HEALTH AND WELLNESS

                                      KNOWLEDGE VERSUS SUPERSTITION         In the 14 th century, when the Black Death threatened the pope’s household in Avignon, his doctor informed him that the conjunction of three planets- Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars –in the sign of Aquarius was the principal cause of the plague.       Some four centuries later, George Washington went to bed with a sore throat. Three eminent doctors treated the infection by draining some two liters of blood from his veins. Within a few hours, the patient was dead. Bloodletting was standard medical practice for 2,500 years –from the time of Hippocrates until the mid-19 th century.      Although superstition and tradition delayed medical progress, dedicated doctors work hard to discover the causes of infectious diseases and remedies for them. Below are a few of the significant breakthroughs they made.    SMALLPOX: In 1798, Edward Jenner successfully developed a vaccine for smallpox. During th

                                      Everyone is likely to become impatient on occasion. But there may be serious consequences when bouts of impatience are an everyday occurrence.     HEALTH RISKS: For one thing, impatience is linked to frustration, irritation, and even anger. Such emotions can raise our stress level, which in turn can harm our health. A recent study published by the American Medical Association specifically pointed to impatience as a risk factor for hypertension, even among young adults.     There are other problems associated with the lack of patience. A recent study revealed that impatience is linked to obesity. The researchers found that impatient individuals are more likely to be obese than people who are good at waiting. In some areas, inexpensive fast food is easily available at all times of the day, and many impatient people cannot resist the temptation.      ALCOHOL ABUSE AND VIOLENT: Impatient people were more likely to drink alcohol he

                                                  POISONED BABIES        A particularly tragic outcome of alcohol abuse is its effect on the unborn. Alcohol is far worse for the developing fetus than any other abuse drug. When a pregnant woman drinks, her developing child also drinks, and the toxic effect of alcohol is especially devastating at this formative stage of the fetus. Alcohol causes irreversible damage to its central nervous system. Neurons do not form properly. Cells are killed off. Other cells end up located in the wrong place.     The result, fetal alcohol syndrome [FAS], is the foremost cause of mental retardation in newborns. Difficulties encountered by FAS children include intellectual impairment, language problems, developmental delay, behavioral dysfunction or deficit, slow growth, hyperactivity, and hearing and sight disorders. Many FAS babies are also born with characteristic facial deformities.     In addition, children whose mothers drank even moderat

           The sixth sense; in primitive species, the only function of the limbic system is the regulation of the sense of smell. As the brain becomes more complex, the limbic system diversifies to regulate aspects of behavior, such as emotional expression, while retaining its tie to the olfactory system. It is interesting to note that ANUBIS- the jackalheaded god of Egypt, the guardian of the threshold, and symbol for the limbic system –had a particular acute sense of smell.       The limbic system’s ability to determine “this is it –this is truth,” is vital to creation of our mental realities. As “guardian at the inner threshold” it opens the heart to new understanding and facilitates the process of recollection and learning.     In the human mind, perceptions presented by the FIVE SENSES are compared to memory perceptions. Through its instrument, the limbic system, the faculty of imagination harmonizes inner and outer perceptions. The images created by imaginatio

                                                              LIFE-STYLE AND CANCER           Cancer is overwhelmingly caused by where you are, what you do, and what happens to you in life, rather than by what you are, a study of almost 90,000 twins has shown,” reports London’s newspaper The Guardian. Dr. Paul Lichtenstein of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute led the research team for his study. He says: “Environmental factors are more important than gene factors.” Scientists believe that smoking causes about 35 percent of cancers, while another 30 percent appears to be related to diet. Genetic factors play a part in prostate, colorectal, and breast cancer, but Dr. Tim Key of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Oxford, England, advises: “Even if you have….. a family history [of cancer] what you do with your life is much more important. You should not smoke; you should care of your diet. Those things do make a difference.