Health Farming: How Important is Sleep

Sleep restores energy to the body, particularly to the brain and the nervous system. People who are deprived of sleep lose energy and become quick tempered. After two days without sleep they lose concentration. Many mistakes are made even in their ordinary, routine tasks. Anyone who goes without sleep for three days may have great difficulty thinking, seeing and hearing clearly. He may pass through periods of hallucinations.

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Health Farming: What is the Correct Method of Breathing

Except for certain microorganisms, all living things require oxygen to live. Respiration is the process by which human beings and other living things obtain and use oxygen. It also involves the elimination of carbon dioxide, a gas produced when cells use oxygen. There are three phases : external respiration, internal respiration and cellular respiration. IN external respiration or breathing, a plant or animal takes in oxygen from its environment and releases carbon dioxide. When oxygen is carried to the cells of the organism and carbon dioxide is carried away it is called internal within the cells.

The lungs in a human being are the chief organs of breathing. They are elastic structures in the cavity and each contains millions of small air chambers or sacs. Other structures important in breathing are the chest wall and the diaphragm. The chest wall includes the ribs and the muscles between the ribs. The diaphragm is a dome shaped sheet of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen. Air enters and leaves the body through the nose and the mouth. The pharynx (back of the nose and mouth), the larynx (voice box) and the trachea (windpipe) are the air passages that connect the nose and mouth with the lungs.

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Health Farming: The Need to Relax

Rest and sleep help overcome fatigue and restore energy to the body. Everyone needs rest and sleep but the amount required differs for each individual. Most adults require about 7 to 81/2 hours at night. Young children may need more sleep at night besides a daytime nap. Everyone often has trouble getting sleep. Insomnia indicates physical or emotional disorders. Rest and relaxation are as important as sleep. After strenuous work, a person may need a period of rest and at others he may require just relaxation or a change of place. Pleasurable and relaxing activities helps the body to shed tension and remain robust.

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Health Farming: Three Types of Breathing

There are three distinct types of breathing generated in three different parts of the body:

Calvicualr breathing or upper breathing

This breathing is more natural to women not due to the difference in the anatomy but because of the type of clothers they wear and the jobs they do. This ype of breathing raises only the ribs, top of the shoulders and the collar bone. The breath is introduced only in the upper part of the lungs. As this is the smallest part, only a little amount of air reaches the lungs. In the west and now this fashion has made its way to India, women have to do their chores, their habits of sewing, handwork, bridge or typewriting which require them to work in a bad posture. Working in this way 2-3 hours, there cannot be any other way except “upper” breathing.

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Health Farming: Coping With Stress

When we want to release tension, we prefer to go to a serene, calm and secluded place, a sleepy atmosphere where there is no rush. Noise, high living, the rush on the roads and pollution add to tension. This is what happened to an isolated village, in the Swiss Alps, called Saas, which was a sleepy, calm region. A road was opened and overnight it became a tourist resort, in 1957. By 1970 over 250,000 winter tourists and 500,000 summer tourists were invading this once secluded area.

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Health Farming: Leisure is Good for Health

Leisure is not for all, it is meant for those who are busy mentally or physically. Take a holiday at least once a year. If there is no money, never mind, borrow, enjoy the holiday and pay later. This is most prevalent in the west among the affluent or economically independent. They do not have to collect huge sums for their house, marriage of their daughters and old age. Children leave their homes early in life as they grow up. They can buy a house or a car immediately as soon as they get a job and pay for it by instalments.

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Health Farming: Release Your Emotions for Good Health

Do not allow your emotions to get built up. Do not hold grudges. Accuse, abuse or fight if need be. This is an outlet for your stored emotions. Many a time, it is not possible to shout or abuse or raise our voice as we supposedly live in a cultured society. For your own sake, solve your problem one way or another, do not keep it lingering on. Not long ago a patient came to me filled with mental distress. He had not been able to sleep well for years. He was irritable, had a bad tummy upset, and an irritation of the throat and chest.

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Health Farming: Walking Pleasure for Good Health

When I am tensed, I go for a long morning walk. It is good to walk and walk till the body aches. The mind gets busy with the aching muscles and it forgets its many worries. Many people say that the benefit that they get after exercising is their improved psychological status. They report less anxiety and depression. There is more self confidence and ability to cope with at-home and job related stress.

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Health Farming: How to Concentrate

Many persons feel relaxed after a visit to the racecourse, or after a long session of bridge, of course, with stakes or after a session of chanting and kirtan. Why is it so? When gambling, you put all of your mind to work on the game. You have thus diverted your mind from your day-to-day worries. A good session of kirtan will make you feel the same. If you participate in a kirtan with a rhythmic, melodious voice and with faith, you will feel relaxed. You will feel as if your mind and body are sinking in Bhakti Rasa (nectar of devotion) and you will come out of it rejuvenated. You will be invigorated and the mind will be cool calm and tranquil.

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