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This series establishes an understanding of...

This series establishes an understanding of...

This series establishes an understanding of...

This series establishes an understanding of...

Mind-body connections refer to how our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our body functions. Each thought can set off a cascade of cellular reactions within our nervous system that influence the molecular pathways in our body. Scientific research can now prove that mind-body interventions can also be used to help augment conventional medical therapies.  The neuroscience of wellness and the undeniable connections between the mind and body have long been neglected in modern medicine. Below is a representation of how I would look at wellness .

If you are a woman you will learn one thing that you are supposed to be desirable. It is a strange concept to grow up with. Before young girls are taught about health, they are taught to be pretty. It begins at birth, consciously or sub-consciously. It happens as if it is meant to be. The color of the skin is seen and approved. As if it is a measure to greatness. The “Gori ladki,” is a treasure. The “Kaali ladki” might be a burden to her parents as her skin is not desirable. It is a lie that we love black. We detest it. Little girls are not taught about healthy skin. They are asked to scrub their skins with “Besan,” it makes the skin fairer. Mothers are supposed to be apologetic about their daughter’s skin. They often dismiss the dark skin as “She plays in the Sun.” So, the Sun God has taken the blame for years. I went to meet someone for lunch the other day. She asked me, “Are you tanned?” I said, “No, this is my natural color.” She used her fairness app, while she clicked a few selfies. This is the level of confidence that young girls in this country begin their journey to womanhood. We are supposed to be desirable. It begins with our skin.

If you are like 86% of the American workforce, you have a sedentary desk job that involves you sitting for a several hours a day. Add your long commute, bad eating habits and stressful all-nighters to the mix, and you could be an easy target for chronic diseases. There are three millennia of evidence from Ancient India and the Western civilizations that highlight the detrimental effects of physical inactivity.  The Ayurvedic texts written by Susruta from 600 BC state that inactivity can lead to accumulation of bad energy in the body that can result in diseases. A quote from Hippocrates rings true - “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health”.  Bringing together the wealth of knowledge from the past with scientific knowledge of the present can help us make informed decisions about our health.

Clothing: We all know how hard it is to find a...

Every month, a woman has periods on an average for 5 days, it can be less or more, as it varies from person to person. However, what is common in all of us is that at some point or another we all have faced those rashes on the bikini line, itchiness and foul smell due to sanitary napkins and tampons. We try our best to stay clean and fresh, we use different products so that the pad doesn’t irritate our skin, even change it as often as we can. Yet we face the same problems!  Do you know why? It’s because most of the pads and tampons are made of bleached rayon, cotton and plastics. Moreover, these products usually leave behind fibers that can lead to many bladder and vaginal infections. Further, it has also been discovered that tampons tend to absorb even the natural fluids and friendly bacteria that help in cleansing the vagina. 

Travelling is one thing every other person craves for, irrespective of the fact if we talk about a man or a woman. In a patriarchal society, it is far easier for a man to travel on his own, rather than a woman. An additional problem for women at times is that they have to manage another totally normal phenomenon, which they experience in their daily routine: the menstruation cycle. Planning a trip and simultaneously dealing with the menstruation cycle can be stressful for women.  The menstruation cycle could be taken care of by many means available these days, including birth control pills, tampons, or IUD implant. 

Lubricants are gel-like substances that are used during sexual intercourse or masturbation to reduce friction.  When a woman is aroused, the first thing that happens is that she becomes ‘wet.’ This ‘wetness’ is a natural lubricant. However, the amount produced each time can vary according to certain factors like the woman’s menstrual time, age, stress levels, etc. But it isn’t necessary that we only use lubricants to overcome the dryness in the vagina. They can also be used to make sex and masturbation easier and enjoyable. It is known that lubricants increase the pleasure during sexual intercourse.

The maternity period is a period of mixed emotions, you cherish the coming motherhood stage and at the same time, you are going through so many emotional as well as physical changes that it becomes difficult for you to work. This emotional conflict plays an adverse impact on working women, who have a hard time coping with the stresses of professional life. Because of the high premiums our society places on motherhood, returning to work for some women can become difficult after maternity. 

Let us accept the fact that sex is more than just the ability to procreate. It can also be a sheer means of pleasure or a means of connecting to your partner. However, sex is a subject that is largely only whispered reluctantly, left under wraps and never properly spoken about— even at the cost of health and safety.  Sex is a mystery for most of the teenagers as they do not have any elder who is ready to come forward and shed some light on the subject of the body. Sex education is not a part of school curricula for the same reasons – a confusing mixture of embarrassment and awkwardness is evoked. This automatically means most of our knowledge about sex comes from unreliable sources like our friends, the Internet, some hideous magazine, porn etc. 

Tampons, like sanitary napkins, are feminine hygiene products used to absorb the menstrual blood which gets discharged from a woman’s body every month. It is a small, cylindrical substance made of complex substances such as rayon and cotton, pressed together so that it can be easily inserted in your vaginal opening. Due to the physical ease felt whilst using a tampon during periods, some women prefer them over sanitary napkins. Like pads, they too come in different sizes and levels of absorbing.