When running an errand for his wife, a man asks her the address of their dry-cleaners. “Just adjacent to your favourite shirt shop, darling. It’s the shop in front of which you always park your car,” she replies. Sounds familiar?

Do you also have your own version of the dry cleaners?

When you realise it, are you genuinely surprised at your oversight? Do you feel that you should have noticed the dry-cleaners, or do you brush away the omission thinking, ‘No one can possibly see everything’?

Technically speaking, you have seen the dry-cleaners countless times. You must have—it has always been there. Only, you were not aware of its existence until someone brought it to your notice. This means you saw it without really ‘seeing’ it.

Notice, don’t just see

We ‘see’ many things without really ‘seeing’ them. In the earlier example, the location of the dry-cleaners’ shop failed to register in the man’s mind. But sometimes we believe we have ‘seen’ something, when in truth, we fail to appreciate what we have seen because it never enters our conscious mind. The following example may throw some light on the whys and hows of it.

Everyday on his way to work Mr X walked past a tree that stood outside his apartment block. One windy morning, however, as he walked beneath it, a few colourful autumn leaves fell upon him. He raised his hand to brush them off his shoulder and head. For some strange reason, he grabbed them and looked at the leaves before throwing them on the pavement.

The beauty of each leaf—its colour, pattern and texture—caught his eye. Connecting the leaves to the tree, he gazed up and saw many more such leaves, almost ready to drop. X was filled with wonder at the many branches of the towering tree. ”How majestic,” he thought,” and how beautiful it looks in autumn”.

X had seen the tree many times before, but that morning, he felt he was seeing it ‘as if’ for the first time. Describing his experience to a friend, he said he felt as though earlier, the tree had just slipped in and out of focus of his eyes. So while, biologically speaking, he ‘saw’ the tree, his ‘sight’ was limited to his interpretation of the sensory data—it’s only an inconsequential tree. But ‘seeing,’ as X experienced, is actually much more than mere sensory perception.

Bring the world in

When X truly ‘saw’ the tree as if for the first time [and we should add, without the help of another person], it was as though he had adopted what a Buddhist might describe as an attitude of mindfulness [vis-à-vis his earlier state of mindlessness]. X’s seeing the tree involved his full attention, or called him to live completely in the present moment, that is, in the fullness of time. Having paid the tree the attention it deserved, X became aware of that much more beauty around him.

If you think about this, there may be so many things crying out to add meaning [and beauty and much more] to your life-world, if only you would allow them to—by just acknowledging their presence.

Don’t limit your sight

But sadly, we largely live in a state of pre-reflective seeing. We see things and interpret them based on our corporeal being’s [physical self] general involvement with the world. This approach limits our sight. Relating this to X’s example, whenever he registered the tree earlier, he didn’t reflect on it as his mind would automatically [pre-reflectively] brush it aside as an inconsequential tree [as that was the extent of his involvement/relation with the tree].

In Persoon en wereld [Person and world,1953] Van den Berg describes an incident where a man from a remote jungle was suddenly brought into bustling Singapore. The man ‘saw’ planes flying overhead, many shops, skyscrapers, trains and vehicles of all kinds. But later in the day, when the man was asked what had amazed him most, he expressed his wonder on a single person being able to carry so many bananas. The man had ‘seen’ a street vendor pushing a cartful of bananas.

Van den Berg explains that the man [like all of us] really and meaningfully ‘saw’ what belonged and made sense in his personal life-world. The modernity of the city was irrelevant to his world, hence, says Van den Berg, he did not really ‘see’ it. 

See things differently

Life would be so much more meaningful if we could enjoy more magical moments of sight. But this in turn, depends on our extending the possibility of our deriving meaning from the world surrounding us. So, what prevents us from doing so?

Psychologists explain that humans largely harbour a mistaken sense of agency that places the ‘seer’ over and above a ‘seen’ [object]. This means that we believe that we [the seer] choose what to see [the seen object] and invariably, one could add, end up seeing very little. In other words, we believe that it is us and not the seen objects that initiate our process of sight. A Dutch professor of psychology Van Lennep has described this as a belief that the seen [object] would [only] passively and unmoved undergo something like attention.

If instead, we could accept the possibility of connecting on an equal footing with the myriad forms of life surrounding us—indeed even supposedly non-living objects like rock formations—our understanding of the process of seeing may change.

See and be seen

Seeing is a two-way process. X might believe that the tree prompted him to pay attention to it, by sending down its leaves. In other words, the tree introduced itself to X. This would amount to X accepting that the tree—the seen object—is capable of connecting, engaging, and conversing with him.

The moment of truly seeing the tree then becomes, as John Berger, a Marxist writer on art expounded in his book Ways of Seeing, “a moment of choosing to look and at the same time a moment of being chosen.” But this can only happen, he further explains, “soon after we can see [the other side]” as “we are [then] aware that we can also be seen.” Until that magical moment transpires, we erroneously and somewhat egoistically believe we are the only seers.

Experience the magic of sight

Children naturally possess a quality that enables them to look for enjoyment in the most mundane of circumstances and objects. A child’s mindset is not rushed. Children are always in the mood to experience newness. Hence, they are able to gape and gawk at what we adults take ‘for granted’—things that neither add nor have the potential to add meaning to our world.

A child’s joie de vive involves being alive [read open] to the possibility of newness, and to accept every morning that the world is changing [not static] and hence full of immense opportunities. This innate belief is what enhances their power of sight, and their ability to constantly add new dimensions to their world.

As an adult, you too can encourage yourself to enhance your power of sight. At least, you will make a conscious effort to do so, if and only if you now see how blind you may have been lately, and determine to use your power of sight in its entirety in future. To quote physicist-philosopher Heinz von Foerster, “If I don’t see I am blind, I am blind; but if I see I am blind, I see.”

Sugar is bad for your brain

You already know that sugar is not your body’s best friend. It is detrimental for your health on many levels. But a recent study has found that it also affects your cognitive abilities. A University of California, Los Angeles study shows that a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning.

“Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science.

The UCLA team zeroed in on high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. However, the researchers point out that fructose present in fruits is not guilty of hampering the brain as fruits also have antioxidants.

“We’re concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative,” explained Gomez-Pinilla, who is also a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center.

Eating too much fructose could block insulin’s ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar for the energy required for processing thoughts and emotions. The hormone insulin doesn’t just control blood sugar but also regulates synaptic function in the brain. The researchers suspect that fructose leads insulin to lose much of its power to influence the brain cells.

“Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. Because insulin can penetrate the blood–brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss,” Gomez-Pinilla said.

Thankfully, consuming omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA], can counteract the disruption and protect against damage to the synapses — the chemical connections between brain cells that enable memory and learning.

“DHA is essential for synaptic function — brain cells’ ability to transmit signals to one another,” Gomez-Pinilla said. “This is the mechanism that makes learning and memory possible. Our bodies can’t produce enough DHA, so it must be supplemented through our diet.”

A brain that is used to high-fructose diet with no DHA to counter it, shows decline in synaptic activity.The brain cells have trouble signaling each other, disrupting one’s ability to think clearly and recall what one has learnt as recently as six weeks back

DHA-deprivation also leads to insulin resistance.

Gomez-Pinilla advises people to keep fructose intake to a minimum and swap sugary desserts for fresh berries and Greek yogurt. An occasional bar of dark chocolate that hasn’t been processed with a lot of extra sweetener is fine too.

So if you can’t resist foods that are high in artificial fructose, make to also eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, walnuts and flaxseeds, or take a daily DHA capsule. Gomez-Pinilla recommends one gram of DHA per day. “It’s like saving money in the bank. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases,” said Gomez-Pinilla.

The findings are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology .
EurekAlert!

Let’s take a look at some common myths.

Myth 1: Pregnancy care starts after you get pregnant

Most women register with their obstetrician for medical care after they get pregnant. In reality, the best time to start taking care of your unborn baby is before you conceive. Such care is called pre-pregnancy or pre-conception care. The beauty about pre-pregnancy care is that it is so simple: it only involves visiting your doctor before you are planning to get pregnant, rather than after you’ve missed your menstrual period.

The doctor:

1. takes a medical history
2. carries out a physical examination
3. performs some simple laboratory tests.

These procedures are inexpensive, easy to conduct and signify examples of preventive medicine at its best.

Pre-pregnancy care also has other benefits. For instance, it allows the doctor to identify problems and rectify them at an early stage. If these problems are spotted after you become pregnant, the presence of the delicate embryo can delay detailed testing. A simple precaution you can take is to ensure a regular intake of a vitamin called folic acid that greatly reduces the chances of your baby being born with birth defects. It should be taken before you become pregnant and during the first six weeks of pregnancy.

Myth 2: Modern medical care is essential if you want to have a healthy baby

Modern obstetric care can ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth. Unfortunately, doctors have ‘medicalised’ pregnancy to such an extent that an otherwise normal event has been converted to one which needs rigorous and frequent medical assistance. Common tests which are misused include: blood tests for TORCH infections [TORCH is an acronym for a special group of infections that may be acquired by a woman during pregnancy]; ultrasound scans; and foetal monitoring.

Another area of misuse relates to the tests available for screening the baby for a possible birth defect. Many doctors routinely subject their patients to a ‘triple test’ during pregnancy to screen for birth defects. Some of these tests can be expensive, and risky as well. Thus, it is not uncommon for a mother to lose a healthy baby because of a test which was not really required in the first place.

Myth 3: More is better

A lot of medical technology during pregnancy is overused and misused. Foetal monitoring to document foetal wellbeing is a good example. While this procedure was initially designed to serve as a tool to monitor the wellbeing of the foetus and help reduce the need for medical intervention, today it is often used to justify an LSCS [Caesarean section] in order to forcibly take out a baby ‘in foetal distress’.

A much simpler alternative would be to opt for ‘kick counts’ in which the mother acts as her own foetal monitor, by counting how many times her baby moves. A baby who moves actively is sure to be healthy.

Myth 4: Hospitals are best places to deliver a baby

Despite advances in medical science, it is sad that the rituals associated with childbirth in hospitals have unfortunately been designed for the doctor’s convenience, rather than the patients’. Harmful practises include: forced induction of labour; routine use of enemas and intravenous drips, foetal monitoring, making the patient lie down [rather than allowing her to walk about]—it’s a long list.

Don’t let the hospital/clinic staff patronise you—you need to assert your rights. The presence of a doula [a person trained to provide support to women in labour] has been proven to be very helpful. Also, you should encourage your husband to participate in this adventure as actively as possible.

Recent developments show that many women in the West are turning back to natural childbirth once again, often either at home or what are known as ‘birthing centres’. In other words, they would like to keep as far away from a hospital as possible. Despite the fact many doctors scare women into believing that the hospital is the safest place to deliver a baby, recent international studies have shown that the home is often much safer and much more congenial for normal births.

For example, Holland, where over 60 per cent of births occur at home, under the supervision of midwives, can justifiably boast of having one of the world’s lowest neonatal mortality rates.

Myth 5: Mothers need anaesthesia to cope with the pain of labour and childbirth

Yet another myth that has become a norm is the application of anaesthesia for pain relief. Epidural analgesia has become a status symbol in most hospitals. We have mindlessly aped this Western ‘advance’, much to the detriment of both the mother and the child. Pain relief techniques should be used only when absolutely necessary. Otherwise simple techniques such as yoga and meditation can help you manage labour pain effectively.

Myth 6: A caesarean section [CS] is safer for the baby than normal vaginal birth

We are witnessing a virtual epidemic of caesarean sections today. Whereas a CS once used to be the method of last resort to deliver the baby, it has now become the norm in some hospitals, accounting for 50 per cent of all births. The reason, of course, is obvious: a CS is financially much more lucrative to the doctor than a normal delivery. As a senior obstetrician wryly put it: “The only indication for a normal delivery today seems to be if a patient delivers before the doctor reaches the hospital.”

Myth 7: It’s not safe to have sex during pregnancy, as this can hurt the baby

This is not true. The baby is safe inside its own private swimming pool in the uterus, and sex will not affect it. In fact, many women find that their libido increases dramatically during the first few weeks of pregnancy, and it’s safe to have sex if you so desire.

Myth 8: It’s not safe for pregnant women to fly

Modern aircraft cabins are pressurised, which means that it’s safe for women to fly in the first 32 weeks of their pregnancy. After this time, most airlines will not allow you to fly, because they are worried you may go into labour in the plane.

Myth 9: You can tell your baby’s gender by the way you are carrying

How you carry your baby depends upon many variables, including your build; the baby’s size; and whether the baby’s head has entered the pelvis or not. This has nothing to do with the baby’s gender—but you always have a 50 per cent chance of being right.

A simple walk in the park can do wonders to our mental abilities

If you keep feeling low all the time, you will never know when you free-fall into depression. However, there is a simple way to lift your spirits and protect your mental health. Moreover, it’s free! All you have to do is take a walk in the park! It even works for clinically depressed individuals.

In a recent study Marc Berman, a post-doctoral fellow at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, with partners from the University of Michigan and Stanford University, found that walking in nature bestows cognitive benefits.

For the study, the researchers recruited people who were diagnosed with clinical depression. The experiment involved walking in a quiet nature setting and also in a noisy urban setting.
Prior to the walks, participants completed baseline testing to determine their cognitive and mood status. Before beginning a walk, the participants were asked to think about an unresolved, painful experience from their lives. They were then randomly assigned to go for an hour-long walk in a nearby park or in a place with heavy traffic. They followed a prescribed route and wore a GPS watch to ensure compliance.

After completing their walk, the participants completed a series of mental tests to measure their attention and short-term/working memory and were re-assessed for mood. A week later, the participants repeated the entire procedure, walking in the location that was not visited in the first session.

It was found that all participants exhibited a 16 per cent increase in attention and working memory after the nature walk relative to the urban walk. Interestingly, interacting with nature did not alleviate depressive mood to any noticeable degree over urban walks, as negative mood decreased and positive mood increased after both walks to a significant and equal extent. Dr. Berman says this suggests that separate brain mechanisms may underlie the cognitive and mood changes of interacting with nature.

However, in a 2008 study, Dr. Berman showed that adults who were not diagnosed with any illness received a mental boost after an hour-long walk in a woodland park—improving their performance on memory and attention tests by 20 per cent—compared to an hour-long stroll in a noisy urban environment. The findings were reported by many reputed publications.

EurekAlert!

There is a deep connection between language and how the brain works

The brain is a fascinating organ. It keeps baffling researchers and lay people alike with what it is capable of. Recently, psychologists from the School of Psychology and Centre for Research on Bilingualism at Bangor University were building on a previous research on bilingualism when they made yet another astounding discovery about the brain.

The previous research had found that bilinguals subconsciously access their first language when reading in their second language. Now, the psychologists have discovered that our brain shuts down that same unconscious access to the native language when faced with a negative word such as ‘war’, ‘discomfort’, ‘inconvenience’, and ‘unfortunate’.

Professor Guillaume Thierry explains: “We think this is a protective mechanism. We know that in trauma for example, people behave very differently. Surface conscious processes are modulated by a deeper emotional system in the brain. Perhaps this brain mechanism spontaneously minimises negative impact of disturbing emotional content on our thinking, to prevent causing anxiety or mental discomfort.”

He continues: “We were expecting to find modulation between the different words- and perhaps a heightened reaction to the emotional word – but what we found was the exact opposite to what we expected- a cancellation of the response to the negative words.”

The psychologists made this discovery by asking English-speaking Chinese people whether word pairs were related in meaning. Some of the word pairs were related in their Chinese translations. Although not consciously acknowledging a relation, measurements of electrical activity in the brain revealed that the bilingual participants were unconsciously translating the words. However, uncannily, this activity was not observed when the English words had a negative meaning.

Key to this is the understanding that people have a greater reaction to emotional words and phrases in their first language, which is why people speak to their infants and children in their first language despite living in a country that speaks another language and despite fluency in the second. It has been recognised for some time that anger, swearing or discussing intimate feelings has more power in a speaker’s native language. In other words, emotional information lacks the same power in a second language as in a native language.

EurekAlert!

Have lots of veggies

Have lots of naturally grown and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Healthy summer-friendly vegetable choices include: cucumber, bitter melon, sweet potatoes, asparagus, sprouts, mint, spinach, lettuce, carrots, sweet peas, broccoli, gourds [snake, bitter, ash, ridged and bottle gourds], okra, and baby squash.

Raisins, grapes, pineapple, pomegranate, sweet oranges, mangoes, apples, dates, pears, melons, plums, and prunes are all cooling fruits.

Drink juice

Pomegranate juice is one of the best options among summer drinks, the others being watermelon juice, tender coconut water, lemonade, coriander ginger tea, buttermilk or lassi, and vegetable juices like those of cucumber, pumpkin and mint.

Avoid this

Avoid consuming colas, alcohol, frozen or iced drinks, excess coffee and tea. Also refrain from having too much hot, spicy, sour and salty foods—they don’t go well on hot days. Keep your intake of green or red chillies, strong spices like pepper, cloves and mustard seeds, garlic and onion to a bare minimum. Processed and preserved foods are best avoided. Meat which is heavy to digest is not a good diet option in summer.

Eat at the right time

Apart from what one should eat, Ayurveda also describes how, when and what one should consume during summer to help your body digest it well. It encourages one to eat more when the sun is relatively benevolent, for instance, early morning or late evening. Hence, moonlight dinners are recommended. It also prescribes eating in the company of nature—it has been recognised as the best place to enjoy meals with family and friends.

Eat light

Summer meals should be light, delicious, aromatic and freshly cooked. Sweet, cool, bitter and astringent tastes in smaller quantities should dominate your diet. Mild spices like cumin, coriander, ginger, fenugreek, mint, cardamom, and fennel should be incorporated in the diet.

Follow this diet chart

As mentioned earlier, it’s extremely important to eat the right things at the right time during summer to keep your body naturally cool and avoid the adverse effects of soaring temperatures. Here’s what ayurveda recommends:

In the morning [have one of the following]

• Tender coconut water with crystal sugar and cardamom
• Liquorices [jeshthimadh, mulhati] in milk
• Watermelon juice with little honey
• Pineapple juice with sugar or dash of pepper and ginger
• Jal jeera made by mixing lemon juice, cumin powder and salt to taste.
• Moong dal or cereals with raw grated vegetables, ginger and cumin.
• Green gram and cooked rice mixed with sugar and cardamom or mild spices and ghee.
• Idlis, dosa, chappatis sans hot and spicy accompaniments.
• In addition, you can also have ghee, milk, and milk preparations.

At noon

• Freshly made lassi 100 – 150 ml with few spoons of rose water. You can also add crystal sugar and cardamom to it. Or you can have lassi with coriander or mint leaves and salt; or with a splash of salt, cumin and asafoetida [hing].
• Gourd [ash gourd, snake gourd, bottle gourd] or cucumber juice with or without spices.
• Raw mango juice or fresh sweet mango juice offers a welcome respite from the sultry heat.
• Preparations that have predominant sweet, bitter and astringent tastes.

At night

• Warm milk with crystal sugar
• Warm milk with saffron, cardamom, sugar
• Boiled milk with ginger—filter it, cool it and have after adding cardamom, sugar, and finely powdered almonds.
• Fresh sweet grape juice; it helps cope better with summer heat.
• Rose petal jam [gulkand], ghee, sweets made up of dairy product.
• [Since solids are difficult to digest during summer, more emphasis is laid on consuming the right kinds of liquids. Combine them with light easy-to-digest food].

With inputs from Shantala Priyadarshini, MS, Ayurveda and assistant professor Government Ayurveda Medical College, Karnataka.

Climate, with other factors, dictates people’s preferences. For example, when the weather is hot, people prefer staying in parks, visiting beaches, or spending time in cool atmosphere or air conditioned vehicles or rooms. Clearly, weather sends us signals to improvise our lifestyle and dietary inclinations.

And Ayurveda lays down elaborate description of seasonal and daily routine, which, when adopted, enables us to achieve perfect health, prevent diseases and also to enjoy life to the utmost.

When the mercury soars

A cloudy day does not help in raising one’s spirit, but a day with beautiful sunshine does. It boosts dwindling spirits and energises aged bones. An increase in the number of jovial children playing on the beach, building sand castles, relishing ice-creams or cooling juices is common on a hot summer day.

On the flip side, it is observed that people have stronger temper tantrums and more frequent violent outbursts in summer or on hotter days than on cooler days. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, almost all crimes increase during summer months by almost 10 per cent—murders go up by 16 per cent, rapes and other violent crimes by 13 per cent. Even teenagers get into more trouble with drugs and alcohol, and become more involved with theft and assault in summer.

Apart from hotter temperatures, holidays and other reasons could also be contributing to the increase in crime rates. However, research points out otherwise.

Extreme heat, extreme behaviour

Studying the effects of heat on the brain for 30 years convinced Canadian criminologist [Simon Fraser University, Canada] Ehor Boyanowsky, of the direct co-relation between heat and extreme behaviour.

Dr Lance Workman, a psychologist from the University of Glamorgan, UK, proved how hot weather affects the levels of serotonin levels in our brain—increased serotonin levels lead to heightened aggression. He ascertains that there is indeed an increase in violent crimes as temperatures rise. And this trend, according to Workman, is global.

Not just the rate of crimes, but there is also a significant increase in irritability during the hot weather. Back in 1986, two psychologists, Douglas Kenrick and SW Macfarlane, conducted an interesting traffic-jam experiment on a busy UK road. They arranged for a car to sit at various traffic signals and stay there even as the light turned green [they tried this in diverse weathers].

What they found is what we all probably experience in everyday life as well—as the temperatures increased and the people inside the non-air conditioned cars began honking with increasing intensity.

Heat also induces depression. The Seasonal Affective Disorder [SAD] includes summer depression. Symptoms include: poor or altered appetite, sometimes a craving for sweet or starchy foods, weight loss or gain, trouble sleeping or tendency to oversleep, decreased energy and fatigue, difficulty concentrating and irritability, avoidance of social situations and feelings of anxiety and despair. They usually vanish as the heat subsides.

Heat and health

Hot weather not just affects our head, but also our physical health. While it soothes the problems of the cold season such as winter blues, allergy, asthma, aches and pains, hot summers also sap energy; reduce appetite; increase thirst, lethargy, depression and digestive problems.

The season also fosters the spread of infectious diseases, starting off epidemics. According to Scott Sheridan, climatology professor at Kent State University, Ohio, USA heart, vascular, and respiratory problems too increase with rising temperatures.

Cool, inside-out

All systems of medicine consider the mind-body co-ordination, and more so Ayurveda. The ancient seers went to the extent of advocating diet, lifestyle modifications and management of diseases, exclusively based on idiosyncratic demands taking into account the significant factors like effect of normal changes of climate or vagaries of nature.

Here’s what Ayurveda prescribes for summer to keep the body and mind cool from inside out:

Sun and the skin

Soaking in too much sun can result in burnt or sensitive skin, and appearance of unattractive brown spots, and pigmentation on the skin. It can even cause skin cancer. Further, overexposure to ultraviolet rays hastens wrinkling, drying and ageing of the skin due to the release of free radicals. The eyes too suffer if exposed for long to these rays; they degenerate and develop early cataracts.

However, reasonable exposure to sunlight helps maintain healthy skin. Hence, the first important aspect of skincare in summer is exposure to the sun in moderation. Here are some tips to help keep your skin shining like the sun:

• Avoid applying make-up. If you do apply, do so sparingly and completely remove it at bedtime.
• Apply face packs made of watermelon puree, cucumber, orange peel powder, banana or papaya pulp mixed with honey, milk cream or rosewater.
• Use sandalwood, neem, turmeric and aloe vera to enhance skin tone and keep the skin free from premature wrinkles and pigmentations.
• Massage the skin regularly with coconut oil or medicated cooling oils to improve circulation and keep the skin young and healthy.
• Minise the damage to the skin due to exposure to scorching sunlight, by covering the skin and using adequate sun protection.
• Get sufficient good quality sleep; it is essential not just for healthy skin but also to maintain overall health.

Here’s how to stay fresh

• Wear clothes that are made of natural materials like cotton or silk.
• Opt for clothing in pastel colours like white, cream, light green, light blue or blends found in nature and not colours, which are very bright, glaring and shocking to the eyes. This is because light colours absorb less heat.
• Get a whole body oil massage with aromatic or cooling oils [made of basil, neem, sandal, jasmine, champak]. It helps enhance vigour and decrease body odour.
• Wear clean clothes after bath.
• Rub coconut or castor oil [any other cooling oil will also do] on the scalp and the soles of the feet before bedtime to keep your body cool. 
• Keep roses, tuberoses, jasmine or scented flowers in vases around the house. They have a cooling effect and make the atmosphere pleasant and the heat, bearable.
• Don’t give up exercise. However, opt for doing light yoga asanas [postures neither too complicated nor strenuous] instead of heavy weights. Alternatively, you can go for walks or pursue any other outdoor activity [swimming or other water sports], or simply spend some time near a water source early morning—it will refresh your mind and give you immense health benefits.
• Do cooling pranayama [sheethali, sheetakari] and dhyana [meditation] to avoid overheating your body.

The recommendations are made by seers of ayurveda after meticulously studying the nature and man—follow them to help your body cope with the hot season such that it takes the vagaries of climate in stride.

With inputs from Shantala Priyadarshini, MS, Ayurveda and assistant professor Government Ayurveda Medical College, Karnataka.

A positive body image is not about looking hot

If you thought that women who are conventionally good-looking must feel good about themselves, you're wrong. According to a new study published online in Springer's journal, Sex Roles, those women who are blessed with a strong family support and are not under pressure to achieve the 'thin and beautiful' ideal have a more positive body image.

A large number of women, especially in contemporary western cultures, are dissatisfied with their bodies and consequently at a risk of developing eating problems. The study, undertaken by Dr. Shannon Snapp, from the University of Arizona in the US, and colleagues, examined factors that make women more self-assured about their body image, in a bid to help those women at risk of eating disorders. They focussed on young college women as they most likely to experience self-consciousness when they compare themselves with peers or when they become involved in social groups and organisations that place a high value on appearance.

A total of 301 first-year college women completed questionnaires based on the Choate theoretical model. This model hypothesises that family support and low levels of pressure to attain the thin ideal are related to the rejection of the superwoman ideal, positive views of physical competence, and effective stress-busting strategies. These factors are associated with well-being, which in turn is linked to positive body image in women.

The researchers put this model to the test in a 'real life' situation. They found that young women with high family support and low levels of perceived socio-cultural pressure from family, friends and the media regarding the importance of achieving a 'thin and beautiful' ideal had a more positive body image. These same women also rejected the superwoman ideal, had a positive physical self-concept, and were armed with skills to deal with stress.

The authors conclude: "It is particularly important for women to develop a sense of self-worth that is not solely based on appearance, and to build resilience to pressures they may receive from family, friends and the media."

Springer

Researchers from the Tel Aviv University investigated the smart phone is challenging traditional conceptions of privacy, especially in the public sphere. Their early results indicate that although spaces such as city squares, parks, or transportation were once seen as public meeting points, smart phone users are more and more caught up in their technology-based communications devices than their immediate surroundings.

Smart phone users are 70 percent more likely than regular cellphone users to believe that their phones afford them a great deal of privacy, says Dr. Eran Toch of TAU's Department of Industrial Engineering, who specializes in privacy and information systems. These users are more willing to reveal private issues in public spaces. They are also less concerned about bothering individuals who share those spaces, he says. Dr. Tali Hatuka of TAU's Department of Geography says that smart phones create the illusion of "private bubbles" around their users in public spaces.

To examine how smart phones have impacted human interactions in public and private spaces, the researchers designed an in-depth survey.

Nearly 150 participants, half smart phone users and half regular phone users, were questioned about how telephone use applied to their homes, public spaces, learning spaces, and transportation spaces. While regular phone users continued to adhere to established social protocol in terms of phone use — postponing private conversations for private spaces and considering the appropriateness of cell phone use in public spaces — smart phone users adapted different social behaviors for public spaces. They were 50 per cent less likely to be bothered by others using their phones in public spaces, and 20 percent less likely than regular phone users to believe that their private phone conversations were irritating to those around them, the researchers found.

According to the researchers, smart phone users were also more closely "attached" to their mobile devices. When asked how they felt when they were without their phones, the majority of smart phone owners chose negative descriptors such as "lost," "tense," or "not updated." Regular phone users were far more likely to have positive associations to being without their phones, such as feeling free or quiet.

American Friends Tel Aviv Universtity

Without counseling, patients are left to make their own, often flawed, assumptions about risk associated with sexual activity. Multiple studies have shown that sex puts less of a strain on the heart than people might think. Images from overly dramatic movie scenes and sensational news stories reinforce common misconceptions. In reality, only about 1 per cent of all heart attacks occur during sex. Far less than 1 per cent of heart attack survivors die due to a sexual encounter, according to other research.

Current guidelines developed by groups of leading cardiologists, including Harlan Krumholz, MD, professor of medicine and epidemiology and public health at Yale University School of Medicine and study author, state that stable heart patients without complications can resume sexual activity with their usual partner within one week to 10 days.

In January 2012, the American Heart Association [AHA] put more weight behind those recommendations with its most comprehensive review to date of research on sexual activity among heart patients. The report substantiated a longstanding rule of thumb: If patients can engage in moderate exercise—such as walking up a couple of flights of stairs—they are generally healthy enough for sex. The AHA also points to respected guidelines for care after a heart attack, which include patient counseling on resuming sexual activity.

“The goal is to restore a patent’s whole health,” said John Spertus, MD, of the University of Missouri in Kansas City, who designed the study. “That means not only minimizing further progression of coronary disease, but also maximizing quality of life.”

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