In this modern jet age, we are compelled to face stress and anxiety at some part of our life. Anxiety is the forerunner of stress. The intense pressure from every nook and corner of modern life is calling the anxiety and stress around. Although our entire life, we have to face an array of changes regarding the way of lifestyle, grooming, our workplace, close relationships and the environment. Every transformation, whether it is gratifying or obnoxious, leaves some amount of stress upon us. Conversely, if the intensity of stress becomes severe or if it goes for a longer time, it may create depressing states or anxiety disorders.

In our day to day life, we spend most of our times at our workplace. Its condition, job hazards, challenges in the jobs and job dissatisfaction are some of the most common stress factors. A recent study conducted involving the volunteers from different fields revealed that highest level of stress are found in the persons who come from medicine, business and finance.

Women suffer from anxiety and stress most in their personal relationships. Personal or public, no matter what is the reason, stress can lead acute psychological and physical trouble including anxiety and depression both in men and women.

While depression generates sensations like desolation, worthlessness and irritation, anxiety neurosis results into feeling of horror and panic even when you are under normal circumstances. The precise cause of depression is not known to us, although scientists have thrown some light into it. Today we can identify the depression is an end result of an anomalous communication between the neural circuits of brain and the chemical neurotransmitter of the central nervous system. Apart from this, stress can be generated from environmental, genetic and emotional reasons.

Stress can result various setbacks in our body. It may reduce the state of our cardiovascular system. It can lead to high blood pressure and coronary thromboembolism. Stress can affect our gastrointestinal system, renal system and nervous system. Almost all organs of our body may have an effect if we are exposed to stress for a long time. A frightful disease – Alzheimer’s disease can be the outcome of protracted stress that insults our memory function. It is one of the most debilitating diseases at present. Anxiety neurosis is resulted by panic attacks, also defined as agoraphobia. It is an extremely panic condition where a man gets scared of panicky feeling upon exposed to open spaces. The anxiety is so severe he may experience terrible notions at such places which may seem normal to others. Women are more victimized by this kind of panic attacks.

There must be some solutions of stress. Let us take a brief note.

Laugh – laugh, as it helps to pacify the stressed mind. No matter how you are stressed out, a session of laughter can lower down your stress. It is not necessary to get a laughing cause, artificial laughing may also benefit you in some ways.

Cry – crying eases out our stressful mind as it helps to release the angst from our body.

Positive approach – maintain a positive approach always. At all times it helps to make our own way towards our goal and eliminate many complexities.

Values – delineate your values. Always remain under the self imposed bindings.

Exercise – do some workout regularly. Just simple walking, jogging, gardening, cleaning the yard has enough power to reduce anxiety. It is not necessary to go for extensive exercises always. You may join meditation, yoga or aerobics classes. Regular workouts purify our body system from harmful chemicals that is produced because of stress.

Can stress accelerate aging?

All of us must have felt the curse of stress at some part of our life. Both the older and the comparatively younger persons are forced to face difficult situations and learning to coexist with them. While the elderly persons are to deal with the physical and financial problems, the younger generation is facing the difficulties in their studies, friends, emotional relationships and workplaces. Luckily, we learn to cope up with the difficulties that are the effect of stress with due course of time. But during the last couple of decades in our life, the natural defense mechanism of our body fails to perform in an effective way.

We can spot the relation between how we live and how we die. The earlier in our life we are confronted by stress, the scenario becomes worse. The stress will leave a negative impact upon the way we become older and how fact that occurs.

In earlier years, the belief was that the animals those who have lower heart rate will live longer. No more that is considered reliable. Modern hypothesis is that it is because of the long term effects to various stressors and stress hormones which are responsible for accelerating the aging process.

A specific case is very much interesting and has a worth for separate study. It is the relation of body and the secretion of glucocorticoid hormones during stress. The hypothalamus present in the central nervous system regulates the secretion of glucocorticoids from the adrenal gland by releasing a hormone – Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH). CRH consequently commands the adrenal gland to release the glucocorticoid hormones.

How does the hypothalamus decide when there is enough glucocorticoid in the blood pool? Actually it is regulated by the mechanisms present in our body for controlling the secretion of all the hormones. The hypothalamus controls the secretion of CRH and consequently the glucocorticoids using a feedback mechanism. Hypothalamus in the aged people can not work as it should be. This is the reason the higher level of glucorticoids in the blood even the person is not suffering from any kind of stress.

What may be the reason of the malfunctioning of the feedback system? The answer is not obvious, but the most likely reason is the increased level of glucorticoids during the period of chronic stress. Again it may be concluded that a prolonged exposure to glucocorticoids will result in Hippocampal damage, which may lead to more glucorticoids being released in the blood stream.

Hippocampal damage leads to another disease called – Alzheimer’s disease. This is undoubtedly one of those extremely debilitating diseases known to man. Hippocampus is a part of the brain that is a vital area for storage and retrieving memories. This is the reason; the persons suffering from full blown Alzheimer’s disease can not recall any of his long term or short term memory.

Experts have proved that the chronic stress can accelerate the rate of aging. So it is imperative to say that everybody should control the stress as far as possible.

You can do some relaxation techniques. You can do a course upon yoga and meditation. These two ways have an immense potentiality for relieving stress. Regular exercise is another effective approach. Fix a time from your schedule everyday that is suitable for you to exercise. Regular workout helps to wash out the surplus stressors and stress hormones from your body. Proper planning in life is essential to reduce stress. You must bring laugh in your life.

How to prevent skin discoloration in acne

Acne is a very common skin disease. Most of us may suffer from this disease at some point of our life. There are two varieties of acne – Acne vulgaris and Acne rosasea. Acne vulgaris is the predominant form of acne. It usually occurs in the adolescents and teenagers. Acne rosasea mostly occurs in the middle aged women.

Acne vulgaris is usually benign and does not leave any kind of scar or discoloration. But sometimes, the lesions fuses together to form an ugly looking scar. Acne rosasea occurs in those persons who usually blushes or flushes. It also leaves some kind of scar at the site of occurrence, although that is lesser than Acne vulgaris.

By adopting some simple measures, we can be able to minimize the skin discoloration to the area it develops.

a) Cleanse the surface thrice a day with a mild non detergent cleanser –

Thoroughly wash your face using the tip of finger only. Do not use whole of palm. Do not rub too much also. You may open up those lesions which may never been lead to scar formation. Use a mild foaming face wash. Make sure it is non-detergent based. If you do not wash your face properly, detergents may leave some particle to the face which is irritating in nature. It flares up the inflammation procedure in case of acne. If you find any red colored itchy area, choose a cleanser which contains Benzoyl peroxide. Do not forget to wash your face thoroughly after cleansing. Then repeat the procedure once more. Lastly, pat dry your face with a cotton towel.

b) Always use an astringent or toner –

Apply a good quality astringent lotion in a piece of cotton and gently slide along the area you have just washed. It will take out any cleanser residue and oil. If your skin is dry in nature, go for an alcohol free astringent.

c) Application of the medications –

It is the time to apply the acne medication. When the astringent dries completely, gently make a coating using the index finger. Use it as per the direction of your doctor. Do not rub it harshly and allow sufficient time to gat it absorbed.

d) Application of an oil free gel –

Now you can use the oil free gel or moisturizer you use regularly. Always buy a good quality oil free gel.

There are some home remedies for the acne also. These are tried and tested for centuries and it is sensible to give a try. Some of the home remedies are mentioned below which considerably lowers the skin discoloration. They are easy to prepare and the method of application does not require anything complication.

Make a paste by mixing one tsp of cinnamon powder and three tablespoon of best quality honey. Apply the mixture over the dark spots. Leave it for 1 hour, and then wash with lukewarm water.

Take one tsp of cinnamon powder and one tsp of freshly prepared lemon juice. Mix them well and apply all over the face.

Garlic paste is known for its depigmentation property. You must use a freshly prepared garlic paste. After half hour of application of the paste, wash with lukewarm water.

Alternatively, you can use fresh tomato pulp also. First remove the skin of tomatoes and using the pulp, make a thick paste. Apply it similarly.

Take 50 ml of un-boiled milk in a cup. Add 1 tsp of Nutmeg powder to it. Make a thick paste. Apply it similarly.

LASER treatment for acne

Acne is a disease of the skin and is of two types – Acne vulgaris and Acne rosasea. Acne vulgais is the principal form that we most commonly see in our surroundings. In some cases, there is extensive scarring. For this ultramodern treatment like LASER ablation has been invented. But first, we need to have some idea about the formation of acne.

Acne vulgaris is a self limiting disease of the skin among the adolescent and the teenager. Nevertheless, it has noticed among the adults also. Acne occurs because of increase in the sebum production from the sebaceous glands after the person attains puberty. Sebaceous gland is a special type of gland present in the epidermal layer of the skin. Comedones which are tiny cystic lesion appear in the hair follicles because of obstruction in the follicular opening. This is due to retention of sebum and other keratinized materials. After that, because of some bacterial action (Propionobacterium acnes) inside the cyst causes discharge of some inflammatory stuff from the sebum – which is free fatty acid in nature. This acids cause continuous irritation within the cyst wall. Sooner or later the cysts break down and the resulting condition is what we can see is acne. Acne vulgaris can be seen most commonly over the face. Nevertheless, chest and the back side can get involved also. In most of the cases, acne remains docile and does not essentially lead to scar formation. In some patients, it is seen that the tiny cysts collapse together and there is major scarring.

LASER ablation technique is one of the noteworthy methods that have been invented today to get rid out of scarring.

Dermatologists are applying LASER for treatment of any black spot or scar including removal of birthmarks and hairs present in unwanted places, sharpening of wrinkles and most certainly removing the scarring of acne.

In the past, when LASERs were initially prescribed as a treatment option for acne scarring, the outcome was not persuasive as the dermatologists anticipated it. In fact, some of the persons having dark complexion were criticizing excessive scarring because of increase in the pigmentation. Nevertheless, the condition is not like that today.

In the November 1980, Dr. Tina S. Alster, MD Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery and Georgetown University conducted test using pulsed dye LASER to the condensed overgrown scar. She stated that long lasting improvement in the appearance of the majority of the scars. "Clinical assessments and skin surface texture analyses using a computer image analyzer showed that the laser-irradiated scars approximated normal skin characteristics," Dr. Alster remarked.

Scientists have proved that combination therapy involving Carbon dioxide laser vaporization along with pulsed dye technology was prominent to sustain the improvement in less inflammatory, minimally thickened scars. 1450 nm diode laser was used for the treatment. The procedure was pointing of short spurts of laser in and around the scar. The scar marks were treated with non-overlapping, single pulses at the power of 1 and 14 Joules per cm², with a 6 mm spot and 40 millisecond of cryogen spray cooling. The procedure was conducted under local anesthesia in a outpatient situation. Few days of convalescence and some soreness were observed in some of the cases. The result was extremely acceptable. After one sitting, total scar number were reduced to 37%, 50% after two sittings and more than 80% after three sittings. The pain of the surgical procedure was nominal and patients tolerated it very well.

Now the conclusion could be – different therapeutic methods for the management of acne scar are on the rise. Two accepted mechanisms of action might clarify the consequences of LASER treatment. They either lower the numbers of Propionibacterium acnes present inside the glands or reduce the size of sebaceous glands by charring.