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Homemade Hair Oil For Long and Healthy Hair

homemade hair oil

Dandruff and subsequent hair fall problems are like a plague. Despite the use of a myriad of shampoos, conditioners and serums, sometimes these problems just don’t go away. While you might be burning through your pocket to find a solution that works, have you tried making your own oil? Oiling your hair regularly is a fantastic way to keep your hair healthy and  strong. In fact, homemade hair oil works better! It’s ideal for men and women and is a one-stop solution to all your hair problems! Most importantly, it is easy to make and light on the pocket. 

How To Make Your Own Homemade Hair Oil 

We can make homemade hair oil by mixing 2 oils, one base oil which is easily available like coconut oil and the second oil is a supplement oil  that can be castor oil. You will need to add some herbs like amla, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, etc. This oil acts as a tonic for your hair and rids you from many hair problems like hair fall, dandruff, dry scalp, premature greying, dull and rough hair, etc.

Ingredients

  •       200g extra virgin Coconut Oil
  •       50g Castor Oil
  •       2 tbsp  Amla Pieces (Dried)
  •       1 tbsp Fenugreek Seeds (Methi Dana)
  •       1 tsp Nigella Seeds ( Kalonji)
  •       10-12  Curry leaves (Dried)
  •       8-10 Holy basil (Tulsi) leaves (Dried)
  •       8-10 Hibiscus flowers

How to Make and Use the Oil 

  1. Take an Iron pan and add coconut oil, dried amla, fenugreek seeds and nigella seeds, all types of leaves etc.
  2. Heat it for 10-12 minutes on medium flame.
  3. After some time, dried amla pieces will swell, Fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds and curry leaves too will turn black in colour.
  4. Turn the flame off and let it cool down. If possible leave it like this for a day or two.
  5. Once done, strain it. Though, I do not strain it and prefer it as it is.
  6. Mix castor oil in it and store in an airtight, wide-mouthed bottle because during winters the oil gets hard and might be difficult to remove. 
  7. Shake well before using and massage gently 2-3 times in a week with this oil.
  8. It’s better to heat it a little before applying.
  9. After massaging, give hot towel treatment to your hair for more effective results. 

Amazing Benefits of the Ingredients 

  • Coconut oil: moisturizes dry hair, adds lustre and shine to the hair and prevents hair loss and split ends.
  • Castor oil: works as a natural hair conditioner to keep hair and scalp healthy.
  • Fenugreek seeds: helps in treating scalp issues like dryness, baldness and thinning of hair.
  • Nigella Seeds: promote hair growth, give shine and lustre to hair texture and reduce premature greying of hair.
  • Tulsi and Curry leaves: help in treating dandruff and itchy scalp problems, conditions hair and stimulates hair growth. It also strengthens hair follicles.
  • Hibiscus flowers: boost hair growth, stimulate regrowth from bald patches and treat hair fall.

Anyone irrespective of gender and age can use this hair oil to improve hair health and cure hair problems.

Caution: Some hair shed is normal when you oil your hair. All these will be dead or weak hair. No need to worry. With regular massage using this magic homemade hair oil, a lot of new hair will grow, your hair fall will be controlled and texture your hair will also improve. 

Switch to regularly oiling your hair. It is essential and along with regular massage, eat a balanced diet. We hope this article on homemade hair oil helps you beat hair issues and say goodbye to stress, harsh chemicals and hair dyes! Do leave your thoughts in the comments below! 

For more topics on hair health, check out Healthy Reads or speak to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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Top 5 Habits You Need To Avoid After a Meal

avoid after a meal

There are a lot of myths regarding nutrition and food floating around on the internet. Some of them include things we should do and should avoid after a meal. When it finally comes down to facts, what’s the right way to go? We have briefly listed down the top 5 habits you need to avoid after a meal. You might know some of them but you might not be familiar with the reasoning.

What Should You Avoid After a Meal?

  1. Smoking: It is the most important habit that people should avoid after a meal. Smoking 1 cigarette after eating food is equivalent to the ill-effects of smoking 10 cigarettes. The chances of cancer are more in such cases. This is primarily because the body’s absorption rate increases after eating, which means that the harmful effects of tobacco (nicotine) are amplified as well. You could be risking damage to your intestines, heart, lungs and other internal organs.
  2. Fruits: It is advised that you should not eat fruits along with your meal and immediately after it as well. Fruits that are eaten after a meal cannot be digested easily in the intestine which causes air bloating in the stomach. Fruits are best absorbed when consumed as a meal in itself. You can have them either before or after a meal with a gap of at least 2–3 hours.
  3. Tea: Whenever you eat a heavy meal, keep yourself away from tea for a while. Tea leaves contains acids in it. When this acid enters the digestive system along with food, it makes the process of digestion (particularly proteins) process slow and difficult by hardening them.
  4. Bathing: Whenever we bathe, the blood-flow towards extremities increases and this is how you feel fresh after a bath. But, after eating, blood-flow towards the digestive system should be high, and not the extremities, so as to maintain the normal digestive system. That is why people are advised not to take a bath immediately after eating.
  5. Sleep: There always has to be gap of 1-2 hours between your meals and the time you sleep. Sleeping immediately after eating will result in improper digestion as efficiency of the digestive system decreases. Also, sleeping immediately may lead to gastric problems and infection in the intestines. Habitually sleeping immediately after eating will also increase the chances of obesity.

We hope these facts help you make better choices, bust myths with reason and eat healthy. Have you ever been told to avoid something before or after a meal? Let us know in the comments below!

For more articles like this, check out Healthy Reads. To know more about eating habits you should avoid or to introduce new habits to help you get healthier, speak to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

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How To Manage Eye Stress and Strain

manage eye stress and strainMany of my players suffer from eye stress and strain due to excessive small screen time. With most of us using computers and cellphones at work, eye strain has become a major health issue. Research has shown that eye strain and stress issues occur in around 70-80% of people using computers at the workplace. Feeling fatigued, mistakes while working, watery eyes, twitching, and redness in eyes, constant headache, and irritability are some common issues that people face due to eye strain. It’s a growing need to cope with and manage eye stress and strain.

Tips to Manage Eye Stress and Strain 

1. Adjust Lighting
Many times we tend to ignore the light arrangement while working for long hours. The bright light from windows or sharp interior lighting can cause major eye stress.  One should position the computer screen in a manner that the windows are to the side, instead of in front or behind it. Try to block excess lighting from outside by using curtains. Reduce sharp interior light by reducing the number of light sources or by using warm light tone bulbs/tubes. Halogen lights are better than overhead fluorescent lights.

2. Reduce Glare On The Screen
Excessive glare on the screen which might go unnoticed is another cause of getting headaches while working on screens. There are different gadgets available to help reduce this strain:

  • Download a Blu-ray filter which is an app which creates a shield on your screen
  • Use anti-reflective coating/cover on your screen
  • If outside light cannot be reduced, you can use a computer hood
  • Use Anti-reflective coating glasses. One can opt for Anti-reflective (AR) coating glasses. These are special glasses made for people with excessive screen time. This special coating helps block harmful blue light, keeping the eyes relaxed.

3. Adjust Your Display Settings
Adjusting the display settings like brightness, text size, contrast, the color temperature of your computer can help reduce eye strain and fatigue. Generally, these adjustments are beneficial:

  • Brightness: of the screen you are looking at should appear relaxing to the eye. If the background seems to emit light/is too bright or seems too dull or grey, then you need to adjust the brightness. Also, most screens have automatic brightness control these days, wherein the brightness is automatically reduced if the surrounding lighting is dimmed.
  • Color Temperature: Adjust the screen settings according to your comfort. Reducing color temperature also reduces the amount of blue-light being emitted by a screen.
  • Text size: This is one considerable factor. Avoid straining eyes by reading text that appears difficult to read. Adjust text size as per your comfort.

4. Take Frequent Breaks
Try to take 5-10 minute breaks every 2 hours to reduce the feeling of fatigue. Take a stroll, look away from the screen and splash your eyes with cold water. During your computer breaks, stand up, move about and stretch your arms, legs, back, neck and shoulders to reduce tension and muscle fatigue. Use cold green tea (used) bags for relieving puffiness around your eyes. (Keep used green tea bags in the refrigerator- and put them over your eyes- covering the under eye area as well) rest for 20 minutes and remove.

5. Blink Often
Blinking keeps your eyes from drying out. Constant gazing at screen reduces blinking by 30-40%. Hence, the eyes feel dry and strained. Every 20 minutes, blink 10 times by closing your eyes as if falling asleep (very slowly). This will keep your eyes from drying out. If eyes feel strained post blinking, rub palms together and apply a warm compress to the twitching eye and gently massage the eyelid with your fingers.

6. Exercise Your Eyes
Eye exercises can greatly help in improving eyesight and is a must for people having long screen hours to avoid developing eye issues.

  • Try moving your eyeballs up and down without blinking. After about 10 repetitions of this exercise, rub the palms of your hands together and cup your eyes so you can feel the warmth seep through. This is called palming.
  • You can follow this by moving your eyeballs horizontally, from 9 to 3, and diagonally, from 2 to 7 and 11 to 4. This can help relieve the extra pressure on muscles which develops while looking at computer screens.

I am sure these suggestions will help you avoid and manage eye stress and strain. Having a routine eye exam is a must if you have more than 3-4 hrs of screen time every day.

We hope this article helps you stay healthy at your workplace. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below! For more health and lifestyle tips, check out Healthy Reads or speak to an expert by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce 

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Top 5 Eating Habits That Are Bad For Heart Health

Top 5 eating habits that are bad for heart health

There are lots of habits which play a key role in maintaining good heart health. Eating right, being active, managing stress well and getting good quality sleep are just a few of them. Then, there are habits which are bad for heart health. These habits, over a period of time, if left unchecked, can increase the risk for heart disease. Let’s go over some of these eating habits that can affect your heart. 

Top 5 Eating Habits That Are Bad For Heart Health 

  1. Junk & Packaged Food: This one is a no-brainer. Eating junk and packaged food items like chips, namkeens, maggi and bakery items, etc. are bad for  heart health. These food items are loaded with saturated fats and sodium which increase the amount of LDL (Bad cholesterol) in our body. High levels of bad cholesterol can build up plaque in the blood vessels and clog them, leading to atherosclerosis, heart failures and stroke.
  2. High Sugar Intake: Regular and high consumption of sugar can damage blood vessels and the nerves that control your heart, causing high blood pressure and damage to artery walls. Besides table sugar, there are many food items with hidden sugars that we should avoid like – bakery items, desserts, mithai, packed juices, and instant food items like ready to cook breakfast cereals, aerated drinks, energy drinks, etc.
  3. Overeating: Being overweight is a major risk factor for heart disease. Eating uncontrolled portions leads to weight gain which can cause a myriad of health issues. So avoid eating, not only high calorie foods in large quantities, but be careful about the portion of your regular meals as well.
  4. Eating Red Meat: Red meat is high in saturated fat and there’s also evidence that processed meat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Ideally, less than 10% of your diet should come from animals and animal products.
  5. Avoiding Fruits & Vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are a great source of Vit C and beta carotene. These antioxidants help prevent plaque deposition in the blood vessels. So, try including fresh fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. 

Apart from the above mentioned foods, make sure you lead an overall healthy lifestyle to avoid facing any health issues. If you need help with improving your lifestyle or seek guidance to manage an existing condition, reach out to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more on heart health, check out Healthy Reads. 

We hope this article helps you avoid these foods which are bad for heart health. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below! 

#BeTheForce  

From Terminal Illness To Complete Wellness! Ananda Mukherjee Health Story

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