Health
Open Office Spaces:ย Benefits Drawbacks
When I sawย ย Quill’sย ย infographic ย on open office spaces ,I was curious.I remembered my time in the cavernous library at Calcutta Medical College .It was study- hall cum library ,with open cubicles on either side ย ,as well as a long stretch of polished oak table with benches.
When I used to sit at the common table,I did 3 things:
- Check out who is coming in ,going out.
- Check whether interesting company was around.
- Check whether I was away from people who read aloud.
Anything but study.But the cubicles were different .Though open,if I sat with my back towards the entry I actually did study.Good thing the librarian didn’t allow too much talking.Group studying before semesters and entrance exams all happened there.So I have fond memories of cubicles in the library !Productivity for me needed a little privacy.This study on open offices reinforced my own experiences.
Offices are places that depend on collaboration. Employees share ideas, hurdles, setbacks, and solutions, helping to make their jobs and their brands better. So an open office should fit into that goal with no problemsโright?If only things were that simple.Life rarely gives a black and white answer.What appeared like an answer to prayers of equality and friendship was anything but.
Like everything there are pros and cons to open offices. The trend found traction in the 1970s, and itโs grown so popular that nearly three-fourths of American workers go to a job every day thatโs in an open office. And they do encourage collaboration and socialization, but they can also be a detriment to productivity. Discover for yourself whatโs good and bad about open offices.
What kind of office do you like working in?
Do you think a little privacy is needed?
What about sound pollution and mental health?
Comment below to let me know about your ideal office.I have heard great things about Google!
Benefits & drawbacks of open office spacesInfographic by Quill
Vocal Cord Paralysis:What you need to know
Vocal Cord Paralysis is a distressing problem. An early checkup can be lifesaving. Itย may also help your doctor find a more serious underlying health problem. Both vocal cords or only one may be paralyzed. The left is more commonly affected than the right.
What are the symptoms of Vocal Cord Palsy?
[bctt tweet=”Are you hoarse for more than two weeks? #Healthwealthbridge” username=”misra_amrita”]
The symptoms may be varied.ย But the most common presentation is hoarseness. Thereย may alsoย be
- Change in quality of voice
- Forced whisper
- Weak voice
- Difficulty breathing
- Noisy breathing
- โSevere persistent acid reflux
- Haemoptysis or a cough stained with blood
- Sore throat
- Earache may be present. An important nerve which supplies your voice box also has a branch supplying the ear. Interestingly if the branch in larynx or voice box is irritated the ear starts to pain.
Significant info: A referred earache may be a serious complaint.
Types of Paralysis
- Abductor
- Adductor
Abductor Palsy: Vocal cords are like the cords in your Casiomini
Your vocal cords need to move, in order for you to breathe or speak. When you eat, they need to close properly so that the food from the food pipe cannot enter inside. Abductor palsy is when the vocal cords cannot be opened properly. The main problems that can occur are stridor or noisy respiration and respiratory obstruction which may need a tracheostomy.
Adductor Palsy: Vocal cords have problem closing but no difficulty breathing. Reflux is a major problem in this case and can persist even after treatment.
Major causes of Vocal Cord palsy
- Malignant diseases: Bronchial carcinoma:50%
- Thyroid Carcinoma
- Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
- Glomus tumor
- Lymphoma Others
- Nonsurgical neck trauma causing a hematoma in the neck can create pressure o the nerve and paralysis.
- Post surgery involving Food pipe /esophagus, Lung, Heart, Thyroid and also post endotracheal intubation due to any cause.
- Idiopathic often attributed to Post viral neuritis: Influenza, Epstein Barr Virus, Cytomegalovirus
- Neurological: Multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson’s, Head injury
- Neuropathies associated with Diabetes, alcoholism, GB syndrome
- Inflammatory causes like Tuberculosis of lungs, Syphilitic aortitis Common previous days)
- Certain Drugs like cisplatin, vincristine
What your doctor will do and probably advice
- A detailed history
- Examination of the entire system with special stress on Neck, Thyroid, Chest
- Local examination of Voice box or larynx
- Clinical: Indirect laryngoscopy
- FIbreoptic Laryngoscopy
- Panendoscopy
- Radiology: CT scan from Base of the skull to diaphragm sometimes CT head too.
- Flow volume loop study
Is vocal cord paralysis curable?
If the cause is reversible (like drug neurotoxicity ) then vocal cord palsy may have excellent results after stopping the offending drug.
Treatment of Vocal Cord palsy?
It is multifaceted and may need life support if not treated on time.
Those due to drugs causing neurotoxicity, are often reversibleย after discontinuing the causative agent. Pyridoxine and pyridostigmine have helped in early recovery (within 1โ2 weeks) of vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy in a case series of patients. The cases of this drug causing peripheral neuropathy are more common in pediatric age group than adults.
- Treatment of cause.
- Treatment of symptom which may or may not include tracheostomy depending on the airway.
- Speech therapy.
- Patient counseling to cope with living with hoarseness and associated symptoms.
REFERENCE
1)Stell andย Maran’s Head and Neck Surgery
3)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045940/
4)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20532679/
Thankful Thursdays:Silent Gratitude what good is it?
The prompt this week is interesting .Itโs about silent gratitude.Its about when you don’t acknowledge your thankfulness.
Does it work?
Does just feeling thankful work?
If you feel thankful in your heart and say something else with your lips ,is it bad?
Why do you think Thank you is a golden word?
When at school we were taught the three little Golden words
Please ,thank you
and sorry
These 3 together can open all doors for you.
When you dont say thank you ,you deny the universe something.
When you dont say thank you,you stop your chances of getting more of the same.
Do you thank your help ?Do you thank your friends?Your spouse and children?
When you say thank you people feel appreciated.When someones having a bad day, an unepected thank you will help boost them up.
Appreciation is the best way of positive reinforcement.
If you want people to do what you want thank them for their work.
If you want to get along with people,the right way ,thank them .
My daughter listens to new chores easily ,when I thank her for her earlier good behaviour.
It’s the little angels birthday on the 23rd of February and she is turning five!Thats something I am very thankful for.Thank you God for always blessing me.
Thanks Mayuri for always coming up with brain teasers as prompts.
The super creative and energetic Shalini of Shalzmojo.in is our #ThankfulThursdays winner this week .Read her winning post here.
We love you Shalini.
Shalini ย also ย has a fun book review guest post offer on her blog.check out the goodies here
Our #ThankfulThursdays team has #Womanpowerย
Meet Tina ,Me(Amrita).Deepa,and Mayuri
We would love to have you flaunt our badge in your blog sidebar and posts.Grab the code below.
<div align="center"><a href="https://healthwealthbridge.com " rel="nofollow" title="Healthwealthbridge "><img src="https://healthwealthbridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_20170127_141730.jpg" alt="Healthwealthbridge " style="border: none;" /></a></div>
Generate your button code
RULES OF THE LINKY
Just comment on this post and my co-hosts post and any two of the posts in the link up.
I deeply believe in community spirit.Eagerly looking forward to visiting your blogs.
Follow @twinklingtina ,@Deepagandhi1 @Mayuri
Prompts will be announced every Wed 20:00 hrs IST.
Write the post and Link Up with Amritaย ,ย Tina,Deepa or Mayuri .
We would love to have you join our blog members.Just enter your email in the subscription box.
Read, comment, share on host and co-hosts posts and at least two more posts linked in the party .
Pro Tip โ Networking and commenting is good for your blogโs health and ranks.
Comment rules: 2 sentence at least 15 words and should be relevant to the main post.Otherwise google things you are spamming,That’s awful!After all your hard work needs recognition.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well
Use #ThankfulThursdays in your post and share in social media using the same hashtag.
Every week we will have one featured blogger who is the best reflection of this community spirit.
Baby First Baby Soap & Powder Review: What Mommy wants
I studied very hard for most of my life to become a doctor .
Then one day I become a Mommy .I realized life will never be the same again .
I always choose skin care products carefully ,as I have sensitive skin. But for my baby I am obsessive.I do intensive googling and brainstorming with my husband ,to choose only the best product for my baby.
3 Things I always do before using any new products:
- Read reviews online and product label/Product description.
- If I don’t know about any component,I check several scientific research articles about the ingredients.
- Use it on my skin after skin testing.
- If these steps don’t raise any worries the product is used on baby after skin testing
I was asked to try the BABY FIRST soap and powder .Both the products went through all these steps ,before I was satisfied enough to write a review
(Disclaimer :this is a sponsored post ,written after using the products under review. All opinions are mine .Use products on baby after proper skin testing and consultation with your doctor.)
BABY FIRST BABY POWDER
Ingredient:
It is FDA approved product and has Aloe vera extract, corn starch and talc.Aloe vera extract has 75 potentially active constituents like vitamins, enzymes, minerals, sugars, lignin, saponins, salicylic acids and amino acids.(Ref) .Aloe vera helps in moisturizing the skin and acts as an antiseptic agent.Aloe vera has 6 antiseptic agents. They all inhibit action of fungi, bacteria and viruses.Recently, the novel anti-inflammatory compound called C-glucosyl chromone was isolated from Aloe vera gel extracts.(Ref)
Mucopolysaccharides in aloe extract , bind moisture to the skin. Aloe also stimulates fibroblast production,which in turn produces collagen and elastin fibers.This makes skin elastic and reduces redness.
The corn starch and talc protect against frictional injury due to clothes and diaper..It’s very fine and soft to touch.Easily absorbed and leaves behind a delicate baby fragrance .Itโs perfect for hot humid climate where the baby needs to be kept comfortable and avoid getting itchy.
The package:
I loved the grip of the baby powder plastic bottles .The 3 finger grip on either side ,makes it very easy to hold . It prevents slipping even if you are in a hurry.The mandatory cute baby pic makes this product easily recognizable.
The powder is available in a convenient 100gm pack.
BABY FIRST BABY SOAP
The baby soap is totally animal fat free made up purely of vegetable fat. It also contains vitamin E making it perfect for the tender skin of your little angel .It cleans gently while bathing ,with a soft foam without drying .
Best parts it is FDA approved and does not contain any unnecessary ingredients. The baby soap packaging I felt could be better .
Overall a great experience using both the products .Definitely recommended .
The soap is available in 100gm,50gm and 25 gm packs.
Have you used Baby first Baby powder and soap?
If you havenโt used it ,what did you like best about the products?Let me know in the comments below.
5 Step plan to a healthy skin
Do you haveย perfect skin ?
Did you know a beautiful skin is the best makeup?
During season change specially winters you haveย problems with sensitive skin.Breakouts and blemishes make the issue bad .You ย end up using nothing .Moisturizer and calamine lotions can help during those times .Luckily it always gets better ย when you treat yourย skin right .
Your body looks exactly how you treat it .
You need to love it enough, to eat right and do the right thing.
1)Your diet
The single most important thing that rules how you look and feel is what you put inside your mouth.
This the gateway for good or evil.
Quick tipsย
- Low salt
- Low sugar
- No fries
Simple right ?
Not really .
These food are responsible for the free radicals damagingย your skin .Causing dull appearance ,patchy skin, blemishes,rash and speeds up ageing.
What do you do then ?
Living it up once in a while is great .
But having highly salted ,sweetened and fried food ,as part of your food group is a red signal .It affects not only your skin but your overall health.
Have food rich in antioxidants.
- Fruits andย vegetable are natural micronutrients
- Berries specially are very good for yourย health
- Omega 3 fatty acid rich food like almonds walnuts, small fishes
Dietary factors which influence skin hair and nail are:
Vitamins C ,E,A,B.
Other nutricosmetics include:
Iron, copper, phosphorus, L-methionine, manganese, borage seed oil and essential unsaturated fatty acids like eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) acids.
(Take care about excessive intake of fat soluble vitamins like A,D,E,K.They ย can have adverse effects.)
Nutricosmetics are a group of dietary additives which help in improving skin hair and nail.
Dietary supplements in addition to vitamins and minerals used for better skin healthย ย can be called nutrisupplements
- Amino acids (L-arginine)
- Enzymesย (Lactase, Papain)
- Prebiotics ย (Inulin)
- Probioticsย (Lactobacillus acidophilus,Bifidobacterium species,Yeast)
- Essential unsaturated fatty acids( ฮณ- Linolenic acid(DHA, EPA,) Fish oil)
For healthier hair and nail additionally you need:
zinc, silicon and calcium .
Want to know the source of these nutricosmeticsย in your diet?
Subscribe here
Antioxidants in diet which prevent damage by free radicals are :
Vitamins E ,C , carotenoids, flavonoids, lycopene and coenzyme.
To make your skin firmer and cut cellulite isoflavones are often recommended.
They are phytoestrogens and mimic the female sex hormone.
A properly balanced diet is best for a good skin.
But the problem today is 2 fold.
1)No ย time for a properly balance diet.
2)The food you eat lacks the nutrients which it’s supposed to have.
This loss ย of nutritional quality is the reason we need Nutricosmetics or certain supplements for better skin health .
Don’t forget water.
Drink at least 4 litres of water every day.
If not possible when you are out .Drink when at home.
Cut down on excessive ย coffee smoking and alcohol ย They don’t help in hydration at all.
All of these can cause damage to your skin and make it puffy
Green tea however is recommendedย in moderation,as it’s a source of iso flavones.But again we need more research on this.
2)Sleep
This cannot be stressed enough.
I have written about 30 ways you can sleep better just because this is something which takes little effort but is the best way to be healthier.
Sleeping gives your body the much needed time to repair and rejuvenate itself.
3)Stress not a friend
Stressing makes you release cortisol which increases your chance to have pimples .
Do you really want it?
Read the 32 ways to beat stress.
Don’t forget to practice mindfulness and thankfulness to fight your stress.
ย
4)Are you exercising?
Skin is the largest organ.Yes skin is an organ which needs a good maintenance.
The muscle underneath the skin helps keep it firm.
Exercise helps improve blood circulation to the skin and oxygen supply .It also helps by taking away the waste produced by your skin cells .
The best part about exercise is it improves your overall health and cuts down stress about it .It’s a win -win situation.
This research suggests that endurance exercise reduces age-associated changes to skin in humans and mice. It identifiesย exercise-induced IL-15ย ย in mitochondrial function in aging skin.
Facial exercise or face yoga gets a lot of attention .But the best exercise for your face is the smile.
And for your neck the teeth baring grrr expression
5)Are you cleaning right ?
Skin-care industry claims Americans ย spend more than ย $43 billion per year (4)
Try natural ways of cleaning face.
What your cleaner shouldn’t have?
Less is more for your skin less changes to your skin care products
- Less make up.
- Less harsh cleaning.
Makeup, shampoo, skin lotion, nail polish,other personal care products lack safety data in the ingredients used.
Regular soaps have high pH (8 to 10) andย irritates skin.
Soap free cleansers with pH around 5.5 is good for skin.That’s the normal pH of your
skin.
Washing your skin too much ,can dry out the skin and irritate it even more
Oil in water emulsions hydrogel (1)as moisturizer can help in cases skin is acne prone and needs moisturizer.
3 Steps to your daily skin care routine
- Clean ,tone ,moisturize
- Use a Night cream .
- Don’t ever forget sunscreen.
The real Question ,what is the best way to prevent wrinkles?
Moisturizer (4 )seem to be present in various avatars in most of the anti-ageing products .
They can at best reduce 15 to 20 % of ย the wrinkles .
But preventing wrinkles from happening is another story
Daily use of retinoids seem to have a promising role in this
They can penetrative skin and works on the collagen and elastin in extracellular matrix.
Do you need to moisturize your skin if you have oily skin?
Yes absolutely.Moisturizing is good for everyone.But you need to look for a hydrogel formulation which is noncomedogenic.That means it wont clog pores.
What happens when you don’t moisturize your face?
- ‘Skin gets itchy and irritable
- Skin looks dull
- Your skin gets less protection from pollution
- Your fine lines will look more etched
- Your makeup will not look as good.Foundations and concealors crack and get more concentrated in dry areas.Remember to moisturize your face and lips before applying makeup.
Conclusion
Healthy skin is a beautiful skin. Just like your overall health your skin responds to a balanced diet rich in antioxidants .
You also need water ,sleep,exercise to boost up team work done by your diet.
Since the food quality nowadays may lack the goodness ,you may rely on ย supplements.
Just be careful when you buy one.
What to do before buying a supplement?
Take care to buy supplements from reliable sources .Don’t believe in Unicorn hair stories and youth elixir.
- Read the labels
- Check with your doctor
Finally Don’t forget
- Cleansing toning moisturizing
- Use a sunscreen
- Vaseline can help if it’s a cold dry region where you live
- Retinoids in a good night cream in formulation ย which suits you can help.
Experts suggest that facials.dont help much except those who get paid for it.
Don’t get seduced by tall claims and glamorous actresses promoting creams
That should be easy right ?
Tell me how you take care of your skin in the ย comments below.
Disclaimer :All information provided is for educational purposes. Any product which you use should be done after proper evaluation of your skin problem.
Linking up with #mg
ย
Featured post
How is the Health of the Nation: The report is an eye-opener!
Reference
1)Skin care for Acne prone skin pubmed
2)Advances in Dermatology and Allergology
Barbara Szyszkowska, Celina ลepecka-Klusek, […], and Dorota Krasowska
3)Diet in dermatology ;K H Basavaraj, C Seemanthini, and R Rashmi Pubmed
4)PubMed
5)Smile and facial exercise Gibson RM pubmed