How to look fab on a daily basis

After a hectic week of work it is easy to feel under the weather. But you have to look your best on Saturday night too. So here are easy-to-do quick fixes to keep your dazzling self intact: 

Hair colour : After a while, the colour in your hair can make your hair look jaded. For instantly rich and shiny looking hair, blend different colour conditioners to enhance the colour of your hair.

Eyes : Puffy eyes and dark circles are instant give-aways of what a horrid week you have had. All you need to do to get your eyes back to their sparkling self is to dab two warm tea bags or invest in a great eye cream, or even two metal spoons straight out of the freezer can do the trick.

Complexion : Skin looking sallow? Add blush on the upper apples of your cheeks for a natural flush. You will immediately turn from being haggard into a rose in full bloom.

6 Sex positions for weight loss

While it may seem hard to take out time to hit the gym for a workout session, very few people know that indulging in a sweat-inducing sex session is equally beneficial. 

It not only helps burning extra calories, but also allows couples to perform routine exercises and also enjoy sexual pleasure. What else can couples ask for! 

Dr. Basheer Ahmad Roy, a Bangalore-based sex specialist states, "Almost all muscles including the legs, thighs, arms, shoulders and lower abdomen are worked upon during a sexual interaction. Anything that is done for the body should be done for at least 15 minutes and a sex session may not stretch for this long. So couples need to pay extra attention that if they wish to derive additional health benefits from sexual positions, they need to prolong sexual activity right from foreplay to the climax state." 

Apart from the fact that sex brings relief from headaches, reduces depression and tranquilises the mind, leads to glowing hair and skin etc, it's also true that many sexual positions double up as easy workouts. 

Dr. Shivi Jaggi, a Delhi-based sexologist asserts, "Sex helps burning a lot of calories. Different positions in which partners participate as per their comfort level lead to a fit body. A few complex positions that require more of physical strength and involve more work lead to weight-loss and exercising of muscles. Intensity of movements and duration of sex make a lot of difference. 


Here are some lovemaking positions, which will let you stretch the most important muscle groups in your body... 

Missionary position (Man on top) 
In the Indian context, more than 90 per cent of couples indulge in the missionary position in bed, which seems to be quite gratifying for them. As the act involves weight balancing, it obviously has a number of physical benefits. The missionary position is all about stretching, arching and tightening. While the male partner is on top, the female laying on her back can also stretch her back, arch and tighten the abs. In addition, she can also try tightening the kegel muscles right during the act. 

Dr. Jaggi elucidates, "The partner on top gets more involved in the physical activity. With a male partner on top, a lot of pressure is borne by his arms and shoulders. Besides, elbows and knees are used to the maximum while balancing in such a position; hence it stretches the muscles in both these body parts. In addition, thigh muscles are also worked upon during the missionary position, as you are almost on your knees during the act." 

Woman on top 
It is said that women can orgasm quickly while on top. Yet there is an evident reluctance among Indian women to try this position in bed. But having a female partner taking the lead is a very good exercise. It allows both partners to enjoy an equal participation, where the woman uses her hands and arms to prop up and down, and the male partner is holding the woman thus balancing her body weight. 

Dr. Jaggi shares, "With the woman on the top, the weight would normally be borne by the male partner. Women being the physically weaker counterpart during sex, you cannot expect them to hold on to their body mass completely. So again it's more of exercise for the men, where they use their biceps' muscles to hold their female partner. For a female too, just to maintain the position for a longer duration, she is stretching her biceps, triceps, forearms and chest muscles to the fullest." TNN

Indian herb that spices up sex life

A herb used to add flavour to Indian curries can also spice up our sex lives, according to a new study. 

Researchers found that men taking fenugreekcan boost their sex drive by at least a quarter.

Sixty healthy men aged between 25 and 52 took an extract of the herb twice a day for six weeks.

Their libido levels were monitored using a scoring system to assess any changes after three and six weeks.

Within six weeks, their scores had soared by an average of 16.1 to 20.6, a 28 per cent rise, reports the Daily Mail .

Meanwhile, another group of men taking dummy pills saw their scores fall.

Fenugreek seeds contain compounds called saponins which are thought to stimulate production of male sex hormones including testosterone.

The tests were carried out by researchers from the Centre for Integrative Clinical and Molecular Medicine in Brisbane, Australia, who said: 'This study has demonstrated that there was significant improvement in sexual function and performance following treatment.'

A 5-min face cream that beats botox

The latest weapon for women promising to fight wrinkles is a face serum that claims to achieve smoother skin in minutes with just a few gentle dabs.
The team behind the Freezeframe serum say it is the most powerful wrinkle-busting treatment yet, the Daily Mail reported.
The 49 pounds product, which goes on sale in Boots from next week, already has more than 14,000 women believers, putting their name down on a waiting list.
Its creators say the treatment uses muscle-relaxing ingredients to make wrinkles vanish in as little as five minutes.
The serum contains a protein called 'Snap-8', which stops nerve cells producing chemicals that signal muscles to contract.
This minimises movement and reduces wrinkles, according to Australian developers SelfCare Corporation and Skin Labs.
The product also relies on a new ingredient, Inhibox, which apparently contains amino acids to repair ageing skin cells, leaving a tightening feeling as it takes effect.
The creators claim the combination is 30 per cent more effective at smoothing skin than another ingredient, Argireline, used in previous 'Botox in a bottle' treatments.
Sonia Amoroso, who developed the product, said: "Freezeframe really is one of our biggest successes. Customers just cannot get enough of it."

Turmeric, a natural born cancer killer

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson ComprehensiveCancer Centre have found that curcumin, the main component in the spice turmeric, suppresses a cell-signalling pathway in human saliva that drives the growth of head and neck cancer.

The inhibition of the cell signalling pathway was also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or signalling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth, said Dr. Marilene Wang, senior author of the study and a Jonsson Cancer Centre researcher.

"This study shows that curcumin can work in the mouths of patients with head and neck malignancies and reduce activities that promote cancer growth," Wang said.


"And it not only affected the cancer by inhibiting a critical cell signalling pathway, it also affected the saliva itself by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines within the saliva," she added.

The study was published September 15 in Clinical Cancer Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association of Cancer Research.ANI

Tomatoes help prevent prostate cancer

Lycopene, a red pigment that gives tomatoes their distinctive colour, could help prevent prostate cancer, say scientists.
Lycopene is a potent antioxidant and some studies have shown that tomato-rich diets may lower the risk of certain cancers, especially those of the prostate, lung and stomach.
"We're not setting out to treat cancer, but to prevent it, and we're hoping to do so with lycopene," said Richard van Breemen, University of Illinois' professor of medicinal chemistry, who led the study, reports the journalCancer Prevention Research.
Each day, half of the study's 105 participants aged between 50 and 80 years, received two gel capsules containing 30 mg of lycopene, while the other half received placebo capsules that contained only soybean oil.

The lycopene approximated the amount that can be ingested daily by eating foods rich in tomato sauce, such as spaghetti and pizza, van Breemen said.
Researchers wanted to see if lycopene would rise in the blood and prostate tissue, and if it could lower markers of oxidative stress -- a factor in many diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer's, and in the body's normal aging process.
Oxidative stress injures cells within the body, while antioxidants help cells cope against the damage, van Breemen said.
After receiving lycopene or placebo for three weeks, all subjects underwent needle biopsies to diagnose BPH (enlarged prostate) or prostate cancer. Two additional biopsies were taken to measure lycopene and DNA oxidation, he said.
The pathology indicated that 51 men had prostate cancer while 65 had BPH. Men who received lycopene showed "a significant increase" of the antioxidant in the blood, van Breemen said, compared to the placebo control group.

Meditation eases pain and stress

Mindfulness meditation helps regulate a vitalbrain wave called the alpha rhythm which suppresses information overload and improves memory, besides easing pain. 

It involves focusing your mind on the present, which is known to improve mood, decrease stressand boost immune function.

The alpha rhythm is particularly active in the cells that process touch, sight and sound in the brain's outmost layer, the cortex, where it helps to turn down distracting sensations and regulate the flow of sensory information among brain regions.

"Mindfulness meditation has been reported to enhance numerous mental abilities, including rapid memory recall," says study co-author Catherine Kerr, pediatrician at the Harvard Medical School, reports the journal Brain Research Bulletin. 

"This result may explain reports that mindfulness meditation decreases pain perception," says Kerr.

"Enhanced ability to turn the alpha rhythm up or down could give practitioners' greater ability to regulate pain sensation."

Brain cells use particular frequencies or waves to regulate the flow of information in much the same way that radio stations broadcast at specific frequencies, according to a Harvard statement.

The study tested a group of healthy volunteers with no previous experience in meditation. Half completed the eight-week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Programme developed at theUniversity of Massachusetts. 


The other half were asked not to engage in any type of meditation during the study period.

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), an imaging technique that detects the location of brain activity with extreme precision, researchers measured participants' alpha rhythms before, during and after the eight-week period.

The study led to the conclusion that mediation helps decrease stress and ease pain.IANS

Enjoy the ‘fruit’ of your labour

Drinking a glass of orange juice a day can keep your skin glowing and keep cold away. Orange juice is known to contain a high percentage ofVitamin C, which is helpful in boosting the immune system. 

So, you will be less likely to catch various illnesses, such as cold or flu. Also, medical studies show that orange juice may help lower both cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

What's your squeeze? 
Don't mix sugar with orange juice. Always remember that you do not need to drink a whole lot of orange juice in order to get these healthy benefits. In fact, since orange juice is fairly high in calories, avoid drinking too much of the stuff. If you are drinking canned orange juice, then be sure to check the sugar content on the label when choosing orange juice if you really want to get the highest amount of health benefits from your orange juice and, ultimately, prevent weight gain (since high sugar levels can cause it).

Pulp fiction 
It is often said that orange juice containing pulp tends to be healthier for the body, but it is an issue that is often debated. If you have a stomach condition, remember that orange juice is very acidic and for that reason, it may cause a stomach upset. Due to its acidity, orange juice can also cause tooth damage , if left uncared for.

Sitting for long periods ups blood clot risk

A study has found that women who sit for long periods everyday are two to three times more likely to develop a life-threatening blood clot in their lungs than more active women.

The study is the first to prove that a sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of developing a pulmonary embolism - a common cause of heart disease.

An editorial published alongside the study said that, although the risk is small - equivalent to seven extra cases per 10,000 person years, and only slightly higher than seen in users of oral contraceptives or long haul airplane travel - the findings could have major health ramifications.

Pulmonary embolism develops when part, or all, of the blood clot travels through the bloodstream from the deep veins in the leg and up into the lungs. Symptoms include difficulty breathing, chest pain and coughing.

Dr Christopher Kabrhel and colleagues studied 69,950 female nurses over an 18-year period providing detailed information about their lifestyle habits by completing biennial questionnaires.


They found that the risk of pulmonary embolism is more than two times higher in women who spend most time sitting (more than 41 hours a week outside of work) compared with those who spend least time sitting (less than 10 hours a week outside of work).

In the accompanying editorial, researchers in Canada said that the study "reinforces the notion that prolonged inactivity increases the risk of venous thromboembolism, and it shows how this occurs in everyday life."

The study has been published in bmj.

Be well mannered first to be healthy!

A new research has found that people with good manners at work and at home are more than twice as likely to be in good health. 

It found that those people tend to have more hygiene routines in place and take better care of their health and well-being. As a result, they suffer less from colds and cases of diarrhoea and are two-and-a-half times more likely to be in good health than those with poor manners. The study, conducted by Dettol and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, also found older people look after their health more than young people and also have better manners.

Homemakers have the highest levels of personal and household hygiene, while office workers and students have the worst. Women also tend to be more hygienic than men. Everyone can change their behaviour and help to break the chain of infection. Good manners are also at the heart of it - being aware and thinking how our behaviour affects us and those around us," the Daily Express quoted John Oxford, chairman of the Hygiene Council and professor of virology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, as saying.

"We're not powerless against infectious disease - everyone can contribute through simple hygiene measures such as washing our hands," he added.