Cancer Care

In this modern world, having enough food, clothing and shelter is not sufficient to lead a happy life. We need much much more than this. No, I am not talking about materialistic needs. There is no end if you go on adding items like modern cars, bikes, luxurious homes, designer clothes, latest security systems, five star holidays, and so on… will you be able to enjoy all these things if you don’t have anybody to share your thoughts, anybody to love and anybody who takes care of you? Will you be able to enjoy life with deteriorating physical and mental health? So, let us try to find out the answer to the question ‘what do we need to survive’.

What Do We Need to Live?

Love and Relationship Need
Apart from physiological needs like healthy and balanced diet, regular exercises, clothes, shelter, sex, heat, water, air, medical facilities and security, all living things, especially human beings want to be loved and want to be related to others. Healthy living involves enjoying social life, having healthy relationships, taking care of parents, raising children, having a life partner of matching wavelength, and so on. We are social animals and cannot live alone. We all want to be recognized by our loved ones. A new born infant also feels safe in the arms of mom and dad. But as we grow up, only ‘love’ cannot help us lead a happy life. For inner fulfillment, we want others to give us importance. We cannot survive if we are neglected or being humiliated by our family members, neighbors, friends, colleagues, etc. Self esteem is as important as love when answering the question ‘what do we need to live?’

Self Realization Need
Human beings need to understand themselves and see the value in themselves. Finding oneself through religion and through spiritual guidance is very very essential. This is the area which makes our life meaningful. As the world famous serenity prayer says, we need to have serenity to accept things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. We need to have patience for the things that take time, appreciation for all that we have, and tolerance for those with different struggles. We need to learn and improve through our past failures. We need strength to get up and try again even when things don’t work out as expected. We need to admit the existence of a crisis and we need to deal with it successfully. Religion should bring all together, religion should not be the cause of terrorism.

Gratitude Towards Nature
Drinking, sanitation and hygiene are some of the main basic human survival needs for water. We eat fish, algae which need water to survive. Nature provides us food, air, water and heat. Conservation of nature is our responsibility. We need wood for housing, fuel, furniture, etc. We get most of our medicines from the forests. Rainforests are the biggest source of oxygen and medicines. Deforestation is the main reason behind extinct of some of the plant and animal species. Endangered animals, plants, birds, fish etc. can lead to imbalance in nature which can seriously affect human life. Air, water and noise pollution can make our life miserable. Frugal living can help conserve nature. We should often ask ourselves, “what do we need to survive?” We should often check whether we are wasting what nature has offered us. We need to take proper action to save our earth from severe effects of global warming. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of us find it hard enough to get up in the morning and push ourselves to go and take a nice long bath. And if someone were to tell you that at six in the morning you’re supposed to take a cold shower, surely, you’ll jump out of your skin! Well, look on the bright side, it will wake you up like nothing else! Jokes apart, there are many cold shower benefits that exist and reading on them, may just make you change your mind about your taste in your water’s temperature.

Benefits of Cold Shower

Pumps Up Circulatory System
Many people claim that cold water works wonders for them. When cold water falls on our skin, it leads to cutaneous vasoconstriction, which means, one of the effects of cold shower is to make the blood vessels on the surface of the skin contract and push blood to the inner organs. This helps improve circulation to vital organs. This circulation rate then helps to push toxins out from the body and then, makes the heart work more efficiently. Some people say that alternating between hot and cold water helps to maintain circulation in both inner organs as well as on the skin.

Healthy Skin and Hair
Very hot water tends to dry up the skin and hair. The hair and skin is protected by excessive drying by a layer of sebum, which is secreted by glands on the skin. When we take a bath with hot water, we tend to strip the skin of sebum. This makes the skin dry and the hair brittle and dandruff prone, and if you continue with this habit, you can kiss your dreams of perfect healthy hair goodbye. Also, when hot water directly falls on the skin, then the pores on the skin open up. There are higher chances of landing with clogged pores if these open pores are exposed to air and dust without closing. Clogged pores are a far cry from healthy skin and you may even end up getting acne because of this.

Wake up Call
The chill of the cold water will initially wake you, especially when you are new to this practice. Thanks to the increased circulation in the body, you are bound to feel energetic and ready to set out for the day once you take a cold shower.

Improve Fertility
Did you know that one of the cold shower benefits is that it increases fertility in men? Well, as you know, the testes are outside the body for the reason that the sperms cannot stand the heat of the body temperature. So, when a person takes a hot bath on a regular basis, it leads to a decrease in the number of sperms and their motility rate. Thus, if you’ve been having problems with your sperm count, you may want to try taking a cold shower on a regular basis, as this is said to be one of the most important cold shower benefits for men.
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