Mumbai Mirror recently released a great article on how to do away with dark circles, here are a few tips taken from it.

Most beauty conscious people have one complaint in common: ‘Under eye dark circles’. Here are some quick tips to knock-off those ugly looking dark circles

 

Application

 

* Use pumpkin slices on your eyes and relax for ten minutes.
* Place grated potato on the eyes. Thin slices of potato will also suffice. Potatoes contain an enzyme, catecholase, which is a natural human skin lightener.
* Mash some ripe papaya and mix it with milk cream. Apply the paste under the eyes and unwind for 10-minutes. Peddar Road based dermatologist Dr Radha Chowgule endorses the use of milk. “Milk has exfoliating properties. Just dipping cotton in milk and placing it on the eyes helps as well.”
* Whist drinking de-caffeinated, herbal tea is good; the opposite is true as far as application goes! After using caffeinated tea bags, chill them in the fridge and then place them under the eyes. The caffeine acts as a remedy for dark circles by treating the puffiness.
* Prepare a paste with milk cream and honey. Apply it under the eyes and wash off after 10 minutes.
* Mix tomato juice and a few drops of lime. Massage the under eye region lightly for few minutes.
* Place cucumber slices on your eyelids and lie down for thirty-minutes. The slices tend to get warm soon, so have someone replace them after every few minutes.
* Alternate hot and cold compresses under your eyes for 10-minutes are also a good remedy for dark cycles.
* Apply some Vaseline on a metal spoon and chill it in the freezer for 10-minutes. Place it on the eyelids.
* Mix a pinch of turmeric in some rose water and soak cotton balls in this solution. Squeeze them out and place them on the eyelids.

 

Thumb rule: None of these remedies work overnight. Be regular and patient!

 

Lifestyle

 

* Sleep well: Lack of sleep makes the under-eye skin pale and thin, thus exposing the blood vessels underneath. However, there are many people who beat owls at being nocturnal and yet have no under eye issues. The point is, as long as you make for the lost sleep it is fine.
* Exercise: This increases blood circulation and clears clogged capillaries around the eyes. Breathing polluted air decreases the amount of oxygenated blood in the body. Exercising helps counter this effect.
* Avoid using tight or heavy glasses: They hinder blood circulation around the eyes.
* Treat colds and sinuses well: Cold or sinus infection can increase pressure on superficial blood vessels, thus enhancing pre-existing dark circles.
* Eat a balanced diet: The lack of nutrients like iron and vitamin E can contribute to the discolouration of the area under the eyes. Including green vegetables in the daily diet will surely help.
* Go easy on the pills: Many medicines cause blood vessels to dilate, adding to under eye darkening. Avoid treating ‘Crocin’ like popcorn.
* Watch water intake: Have too many people told you to drink ten-glasses of water a day for anything remotely connected to beauty? Be it weight loss, skin, hair or nails, it’s always about water. Well, no points for guessing that keeping the body hydrated helps prevent dark circles. Dehydration can make the skin around the eyes wither.
* Wear huge glares: When out in the sun. There are more reasons than style for flaunting those 70s glasses! Exposure to sun doesn’t cause dark circles. It just darkens the under eye skin, along with the rest of the skin, thus adding to the under eye tan.

 

Dr Chowgule concludes, “It helps to come to terms with the fact that dark circles are heritable. The transparency of one’s skin is genetically transmitted. Those with thin skin tend to be more vulnerable to dark circles. Also, having leaky capillaries around the eyes is a common condition that runs in families. Lastly, the bone structure of one’s face determines how deep set the eyes are, accordingly predisposing one to dark circles.”

Many of us spend a lot of time on the computer or at the desk sitting on the chair doing work or the other. In such a situation it is very important to choose a proper chair to sit on so that we can avoid backaches and fatigue. What we found was two chairs that completely fitted the bill. The Aeron Chair and the Wicker Rocking Chairs. Here is something more about them.

Aeron Chair
The Aeron chair is a product of Herman Miller, designed in 1994 by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf. It is an ergonomic chair which is expensive but regarded by many as very comfortable. The chair became a symbol of the rise and fall of the dot-com industry in the late 1990s. However, its breakthrough design has gained it a spot in the New York Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. The ergonomic desk chairs are designed to comfort the body of the user and help the user to desist from poor posture of the body. The chair is not upholstered. Instead, the seat and back are made of a semi-transparent and flexible mesh called Pellicle. Another noteworthy feature is that the Aeron is manufactured in three different sizes, A, B and C for Small, Medium and Large respectively. You can check the size of a given chair by feeling the number of dots (1, 2 or 3) under the handle at the top of the back. If you are experiencing neck pain along with shoulder pain then you might be severely getting affected due to your uncomfortable desk chair.

Wicker Rocking Chairs
A wicker chair is a chair made of wicker and is thus ventilated and useful under hot or humid conditions. Likewise, a cane chair. Wicker is usually a light yet sturdy material, making it ideal for the rocking chairs that will be moved often. These chairs did well in the market because the wicker rocker chair could be twisted into a variety of designs increasing the flexibility so that it can be shaped to the shape of your body automatically while you are sitting on it.

Asthma patients should do the following to avoid Asthma Attacks:

1. Stay indoors on hot and windy days to avoid Grass, tree, and weed pollen
2. Secondhand Smoke – Avoid passive smoking. If your children have asthma, quit smoking.

3. Avoid Dust. Dust is a vital factor in Asthma attacks and preventing that will help you prevent attacks.
4. Stay away from furry and feathered pets.

Mix coconut oil with a bit of almond oil and massage in to the scalp gently for at least 10 to 15 minutes everyday for a month and see the results for yourself! This a safe and tried method with no side effects.

Cancer has killed quite a lot of people. Some cancers are curable at early stages but as they say “Prevention is better than cure”. Follow these steps to avoid cancer.

1. Don’t smoke. Smoking causes 3 in 10 cancer deaths. That’s a lot considering the amount of people dying from cancer these days.
2. Avoid alcohol. Try not getting addicted to it.
3. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Try limiting the amount of red meat and processed meats.
4. Avoid fried stuff. Eat low fat food and cooking methods like baking and broiling are better options.
5. Use sunglasses. Ozone depletion is rapid and so is the exposure of your eyes to ultraviolet rays. Buy quality sunglasses to prevent your eyes from getting damaged.
6. Be fit. Obese people are prone to cancer. Exercise regularly and this will help you keep fit.

Working out is like a trend now and people of almost all ages are seen working out at the gym to appear good physically. Visiting the gym is of course good but can be very bad too if not done properly. Here are a few mistakes that people make at the Gym:

1. Lifting too much weight:
We must never stress our muscles. Initially, we must start with light weights and gradually as you get habituated the light weight go on to the next step. This helps in increasing muscle strength in a far more effective and safe way.

2. No warm ups:
Warm ups before and after the workouts are very important as the muscles need time to get stimulated. Start slowly and gradually increase the intensity of the work out and end slowly so that the muscles are not subject to sudden change. This is a common practice done by many sportsmen before and after playing a game which helps them more in their field.

3. Not drinking enough water:
Whenever at the gym, carry mineral water with you as you are always on the way to dehydration. Drink water at regular intervals and avoid becoming thirsty. (No energy drinks please. Mineral water is fine)

4. Not exercising intensely:
Get some sweat. Very little. This helps in gradually increasing your endurance.

5. Not stretching a lot:
Stretch at regular intervals while your muscles are warm to avoid injuries.

6. Leaning heavily on stairstepper:
When you are on the stairstepper, lower the intensity to a point where you do not undergo any stress. Your body should be in a good posture and your hands should be rested lightly on the rails for balance.

7. Jerking a lot:
Jerks may cause muscle pulls and injury. Analyze your capacity and work accordingly.

A research in London states that regular intake of tomatoes help in reducing heart disease to a great extent. People with high cholesterol levels have been advised to increase their intake of tomatoes in direct or juice form which will also help in reducing the risk of heart attacks.

Tomatoes were a part of healthy food since a long time but the research proves the advantages of eating it. No wonder it is included in salads. The research included 21 volunteers who were aged between 20 and 49. 70% of the people aged above 45 in the study had high levels of cholesterol. Each volunteer had to sacrifice the intake of tomato products for 3 weeks. The next three weeks were spent in taking either 30 gms of of tomato puree or they drank 400 ml of tomato juice everyday.

Blood samples were collected regularly to check cholesterol levels and it was found that those who included small amount of tomato in their daily meals had a low level of “bad” cholesterol. More the cholesterol more is the risk of heart diseases.

The scientists said, “The changes we saw can be regarded as significant, considering that the time period was only three weeks and all the volunteers had normal cholesterol levels to start with.”

Many of us do walk to help ourselves keep fit. But walking properly is also important and you could save a lot of time and gain profuctive results if the tips mentioned below are followed properly.

• Begin and end with light exercises (Stretching your body is a good idea).
• Take short steps while walking without taking effort to do so.
• Do not walk at the same speed for all the time. Walk in speed intervals.
• Keep your back straight while walking. Tighten your abs.
• Do not land all of your feet on the ground at the same time. Land your heals first and end with the toe.
• Bend your elbows while walking. This helps them swing faster helping your legs move faster.
• Keep your chin up.
• Try going out with friends and keep talking so that you know that you aren’t putting a lot of effort in the walk.
• Avoid uneven paths and pavements.
• Get your music player along to enjoy the experience!