Shag Away These 7 Masturbation Myths… For Good

Just like sex, masturbation is a taboo and a major topic of discussion. Where men usually bring up the topic jokingly, women prefer whispering about the same.

You rarely hear a serious conversation about masturbation.

In order to propel discussion on the related subject, it is firstly important to accept masturbation as a natural act and not see it as something shameful.

There are many benefits of masturbating and side-effects, if done excessively. You may also come across certain myths about the same that you need to do away with immediately –

Masturbation Myths

Myth 1 – Masturbation is for a Certain Age Group Only

People of all ages masturbate

There is no age bar when it comes to masturbation. It is an act in which you can engage at any point of time in life. Usually, puberty hits boys around the age of 13 years and lasts throughout their lives. As per surveys conducted, 70-95% of males and females masturbate to cater to their sexual needs.

Myth 2 – Masturbation is Fake Sex

Masturbation is not fake sex

Masturbation arouses people, just like sex does. Erection, natural lubrication and ejaculation are all part of it. Besides, while ejaculation, people experience real orgasm, which is healthy. Health experts claim that masturbation is as real as kissing, having intercourse and reaching orgasm while at it.

Myth 3 – Women Don’t Masturbate

Women do masturbate

Women DO masturbate. They have needs, just like men. Obviously, the way they masturbate is different as compared to men; their methods vary, too. Where some women prefer watching porn during the act, others fantasise their wishes while going on with the business. But yes, saying that women do not masturbate is totally false.

Myth 4 – Masturbation Causes Blindness

Masturbation does not cause blindness

This is one of the most ridiculous fables related to masturbation. When doctors claim the act as having medical benefits, why do people contradict it with nonsensical claims? Instead, it facilitates in stress relief, keeping menstrual cramps at bay and PMS.

Myth 5 – Couples Do Not Masturbate

Couples masturbate, too

Wrong. Regardless of whether people are single or in a relationship, the urge to masturbate comes naturally. In fact, people in relationships at times masturbate together. It is also a common for people in relationship to feel jealous of one another when they masturbate and link it to cheating. Such couples need to realise that people have different levels of sexual desire and there is nothing wrong with it.

Myth 6 – Only Adults Masturbate

Though not like adults, children masturbate, too

It is also a common notion among adults that only they masturbate because they “know” sex. Children also engage in masturbation, but not how adults know them. Even the younger ones touch themselves, but not like the adults do. They are just curious and it feels good when they touch their genitals. Ultrasounds have been found showing foetuses touching their sex organs while in the utero.

Myth 7 – Masturbation Causes STDs

Masturbation does not cause STDs

Sexually transmitted disease is caused only through skin-to-skin contact. Other than that, transmission of bodily fluids is another reason for contracting STDs. Since both of these do not occur during masturbation, contracting STDs is impossible.

Chennai Floods: The worst might be over, but keep diseases at bay with these health tips

People have been wading through water over several days, so the number of water-borne, vector-borne, person-to-person communicable diseases are those that the state government, NGOs and volunteers working in the field need to worry about.

• People wading through waterlogged areas during the flood

Throughout history, disasters, both natural and man-made, have a strong relationship with disease outbreaks. This is often related to the displacement of people and has been known since the age of Pericles and the plague of Athens in Ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian wars. This has played out again and again since then, including in major wars, but this association is now seen commonly after natural disasters like floods, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, drought and earthquakes.

The disaster in Tamil Nadu due to the recent rains and floods is already seeing an outbreak of various diseases. The risk and magnitude of any outbreak can be assessed based on the diseases that are pre-existent in the community, the existing infrastructure, nutrition and health status, ability to restore safe water and drainage and availability of health care. Given that Chennai and other parts have seen tremendous waterlogging and people have been wading through water over several days, the number of water-borne, vector-borne, person-to-person communicable diseases and those related to the disaster, are those that the state government, NGOs and volunteers working in the field need to worry about.

Types of diseases likely to surface

Firstly, water-borne diseases that are likely to surface in Chennai now include viral gastro enteritis, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E, leptospirosis among others. If people remember, there was a spike in cases of leptospirosis in Mumbai after the 2005 floods. Waterborne diseases can be mitigated here by ensuring that the water is drained out as quickly as possible in the city and safe drinking water is provided on a war footing.

Secondly, vector-borne diseases that are likely to emerge include dengue and malaria. Others like West Nile virus are also possible. These are primarily mosquito-borne, so stagnant water is a perfect breeding ground. Draining inundated areas in Chennai is key to control and moving people out of such areas is also helpful.

Lastly, person-to-person communicable diseases are usually related to overcrowding in close quarters. Diseases like influenza and upper respiratory infections tend to spread faster this way. This was, in fact, the leading cause of death in those displaced by the 2004 tsunami in Aceh and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Measles outbreaks have also been documented in these conditions. In Chennai, there are reports of chicken pox outbreak in a relief camp. This also needs to be addressed quickly.

Other diseases are related to the disaster itself, and this includes tetanus, skin problems, including allergies and fungal infections. There have been rumours about dead bodies and the risk of transmission of diseases - these are overhyped, and there is yet to be any documented outbreak in the setting of the floods.

Prevention and tips on health safety

Prevention and mitigation of these diseases, in Chennai, Cuddalore and other areas, needs a multi-pronged strategy. Obviously, drainage of the water and establishment of safe water and food services is key. People should not remain marooned, but staying too long in relief camps puts them at risk for other problems. The earlier the situation improves and the earlier that people can return home, the safer it is from the infection point of view. People should avoid wading in water, if feasible.

Safe water can be achieved by boiling water for a full minute. If there is visible contamination, bleach (1/4 to 1/8 teaspoon to a gallon or 16 cups of water) can be useful. Reverse osmosis systems are also an option. Food safety is key, and the role of food handlers in the propagation of diseases is often forgotten. Aid workers should stay away if sick, and should wear gloves when handling food. Vaccination against tetanus, typhoid and influenza seems prudent. Mosquito prevention measures are useful, but these need to be used through the day.

Don’t medicate unnecessarily

At this point, abuse of medications, especially antibiotics, is a problem. Most patients do not need any. Establishment of appropriate primary care system with doctors trained in disaster-related disease management will go a long way in containing the situation. Studies have suggested that a single dose of doxycycline may be an option in reducing the risk of leptospirosis in those wading through water. It is only required for those with infections like typhoid. In general, the alarm symptoms that require immediate medical attention include:

1. Diarrhoea/vomiting and not passing urine

2. Fever with shaking chills

3. Jaundice

4. Fever lasting more than 3 days

5. Breathing difficulty and shortness of breath

6. Illness in people whose immune system is not normal- like kidney failure, transplant

Dr Subramanian Swaminathan is MD AB Infectious Diseases, Consultant, Global Hospital

The Cheap and Effective Cancer Treatment Oncologists Don’t Want You To Know About

Given that cancer is one of the most common and terrifying diagnoses across the world today, it should come as no surprise that it is one of the biggest focuses in medical research. However, what would you say if you found out that the most effective cancer treatments were being hidden from you?

Quite a few alternative health experts believe that is the case, as less expensive and less invasive treatments are ignored and overlooked in favor of treatments like radiation and chemotherapy.  Baking soda, which costs just a couple dollars per box, has actually been found to be very effective in the treatment of cancer.

Learn more about this treatment and how you can use it.

Why Use Baking Soda?

People started looking into baking soda as a treatment because of the side effects that come with conventional cancer treatments. Both chemotherapy and radiation can cause significant damage to other cells in your body, destroying your immune system and putting you at risk for death.

On the other hand, baking soda doesn’t have any side effects. You ingest it orally every day and enjoy the benefits. Baking soda works because it is a basic solution. Many alternative cancer therapies are focused on keeping the pH level of the body from becoming too acidic, since cancer cells thrive in acidic environments.

Why This Method Has Been Ignored

To put it simply, doctors and researchers have ignored the baking soda treatment because anyone can do it and anyone can afford it. Chemotherapy and radiation are extremely expensive, and insurance companies pay out millions of dollars every year to doctors and facilities for these procedures.

Cancer is a fairly big moneymaker in the medical industry, and if people can treat it themselves, there goes a huge source of revenue for many medical professionals.

The Baking Soda Protocol

Knowing how to use baking soda properly is the key to making this technique work for you. Oral consumption is the most important procedure to use, but there are also things you can do to make baking soda work more effectively. Follow these steps:

1. Pour 2 cups of room temperature water into a glass. Ideally, this water should have a high magnesium content, as this improves the function of baking soda.
2. Stir in 2 rounded teaspoons of baking soda. Stir until it is dissolved.
3. Add a pinch of sweetener of your choice.
4. Sip this mixture over the course of one to two hours.
5. Repeat 3 times per day for best results.

In addition, you may want to use baking soda transdermally. This allows the body to absorb it through your skin. Simply run a warm or hot bath and sprinkle 1 cup of baking soda into your bath. Give yourself plenty of time to soak in the bath. Repeat as desired.You have the tools you need to make the most of your health and prevent deadly diseases.

Whether you are trying to fight an existing case of cancer or you simply want to keep this disease from taking root in your body, baking soda is here to help.

Sean Parker Grants $10 Million To Aid Radical AutoImmune Research For Type 1 Diabetes

Sean Parker has been very philanthropic lately, particularly with life sciences research. Parker announced he’d given $600 million to a foundation with his name on it this summer and $24 million last December to establish an allergy research center, also with his name. He’s now given $10 million toward a research lab at the University of California San Francisco, called the Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory.

The goal of the lab is to see if it’s possible to use cell therapy to cure type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders. These types of disorders occur when the body’s immune system, which normally defends against harmful bacteria and viruses, starts attacking its own cells. It’s not entirely clear why this happens.

Parker has ongoing interest in immunology, partly due to his own autoimmune and allergy-related disorders. He’s putting $10 million toward research that can demonstrate the case for using cell therapy, or harnessing the immune system to recognize destructive cells, can treat autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. And he hopes the lab will be able to make a breakthrough in this type of research within two to 5 years.

The theory behind it is similar to T-cell immunotherapy that has come up as a viable option to treating cancer patients in recent years. In cancer immunotherapy, physicians target cancer not with poisons throughout the body using chemotherapy or by cutting the patient open and removing cancerous tissue, but by infusing tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells, or cells that are designed to directly kill the cancer cells.

“What’s so interesting about this moment in time is that just 10 years ago this all seemed maybe theoretically possible but it seemed like science fiction and now it’s happening in the clinic regularly,” Parker said of cell immunotherapy and its applications. “We’re at the cusp of a revolution in many different fields.”

The new lab will exist within UCSF’s Diabetes Center and the universities leading immunologist Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone will head the facility. Bluestone has done extensive research in the field of T-cell activation and co-stimulation and according to UCSF, his work has led to the development of multiple therapies that promote immune tolerance.

His hope is that with this research he can create drugs that “re-educate” the immune system to heal itself rather than create a dependence on the drug – an important step for those with type 1 diabetes who must regularly take a shot of insulin.

“And so our focus has been on this small population of regulatory T cells that are so critical to maintaining immune homeostasis in the body…and how we can tap into this regulatory pathway to shut down the unwanted immune response while preserving the wanted immune response to viruses and bacterial infections and the like,” Bluestone said. “And so to do this is not simple. It requires a lot of money, a lot of people and a lot of creative thinking.”

Parker and Bluestone caution that this grant is not a guarantee something will come of it but is a jumping off point for exploratory research.

“It often doesn’t take an enormous grant in order to move a field forward,” Parker said. “I’m much more targeted and focused on ok where are there places that need a catalyst, where that catalyst can get a field to the next level.”

Parker is a catalyst for many technologies, from the music industry and social networks and now in the life sciences. Autoimmune disorders are a huge mountain to tackle within that realm. There are more than 80 known autoimmune disorders affecting between 14 and 22 million people in the United States, and it is one of the leading causes of death for women under 65, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Establishing solid research on potential therapies that get at the root of type 1 diabetes would be big – even better if the research can go beyond that to treatments for other autoimmune disorders or possibly organ transplants and other non-immune diseases, such as heart disease, muscular dystrophy, and obesity.

“This is literally a life or death situation with a diabetes 1 patient and in that sense there’s a real need to get down to the mechanistic level and understand how to repair the immune system so that it no longer produces these self-reactive T cells and in the event that it does those T cells are sufficiently suppressed by immunosuppressive elements like regulatory T cells,” Parker said.

Your Poop Can Save Someone’s Life – Yes, It’s Real!!

Everyone perceives their stool as disgusting…and yes, it is, in all honesty. They contain numerous bacteria that are mostly alive. However, would you believe if a person told you that your poop can save life?

That’s ridiculous, you say? Your poop comes in handy during a treatment procedure fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) which is performed on patients suffering from repeated clostridium difficile infection.

Fecal transplant is performed on patients suffering from clostridium difficile infection

What you need to know about clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is that it is infectious diarrhoea. Along with abdominal pain, it causes bloating and diarrhoea, which further can become sever, if left untreated. Though treatment is possible through antibiotics, relapses in such cases have been minimal.

One might wonder what could be the alternate procedure if antibiotics cannot treat CDI.

That is where fecal microbiota transplantation plays its part. The procedure requires a fecal microbiota preparation where stool from a healthy patient is transplanted into the patient’s colon.The patient need not worry about fecal bacteria since it is mixed with saline, then strained and reintroduced into the patient’s colon through enema.

Actually, the size of the poop comes into play, too, as it decides the number of people that can be treated. Below is an illustration of the same –

The size of poop decides how many people can be saved

Fecal transplantation might seem gross to people today, but it was documented in the 4th century China, where it was labelled “yellow soup”.

Now, if the procedure convinces you and probably encourages you to make donation, it is important to know that the process is not that simple. Just like blood donation, fecal donation has its set of criteria. If you are one of the lucky donors, you can make up to $13,000 per year.

Scientists and doctors are looking for diseases that fecal microbiota transplantation can apparently treat. However, till date, just one – C. difficile – is the only disease that has been fully explored.

You can look at the video link below to know more about the transplantation procedure 

Unique Code to Define Patient's Medical History in Pipeline

                         

                       

Days are not far away when a unique code will define a patient's medical history and medical institutions in the country and elsewhere can have access to it.

The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has included Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine- Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) as the standard for clinical vocabulary for use in medical records.

SNOMED CT is a popular coding standard in the Health IT industry. It is a comprehensive clinical terminology, originally created by the College of American Pathologists and, as of April, 2007, owned, maintained, and distributed by the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO).

At the moment, 28 countries are members of the IHTSDO.

This comprehensive, multilingual clinical healthcare terminology, used across the globe enables standardisation of clinical vocabulary for use in Electronic Medical Records/ Electronic Health Records (EHR) by hospitals and healthcare providers, besides aiding in generation of unique EHR for each individual.

Incorporation of such a comprehensive terminology in the EHR requires understanding of the underlying concept model, various levels at which clinical information can be effectively represented, and cross-mapping to other international vocabulary standards.

The Union Health Ministry has designated the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, to run the National Release Centre, for distribution and management of SNOMED CT within India.

90 Per Cent Skin-Based Viruses Represent Viral 'Dark Matter'

Most DNA viruses on healthy human skin are viral 'dark matter' that have never been described before, according to researchers who used state-of-the-art techniques to survey the skin's virus population, or 'virome'.

The research also includes the development of a set of virome analysis tools that are now available to researchers for further investigations.

Researchers and the public are increasingly aware that microbes living on and inside us our "microbiomes" can be crucial in maintaining good health, or in causing disease.

Skin-resident bacteria are no exception.

Ideally they help ward off harmful infections, and maintain proper skin immunity and wound-healing, but under certain circumstances they can do the opposite.

"There has been a real need for a better understanding of these viruses, given their potential effects on our skin cells as well as on our resident bacteria," said senior author Elizabeth A Grice, an assistant professor of Dermatology at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

"Until now, relatively little work has been done in this area, in part because of the technical challenges involved.

For example, a skin swab taken for analysis will contain mostly human and bacterial DNA, and only a tiny amount of viral genetic material the proverbial needles in the haystack," said Grice.

Previous mapping attempts used databases of known viral genes to recognise some of this viral genetic material amid all of the bacteria and human DNA. But such an approach tends to overlook the many viruses not already catalogued in databases.

Using optimised techniques for isolating virus-like particles (VLPs) from skin swabs, and for analysing very small amounts of genetic material, the research team was able to focus their sequencing and analysis on viral DNA without entirely depending on databases.

Their analysis of samples from 16 healthy individuals revealed some results that were expected. The most abundant skin-cell infecting virus was human papilloma virus, which causes common warts and has been linked to skin cancers.

However, most of the detected DNA from the VLPs did not match viral genes in existing databases.

"More than 90 per cent was what we call viral dark matter it had features of viral genetic material but no taxonomic classification," Grice said.
 
That came as a surprise, although of course it highlighted the importance of mapping this unexplored territory.

The findings also clearly linked the skin virome to the skin microbiome. Most of the detected viral DNA appeared to belong to phage viruses, which infect and often take up long-term residence within bacteria.

When Grice and colleagues sequenced skin bacterial DNA from the same 16 subjects, they found that it often contained tell-tale marks called CRISPR spacers of prior invasion by the same phage viruses.

The study was published in the journal mBio.

6 Reasons to Drink Coffee Before Your Next Workout

Here are a few reasons it might be a good idea to scarf down a latte or a frothy cappuccino (or both!) before heading out on your next workout:

1. Caffeine can help you work out longer and harder: According to researchers in one British study, young men who drank a sugar-free beverage with caffeine an hour before working out were able to work out for a longer period of time and do more reps without getting exhausted than they did when they drank the same beverage without the caffeine.

2. Caffeine can improve your accuracy: Another recent study found that soccer players were able to dribble, head, and kick the ball with greater precision and agility after drinking caffeine. Caffeine not only made them more alert, it also improved their fine motor skills.

3. Caffeine can help you go faster: Sprinters, marathon runners, cyclists, rowers, swimmers, and tennis players can all get a speed boost from caffeine. And because it’s perfectly legal for competitive athletes to use, caffeine is, according to The New York Times, “the most popular drug in sports” today.

4. Caffeine can help you feel less tired: The subjects in that British study reported feeling less tired after workouts before which they had drunk caffeine, even if they had worked out for longer.

5. Caffeine can make you feel better about your workout: Those same British study subjects were also more excited about working out again after workouts before which they had consumed caffeine.

6. Caffeine can be delicious: Latte, cappuccino, espresso … mmmm!

Why you shouldn't force your kids to hug people

When my daughter was two years old, we visited my husband’s grandparents for Christmas. When great-grandma leaned in for a hug, my daughter shrieked, “No, I don’t like that old lady! She looks like a witch!” and ran away.

I’m a firm believer in supporting my children’s choices about their bodies, but I was embarrassed. Great-grandma is in her early nineties and very traditional. We don’t get to see her often and when we do, I want my kids on their best behavior.

Kari O’Driscoll, a writer and mother of two tween girls, is a firm believer in instilling physical boundaries early on. She says members of her family were sexually assaulted by people they loved and trusted, so even before her daughters could talk, she taught them that they had the right to make choices for their own bodies. “My father-in-law was really offended when [my oldest daughter] didn't want a hug or a kiss or to sit in his lap while he read her a book…We spent a lot of time talking to her about how to be polite and firm. I think it sent her a strong message and, as she got older, she was able to articulate to her friends that she loves them but she needs physical space.”

The recent Facebook post from Planned Parenthood Ottawa (below) offers a wave as an alternative. Day suggests parents encourage their kids to give a high-five or a handshake instead of a more intimate hug or kiss.

Other parents and family members don’t always see forced interactions as a problem. Christa Terry, founder of Hellomamas.com and the mother of two, noted that her policy of not forcing her children to hug relatives “has actually resulted in a few standoffs between myself and older relatives," who worried a child's refusal would cause hurt feelings. Terry explained her reasoning to her family, who, even then, only begrudgingly accepted.

Empower children to say “no” in situations where the person making them uncomfortable is someone close or a loved one, Day notes. Even if there is no immediate threat, there may be in the future.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 82% of sexual assaults are committed by someone familiar to the victim, and the majority of sexual assaults happen before a child reaches 18. Beyond rape, many of the acts that comprise sexual assault involve coercive sex, the act of badgering or pressuring someone into sex through verbal threats, promises or emotional abuse.

This is why, Day argues, that learning to draw the line early — even over something seemingly small, like hugging Uncle Joe at Thanksgiving — will teach children they have a say in their bodily autonomy, and give them greater courage to say "no." And if this helps to protect children or adults from future domestic violence, dating violence and sexual assault, wonderful. Day says, “When we teach children to defer to adults about something so basic as a hug, we chip away at their self-esteem and put them at risk for abuse. We are teaching them that they don’t have the power to say ‘no’ to an adult.”

An important part of drawing this boundary is explaining the decision to family and friends before the holidays in a kind and respectful way. Day notes, “Most people will laugh off your kids’ behavior. But when they don’t, it's okay to explain your choices and assert yourself.”

Some of my own family members have been sexually assaulted by someone within the family. So, even though I found my daughter’s antics toward great-grandma less than ideal, it's much more important she understands 

she always gets to make choices regarding her own body. That supersedes a few moments of awkwardness among relatives.

Plus, as she warmed up to great-grandma, she spent the rest of the visit on her lap reading books, which was much more rewarding.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

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Under Fire, Haryana Chief Minister Visits Family of Dalit Children Burnt Alive

Under attack from the opposition, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today met the family of the two Dalit children who were burnt alive at a village near Delhi on Monday and assured them that the guilty would be punished at the earliest. But soon after he left, angry locals held a protest march and raised slogans against him.

Mr Khattar was expected to meet the family yesterday, but his visit was cancelled after protests by angry locals. When asked why he was visiting the village three days after the deaths, he said his ministers were keeping a watch on the situation. "My eyes are on this case every minute. My ministers have been here from day one on my behalf."

When Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi visited Sonped village in Faridabad district yesterday, he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party the BJP which rules the state and chief minister Mr Khattar and blamed their "attitude" for such tragedies.
 

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi met the family of the two Dalit Children in Sonped yesterday.

"This is an attitude shared by the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister, the BJP and the RSS - if somebody is weak, they can be crushed. This government is not for the poor," he had said.

The children-- two-and-a-half year old Vaibhav and 11-month-old Divya - died after their house was set on fire, allegedly by members of an upper caste community.

Their mother Rekha has suffered 70 per cent burns, their father also sustained injuries.

Vaibhav and Divya were sleeping in their house when it was set on fire, allegedly by members of an upper caste community.

Seven accused have been arrested for the death of the children. Four more are yet to be traced. Mr Khattar's government yesterday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI probe into the deaths.

The family of the children has alleged that the attack was the fallout of a long-standing feud with a group of upper caste people in the village. But the kin of the accused have denied the allegation.

Angry locals blocked a highway near the national capital yesterday and said they would not cremate the children till all those accused in the case were arrested. They also held a march carrying the bodies of the children.

Angry locals blocked the Faridabad-Balabhgarh highway yesterday

Later in the day, the protest was called off after the police managed to convince the family to cremate the children. Their last rites were performed late in the evening.

Your Poop Can Save Someone’s Life – Yes, It’s Real!!

Everyone perceives their stool as disgusting…and yes, it is, in all honesty. They contain numerous bacteria that are mostly alive. However, would you believe if a person told you that your poop can save life?

That’s ridiculous, you say? Your poop comes in handy during a treatment procedure fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) which is performed on patients suffering from repeated clostridium difficile infection.

What you need to know about clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is that it is infectious diarrhoea. Along with abdominal pain, it causes bloating and diarrhoea, which further can become sever, if left untreated. Though treatment is possible through antibiotics, relapses in such cases have been minimal.

One might wonder what could be the alternate procedure if antibiotics cannot treat CDI.

That is where fecal microbiota transplantation plays its part. The procedure requires a fecal microbiota preparation where stool from a healthy patient is transplanted into the patient’s colon.The patient need not worry about fecal bacteria since it is mixed with saline, then strained and reintroduced into the patient’s colon through enema.

Actually, the size of the poop comes into play, too, as it decides the number of people that can be treated. Below is an illustration of the same –

The size of poop decides how many people can be saved

Fecal transplantation might seem gross to people today, but it was documented in the 4th century China, where it was labelled “yellow soup”.

Now, if the procedure convinces you and probably encourages you to make donation, it is important to know that the process is not that simple. Just like blood donation, fecal donation has its set of criteria. If you are one of the lucky donors, you can make up to $13,000 per year.

Scientists and doctors are looking for diseases that fecal microbiota transplantation can apparently treat. However, till date, just one – C. difficile – is the only disease that has been fully explored.

Dealing with Toddler Meltdowns

How many times have you witnessed a toddler screaming, kicking, rolling on the floor or crying hard in public? It’s a common sight with toddlers. These are called toddler meltdowns. Most often it is accompanied with the parents yelling back at their kids. It’s a disturbing sight, no doubt about that. But understand that meltdowns need not always culminate in parents’ yelling and toddler’s crying. 

How to deal with your toddler’s meltdowns and his temper tantrums? It will become easy for you to handle your toddler’s meltdown, if you just wait for the toddler to vent completely and cool down, before you pitch in to solve the issue at hand. This will make him more receptive to you. Read to understand why your toddler has a meltdown and some tips to comfort your child.

Tips on How to Deal with Toddler Meltdowns

• Remain calm:

   Remember you will do yourself and your child a world of good by just staying calm. If you react, it will only escalate the meltdown. If you are at home, just walk away from the room to compose yourself.

• 
  Identify the cause:

   Meltdowns often occur because the little kids are trying to express their needs or frustration. As they are not able to express them in words, they throw tantrums. Find out if the real cause behind a meltdown is hunger, exhaustion, stress or need for your attention. It may help you in soothing your child better and faster.

• Wait it Out:

   Wait for the meltdown to run its course before you start acting on it. If you are at home, better let the child cry it out. Once he is spent, he will be calm and more responsive to you. But in the case where you are out, take a call. If you feel embarrassed, remove your child and yourself from the situation.

• Avoid punishment:

   Don’t threaten your child with a ‘time out’ or punishment. That will only make matters worse. Your child needs you to understand him and his needs.

• Reach to him:

   If the child lets you take him in your arms, try to do so. Physical contact helps in resolving matters faster. Hold him in your arms and pat his back softly till all his anger is spent. However, if your child is kicking or hitting, avoid touching him. You can try talking in soothing tone instead.

• Give options:

   Most kids are confused about the real reason bothering them. So give your child options: Are you hungry, do you want to sleep, shall I hold you in my arms, etc. He will surely nod on the one he really wants.

Hope you found our tips on dealing with toddler meltdowns useful. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could curb the meltdowns before they begin. Yes, it’s possible. 

Tips on How to Prevent Toddler Meltdowns

• Understand your child’s needs:

   If you know that your child gets cranky or throws a tantrum when he is hungry, sleepy or over-stimulated, try to prevent the situation from arising. Take care of your child’s needs before he needs to show you through a meltdown.

• Listen to your child:

   Parents have a habit of down-talking to their child or not taking them seriously enough. When kids realize this, they sometimes throw tantrums. Listen to him attentively and make eye contact with him when he speaks.

• Avoid negative words:

   Frequent use of words like ‘no’, ‘don’t’ or ‘stop’ can restrict your child. Sometimes ‘no’ is necessary but assess the situation before you say it. Try to use it positively like, instead of saying an outright ‘no’ to your child’s demand for watching more TV, try saying ‘how about playing a game of peek-a-boo?’


• Give your child time:

   Asking your child to immediately stop what he is doing and to do what you want him to do, can impact your child negatively. Kids need time to transition from one thing to another. Give your child time so that he can mentally prepare himself to switch from one activity to another.

• Stick to the schedule:

   Kids are creatures of habit. If for any reason, their schedule of daily activities is disrupted, they can get upset which might result in a meltdown. Take care that your child’s schedule is well maintained. If you need to depart from the regular schedule, give him a rundown of what he could expect so that he is prepared for it.

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  Set the limits:

   Don’t indulge in regular shouting, yelling or doling out punishments to your child. It will make him more obstinate and less respectful towards you. Instead, talk to him in a stern voice or give him the eye. This will give him ample opportunity to realize that you are angry at him and chances are that he will stop being willful.

The earlier you curb your child’s temper tantrums, the earlier he’ll learn that throwing tantrums is not a good way of expressing himself. Sometimes the reason behind a meltdown can be genuine and out of control of you and your child. Understand this and allow him to let it all out.