SAVE THE SENSITIVE HUMANS

 

When we talk about saving the Earth, most people do not care. The people of the Earth have a lot of problems to worry about, and they feel the Earth can take care of itself.

When we talk about pollution, people feel that it can never be that bad; after all, pollution is the release of toxic substances into the environment in quantities that are harmful to life. They argue that the quantity of the pollutants we complain about can never be that much.

Humans are always indifferent to matters they feel don’t concern them. And I am sure that when you learn that a certain group of humans are in danger due to the impact of pollution, you will become interested.

The other day, I suffered a severe headache just because I was in a meeting close to a place that was being fumigated. Others were there too; they probably complained about the offensive odour, and that was it for them. But in this world, about 15 to 20 percent of the population is born with a Highly Sensitive central nervous system. This makes them to be more disturbed than others by physical, emotional, and social stimuli in the environment. 

 

There are different types of pollution: noise pollution, land pollution, air pollution, light pollution, and water pollution. Highly Sensitive people are easily overwhelmed by things like bright lights, strong smells, noise, and heat; that makes pollution their biggest enemy.

Pollution is everyone’s enemy as it can result in impaired health such as irritation of the eyes, lungs, skin, cough, catarrh, anxiety, irritation, and offensive odour. It also destroys land and water bodies. But aside from the fact that highly sensitive people are more overwhelmed by all these, they are also moved by the chaos pollution brings to the beauty of the environment.

Even if we do not care about saving the Earth, preserving our plants and animals; I am sure we care about saving the Wonderful humans we care about from stress and the feeling of overwhelm. We should work hard to reduce pollution so everyone can enjoy fine scents, tastes, sounds, and beauty in our environment.

Every individual can contribute to the reduction of pollution by reducing the pollutants that emanate from their lifestyle. Use fewer generators and more solar power, dispose of your waste properly, maintain your car regularly to avoid polluting emissions, avoid burning, plant more trees and reduce noise as much as possible.

Written for: https://www.facebook.com/environmentalhealthclub 

Click here to understand how to eat right based on your blood type. With this knowledge you can lose weight or add weight.

How to make liquid soap

Having seen a lot of soap making procedures, i decided to share with you the one i tried out and loved in my home made soap experiences.

Chemicals Required:
25litres of water
1/4kg of cmc
1/4kg of texapon
1/4kg of caustic acid
1litre of sulphonic acid
1/2kg of soda ash
colourant (to taste)
fragrance
100g of citric acid
60ml of glycerin (optional)

Procedure

• soak cmc with 20litres of water for at least 24hours
• pour caustic soda into 3litres of water, stir properly and leave for some minutes
• pour soda ash into 2litres of water and stir
• pour the sulphonic acid inside a bucket, add texapon and stir together till it turns to a chocolate colour
• pour the properly stirred caustic soda into the mixture
• pour the soda ash too
• stir properly
• add the mixture into the cmc container
• add citric acid, glycerin, colour and fragrance
• stir all together until it blends

note: you may need to sieve your cmc if it has lumps and not smooth

cmc-carboxymethyl cellulose is used as a thickner
texapon- acts as cleaning agents due to their stong washing perfomance and foaming properties
caustic soda- is used for pH regulation
sulphonic soda-Because of their high acidity, sulfonic acids are often soluble in water or exhibit detergent-like properties.
soda ash-pH regulator and water softener
glycerin-improves smoothness and provides lubrication
citric acid-natural preservative

STRETCH MARKS REMEDY

Water--
Water is the quickest and most efficient way to minimize the appearance of stretch marks.
Properly hydrated skin is softer and more supple, causing your skin to appear more toned and eliminating some of the "bumpy" qualities of stretch marks. Keeping hydrated will also help prevent new stretch marks from forming.

Olive Oil--
Olive oil contains a lot of nutrients and antioxidants that help improve various skin problems including stretch marks.
1. Massage slightly warm extra-virgin olive oil into the affected skin area. This will improve the blood circulation and reduce the stretch marks to a great extent.
2. Leave it for half an hour so that the vitamins A, D and E present in the oil are absorbed by the skin.
You can also mix olive oil with vinegar and water and use it as a night cream. This will keep your skin moisturized and also exfoliate the skin.

Lemon juice --
The acid in lemon juice helps reduce skin blemishes. Cut a lemon in half and gently rub a cut end over your stretch marks. Allow the juice to sit on your skin for up to 10 minutes before rinsing with water.

Cocoa Butter --
Cocoa butter is noted for its anti-aging properties while promoting circulation and reducing stretch marks. Just take a tablespoon of cocoa butter and massage on the affected portion gently. Do this technique twice daily until you notice an improvement on your skin.

Aloe Vera--
Aloe vera is effective for minimizing the appearance of stretch marks. With its cooling and healing components, you can achieve positive results from using this herbal remedy regularly. Just get few small aloe vera leafs, and use this to rub on your skin for a few minutes. Next, rinse the area off with lukewarm water.
Another option in using aloe vera is by taking the gel form of this plant. Then, get 5 capsules of vitamin A and vitamin E, and extract their oil. Combine these vitamin-enriched oil with your aloe vera and rub on the affected area well. Wait for the mixture to be absorbed completely by your skin, and leave on for about 10 minutes. You should also apply this daily for favorable results.

HIV/AIDS-causes and prevention

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a virus that attacks the immune system. HIV infects and destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+ cells. The last stage of HIV infection is AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).

HIV is transmitted primarily through unprotected sexual intercourse (including anal and oral sex), contaminated blood transfusion, hypodermic needles and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding.

Common methods of HIV/AIDS prevention include, encouraging and practicing safe sex, avoiding any behavior that allows HIV-infected fluids into your body, making you use sterile needles and not sharing sharp objects.

There is no vaccine to prevent HIV infection and no cure for AIDS.  It is better to get tested and know your status because the sooner a person is diagnosed, the better the chances of staying healthy and living a normal lifespan

ABOUT HEALTHCLUB NIGERIA

In an era where sex, fashion and gossip sell most, a unique foundation emerges with a blissful initiative. We have the passion to promote healthy lifestyles because people’s behavior can affect their health. So, Healthclub Nigeria is an impact making program committed to helping people improve their lives. We provide support and advice for individual who wish to stay positive and live a healthy lifestyle.
How do we do this?
1) we promote environmental health
2) we share health information
3) we promote healthy lifestyles

Bathtub and Hygiene

Today is world bathtub day!

Bathtub or shower; which is more hygienic?

A shower should be more hygienic than a bathtub because a bathtub is designed in a way that you fill it with water and then immerse yourself; all the dirt from the body ends up in the water and that isn’t hygienic. But soaking in the bathtub offers an enormous amount of relieve. Though in places where water isn’t easily accessible, shower saves water.

A bathtub is a large container for holding water in which a person may bathe. A bathtub is usually placed in a bathroom either as a stand-alone fixture or in conjunction with a shower. Bathtub may be considered unhygienic because it’s not possible to prevent some microscopic remnant after cleaning.

John Mueller says and I quote, “your chance of dying in a bathtub is about one in a million, and from terrorism is about one in 3 million.” Meaning bathtub should be feared more than terrorists.

To avoid bath slip, a bath mat should be placed in the bathtub. See a picture of bath mat below.

Soap is needful in hand washing

If you have been reading our blog posts, you would have understood the importance of keeping the hands clean. Washing the hands properly is very important and cannot be over-emphasized. But am sure someone will still ask the question: “do I really need to wash my hands with soap? What if I wash with only water?”

Soap is very important for effective hand-washing and hygiene. It allows insoluble particles to become soluble in water and then be rinsed away. So while washing the hands with soap, it helps loosen the grip of bacteria, dirt and other visible and invisible particles on the hand. But scrubbing harder and washing longer is the key to clean hands.

Soap also can be contaminated; so how you store your soap is important to avoid contacting more germs than when you haven’t washed your hands. This is why liquid soap is the best. 

Washing with water after cleaning with toilet paper

Toilet paper is used for cleaning the anus and surrounding areas after defecation. It is designed to decompose in the septic tank which makes it different from other forms of tissues.
The use of paper for hygiene purposes has been recorded in China in the 6th century AD before toilet paper was produced in the 14th century. Before that, wealthy people wiped themselves with wool, lace or hemp, while less wealthy people used rags, leaves, grass, stones, water and anything you can imagine.
Now, in most parts of the world, toilet paper is used. The use of water and the left hand to wash is also common. Some people also use toilet paper to dry after washing with water.

People who wash with water believe water is more hygienic, eliminates chances of infection and that no matter how much you scrub with a toilet paper, you still won't feel clean. While people who use toilet paper believe using water is dirty as it means your hand will touch the poop and the toilet and pants will get wet with water.

After weighing the options, I came up with this conclusion:
Wash with water after cleaning with a toilet paper; that way, your hands won't touch the poop, you will eliminate chances of infections, feel clean and not smell of poop.

Fighting U.T.I

Urinary tract infections can be disturbing and there is this tendency of re-occurrence after treatment. Its most common among women, probably due to a shorter urethra in women. Poor hygiene has been linked to an increase in the frequency of UTI, though its not the only cause because i know many questions are already on our minds. But there is always a hygiene approach to every health challenge, which is what we want to look at right now.
Urinary tract infection occur when bacteria get into the bladder through the urethra and begin to multiply. The bacteria can be flushed out while urinating when the bacteria are at the opening of the urethra, but if there are too many bacteria, they can travel up the urethra to the bladder, where they can grow and cause an infection.
Most times, these bacteria (mainly E.coli) normally live in the intestine or around the anus. So they enter the urinary tract from other sites of the body. This is how hygiene comes in. Sexual intercourse can introduce large number of bacteria into the bladder, which is why it's advisable to urinate immediately after intercourse. UTI can also be caused by an infected prostrate. But we want to look at accidental contamination which can be prevented by wiping properly after a bowel movement and hand washing.
After using the toilet, wipe from front to back to avoid moving bacteria from the anus to the vagina. Also, the importance of hand washing after using the toilet cannot be over-emphasized. See our previous post which explained proper hand washing techniques more..http://healthclubnigeria.blogspot.com.ng/2015/09/should-we-stop-shaking-hands.html

Here are some other helpful tips:
Don't wear wet or dirty underwears
Wear loose cotton clothing
Urinate frequently and as soon as you feel the urge
Change your sanitary pads often
Drink plenty of water
Take Vitamin C supplements or eat foods packed with vitamin c.

SHOULD WE STOP SHAKING HANDS?

Hand shaking is not a Nigerian or an African thing. It is universally accepted as warm and friendly. Forgive me if you find shaking of hands unacceptable or your religion forbids it; but i see no better term to qualify the acceptability, aside 'universal.'
During the Ebola saga, i still saw people shaking hands and i shook some hands myself, though i will jokingly add that this should be forbidden for Ebola's sake. In church, we all shake hands at a point, with our neighbours as a sign of love and acceptance. This hand shaking of a thing is more common among men. When a 'guy' sees his friend, they shake hands. But women will always hug or smile at each other.
Now what is the write up all about? Is it trying to say we shouldn't shake hands or that handshaking isn't a good thing? The writer says; "I don't really know. I want to tell you about organisms on the hand and let you decide if you should reduce the rate at which you shake hands. Because you can't say you won't shake an extended hand. That will be rude and unacceptable."
We use the hand for almost everything; touching, cooking, eating, cleaning, working, scratching and handling our phones, bags, garbage bins, shoes, meat, money, and other things you can imagine. Some of these things are contaminated and its been proven that our hands can be contaminated too.
There are friendly micro-organisms on our body parts that do not really cause infections. These same organisms may not be friendly when transferred from their place of residence to another, but the good news is, they usually survive for a limited period of time. So when you get them on your hands, they can be easily removed by good hand washing techniques. Hand washing not only removes unwanted organisms, but also removes dirt, organic materials and dead skin.
Talking about 'good hand washing technique;' do we really know them? We hear things like;
Wet hands under running water,
Dispense soap into a cupped hand (soap from a dispenser, not bar soap, except the bar soap is for personal use),
Hand wash for 10-15 seconds without adding more water,
And dry hands properly using a disposable towel (drying is important because bacteria survive in moisture).
Hand disinfectants can be useful when hand washing devices are not available. But they do not cleanse.
Now, the question is, how many people keep to good hygiene practices?
Its been established; the hand can be contaminated with micro-organisms and these organisms can be transferred. So, how do we reduce the spread. Should we stop shaking hands?

HYGIENE BASICS

We know these things, but everyone needs a reminder once in a while. Sometimes we remember, but just get lazy. Subsequently, we will share posts that will reveal the consequences of not heeding to hygiene basics.
Read! Practice! Be good!

Basic Hygiene Practices:

 ·Take your bath daily.

 ·Wash your towels regularly and replace when old.

 ·Brush your teeth every morning and evening. Change your toothbrush every three months, when the bristles wear out, after a mouth infection or flu.

 ·After meals, rinse your mouth with water or an antibacterial mouthwash.

 ·Wash your hands with soap and water after using the toilet, before, during and after preparing a meal, before and after eating, before and after caring for a sick person, after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing and after handling animals or waste. Use a hand sanitizer when hand washing devices are not available.

 ·Wash your cloths after wearing them. Make sure you wear clean clothes, socks and underwear each day.

 ·Trim your hair often and wash with shampoo.

 ·Clip your fingernails and toenails regularly.

 ·Don’t clean your ear canal with a cotton swab to avoid hurting your ear drums.

 ·Change your sanitary pad or your baby’s diapers regularly.

 ·Clean your home regularly. You can use disinfectants.

 ·Clean the toilet immediately after use. Ensure steady availability of tissue paper in the toilet. When using a public toilet, cover the toilet seat with toilet paper or wipe with flushable disinfectant wet wipes.

 ·Dust your desk, electronics and other appliances always. You can use a wet wipe.

 ·Ensure proper waste disposal.

 ·Don’t share razors, towels and other personal items.