Email OF The Day: 07/13/13

Saturday, 13 July 2013

[www.keralites.net] Health: Healthy Teeth and Gums

Healthy gums should look pink and firm, not red and swollen. To keep gums healthy, practice good oral hygiene. Brush your teeth at least twice a day, floss at least once a day, see your dentist regularly, and avoid smoking or chewing tobacco.

The research isn't conclusive, but red, swollen, and bleeding gums may point to health problems from heart disease to diabetes. Sometimes, bacteria from your mouth can travel to your bloodstream, setting off an inflammatory reaction elsewhere in your body. Left untreated, gum disease can increase your risk for a host of diseases linked to inflammation. Certain diseases and medications also may cause mouth problems.

Can Mouth Bacteria Affect the Heart?

Some studies show that people with gum disease are more likely to suffer from heart disease than those with healthy, pink gums. Researchers aren't sure why this association exists. One theory is that oral bacteria travel into the bloodstream where it may attach to fatty plaques in the arteries, causing inflammation and setting the stage for a heart attack. Are you are at risk? Talk to your doctor.

Gum Disease and Diabetes

Diabetes can reduce the body's resistance to infection. Elevated blood sugars increase the risk of developing gum disease. What's more, gum disease can make it harder to keep blood sugar levels in check. Protect your gums by keeping blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible. Brush after each meal and floss daily. See your dentist at least once a year.

Dry Mouth and Tongue Cause Tooth Decay

The 4 million Americans who have Sjögren's syndrome are more prone to have oral health problems, too. With Sjögren's, the body's immune system mistakenly attacks tear ducts and saliva glands, leading to chronically dry eyes and dry mouth (called xerostomia). Saliva helps protect teeth and gums from bacteria that cause cavities and gingivitis. So a perpetually dry mouth is more susceptible to tooth decay and gum disease.

Medications That Cause Dry Mouth

Given that a chronically dry mouth raises risk of cavities and gum disease, you may want to check your medicine cabinet. Antihistamines, decongestants, painkillers, and antidepressants are among the drugs that can cause dry mouth. Talk to your doctor or dentist to find out if your medication regimen is affecting your oral health, and what you can do about it.

Stress and Teeth Grinding

If you are stressed, anxious, or depressed, you may be at higher risk for oral health problems. People under stress produce high levels of the hormone cortisol, which wreaks havoc on the gums and body. Stress also leads to poor oral care; more than 50% of people don't brush or floss regularly when stressed. Other stress-related habits include smoking, drinking alcohol, and clenching and grinding teeth (called bruxism).

Osteoporosis and Tooth Loss

The brittle bone disease osteoporosis affects all the bones in your body -- including your jaw bone -- and can cause tooth loss. Bacteria from periodontitis, which is severe gum disease, can also break down the jaw bone. One kind of osteoporosis medication -- bisphosphonates -- may slightly increase the risk of a rare condition called osteonecrosis, which causes bone death of the jaw. Tell your dentist if you take bisphosphonates.

Pale Gums and Anemia

Your mouth may be sore and pale if you're anemic, and your tongue can become swollen and smooth (glossitis). When you have anemia, your body doesn't have enough red blood cells, or your red blood cells don't contain enough hemoglobin. As a result, your body doesn't get enough oxygen. There are different types of anemia, and treatment varies. Talk to your doctor to find out what type you have and how to treat it.

Eating Disorders Erode Tooth Enamel

A dentist may be the first to notice signs of an eating disorder such as bulimia. The stomach acid from repeated vomiting can severely erode tooth enamel. Purging can also trigger swelling in the mouth, throat, and salivary glands as well as bad breath. Anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders can also cause serious nutritional shortfalls that can affect the health of your teeth.

Thrush and HIV

People with HIV or AIDS may develop oral thrush, oral warts, fever blisters, canker sores, and hairy leukoplakia, which are white or gray patches on the tongue or the inside of the cheek. The body's weakened immune system and its inability to stave off infections are to blame. People with HIV/AIDS may also experience dry mouth, which increases the risk of tooth decay and can make chewing, eating, swallowing, or talking difficult.

Treating Gum Disease May Help RA

People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are eight times more likely to have gum disease than people without this autoimmune disease. Inflammation may be the common denominator between the two. Making matters worse: people with RA can have trouble brushing and flossing because of damage to finger joints. The good news is that treating existing gum inflammation and infection can also reduce joint pain and inflammation.

Tooth Loss and Kidney Disease

Adults without teeth may be more likely to have chronic kidney disease than those who still have teeth. Exactly how kidney disease and periodontal disease are linked is not 100% clear yet. But researchers suggest that chronic inflammation may be the common thread. So taking care of your teeth and gums may reduce your risk of developing chronic kidney problems.

Gum Disease and Premature Birth

If you're pregnant and have gum disease, you could be more likely to have a baby that is born too early and too small. Exactly how the two conditions are linked remains poorly understood. Underlying inflammation or infections may be to blame. Pregnancy and its related hormonal changes also appear to worsen gum disease. Talk to your obstetrician or dentist to find out how to protect yourself and your baby.

Watch the whole slide show at:

WebMD

M Junaid Tahir

www.keralites.net

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[www.keralites.net] How Happy is Your Organization?

It's a known fact that the efficiency of any organization is concretely linked with the work satisfaction index of the employees. You can hire good people by tough hiring criteria, you can ensure their attendance by installing time-in and time-out devices; you can ensure their availability on their desk by close monitoring through IP cameras etc however you cannot guarantee or enhance their creativity index, their efficiency and their loyalty factor by all these policing techniques. While most of the entrepreneurs want their teams to be the most effective ones and even they want them to move from effectiveness to greatness (as Stephen Covey tells in his book 'The 8^th Habit') but least of them take the real effective actions in order to achieve the same.

In order to have highly collaborative and creative teams there should be an environment where teams should love what they are doing. Every morning if an employee while coming to office is enthusiastic and charged about the day, then he will make things happen. However if he is coming to office with sad heart or negative attitude then you have already half lost the project. So the point is that a culture of friendliness and trust needs to be ensured. Encouragement and consistent gratitude needs to be in place since it acts as a fuel and empowers the acceleration of the teams and the project tasks. Below are some of the points you must consider for the sake of monitoring the happiness and satisfaction index of your organization:

1- When was the last time you did an anonymous company-wise survey to seek feedback from each of the employee? What was the score?

2- One of the known questions from Gallup® is that "Do you have a best friend at work?" Being in-charge of your organization when did you noticed last time about any employees who don't have their best friends at work? If yes, what have you done with your empathic skills to judgethis and then took any action to nourish the culture of friendliness?

3- Do you have a rewarding culture in your company? Do you give spot awards, appreciation certificates, monetary rewards, free coupons or professional trainings?

4- Your employees are like batteries, do you measure their 'charge level'. Remember your mobile battery icon becomes yellow and red when charge level is 25% and 10%? Same is the case with employees. You need to have close observatory and emotional intelligence and analytical skills to monitor such things.

5- Do you ensure that your employees have a great work-life balance? Are they stress free(work related stress) on weekends? Are they over loaded or under loaded or rightly loaded? Are your managers and team leads capable of assigning the right task to the right person?

6- Do you have family like environment where employees share their emotions, concerns and jokes? Do they laugh/smile while working (not applicable for customer facing employees)? Did you plan any family level or team level get together or any other team building activities?

I believe with the above recommendations you can observe, analyze and eradicate the most common causes of disengaged employees and eventually increase the productivity of the organization.

A final comment is that you should not treat your employee only as a physical human being, instead treat him as a compound of body, heart, mind and soul. Stephen R Covey recommends that once you start behaving according to this philosophy, employees start generating great results for the organization. If you would like to explore more on this, "The 8^th Habit" book is the rich source of knowledge and wisdom; Google it to learn more.

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[www.keralites.net] Fasting Dimensions

Inner dimensions of Ramadan fasting

It should be known that there are three grades of Ramadan Fasting: ordinary, special and extra special.

Ordinary Fasting means abstaining from food, drink and sexual satisfaction.

Special Fasting means keeping one's ears, eyes, tongue, hands and feet - and all other organs - free from sin.

Extra special Fasting means fasting of the heart from unworthy concerns and worldly thoughts, in total disregard of everything but God, Great and Glorious is He. This kind of Fast is broken by thinking of worldly matters, except for those conducive to religious ends, since these constitute provision for the Hereafter and are not of this lower world. Those versed in the spiritual life of the heart have even said that a sin is recorded against one who concerns himself all day with arrangements for breaking his Fast. Such anxiety stems from lack of trust in the bounty of God, Great and Glorious is He, and from lack of certain faith in His promised sustenance.

To this third degree belong the Prophets, the true Auliya and the intimates of God. It does not lend itself to detailed examination in words, as its true nature is better revealed in action. It consists in utmost dedication to God, Great and Glorious is He, to the neglect of everything other than God, Great and Glorious is He. It is bound up with the significance of His words: 'Say: "Allah (sent it down)": then leave them to play in their vain discussions.' [al-An'am, 6:91]

Inward Requirements for Ramadan Fasting

As for Special Fasting, this is the kind practiced by the righteous. It means keeping all one's organs free from sin and six things are required for its accomplishment:

1. SEE NOT WHAT DISPLEASES ALLAH (SWT)

A chaste regard, restrained from viewing anything that is blameworthy or reprehensible, or that distracts the heart and diverts it from the remembrance of God, Great and Glorious is He. Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: 'The furtive glance is one of the poisoned arrows of Satan, on him be God's curse. Whoever forsakes it for fear of God will receive from Him, Great and Glorious is He, a faith the sweetness of which he will find within his heart.'

Jabir relates from Anas that Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: 'Five things break a man's Fast: lying, backbiting, gossiping, perjury and a lustful gaze.'

2. SPEAK NOT...

Guarding one's tongue from idle chatter, lying, gossiping, obscenity, rudeness, arguing and controversy; making it observe silence and occupying it with remembrance of God, Great and Glorious is He, and with recitation of Holy Quran. This is the fasting of the tongue. Sufyan Said: 'Backbiting annuls the Fast.' Layth quotes Mujahid as saying: 'Two habits annul Fasting: backbiting and telling lies.'

Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: 'Fasting is a shield; so when one of you is Fasting he should not use foul or foolish talk. If someone attacks him or insults him, let him say: "I am Fasting, I am Fasting!"'

According to Tradition: 'Two women were Fasting during the time of Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace. They were so fatigued towards the end of the day, from hunger and thirst that they were on the verge of collapsing. They therefore sent a message to Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, requesting permission to break their Fast. In response, Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, sent them a bowl and said: "Tell them to vomit into it what they have eaten." One of them vomited and half filled the bowl with fresh blood and tender meat, while the other brought up the same so that they filled it between them. The onlookers were astonished. Then the Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: "These two women have been Fasting from what God made lawful to them, and have broken their Fast on what God, Great and Glorious is He, made unlawful to them. They sat together and indulged in backbiting, and here is the flesh of the people they maligned!"'

3. HEAR NOT...

Closing one's ears to everything reprehensible; for everything unlawful to utter is likewise unlawful to listen to. That is why God, Great and Glorious is He, equated the eavesdropper with the profiteer, in His words, Great and Glorious is He: 'Listeners to falsehood, consumers of illicit gain.' [al-Ma'idah, 5:42]

God, Great and Glorious is He, also said: 'Why do their rabbis and priests not forbid them to utter sin and consume unlawful profit?' [al-Ma'idah, 5:63]

Silence in the face of backbiting is therefore unlawful. God, Great and Glorious is He, said: 'You are then just like them.' [al-Nisa, 4:140] That is why the Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: 'The backbiter and his listener are copartners in sin.'

4. DO NOT...

Keeping all other limbs and organs away from sin: the hands and feet from reprehensible deeds, and the stomach from questionable food at the time for breaking Fast. It is meaningless to Fast - to abstain from lawful food - only to break one's Fast on what is unlawful. A man who Fast like this may be compared to one who builds a castle but demolishes a city. Lawful food injurious in quantity not in quality, so Fasting is to reduce the former. A person might well give up excessive use of medicine, from fear of ill effects, but he would be a fool to switch to taking poison. The unlawful is a poison deadly to religion, while the lawful is a medicine, beneficial in small doses but harmful in excess. The object of Fasting is to induce moderation. Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: 'How many of those who Fast get nothing from it but hunger and thirst!' This has been taken to mean those who break their Fast on unlawful food. Some say it refers to those who abstain from lawful food, but break their Fast on human flesh through backbiting, which is unlawful. Others consider it an allusion to those who do not guard their organs from sin.

5. AVOID OVEREATING

Not to over-indulge in lawful food at the time of breaking Fast, to the point of stuffing one's belly. There is no receptacle more odious to God, Great and Glorious is He, than a belly stuffed full with lawful food. Of what use is the Fast as a means of conquering God's enemy and abating appetite, if at the time of breaking it one not only makes up for all one has missed during the daytime, but perhaps also indulges in a variety of extra foods? It has even become the custom to stock up for Ramadan with all kinds of foodstuffs, so that more is consumed during that time than in the course of several other months put together. It is well known that the object of Fasting is to experience hunger and to check desire, in order to reinforce the soul in piety. If the stomach is starved from early morning till evening, so that its appetite is aroused and its craving intensified, and it is then offered delicacies and allowed to eat its fill, its taste for pleasure is increased and its force exaggerated; passions are activated which would have lain dormant under normal conditions.

The spirit and secret nature of Fasting is to weaken the forces which are Satan's means of leading us back to evil. It is therefore essential to cut down one's intake to what one would consume on a normal night, when not Fasting. No benefit is derived from the Fast if one consumes as much as one would usually take during the day and night combined. Moreover, one of the properties consists in taking little sleep during the daytime, so that one feels the hunger and thirst and becomes conscious of the weakening of one's powers, with the consequent purification of the heart.

One should let a certain degree of weakness carry over into the night, making it easier to perform the night Prayers (tahajjud) and to recite the praises (awrad). It may then be that Satan will not hover around one's heart, and that one will behold the Kingdom of Heaven. The Night of Destiny represents the night on which something of this Kingdom is revealed. This is what is meant by the words of God, Great and Glorious is He:

'We surely revealed it on the Night of Power.' [al-Qadr, 97:1]

Anyone who puts a bag of food between his heart and his breast becomes blind to this revelation. Nor is keeping the stomach empty sufficient to remove the veil, unless one also empties the mind of everything but God, Great and Glorious is He. That is the entire matter, and the starting point of it all is cutting down on food.

6. LOOK TO GOD WITH FEAR AND HOPE

After the Fast has been broken, the heart should swing like a pendulum between fear and hope. For one does not know if one's Fast will be accepted, so that one will find favor with God, or whether it will be rejected, leaving one among those He abhors. This is how one should be at the end of any act of worship one performs.

It is related of al-Hasan ibn Abil Hasan al-Basri that he once passed by a group of people who were laughing merrily. He said: 'God, Great and Glorious is He, has made the month of Ramadan a racecourse, on which His creatures compete in His worship. Some have come in first and won, while others have lagged behind and lost. It is absolutely amazing to find anybody laughing and playing about on the day when success attends the victors, and failure the wasters. By God, if the veil were lifted off, the doer of good would surely be preoccupied with his good works and the evildoer with his evil deeds.' In too full of joy to indulge in idle sport, while for one who has suffered rejection laughter will be precluded by remorse.

Of al-Ahnaf ibn Qays it is reported that he was once told: 'You are an aged elder; Fasting would enfeeble you.' But he replied: 'By this I am making ready for a long journey, Obedience to God, Great and Glorious is He, is easier to endure than His punishment.'

Such are the inwardly significant meanings of Fasting.

By: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

Engr.Sulthan

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