Health Benefits of Scented Candles for Aromatherapy

Jul10

Read about the health benefits of scented candles.

Kharma Creations

One of the numerous advantages you can get from making use of scented candles is Aromatherapy. In meaning, aromatherapy is actually a type of choice medicine that uses distinct types of botanical oils in treating or avoiding a sickness.

Aromatherapy is being broadly used to treatment some sicknesses such as rheumatoid arthritis, stomach upset, and menstrual cramps. Even migraine can be cured by inhaling perfumes from certain important oil. Probably the most frequent use of aromatherapy is to relieve the intellect and entire body of strain. In the processes, unhealthy toxins, developed by stress which can result in several illnesses, are introduced. Moreover, aromatherapy aids in a person’s relaxation, and it can even increase his or her stamina.

In most cases, necessary oils such as those taken out from fruit, rose, citrus, or eucalyptus, are utilized in aromatherapy. Some people inaccurately think that scented herbal oils are the ones that…

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Popped a Molly, I’m Sweating woo!

Jul4

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“Popped a molly, I’m sweating woo

Popped a molly , I’m sweating woo”

Lyrics from a well-known rapper Trinidad James.

Molly, short for molecule, is the pure form of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) a chemical found in ecstasy. Although molly seems to be the new girl on the block, she was actually patented by Merck pharmaceuticals in 1914 and did not make much noise until the 1980’s. In the 80’s MDMA was known as Adam, he was not a very popular boy because of the cocaine epidemic. Later in the 90’s MDMA in the pill form known as ecstasy became very popular at Raves and parties. Now lets fast forward to the present where Molly takes center stage, she is talk about in most rap songs and it seems so normal just to pop a molly.

Now you should be asking yourself why would Merck patent this highly addictive drug, initially the drug was given to patients in a psychotherapeutic setting to reduce fear and anxiety. But just like any happy drug the masses start to abuse it and the short-term effects can be detrimental. So what is this Molly all about?

MDMA floods the brain with neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine giving an intense feeling of euphoria and diminishes anxiety. But once you come down from this high the psychological effects are also intense such as depression, confusion, paranoia and anxiety. The short-term physiological effects are tremors, muscle cramps,dry-mouth/thirst and a high dose can interfere body temperature resulting in a sharp increase in body temperature. A study was done recently and showed that the long-term use of Molly can cause Parkinson’s disease later in life.

So before you pop a molly and start sweating think about the risk and the long-term effects, anything that spikes your body temperature is a big no-no aka do not pass go aka the sign that says stay awake when driving back from atlantic city! Just don’t do it, and if you want to feel elated exercise or dance to your favorite song.

Stay safe during this holiday weekend!

Peace and Blessings

Where’s the Chicken?

Mar4

What did I get myself into??? A couple of months ago I told my business partner that I will no longer be eating meat when 2013 comes around. I came to this conclusion because of my upcoming half marathon and I wanted a clean body, meaning a clean diet without meat. Taking meat out of the equation is not impossible because me and my best friend back in college vowed to never eat meat again it was only until we meet our meat-eating husbands the vow was broken. But eliminating chicken and turkey has been challenging, why on earth did I eliminate chicken!!!

Chickens are sometimes raised in adverse conditions and because of its high demand they are injected with antibiotics that get deposited into the individuals consuming the chicken. When the body is over exposed to antibiotics we build up tolerance and drugs become less effective. Also chicken is packed with cholesterol, this lipid (fat) causes cardiovascular disease.  So maybe I will stick to my diet, 30 years of eating chicken my body deserves a break.

It turns out my diet has a name Pescetarian,  according to Webster  a pescetarian diet shares many of its components with a vegetarian diet and includes vegetables,  fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, and dairy, but unlike a vegetarian diet also includes fish and shellfish. This sounds healthy but lets research its side effects, everything has side effects.

Since consuming a large amount of fish, mercury toxicity can become a problem. Mercury is a contaminant found in fish that can affect brain development and the nervous system. A wise pescetarian makes sure to eat a variety of fish and should be educated about which fish has the highest mercury levels. So typically I should avoid eating marlin,  orange roughy, swordfish and ahi tuna.  But shrimp and lobster have low levels of mercury but cost more at the supermarket. This diet is expensive…..

Recent research indicates that a traditional pescetarian diet aka  Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), memory problems that are a known precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, as well as later developing Alzheimer’s. This gives me some motivation to continue, after this year I may take it a step further and become a vegetarian….stay tuned!

Cancer the New Epidemic

Dec20

This morning when I was running with one of my favorite pace partners she informed me that she just recently had surgery to remove a tumor from her breast. So I started to ask the usual questions…

1) Is there a family history of cancer

2) Did u ever smoke

3) Have you ever been exposed to radiation

4) Overexposure to sunlight

Every answer was no, then she simply said cancer is an epidemic. So my mind starting racing is this an epidemic? An epidemic occurs when new cases of a certain disease in a given population substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience. There was a time when a cancer diagnosis could be linked to the individuals lifestyle i.e smoking, excessive use of alcohol or genetic predisposition.  But now healthy young individuals with no family history are developing cancer at alarming rates. But why?

Physicians and scientist know the mechanism of the disease, how it eludes cell cycle arrest and the mutated cell continues to divide developing into a tumor. But this is just one mechanism there are several more ways a cell becomes cancerous.  To understand this epidemic it will take me several blogs, so I will make this a five part series. My cohort will be healthy individuals with no genetic predisposition developing colon, breast, lung, prostate and pancreatic cancer.

I would like to dedicated this series of blogs to my lab supervisor Billie, she was strict, intelligent and kind. She died of pancreatic cancer very quickly and I will never forget her struggle.

Stay tuned!

 

 

How do you remember all this stuff!

Oct2

During my biology class last week a student just burst out “How do you know all this stuff”, and she was serious. We were going over the endomembrane system of the eukaryotic cells and the material was vast, and I normally teach from my memory and use the power point slides as cheat sheets. But the question did make me wonder, how do I know all this stuff!

So memory comes from the spiking of neurons induced by a sensory (smell, touch, taste, sound, site) imput, neurons create a synaptic transmission forming a memory pathway in the brain. There are three main stages in the storage and retrieval of memory, number one the brain encodes the memory in the form of a sensory imput. That’s why a certain smell and sound brings back memories from childhood. The next stage is storage, creating a permanent record of your memory which leads into short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).  Short term memory allow for recall for a period of several seconds to a minute without rehearsal. Any new information must be repeated several times in order for it to become apart of your LTM. One suggestion from an author in Amazing Grades, is to play an old song while trying to remember new material, this opens up pathways of your long-term memory causing you to store this new information along with your favorite song.  But be careful you may start reciting physics equation along with a Biggie Smalls song (my best friend’s favorite rapper).

Long term memory can store larger quantities of information for potentially an unlimited duration, which helps us recall our first day at kindergarten. Sometimes these memories become cloudy because of a symptom know as traumatic stress disorder, this comes from depression, tragedy, stress, childbirth and traumatic accidents. The disorder causes the imbalance of old and new brain cells, blocking some of the memory pathways that makes some memories hard to retrieve. This brings us to the third stage retrieval this is our ability to call back the stored information in response to some cue. The cue for me was teaching my biology course and realizing this information has become apart of my long-term memory.

Aging also decreases your memory i.e appointment books, but not all hope is lost! If you are like me and have been through a traumatic experience and aging at the same time the international longevity center released recommendations for keeping the mind in good functionality until advanced age.

1) Stay intellectually active through learning, training or reading

2) Keep physically active so to promote blood circulation to the brain

3) Socialize

4) Keep sleep time regular (not happening since I’m writing this blog at midnight)

5) To avoid depression or emotional instability

6) and observe good nutrition.

Some brain power foods include salmon, nuts, whole grains, blackberries, pumpkin seeds and broccoli.

The key here is to keep reading my blog (staying intellectual), exercise and eat nutritional foods so that you can retain unlimited information.

Folk Remedies

Sep24

During the summer I was a judge at Temple Math Science Upward bound science symposium. One student named Summer had an excellent research project studying remedies for the common cold. What she found was that natural products such as honey and lemon had the same effect as using cough syrup, natural products have less side effects and cost much less. So I wanted to find out more about other natural products that can remedy some illnesses, but my research came to a holt as the memory of my childhood resurfaced. When I was maybe three or four years old I can remember the strong smell of onions in my brother’s room and him chasing me around with the onions in his socks. And another memory which even now is hard to bear, the big brown castor oil bottle in the refrigerator. My mom would chase me around with a spoonful of this pure disgusting liquid and make me drink it. So why did my mom make me and my siblings suffer with her homemade concoctions and did they really help?

Research by Lynn C Smitherman found that one tenant of the health belief system of African-Americans is that illness is caused by “impurities” in the body and these impurities must be purged through the urine, the stool, or the skin.  This belief lead to  folk remedies for health care, such as the use of castor oil, onions in the sock, wrapping up in a blanket to sweat out a fever, drinking garlic juice (another one of moms home remedies) to stay strong etc.

But do these remedies really work?

I found that onions are rich in sulfur which makes it a strong antiseptic and antibiotic.  Current research shows that onions taken internally or externally lowers fever, cures coughs and colds.

In vitro studies (outside the cell) of garlic has been found to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal activity. However, these actions are less clear in vivo   (inside the cell) but it has been proven to reduce cardiovascular disease. Garlic is a vasodilator that reduces aortic plaque deposits that causes heart attacks.

Castor Oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean, it is known as a GRASE “generally recognized as safe and effective” laxative. It’s major site of action is in the small intestine causing an explosive diarrhea. This will definitely purge you of any impurities.

Overall, these folk remedies have been passed down from generation to generation and the use of these natural products can only prevent and treat ailments. They also have less side effects than OTC medications and cost less money, so go to your kitchen cabinet instead of your local drug store or better yet go to my mom’s house where a pot of garlic is always brewing.