Friday 27 October 2017

The Plants You Need in Your Bedroom to Beat Tight Chests, Insomnia and Colds



NASA scientists say, that you need to keep plants in your bedroom to beat different diseases, i.e. colds, tight chests, insomnia. Although plants look very beautiful in gardens but scientists maintain that we can reap plenty of health benefits of plants by bringing them in indoors. The researchers have long preached the benefits of house plants, that popping some greenery on your bedside table can boost your sleep and health. The plants may decrease your anxiety, depression, stress and helps with the removal of airborne pollutants. Elle Decor and The Joy of Plants delved into research from NASA and the American College to determine which houseplants are best suited to your bedroom - and the benefits they provide. Indoor plants can also elicit a number of physical health benefits, including the removal of airborne pollutants, both particulate and gaseous, which lead to better indoor air quality and associated improvements in physical health.
A review of the scientific evidence suggests that workers are more productive when their office is filled with greenery - and hospital patients are even thought to tolerate pain better if there is a plant on the ward. Perhaps most importantly, plants also trap and filter pollutants that are linked to thousands of deaths a year. The experts from the Royal Horticultural Society say that ‘bringing the outdoors inside’ can recreate some of the natural benefits lost in the process. Plants reduce stress levels, improve mood and filter polluted air, they say.  
Here’re top 10 lists of plants which helps to improve your health.
1. Areca Palm: Madagascan areca palm leads the way in efficiency at “mopping up” pollutants. Researchers say that the palm is excellent for anyone prone to colds and sinus problems because it releases moisture into the air. This, in turn, makes it much easier to breathe so will support you nod off quicker.
 2. Aloe Vera: This plant is very easy to keep and aesthetically pleasing in any home, the aloe vera plant has been named as one of the best plants for air purification by NASA. It releases oxygen incessantly throughout the night, making it an ideal bedroom addition. It also fights benzene which is found in detergents and plastics and formaldehyde (in varnishes and floor finishes) so helps keep the air super pure.
3. English Ivy: It is commonly grows up your house is actually perfect for your bedroom. Certainly, researchers at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology found that English ivy in particular removes 78 per cent of airborne mould in just 12 hours.
4. Dwarf date palm: This plant is hardy, drought-tolerant and long-lived and it's excellent at removing indoor air pollutants - particularly xylene.  
5. Boston Fern: This nice-looking plant has graced indoor landscapes since Victorian times - and for good reason. However, this plant ranks 9th in NASA’s list of 50 air-purifying plants, being particularly adept at removing formaldehyde.
6. Chinese evergreen: This has been dubbed the easiest houseplant because it grows well in low light and areas of the home where other plants won't grow like a dark bedroom. The best part about it is that it removes more toxins as time and exposure continues.
7. Peace lily: This beautiful plant can cleanse air and improve it by 60%. It also absorbs mould spores through its leaves and circulates them its roots to use as food.
8. Spider plant: This houseplant grows super quickly and can remove up to 90 per cent of the toxins from the air in your bedroom in just two days. It's especially great for people with dust allergies.
9. Lady palm: This houseplant is one of the most effective plants at cleansing the air of formaldehyde, ammonia, xylene and toluene.
10. Weeping fig: This houseplant is the best at beating pollutants that are emitted from carpeting and furniture such as formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene.

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Magic Mushrooms Can Reset Brains of Depressed Patients


Depression is most common disease these days, everybody facing difficult situation in their life. Someone handles it brilliantly, however someone went in depression.  This is the situation where active ingredients in magic mushrooms psilocybin may have restore the effect on the brain that helps patients overcome depression. The participant who took part in this study voluntarily expresses a sense of their brains rebooting after just two psilocybin experience. Therefore, psychoactive substance in the first instance disintegrates the “default mode network” which is a highly-connected set of brain regions that are mostly active during introspection and when we are under stress. The researchers of Imperial college of London do the psilocybin experiences, and found those areas of brain reintegrated. The patients became more stable and felt immediate and continued relief from their depression. Thus, Imperial College London's head of psychedelic research, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, and his team recruited 20 participants whose depression had been unresponsive to traditional antidepressants to try the substance that makes mushrooms magic. All but one subject did the psilocybin treatment twice.

Moreover, the participants experienced the come down from their “trips” they were interviewed by the scientists. Without being prompted or asked, several of them described the feeling of having their brains “rebooted”. One person compared their brain to a hard drive and it was like a defragmentation process. Things seemed to be working more proficiently afterwards. The Dr Carhart-Harris says that psilocybin’s effect on the default network to be like taking a system and provisionally scrambling it, then allowing it to reform. However, the brain scans taken during and after the psilocybin experience, the default mode networks of the patients became steadier. The after-effects of the psilocybin seemed to reach their maximum level five weeks later, but they saw continued improvement in the patients for as much as six months. What’s more, the benefits of the treatment started instantly, unlike conventional antidepressants that characteristically have to be in the system for weeks before patients notice improvements.

He said, to give people such a window of relief from their depression, after, in this case, just two experiences, really bodes well for the future. The patients did not seem to enter a hyper state after their psilocybin experiences. Hence, they don’t talk about or show loose, impractical thinking. They’re quire balanced, tranquil and normalized. The depressed persons are often quite fixed. They become quite rigidly pessimistic. You can’t just tell someone who’s depressed to cheer up it’s not under their control, almost like an addiction. They’ve really reinforced this way of thinking. Moreover, research has also shown that psilocybin and other psychedelics may have potential uses for treating alcoholism and addictions, but psychedelics are still illegal in most countries, and far from being approved for clinical use. If you really want to convince people, then to be able to show how it works is really important. This isn’t magic or some kind of wishful thinking on part of the researchers; sure we will see its effects. He cautions that this doesn’t mean that the experience of a psilocybin trip is ‘a walk in the park,’ or that running out and buying magic mushrooms will cure depression. The study was set up as a composite treatment, combining the drug with psychotherapy.

The drug works to open a window of chance, and if in that window provided to a relaxed setting and empathetic with them to guide them through the experience, it can help them to get better. I sometimes worry that people are going to hear about this and think oh I’m going to go off and find magic mushrooms and this will be the treatment of depression, and then they go out to the pub. That wouldn’t be good. Though, even in a supportive context, that about half of the participants had challenging or unfriendly experiences during their trips, but felt ‘relief’ afterwards. Dr Carhart-Harris compares using psilocybin with psychotherapy to physical exercise. If you want to get really fit, you might have to go for a bit of pain in order to get really fit. Maybe the same thing is true for mental health.