The human brain is the most complex and least understood part of the human anatomy. There may be a lot we don’t know, but here are a few interesting facts that we’ve got covered.

1. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.
2. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.
3. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica, or any other encyclopedia for that matter. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes, making your brain’s memory power pretty darn impressive.
4. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. So breathe deep to keep your brain happy and swimming in oxygenated cells.
5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day. Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain power than, say, lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you sleep, your Subconscious remains on. Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams.
6. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream. While this may be true, don’t take it as a sign you’re mentally lacking if you can’t recall your dreams. Most of us don’t remember many of our dreams and the average length of most dreams is only 2-3 seconds–barely long enough to register.
7. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. For years scientists and doctors thought that brain and neural tissue couldn’t grow or regenerate. While it doesn’t act in the same manner as tissues in many other parts of the body, neurons can and do grow throughout your life, adding a whole new dimension to the study of the brain and the illnesses that affect it.
8. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.
9. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. That doesn’t mean your head can’t hurt. The brain is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that are plenty receptive to pain and can give you a pounding headache.
10. 80% of the brain is water. Your brain isn’t the firm, gray mass you’ve seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you’re feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

Hair and Nails

While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

11. Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime, longer than a killer whale.
12. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.
13. Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races; making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.
14. One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head.
15. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.
16. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.
17. Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.
18. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that you’re trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails you’re not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.
19. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.
20. You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.
21. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

Though we may not give them much thought unless they’re bothering us, our internal organs are what allow us to go on eating, breathing and walking around. Here are some things to consider the next time you hear your stomach growl.

22. The largest internal organ is the small intestine. Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself it wouldn’t fit inside the abdominal cavity.
23. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. No wonder you can feel your heartbeat so easily. Pumping blood through your body quickly and efficiently takes quite a bit of pressure resulting in the strong contractions of the heart and the thick walls of the ventricles which push blood to the body.
24. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. While you certainly shouldn’t test the fortitude of your stomach by eating a razorblade or any other metal object for that matter, the acids that digest the food you eat aren’t to be taken lightly. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal.
25. The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels. To put that in perspective, the distance around the earth is about 25,000 miles, making the distance your blood vessels could travel if laid end to end more than two times around the earth.
26. You get a new stomach lining every three to four days. The mucus-like cells lining the walls of the stomach would soon dissolve due to the strong digestive acids in your stomach if they weren’t constantly replaced. Those with ulcers know how painful it can be when stomach acid takes its toll on the lining of your stomach.
27. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court. In order to more efficiently oxygenate the blood, the lungs are filled with thousands of branching bronchi and tiny, grape-like alveoli. These are filled with microscopic capillaries which oxygen and carbon dioxide. The large amount of surface area makes it easier for this exchange to take place, and makes sure you stay properly oxygenated at all times.
28. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s. The main reason for this is simply that on average women tend to be smaller than men and have less mass to pump blood to. But women’s and men’s hearts can actually act quite differently, especially when experiencing trauma like a heart attack, and many treatments that work for men must be adjusted or changed entirely to work for women.
29. Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions. You may not think much about your liver except after a long night of drinking, but the liver is one of the body’s hardest working, largest and busiest organs. Some of the functions your liver performs are: production of bile, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification.
30. The aorta is nearly the diameter of a garden hose. The average adult heart is about the size of two fists, making the size of the aorta quite impressive. The artery needs to be as large as it is the main supplier of rich, oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
31. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart. For most people, if they were asked to draw a picture of what the lungs look like they would draw both looking roughly the same size. While the lungs are fairly similar in size, the human heart, though located fairly centrally, is tilted slightly to the left making it take up more room on that side of the body and crowding out that poor left lung.
32. You could remove a large part of your internal organs and survive. The human body may appear fragile but it’s possible to survive even with the removal of the stomach, the spleen, 75 percent of the liver, 80 percent of the intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from the pelvic and groin area. You might not feel too great, but the missing organs wouldn’t kill you.
33. The adrenal glands change size throughout life. The adrenal glands, lying right above the kidneys, are responsible for releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In the seventh month of a fetus’ development, the glands are roughly the same size as the kidneys. At birth, the glands have shrunk slightly and will continue to do so throughout life. In fact, by the time a person reaches old age, the glands are so small they can hardly be seen.

Bodily Functions

We may not always like to talk about them, but everyone has to deal with bodily functions on a daily basis. These are a few facts about the involuntary and sometimes unpleasant actions of our bodies.

34. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph. There’s a good reason why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze–that sneeze is rocketing out of your body at close to 100 mph. This is, of course, a good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze.
35. Coughs clock in at about 60 mph. Viruses and colds get spread around the office and the classroom quickly during cold and flu season. With 60 mph coughs spraying germs far and wide, it’s no wonder.
36. Women blink twice as many times as men do. That’s a lot of blinking every day. The average person, man or woman, blinks about 13 times a minute.
37. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball. No wonder you have to run to bathroom when you feel the call of the wild. The average bladder holds about 400-800 cc of fluid but most people will feel the urge to go long before that at 250 to 300 cc.
38. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water. While we might typically think that urine is the liquid part of human waste products, the truth is that what we consider solid waste is actually mostly water as well. You should be thankful that most waste is fairly water-filled, as drier harder stools are what cause constipation and are much harder and sometimes painful to pass.
39. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. With that kind of sweat-producing power it’s no wonder that your gym shoes have a stench that can peel paint. Additionally, men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.
40. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva plays an important part in beginning the digestive process and keeping the mouth lubricated, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis.
41. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.
42. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Sex and Reproduction

As taboo as it may be in some places, sex is an important part of human life as a facet of relationships and the means to reproduce. Here are a few things you might not have known.

43. On any given day, sexual intercourse takes place 120 million times on earth. Humans are a quickly proliferating species, and with about 4% of the world’s population having sex on any given day, it’s no wonder that birth rates continue to increase in many places all over the world.
44. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. While you can’t see skin cells or muscle cells, the ovum is typically large enough to be seen with the naked eye with a diameter of about a millimeter. The sperm cell, on the other hand, is tiny, consisting of little more than nucleus.
45. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Pregnancy hormones can cause mood swings, cravings and many other unexpected changes. Oddly enough, hormones can often affect the types of dreams women have and their vividness. The most common are these three types, but many women also dream of water, giving birth or even have violent or sexually charged dreams.
46. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. While few babies are born with teeth in place, the teeth that will eventually push through the gums of young children are formed long before the child even leaves the womb. At 9 to 12 weeks the fetus starts to form the teeth buds that will turn into baby teeth.
47. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The color of your eyes depends on the genes you get from your parents, but at birth most babies appear to have blue eyes. The reason behind this is the pigment melanin. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.
48. Babies are, pound for pound, stronger than an ox. While a baby certainly couldn’t pull a covered wagon at its present size, if the child were the size of an oxen it just might very well be able to. Babies have especially strong and powerful legs for such tiny creatures, so watch out for those kicks.
49. One out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born. Nursing mothers may cringe at this fact. Sometimes the tooth is a regular baby tooth that has already erupted and sometimes it is an extra tooth that will fall out before the other set of choppers comes in.
50. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. When only a small fraction of the way through its development, a fetus will have already developed one of the most unique human traits: fingerprints. At only 6-13 weeks of development, the whorls of what will be fingerprints have already developed. Oddly enough, those fingerprints will not change throughout the person’s life and will be one of the last things to disappear after death.
51. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. All life has to begin somewhere, and even the largest humans spent a short part of their lives as a single celled organism when sperm and egg cells first combine. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
52. Most men have erections every hour to hour and a half during sleep. Most people’s bodies and minds are much more active when they’re sleeping than they think. The combination of blood circulation and testosterone production can cause erections during sleep and they’re often a normal and necessary part of REM sleep.

Senses

The primary means by which we interact with the world around us is through our senses. Here are some interesting facts about these five sensory abilities.

53. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp. If you’re heading to a concert or a musical after a big meal you may be doing yourself a disservice. Try eating a smaller meal if you need to keep your hearing pitch perfect.
54. About one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. Glasses and contact wearers are hardly alone in a world where two thirds of the population have less than perfect vision. The amount of people with perfect vision decreases further as they age.
55. If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it. In order for foods, or anything else, to have a taste, chemicals from the substance must be dissolved by saliva. If you don’t believe it, try drying off your tongue before tasting something.
56. Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life. Studies have shown that women are more able to correctly pinpoint just what a smell is. Women were better able to identify citrus, vanilla, cinnamon and coffee smells. While women are overall better smellers, there is an unfortunate 2% of the population with no sense of smell at all.
57. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. While a bloodhound’s nose may be a million times more sensitive than a human’s, that doesn’t mean that the human sense of smell is useless. Humans can identify a wide variety of scents and many are strongly tied to memories.
58. Even small noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate. It is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise. The sound causes their pupils to change focus and blur their vision, making it harder to do their job well.
59. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins. Newborns are able to recognize the smell of their mothers and many of us can pinpoint the smell of our significant others and those we are close to. Part of that smell is determined by genetics, but it’s also largely do to environment, diet and personal hygiene products that create a unique chemistry for each person.

Aging and Death

From the very young to the very old, aging is a necessary and unavoidable part of life. Learn about the process with these interesting, if somewhat strange facts.

60. The ashes of a cremated person average about 9 pounds. A big part of what gives the human body weight is the water trapped in our cells. Once cremated, that water and a majority of our tissues are destroyed, leaving little behind.
61. Nails and hair do not continue to grow after we die. They do appear longer when we die, however, as the skin dehydrates and pulls back from the nail beds and scalp.
62. By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do. Older individuals tend to lose their ability to taste, and many find that they need much more intense flavoring in order to be able to fully appreciate a dish.
63. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. When babies look up at you with those big eyes, they’re the same size that they’ll be carrying around in their bodies for the rest of their lives. Their ears and nose, however, will grow throughout their lives and research has shown that growth peaks in seven year cycles.
64. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. If you’ve ever been kept awake by a snoring loved one you know the sound can be deafening. Normal snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, intense snores can reach more than 80 decibels, the approximate level caused by a jackhammer breaking up concrete.
65. A baby’s head is one-quarter of its total length, but by age 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. As it turns out, our adorably oversized baby heads won’t change size as drastically as the rest of our body. The legs and torso will lengthen, but the head won’t get much longer.

Disease and Injury

Most of us will get injured or sick at some point in our lives. Here are some facts on how the human body reacts to the stresses and dangers from the outside world.

66. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest. Yet another reason to loathe Mondays! A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.
67. Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. While you might feel better prepared to stay up all night partying than to give up eating, that feeling will be relatively short lived. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.
68. Simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels extensively. How extensively? Studies have shown that it can take four to fifteen months for them to return to their normal condition. Consider that the next time you’re feeling too lazy to apply sunscreen before heading outside.
69. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress. That high stress job you have could be doing more than just wearing you down each day. It could also be increasing your chances of having a variety of serious medical conditions like depression, high blood pressure and heart disease.
70. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. While it might be gross to think about, the blood in the head may be enough to keep someone alive and conscious for a few seconds after the head has been separated from the body, though reports as to the accuracy of this are widely varying.

Muscles and Bones

Muscles and Bones provide the framework for our bodies and allow us to jump, run or just lie on the couch. Here are a few facts to ponder the next time you’re lying around.

71. It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Unless you’re trying to give your face a bit of a workout, smiling is a much easier option for most of us. Anyone who’s ever scowled, squinted or frowned for a long period of time knows how it tires out the face which doesn’t do a thing to improve your mood.
72. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. The reason for this is that many of the bones of children are composed of smaller component bones that are not yet fused like those in the skull. This makes it easier for the baby to pass through the birth canal. The bones harden and fuse as the children grow.
73. We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. The cartilage between our bones gets compressed by standing, sitting and other daily activities as the day goes on, making us just a little shorter at the end of the day than at the beginning.
74. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. While you may not be able to bench press much with your tongue, it is in fact the strongest muscle in your body in proportion to its size. If you think about it, every time you eat, swallow or talk you use your tongue, ensuring it gets quite a workout throughout the day.
75. The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. The next time someone suggests you take it on the chin, you might be well advised to take their advice as the jawbone is one of the most durable and hard to break bones in the body.
76. You use 200 muscles to take one step. Depending on how you divide up muscle groups, just to take a single step you use somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 muscles. That’s a lot of work for the muscles considering most of us take about 10,000 steps a day.
77. The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself. If you’ve ever chipped a tooth you know just how sadly true this one is. The outer layer of the tooth is enamel which is not a living tissue. Since it’s not alive, it can’t repair itself, leaving your dentist to do the work instead.
78. It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it. Lazy people out there shouldn’t use this as motivation to not work out, however. It’s relatively easy to build new muscle tissue and get your muscles in shape, so if anything, this fact should be motivation to get off the couch and get moving.
79. Bone is stronger than some steel. This doesn’t mean your bones can’t break of course, as they are much less dense than steel. Bone has been found to have a tensile strength of 20,000 psi while steel is much higher at 70,000 psi. Steel is much heavier than bone, however, and pound for pound bone is the stronger material.
80. The feet account for one quarter of all the human body’s bones. You may not give your feet much thought but they are home to more bones than any other part of your body. How many? Of the two hundred or so bones in the body, the feet contain a whopping 52 of them.

Microscopic Level

Much of what takes place in our bodies happens at a level that we simply can’t see with the naked eye. These facts will show you that sometimes that might be for the best.

81. About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. Germaphobes don’t need to worry however, as a majority of these is entirely harmless and some are even helpful in maintaining a healthy body.
82. Humans shed and re-grow outer skin cells about every 27 days. Skin protects your delicate internal organs from the elements and as such, dries and flakes off completely about once a month so that it can maintain its strength. Chances are that last month’s skin is still hanging around your house in the form of the dust on your bookshelf or under the couch.
83. Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute. While that sounds like a lot, it’s really just a small fraction of the cells that are in the human body. Estimates have placed the total number of cells in the body at 10-50 trillion so you can afford to lose a few hundred million without a hitch.
84. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. You may not think much about losing skin if yours isn’t dry or flaky or peeling from sunburn, but your skin is constantly renewing itself and shedding dead cells.
85. Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells. Your bodies not only needs energy to keep your organs up and running but also to constantly repairs and build new cells to form the building blocks of your body itself.
86. Every tongue print is unique. If you’re planning on committing a crime, don’t think you’ll get away with leaving a tongue print behind. Each tongue is different and yours could be unique enough to finger you as the culprit.
87. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long. Anyone who has ever tasted blood knows that it has a slightly metallic taste. This is due to the high levels of iron in the blood. If you were to take all of this iron out of the body, you’d have enough to make a small nail and very severe anemia.
88. The most common blood type in the world is Type O. Blood banks find it valuable as it can be given to those with both type A and B blood. The rarest blood type, A-H or Bombay blood due to the location of its discovery, has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered.
89. Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. This explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather. Cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker color.

Miscellaneous

Here are a few things you might not have known about all different parts of your anatomy.

90. The colder the rooms you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. It isn’t entirely clear to scientists why this is the case, but if you are opposed to having nightmares you might want to keep yourself a little toastier at night.
91. Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. This is to your advantage, as the mucus that lines your nose and throat, as well as the tears that wet your eyes are helping to prevent bacteria from infecting those areas and making you sick.
92. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. If you’ve seen the Matrix you are aware of the energy potentially generated by the human body. Our bodies expend a large amount of calories keeping us at a steady 98.6 degrees, enough to boil water or even cook pasta.
93. Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren’t. The chemicals and hormones released when you are afraid could be having unseen effects on your body in the form of earwax. Studies have suggested that fear causes the ears to produce more of the sticky substance, though the reasons are not yet clear.
94. It is not possible to tickle yourself. Even the most ticklish among us do not have the ability to tickle ourselves. The reason behind this is that your brain predicts the tickle from information it already has, like how your fingers are moving. Because it knows and can feel where the tickle is coming from, your brain doesn’t respond in the same way as it would if someone else was doing the tickling.
95. The width of your arm span stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your arm span is a pretty good estimator of your height.
96. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears. In the animal world, humans are the biggest crybabies, being the only animals that cry because they’ve had a bad day, lost a loved one, or just doesn’t feel good.
97. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. This doesn’t have a genetic basis, but is largely due to the fact that a majority of the machines and tools we use on a daily basis are designed for those who are right handed, making them somewhat dangerous for lefties to use and resulting in thousands of accidents and deaths each year.
98. Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men.
99. Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands. Studies on primates have suggested that even cloned individuals have unique fingerprints.
100. The indentation in the middle of the area between the nose and the upper lip has a name. It is called the philtrum. Scientists have yet to figure out what purpose this indentation serves, though the ancient Greeks thought it to be one of the most erogenous places on the body.

Take a moment to explore this virtual and interactive spine by moving your mouse over the different vertebrae and receive an explanation of which part of the spine affects different parts of the body. Certain symptoms that you have may also be connected to a spine problems, and its worth checking out.

Our attitudes are made up of what we believe about ourselves and what’s important to us. Feeling good and enjoying life is a mindset that all of us can develop. You can make this choice at an emotional level (in terms of how you feel about yourself) and at a psychological level (in the way that you behave).
Your chronological age is only a number. What really makes the difference is a positive state of mind, living a life that you’re passionate about. When you achieve these goals, a magical thing happens. You look and feel good, no matter what the year of your birth is.

Consider following:

1. Live your life for a purpose

The first Attitude in life should be to decide as what you want to be, doing or have with the rest of your life. It’s important for each of us to have goals, but we often forget (or fail) to put aside the time to set them. It could be that you would like to adopt a profession, learn new sports, language or skill, meet new friends,

or anything else you set your mind to. Or it could be

Something more drastic, like changing your relationship, career or where you live. This Attitude will help you focus on what you would like to achieve, and show you how to identify what you really want to change in your life.

2. Create what you want (from inside > out)

The mind and body are inextricably connected, so when we change on the inside, we automatically change on the outside. If an egg is broken from inside out, a new life come into existence; and if it broken from outside, life vanishes. So often we depend on external ‘things’ to make us feel better; however, the feelings of pleasure that this type of thing encourages are normally short-lived. Why? Because we are relying on something ‘external’ to change the way we feel inside. As we have tackled, the symptom and not the root cause of why we felt bad. As a result, the effect is always temporary.

In contrast, change on the inside is permanent because it’s something over which you can take responsibility and control. If there’s something you want to achieve, don’t let the desire to make that first step ‘perfect’ hold you back, be prepared to make mistakes along the way and learn from them.’ Feel good and create happiness involving your subconscious in it’s working out.

3. Discover Your Self & Create Harmony within Yourself

This Attitude is all about finding out what you are passionate about, because doing so goes a long way towards helping you discover your sense of self, and thereby increasing your confidence and self-esteem. We comprise of Three parts> mind, body and Soul. Believe it or not, the key to learning to respect you and feeling is in working with harmony between your mind, body and soul. Without realizing the role of soul, it is just like you are having a telephone mobile set without its SIM. As you must know that without the soul, body is just flesh and bones liable to be wasted out very soon. The mind has two major parts-dealing with your attitude and working > Conscious mind and the sub-conscious mind.

When we allow ourselves to discover what we are passionate about, we experience the triumph of love and hope over fear. Remember the last time you felt real Passion? That was the real you. “Baba Bullay Shah” says and I Quote,
As a first step, keep a diary of your key activities. For example, record how much time you spend on each of the following: the time which you spend bonding your mind & body with the soul:
(1) Are you satisfied with your Job/business and there is no conflict/silent. Argument over it between your soul and conscious mind?

(2) Is your way of thinking, working, dealing with others in harmony with your inner/self?

(3) Your conscious and the soul are not dissatisfied with what you are doing > your leisure activities, work, friends, fitness, and focused time for yourself, time with your family?

(4) Ask yourself if you are happy with the results. What do others say in your absence about you? Do they begin to define who you are in a way that you’d like to be defined?

(5) Is your focus where it ought to be? And if it isn’t, which areas would you like to devote more or less of your time to?

Set yourself some goals and begin to rebalance your time, your thinking, your way of working and dealing others.

4. Be True to yourself

The principle is about being true to yourself, your family and be honest while dealing with others. Take a few moments to answer following questions to your good self:
(1). what are your means of earning and are you consciously Satisfied with its source?
(2). what things are frustrating you during your work?
(3). Are you being true to yourself, your children with present Means of earning?
(4). Is your daily working, its process and dealing, a source of Satisfaction for your conscious or is it in conflict with your Values and belief?

We need to discover what our values are. Our values are instilled in us at an early age, most often before the age of seven and settled in Our Sub-conscious. At this age our surroundings are imprinted upon us with little of our own filtering. For example, our values will be influenced by the values of our parents, close family, environment, school, our friends and everything and everyone else that influence our life.
Our values determine the way we think and how we behave. If you want to find out what your values are, then ask yourself what was important to those around you when you were growing up. It’s likely that you have adopted many of their values. However, it must be understood that our values change with time to some extent and also can be changed consciously.
If you are a parent, I guarantee that on the day your first child was born your values would have changed. This happens unconsciously. Other times in our lives when our values are likely to change include marriage, bereavement, retirement, illness and so on. Discover your values and be true to them and you will feel instantly better about your life.

5. Be Conscious, You are Good Enough for yourself

This Attitude explores how to change limiting beliefs or fixed ideas or rigidness for that matter. Everyone possesses them. Our beliefs are views or ideas we have about ourselves, other people and situations that we hold to be true. Like our values, our beliefs are formed during the imprint period, before the age of seven.
The most important thing to understand about beliefs is that they are generalisations that we create from life experiences. Most of us do not consciously decide what we believe. Our beliefs become our reality. We rarely challenge our long-held beliefs and they become a filter through which we sieve all of our life’s expectations and experience.
So, if you don’t believe you’re good enough, then you’ll filter all your experiences through that belief until you only notice the times this is true, rather than noticing all the times you were successful or even more than good enough.

6. Create Mindset For Healthy Eating

In order to eat healthy, it is important to create the mindset necessary for healthy eating.
For healthy eating, we need to reframe the way we see our bodies. Instead of seeing them as less than perfect, or even ugly, it’s essential to see them as the means through which we will achieve our life’s purpose. We need to treat our bodies with love and respect, and regard food and meals as a way of providing them with the nourishment they require to support us on our journey.
Any self-criticism will leave our bodies struggling to support us to be the best we can be. We must be ready to praise ourselves, and start being kind about every part of our bodies, knowing that any degrading thoughts will leave our mind & body struggling. Our mind and body give us strength to achieve our goals and, in return, we need to truly love and respect them for the amazing tools that they are.

7.  Have Time for yourself

This Attitude is all about time. Normally, we have time for everything and everybody except for our self. Do you embrace time as your friend or your enemy? Are you someone who often says, ‘I don’t have time for that’? If you are someone who experiences time as a scarce commodity, of which there is never enough, then you are creating a completely different personal reality from someone who perceives that they have all the time in the world. There are 86400 moments in a day (24 hours) and sufficient time is available for your activities if time is utilised judicially.
May be you even experienced some of the symptoms of stress such as breathlessness, panic attacks and high blood pressure. Most people spend their lives either in the past or the future, but actually past is history and cannot give anything except irritations; whereas, only way to secure future is by concentrating on the present. This is why those who live in the past often suffer from guilt, and those who worry about the future often suffer from anxiety. However, if you live in the present you can focus on enjoying the moment, whatever you are doing. This has a more relaxing impact on the body.

8. Utilize Energy For Thinking Positively

It is important to give ourselves a powerful base from where we can move forward. It is better to look at the people in our life (past and present both) and consider whether there is any one about whom one have bad feelings and need to forgive him/her. Anger and blame hold us back without ant any gain. While suffering is an inevitable part of the life, forgiveness is the key to liberation from these bad feelings. An old saying expresses it in a different way that if there is an enemy in your heart, it is not safe there for a friend. So, it is better to forgive because bad feelings can’t give you anything except diverting part of your thought energy, depleting your concentration.
Remember following while forgiving:
(a) It is important to recognize that your pain is coming from the hurt feelings, thoughts, physical upsets and it is you who is suffering not that person because of whom you are having the bad feelings.
a. It can help to share your feelings with others and benefits from their support. Do whatever you can to feel better. Remember that forgiving others is with the aim to help you alone and not others.
(b) Forgiveness is neither about forgetting nor did condoning what happened.
(c) Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person who upset you. It is about finding peace within you.
(d) Remember, you do not need other person to admit that they wronged you, before you make the decision to forgive.
(e) Choosing to have compassion for yourself and whoever wronged you is a powerful step and needs extra courage to do that. Do you have it?
(f) Forgiveness liberates you from that feeling and living a happy, fulfilled life is the best retribution.

9. Restore Your Energy

Every action you take involves using your energy and in the process, your energy keep depleting. Some time the energy is depleted even when you are not doing anything but your intention to do something is taxing your mind energy wise heavily. Furthermore, sometime, even long after the event, its thoughts and after effects keep on draining your energy.
Relationships and living in non-conducive environments can also drain your energy. Depletion can also result from working in an environment that doesn’t allow you to express your creativity. Worst is the depletion as a result of your financial worries and concerns that you are unable to meet.
The first step is to identify those areas which are draining your energy; only then it is possible for you to reorganize yourself so that you can ensure that you are not diminishing your energy reserves, rather utilizing it properly. Here are few questions to start you off:
(a) Are there relationships in my life that are draining me?
(b) Are there phone calls, letters or E-mail, which I can send to take it off from my mind?
(c) Is there any relationship that i should bring it an end?
(d) Is there a gap for someone special to me in my life?
(e) Am I satisfied with my job/work/business or it requires some change?
(f) Is there shortage of high energy people around me to spend my time with?
(g) Is there a project i need to bring it to completion?
(h) Is there anyone i need to forgive and forget?
(i) Are there any financial concerns I need to pay more attention to?
(j) Am I working in an organized manner or i need to organize it?
(k) Are my priorities alright or i need to change it?

Make a list of the areas where your energy is being drained. Make it as comprehensive as you can spend some time on it. Re-organize it and replenish your energy reserves.

10. Start an an Inner Dialogue

Our soul can provide guidance to us in the shortest possible time as it has the access to even the results of whatever is there only in intentions and we plan to do it. Simply ask for guidance from your inner self.
Phrase this question in your mind and wait for the response. It may take minutes, hours or days but the answer will present itself, through your 6th sense. It may come in the form of dream, day dream, a thought or feelings in the mind and eyes. Whenever you are required to take up an important decision like for example starting a new job or a relation, ask whether it will prove good for you. If you get into the habit of asking for guidance, it will soon become your second nature.
11. Always Offer Gratitude. A real wealthy person is the one who has the contentment, and peace of heart and mind. Always be contented with what you have been blessed. If you want to compare yourself, compare yourself with those who have not been blessed with what you have been with and enjoying it. Always be grateful to almighty ALLAH for what you have been blessed. Start your day with offering gratitude.
Gratitude attracts and brings many more good things in your life. When you feel and express gratitude, success, happiness and prosperity will flow into your life.

God Bless You and Your Family,
Javed Mirza
javedmirza94@hotmail.com

Pain is the body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. It is a message that the nerves send to the brain letting it know that something is hurt or a problem. Unfortunately, it is something that everyone will experience at one time or another, and although it is unpleasant, it has a very useful purpose in the body. The brain is responsible for the experience of many different types of pain. Each body system has its own sensation of pain and some get benefits form the cannabis natural treatment with a WV medical card.

In case of Pain in Neck, Shoulders and head including Migraine, origin of the problem is in Cervical Spine. 

And in case of pain in Lower Back or in legs, origin is normally in Lumber Spine, where due to displacement in L4/ L5> S1 Nerve is compressed restricting blood flow to the legs/feet.

Chronic pain, or nerve pain, can be experienced anywhere in the body and is caused by an injury to the nervous system or a nervous system disorder. It can sometimes be debilitating enough to make daily activities impossible. Those things that used to be done with ease become difficult and painful. They can cause disruption to the simplest of activities like biking, working, or just being able to get a good night’s rest.

In no case the message of body to brain in the shape of pain be snubbed and no amount of pain killers can cure it. You must get the root cause of the problem identified and get its treatment on permanent basis by getting the spine adjusted > restoring its original/natural position and thereby restoring flow of the blood in the nerves to neck/shoulders/legs and feet.

May God bless you with complete health,               

Javed Mirza
www.mindbodyplusspirit.com

All diseases in the body are generated from Spinal Cord and Spinal Nerves

 (Please refer to the attached image).

Stress in Cervical Spinal Nerves will cause Headache, Amnesia, Chronic Tiredness, Sinus Trouble, Dizziness, Muscle Tension, Eczema, Acne, Sore Throat, Stiff Neck, Pain in Shoulders and Arms, Thyroid Problems.

 Stress in Thoracic Spine, will cause Asthma, Chest pain and Heart problems, Backaches, Liver and Blood Pressure Problems, Ulcer, Diabetes, gastritis, Stomach problems, Allergies, Kidney Troubles, Hardening of Arteries and Skin Disorders.

Similarly, Lumber Spine Stress can Cause Slip Disc/ Sciatica, Backaches, Knee Pains, impotency/Irregular Menstrual Periods/ prostate problems, Weakness/Swelling and poor Circulation of Blood in Legs and Feet.

While  Normal Medicine can just give You temporary Relief but the Root Cause of the problem and origin of the Disease will not only stay in the body , rather, result in increasing the problem/disease as You will not be able to feel the problem and take treatment for eradicating it.

My Friends are requested humbly to take proper treatment of all diseases> eradicating it from its root cause instead of just taking the pain killers.

Whenever you are feeling Stress & anxiety, find time for the following:

1. Close your Eyes. The act of simply closing your eyes causes a change in brainwave production from fast-paced beta brainwaves to slower, peaceful alpha waves. Give yourself at least 10 – 15 minutes of quiet time with your eyes closed and you’ll naturally feel more relaxed.

2. Deep Breathing. We all realize that when we allow ourselves to be overcome with stress, our breathing cycle is shorter and quicker than normal. To directly attack stress, take deep breaths by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. This quickly changes us from a state of intense stress to one of peacefulness

3. Go Jogging & walking. Exercise is a great way to desensitize your nervous system and do away with stressful feelings. Make yourself moving and go for a nice jog, gym, or for a walk.

4. Be Around Calm and positive people. A great technique is to surround you with calm people having positive attitude towards the life. Their beliefs, actions, and behaviourism will naturally rub off into your consciousness. Spending time with stressful, negative, or hyperactive individuals will probably drain your energy and will not aid you in the process of de-stressing.

5. Guided Meditations. Guided meditations usually involve an individual consciously relaxing their entire body. Set aside 10 – 15 minutes to scale your body for areas of tension and replace all tension with a feeling of relaxation. You will feel great and be able to quickly unwind and unstressed after a short guided meditation.

6. Relax your Tongue. It may Sound ridiculous to most people, yet it is an extremely potent way to effectively calm your mind. Calming brainwaves increase when your tongue relaxes, and beta brainwaves (stressful brainwaves) decrease. Let your entire jaw relax along with your tongue and go into a calmer state of awareness.

7. Get a massage. If you just don’t feel like doing any of the other suggestions, getting a quality massage will be extremely effective at reducing your stress. The physical relaxation that results from getting a massage will slow down your stressful mental processing and leave your body and mind with a new sense of vitality.

8. Remove the Root Cause. Ask yourself what event, person, or thing is the root cause of your stress. After you understand what is causing your stress, target and eliminate the root cause in as respectful and peaceful of manner as possible.

9. Accept your stress. The action of accepting your body and mind’s reaction to stress alone will help you recover from stress quicker. When you don’t accept your adrenaline, rapid thoughts, etc., you put yourself in a position to become more stressed out over what is happening to yourself. Accepting yourself will break the cycle and allow you to feel more peaceful.

10. Talk with friends, Release Emotions. Expressing your emotions by having a quality conversation about your stress with a trusted friend will always help relieving stress. Your friends may provide helpful suggestions, encourage your relaxation, help take stress off of your focus, and allow you to get the bottled-up emotions out of your system.

??11. Get involved with the Nature. Experience nature and appreciate its beauty. I have mentioned this in my first article in the 10×10 series to becoming more conscious because it can be a very blissful experience. Appreciating what nature has to offer, by seeing the animals, plants, the encompassing sky, and pure beauty, you will naturally lose focus of stress.

??12. Orgasm. While some may not understand but fact is that the act of sexual orgasm really is a profound way to relax. Usually, after sex, you feel tired. Sex provides a great workout, bonding with a partner, and is really one of the best ways to let go of stress. Though stress may really take your mind off of sex, it may just be a key ingredient in the process of your recovery.

??13. Take a Nap. We already know that taking a nap has been proven to boost brain power, but what you may not think about are the stress relieving benefits that napping can provide. Sometimes the only way for your brain to fully recover is to snooze on it and allow your subconscious to sort itself out.

14. Listen to soothing music. Have you ever tried to listen to some music during stress? Listening to soothing music is good experience and definitely feels great to listen to when feeling stressed. It has potential to shift your thoughts from a cycle of stress to one of calmness.

15. Say prayer. Say a prayer when you are stressed and try to connect deeply. When you can successfully pull of a deep, soulful prayer, it will definitely relax your body and mind.

16. During Winters. Have Sun Bath. Soaking up sun rays naturally boosts levels of the neurotransmitter/ serotonin, and allows us to effectively go into a deep state of relaxation.

Almighty ALLAH Bless you and save you > always > from stress & anxiety.
Duago: Javed Mirza
+92 300 4134440
www.mindbodyplusspirit.com

While meditative states are enormously valuable, higher Frequency states, such as Beta/Gamma, also provide their own benefits.  If one wants to enhance mind abilities when at the office or working on computer or doing analytical work, one can benefit from high-alert states, such as Beta/Gamma. There are just a few ways that one can benefit from higher frequency sound/music.

It can also help one achieving concentration. Our brain has the power to influence one’s own reality and ultimately free oneself from unnecessary thinking. Once a goal is dominant in subconscious, we notice the effects in physical reality. And in order to set a dominant goal in subconscious, it must be repeated.

The lesser is the frequency of thoughts > more concentration we can have. The diagram below indicates different frequencies of the Mind.

The different frequencies at which brain functions are as under:

• Beta State. In this state, activity takes place when a person is fully awake. It’s frequency is 14 Hz per second and above

• Alpha State. This state Occurs when a person relaxes and it’s rhythm is between 7.5 Hz to 13 Hz brain waves per second -

• Theta state. It’s a slow activity and takes place at a brain frequency of 3.5 Hz to & 7.5 Hz per second.

• Delta State. This is the state when a person is sleeping. Its frequency rate is 1.5 to 4 cycles per second.

By reducing the number of thoughts>More concentration can be achieved. By following this practice, one can increase the concentration of children in studies; and by reducing the number of thoughts at the time of sleep; you can also have better sleep.

By Utilizing Your Energy for thinking positively only, one can save and utilize that energy which is being wasted out in unnecessary things not aimed at any result> can also enhance concentration and be more effective for priority works.

It is better for us to look at the people in one’s life (past and present both) and consider whether there is any one about whom we have bad feelings and one need to forgive him/her. Anger and blame hold us back and keep us disempowered. While suffering is an inevitable part of the life, forgiveness is the key to liberation from these bad feelings. An old saying expresses it in a different way that if there is an enemy in one’s heart, it is not safe there for a friend. So, it is better to forgive because bad feelings can’t give us anything except diverting part of one’s thought energy, thereby depleting our concentration.

One may remember following while forgiving:

(a) It is important to recognize that your pain is coming from the hurt feelings, thoughts, and physical upsets and that you are suffering and not that person for whom you are having the bad feelings.

(b) Remember that forgiving others is with the aim to help and benefit you alone and not others. Sharing your feelings with others can also help and benefits from their support. Do whatever you can do to feel better.

(c) Forgiveness is neither about forgetting nor did condoning what happened.

(d) Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person who upset you. It is about finding peace within you.

(e) Remember, you do not need other person to admit that he wronged you, before you make the decision to forgive.

(f) Forgiveness liberates you from that feeling and living a happy, fulfilled life is the best retribution.

Choosing to have compassion for yourself and whoever wronged you is a powerful step and needs extra courage to do that. Do you have it?

May Almighty ALLAH Bless You always,

Javed Mirza
Mob : 0300 4134440
E-Mail: javedmirza94@hotmail.com
Web: www.mindbodyplusspirit.com

Have you ever walked into a room – and forgot what you went in to get? Ran into someone you haven’t seen lately – and can’t recall their name? Misplaced your glasses or your house keys?

As we grow older, our brain’s processing speed slows down causing memory loss and problems with retaining new information. Follow these simple 6 steps to ensure lasting intelligence.

1. Flex Your Intellectual Muscles

It may seem almost too obvious to be true, but flexing your intellectual muscles on a regular basis will keep you mentally in shape. Researchers recommend playing mind teaser games, math problems and even crossword puzzles, which require intense focus and stimulate learning, to keep our thinking sharp. Playing games such as Monopoly or trivia games also keeps the mind attentive to details. Remember the old adage, use it or lose it.

2. Eat Brain Food

Make sure your body gets plenty of brain food. To get plenty of the famed brain builder, omega-3 fats, enjoy lots of healthy extra virgin olive oil. Eat walnuts, berries and flax seeds. Enjoy occasionally eggs, fish and seafood, especially muscles, sardines, salmon, some spinach, one among many leafy greens that are shown to support cognitive longevity, and a side of broccoli, known to assist memory function and slow aging.

Some of you will love this one: coffee. It’s rich in brain-cell-protecting antioxidants. The caffeine in coffee and other sources, such as dark chocolate, stimulates mental focus, alertness and, last but not least, production of dopamine. Depending on your sensitivity, 2-5 6 oz. cups may be considered a healthy dose. Sweeten with honey, full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, and, finally, balance that caffeine with plenty of water. Dehydration negatively affects your whole body, including your brain.

3. Rest

Rest and Sleep well are vital part of living well and thinking clearly. Research shows that there are metabolic functions which only occur while you sleep. The effects of sleep deprivation upon your brain and body imitate closely those of drunkenness. People with sleep deprivation tend not to notice the gradual effect; that is, they’re in denial. Consider sleep a vital nutrient, because it is.  Your brain absolutely requires adequate rest for optimal function.

4. Stress Less

If your life perpetuates stress in your body, it could be killing you slowly. Stress has its proper place in our lives. “Acute stress” can be a normal, healthy response to a valid stressor, such as an explosion, or a bit of urgent news. In that case, it triggers the fight or flight response, heightening awareness and problem solving. But chronic stress happens when an individual experiences stress on a regular basis without healthy relief. It puts us in perpetual fight or flight mode. Unrelieved chronic stress will interfere with memory, learning, decision making and concentration. Ditch deep fried junk food, refined flours and sugars that spike blood sugar and mimic the body’s chemical response to stress. If you must, schedule down time where you’re not being hyper stimulated by ambient noise, stressful movie plots, etc. Go for walks. Enjoy the quietness & clean environments of early mornings. Raise your heart rate with daily exercise.. The pleasure in these activities changes your mind and actually displaces negativity. Down time also makes space for you to think things through, consider new strategies, and can even empower you to make tough changes. Or, consider professional counsel, a wonderful way to gain outside perspective and broaden your own. The key is to be proactive. Do more things that relax you, as if relieving stress were a vitamin or pill. Take it seriously and you will see serious transformation in your body and mind.

5. Laugh a Lot

According to scientists, laughter reduces cortisol (the stress hormone) and increases endorphins (feel-good hormones). A study done in 2007 found that “elevated cortisol was associated with poorer cognitive function. Conversely, laughter-induced endorphins improve memory and spatial intelligence. They also cause a normal form of local amnesia, allowing you to forget “extraneous details of a task (allowing focusing on main events) and prevent extinction of a learned task…, genuine spontaneous laughter will give you all of these benefits and more, including strengthened immune system, tension release, stress relief, improved sleep and slower aging.

6. Work Out

Research is revealing that exercise is major brain food. It was believed in the past that the human nervous system was fixed after birth, having no regenerative powers. But since 1990s, scientists have found otherwise, discovering a process called neuro genesis, which means birth of neurons. Yes, technically, our neurons can make babies well into our 80s. In 2008 researchers discovered that regular physical exercise increased the birth of neurons in mice and reversed some of the effects of aging, including cognitive dysfunction. The results raised not a few eyebrows concerning the impact of exercise-induced neuro genesis on prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

It also has anti-depressant effects. Lab tests found that exercise “enhances spatial learning in young and aged mice (and)…increases plasticity in the hippocampus, a key structure for cognitive function and stress-related pathologies such as depression. Just beware, overdoing exercise causes a stress response in the body, and reverses the cognitive benefits. Balance exercise with nutrition, rest, and laughter, and remain brilliant.

           May Almighty Allah Bless You-     Javed Mirza

The coconut possesses a wide variety of health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, but it is the oil that makes it a remarkable source of food and medicine. It has definitely earned its reputation as the healthiest oil in the world despite the fact that its high saturated fat content was once falsely claimed to be unhealthy.

What makes coconut oil different?

Oils and fats are composed of molecules known as fatty acids. They are classified either according to saturation or based on molecular length and size of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are an example of the first class.

The second classification is based on molecular size or length of the fatty acids carbon chain. Long chains of carbon atoms consist of each fatty acid with an attached hydrogen atom. There are short chain fatty acids known as SCFA, medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) such as coconut oil and long chain fatty acids (LCFA). Whether unsaturated or saturated, the majority of fats and oils in our diet are composed of long chain fatty acids. In fact, a majority of the fatty acids commonly consumed are LCFA.

Coconut oil is predominantly medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) and the effects of the MCFA in coconut oil are distinctly different from the LCFA found in other foods. In fact, the saturated and unsaturated fat in milk, eggs, meat and even in plants and most vegetable oils are made of LCFA. Why is this relevant? It is important because our bodies respond and metabolize each fatty acid differently. It is the MCFA found in coconut oil that makes it special because these fatty acids do not have a negative effect on cholesterol. In fact, they are known to lower the risk of heart disease and atherosclerosis. There are only few dietary sources of MCFA, and one of the best sources by far is coconut oil.

The liver and gall bladder do not need to digest and emulsify MCFA, resulting in instant energy, increased metabolic rate and subsequently more heat production as well as increased circulation. Anyone with an impaired fat digestion or removed gallbladder will benefit from coconut oil as this oil is easily digested.

Lauric Acid

Coconut oil has many health benefits which are attributed to the presence of lauric acid. When it is present in the body, lauric acid is converted into monolaurin, a compound that is highly toxic to viruses, bacteria, funguses and other microorganisms because of its ability to disrupt their lipid membranes and virtually destroy them.

It is effective for treating fungal infections and athlete’s foot. It also targets bacterial infections and viruses like measles, influenza, hepatitis C and even HIV. In fact, researchers from the Philippines are studying the effectiveness of lauric acid against HIV/AIDS due to its strong anti-viral properties. Moreover, lauric acid is non-toxic, making it a better alternative to modern drugs that are typically prescribed for viruses as well as fungal and bacterial infections.

Without lauric acid, monolaurin cannot be produced by the body. Breast milk is the only other source of lauric acid, which must explain the lesser incidents of infections with breast-fed infants. It has also been observed that regular consumption of coconut oil boosts immunity and reduces incidences of sickness.

The health benefits of coconut oil

Hair care – The unique fatty acids in coconut oil have a small molecular structure and pass freely into the hair’s cell membrane, allowing for the oil to penetrate the hair’s shaft; this literally brings out the deep conditioning from within compared to other conditioners that work from the outside in.

Massaging the oil into the scalp can offer relief from dandruff. Dandruff is caused by dry skin or an internal fungal condition that reached the scalp. With regular use, coconut oil can kill the fungus and eliminate dandruff issues. For deep hair conditioning, a teaspoon or two on damp hair left for as long as possible can give an ultra-nice shine. Leave it on overnight and see startling results.

Skin care – Coconut oil is an excellent skin conditioner containing medium-chain triglycerides, naturally occurring fats which deeply penetrate, moisturize and acts as a protective barrier against environmental and free radical damage. The oil also provides sun protection by screening 20 percent of ultraviolet exposure.

Coconut oil is rich in anti-oxidants and bursting with the natural microbial and antibacterial agents caphrylic and capric acids. . Its ability to smooth the skin while infusing with anti-oxidants makes it a perfect anti-aging moisturizer. Moreover, it contains vitamin E, another antioxidant popular for hastening the recovery of skin abrasions, burns and other trauma.

Weight loss – Medium-chain fatty acids found in coconut oil can speed up metabolism faster than long-chain fatty acids because they are easily digested and converted into energy. In fact, a study reported medium-chain fatty acids to be three times more effective in raising metabolism than long-chain fatty acids, leading researchers to conclude that effective weight loss can be achieved by replacing long-chain fatty acids with medium- chain fatty acids.

Natural remedy for pneumonia – In a study presented before The American College of Chest Physicians on October 29, 2008, coconut oil was found to offer pneumonia patients faster and more complete relief from symptoms. This could be a welcome development for many as this means a reduced stay in the hospital, lower medical expenses and lower exposure for the patient to a hospital environment. Moreover, it is an inexpensive addition to traditional antibiotics and has no known side effects.
Lowers risk of diabetes, heart disease and improves cholesterol levels – In a study made on women subjects ranging from 20 to 40 years old, half of the subjects were instructed to take a 30 ml soybean oil supplement while the other half were instructed to take a 30ml coconut oil supplement while maintaining moderate exercise routine over a 12-week period. Results of the study showed that although both group of women had a decrease in body mass index (BMI), only the women who were taking coconut oil showed a notable decease in waist circumference significantly lowering the risk of conditions like type II diabetes and heart disease.

Furthermore, the study also showed that the subjects who experienced an improvement in their cholesterol profile along with higher HDL levels and higher HDL: LDL ratio were the ones taking coconut oil. Those taking soybean oil did not receive the same benefits but reflected a higher total cholesterol as well as higher LDL cholesterol lower, lower HDL cholesterol and a lower HDL: LDL ratio.

Assists in bone health and chronic fatigue – Research has found coconut oil to help prevent osteoporosis because it helps in the nutrient absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium – important minerals that fight osteoporosis.

Moreover, the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil produce energy rather than body fat, thereby improving metabolism and preventing fatigue. The oil has also been shown to destroy organisms in the body that sap its strength and contribute to the condition of fatigue.
Alzheimer’s Disease – Dr. Mary Newport, after failing to get treatment for her husband’s dementia, discovered that coconut oil contained natural medium-chain triglyceride (MCT). The same substance was used in a drug trial her husband failed to qualify for. So, she gave her husband 1 tbsp. of coconut oil twice a day for a month and a half and saw him almost completely recovered/
Others – aside from the health benefits mentioned earlier the following health benefits have been attributed to the beneficial use of coconut oil:

• Protects against cancer and HIV and other infectious diseases
• Kills bacteria and parasites like tape worm and liver flukes
• Eases acid reflux, aids in proper bowel function
• Lowers incidence of hemorrhoids
• Heals and relieves intestinal problems
• Soothes earaches
• Deals with symptoms connected with prostate enlargement
• Strengthens the liver and protects against degeneration
• Reduces incidence of epileptic seizures
• Reduces joint and muscle inflammation
• Eases neuropathies and itching from diabetes.

How much oil should be taken in to enjoy its benefits?

According to researchers, an adult should consume around 3 1/2 tbsp. of coconut oil daily: an amount equal to the MCFA a nursing infant would receive in one day. The benefits of coconut oil are derived from the nutritional value of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA’s), and the best comparison in nature as to the percentage of MCFA consumed in a diet is in human breast milk. For those who are not used to having coconut oil in their diet, it is best to start out with a lesser amount and see how the body reacts before following the recommended amount.

Does coconut oil have any adverse side effects?

Coconut oil has no known side effects. However, if you are used to a low-fat diet, a common adverse reaction would be diarrhea. It is probably not advisable to start with a large amount right away. Spreading the recommended amount over the course of one day and building up to a larger dose can help to avoid unwanted effects.

In coconut-producing countries, it is considered beneficial for pregnant and lactating women to enjoy coconut oil; Westerners used to a low-fat diet, however, are cautioned not to experiment with coconut oil while pregnant if the body is not used to it. If you have been consuming coconut oil regularly with no adverse reactions, there is no reason to discontinue consumption.

You may Find time regularly to be alone; relax at a suitable place. It helps promoting an inner dialogue with your wise self. At these important organs and glands, spin the Energy and then keep on spinning it for few minute till the time it is totally relaxed. After you finish this session, you will find yourself very fresh, with no pain or tiredness in the body with boosted up energy and having enhanced vision.

It can take you even to the Alpha state – very relaxed and feel like having very light weight-free of gravitational pull, when your conscious and unconscious mind are working simultaneously, giving you enhanced mental capacity and opening up your 6^th sense. With it, you have your intuitive brain fully functional now. In this state, you can control your body temperature and are able to successfully program your 24 hours working.

The different frequencies at which brain functions and where you can achieve Alpha State are as under:

•  Beta State. In this state, activity takes place when a person is fully awake. It’s frequency is 14 Hz  per second and above
• Alpha State. This state Occurs when a person relaxes and it’s rhythm is between 7.5 Hz to 13 Hz brain waves per second.
• Theta state. It’s a slow activity and takes place at a brain frequency of 3.5 Hz to & 7.5 Hz per second.
• Delta State. This is the state when a person is sleeping. Its frequency rate is 1.5 to 4 cycles per second.

        May Almighty ALAH always Bless You,

                                                                      Javed Mirza