When it comes to your double chin, most experts say that there is no quick fix unless, of course, you decide to go under the knife. However, there are a few exercises that can bring you closer to a chiselled jawline, provided you do them regularly.

Stick your tongue as far as you can

To build muscle on your chin, open your mouth as wide as you can and stick out tongue to your limit until you start to feel the the muscle in your chin and neck tighten. Hold for 10 secs and release ( I know it is very difficult). Complete a set of 10 reps and you are done with the facial workout of the day.

Lift your head while lying down 

To perform the exercise, lie on your back with your head slightly hanging off the bed. Slowly lift and curl your head towards your chest while keeping your shoulders flat - hold it for 10 sec ( gain, I admit, it is tough). Repeat this move for three to two reps a day. Don't forget to sit up between each rep to prevent dizziness.

Clockwise & Anti-Clockwise

Rolling the neck is very simple, effective exercise when it comes to fighting off the double chin. Start this exercise by gently bending your head to one side, and then slowly to the other side so that it makes a complete circulation. Repeat by alternating the direction of the rotation, for about 3 to 4 minutes. This will stretch the facial muscles in the chin, jawline and the neck, thereby tightening the skin and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. 

Squeeze the tennis ball with your chin 

If you have a tennis ball with you, place it against your throat and squeeze it tightly with your chin for a few secs, and then release. Keep repeating this exercise for 2 sets, each with 10 reps.This will firm the skin around the chin and neck muscles.

Lift your head to kiss the sky

Tilt your head back and pucker your lips towards the sky. You should feel the tightening of the skin in the neck and the chin area, the more you lift your chin upwards. Hold that position for 5 seconds and then relax. Complete two sets of this exercise with 15 reps each.

Causes of Double Chin

• Genetics is one of the most common factors that can lead to a double chin. Take a look at your relatives to see if anyone is having double chin.

• Age is a major cause of the double chin in many cases. As we grow older, our muscles get smaller in size and our skin becomes looser.

• Or you should be having a wrong or unhealthy daily diet. Limit your consumption of Fatty acids, sugar and saturated fats. 

• People who usually slump forward are more likely to develop this condition, because when you do so, you allow fat to settle below your chin. 

Some the Tips and Exercises were adapted from the Times OF India as originally created by Shikha Shah.

The plant world is an immense store of active chemical compounds. Nearly half the medicines we use today are herbal in origin, and a quarter contains plant extracts or active chemicals taken directly from plants. Many more are yet to be discovered, recorded and researched; only a few thousand have been studied. 

Across the globe, the hunt will always be on to find species that could form the bases of new medicines. Humans have always used plants to ease their pains. They imbued them with magical powers and then gradually learnt to identify their properties. We can now enjoy the benefits of herbal medicines because, over thousands of years, our ancestors discovered which plants were medicinally beneficial and which were highly toxic.

Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians discovered simple ways to extract and use the active ingredients within plants. Egyptian papyrus manuscripts from 2000 B.C. record the use of perfumes and fine oils, and aromatic oils and gums in the embalming process.

In ancient Greece in the 5th and the 4th centuries BC, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was already recommending asparagus and garlic for their diuretic qualities, poppy as a way of inducing sleep and willow leaves to relieve pain and fever. In the 1st century AD, another Greek doctor, Dioscorides, established the first collection of medicinal plants. His treatise on the subject was translated into Arabic and Persian. Centuries later, his work was also used by the Muslim scholars who influenced great universities of the period, particularly at Montpelier, Europe's most famous center for the study of botany.(2)

As a result of trade with Africa and Asia, the Western world's store of herbal medicines was enriched by the inclusion of camphor, cinnamon, ginger, ginseng, nutmeg, sandalwood, turmeric and henna. For a long time, however, the use of both local plants and those with more distant origins was based on more or less fanciful beliefs. Throughout the Middle Ages herbal medicine consisted of a mixture of magic, superstition and empirical observation. From the Renaissance onwards, scientists and their scientific studies, discoveries and inventions came to the fore, rejecting alchemists' elixirs and other magical remedies. Local plants were carefully collected and widely used to make infusions, decoctions and ointments. These plants make up the major part of the traditional cures that we have inherited.

In the late 1700s, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, a gifted Swedish chemist, obtained tartaric acid from grapes, citric acid from lemons and malic acid from apples. The techniques that he and his contemporaries used led to the isolation of the first

purified compounds from plants that could be used as drugs. First came the isolation of morphine from the opium poppy in 1803, then caffeine from coffee beans in 1819, quinine from cinchona bark and colchicines from meadow saffron both in 1820 and atropine from deadly nightshade in 1835.

One tree that generated considerable interest among scientists was the willow. In the early 1800s, chemists from Germany, Italy and France began the search for the compounds responsible for the acclaimed pain-relieving effects of its bark. In 1828, the German pharmacist, Johann Buchner, was the first to obtain salicin, the major compound in a pure form. In 1838, the Italian chemist, Raffaele Piria also obtained salicylic acid from the bark by various chemical processes. But these early compounds caused blisters in the mouth, and stomach upsets when ingested. In 1853, a French chemist, Charles Frederic Gerhardt, synthesized a modified form of salicylic acid-acetylsalicylic acid. But still it wasn't further developed for more than 40 years until a German chemist, Felix Hoffman, working for Bayer, rediscovered Gerhardt's compound. Hoffman gave it to his father who suffered from arthritis and reported the beneficial effects.

Bayer decided to market the acetylsalicylic acid as a new drug for pain relief and patented the compound acetylsalicylic acid in 1899. At last from the willow, the first modern drug was born and, with 12000 tons of aspirin sold every year throughout the world, it has kept its number one position.


From the 1930s onwards, advances in chemistry have made it much easier to reproduce the active ingredients in plants. But plants will continue to have a medicinal importance in their own right. Their active constituents may be slightly modified to improve their efficiency or to reduce their undesirable effects, but they are still vital for the treatment of disorders such as cancers and heart diseases or as a means of combating malaria. And they remain the essence of herbal medicine-an area that has still not been fully understood and explored.

You probably know the meanings of the words workaholic and alcoholic.

What do you think a foodaholic is? Walter Hudson was one. How much do you weigh? Walter Hudson weighed more, much more. This is his obituary.

WALTER HUDSON, who has died at Hempstead, New York, age 46, was once listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest man on earth.

About 183 cm tall and 274 around, with cherubic features set off by pigtails braided in the Cherokee style, he long devoted himself to the pleasures of the table. Four years ago, Hudson-then tipping the industrial scales at his top weight of 540 kg - gained worldwide notoriety (as "Whopping Walter") when he became stuck in his bedroom door. He was wedged there for some four hours. It took eight firemen to free him.

Walter Hudson was born at Brooklyn in 1945 and, as he recalled, "began gorging at the age of six." At 15 he was so obese his legs collapsed underneath him and he was confined to bed.

Indeed, except for the time when his family moved to Hempstead in 1970 and he was transported by motor-car (his then 266 kg broke the seat,) he remained inside. "I'm just a foodaholic," he once confessed, "I have no excuse."

Hudson's eating habits were fueled by food brought in by members of his family. He would generally start his day with a breakfast of two pounds of bacon, 32 sausages, a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, jam and coffee.
For lunch, Hudson favored four enormous bowls of rice, four double cheese-burgers, eight boxes of fried potatoes, six pies, and six large bottles of coca-cola.
For dinner he would eat six roasted corns, half-a-dozen yams, and another six or seven baked potatoes, ending with a whole apple pie. Between these main meals, he would eat a chicken or two, followed by noodles, string beans, six large bottles of soda, not to mention colossal sandwiches, and copious amounts of ice-cream.

"All I cared about," he recalled, "was food, FOOD!"

When not eating and sleeping he would watch television, listen to tapes and read the Bible-he had a particular penchant for the psalms and was apt to recite Psalm "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills…"
Hudson, though, was advised against sitting up for longer than five minutes because of the risk of being smothered by flab. The only exercise he engaged in was when he attended to his ablutions; it took him an hour to negotiate the six yards to the bathroom from his bedroom. Then in 1987, he found himself wedged in the door-way. "The day I got stuck in that door," he recalled, "that when the Lord got me the help I needed." The help to which he referred was offered by Dick Gregory, a comedian who masterminded the Slim Safe Diet Scheme.

"We think what might have happened," said Gregory about his new client, "is that in 27 years of lying around he might, because of the reading of his Bible, have taken on the same characteristics as Buddhist monks - slowed down the biological processes. But we don't know."

Gregory placed Hudson on a 1,200 calorie-a-day diet of raw fruit and orange juice. For exercise he was advised to lie in bed waving his arms about like a conductor.

Hudson soon lost some four inches off his knees, and within three months had shed 178 kg. It began to look as if he might fulfill such ambitions as visiting his mother's grave, riding on the New York subway, driving into the country-and even flying to a clinic in the Bahamas, from which he envisaged emerging as a sylph of 13 stones.

But it was not to be. At the time of his death, of an apparent heart attack, Hudson reportedly weighed 508 kg. Rescue workers had to cut a large hole in the wall of his bedroom to remove the body. He was unmarried.

Once, while jogging in early morning with my Dad, I see many people together in a group Laughing, Clapping, Jumping. 'What is this, are they mad? ' This questions arrived in my mind everyday until I asked my Dad, he told me then that they were doing Laughter Yoga (I was very small then).

But what is Laughter Yoga really. I searched  about it and here presented my report.

Yeah, from it's name, it is related with Laughing and Laughing is related with health but how?

The most important principle behind Laughter Yoga or the most significant driving force behind the several Laughter Clubs is the theory that Motion creates Emotion. Quite a few people wonder how a person can laugh when he is in no mood to laugh or when one doesn't have any reason to laugh. However, the answer is very simple. For, there is a well established link between the body and the mind. Whatever happens to the mind happens to the body as well. this is easily understood and observed too. If a person is sad or depressed, his body also appears quite lifeless and sluggish. Such a person doesn't walk or talk enthusiastically. But, what most people fail to understand is that the opposite  is also true. Whatever happens to the body also happens to the mind. I remember my father once telling +Dinesh Singh me,"Son, if you are sad or feeling a bit low, don't sit idle. Keep doing some physical work or go for a walk or do some jogging or go out and play (something like that). You'll feel better.' and most of the times dad was proved correct. I would start feeling better quite soon. In an unhappy state of mind, if we bring ourselves to behaving or acting happy, soon enough we will start feeling light-hearted and chirpy indeed!

So, reaching towards our topic, Laughter Yoga aims to use the two-way body-mind link to change the state of mind through voluntary physical gestures which include repetitive clapping, chanting, specific body movements along with laughter and breathing exercises (Hey, don't laugh now). The result is so positive and its effects are so powerful that the modern world today has witnessed Laughter Yoga overcome severe and chronic depression in thousands of people right across the globe. In fact, several Laughter Clubs have adopted the motto, "If your Mind can't laugh, bring your body to our club."
Laughter is all about playfulness. Have you ever wondered why children laugh 300 to 400 times a day (Amazing!) whereas adults would consider themselves very fortunate if they manage laughter 10 to 15 times in a day (what !). But why?. this is because of that seriously wicked and interfering tool called the "Brain".

Adult use their brains or minds first to comprehend humor and then decide if they have to laugh. Very often, they suffer from what is said WWPS syndrome, never heard before?, this is 'What Will People Say?'. This is called "Mind-to-Body Model of Humor". On the other hand, children, who do not allow themselves to be affected by the WWPS syndrome and don't use their brain to seriously do the comprehension first, laugh the most while playing. Even if they fall into mud and smile while playing, they laugh heartily together without bothering about the consequences of soiling their spotlessly white school dress in case of a traditionally strict class teacher or headmistress in school or Mother at home! their laughter comes straight from the body and happily they don't make use of intellectual capacity of the brain for it. Very clearly, they exhibit the "Body-to-Mind Model of Humor". It is the childlike playfulness that Laughter Yoga aims at cultivating in people who are quite stressed these days. What is sadly significant is that the more and more children even women, to whom smiles and laughter are giggling should come as naturally as the turtle coming out of its shell to walk or leaves falling in autumn, are enrolling themselves as members of Laughter Clubs nowadays.

 Ha ha ha ha, I can't stop Laughing, anyone get me a tissue please.

Laughter Yoga makes a clear distinction between Happiness and Joy. Happiness is a conditional response of the mind which is totally dependent on the fulfillment of certain desires of the mind. By its very nature, it is related to how one's life had been in the past or how it will be in the future! It is not there at all in the present moment. The ironical and sad fact is that even if some dreams, goals or aspirations are fulfilled, happiness disappears quite quickly as the mind starts chasing new goalposts - a new job, a new house, a bigger car, etc. On the hand, joyfulness is the unconditional commitment to be happy each moment, to have fun for the moment, despite the problem and challenges of life, no matter how insurmountable they seem to mind. It is the promise that Body makes to the mind to indulge playfulness moment by moment and thereby give give relaxation to it. During these periods pf playfulness triggered by a plethora pf physical activities like dancing, singing, playing and laughing, physiology and biochemical changes take place within our body that give us a sense of well being that completely alters negative outlook towards life and its challenges replacing it with confident positivism moment by moment.
Therefore, in Laughter Clubs, members develop positive conditioning of joy. By laughing together over a period of time, clapping in a rhythm, chanting "Ho Ho Ha Ha' in unison and positive affirmations like "Very Good Yay Yay", the brain develops new neuronal connections to produce happy neuropeptides and hormones in the body that rejuvenate the members.

Finally, Laughter Yoga rectifies shallow and irregular breathing, which is the direct consequence of stress and negative mental state. According to Dr. Otto Warburg, a Nobel laureate, one of the main reasons for falling sick is the lack of Oxygen in the body cells due to incorrect breathing. So. let us laugh together and get the oxygen back into our cells! 

Ha Ha Ha, come on Laugh everybody!

Source: Reader's Digest

Earlier I have shared the importance of sleeping in my post and now I'm going to talk about the problems you may face if do not sleep. Let us begin to read some serious facts, diseases, problems and cause and please don't sleep while reading.

Sleep is crucial to maintain one's health. Without it, we increase our susceptibility to an astonishing array of health problems, including heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, obesity and depression. 

Not sleeping enough can compromise your immune system, says Stanley Coren, noted professor of psychology and author of the very popular book, 'Sleep Thieves". You eat well and exercise in order to keep your immune system up, Coren goes on to explain, but if aren't sleeping, you undo all that good work. "the immune system works best when you are sleeping," he says. "That's when your natural killer cells are generated." Natural Killer Cells are produced in the bone marrow and found in the blood and lymph fluid. They are part of the body's defense mechanism against viruses, bacteria, even cancer, and they do not work properly in the persons who are sleep deprived. A study in Turkey revealed that after 24 hours of sleep deprivation, the percentage of natural killer cells in the blood declined by 37 percent. Another sleep deprivation reduced natural-killer-cell activity to 72 percent of normal levels. Though their activity returns to normal when we begin to get proper sleep, the real problem is that a lot of damage might have been done to our bodies when we were sleep deprived for several nights and our immune system might have left us undefended and susceptible to infection.

it's not just our immune system that gets adversely affected when we cut down on sleep. According to Dr. Michael Sole, a Canadian cardiologist, there is a higher rate of heart failure among people wit the sleep disorders and sleep disturbances. He goes goes to emphasis that there is increased evidence of C-reactive protein, an indicator of the heart disease risk, in people suffering from sleep loss.

Researches in various universities all over the world have discovered that chronic sleep loss can reduce the body's ability to regulate hormones and process carbohydrates. In a study at the University of Chicago, the researchers reduced participant's sleep from eight to four hours a night and after less than a week, they noted changes in the body similar to the effects of early diabetes or advanced aging. Sleep disturbances increase the likelihood of prediabetic state of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Both these are also markers for heart ailments. Dietician Ramona Josephson notes that insufficient sleep may affect three hormones that can contribute to obesity.

There's a decrease in leptin, the appetite-suppressing hormone found in our fat tissue, she says. Ghrelin, the hormone controlling hunger pangs increase with lack of sleep causing greater feelings of hunger. then a sleep deprived body starts producing more of the stress hormone cortisol, which increases fat storage.  Not only do the increased  hormones resulting from sleep loss make us eat more, but induces us to quickly or mindlessly make wrong food choice because we feel fatigued and week. "The less you sleep, the more your chances of obesity." Josephson concludes.

Sleep is important in keeping not only our waistline trim, but ensuring a balanced brain activity too. During sleep, brain neurotransmitters-the chemical that deliver messages between nerve cells in the brain are replenished. When we do not sleep well, our brain chemical become depleted which leads to emotional disturbances like depression, anxiety and general feelings of sadness, anger and irritation.

Now, what we have learnt?

Sleeping is necessary and if not sleep we can be in great trouble . So, keep sleeping but after reading my Blog . (ha-ha) !

I knew I was dead tired. I have traveled a far distance of road journey from +Nainital Lake to my current home in Allahabad . It was an interesting and enjoyable journey but yet it exhausted us. My Dad was driving us to the destination, he had forced himself to drive whole night because he got a schedule to stick to, (you know, the busy life in city) and so us. Well he said he will get the as soon we reaches Allahabad, he decided to sleep all over the day but unfortunately that could not happen, he still was awakened to complete his work of the office that was given to him by his Boss just we reached Allahabad. He drove all night long and worked all day long but couldn't afford to get a bit of rest. It was the worst day for my Father. 

But now what? Just a small story, that's it? No, we are now going to discuss that do we get enough sleep, enough rest from our daily life?

It is an undisputed fact that not getting enough sleep can lead to problems in concentrating. In fact many sleep disorder experts think that lack of sleep is the reason for many ailments. Dr. Kumar Menon and his colleagues presented a study paper on sleep disorders in Mumbai in which they stressed on the need for early detection of the problem and concluded that it was high time that all the physicians "woke up to sleep disorders and included sleep history in evaluating their patients."

Whatever be the cause of not getting proper and enough sleep, we've all experienced the exhaustion caused by lack of sleep. Thus,sleep is important to a healthy lifestyle as eating properly and exercising. getting a good night's sleep is one of the simplest things we can do to stay healthy. A good night's sleep means waking up rested and invigorated. On an average, a healthy adult requires just over eight hours of sleep at night, according to Jefferey Lipsitz, a Canadian expert on sleep disorders. However, the amount of sleep it takes to rejuvenate an individual varies from person to person. The time it takes for a sleep deficit to accrue depends on how consistent the problem is. 

In a study conducted by sleep-disorders experts, it was found that at-least one-third of adults have significant sleep loss, i.e. they have just six and a half hours or less of sleep every night. Then a recent survey conducted in India shown that twenty-nine percent of Indians went to sleep only after midnight and sixty-one percent slept for seven hours or less. The survey also arrived at the conclusion that Indians were among the world's earliest risers, with sixty-four percent getting out of bed before 7 a.m. is there a need to reiterate that "Early to Rise" is good provided a persons follows the "Early to Bed" principle as well? 

Hope you liked the post.


Source: Reader's Digest