About 90 minutes before you want to nod off, head for the kitchen and make yourself a sleepy-time snack. Keep it light (around 200 calories), so you don’t overload your digestive system. And include one or two foods from the list below. All help to relax tense muscles, quiet buzzing minds, and/or get calming, sleep-inducing hormones — serotonin and melatonin — flowing.

1. Bananas — They’re practically a sleeping pill in a peel. In addition to a bit of soothing melatonin and serotonin, bananas contain magnesium, a muscle relaxant.

2. Chamomile tea — Chamomile is a staple of bedtime tea blends because of its mild sedating effect, which makes it the perfect natural antidote for restless minds and bodies.

3. Warm milk – It’s not a myth. Milk has some tryptophan, an amino acid that has a sedative-like effect, and calcium, which helps the brain use tryptophan. Plus, there’s the psychological throwback to infancy, when a warm bottle meant “relax, everything’s fine.”

4. Honey — Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that’s linked to alertness.

5. Potatoes — A small baked spud won’t overwhelm your gastrointestinal tract as it clears away acids that can interfere with yawn-inducing tryptophan. To up the soothing effect, mash the potato with warm milk.

6. Turkey — It’s the best-known source of tryptophan, credited with all those Thanksgiving naps. But that’s actually modern folklore. Tryptophan works when your stomach’s basically empty rather than overstuffed and when there are some carbs around rather than tons of protein. But put a lean slice or two on some whole-wheat bread midevening and you’ve got one of the best sleep-inducers in your kitchen.

7.  Oatmeal — Oats are a rich source of sleep-inviting melatonin, and a small bowl of warm cereal with a splash of maple syrup is cozy — and if you’ve got the munchies, it’s filling, too.

8. Almonds — A handful of these heart-healthy nuts can send you snoozing because they contain both tryptophan and a nice dose of muscle-relaxing magnesium.

9. Whole-wheat bread — A slice of toast with your tea and honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin and quietly murmurs “time to sleep.”

10. Flax seeds – When life goes awry, and feeling down is keeping you up, try sprinkling 2 tablespoons of these healthy little seeds on your bedtime oatmeal. They’re rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a natural mood lifter.

In the process of losing weight, face is the first place where you see the difference. Face is the mirror of a person’s health. It is the first thing noticeable and can be rightly referred as your visiting card, providing initial and basic information about you. Given below are some exercises to help you lose weight from the face.

Exercises to Lose Weight in Face

• For the areas around your eyes, close your eyes gently, look down and then look up, as far as possible. Repeat ten times.
• Close your eyes and lift your eyebrows, stretching your eyelids down as far as possible. Holds this position for five seconds, then relax and repeat five times.
• With open eyes, look up and then down, keeping your head still. Repeat this ten times. Also look left and right in the same position. Repeat this ten times.
• Frown as much as possible and try to bring your eyebrows over your eyes while pulling the eyebrows toward one another. Then lift your eyebrows as far as possible while opening your eyes as far as possible as well. Repeat this five times.
• Lie on a flat bed, hanging your head over the edge. Raise your eyebrows as high as possible, opening your eyes wide. Relax and repeat ten times.
• Sit upright, frown your eyebrows down over your eyelids, while wrinkling your nose as far up as possible. Hold this position for ten seconds. Relax and repeat five times.
• Stick out the tip of your tongue and pull in your cheeks. Hold this position for some seconds and relax. Raise your lower lip over your upper lip, trying to touch your nose.
• Smile as wide as you can and at the same time try to touch the tip of your tongue to your nose.

For employed people, stress means work overload, deadlines and pressures. For school going kids, it means having to cover too much syllabus, in too less time. Like this, each and every person has a different meaning, as far as stress is concerned, but nobody knows what it exactly is. Stress is nothing but, the mental and emotional strain a person undergoes because of some pressures present in the outside world. The usual responses or reactions to it are tension, anxiety, irritability, bad temper, lack of concentration, headache, insomnia, etc.

What is Stress Management?

Stress is an inherent part of the life of every individual, right from school going kids to retiring servicemen. It is impossible to live throughout your life without being introduced to stress, unless and until you have decided to renounce the world and become an ascetic. However, what we have to learn is coping with stress, through various stress reduction techniques, in other words stress management techniques. These techniques basically teach you how to be happy and enjoy life, even amidst tensions, and help you in relieving stress.

Some Stress Management Techniques:

The first and the foremost thing to do for relieving stress, is to know that you are under stress. Signs like muscle tension, sweaty palms, high blood pressure, constant headaches, insomnia, fidgeting, rapid breathing and forgetting things, all indicate that you are undergoing stress. The next step is to accept the fact and make some small changes in your life that will help you in coping with it. The stress management techniques provided below will help you in dealing with the problem, before it gets out of control.

Learn to Say No

You meet so many people in a day that demand your attention. You have to recognize the important from the unimportant ones and learn to say NO. It is not necessary to go at every party and accept every dinner invitation. Take out some time for yourself. Sit at home or go to any place that will help you relax.

Eat Properly

Remember the adage ‘Healthy Mind resides in a Healthy Body’. A good diet will help you in dealing with stress, in a much better way. However, don’t binge on high calorie food. Have more vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc in your diet. Don’t skip your breakfast. It keeps you energized throughout the day.

Take a Break

Your office or your home will not stop functioning if you take off a single day for yourself. You need to get away from all the things that give you stress and spend time on the things that give you happiness. For example – if you are a book lover, take an off from office, go to your nearest bookstore, buy a novel of your favorite author and spend the entire day lazing around the house, reading the book.

Exercise

One of the best ways to beat stress is to exercise. Not only does it reward you with a healthy and fit body, it also helps you let off the steam. Next time, if you are getting too much irritated over something or somebody, go for a jog. Even a 15 min run will help you feel much better.

Set a Worry Time

Keep a worry time for yourself. Set a day of the week and a particular time of that day (say 8 to 9 pm) when you will worry and till that day and time comes, don’t think about the problems that have been hogging you.

Differentiate Between Office and Home

Successful people and happy people are those who know how to differentiate between professional life and personal life. The problems of one should not affect the other. When you go to home from office, leave your worries behind. After you get back to home, spend time with family, watch TV, listen to music or do anything you like, but don’t think about office.

Other Techniques

Going for a body massage, indulging in your favorite hobby, talking about your problems to someone close to you, meditation, etc are some of the other ways through which you can beat the stress and stay healthy as well as happy.

These basic techniques of stress management are hopefully work on reducing stress.

Insomnia refers to sleeping disorder, which is characterized by irregularity in sleeping pattern of a person. People suffering from insomnia have difficulty in getting quality sleep and at times, they do not sleep in the night at all. There can be various reasons for its occurrence, such as fear, overworking, anxiety, suppression of anger, volatility, bitterness and resentment. However, the medical condition can be treated with the help of homemade remedy. There are many herbs, fruits and vegetables which can help in having a quality sleep. Given below are some home remedies for treating insomnia.
Natural Remedies for Insomnia.

• Lettuce is also helpful in insomnia, as it contains a substance called “lectucarium” that stimulates good sleep. Its juice also has a calming effect. Boil 1 tbsp lettuce seeds in ½ liter water. Wait until it reduced into 1/3 level and drink.
• Thiamine is a significant substance for maintaining strong and healthy nervous system, which assists in inducing sleep. Whole grain cereals and nuts are vital sources of thiamine.
• Drinking a glass of milk, mixed with honey, before going to bed every night can also prove helpful, as milk is an effective tonic and tranquilizer. Moreover, massaging foot soles with milk helps in reducing sleeping disorders.
• For a good quality sleep, you can also massage your head with curd.
• Rauwolfia is a sedative that has an efficient drowsiness effect for insomniac patients. Mix 0.25 – 0.50 gm of powdered rauwolfia root with cardamom to get a good night’s sleep. For chronic insomnia, take 0.25 gm of the powder in the morning as well as in the evening.
• Mix equal parts of bottle gourd juice and sesame oil. Massage the scalp with this mixture every night. Also, eating cooked bottle gourd leaves is an effective remedy for insomniac patients.
• Boil a teaspoon of aniseed in 375 ml water. Cover the container with a lid, allowing it to simmer for 15 min. Strain and drink while it is still warm. You can add honey or milk for taste. Take it after each meal or before bedtime.
• Honey also works well for insomniac patients. Take 2 tsp honey with a glass of water, before going to sleep.

While having naturally dark colored lips from birth is absolutely fine, researches state that there are a number of reasons behind why the lips of a lot of fair and medium complexioned people turn black or start turning dark black after a certain point of time.

Here Are a Few Major Reasons Why Lips Turn Black:

• Smoking (This is the most important and the commonest reason)
• Exposure to sun
• Heavy application of lipstick
• Excess drinking of tea or coffee
• Using lipstick and other lip products of cheap brands
• Allergy
• Dryness

Home Remedies / Treatments for Dark Black Lips:

Pink is the original color of the lips most of us were born with. However with the passage of time and lack of proper care, they often tend to lose their natural tone and slowly turn dark. Since pink lips are a major indicator of good health, people adhere to a number of remedies or treatments to get rid of dark lips. Here are some you too can follow:

• You can use your toothbrush simply to exfoliate the dead skin cells off your lips. But remember to use them gently to avoid hurting your delicate lips. Apply a thin coat of a good lip balm after this. Incase your lips are chapped too, then stick to the same remedy, but with the toothbrush coated with Vaseline this time.

• Try using concealer on your dark lips before wearing your favorite lipstick. For better outcome, use a lip liner to outline your lips and then fill them up with lipstick or lip gloss. Always go for best brands as far as cosmetics are concerned.

• Incase you have noticed that your lips have started to turn dark after you have begun using a lip balm or lipstick from a mediocre brand, discontinue use immediately. Consult a dermatologist for repairing the damage undergone.

• Massage your lips gently with a good lip balm every night. Also make sure that you drink at least eight glasses of water every day. During daytime, use lip balm with at SPF 15 or higher to protect them against glaring sun rays. Follow this routine religiously every day.

Maintain a healthy diet and have lots of fruits and green vegetables. At the same time, avoid consuming caffeine and smoking totally if you don’t want your lips to turn dark.

To recharge the brain, one can:

1. Take a nap
2. Go for a brisk walk
3. Lie in a nearby park or on a bench and watch the clouds go by
4. Listen to music or even podcast novels
5. Browse a local bookstore
6. Stroll through a nearby art gallery
7. Get a coffee in a cafe and read the paper or, even better, a gossip magazine
8. Hit the gym
9. Meditate or do yoga
10. Hang out at the local dog run and get in touch with your animal nature
11. Memorize poetry
12. Sit on the corner and sketch buildings
13. Window shop
14. Get a massage
15. Do math problems or crosswords

The main thing is to get away from the current situation or place, to do something that uses a completely different part of the brain than the creative work does, and get ones mind off of what one was doing and stimulated with fresh ideas, images and inspirations. One will come back recharged, refreshed, and ready to plunge full speed ahead.

Lemon juice is used as a flavoring ingredient in a large number of dishes, belonging to various cuisines. Apart from that, it is the primary ingredient in lemonade, an extremely refreshing as well as beneficial drink. Most of the people stop after mentioning these two basic uses of lemon juice. However, lemon juice is credited with having a large number of uses and benefits. It is good for the skin, has deodorizing properties, acts as a disinfectant, helps clean stains, and so on. To get an exhaustive list of the everyday uses of lemon juice, read on…

Uses of Lemon Juice

• Applying lemon juice on a minor cut will not only help stop bleeding, but also disinfect the wound.
• Constipation can be treated with the help of lemon juice. For the purpose, have a lemon drink (4 tbsp lemon juice, 1 cup warm water & ½ tsp honey), everyday before breakfast.
• Handling fruit or berry often leaves stains on hands. For getting rid of them, rinse your hands with lemon juice.
• If you have been affected by poison ivy, apply lemon juice over the aggravated area. It will help soothe itching and also assuage the rash.
• If you have blackheads on your face, using lemon juice will help in getting rid of them. Rub the juice over the affected area before going to bed and wash your face in the morning, with cool water.
• Lemon juice can be used for removing ink spots from clothes. Immediately apply lemon juice on the affected area, while the ink is still wet. Wash the garment as usual and line dry.
• If you want to remove the smell of garlic, onions or fish from your chopping board, clean it with lemon juice. It will deodorize the board, making it smell as fresh as ever.
• Lemon juice can help treat cough also. Mix 4 tbsp lemon juice, 1 cup honey and ½ cup olive oil. Heat the mixture for 5 minutes and then stir vigorously for 2 minutes. Take 1 tsp of the mixture, every 2 hours.
• If you have rough hands or sore feet, apply lemon juice over them. Thereafter, massage with olive oil. You will see the results soon enough.
• Lemon juice can help you get rid of skin blemishes. Dab lemon juice over the blemished part, a few times a day.
• Want to write an invisible letter? Take a toothpick and dip it in lemon juice. Use this for writing your letter. The paper will look blank to the naked eye, but as you hold it near a hot light bulb, the writing will start burning brown, giving way to the whole letter.
• Lemon juice can help you whiten as well as strengthen your nails. Half-fill a small bowl with lemon juice and soak your nails in it, for around 10 minutes. Now, add equal parts white vinegar and warm water. Dip a brush in it and clean your nails with it. Rinse with water.
• Lemon juice is effective for removing rust and mineral discolorations from cotton t-shirts and briefs. For the purpose, put 1 cup of lemon juice in the washer, before washing clothes.
• Lemon juice is good for cleaning brass, copper and stainless steel items, including kitchen sinks. Make a paste by adding lemon juice to salt, scrub the stains gently with the paste and then, rinse with water.
• The best way to clean a microwave is with the help of lemon juice. Dilute 4 tbsp lemon juice in one cup water and put the solution in a microwave-safe bowl. Keep it in the microwave and let it boil for five minutes. The steam from the water will condense the inside walls. Use a cloth to wipe your microwave clean.
• You can use lemon juice to get rid of dandruff. Apply lemon juice on your scalp around ½ hour before washing your hair. Mix 2-3 tbsp lemon juice in a mug of water and use it to give the last rinse to your hair, after washing them with shampoo.

What do you think, which is healthier – a peanut butter sandwich or a glass of whole milk? In terms of fat, the sandwich is actually better, according to an article published by American Heart Association. They recommend a daily fat intake limited to 30 percent of the day’s total calories, but the type of fat we eat may be just as important as the amount. People who eat a diet high in monounsaturated fat were found to have a lower risk of heart disease than those who eat more saturated fats.
Monounsaturated fats may help reduce harmful triglycerides in blood and increase good HDL cholesterol. So, how can someone change ones diet accordingly? Try to incorporate more foods that have more good (mono or polyunsaturated) fat and less bad (saturated) fat. Here are a few examples:

THE GOOD GUYS
* Peanut butter
* Olive oil
* Avocados
* Soybeans
* Nuts
* Canola oil
* Corn oil
* Sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds

THE BAD GUYS
* Marbled meats
* Organ meats (including sausage)
* Butter
* Ice cream
* Mayonnaise
* Milk
* Cream
* Cheese
* Palm oil

IN THE MIDDLE
* Lean red meat
* Chicken
* Fish

But remember hidden saturated fats also lurk in lots of snack foods such as cookies, chips, and candy. For example, anything with coconut or coconut oil even if it’s a vegan snack will be high in saturated fat.

And note that this isn’t, of course, an open invitation to start gorging on peanut butter. It’s still wise to keep your total fat intake to around 30 percent a day – just make them “better” fats.

1. Instant Gratification

This one works immediately – stare at the dot in the center of the image and move your head back and forth – the rings will rotate.

2. Leaning Tower Illusion

The two images above are identical, yet the tower on the right appears to be leaning more steeply. The reason for this is because the visual system treats the two images as if part of a single scene. Normally, if two adjacent towers rise at the same angle, their image outlines converge as they recede from view due to perspective, and this is taken into account by the visual system.

3. Straight Lines

The image above is composed entirely of straight lines. If you don’t believe, try using a ruler to test it.

4. Inverse Image

Stare at the center of the image above for about 30 seconds then immediately look at a blank white wall or a piece of white paper. Stare at the blank paper and an image will emerge. The more you stare, the clearer the image becomes.

5. Sacred Heart Illusion

Click the image above to open it as its full size then slowly move your head away from the image.

6. Color Illusion

This one is amazing – the blue and green lines in the picture above are the same color.

7. Impossible Cube Illusion

The impossible cube or irrational cube is an impossible object that draws upon the ambiguity present in a Necker cube illustration. An impossible cube is usually rendered as a Necker cube in which the edges are apparently solid beams. This apparent solidity gives the impossible cube greater visual ambiguity than the Necker cube, which is less likely to be perceived as an impossible object. The illusion plays on the human eye’s interpretation of two-dimensional pictures as three-dimensional objects.

8. Ebbinghaus Illusion:

The Ebbinghaus illusion is an optical illusion of relative size perception. In the best-known version of the illusion, two circles of identical size are placed near to each other and one is surrounded by large circles while the other is surrounded by small circles; the first central circle then appears smaller than the second central circle.

9. White Illusion

White’s illusion is an optical illusion illustrating the fact that the same target luminance can elicit different perceptions of brightness in different contexts. Note, that although the gray rectangles are all of equal luminance, the ones seen in the context with the dark stripes appear brighter than the ones seen in the context with the bright stripes.

10. Color Perception

Believe it or not – the pink spots in the image above are the same – if you don’t believe it, open the image in photoshop and compare them.

1. Zöllner Illusion

In this figure the black lines seem to be unparallel, but in reality they are parallel. The shorter lines are on an angle to the longer lines. This angle helps to create the impression that one end of the longer lines is nearer to us than the other end. This is very similar to the way the Wundt illusion appears. It may be that the Zöllner illusion is caused by this impression of depth.

2. Blivet

A blivet, also known as a poiuyt, is an undecipherable figure, an optical illusion and an impossible object. It appears to have three cylindrical prongs at one end which then mysteriously transform into two rectangular prongs at the other end.

3. Hermann Grid Illusion

The Hermann grid illusion is an optical illusion reported by Ludimar Hermann in 1870 while, incidentally, reading John Tyndall’s Sound. The illusion is characterised by “ghostlike” grey blobs perceived at the intersections of a white (or light-colored) grid on a black background. The grey blobs disappear when looking directly at an intersection.

4. Hering Illusion

The Hering illusion is an optical illusion discovered by the German physiologist Ewald Hering in 1861. The two vertical lines are both straight, but they look as if they were bowed outwards. The distortion is produced by the lined pattern on the background, that simulates a perspective design, and creates a false impression of depth.

5. Jastrow Illusion

The Jastrow illusion is an optical illusion discovered by the American psychologist Joseph Jastrow in 1889. In this illustration, the two figures are identical, although the lower one appears to be larger.

6. Bezold Effect

The Bezold Effect is an optical illusion, named after a German professor of meteorology, Wilhelm von Bezold (1837-1907), who discovered that a color may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors. In the above example, the red seems lighter combined with the white, and darker combined with the black.

7. Fraser Spiral Illusion

The illusion is also known as the false spiral, or by its original name, the twisted cord illusion. The overlapping black arc segments appear to form a spiral; however, the arcs are a series of concentric circles.

8. Adelson’s Checker Shadow Illusion

The image shows what appears to be a black and white checker-board with a green cylinder resting on it that casts a shadow diagonally across the middle of the board. The black and white squares are actually different shades of gray. The image has been constructed so that “white” squares in the shadow, one of which is labeled “B,” are actually the exact same gray value as “black” squares outside the shadow, one of which is labeled “A.” The two squares A and B appear very different as a result of the illusion.
9. Café Wall Illusion

The café wall illusion is an optical illusion, first described by Doctor Richard Gregory. He observed this curious effect in the tiles of the wall of a café at the bottom of St Michael’s Hill, Bristol. This optical illusion makes the parallel straight horizontal lines appear to be bent. To construct the illusion, alternating light and dark “bricks” are laid in staggered rows. It is essential for the illusion that each “brick” is surrounded by a layer of “mortar” (the grey in the image). This should ideally be of a color in between the dark and light color of the “bricks”.

10. Motion Illusion

One type of motion illusion is a type of optical illusion in which a static image appears to be moving due to the cognitive effects of interacting color contrasts and shape position. To properly view this effect, click the image above to see the full sized version.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Source: Wikipedia