The Anger Trap

Anger is a contrivance to damage yourself by yourself. Everything eventually becomes stressful and uncomfortable. You feel no delight in anything even if you want to. From all of the people around you, you feel a kind of irritation, even from your favourite people. This is the biggest harm your anger can ever give you. Being at a distance from your love ones, what else can be the saddest thing in your life? It makes you more depressed and more stressed which surely affects your both mental and physical health.

Whenever you get angry your stress hormones speed up your heart beat rate and breathing. In one report, researchers found that healthy people who are often angry or hostile are 19% more likely than calmer people to get heart disease. Among people with heart disease, those who usually feel angry or hostile fared worse than others. The brain shunts blood away from the gut and towards the muscles, in preparation for physical exertion. Heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increase, the body temperature rises and the skin perspires. The mind is sharpened and focused.

Apart from the physical illness, mental illness also becomes stimulated substantially. Those who can’t control their anger, make themselves isolated from their friends and family. Mostly people with low self-esteem get frustrated easily. They feel so helpless and hopeless that they use anger explosion as a tool to show themselves powerful and dominated or might be they do not get enough attention and devotion as they expect from their close ones.

For all the aggressive people like me, there is a very easy solution. Always try to engage yourself in any kind of activity in which you feel pleased, relaxed and contented. If you become angry, first try to calm yourself. Before showing your emotions, talk to yourself first. Always make time for yourself, make sure that you setup 15-20 minutes in every 24 hours for yourself in which you discuss all of your issues and wretched matters with yourself. Keep a diary, make notes, put all of the aggression in them, and write down your feelings as brutally as you can. Write as much as you can. Write until you cool down.

I myself have experienced this aggressive state of mind. I was an antagonistic type of child by birth. I used to become heated very swiftly even on minor things. I used to hurt myself by not eating food for days and hurting my arms from blades or knives. But then I realized that all who got damage from this anger was only ME. My anger wasn’t causing any harm to anyone but ME. It wasn’t affecting anyone a bit. This was the time when an enormous change approached my life. I did everything I have mentioned above to keep my temper normal and GUESS WHAT? I succeeded in achieving what I wanted. I started loving myself and that became my strength in keeping control on my bad humor and displeasure attitudes. I still become heated but it is far lesser than before. All I did was giving myself time and loving myself more than anyone.

In the end, I want to tell a very easiest way to keep yourself out of the anxiety, WASH UTENSILS. You might find it funny but believe you me it helps a lot to release all the traumatic and nerve-wracking feelings and emotions. 

Living with Chronic Headache

I have had migraines for most of my life; the first attack I remember occurred when I was 10 years old. I was sitting in an examination hall I had my final paper of social studies for class 6^th. I was attempting my paper when I suddenly felt severe pain over my left eye. An intense light appeared to my left. Everything started vanishing. The brightness was turning into blindness an emptiness in my field of vision. I was unable to see anything on my left. There were only shadows no clear images. I was terrified at what was happening, I put my head down on my desk and closed my eyes this made me feel a bit better but then I heard the voice of invigilator who was saying that only 1 hour is left. I opened my eyes tried my best to complete my paper but all my efforts went in vain. After closing my eyes for 15 more minutes I felt better and then I completed my paper. That was the most painful moments of my life. Then I came home and I told my mother about everything that happened to me then she took me to the doctor and migraine was diagnosed.

After a month I got migraine attack again. I woke up early in the morning when a bright light of energy savor hit my eyes and resulted in migraine attack. My migraine occur when I wake up 99% of the time. I know that my migraines are triggered by too much sleep, not enough sleep or stress. Extreme emotions seems to trigger my migraine. Over the years I have learned not to get too overly emotional either way. It has helped me to control my migraine attacks.

Migraines have been a monster for me all my life. It has affected my childhood, my education and my personal life. I currently take medicine for migraine. They do help in getting rid of an attack. But there doesn’t seem any pill that will remove the migraines permanently. The most important thing I have done to deal with migraines emotionally is to accept that I have them and will for the rest of my life.

People complain about the pain but they do not discuss how they are living with problems that migraines had created in their everyday life. They do not discuss that how messed up their life is because of migraine. Some potential triggers for a migraine are:

Allergies

Stress

Smoking

Alcohol

Bright lights

Loud noise

Strong smells

Skipping meals

Dehydration

Irregular sleep

Poor posture

Low blood sugar

Hormonal fluctuations

There are several ways in which one can control migraine attack: by not taking too much stress by remaining calm in life. The person with migraine should sleep early and get up early in the morning because too much and not enough sleep both lead towards migraine attack. By having a proper healthy diet one can fight with migraine. There are several pills that help in getting rid of migraine attack such as aspirin, ibuprofen these medicines will give temporary relief from pain. If someone is dealing with throbbing and severe headache then he should take rest in the dark quiet room, or one can take a little amount of caffeine do get rid of the pain. By using Apple Cider Vinegar with honey also helps in pain reduction one can also use ginger tea twice a day to get rid of pain. One of the simplest treatment for migraine is eating a lot of apples. Apple helps in relieving pain.

So people who are suffering with this monster should not lose hope be positive in life. Pain will always be there and that’s probably not going to change so live a happy life. Choose good life over pain.

The Mother of all diseases

Yes you have guessed it right; I surely am talking about diabetes. The question is why I called diabetes as the mother of all diseases? That’s because diabetes alone lead towards a number of life threatening diseases (if diabetes is not enough for that case) like heart disease, nerve damage, atherosclerosis, vision problems and blindness, kidney damage, skin and mouth infections, foot infections which can lead to amputations, osteoporosis, hearing problems etc. but I won’t go in detail of all these complications because the purpose of writing this blog is to address ‘Diabetes’.

For people who have little knowledge of what diabetes is, here’s a brief explanation; it is a metabolic disorder which is due to under functioning of pancreas gland that leads to insulin deficiency in the body. There are two types of diabetes; Juvenile onset diabetes commonly known as Type 1 which is a genetic autoimmune disorder and Type 2 diabetes in which the body is no longer able to properly use the insulin being produced.

It is very important to note that Type 1 Diabetes is NEVER caused by unhealthy lifestyle or simply by eating too many sweets. Never. Because it is a genetic disorder and to blame the patient is totally wrong. I have seen parents cursing their children because their children have been diagnosed with diabetes and according to the parents that’s only because their children ate too many sweets ridiculous Right? But believe it or not this’s true and that’s probably because they don’t have enough knowledge about this life threatening disease. Whereas Type 2 diabetes is increasingly brought on by poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. Several factors contribute to type 2 diabetes. Being overweight or obese is the biggest risk factor. Essentially, overloading the body with carbohydrates over time causes the system to "break down" such that insulin can no longer be absorbed.

Now the question is how do you know that you are suffering from diabetes? I’ll share some of the common symptoms with you which are:

• Frequent urination.
• Excessive thirst.
• Increased hunger.
• Weight loss.
• Tiredness.
• Lack of interest and concentration.
• A tingling sensation or numbness in the hands or feet.
• Blurred vision.
• Cuts and bruises that take a lot of time to heal.

But keep in mind that these symptoms do not necessarily mean that you are diabetic believe me I have personal experience here that’s because I am sceptic. You all read that story ‘A man who was a hospital’ right? In my case the story is like ‘A woman who is a hospital’. About 6 months ago I read the symptoms of diabetes on Google and to my surprise I found out that I have been suffering from excessive urination (At that time it seemed like so), Excessive thirst, Increased hunger, blurred vision, Tiredness and numbness of hands and feet. I really got worried the same way I did in the past when I thought I had been suffering from some heart disease; so my parents took me to the hospital and doctors ran some tests on me to find out nothing for that matter. The doctors said excessive urination is because of the high intake of beverages and nothing else. So my point of sharing all this with you guys is that if you think that you are suffering from any of the above mentioned symptoms then don’t panic but do consult your doctor before it’s too late.

Talking about the treatment; in type 1 juvenile onset diabetes you can’t do anything else but to take insulin shots several times daily in order to sustain life. I have a friend who has Type 1 diabetes and she has to take several insulin injections daily. It may seem difficult but believe me when it becomes a matter of life and death nothing seems difficult. You have to accept reality and move on.

On the other hand Type 2 diabetes if treated carefully it can be managed or even reversed. If you start eating healthier, get more exercise, and lose weight, you can reduce your symptoms. Research shows that these lifestyle changes, especially physical activity, can even reverse the course of the condition and may be the commitment to exercise and dietary changes is all you need.

So hurry up if you find any abnormal symptom. Do not run away from the reality accepting it will make your life easier. Embrace Health. I hope this blog is helpful for you.

Get rid of the monster: Depression

God has created us so beautifully, gave us life, sent us to the world and then blessed us with uncountable things, but our journey in this world is not reason-less. Every person has some aims and desires but they can’t be fulfilled so easily because life is not easy at all and not exactly the same we imagine it to be. It has many ups and downs and usually the incidents and changings in our life are so unexpected that our minds can never believe how it has happened. Sometimes the life puts us into such types of situations that we become hopeless, sad, restless, lonely, empty and lifeless. Actually we become depressed and that depression which is actually a monster will ruin our lives.

Depression can be described as inability to enjoy life and experience pleasure. It is basically related to your mood. You always feel sad and angry, every little thing hurts you so deeply, you start thinking negatively and you hate people. You feel that all the time you are surrounded by devils and you can’t get relief from them. When people are depress they us live alone, can’t be frank with anyone and become hopeless.

People go into deep depression because of many reasons which can be loneliness, being ignored by someone, when they lose their loved ones, stressful life experiences, relationship problems, unemployment, when someone break their trust, health problems, by knowing painful family history, being rejected by someone, financial problems, people who are somehow abused, when you miss someone and many more other reasons.

People also get depressed because of fear of low grades in exams. Most of the students who studies well but aren’t able to perform good in exams or if their result is unexpected they become discouraged because of their failure and if their parents scold them and their friends make fun of them they start thinking that they are good for noting and becomes the victim of depression. You might have noticed that usually in the season of winters people also become depressed. A child who has lost his parents can become deeply depressed because he will feel bad whenever he will see other children being loved by their parents, he will feel rejection and thinks that he has many desires which will not be fulfilled without his parents so these type of children will constantly be grabbed by the monster of depression.  

People who suffer depression get tired of their life. They don’t like to laugh and enjoy life. They cry without any reason and lose their appetite. They start hating people and fights with them on little misunderstandings. Basically they get fed up of life and always think negatively about others. Life actually becomes a burden for them.

Here I am going to share my personal experience. I once lived alone in my house for about one year without my family because of my studies. In this whole time  period I became a victim of depression because I was all alone in my room and there was no one who can talk to me, make me laugh, cook food for me and makes me feel alive. All the time I just had to do my studies and then “nothing” which made me feel so lonely and lazy, then I started getting irritated from my surroundings including people. I became rude, I started hating my friends, and I used to fight with them on silly and stupid issues and always thought negatively in a way that my friends had done this or said that only to hurt me ignoring all the things they had done for me. I became insomniac and used to cry whole night. I started thinking that all people are selfish and if I live in this situation any more I will die soon. I started losing aims of my life and became hopeless and discouraged.

But where there is a problem there is solution too. Life is beautiful, it is not all about worries and difficulties. The support of Allah Almighty is always with us. If there are problems in our life God gives us numerous more opportunities to lead towards a happy, satisfied and balanced life. So we should never lose hope and always try to find out the better ways to live a happy life.

Gradually I started noticing that all the people around me are happy and fine. They laugh, eat, sleep well and enjoy life, so there is something definitely wrong only with me because all these people aren’t different from me, they have all those facilitates which I also have and they obviously should have problems in their life because Life is not a bed of roses for anyone. This feeling gave me little courage to get rid of that hell depression.

So I will discuss some changings that I made in my life that helped be got rid of depression. I started reciting Quran and praying five times a day which filled my heart with peace and satisfaction. Moreover Now whenever I get messed up with friends or get hurt, I try to remind myself of their good deeds as how they always helped me in my hard times, how they consoled me whenever I was depressed, how they tried to bring positivity in me by giving me hope, how they tried to make me laugh whenever I was crying, so this let me fight against the negative thoughts. I also started listening lectures of Ulmah karaam which taught me the lesson of living peacefully and doing good deeds. Also now I keep myself always busy and do not let the negative thoughts reside inside me once again.  Then finally a time came when I met with my family once again and started feeling alive and blessed. But all I learned from this experience is that existence of your loved ones in your life is very important because they are actually the people who want you to live happy and become successful. Secondly compromises in life matters a lot because people in this world are selfish and mean they won’t understand your problems they will be nice to you as long as you are nice to them so try to do compromises with them.

You can also get rid of depression by involving yourself in different activities always try to become a part of any community work or participate in different school or college competitions, try to read good books, do part time job to keep yourself away from negative thoughts and help others. Moreover sleep well, eat healthy food and have fun with friends because all these things will keep you away from stress and worries.

Above all do remember that Allah is always with you. He is the one who will never leave you alone in your problems because you are one of His beautiful creation and He loves you more than seventy mothers. So, those who have lost their loved ones should never be depressed because Allah is always with them and you just have to strongly believe in Him, prostrate in front of Him, offer prayers and then leave everything upon Allah Almighty then you will see how your life changes significantly. Moreover try to spend your time with nature believe me you will forget all your worries and will surely feel fresh and alive because you will find the greatness of Allah everywhere and you will be thankful to Allah for granting you with such beautiful things.

So this is all about how you can get rid of the monster (The depression). All you have to do is to find the ways of happiness, satisfaction and peace because God has sent us to the world with an aim, try to find out who you are? What is your purpose of life? Try to embrace health, try to free your mind from all the worries of life you will feel great.

Story of a shrinking girl

Every drastic step you take in life seems normal to the people around you. It’s always hard, it’s always heart wrenching and it’s always painful. Life is not easy as we all know but it’s us who make the decision that things are going to work out well or not. Yes there will be a lot of ups and downs and believe me this journey is the most difficult one because it includes both mental and physical hardships. Well mostly for me it is the mental hardships which are most hard to handle. “There are moments when you hate to stand at a red light and then there are moments when you never want the red light to turn green”. My story revolved around these lines, the ups and downs I faced in my life related to my health.

I was an obese child and the youngest and the cutest one, so wherever I went people used to give me chocolates and fries and whatever they had and I ate whatever I wanted and started gaining weight and all this continued, I always looked bigger and elder than my friends and class fellows. It was a very bad feeling I must say. 

Being a short girl (5’2) and weighing my highest 97 kg means 213.8 pounds was a pretty bad feeling. Low self-esteem, no confidence at all, my color was dark and I had several other issues including skin conditions and I am also suffering from pituitary tumour so my journey was not as easy as it seems. Depression, stress and anxiety destroyed my happiness. Because of all the problems I became very aggressive and moody. I had very few friends and then in 2013 I took admission in a university, well that was a turning point for me. How? Well I got the best group of friends I could have ever I asked for. All of them changed me as a person, they made me happy. I started to live again as a normal person outside the medical conditions and the depression and the stress. Then I took a stand for myself and by the great motivation from my sister I started exercising. I changed my lifestyle, I changed my eating habits.

Changing your diet means nothing if you are not working out. So I started just by walking, cycling and doing squats. I started drinking detox water rather than plain water, I left junk food, sugars and wheat, as a Pakistani wheat is the most important thing to eat but it didn’t suit me so I left it. I started my journey in august 2014,  it was very hard for me, I wept every other day but I didn’t give up, I continued, struggled because I wanted to look good for myself, I wanted my confidence back, I wanted my happiness back so I worked for it and by the end of July 2015 I lost total 25 kg (55 pounds) and weighed 72 kg (158.7) but the journey didn’t end here because I hit a plateau. I worked hard I did everything I could but the scale was not going down, so, I lost all my motivation and as a result I gained 3 kg back that was THE MOST difficult time for me because when you work hard,  you strive for something and then you don’t get it. It breaks your heart into tiny little pieces.

I didn’t say I give up. I never did and I never will because I know if I’ll lose hope, I’ll lose everything and I didn’t do all that hard work to give up. Always remember losing weight is never easy but believe me everything you do for yourself is always worth it. Take time out from your busy routine, take a deep breath and start right now, start living for yourself because no matter what you do for anybody else at some point of life they will tell you that you didn’t do enough but if you will do a minor thing for yourself it will give you immense happiness. There is a quote “when you’re about to quit, just remember why you started”. So remember WHY YOU STARTED!

The only reason behind writing this blog is that I only want people to get motivated and embrace health like I did. I started a bit late but it’s never too late to embrace health.

Stay happy, always smile, ignore the negative and jealous people because believe me there are thousands of them and lastly help others that’s what life is all about and yes keep yourself motivated and be strong not just physically but mentally too!