Another Fact to remember and not to Panic on is: On an average, you lose about 50 to 100 hair per day. This is perfectly normal.

DIET FOR HAIR LOSS PREVENTION:

10: Beans and Soybeans: beans are a excellent and an inexpensive source of zinc, which helps in hair growth and hair repair. It also contains other nutrients like iron, biotin and folate which are again important for hair growth.
Studies have shown that compounds in soybeans may promote hair growth. One of these compounds is spermidine, which is abundantly found in soybeans. But this research on spermidine and hair growth is actually new and hence more research is needed before this is approved.

9: Meat: Specially Red meat is rich in iron that’s easy to absorb and this increases your red blood cell count, which  in turn helps the red blood cells deliver oxygen to all cells in the body, including hair follicles. Whereas the protein in meat helps in growth and repair of hair follicles.

8: Oysters: Oysters are one of the best sources of zinc in the diet. Zinc helps in hair growth and repair.

7: Seeds: Specially flaxseeds and chia seeds in addition to vitamin E, zinc and selenium, also provide omega-3 fatty acids – all of these promote hair growth.

6: Nuts: specially almonds and walnuts provide vitamin E, B complex vitamins, zinc and essential fatty acids, all of which promote hair growth and they are also proven to protect your heart.

5: Avocados: They are not only super delicious but also an excellent source of vitamin E and also rich in Vitamin C, K and Omega-3 fatty acids.  Vitamin E is an antioxidant and protects your skin specially at the scalp, from oxidative stress and damage and promotes hair growth and strengthens hair follicles. And when you talk about the essential fatty acids in Avocados, These are essential building blocks of your cells. A deficiency in essential fatty acids has been linked to hair loss.

4: Fatty Fish: Fatty fish like salmon, herring and mackerel are great sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to improved hair growth and even density. Studies have shown that taking a fish oil supplement significantly reduced hair loss and increased hair growth in women with thinning hair.

3: Spinach: Spinach is loaded with folates, iron, and vitamins A and C, which may promote hair growth. A deficiency in these nutrients may result in hair loss. Spinach is a best plant-based source of iron, specially great for vegetarians.

2: Eggs: Eggs are a great source of protein and biotin, which are so important for healthy hair and hair growth. A deficiency in either of these nutrients has been linked to hair loss. Eggs are also a great source of zinc, selenium and other nutrients. This makes them one of the best foods for optimal hair health. Eating adequate protein is important for hair growth because hair follicles are made of mostly protein. A lack of protein in the diet has been shown to promote hair loss.

Another Important Nutrient in Egg – Biotin is essential for the production of a hair protein called keratin.  Research has shown that consuming more biotin can help improve hair growth in people with  biotin deficiency.

1. Berries: are loaded with beneficial compounds and vitamins that promote hair growth. This includes vitamin C, which has strong antioxidant properties.
For example, strawberries are rich in vitamin C, which help in collagen production and iron absorption which are two factors that can promote hair growth.

The post 10 FOODS THAT PROMOTE HAIR GROWTH AND TREAT BALDNESS appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

In today’s post, we will list out the 10 common bad habits that can cause hair loss and hair thinning! Please watch this short episode till the end and save your hair!

PREVENTABLE REASONS FOR HAIR LOSS:

10: Hot Showers: Hot water dehydrates hair strands making them dry and brittle by stripping away your hair’s natural oil coatings. These hair are prone to snap and fall out.

9: Using a Hair Dryer in Hot Mode or heated styling products can considerably damage your hair and make them thinner.

8: Brushing or Combing Wet Hair: Aggressive towelling or brushing or combing your wet hair can cause damage to your hair.

7: Tight Hairstyles: Hair follicles are stressed and eventually damaged when there is excessive tension from tight hairstyles. This can result in Traction Alopecia.

6:  Stress: Yes this is one of the main reasons for hair loss. Stress not only affects your mental or physical health, it also causes significant hair loss. Hair loss can occur upto three months or later after a stressful event in your life due to hair follicle phases. When you are in stress hair follicles go into the telogen phase – that’s the fall out phase.

5: Diet: Lack of Balanced Nutritious food. Healthy lustrous hair require you to consume diet full of vitamins, minerals and proteins.

4: Excessive Scratching your Scalp during Itch – can also lead to hair follicle damage.

3: Vigorous combing can cause traction alopecia as discussed in point number 4.

2: Excessive Use of hairstyling products: Many styling products can cause more harm that good. This is due to high alcohol content in them, they can make hair dry and brittle.

1: Medications: Yes! if you are on certain drugs, this can cause hairloss.  Drugs like statins, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety agents, anti-hypertensive medications  or hormones (like thyroid replacement drugs) can cause hair loss, as well as birth control pills, can disrupt or interfere with the normal cycle of hair growth, causing hair to go into a resting phase and fall out prematurely.

The post WARNING: These 10 Common Habits Will Turn You Bald Before You Know It!  Avoid Them at All Costs!” appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

 Human growth hormone also known as, HGH or GH, is a very important hormone produced by your pituitary gland in brain.

This Growth Hormone plays a vital role in so many important functions in adults. In children and adolescents, as the name says, it mainly helps in increasing height. 

Before outlining the six natural remedies to enhance growth hormone levels and steering away from injections and similar methods, let’s briefly explore the essential functions of this growth hormone.

1. In Children, we all know it’s important for overall growth, their height, weight and strength. Of course all these functions depend on, the genetic makeup of the child and also nutritional factors.
2. In Adults, it does not cause any spurt in growth or height, because the growth plates are already fused, like at the age between 18 to 21 years of age, they fuse and the height stops to increase. But, it helps to maintain normal body shape and metabolism, and also helps to keep blood sugar levels within normal levels. It also boosts muscle growth, strength and exercise performance.

Lower GH levels may negatively impact your quality of life, increase your risk of disease and make you gain fat. They are also important for your Moods and Emotions like feeling happy, sad and things like that.

Remember one thing, if adults have too much growth hormone, it can cause problems like Acromegaly, meaning elongation and thickening of bones in your hands and feet and also abnormal facial bones growth. Where as in children it can lead to gigantism.

6 NATURAL REMEDIES TO INCREASE HEIGHT AND HGH.

1. INTERMITTENT FASTING.  Studies have shown that on three days of fasting, HGH levels increased by over 300%. After one week of fasting, they had increased by a massive 1,250%. But this is not practical. Hence intermittent fasting is the recommended approach.
 Multiple methods of intermittent fasting are suggested. One common method is, a daily eight-hour eating window, with a 16-hour fast. Another involves, eating only 500–600 calories, two days per week.  Intermittent fasting can help optimize GH levels in two main ways. First, it can help you drop body fat, which directly affects GH production, and we will discuss this next.

2. LOOSE YOUR BODY FAT. Yes, People with higher body fat levels or rather with more belly fat will have low GH production. One study observed that, individuals with three times the amount of belly fat as the control group, had less than half their amount of GH. Interestingly, studies have shown that excess body fat affects GH levels more in men. But still, lowering your body fat is very important for both males and females.

3. REDUCE SUGARS.  You know when you eat sugars or more carbohydrates, the hormone insulin is released, which impairs GH production. And moreover sugars add to weight gain and fat gain or belly fat, which in turn spoils the show.

4. Never have a Meal just before Going to Bed. Because, significant amounts of GH is produced at night and during sleep. So, if you take a heavy meal and sleep immediately, the production is hampered, and also it spikes your insulin levels. So, have meals 2 to 3 hours before going to bed.

5. EXERCISE. Exercise is one of the most effective ways to raise your GH levels. Any type of exercise will increase GH levels, but high intensity exercise and weight based exercising have shown great results.

6. QUALITY SLEEP. The majority of HGH is released in pulses when you are in sleep. These pulse-releases are based on your body’s internal biological clock or the circadian rhythm. The largest pulse occurs before midnight, with some smaller pulses in the early morning. Try to get an undisturbed sleep, for at least 8 to 10 hours, every night.

Remember, Taking Growth Hormone injections can be harmful and carry lot of adverse effects. So, try these 6 natural remedies to increase growth hormone, and you should be able to see significant results within months.

The post NATURAL REMEDIES TO INCREASE HEIGHT | HOW TO GROW TALLER SUBLIMINAL appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

Whatever your age is, If you have noticed hair thinning or receding hairline, you may be wondering whats going on! Is it stress? A bad diet? Unlucky genes? Or is it a lifestyle factor? And Finally a question – Can this be Fixed!.

The Good news is Yes! IT can be fixed. There earlier your start the faster and better the results are. Please follow this video till the end and you may not require any other video to know about hairloss and its guaranteed treatment.

We will First Quickly Understand the Mechanism by which Male Pattern Baldness happens:

Hair loss in men is primarily caused by dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a male steroid hormone that binds to receptors in your scalp follicles and in genetically susceptible men, DHT can bind to receptors in your hair follicles and cause them to shrink, weaken and eventually die. This process is called ‘miniaturization,’ and it eventually leads to a complete end of hair growth in DHT-affected hair follicles.

SO How is this DHT produced in your body? Its made from the male hormone Testosterone through the 5Alpha-Reductase enzyme — an enzyme that converts a certain percentage of your testosterone into DHT. So Blocking the production of DHT at this level will certain help prevent hair loss.

But the fact of the matter is that DHT is an important hormone for hair growth in other areas of the body like your beard, chest hair, arm pits and pubic hair and so on. Meaning the same hormone that’s responsible for causing male pattern baldness is also responsible for fueling the growth of hair on your chest, back and other areas.

But remember one thing, its all at genetic level and the DHT receptors. If you have male pattern baldness due to this mechanism which is the most common cause of male baldness, HERE ARE 10 tips, agents, medications, natural remedies and habits that can reduce the levels of DHT and slow down or completely prevent or even reverse male pattern baldness.

1. FINASTERIDE 1MG PER DAY: This is an FDA approved medication you can start with a small dose of 1 mg per day to slow down male pattern baldness. Finasteride blocks the enzyme 5-Alpha reductase and prevent formation of DHT from testosterone. And one more fact about Finasteride is it can also cause miniaturized hair follicles damaged by DHT to start to grow back. That Great news! This is commonly marketed by trade names like propecia, finpecia, etc.
2. MINOXIDIL SOLUTION: This actually works by increasing the blood supply to the hair follicles. This allows more oxygen, blood, and nutrients to the follicles. Its also thought to prevent DHT action on the hairfollicles but its not well understood. Well you can use 2% to 12% depending on the severity of your hairloss. I recommend 5% solution twice daily applied to your scalp, mind you its on the scalp not on the hair. Or if you want to use it once daily 10% solution at bedtime.

Well, please stay tuned. Its not over yet. Lets Continue with more treatment options and natural remedies for hairloss that really work.

• BEST COMBO TREATMENT: finasteride 1mg per day in combination with minoxidil 5 to 10 percent solution on scalp is the most effective treatment available for male pattern baldness. But never stop the treatment suddenly, it can cause rebound hairloss. If you skip one or two days that’s fine, but never completely stop it.  There are hardly any side effects of these medications. But if you experience any problems always consult your doctor.
• DHT Blocking Shampoos: are out in the market. They do help if used in conjunction with other DHT blocking stuff like finasteride. The components of these are DHT blockers mostly natural like the saw-palmetto. We will discuss this next.
• SAW PALMETTO:  Studies have shown that this naturally occurring substance block the enzyme and hence DHT. Sawplametto is approved in many countries and you get capsules of this substance along with multi vitamin and zinc magnesium supplements. One brand name I remember is Capsule Harvest.
• OHER FOODS LIKE PUMPSKIN SEEDS and Pyegeum Bark block DHT. Pumpkin seeds contains a steroid called delta-7 stearine, which blocks DHT buildup in the hair follicle.
• LYCOPENE: Is another substance that blocks DHT. Its found in Tomatoes, watermelon, carrots, mangoes
• Amino acid L-Lysine – found in Almonds, walnuts, peanuts also helps to some extent.
• ZINC: This is important! But studies have shown that zinc might block DHT only on higher doses which may not be appropriate for human consumption. SO zinc won’t increase your hair growth, but helps to strengthen the hair by nourishing the follicles by reducing inflammation.
• MASTURBATION AND HAIRLOSS:   This is still a controversial topic. But I will just tell you some scientific facts and things that happen in your body and you decide yourself. When you masturbate or ejaculate, the Testosteone levels rise and DHT formation also should rise due to the availability of lots of testosterone. But one fact to remember is: this might increase DHT but again, this action may be important for genetically predisposed individuals and not everyone will go bald. I think genetically predisposed people should be careful about this and hold on till enough scientific data on this is available. You must also know that anything in excess is BAD!

Stay Healthy!

The post HAIR LOSS & MASTURBATION LINK? | DHT Blockers for Male Pattern Baldness appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

In today’s post, we will list out the 10 common bad habits that can cause hair loss and hair thinning! Please watch this short episode till the end and save your hair!

The Habits that can lead to hair loss:

10: Hot Showers: Hot water dehydrates hair strands making them dry and brittle by stripping away your hair’s natural oil coatings. These hair are prone to snap and fall out.

9: Using a Hair Dryer in Hot Mode or heated styling products can considerably damage your hair and make them thinner.

8: Brushing or Combing Wet Hair: Aggressive towelling or brushing or combing your wet hair can cause damage to your hair.

7: Tight Hairstyles: Hair follicles are stressed and eventually damaged when there is excessive tension from tight hairstyles. This can result in Traction Alopecia.

6:  Stress: Yes this is one of the main reasons for hair loss. Stress not only affects your mental or physical health, it also causes significant hair loss. Hair loss can occur upto three months or later after a stressful event in your life due to hair follicle phases. When you are in stress hair follicles go into the telogen phase – that’s the fall out phase.

5: Diet: Lack of Balanced Nutritious food. Healthy lustrous hair require you to consume diet full of vitamins, minerals and proteins.

4: Excessive Scratching your Scalp during Itch – can also lead to hair follicle damage.

3: Vigorous combing can cause traction alopecia as discussed in point number 4.

2: Excessive Use of hair styling products: Many styling products can cause more harm that good. This is due to high alcohol content in them, they can make hair dry and brittle.

1: Medications: Yes! if you are on certain drugs, this can cause hair loss.  Drugs like statins, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety agents, anti-hypertensive medications  or hormones (like thyroid replacement drugs) can cause hair loss, as well as birth control pills, can disrupt or interfere with the normal cycle of hair growth, causing hair to go into a resting phase and fall out prematurely.

The post 10 BAD HABITS THAT CAN MAKE YOU BALD IN NOT TIME! appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

In this Article, I will explain in simple terms using an animation showing different phases of hair growth.  This can certainly help you combat hair loss or hair thinning and can even help you reverse hair loss. We will also look into Some Anagen Hair stimulators and Factors.  

We will first begin with the parts or the structure of a single hair. Do not worry, we will not go into full details. Just look at the labels of this diagram and try to understand the structure.

It Made of Two Main Parts:

1. The Hair Root or the Hair Follicle
2. Hair Shaft – what we see outside the skin.

This is very important for you to understand that nutrients reach your hair follicle by no other means except blood supply. Understanding this also busts all myths about applying special oils and stuff like that that promise to grow hair. But some topical applications like minoxidil increases the blood supply and hence increases the supply of nutrients or supplements we take orally as a part of hair treatment.
Also remember this tiny projection called dermal papilla which anchors the hair bulb to the hair follicle and to the blood supply.

Now lets understand the different phases or stages of Hair growth Cycle. Remember all your hair are not in the same stage of hair growth cycle at a time otherwise you would intermittently look bald during these hair growth stages.
Well, Starting from new growth of hair from the follicle to bulb and shaft and then falling off or shedding off, there are Four stages: Anagen, Catagen, Telogen and Exogen Phases.

Phases of Hair Growth Cycle

1. Anagen or Growing Phase: This  growing phase lasts from about 2 years to 6 years. This decides the length of your hair. The longer this phase, the lengthier your hair, specially in females who have grown very long hair, this phase is longer. This length also varies in different races and your genes also plays a very important role.  During this phase, a hair grows about one centimeter, or roughly about half of an inch, every month.
   
   Now, Why this Anagen Phase is so Important? Well, Remember – At any Point of time, over 80 percent of hair on your head are in the anagen phase. And during this phase – the cells in the hair follicle multiply rapidly and keep adding to the hair shaft and your hair grows. And the nutrition to carry out this function comes from the blood supply as already discussed in the structure of hair follicle and this is very important to understand that you must have some great hair growing foods to provide nutrients to these cells through blood supply. Check out this list of some great foods for hair loss.

• 2. Catagen Phase (Transition Phase):  The catagen phase is a short transition phase of about 2 weeks when the anagen phase or growing phase comes to an end. It signals the end of the active growth of a hair. In this phase, the hair bulb detaches itself from the dermal papilla and hence from its blood supply and starts to shrink and goes into the next phase.  
• 3. Telogen (Resting Phase): This is simply the resting phase and lasts about three months before it goes into the exogen or shedding phase.  When hair is in this resting phase a new hair bulb forms to begin the new growth or the anagen phase.
• 4. Exogen (Shedding Phase): Its important to understand this phase for people who panic loosing 50 to 100 hair daily. You see around 10-15 percent of your hair are in this resting phase and out of these they can go into exogen or shedding phase any time. So loosing about 50 to 100 hair daily is completely normal. Never panic when you get hair in your hand while shampooing or combing your hair  on if your find some 10 to 20 hair on your pillow. That’s completely physiological.

Now Finally important info on things that can shorten your Anagen or the growing phase. Avoid these and implement some good steps to make your hair healthy and stronger.

Stress: Any form of stress whether due to illness or even emotional stress, can shorten the anagen phase and more follicles will go into the telogen phase and then shed out.

1. Nutritional Deficiencies – Anagen phase needs good supply of nutrients through the blood supply for cells to multiple and contribute to hair growth. This is really important for people who do extensive dieting without proper supplements.
2. There are some rare cases of unlucky people with unlucky genes who have short anagen syndrome, where they can never grow longer hair for reasons that are unknown. These people say they never needed a haircut.
3. Anagen Stimulators:  Some pharma company products claim to be anagen stimulators that help hair stay in the anagen phase for longer duration of time. Before using any of these over-the-counter products, please consult with your dermatologist. But remember the most important part of this episode  – that is your hair get nutrition from the blood supply at the base of the hair follicle and this scientific knowledge of hair growth cycle busts a lot of myths on some non sense hacks to regrow your hair circulating all over the internet. I hope you got my point. And am not here to promote any pharma products.  Will discuss more on these hair growth stimulators or anagen stimulators in another detailed post.
   So the bottomline is:  A healthy scalp with adequate blood flow will absolutely impact the health and length of your hair.  

Stay Healthy!

The post Understand Hair Growth Cycle To Reverse Hair Loss appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

Another Fact to remember and not to panic on is: On an average, you lose about 50 to 100 hair per day. This is perfectly normal.

Top 10 foods that promote hair growth and delay or treat baldness

10: Beans and Soybeans: beans are a excellent and an inexpensive source of zinc, which helps in hair growth and hair repair. It also contains other nutrients like iron, biotin and folate which are again important for hair growth.
Studies have shown that compounds in soybeans may promote hair growth. One of these compounds is spermidine, which is abundantly found in soybeans. But this research on spermidine and hair growth is actually new and hence more research is needed before this is approved.

9: Meat: Specially Red meat is rich in iron that’s easy to absorb and this increases your red blood cell count, which  in turn helps the red blood cells deliver oxygen to all cells in the body, including hair follicles. Whereas the protein in meat helps in growth and repair of hair follicles.

8: Oysters: Oysters are one of the best sources of zinc in the diet. Zinc helps in hair growth and repair.

7: Seeds: Especially flaxseeds and chia seeds in addition to vitamin E, zinc and selenium, also provide omega-3 fatty acids – all of these promote hair growth.

6: Nuts: specially almonds and walnuts provide vitamin E, B complex vitamins, zinc and essential fatty acids, all of which promote hair growth and they are also proven to protect your heart.

5: Avocados: They are not only super delicious but also an excellent source of vitamin E and also rich in Vitamin C, K and Omega-3 fatty acids.  Vitamin E is an antioxidant and protects your skin specially at the scalp, from oxidative stress and damage and promotes hair growth and strengthens hair follicles. And when you talk about the essential fatty acids in Avocados, These are essential building blocks of your cells. A deficiency in essential fatty acids has been linked to hair loss.

4: Fatty Fish: Fatty fish like salmon, herring and mackerel are great sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to improved hair growth and even density. Studies have shown that taking a fish oil supplement significantly reduced hair loss and increased hair growth in women with thinning hair.

3: Spinach: Spinach is loaded with folates, iron, and vitamins A and C, which may promote hair growth. A deficiency in these nutrients may result in hair loss. Spinach is a best plant-based source of iron, specially great for vegetarians.

2: Eggs: Eggs are a great source of protein and biotin, which are so important for healthy hair and hair growth. A deficiency in either of these nutrients has been linked to hair loss. Eggs are also a great source of zinc, selenium and other nutrients. This makes them one of the best foods for optimal hair health. Eating adequate protein is important for hair growth because hair follicles are made of mostly protein. A lack of protein in the diet has been shown to promote hair loss.

Another Important Nutrient in Egg – Biotin is essential for the production of a hair protein called keratin.  Research has shown that consuming more biotin can help improve hair growth in people with biotin deficiency.

1. Berries: are loaded with beneficial compounds and vitamins that promote hair growth. This includes vitamin C, which has strong antioxidant properties.
   For example, strawberries are rich in vitamin C, which help in collagen production and iron absorption which are two factors that can promote hair growth.

Stay Healthy!

The post HAIR LOSS DIET: 10 FOODS PROMOTE HAIR GROWTH AND TREAT BALDNESS appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

The National Sleep Foundation, recommends these sleep guidelines for adults.      
7 to 9 hours of sleep for young adults.
7 to 8 hours of sleep for older adults.

Here are the six of the best tips, to help you sleep deeper, and fuller, every night, based on scientific concepts. But remember, you have to start implementing these sleep hacks correctly, for at least 2 to 4 weeks to achieve satisfactory results.  

Prepare A Sleep Time Table or Schedule.

This is a very important first step to reset your Circadian Rhythm or the Nature’s Biological Clock, built within your body. Go to bed at the same time every day, even on weekends. And, wake up at the same time every morning.
You can either stick a notes on a small piece of paper near bed, that reminds you to go to bed at, say about 11 pm, or you can even set a gentle, go-to-bed alarm reminder in your phone instead of a wake up alarm, or, set both wake up as well as go-to-bed alarm reminders.

• Avoid these Stimulants before bed.

At least 3 to 4 hours before going to bed, Stop having tea or coffee, chocolates, sodas and nicotine, that’s cigarette smoking.  Quit smoking! Not just for the sake of sleep, but to stay healthy and avoid the risk of cardiovascular or lung diseases.

Avoid late evening alcohol. Alcohol initially makes you feel sleepy, because it is central nervous system depressant. But as soon as the blood alcohol level drops, it activates your sympathetic system, which wakes you up from the deep phases of your sleep, and you will have a very bad confused day ahead.
If you have stopped these stimulants and still find yourself difficult to fall asleep, try sleep meditation programs like the sleep meditation music or calming music. I have linked one sleep meditation music video, to the end-screen of this video.

• Bedroom Rules.

Remember and follow these quick bedroom tips for a better sleep.
Never install a TV in your bedroom.
Never let your pets into your bedroom.

Do not eat or drink or perform any activity like reading on bed. Use your bed only for sleep.

Make sure the bed-sheets and pillow-covers are clean. Change them at least weekly twice.

15 to 20 minutes before going to bed, dim the room lights, and adjust your room temperature to a comfortable level.

If you are on bed for 20 minutes or more and not getting sleep, therapists suggest you get out of bed, and do something non-stimulating, like for example, reading a boring text book, until you start to feel drowsy.

Importance of Daytime Naps.
A Nap is a very short period of sleep taken usually during day time, that helps you refresh yourself and feel energetic for the rest of the day. Taking a nap of about 20 to 30 minutes a day, usually between 2 pm to 4 pm, not only keeps you energetic for the rest of the day, but studies have also shown to reduce blood pressure, stress and anxiety. This in turn, helps you in a better deep sleep in the night. And one more thing, do not sleep more than 30 minutes in a nap. You may find it difficult to fall asleep in night. Also, even if you do not fall asleep in the afternoon nap, that’s okay! Just relax!

• Importance of Exercise.
  The same rule of, 30 minutes exercise daily, for 5 days a week applies even here.  Exercise definitely enhances your quality of your sleep.
  Do not perform any heavy exercise within 4 hours of bedtime. However, light exercise, like yoga, or taking a walk after dinner is good. You can exercise at around 6 to 7 pm daily. Start with light exercises, and then do some weight bearing ones, like sit-ups and push-ups, but gradually increase the intensity. You should achieve great results within a week.

• Some Strong Do’s and Don’ts.

Never touch your laptop or phone at least one hour before bed. These blue-light emitting screens, depress the production of the hormone melatonin, that plays a very important role in sleep.

Dinner should be light and at least 3 hours before bed. Also never go to bed on hungry stomach, you will not fall asleep and it can in fact disturb your sleep.

You can also try a warm shower 1 hour before going to bed which is believed to increase melatonin production.

The post 6 Sleep Hacks to Fall Asleep Quickly appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

We will discuss on the Treatment of Dark circles, by splitting this topic into three sections:

1. Self Care & Prevention of Further Progression.
2. Proven Medical Treatments.
3. Natural or Home remedies that actually work!

SELF CARE & PREVENTION:

1. You need to rectify or intervene your lifestyle, to avoid all those 10 Factors responsible for causing these dark circles, like adequate sleep, avoid stress, stop bad habits like smoking and all those 10 factors discussed in the previous episode.
   In addition, you can apply some of these simple changes in life, on day to day basis.
2. Head Elevation using an extra pillow specially if you have baggy eyes or puffiness. This is to prevent fluid accumulation or stasis of blood.
3.  One Extra Hour of Sleep, will help in the long run.

Now, Let’s quickly look into few Short term or Temporary methods to deal with dark circles.

SIMPLE MAKE UP: This according to me should be the first option before you proceed with the actual treatments and remedies for dark circles. You can use makeup foundation or concealer to conceal that darker pigment or color. This makes you feel better and relieves your anxiety and stress to some extent.

WEAR SUNGLASSES: These not only protect your peri-orbital skin from pigmentation from sunlight, but also cover or hide those dark circles. 

Now, Let’s look at the Medical treatment of Dark Circles.

CREAMS: Apply creams containing some important ingredients like Retinols, hydroquinone, green tea, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, peptides, Caffeine, ceramides and hyaluronic acid. These ingredients boost skin elasticity by promoting elastin and collagen production. Use creams containing one or more of these ingredients. Remember these eye creams are formulated specifically for the delicate skin around the eye. You can start with retinol and hyaluronic acid low dose cream for dark circles, because high dose retinol is not recommended to use around eyes. Use Caffeine formulation if you additionally have puffiness.

1.  INVASIVE & NON INVASIVE MEDICAL TREATMENTS:  Will not go into details of these treatments. Will just mention the names of these treatments and then jump to Natural home remedies for dark circles. The non-invasive ones include:
2. Radio Frequency treatment – this non-invasive method is actually helpful.  You can consult with your dermatologist about this simple OPD procedure.
3. Other methods include Q-switched Laser and Pulsed Dye lasers.

INVASIVE TREATMENTS like Chemical Peels and Medical Tattoos have their own side effects.

Natural remedies for dark circles:

1. COLD COMPRESS: Take few small ice cubes in a clean piece of cloth or a hanky and apply to your eyes or under eyes. You can also just dip a clean cloth in cold water and apply for about 10 to 15 minutes two or three times in a day. This works by constricting the blood vessels and reduces swelling and dark circles, if followed for few days.
2. COLD TEA BAGS: Applying cold tea bags to your eyes can actually help. Tea contains caffeine and antioxidants that fight inflammation. Caffiene constricts the blood vessels and reduce fluid retention or stasis beneath the skin.
   Soak two normal tea bags or even green tea bags in hot water for five minutes. Then allow them to chill in the refrigerator for about 15 to 20 minutes. Once they’re cold, apply the teabags to your closed eyes for 10 to 20 minutes once daily. After removing, rinse your eyes with cold water.
3. COLD ALOE VERA GEL: Take a fresh leaf from aloe vera plant and extract the gel. Chill it in refrigerator for about 10 minutes and Then apply the gel on the under eye skin and leave it there for 15 minutes and then rinse if you wish.
4. Other Stuff like Cucumbers, Potatoes, Mint leaves, Coconut oil and even milk are used by many, but the efficacy of these is controversial.

The post Under Eye Dark Circles Treatment By Dr Health Tips appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

 What are Under Eye Dark Circles?

They are known by various names like, under eye circles, infra-orbital  or peri-orbital dark circles, lower eyelid bags, peri-orbital pigmentation and so on. These are equally common in both men and women. These dark circles can make you look older than your actual age. And to make matters worse, they can be actually difficult to get rid of. But, if you carefully pick up the reason that’s causing this problem, then it’s very easy to treat these dark circles. Please watch this episode till the end. We will first learn the causes or the factors responsible for this and then we will learn the mechanism, and what actually gives rise to this dark color on your under-eye skin and finally the best treatments to get rid of dark circles.

The Real Reasons for Dark Circles under eyes:

1. Sleep Deprivation and extreme fatigue, or just forcefully staying awake a few hours past your normal bedtime, can lead to dark circle formation over a period of time.
2. Chronic Stress: Any form of stress whether emotional or physical stress, from trauma or chronic illness can lead to this problem. We will discuss on the stress hormone or cortisol hypothesis on this shortly.
3. Natural Aging: This is a natural cause of dark circles because as you get older, your skin becomes thinner and there is loss of collagen and elastin fibres in the skin.
4. Eye Strain from watching too much television or computer screen, can cause blood vessels around your eyes to dilate and produce these dark circles and also eye lid bags and puffiness.
5. Allergies: especially eye allergies. This acts in two ways. Firstly they release histamines which dilate blood vessels, and then, due to itchiness, you tend to rub or scratch your eyes and in this process you trigger inflammation which can lead to these dark circles.
6. Over exposure to Sunlight: This results in production of excess melanin pigment which can darken the skin around your eyes.
7. Nutritional deficiency of vitamins like A, C, K and Vitamin E, can accelerate aging and result in dark circles around eyes. And also Anaemia especially, iron deficiency anaemia can also result in dark circles.
8. Smoking and Alcohol, late night parties and dehydration are also important factors.
9. Hormonal Changes like in Pregnancy, or even menstrual imbalances can result in dark circles.
10. Genetic Predisposition and Family history is another important factor. Remember, if your child is having some degree of dark circles under eyes, this in later part of life can become more prominent.

How are Dark Circles under eyes formed?  The Mechanism of formation.

Let’s look at the First explanation or hypothesis on this:

1. We have very tiny and thin blood vessels, rather a network of blood vessels called capillaries under this loose and thin skin around eyes. These capillaries are so fine that the red blood cells are waiting in queue to pass through them. An in this process, due to stasis of blood, there is extravasation or leakage into the surrounding skin tissues. This stasis causes breakdown of haemoglobin into pigments like hemosiderin and biliverdin which contribute to visible pigmentation or the dark circles under your eyes.
2. There is another theory explaining this.
   There are a number of reasons that cause dark eye circles as discussed already. Most important ones are Stress and Lack of Sleep. So, when you are in stress whether emotional stress or from any reason, like lack of sleep, our body produces the stress hormone called cortisol. The action of cortisol is, it causes constriction of some vessels as well dilatation of some vessels, like those in the loose tissues of our body, like the tissues underneath the peri-occular skin. The lower eyelid skin is one of the thinnest parts in the body and due to this blood vessel dilatation, there is stasis of blood in this region and then there is breakdown of haemoglobin into pigments like hemosiderin and biliverdin which contributes to visible pigmentation or the dark circles under your eyes. The same stasis also explains the baggy eyelids or eyelid bags. These changes are more exaggerated in an ageing skin. 

Let’s look at the medical treatments and natural or home remedies for under eye dark circles in our next post.

The post How are Dark Circles under Eyes formed? Know The Real Reasons To Treat! appeared first on Dr Health Tips.

Egg Yolk Contains High Cholesterol and Bad for Health?

 This is a Myth! One average sized chicken egg contains about 186 mg/dl of cholesterol and all of it is present in the yolk. So it’s obviously true that eating egg yolk should increase your blood cholesterol!  But the good news is – It’s the GOOD Cholesterol or the HDL cholesterol that increases. The higher this HDL value, the better it is for your heart health. So eating eggs is actually good for your health because in addition to raising your good cholesterol and being high in the best quality protein and amino acids, it contains a lot of other useful vitamins and minerals. You know you get a life out of an egg! So obviously eggs are Superfoods! – In fact, the Nature’s Perfect Food!

How many Eggs can I eat per day?

Well, this varies from person to person and your digestive system. It also depends on the type of egg you eat. We shall discuss about this later. Studies have shown that eating up to three whole eggs per day is perfectly safe and there is no evidence that eating more than three will cause you any harm.  And Moreover, eggs are so inexpensive, easy to cook and also taste awesome. Isn’t it?
 

Eating or Drinking Raw Eggs is good for Muscle Building and Health?

Well, this is the biggest myth! It is actually bad for your health. Let me explain this. Whether raw egg or cooked egg, they both are nutritious and have lot of nutrients.
The three main reasons or concerns you should avoid eating or drinking raw eggs are:

1. A small risk of Salmonella infection which can cause a bad diarrhoea or gastroenteritis in some people, especially if you have low immunity and stuff like that.
2. Eggs contain all 9 essential amino acids and hence they are rightly called, “The Complete protein”. The problem is, eating the eggs raw can reduce the absorption of these quality proteins. So, protein is better absorbed from cooked eggs or partially cooked eggs, although some other nutrients may be slightly reduced by the cooking process.
3. Another concern is, Eating Raw egg can cause Biotin deficiency. Biotin is a very important B complex vitamin and very important for hair loss patients. Biotin is found in egg yolk and its enemy called Avidin is present in egg white. If you consume raw egg, this avidin binds to biotin and blocks its absorption. When you cook the egg, heat destroys this avidin and you get biotin available for absorption. As simple as that!

Are Brown Eggs or Desi Eggs Better than White Eggs?

I am sure most of us know the price difference between these two eggs. Do brown eggs have a high nutritional value when compared to white eggs or the cheaper eggs? Do the brown eggs contains any special vitamin or mineral that is exclusive for this type of an egg?

Does the colour of its shell, make it healthier than white eggs? Or what’s hidden inside is what really matters!

Most of us think expensive things are good! But the truth is, other than the price difference and the hen that lay these eggs.  The White-feathered chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs; red or brown ones with red earlobes lay brown eggs. Other than that, there is absolutely no real difference in nutritional value between brown and white eggs. But some studies have shown that a very negligible amount of Omega-3 fatty acids are little higher in brown eggs. But for us, this actually does not really matter. So, this is the fact!

What Type of Egg is Good for Health?

There are lot of labels for egg types, such as, organic, vegetarian-fed, free-range, cage-free, Pasture raised eggs and so on. So, where do you start? Well, where do all these egg types come from? A Chicken! Right?  Though, Pasture raised eggs are considered the best. If you trust your grocery store or the brand, you can go for it. Because No hormones or antibiotics are injected into this poultry and they are considered best.

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