. In one sleep cycle we go through all four stages, each of which lasts for 5 to 20 minutes. First three stages of this cycle are non-REM stages, while the stage 4 is REM stage.
Stage 1 : This non-REM stage is the first thing that happens during sleep. This stage is somehow drowsy and any external stimuli can easily wake us up. During this phase some people feel a jerk or muscle spasm as our muscles start to relax. This stage can be easily observed by slow eyeball movement.
Stage 2 : This stage is a bit more sleepy then first stage and it become harder to wake up. During this stage heartbeat starts to slow down and body temperature starts to decrease. This stage can be observed by stopping of eyeball movement.
Stage 3 : It is the deepest sleep stage of non-REM sleep. It is hardest to wake-up anyone during this phase. Most of the restorative work in our body occur during this stage. Conditions like sleep-walking or sleep-talking occur during this phase.
Stage 4 : This stage is also known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage as eye ball movement is at its highest frequency in this stage. Dreaming usually happens in this stage and arousal can also occur.

Note: Duration of REM sleep (stage 4) increases as the count of sleep cycle increases. So there is more probability that an alarm will wake you up in between your dreams.

When we shift from one stage to another, a slight moment of wakefulness happens in between, which we usually don't remember. Once all four stages have completed, we enter into the stage 1 again, thus starting the next sleep cycle.

What happens when we wake up due to an alarm ?
If an alarm wakes us up during REM Sleep (i.e. stage 4) then we feel groggy (i.e. feeling drunk, tipsy, weak or dazed), while if you wake up during first 3 stages then you feel alert and attentive throughout the day. But one more factor to be noticed is that once we have slept for 2 sleep cycles, our body / brain gets ready to wake up anytime without much difficulty. The truth is that our brain is designed to wake up after or in between the REM sleep.

What happens when you hit snooze ?

Usually we hit snooze to sleep again, but irrespective of the previous sleep stage, we begin a new sleep cycle. Such disturbance in sleep cycle disturbs your biological clock as well. Now alarm beeps again after a 5 to 15 minutes, and during this time we were in non-REM (i.e Stage 1 to 3) sleep. Waking up during this phase is harmful for your brain. Those who are habitual of hitting snooze, do it everyday and make their brain and body suffer a lot due to their bad habit.

How to get rid of Snooze ?
It is better to go to bed early and give your body / brain sufficient time to rest. It will make it easier for you on the first beep of alarm. It is better to get an alarm clock with no snooze button. Once you give yourself proper time to sleep, you will find that you will wake up automatically even before the very first beep of alarm, which will be done by your biological clock.

Tip: Stop using your smartphone while going to sleep. It puts excess stress on your eyes, disturbs your sleep and also steals the precious time that was meant for sleeping.

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Why Dishwashers are a healthy alternative ?

Some naturalist people may ague on this topic that dishwashers are actually healthy or not. Everything has got a positive and a negative side, but if we get rid of negativity than only positive is left. When it comes to using science in our daily lives then some precautions are also necessary. Using dishwashers is our kitchen looks fascinating for those who have not used them but keeping them clean is also necessary to keep your utensils germ free. Here we are going to tell you some healthy sides of using a dishwasher and how you can keep yourself away from unhealthy side-effects of dishwashers.

Why dishwashers are Healthy ?

• Dishwashers use very high temperature water to clean the dishes and the mixture of hot water and cleaning agent cleans it better than hands can ever could.
• The temperature difference from cold to hot and then wet to dry, that occur inside dishwasher is sufficient to kill most of the harmful bacteria that can sustain on your dishes during hand washing.
• Kitchen sponge used in hand-washing of dished is found as germiest thing in your home is most of the researches, so you can't even compare the cleanliness of dishes washed in dishwasher with those cleaned with kitchen sponge.
• Dishwashers use high-tech jets to clean your dishes that you can never do with hands.
• Washing dishes with hand use much more water than used in a dishwasher. So if you want to save water and keep your dishes cleaner as well then dishwashers are must.

Precautions while using Dishwashers to keep yourself healthy

• Clean your dishwasher at least once in a weak.
• Proper cleaning of door's rubber seal is most necessary.
• Never clean your dishes with a kitchen sponge before putting them in dishwasher as it will only add more germs instead of cleaning.

The inside of dishwasher go through high temperature, high organic load, high alkalinity and high salinity. It makes the perfect environment for some pathogens to develop in the rubber seal if proper cleaning in not done. A research conducted on samples collected from dishwashers of different brands used in different types of households in different continents found that 62% samples contain potentially pathogenic fungal flora. 56% of them contained black yeast Exophiala dermatitidis and E. phaeomuriformis which can cause potentially fatal infections in humans. The only way to keep yourself safe is to clean your dishwasher on regular basis, especially the rubber seal of doors.

Note: If you are planning to purchase a dishwasher then don't cancel it thinking about the fungus that can grow in door seals, because these fungus can affect only those who have a weak immune system. A little care of your dishwasher and your general health is sufficient to keep everything alright.

Some of the best dishwashers available in market are listed below :

SPT Countertop Dishwasher

Bosch 800 Series Dishwasher

GE Dishwasher

Frigidaire Stainless Dishwasher

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Smartphones affect your Eyes more than you Imagined

Most of us know that smartphones and other screens affect our eyes in an adverse way, but still we don't care. The basic reason behind this ignorance in lack of information and understanding. Eyes are the most used external organ in our body, yet most neglected as well. We care about our weight, obesity, blood pressure, biceps, hairs and lot of other things but eyes. In this age of smartphones, if we still continue this ignorance then both our generation and our kids will face issues related to vision.

Always remember that if you are staring a screen (such as TV or Smartphone) for more than 2 hours per day then you can easily develop some vision related issue sooner or later.

How smartphones affect our Eyes

Dry Eyes: On an average normal human eye blinks 15 to 20 times in a minute. But the blink rate is greatly reduced when we continuously focus on an object. Continuously staring at your smartphone for hours can affect your blink rate drastically. When we blink our eyes, a drop of tear wipes down our eye to clean its surface and keep it moist. Reduced blink rate causes dry eyes which is most common issue among smartphone users and can be treated easily by reducing smartphone usage.
Computer Vision Syndrome: This health issue is known since computer age, as it commonly occurred due to over usage of computers. But still this syndrome is affecting people due to over usage of smartphones. Symptoms of this disease are eye strain, dry eyes, headache, blurred vision, and neck and shoulder pain. Computer Vision Syndrome is also connected to some other facts listed below.
Blue Light : Blue light is often linked with eye problems because blue light regulates the release of melatonin. Release of melatonin tells our body that it is still daytime and thus usage of smartphones in night time disturbs our sleep, especially if you operate your smartphone just before sleeping. Apart from this side effect, blue light damages and kills the cells of retina, which is the worst side-effect of using smartphones.
Brightness: Brightness of screen is often set to maximum by most of the smartphone users, so that you can watch the screen clearly in daytime. More brightness also helps in viewing photos and videos clearly and thus preferred. But this more brightness put stress on our eyes.

Understand your Eye

Usually we ignore what our eyes try to say us in everyday life. We neglect the stress they go through due to over usage of smartphones and due to lack of relaxation. Minor symptoms like tiredness in eyes, minor headache, dryness in eyes, burning sensation and shoulder/neck pain should not be ignored as they can lead to some serious health issue with our eyes. Apart from consulting a doctor in case of such symptoms, you should also give some time to your eyes from your busy life. Our eyes don't demand a particular time slot, you can perform some simple yoga for eyes at any point of time in a day. These yoga exercises just take a few minutes and provide enough relaxation to your eyes for the remaining day.

Some tips for Smartphone users to keep their eyes healthy

• Keep your Smartphone at about an arm's distance while operating
• Use increased text size
• Take frequent breaks while using your smart phone for long duration.
• Don't use smartphone in a position where screen glare is caused due to some lighting in room.
• Try to use low brightness settings.
• Use smartphone in light, using it in a dark room can be harmful.

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How Long Working Hours can get you severe Diseases

We often work hard during our working hours to make a good living and make our living standard better. But does our working hours affect our health ? The answer is "Yes". Our working condition and working hours affect our health a lot, and if you are working continuously for longer hours then you are unintentionally putting yourself at risk of several health conditions. In this article we will tell you about potential health hazards of long working hours.

A 35 year old physical therapist worked for 60 to 75 hours per week in a hospital. She started to notice the effect of these long working hours on her body as her periods disappeared, she cracked a tooth while she was grinding her teeth, felt extreme fatigue and abdominal pain. It even lead to over-consumption of alcohol and over-eating. But all that ended five years ago as she came to know that all these negative effects on health were due to long working hours. Now she is fine after reducing her working hours to 40 hours per week and it also helped her in building a loving relationship.

She was lucky, but everybody don't understand the symptoms and get some lifelong lifestyle disorders. Her story tells us that working too long is sometimes an addiction and it harms the body just like any other addiction.

Long working Hours are not a proof of your dedication for work !
Most of the people thing that working long proves their dedication for work. But the truth is just opposite. Long working hours affects your health which reduces your work efficiency and you end up performing worst than an average guy.

Which Diseases can affect you due to long working hours ?

• Stroke : 33% more chances of stroke if yo spend more than 55 hours per week at work.
• Heart disease : 13% more chances of heart diseases. 
• Mental health problems : Anxiety, depression, ADHD and OCD are some diseases that you can get due to long working hours.
• Diabetes : Women are 63% more risk than men if they devote more that 45 hour per week for work.
• Abnormal heart rhythms : 40% more chances of getting this disease if you work more than 55 hours per week.

Being Workaholic

It is a condition when long working hours make you an addict and you can't stay away from work. Even when your are at your home with your spouse and kids, you still think about work. Adrenaline releases in your blood when you work, and withdrawal symptoms appear when you don't. This condition is very critical as it urges your brain to keep engaged with work and leave aside every other important things in your life.

Symptoms of being workaholic

• Enjoying work more than home, family and friends.
• Working for long hours and planning to devote even more time.
• Feeling bored at home and constantly thinking about work.
• Others start telling you that you are ignoring them and not listening to them
• You don't enjoy vacations and feel urge to return to work.

Some facts about health effects of Long Working Hours

• Constantly thinking about your work even when you are not working, affects your health more adversely.
• Long working hours kill people. In Japan they call it "karoshi" which means death from overwork.
• Sometimes relationship problems lead people to spend more time in office, which can lead to workaholic behavior, which ruins the relationships even more.
• One in two workaholic's marriage end up as a divorce.
• 10 Million Americans work for 60 hours or more per week.
• Workaholics prefer cigarette or coffee instead of a break.

Note : All workaholics can't be considered at the same risk. If you are working longer with interest or hobby then it might not hurt you. But in most of the cases people don't like their own job.

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Bathing : The correct way to Stay Fit

Bathing is a daily activity, thus taken casually by most of us. Pouring the water, rubbing the soap, then again pouring the water and that is all. There is a lot more than that in real bathing. We have forgotten some secrets of bathing in our busy lives and it is costing us a lot of money. Here betterhealthfacts.com has collected some tips about bathing, which can help a lot in staying fit.

You are reading this article because you have got enough water to bath. Before you take a bath, you must remember that there are people who don't even have enough drinking water. Bathing daily is something that they can only dream about. So save water and save life.

Why bathing is necessary ?
It is necessary to wipe out the odor caused by dead bacteria (both good and bad) on our skin and the protein secreted through our sweat. Combination of these not biological wastes can not only harm our body by inviting parasites to feed on them, but can also make it unbearable for others to be around us.

Down to top approach 

Usually the temperature of water is not same as our body. So instead of putting water directly on head, you should put is first on your feet, then knees, then belly, then chest and then head. This approach saves your head from a sudden temperature change, which can sometimes cause serious medical conditions. When we use this approach, our body and brain prepares itself for the rising water level and saves itself from a sudden temperature change. This approach should be kept in mind while taking shower.

Don't use antibiotic soaps

Some people use antibiotic soaps on regular basis to kill every germ on their body to stay fit. But in the eagerness to do that, they do exactly opposite. Regularly using an antibiotic soap even kills the good bacteria permanently from your skin. These good bacteria on skin save us from other harmful intruder bacteria. So using antibiotic soap can lead to allergy and other skin diseases.

Don't use soap everyday

Yes, using a soap everyday is not recommended at all. You should avoid using a soap every alternate day, however you may do hand-wash. Apart are making our skin clean, soap also makes our skin penetrable by some harmful bacteria present in air. Even when you use it, don't keep it for too long on your body.

Don't stay longer in bathtubs

Staying longer than 15 minutes in a bathtub is never considered healthy as it damages your skin and make it more prone to wrinkles. If you rub your impurities out in a tub, then it is also harmful as it makes that dirt access your other body parts. Sitting in a dirty lake is better than that. So never rub yourself in bathtub and never stay in it for more than 15 minutes. It is better to use it only to calm yourself down.

Clean your feet daily

Most people forget it, as they give priority to face, underarms, chest, back, arms and legs. Remember your feet as they carry you for the whole day. Giving a few minutes to clean them will make them healthy and they will serve you even better without causing any medical problems. Your feet and overall health is heavily interconnected.

Keep your bathroom clean

It is last point but not the least. An unclean bathroom is an open invitation for diseases. A throughout cleaning of bathroom is must once in a week. Do a quick wash to floor using a wiper after taking a bath is must everyday. You should keep that place clean which is making you clean everyday.

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Does Positive Attitude affect your Health

Being Optimistic or Pessimistic is a natural human trait that develops either through our upbringing and our genes. It is a well known fact believed by medical practitioners that positive attitude affects your health in a positive way. Usually we care only about our diet, exercise and sleep to live a healthy life, but positive attitude in our lifestyle also plays a major role for betterment of our health. This article will explain how our optimistic approach towards various aspects of life improves our health.

During past century our society has accepted the importance of psychological health. Prior to that people used to believe that psychological treatments are only meant for mentally sick or lunatic people. But now people know that diseases like depression and anxiety are common and every person faces it at least once in their life. Apart from medicines, counselling plays an important role in psychological treatments. Most of these counselings revolve around our thinking and attitude towards life. A counselor always try to make us think positive and being optimistic. The truth is that people with positive attitude are very less prone to any psychological disorder.

According to a study the chances of heart related issues are lesser in optimistic people. Even if there is some heart disease, optimistic people recover easily after hospitalization and require 50% less re-hospitalization. [1]

Optimism improves our immune system response. Even when a person with pessimistic approach is provided some counselling to think positive, the immune system response improves with behavior. [2]

A research done in Finland concluded that optimistic people are three times lesser prone to hypertension, even when risk factors like smoking, obesity, alcohol abuse, physical inactivity and family history are also taken into account. [1]

According to American Journal of Cardiology, apart from food positive behavior can also keep your cholesterol level low, thus improving your cardiovascular health. [3]

An American research concluded that people with most positive attitude are likely to have least blood pressure. [1]

A 2006 study found that optimistic people are least affected with viral infections, even if they are living in an area where the virus has spread. [1]

Several studies done in different parts of world concluded that optimistic people live longer as they have overall better health. [1]

Some researchers believe that a healthy and disease free body is most likely to be optimistic an hence optimistic people face lesser health issues. But once more fact is that so called optimistic people usually follow a healthy lifestyle, which might be responsible for better health. Whatever the matter is, either optimism results in healthy lifestyle or vice-versa, the fact is that positive attitude improves health.

How to tweak your mind to Think Positive

Positive emotions that result from positive attitude last for a long time and help us in developing skills that help us further in life. Positive emotions help us in exploring possibilities. When a kid goes out to play with a happy mood, he/she learns physical skills by playing sports, learns social skills by making new friends and communicating with them and also develops creative approach. These positive skills developed by positive attitude help that child for all of his/her life. So positive approach towards life not only makes us healthy but also makes our life better.

A pessimist might live a long life sometimes, but chances of it being happy and healthy are very less. So be positive and make others too.

References:
[1] http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/optimism-and-your-health
[2] https://www.livescience.com/8158-optimism-boosts-immune-system.html
[3] https://www.ajconline.org/article/S0002-9149%2813%2900388-3/abstract

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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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Creative Gardening : Exploring Yourself for Something Beautiful

Creative Gardening is something that i came across a few days ago, and i can't stop myself from saying it "Beautiful". When we see something beautiful, it makes our mind happy and uplifts our mood and well being. But when we create such thing which make the viewers happy, then it has a more powerful impact on our well being. Here the motive behind this article is to inspire some people to create their own garden and show some unique creativity in it to make it beautiful. The pics that we have shown below will definitely give you some idea about what creativity we are talking about.

Vertical Garden: Best for those who have shortage of space, but still want a garden or kitchen garden. Hanging vases and unused hard boxes or tin cans can be utilized in such garden. Here an image shows how drainage pipes used in houses can be utilized to a vertical garden.

    

Recycled Garden : By using some old and unused things in your home and putting some creativity in it, can make a good looking garden for you.
               

Something for Kids : Such things inspire kids to build a garden. You may use the help of kids and their creative ideas. Such creative garden items are liked by both kids and adults. Making them brings the kid out of an adult.
               

Creative Ideas : Coping the ideas of others is not easy every time. Somethings that look easier are sometimes harder to implement. Try to create something new that is your original idea. You may take help from the following creative gardens to develop your own.
                 
So what are you waiting for. Just get the tools and start exploring yourself to create something beautiful.

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Benefits of Kitchen Garden for your Health

A kitchen garden is one of the healthiest things one can have at his/her home. It won't be wrong to say that it is better for your health compared to a regular workout at gym. If you are money-minded then you should know that kitchen garden can save you a lot of money in your monthly bill. If you are nature lover then you might already have the knowledge that kitchen garden connects you to earth in a number of ways.

Benefits of Kitchen Garden for your Health

• Fresh and Nutritious Diet : It is the basic necessity for a good health. Freshness is the first quality that makes a food good. The fruits and vegetable that you purchase from market are usually stale but looks fresh as they are kept in cold storage. The freshness of market vegetables can't be compared to that vegetable that you grow in a kitchen garden.
• No Pesticides and Natural Fertilizer: Chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers have contaminated our diet to a great extent and they are reason behind a number of health problems. When we grow something in kitchen garden, we use natural fertilizers like compost and stay away from using pesticides. It keeps the nutrition intact and no side effects of harmful chemicals.   
• Kids like home grown vegetables: It is a well known fact for parents that kids don't like vegetables. But one better fact is that kids like home grown vegetables. There is a psychological reason behind that. Usually kids try to help in kitchen garden, like watering the plants or weeding or hoeing or planting some new plants. These acts make them interested in tasting the vegetables or fruits that they helped growing.
• Improves Immunity: You must be thinking that these pesticide free and nutritious vegetables increases your immunity, but truth is something more and better. Being near soil automatically increases your immunity. This is the same process that develops immunity in kids when they play on ground or show their creativity in sand or soil. When we come in contact with soil during gardening our body is contaminated by microbes, and our body develops immunity against them within a few days. This process continues and our immune system become stronger than others. 
• Reduce Healthcare Cost: Better nutrition and immunity results in lesser health issues and saving the healthcare cost.
• Natural Workout: Gardening is a natural and productive workout. It is equivalent to doing workout in a gym. Only difference in that gym requires a monthly fees while garden gives you fruits and vegetables as a result of your workout. 
• Better Sleep: Spending some time is garden also gives a good sleep in night. You don't need to engage yourself in reading something or checking your smartphone before the sleep take over you.
• Self Appreciation : Gardening brings you more closed to earth and mother nature. It gives you a sense of self appreciation, which itself saves you from any psychological complications.
• Whole Family Activity: Sometimes gardening provides an opportunity to engage whole family including kids. Even talking during gardening can reduce stress. It is a great activity and learning tool for kids. It is an entertainment activity as well that relaxes you. Sometimes it can give you life long memories that will make you happy whenever you remember them.  
• Its beautiful : Gardening has the ability to turn wasteland into beautiful landscapes. Even an unused balcony corner can be made beautiful through gardening. Butterflies and birds coming in your garden makes it even more beautiful. Its pleasing look uplifts your mood and make you happy.
• Make you creative: A kitchen garden not just grows vegetables but some creative ideas as well. Those creative ideas can give a better look to your garden and may also help you in other fields of your life. Get some creative gardening ideas by looking at some samples.
• Improves Knowledge: Gardening improves your knowledge about horticulture and makes you love the plants, thus connecting you to earth. Even kids learn a lot about plants through gardening, which can't be taught in a school.
• Cleans the air : Usually we think that its impact will be small, but the truth is than just four plants are sufficient to clean enough air for a single person. A kitchen garden usually have much more plants than that.
• The Aura : Plant have an aura which helps the person coming in contact with them. You might have noticed that sitting under a big tree makes a positive impact on your mood and overall well being. It is the impact of Aura of that tree. Similarly a kitchen garden have its own aura and it improves you from inside. 

We at betterhealthfacts.com hope that the above information will inspire a few people to make their own kitchen garden. If you have the wish but don't have space then a creative garden in balcony or terrace can be best. It not only improves you but also contributes in making a greener society with better air.

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Lifestyle Factors that weakens our Immune System

Usually we think that we can live a disease free life if we keep ourselves away from sick people, especially those who are sneezing or coughing. But this is just a holistic approach to stay healthy. A healthy immune system is necessary for everybody to save ourselves from diseases and infections. Immune system is the power of our body to resist against infections and diseases. A person with better immune system is always at lower risk of catching infection.

Most common belief is that being fully vaccinated, washing your hands, getting enough sleep and eating a healthy diet makes your immune system better than others. But it is just a misconception.

Immune system develops with age, but some lifestyle factors weakens our immune system and we don't even notice them. Here we will discuss those factors and help you in modifying your lifestyle in a better way to improve your immunity.

Lifestyle Factors that weakens our Immune System

Sugar : High level of blood sugar decrease the ability of White Blood Cells to defend against bacteria. Bad bacteria, yeast and fungi survive on sugar. 70% of our immune system resides in our Gut. If too much sugar is present there then it weakens that immune system. Avoiding processed food and refined sugar are necessary to keep your immune system fit.

Do you know that WHO recommends not more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day, while average intake of sugar in US is 22 teaspoons per day.

Stress : Prolonged Stress episodes can reduce efficiency of immune system. Stress makes our brain produce cortisol, which is a hormone that impairs the function of T cells. T cells are important part of immune system. Yoga or Meditation are best to fight against regular stress.

Do u know that just talking to family and friends reduces stress to a great extent, which indirectly boosts our immunity.Even hugging someone reduces the stress.

Do you know that Washing Dishes can lower the stress level

Grief and Loneliness : You must have heard that loneliness kills, which is now accepted by medical science. Anxiety caused by loneliness suppresses our immune system and make us sick more often. Grief, such a loosing a loved one, weakens our immune system and makes us prone to infections like flu.

Usage of Antibiotics: Usually we think that we are treating ourselves by using antibiotic medicines. But the truth is that antibiotic medicines also kill the those good bacteria who are undisclosed friends of our immune system. Killing those good bacteria reduces efficiency of our immune system.

Learn more about Antibiotics and Bacteria

Vitamin C and D : These vitamins are responsible for improving immune system. Those who stay away from sunlight (from where you get Vitamin D) and don't eat fruits and vegetable (source of Vitamin C) should change their lifestyle to get these vitamins. A few minutes of sunlight and some citrus fruits can put these nutrients back in your body to empower your immunity.

Inactivity: Too much sitting and escaping from simple workout also makes your immune system sit idle. It increases chances of infection, inflammation and premature death.

How much exercise is Enough ? 

Too much exercise : Yes you heard it right even too much exercise can harm your immune system. "Overtraining Syndrome" is correct word to describe it. Mostly professional athletes suffer from this condition which is harmful for immune system. When you workout too hard reaching above the limits of body to recover from the physical stress, then you do a self harm.

Do you think Bodybuilding makes you stronger ?

Too much cleanliness : It may sound a bit odd but the truth is that too much cleanliness makes your immune system weak. Researchers have found that those kids who live in completely germ free environment are more susceptible to allergies. It is because their immune system does not get opportunity to develop immunity against those microbes which are easily available everywhere else. So let your kids play outdoor and let them make houses of sand and soil.

Alcohol, smoking, sleeping less and eating too much salt are some other well known factors which weaken your immune system. So keep the above points in mind and don't let your lifestyle weaken your immune system.

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Washing Dishes is linked to Lower Stress and Well Being

Do you know that Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos wash their dishes themselves. Why don't they use services of a dishwasher or a servant to do so. They can afford every luxury possible on this planet, but they wash their dishes themselves. Why !

Researchers at Florida State University recently found that washing dishes increases mindfulness. According to Psychology Today, Mindfulness is a state of mind when you pay attention to the present activity, instead of thinking about past and future. 

• Mindfulness during dish washing reduces stress level.
• Washing dishes also boosts your immune system. According to an article published in Pediatrics during 2015, our immune system gets benefit when we indulge ourselves in some little dirty activities. Washing dishes is one such little dirty thing that can boost your immune system.

According to Time Magazine, those children are less likely to have allergies where the family hand washes the dishes, instead of using a machine or servant to do so.

• If you are a little sensitive about saving water, then you will use lesser water to clean dishes compared to a dishwasher or a maid.
• If your kitchen sink is full of unwashed dishes, then it is an open invitation to cockroaches and other rodents. Washing dishes just after having a meal saves you from such unhygienic things.

When your hands are exposed to microbes in your early life, you develop a better immune system which is resistant to most microbes. 

• When you rely on your hands to wash dishes, you will never let your kitchen sink full of unwashed dishes. It increases hygiene level of your kitchen, which is must to live a healthy life.
• Washing your dishes after the lunch / dinner is over gives a feeling of completeness of all tasks in kitchen. This feeling is itself related to well being.

According to a report published in Daily Mail, scented dishwashers induces a relaxed mood, and completion of task initiates a feeling of well being.

• When your kids watch you washing dishes, they will learn a healthy and hygienic habit. Don't hesitate in letting them help you as it is a basic skill for good life just like eating habits.
• Delicate dishes are more safe in your hands compared to dishwasher or a maid. Apart from it, you yourself can give them a better wash gently.

The richest people in the world might be doing this household chore without learning the above facts, but such things work for their betterment in the background. Once i heard a great saying that we should do our household chores ourselves, and the above facts have confirmed it scientifically.

Just like you are advised to exercise daily to remain fit, washing your dishes yourself can also help you in improving your well being, stress level and immunity. So don't make excuses to yourself and wash your dishes yourself.

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