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Parkinson’s disease – causes and remedial measures

November 7th, 2009

As one gets older in terms of age, one needs to take extra care and attention of his or her body to enjoy a healthy life. One of the many diseases that might develop and subsequently affect the later years is the Parkinson’s disease. Normally, this disease can develop and subsequently affect a person – either man or women – after the age of 50. But, it can be totally eliminated once a person exercises better control over his dieting and other activities during his early years.

The funny part of this Parkinson’s disease is that the underlying cause behind this disease remains unknown in most cases.

What are the symptoms for this disease?

If you or any person known to you and aged above 50 experience some sort of trembling where the hands and the whole body in some cases shakes uncontrollably, rigidity in muscles and/or an abnormal gait, then there is every possibility that the said person might be a victim of this Parkinson’s disease. These symptoms are not the common cause for all types of people and might vary from person to person. Not only are the above-mentioned the only symptoms for Parkinson’s disease. Some people might experience difficulty in swallowing food or difficulty in speech, while some might even experience some sort of progressive dementia.

What causes this disease, in the first instance?

One of the causes for contracting this Parkinson’s disease is the breakdown in neuro-muscular functions that are executed by the brain. A part of the brain, called in medical terms as substantia nigra, is responsible for the manufacture of a chemical called dopamine, which, in turn, directs and regulates the neuro-muscular functions in the body. If the part of the brain, or substantia nigra, suffers destruction and could not manufacture the chemical, then the neuro-muscular functions are severely affected and this in turn is one of the reasons for this Parkinson’s disease.

What causes the substantia nigra to get affected is not clearly defined or identified by the medical world. Intake of cocaine or suffering some severe injuries in the head are found to be some of the causes for the breakdown in substantia nigra. Medications consumed by drug addicts such as Demerol might also severely affect the part of the brain, thus leading to Parkinson’s disease.

If one gets affected with this Parkinson’s disease, there is no other alternative but to sustain on medication and strict dietary habits. Once affected, one cannot get complete cure or relief from the disease.

A dual combination of medicine and diet can help lessen the impact of Parkinson’s disease. Doctors advise intake of levodopa about twenty or thirty minutes before consuming food so that this medicine is absorbed in the small intestine. If some patients experience a feeling of nausea if taken alone, levodopa may be taken along with some snacks rich in carbohydrates. If proteins are reduced in the food content, then it would be better as levodopa can get digested quickly in the body. Research reveals that reduced intake of proteins might have better effect on patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

If you happen to contract this Parkinson’s disease, then you are deprived of protein in your daily consumption of food. You can as well imagine the condition and additional impact of not taking proteins in your food and the cascading effect on your energy levels.

Thus, it is advisable that we should not get this Parkinson’s disease after we cross the age of 50. For that to happen, we should have better control over dietary aspects and also ensure that we stay away from drugs in our young age.

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Simple tips to deal with palpitations

November 7th, 2009

An unexpected or sudden loss of rhythm in the way our heart beats is referred to as palpitation. Not all palpitations need be symptoms of a serious heart problem. Palpitation might occur occasionally due to fatigue, worry, stress or illness. You might be surprised to hear that a normal heartbeat occurs for as much as 36 million times in a year in our body. There is a possibility of that rhythmic beat of the heart getting slightly disturbed or losing its rhythm, due probably due to any of the above mentioned other conditions such as fatigue, worry, sickness or stress. In technical terms, palpitation is a fluttering or a pounding sensation in your chest, as the heart, due to loss of rhythm, either beats too fast or skips a beat.

There are ways to stop these palpitations at the first instance as soon as they start, and as such, no need for panic.

As soon as you notice an irregular heartbeat, the first thing you can do is to sit down and prop your feet up. Then, breathe slowly and deeply, letting your abdomen expand with each inhalation. If you focus on the slow, steady breathing, there is every possibility that your heartbeat might return to its normal rhythm instantly.

Try to have a few gulps of cold water, as soon as you experience palpitation. This has yielded instant results in most cases, might be due to the fact that the swallowed water causes your esophagus to press against your heart, and that minor “nudge” would help restore the normal rhythm. Or else, one can try splashing ice-cold water on to the face. The shock you get when you splash cold-water in the face might do the trick in restoring the normalcy.

Blowing up a balloon in case you experience palpitation also helps you in restoring the normal rhythm. This has been proved useful for professional singers, who occasionally experience such palpitation ahead of a stage performance in front of a huge crowd, probably due to stage-fear.

Even you can try to cough forcefully, when sensing some sort of palpitation in your heartbeat. Coughing increases the pressure in your chest. A little extra pressure or a nudge is all that one needs to get back the heartbeat to its normal rhythm.

One of the reasons for palpitation is stress. In fact, palpitation is one of the ways the body expresses that you have exceeded the safe range of stress you can withstand in normal course. Having control your stress levels helps you avoid these palpitations in the first instance. Relaxing the mind for at least 30 minutes per day when you are awake, allowing your mind to unwind and refresh, and/or spending some time in meditation are the simple ways in which stress can be kept under control and as such, allow no room for palpitations to occur to your normal heartbeat rhythm.

Having a sound sleep for at least 7 hours in a day is a must for every normal person to lead a quality life, free of stress, fatigue, or palpitations. One can also allocate at least 30 minutes of time for doing some sort of aerobic exercise – not necessarily running, but even walking, jogging are playing games like tennis, for three or four days in a week to keep your energy levels, heartbeat and stress levels under control.

Health palpitations

A primer on Proteins

November 6th, 2009

The most important thing that makes life possible and keeps us going is the energy we get from the regular intake of foods. Without foods and the energy from the foods, one cannot sustain in this life.

The foods we consume contains a mix of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibers, vitamins and minerals. Without a right mix of any of these essential aspects, we cannot get the required energy for the body.

Proteins are very essential in the prinicipal years of life, especially the childhood and the adolescene period. Proteins are also required for the maintenance of the body throughout the life.

They are required primarily for two things – one is to build body structure such as bone matter as well as cell tissues. The second is to maintain the supply of antibodies, hormones as well as enzymes that are essential for digesting the food we consume in either solid or liquid form. During the process of digestion, the proteins are broken down into the components – called amino acids, and these amino acids are then absorbed and rearranged/

The amino acids present in the proteins are linked together in the form of chain structures. It has been found that as many as 24 types of amino acids are there in the proteins. Of all the 24 amino acids, ten amino acids are called as “essential amino acids” and are required for the effective survival of the body. In other words, if one does not consume these essential amino acids on a daily basis, the body cannot survive as the food we intake devoid of these essential amino acids could not be synthesized effectively. Almost all the foods we intake have these essential amino acids in some proportion. Some of the examples of these essential amino acids include milk, fish, eggs and meat.

In addition to these 10 essential amino acids, some amount of other amino acids are also produced from the proteins that are required for effective maintenance of the body. The balance 14 types of amino acids are called as “second class proteins”. It does not mean that you can afford to ignore these second call proteins. They are also equally important and required.

One has to ensure that the required amino acids are included in our daily intake of food in some form or the other. The body is bestowed with the unique capability of processing the foods and extracting the protein required for the maintanence of the body.

You need not get too much worried about the actual content of each type of amino acide contained in each type of food and such other things. All types of food we eat, either vegetarian diet or non-vegetarian diet,contain some amount of protein, and it is the responsibility of the body’s digestive system to extract the amino acids and maintain the body. One interesting aspect is that the amino acid profiles in each of the food groups complement each other in some way or other, and ensure that they get the complete protein required for the body.

As long as one consumes a wide range of staple foods that include some amount of daily products as well, the requirement of protein for the your body and its effective maintenance can be adequately fulfilled.

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