Health tips for rainy season

Avoid sleeping in day time. Do not indulge in extreme physical exertion. Do not get exposed to sun frequently. Always carry something to protect yourself from the downpour. A raincoat or an umbrella will do. If you get drenched by the heavy rain, dry yourself as soon as possible or you can take a shower first and then dry yourself before taking a sip of that coffee. Always keep the surroundings dry and clean, neat and tidy. Do not allow water to get accumulated around you. Keep your body warm as viruses attack immediately when body temperature goes down. Do not enter air conditioned room with wet hair and wet cloths. Dry your feet with soft dry cloth whenever they are wet. Wash vegetables with clean water and steam them well to kill germs. Avoid eating uncooked foods and salads, because the possibility to get caught by germs increases. 

Drink plenty of water and keep your body well hydrated always. Do not allow kids to play in stagnant polluted water filled puddles. Keep antiseptic liquids like dettol or savlon handy and use for washing off mud or dirt that usually gets splashed around. Don't just wash your hands but also your feet to avoid itching, rashes and skin infections.

Always use sturdy footwear that will give you a good grip and adequate protection to avoid slipping or falling. if you have any minor accidents, use ice it helps in numbing the nerve endings. If you are suffering from asthma or diabetes, avoid staying anywhere with wet walls. It promotes the growth of fungus and can be especially harmful. Drink lots of warming herbal teas, especially those with antibacterial properties such as holybasil leaves. 

Many people get sick during the monsoon season. They either capture colds or flu due to the sudden fluctuations in temperature. As a student or a working citizen, you must protect yourself from getting sick. Once rain starts to pour, your initial reaction is to run to a shaded area and wait until the shower subsides. You may be safe from getting totally drenched but the risk of getting sick is still high. If your immune system is low, you may instantly catch a cold after being exposed to the cool breeze that often accompanies rain showers. You should apply certain countermeasures to keep yourself healthy during the rainy season. Here are some sickness-preventing countermeasures you can’t try

Prepare Your Rain Gear – The most effective way not to get sick during the rainy season is to wear rain gear. The primary components of rain gear are the umbrella, rain coat or hooded jacket, and waterproof shoes. If you have a complete set of rain-repulsing items, your chances of getting sick totally decreases. They’re a bit tedious to bring so you can just leave them in your school or office locker, when it is not raining.

Load Up on Vitamin C – Vitamin C, as a cure for the common cold, is still being debated upon by medical researchers. What it really does is reduce the severity of the cold’s symptoms, making them tolerable. With a healthy supply of vitamin C in your body, your antibodies will repulse the cold virus faster. Some doctors even say that the vitamin stands as a form of cold prevention. Always remember to take your vitamins.

Cut Down on Smoking – Smoking brings temporary relief during cool rainy days since each puff brings a small amount of heat to the body. Unfortunately, cigarette smoke weakens a person’s respiratory system, which is the usual problem area when you’re soaked in rain water. You should stop or at least minimize smoking during rainy days so you can withstand drizzles better.

Take a Shower when You Get Soaked by Rain – At first glance, this suggestion seems far-fetched. If you think about it clearly, taking a shower right after getting drenched by rain actually makes sense. Diseases develop when your body experiences a drastic change in temperature. Taking a shower stabilizes the cold temperature brought by rain drops then enforces a gradual shift back to your normal temperature once you dry yourself.

The Convenience Store – Rain showers tend to surprise people, especially those who are unprepared. Everyone will run to the nearest covered area to take shelter. In your case, you can be a bit more selective and head straight to the nearest convenience store or mini mart. Those establishments often have rain gear and medicine for colds and flu. Pick up everything you need and walk in the rain with confidence.

Sweat Out the Symptoms – Before a flu develops, you will feel your body weaken and your mind clouded. You can stop those symptoms from developing into a full-fledged fever by sweating. Of course, the best form of sweating is through exercise. You can jog around the area of your home when you start to feel cold and do some indoor exercises. By doing so, not only will you sweat out the symptoms, but you will also be healthier in the process.

 Hot Soup – Consuming a bowl of hot soup is healthy, especially during the monsoon months. Its temperature will give your body some warmth that will help you withstand rain and the cold monsoon breeze longer. For people soaked in rain water, soup provides instant relief since its warm base clears up phlegm in the nasal cavities and general throat area. It also cleanses your body as it carries away bacteria and waste products to the body’s excretory system.

Clean Hands – According to medical researchers, the best way to contract the common cold is by having dirty hands. We use our hands in almost every activity so the cold virus can easily enter our bodies at any time. You probably know how the common cold’s symptoms can escalate during the rainy season. To keep yourself safe, clean your hands regularly and always bring a hand sanitizer.

Power of Suggestion – The human mind is more powerful than what some people would expect. Some sicknesses actually develop through sheer belief even if no virus is present in the human body. This occurrence is called the placebo effect. Given the responsiveness of the human body to the mind, you can believe that you will not get sick when you get soaked by rain. Your body will act accordingly if your will is strong enough. Of course, this method’s efficiency is questionable so just use your positive thinking in conjunction with the other countermeasures.

Drain your Sickness Away – Drinking water is an indirect form of prevention and sometimes treatment to all sorts of illnesses. Water hydrates the body, helping it deals with cold and flu viruses. Water also cleanses the body as it washes away germs and bacteria through your excretory systems. The “eight glasses a day” rule isn’t really necessary. You should just drink to your heart’s content daily.

Limit Your Alcohol – Maintained hydration is an effective way of preventing and dealing with the harsh biological effects of rain. Sometimes drinking water or eating soup is not enough. You should limit your alcohol intake since it is known to dehydrate your body and weaken your immune system. Limiting yourself from drinking will not automatically free you from colds and flu but it will certainly improve your rate of recovery.

Don’t Touch Your Face – Aside from getting drenched, a common way to transmit the cold virus is by touching your face or putting your hands close to your face. The usual entry point of the virus is through your facial organs. The rainy season is the breeding ground of cold and flu viruses. Clearly, you must avoid placing your hands anywhere near your face or the faces of other people during the monsoon months.

Eat Vegetables – According to some medical researchers, vegetables that contain photochemical work better than vitamin C. They are more efficient in pacifying the symptoms of colds and flu. Eating a good dose of vegetables also lessens your recovery time from those illnesses. Vegetables are also rich in vitamin A that makes your eyes healthier. What more can you ask for from these nutritious plants?

Throw Up – Notice how puking makes you feel better whenever you’re tipsy or when you have a hangover. Remarkably, it has the same effect on colds and fever. If you feel heavy after getting drenched by rain, you can force yourself to puke. The act of puking forces phlegm and germs to exit from your body. You will suddenly feel better and lighter right after.

Getting sick during the rainy season is a frequent occurrence. You must always stay protected. Remember, taking a sick leave for a few days may cost you your much awaited promotion or a passing grade  at the end of the school term. :)

Healthy By Drinking Water

Water is absolutely essential for survival. A person may survive for a month without food, but only about a week without water. People can't survive on any water either, we need to have clean water to drink. Clean water contributes to good health; contaminated water can cause disease and even death. In order to be clean enough for human consumption, water usually has to be "treated" in some way.

The body is made up of 75% water - the most important nutrient (and salt - the 2nd most important nutrient). The brain is 85% water and salt, and the blood is 94% water and salt. It is vitally important that these levels remain intact because each of the millions of cells in the body need important nutrients that water delivers, and if it weren't for salt they would stay in a toxic state - salt removes the toxins.Not drinking enough water causes the cells to not receive the nutrients they need to function properly. They turn acidic and start to malfunction - this is what causes disease. 

Thirst is one of the last signals that your body gives you to drink water. By the time you feel thirsty, dehydration is already being felt somewhere in the body. This is why people need to drink water on a forced, regular schedule. But people don't always recognize their thirst - they mistake it for hunger. So when they eat when they should be drinking water, the body may lash out on the hunger response to make them eat more so it can get the water it needs from the food. This results in fatness.

Every day a person needs to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water. This will reduce the malfunctioning of body parts.

Incredible as it may seem, water is quite possibly the single most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off. Although most of us take it for granted, water may be the only true "magic potion" for permanent weight loss!

Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat. Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits. Here's why: The kidneys can't function properly without enough water. When the kidneys don't work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto the liver. One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. If the liver has to do some of the kidney's work, it can't operate at full throttle. As a result, it metabolizes less fat, more fat remains stored in the body, and weight loss stops. Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention. When the body gets less water, it perceives this as a threat to survival and begins to hold on to every drop. Water is stored in extra cellular spaces (outside the cells). This shows up as swollen feet, legs and hands. Diuretics offer a temporary solution at best. They force out stored water along with some essential nutrients. Again, the body perceives a threat and will replace the lost water at the first opportunity. Thus, the condition quickly returns. The best way to overcome the problem of water retention is to give the body what it needs.PLENTY OF WATER. Only then will the stored water be released. If you have a constant problem with water retention, excess salt may be to blame. Your body will tolerate sodium only in a certain concentration. The more salt you eat, the more water your system retains to dilute it. But getting rid of un-needed salt is easy - just drink more water. As it's forced through the kidneys, it takes away excess sodium. The overweight person needs more water than the thin one! Larger people have larger metabolic loads. Since we know that water is the key to fat metabolism, it follows that the overweight person needs more water. Water helps maintain proper muscle tone by giving muscles their natural ability to contract and by preventing dehydration. It also helps to prevent the sagging skin that usually follows weight loss - shrinking cells are buoyed by water, which plumps the skin and leaves it clear, healthy, and resilient. Water helps rid the body of waste. During weight loss, the body has a lot more waste to get rid of - all the metabolized fat must be shed. Again, adequate water helps flush out the waste. Water can help relieve constipation. When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources. The colon is one primary source. Result? Constipation. But, when a person gets enough water, normal bowel functions returns. So far, we've discovered some remarkable truths about water and weight loss

The amount you drink also should be increased if you exercise briskly or if the weather is hot and dry. Water should preferably be cold - it's absorbed into the system more quickly than warm water. And some evidence suggests that drinking cold water can actually help burn calories. When the body gets the water it needs to function optimally, its fluids are perfectly balanced