HAPPINESS QUOTES (Collated by Constance Clement)
* Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings, and once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax in maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. Eat, pray and love....... Elizabeth Gilbert

* Our greatest happiness does don't depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation and freedom in all just pursuits.

*There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will..... Epictetus.

*True happiness is to enjoy the present without anxious dependence upon the future..... Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

* The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts; Therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.....Marcus Aurelius

* Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened. Memories will forever live in your heart, no matter how brief the experience might have been. So be thankful that you can reminisce at any time you choose....Dr Seuss

*Its never too late to start over. If you weren't happy with yesterday, try something different today. Don't stay stuck do better.
  

BENEFITS OF SLEEP

The benefits of sleep impact nearly every area of our daily lives. While it may be obvious that sleep is beneficial, most people don’t realize how much sleep they need and why it is so important. According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, your body manages and requires sleep in much the same way it regulates the need for food, drinking and breathing. Extensive research has been done on the effects of sleep. These studies have consistently shown that sleep plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity and emotional well-being.

Sleep Helps to Repair the Body

Your body produces extra protein molecules while you are sleeping that help strengthen your ability to fight infection and stay healthy. These molecules help your immune system mend your body at the cellular level when you are stressed, or have been exposed to compromising elements such as pollutants and infectious bacteria.

Sleep Helps Keep Your Heart Healthy

Your cardiovascular system is constantly under pressure and sleep helps to reduce the level of stress and inflammation in your body. High levels of “inflammatory makers” are linked to heart disease and strokes. Sleep can also keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels (which play a role in heart disease) in check.

Sleep Reduces Stress

A good night sleep can help lower pressure and elevated levels of stress hormones, which are a natural result of today’s fast paced lifestyle. High blood pressure can be life threatening and the physical effects of stress can produce “wear and tear” on your body, and degenerate the cells which propel the aging process. Sleep helps to slow these effects and encourages a state of relaxation.

 Sleep Improves Your Memory

The foggy feeling that you struggle with when deprived of sleep makes it difficult to concentrate. This often leads to memory problems with facts, faces, lessons or even conversations. Sleeping well eliminates these difficulties because, as you sleep, your brain is busy organizing and correlating memories. One of the great benefits of sleep is that it allows your brain to better process new experiences and knowledge, increasing your understanding and retention. So, next time you hear someone say, “Why don’t you sleep on it?” Take the advice.

Sleep Helps Control Body Weight Issues

Sleep helps regulate the hormones that affect and control your appetite. Studies have shown that when you are deprived of sleep, the normal hormone balances are interrupted and your appetite increases. Unfortunately, this increase in appetite doesn’t lead to a craving for fruits and veggies. Rather, your body longs for foods high in calories, fats and carbohydrates. So, if you are trying to lose those stubborn few kilograms that just keep hanging around, consider the benefits of sleep each day. Research has also shown that lack of sleep may lead to type 2 diabetes by affecting how your body processes glucose, which is the carbohydrate your cells use for fuel. The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School reports that a study showed a healthy set of people who have reduced their sleep from eight to four hours per night processed glucose more slowly. Other research initiatives have revealed that adults who usually sleep less than five hours per night have increased risk of developing diabetes.

With sufficient sleep during the night, many people still become agitated or moody the following day. When limited sleep becomes a chronic issue, it can lead to long-term mood disorder such as depression and anxiety.

The benefits of sleep are extensive and can make a difference in your quality of life, as well as the length of your life. Therefore, it is vital to place a priority on getting ample and consistent sleep.

By Ola Uchendu.

Body Piercing: the New Trend in Fashion

 In our fashion world today, many people, especially the youth tend to go out of the ordinary just to get that fashionable look. Looking at pictures, videos and even reading about the “good old days” types of fashion, it is quite on a different note from what we refer to as fashion these days. Piercing today has taken different forms ranging from nose, tongue, ears, eyes and any part of the body that one feels comfortable with. In all these, I wonder if piercing the body other than the ear is actually fashionable.

Ranging from clothes, shoes, hairdo and ear piercing, the African old ways are totally different to that of the present day. Ear piercing for earrings has always been part of the traditional adornment of women in Africa and other parts of the world. But the new trend in fashion has seen men take over ear piercing.

Even though it is not in the tradition of Africans for men to pierce their ears, these days it is very common to find among a lot of men on the streets with pierced ears, all in the name of fashion.

Usually the procedure of ear piercing or any kind is minimal and very painful for tongue and other parts of the body, therefore some people prefer being given anaesthesia.   

The Risk Factor of ear Piercing:   We all know that at any point where the skin is open or broken, there tends to be a risk of infection. This is because once the skin is open; it is vulnerable to bacterial or other kinds of infection. Therefore, sterile techniques are mostly used to prevent this from happening. After piercing a part of the body, allergies can occur; so medical grade materials are always required to prevent allergies. It is also always advised to clean your ears, or the part of the body to be pierced, with an antiseptic in order to prevent it from getting infected.

 

Piercing is quite fashionable, at least to an extent, but when it is wrongly done, or when it is not properly taken care of  complications can set in.

 In our society today a lot of people prefer piercing several parts of their body in the name of fashion. Personally, I would prefer just piercing only my ears. I can’t quite stand the idea of having holes in all parts of my body. I think that pierced ear lobes for earrings are enough fashion for me!  

By Rifkatu Yusuf

HOW TO APPLY FOUNDATION FLAWLESSLY

Makeup has been a woman’s best friend since the dawn of time and applying foundation correctly adds to women’s beauty and makes them feel comfortable in their skin. Putting on makeup shouldn’t be something women should be ashamed of. In fact, it is what most women enjoy doing when they are bored, sad, or when they are inspired. The process of doing it is such a stress reliever for oneself and the end result makes one feel awake and energized. To even out your skin tone and have a flawless skin appearance, you need to learn tricks about how to apply foundation perfectly. If you apply foundation in the right manner, you will have a long lasting foundation and your makeup will look better. On the other hand, a mistake in applying foundation can make you look like a clown.

Below are tips that will educate you on the steps to properly apply foundation and have it lasting longer:

1.   Before you start applying foundation, wash your hands and face with a face wash which suits your skin type. Also consider using makeup brushes or sponges for applying foundation instead of applying foundation with fingers.

2.   Apply a primer or a moisturizing sunscreen or a simple moisturizer depending upon your skin type and choice. It is advised you apply a primer if either it’s an evening time or if your skin is broken to get even surface. For daytime, it is advised you use a sunscreen lotion. This process will keep your skin hydrated and it will enable the makeup to blend better and you will also have a long lasting foundation.

3. Leave the moisturizer sunscreen or primer for two minutes, to set in, before applying foundation. If you feel your skin looks greasy after this process, wipe out your face with a soft wet tissue.

4.  If you have dark circles under your eyes or any blemishes on your face, consider   applying concealer. Pat the concealer, do not try to rub it. Pat the concealer, working from the outside of the eye to the inside near the nose to avoid stretching of this delicate area.
5.  Apply the foundation using foundation brush or makeup sponge or tips of your fingers. But it is better you go for brush. It soaks less of foundation and blends flawlessly.

6.  Whatever tool you use, apply dots of foundation on the cheeks, forehead, chin and tip of your nose. Don’t apply foundation all over your face, just the spots as mentioned. The objective is to even out the skin tones and not to apply an opaque mass. If it’s too much, you will look like a clown and if too less, you will look unpolished. Don’t apply to your neck. Apply it up to just under the jawline.

7. Blend the dot together. Make sure that there are no obvious lines near your hairline or jawline.

8.  Immediately after applying foundation, set it with translucent loose powder. This will provide matte finish foundation and a natural look. There is no need to apply powder if your skin is dry.

9. If you apply powder, look at the mirror closely to ensure that the foundation has blended well on your face.

10.   At this point, you can apply any other makeup if you want.

Follow the above mentioned steps about how to apply foundation flawlessly and you will have a long lasting foundation without any need to reapply it during the day.

By Ruth Yakubu

EFFECT OF MOBILE PHONE RADIATION ON HUMAN HEALTH

The effect of mobile phone radiation on human health is the subject of recent interest and study, as a result of the enormous increase in mobile phone usage throughout the world

 Many scientific studies have investigated possible health hazards of Mobile Phone Radiation. A recent assessment was published in 2007 by the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risk (SCENIHR). The committee concluded that the three lines of evidence, via: Animal, in-vitro, and epidemiological studies, indicate that “exposure to RS fields is unlikely to lead to an increase in cancer in humans”. According to this committee, parts of radio waves emitted by a mobile telephone handset are absorbed by the human head. The radio waves emitted by a GSM handset can have a peak power of 2 watts, while other digital mobile technology, such as CDMA 2000 and D-AMPS, use lower output power, typically below 1 watt. Maximum power output from a mobile phone is regulated by the mobile phone standard and by the regulatory agencies in each country. The rate at which radiation is absorbed by the human body is measured by the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), and its maximum levels for modern handsets have been set by governmental regulating agencies in many countries.

 

 The Thermal radiation is not comparable to ionizing radiation in that it only increases the temperature in normal matter. It does not break molecular bonds or release electrons from their atoms. Well understood thermal effect of microwave radiation is dielectric heating, in which dry dialectic materials is heated by rotations of polar molecules induced by the electromagnetic field. In the case of a person using a cell phone, most of the heating effect will occur at the surface of the head, causing its temperature to rise by a fraction of a device. In this case, the level of temperature increase is in order of magnitude less than that obtained during the exposure of the head to direct sunlight. The brain’s blood circulation is capable of disposing excess heat by increasing local blood flow.

 However, the cornea of the eye does not have this temperature regulation mechanism and exposure of 2-3 hours duration has been reported to produce cataracts in rabbits’ eyes at SAR values from 100-140 W/KG. This produced ventricular temperatures of 410c.

Premature cataracts have not been linked with cell phone use, possibly because of the tower power output of mobile phones.    

By Ruth Yakubu

LOVE THAT MAKES YOU SMILE

 Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that range from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It is a virtue representing human kindness, compassion and affection – the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.

Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud or rude. It isn’t selfish or quick tempered; it doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do, but rejoices in the truth and not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful and trusting.

Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right ones, so that when we finally meet the right person we will know how to be grateful for that gift. Love is when you take away the feeling, passion and the romance in a relationship and find out you still care for that person. Sometimes in life, you may meet someone who means a lot to you only to find out in the end that you two were never meant for each other, and you just have to let go without hard feelings; that is love.

When the door of happiness closes another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don’t see the one which has been opened for us. The best kind of friend is the kind you can just be with, ever say a word and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you have ever had. It is true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it is also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that the person will love you back. Don’t expect love in return; just be content that it grew in yours. There are things that you love to hear which you will never hear from the person whom you will like to hear them from; but don’t be so deaf that you do not hear it from the one who says it from his heart.

Never give up if you still want to try. Never give up if you still feel you can go on. Never say you don’t love a person anymore if you can’t let go. Love comes to those who still hope although they’ve been disappointed; to those who still believe although they have been betray; to those who still need to love although they have been hurt before, and to those who have the courage and faith to build trust again.

It takes only a minute to get a crush from someone, an hour to like someone and a day to love someone; but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

Don’t go for looks, they can deceive; don’t go for wealth, even that fades away. Instead, go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day bright. Hope you find someone that makes you smile!

By Ruth Yukubu .

 

What Happens to Your Body within an Hour of Drinking a Coke

People love fizzy soft drinks, especially when chilled on the rocks. But how many people stop to think about the health hazards of these seemingly thirst quenching drinks? Here is what happens to your body within one hour of drinking a coke or any other soft drink:

Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 per cent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavour.

Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.

Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centres of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.

Do you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can’t even state all the consequences.

If you are still drinking soda, stopping the habit is an easy way to improve your health. Clean water is a much better choice; or if you must drink a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of lime or lemon juice.

There is absolutely NO REASON your kids should ever drink soda. No excuses. The elimination of soft drinks is one of the most crucial factors to deal with many of the health problems you or your children suffer.

WAYS TO COMBAT MALARIA

 

Malaria is caused by a parasite called plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. It is a parasitic disease that involves high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like symptoms, and anaemia. There are four important species of the malaria protozoa (plasmodisim falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale and plasmodium malariac) and each has a slightly different effect. These organisms are carried from person to person by the Anopheles mosquito. When it bites an infected person, the mosquito sucks up blood containing the parasite, which may then be passed onto the mosquito’s next victim.

 

SYMPTOMS OF MALARIA

The main symptom of malaria is a fever that occurs in regular episodes, with sweating and shivers (known as rigors), and exhaustion. In some cases, it can affect the brain or kidneys.

 WHO’S AT RISK OF MALARIA?

Malaria occurs where the Anopheles mosquito breeds, predominantly in rural tropical areas. From a UK perspective, it’s a threat to people traveling to malaria regions in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Central America. Malaria is a major killer in many countries where resources for prevention, proper diagnosis and drug treatments are lacking. If diagnosed promptly, it can be easily treated; but the symptoms can be vague.
On average, symptoms develop 10 days to four weeks after being bitten, but symptoms can appear up to a year later. The most severe form of the disease is cerebral malaria, which is fatal in up to six per cent of adults, mainly because it is not diagnosed until it is too late.

 

 

PREVENTING MALARIA

 

By far, the most important step is to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes by using effective insect repellent, wearing long sleeves and full length trousers, and staying in accommodation with screen doors.

 

Closing windows as well as using an insecticide mosquito net will also help. Before you travel, check whether your holiday destination is affected by malaria. Keep your environment clean to avoid a breeding place for the malaria parasite.

 By Ruth Yakubu

  

 

The Great Wonders of Guava

 

 

 

Guava is a fruit that is rich in many high profile nutrients. Guava is packed with a multitude of hard, tiny seeds at the centre. It is a seasonal, tropical fruits that are widely sold in local markets and super markets across the country. Apart from their sweet flavour and lovely intense aroma, guavas are also known for their nutrition and many health benefits. This delicious fruit is low in calories and fats but carries several vital vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant poly-phenolic and flavonoid compounds that play a pivotal role in the prevention of cancers, aging, infections, and many other diseases. Guava fruit is also an excellent source of vitamin-C. The flesh that is just underneath its outer thick skin contains exceptionally higher levels of vitamin C than its inner creamy pulp. Studies showed that regular consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C helps human body develop resistance against infectious agents causing harmful free radicals from the body. Further, it is required for collagen synthesis within the body. Collagen is one of the chief structural proteins in the human body required for maintaining integrity of blood vessels, skin, organs, and bones. Therefore, the consumption of this great fruit is important for our overall wellbeing. Here are four great health benefits of Guava.

 

 Reduce Blood Pressure: Guava fruit is a very rich source of potassium. It contains more potassium than other fruits. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps in controlling heart rate and blood pressure.  

Improves your Vision: Guavas are extremely good sources of vitamin-A, and is well known as a booster for good vision. It helps slow down the appearance of cataracts, and it improves general health of the eyes. It does not only prevent degradation of eyesight, but even an improvement in eyesight once it has begun to degrade.

 

 

 

 

Help Patients with Diabetes:  The high level of dietary fibre content in guava helps to regulate the absorption of sugar by the body, which decreases the chances of major spikes and drops in insulin and glucose in the body. Research has shown that consuming guava can help prevent the appearance of type-2 diabetes, according to organicfact.net.  This fruit is a highly rich source of soluble dietary fibre which also makes it a good bulk laxative.

Skin Care: The revelation of our general health is revealed through our skin. Guavas can help improve your skin texture and avoid skin problems more than the best of beauty creams or skin toner gels can do, according to natural food benefits. Well, this is mainly due to the abundance of astringents in its fruits and in leaves. You can benefit from guava fruit by either eating the fruits which helps tighten your muscles apart from your skin, or by washing your skin with the decoction of the leaves. It will tone up and tighten the loosened skin. In addition to the astringents, guava is very-very rich in vitamins-A, B, C and potassium which are very good anti-oxidants and detoxifiers; they keep your skin glowing and free from aging, wrinkles and other disorders.  The fruit is a very good source of important nutrients that the body requires. The compounds are known to have antioxidant properties and therefore essential for optimum health. Studies also suggest that lycopene in pink guavas prevents skin damage from UV rays and offer protection from prostate cancer. Eat lots of guava fruit today and live healthy!

By Rifkatu Yusuf.