Life Without MOM !!

If you have been lucky to have had your mother care for you and nurture you in your infancy and childhood, thank your stars! How life could have been different without her is the subject of several scientific papers that deal with the unpleasant consequences of “Maternal Deprivation Syndrome”
Infants without moms make poor starts in life. They often do not grow well physically, lagging behind in height and weight, in what is termed “growth failure”. And funnily, this seems to occur despite the adequate nutrition reaching their guts.
Scientists are, as usual, trying to investigate what “factors” could be responsible. One explanation is deprivation of mother’s milk that lowers a child’s immunity. Breast milk is rich in anti-bodies and immune boosters that help protect the baby from recurrent infections, frequent episodes of diarrhea, pneumonia and absorption defects.
What scientists find intriguing is to segregate the “measurable” factors such as antibody levels passing from breast milk to the infant, for instance, from the un-measurable ones such as love, care, emotional support and confidence boosting that acts such as breast feeding, hugging, caressing and singing of lullabies might have on a child’s development.
Children growing up without their mothers are often emotionally handicapped from an early age. Their personalities and self-confidence do not develop well and their emotional responses remain muted. They are more prone to developing personality disorders or delinquencies than their well mothered counterparts.
The pain of growing up without a mom was well described by Steeve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc, whose unwed biological mother had given him up for adoption when he was an infant. Although raised well by foster parents, Steeve had never felt “normal”; he had taken to drugs in his young days and had suffered volatile moods, loneliness and depression. His search for his biological mother had remained unsuccessful, causing him frustration, till he developed and died of cancer himself.
Mom is a boon that we seem to take so much for granted, that we often do not realize how our lives might have been without her. Mother’s day is a good time to acknowledge and appreciate her and express our gratitude for having had her.
One way you could give back is to make sure she remains healthy and happy. Ensure that she takes her Vitamin D, calcium and vitamin supplements regularly. It is your turn to escort her through her regular medical visits for BP, diabetes, cholesterol, heart, hemoglobin, breast and pelvic check ups just as she did with you during the parent-teacher’s meetings when you were in school.
And it is your turn to make sure that you reciprocate and give her the time and emotional support that she needs from a grown up child, so that she remains fit and happy. And proud of having brought you into the world, and nurtured you with love and care!

Beat the Heat this Summer !

Long hot spells, when the sun bakes the earth and the mercury rises to create new records, pose major challenges to health and life. Our bodies dry up (called dehydration; remember that 2/3 of our body is made up of water) or get excessively heated (called heat or sun stroke due to the body’s thermostat failing to maintain our temperatures around 370C), posing a threat to life.
The simplest way to stay well and energetic during summer is to keep your body well hydrated at all times. Start the day with two or three glasses of water in the morning as soon as you wake up.
The trick is to drink fluids before you start feeling thirsty, because by the time you feel it, the body has already started signalling to you that it is getting dehydrated. When you start for school or work in the morning, make sure you drink two more glasses of water.
In dry hot weather, water is lost from the body through breathing and invisible perspiration. It is therefore wise to anticipate it before you set out. Your energy levels will be far better this way. And keep drinking water the whole day till dinner time.
The commonest mistake that many people make is to start the day without adequate hydration, and then drink water when thirst starts reminding us that our body is drying up. We often then overcompensate later continuing to drink till late evening, then often having to get up at night to urinate.
We need to synchronise our water consumption with the diurnal need of summer days. Dehydration is common in summers and claims around 2 million lives every year, especially in developing regions.
Children are more susceptible, and once grossly dehydrated, often find it impossible to regain health. Symptoms and signs include fatigue, headache, low BP, dizziness, fainting, dry mouth and reduced amounts of urine that is usually dark yellow. It is often precipitated by an attack of vomiting or loose motions. Drinking large amounts of water (around 6-15 glasses a day) and increasing the intake of salt (through pickles, papads, salted nimbu paani or lassi) are the cornerstones of prevention and treatment. It is important for children to be always hydrated; if not, growth and development could be affected. Luckily, children usually have intense thirst sensation; the trick is to help them develop a liking for water and not juices or softdrinks. Heatstroke is common during these dry hot spells when the body’s heat regulatory mechanism fails to maintain a balance between heat production and heat loss (losing it to from 370C of the body to the 460C of the atmosphere could well be impossible at times!). As a result, the body temperature rises causing the person to be pale, hot, irritable, confused or unconscious.
Children and the elderly are at greater risk, as are athletes, construction workers, labourers or military recruits.
It is a medical emergency and requires moving the person to a cool shade, lying him down on the floor or ground, pouring water on the head and body, placing ice cubes under the armpits and moving him to a clinic or hospital. Caps, sunglasses, wearing loose cotton clothing and avoiding anti-perspirants help