A lesson on obesity and the causes of obesity!

What is obesity?

Obesity is the condition of being grossly fat or overweight

What causes obesity? 

The following habits have been identified and proven to be major causes of the sickly, health threatening condition of obesity.

Watching TV:

TV watching for prolonged hours is a strong predictor for obesity. Recent research has proved that people who watch around two hours of TV a day are much more likely to be overweight than those who watched only half an hour each day. When you watch TV you are virtually motionless thus your heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate decline, resulting in burning 20 to 30 calories less every hour. Research by Harvard University has showed that there is a link between the amount children eat and the amount of television they watch.

Eating Too Fast: This is habit of many people living in fast paced societies. Eating fast lets you eat too much before you are fully aware of it. The human brain takes about 15-20 minutes to start signaling feelings of satisfaction. Scientists suppose that fast eating is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome which is a combination of the symptoms such as high blood pressure, obesity, and insulin resistance.

Learn values of fruits to man!

Fruits

Scientifically, a fruit is a mature fertilized ovary. Fruits are formed after the fertilization of ovules. The ovules develop into seeds and the ovary into a fruit. The food we obtain from fruits is manufactured by photosynthesis in the leaves of a plant. Fruits are therefore storage organs of food.

Fruits are an important component of a healthy human diet. They naturally contain low calories, fat, sodium, and cholesterol. They keep the body healthy and have many benefits including the following:

Lowering the Risk of Illness and Disease: The many vitamins and nutrients in them reduce risk for many illnesses such as: Stroke, heart disease and other heart-related illnesses; type 2 diabetes; certain cancers, such as mouth, stomach, and colon-rectum cancer; kidney stones and Bone loss.

It is important to eat a variety of fruits, because different fruits contain different vitamins. Mangoes, papayas (pawpaw), melons and citrus fruits, like oranges and grapefruit, have high vitamin C concentration. Cantaloupe, apricots, peaches, and nectarines are sources of vitamin A.

Learn a lesson about why and how we breath!

The processes of breathing and gaseous exchange are very important in the maintenance of life. Health science emphasizes living in a clean atmosphere to have safe lives.Read on to learn how and why we breathe.

Lungs and breathing:

Cells need oxygen and they produce carbon dioxide as a waste product. The importance of breathing is to get oxygen into the body and remove the carbon dioxide.

Location of the Lungs:

The lungs are found in the thorax which is the part of your body protected by the rib cage. The lungs are two (the left and right) and are pink in color because of the dense capillary network around them. The trachea divides into two bronchi, one going to each lung.  The bronchi split progressively into smaller tubes called bronchioles. The bronchioles finally end at small bag called alveoli where the exchange of gases takes place. Just below the lungs is the diaphragm which separates the thorax from the abdomen.

SOFT DRINKS AND YOUR HEALTH

Too Sweet for Our Own Good

We encourage hydration and drinking plenty of fluids. Our teenage son loves drinking soft drinks, but he has gained a lot of weight. How do we balance the counsel we receive on drinking adequate amounts of liquids, especially as we see our son now struggling with his weight?

W

hen we encourage the intake of fluids, we’re referring primarily to drinking water. As you point out, many people, both young and old, are drinking increasing amounts of soft drinks (also known as sodas or sugar-sweetened beverage [SSBs]).  These drinks are laden with refined sugars and are fueling epidemics of obesity and diabetes throughout the world. Significant consequences result, especially in low and middle-income countries.

SMOKING AND ITS EFFECTS TO MAN

What is smoking?

 Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. Tobacco is the most smoked substance.

The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes. The cigarettes are industrially manufactured or hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper.

Other implements used for smoking include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers, and bongs.

It has been suggested that smoking-related diseases kill one half of all long term smokers but these diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers.

A 2007 report states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die as a result of smoking (Wikipedia)

SCIENCE LESSONS ABOUT THE LIVER

The human liver and its functions
The liver is located in the upper right-hand part of the abdominal cavity, below the diaphragm, and on top of the stomach, right kidney, and intestines.
It is cone shaped; it is a dark reddish-brown organ because of the enormous blood volume it carries. In weight it lies between 1.44-1.66kg.
It is supplied with blood from:
a.    the hepatic artery bringing in Oxygenated blood
b.    the hepatic portal vein bringing in Nutrient-rich blood  from the digestive system
The liver consists of two main lobes, and each lobe is made up of thousands of lobules. The lobules are connected to small ducts that connect with larger ducts which join up to form the hepatic duct. The hepatic duct transports the bile produced by the liver cells to the gallbladder and duodenum.

CONSIDER YOUR SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The living should know that life is lived once and there are no spare parts for it. So whoever wants to live longer should live responsibly. Sexual affairs have claimed and are still claiming so many lives all over the globe. Am very sure you know this but I feel you need to reconsider it. Is your sexual life style healthy? How about the reproductive health?

The World Health Organization(WHO) defines Sexual health as “a state of physical, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality. It requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.” But how many of us meet the recommendations as per the above definition? We even don’t know the how of engaging in sexual intercourse. As a result we also have very poor reproductive health. We are not respectful, we engage in forced sex, we rape.

The science about the mouth and its hygiene

The books of science put it that in the human mouth are the; tongue, salivary glands, and teeth.

The tongue is a very important organ in a way that it aids speech, tasting of food, rolling of food, and swallowing. The tongue has taste buds for sweet, bitter, sour and salty chemicals. The foremost part of the tongue tastes sweet and salty chemicals. Sweet chemicals are also tasted at the end of the tongue toward the throat. Salt is also tasted from the sides of the tongue.

Taste buds for bitter chemicals are located mainly at the inner end of the tongue. There is normally a tendency of vomiting very bitter substance when they get to this region as we try to swallow. Sour chemical substances are tasted from the sides (left and right) of the tongue. Because of the tongue it is easy to sort bad from good foods.

The salivary glands release a fluid called saliva. Saliva is sticky, colorless, and very useful. Saliva has the following functions: softening food as we chew; sticking/binding small food particles together to form a bolus for swallowing; lubricating the mouth cavity; and contains the enzyme called salivary amylase (ptyalin) which chemically digests starch into maltose. Amylase starts the chemical digestion of starch.

The teeth are hard bony structures within the mouth. They are held firmly in the jaws by cement and gums. Their functions are; chewing, cutting, grinding, tearing and sorting food.the teeth also aid speech and prevent the jaws from falling in more so in old age. They have some little gaps in between.

HOW MUCH FOOD SHOULD YOU EAT TO BE HEALTHY?

How much food is enough for you!  For us to be healthy, we need adequate food.

Each day of our lives we depend on food. David Ssemata , a renowned writer and public speaker one day while giving a public speech about the value/ importance of doing work, informed the audience that when he was still young, his mother told him that  “my son, if you feel you should not do work, sell your stomach first and then sit to relax.”

Again, many people have said it, that we work to be able to put food on our tables. This too is true, because no man will save money if their stomachs are demanding food. Food takes a foremost priority in our lives.

But the question is how much food is enough for you? Science teaches that the amount of food we consume depends of several factors including: - Age, sex, job occupation, level of activity, health condition et cetera.

It is known that young children eat more than the adults. The reason is simple; these children are forming new cells to grow, they are very active and restless, thus they have high food demands. Feed them rightly on nutritious food so that they grow healthy.

Blood clots in youths; a public health concern.

The future of any country is invested in youths who are knowledgeable, skilled, energetic and healthy. When youths live rightly, they can surely acquire these things and put their nations on map. The unfortunate bit is that, many of them do not know what to do or neglect what they have studied and thus lose their lives. 

Ms.Joan Kabayambi, from Makerere School of public Health identified a killer, which is claiming so many lives among the youthful age which brings a loss to their families, communities and the country at large. In the words she put it that “Blood clots are claiming lives of the youths.”

Worldwide there is a rise in the number of deaths resulting from blood clots. And in Uganda the levels are alarmingly claiming lives of youths.  This should be taken as a public health concern which must handled immediately; treatment and hospitalization may be necessary. In cases of severe, life threatening pulmonary embolism, definitive treatment may consist of dissolving the clot with thrombolytic therapy.

How much water is enough for you?

‘’Water is life’’ is a common saying that we are all familiar with. We need plenty of water for our brain to work well, as a vehicle to transport the nutrients from the intestines where they are digested to the muscles and other organs where they are metabolized and assimilated and back to the bladder, rectum and skin where wastes are expelled from the body.

Water helps lubricate our body joints. Imagine a mechanical part of any machine without a lubricant: do you think movement would take place? Okay, if it would, how easy would that be?

Our eyes are well lubricated by water, not oil, so the eyes can move about with ease enabling us to see in different angles without necessarily moving the head. If the cornea, the membrane covering the front part of our eyes was left to dry out, within a few days we would be blind. No wander we all blink numerous times in a minute subconsciously to lubricate the eye as well as hydrating it.

The human body is a water machine, designed primarily to run on water and minerals. Every life giving and healing process that happens inside our bodies happens with water. Our body instinctively knows how and strives to sustain youthful longevity, and in its every effort water is the key.

Common accidents on ears, eyes, and nose and their remedies

The Ear

Have you ever got an accident that an insect entered into your ear or someone else’s ear? This is a common form of accident because the ear is always open. And since the ear is a very important sensory center, you feel very irritated due to the continuous movements of the insect. Again because these are normally small insects in the narrow ear canal (Auditory Canal) we cannot simply pull them out with our fingers.

How to handle the insect problem:

Place 4 drops of olive oil into the ear; it will bind the legs of the insect and the wings so it will stop moving which is very irritating. Lie in a way that the ear where you have put the oil faces up so that the oil does not pour out. Since oil is denser, it will go to the underside and after about 10 minutes turn your head so that the oil comes out with the insect.

Caution: Use olive oil or any eatable oil if you can not get olive oil. Do not use petroleum products like paraffin.

Learn some heathy living tips to save your pocket!

Health science and healthy living tips are of key value to the well being of man. Welcome to the healthy living tip for today!

In many houses, charcoal is used as a fuel to cook food, boil water, iron clothes and warming.  Many of us do not know that charcoal has great therapeutic uses in life. This is why this time I bring to you new information so that you can use charcoal to help you save some money in your pocket.

Charcoal is an adsorbent. It has so many uses in application; do you know them; alright let’s look at some of them and see how helpful it is to man.

Treating malaria:

When we suffer from malaria, we feel the following symptoms; pain in joints and muscle, increased head pain (headache), vomiting, increased body temperature. When you mix 2 table spoons of powdered charcoal and drink, all those problems will cease.

Charcoal can smoothen your face and skin;

How? When you mix 1 table spoon of charcoal powder with two (2) table spoons of honey and you apply them (smear) onto your skin/ face. For how long? Take two hours after application of the paste and then wash your body or face. If you do it repeatedly, the skin rushes and pimples will be no more. Your skin and face will be like that of a baby.

Science and the existence of man

In the study of science, the topic of genetics is a common one.
Genetics teaches us about the transmission of genes from parents to offspring. The genes are the factors which determine the characteristics of living organisms. When we talk of resemblance of children to the parents we are taking about the characteristics children got from their parents.

Since man is sexually reproducing, what we see in children is a contribution of the genes from the father and mother to those children. Thus even at the time of choosing partners for marriage the two should consider their characteristics to predict how their children will look like.

Some genes are dominant (more powerful) that they show higher tendencies of expressing themselves that those which a recessive.

The characteristics of Height, skin color, Eye color, skin color, face shape; general body shape, ear shape and length are determined by the genes we get from our parents.

There is another issue that we need to properly understand. In human beings it is the man who determines the sex of a child. The genes are carried on threadlike structures called chromosomes. One of the chromosome pairs is for sex determination.

Oxygen- the breath of life

The breath of life- people always pray for it. When breathing stops there is a reason to worry!!

Whoever is living needs a breath of life. It is necessary for us all. Oxygen is the gas we need to live. 

All living organisms have a way to obtain oxygen from the environment into their bodies. Some organisms use very simple mechanisms to breathe whereas others have complex ones.

Simple organisms such as the amoeba are single celled and the process of simple diffusion is sufficient to meet the cell’s oxygen needs.  The worms have moist skins in which oxygen dissolves and is then carried away by blood capillaries to all the cells in inner parts.

 Insects have a system called tracheal system; they take in gases through their spiracles which dissolve in the fluid within the tracheoles and then diffuse into the insect tissues. The blood of insects does not carry respiratory gases.

The fish also need oxygen; they obtain it from water which they take in through the mouth, to the gills and pass it out through the operculum. As the water passes through the gills gas exchange takes place.

How to Avoid/ prevent disease in humans

What brings disease in lovely homes?

The desire of most homes is to have good life and living long if possible. People can do a lot to save the life of a sick individual in a home. Life has great value; we cannot give it a price; we can’t simply let it go. That is why we cry and mourn when one of us dies.

Being healthy is when we are physically well, mentally sound, and emotionally stable. If any of those areas is suffering, then we are not healthy. We can surely work towards the well being of all these three, if we have willing hearts and the commitment to ourselves and those you love. I have to talk about commitment to your own self because change must start with me before I influence another person. I must have private victory over myself before I gain public victory.

Some diseases that we suffer are a result of our life styles. For example; neglecting exercises and to much sitting with out exercising.

Feeding: what do you put into your mouth as food? As much as food is very important for your survival and life processes, some foods if not taken appropriately can lead to disease. Tell me the germs that cause blood pressure both low and high! What about diabetes? Be careful about food.

The science and health care of human teeth

The mammalian teeth

Since am talking about human beings, I will call then human teeth. The teeth are bony structures located in the buccal cavity. Buccal cavity is the mouth cavity. I wish to invite you take a drive through the lesson about your teeth today!

The first teeth that form in the young children are called the milk teeth. The milk teeth are composed of the incisors and canine. They are weak teeth but are very helpful.

The milk teeth are replaced by the permanent teeth. The permanent teeth have four sets. The first are the Incisors, the second are the canines, the third are the premolars and the forth are the molars.

The incisors are chiseled shaped; because of this shape they are used for cutting/ biting food into smaller bits. Incisors occupy the front part of the mouth. The canines are pointed in shape; they are used to tear food and they are more developed in flesh eating animals. The premolars have a rough surface with cusps and ridges; grinding and chewing of food starts here. The molars also have cusps and ridges providing a large surface area for crushing/ chewing and grinding food into finer particles.

The Value in Physical exercise

Another look at the importance of physical exercise
The physical aspect/ dimension of life caters for exercise, nutrition, and stress management. The physical body requires eating the right kind of food, getting enough body rest and relaxation, and exercising on a regular basis.

We neglect exercise because it looks not to demand for urgency, but sooner or later we find ourselves in dealing with the health problems and crises that come as a natural result of our negligence.
Most of us think we don’t have enough time to exercise. This is wrong, we have the time to do it but we don’t have time not to. You don’t need much time; you need three –six hours a week. I mean a minimum of 30minutes a day. Does that really look too much time in terms of the impact on the other hours of the week?

You don’t even need special equipment to do exercise. But if you can go to a gym it is to your advantage.  Play a game you like such as football, tennis, netball, or volley ball if you have an opportunity. However, you don’t need that much to make your body fit.

A good exercise program is one that you can do in your own home, to build your body in the three areas of; endurance, flexibility, and strength.

A study about the 4fs and their impact on human life

I wish to bring your attention to the early science you learnt when you went to a primary school. The teachers of science taught us about the 4fs. I wish to revisit them so that we take appropriate care to avoid diseases and sickness in our lives.

The 4fs are the:-

• ·         Fingers
• ·         Flies
• ·         Food
• ·         Feaces

Learn about the importance of trees to the well being of man

In most of the places where people are, trees also are present. Trees may be scattered singly or together in what we call a forest. Trees are very important to us and their value cannot be under estimated. I wish to share with you the great values we have in trees so that you develop a mind to conserve the existing ones and possibly plant more if you can.

Trees use sunlight energy to make food during photosynthesis. The plant uses some of this food for its respiration, growth and development and the rest is store for other organisms which cannot make their own food. 

The food that trees (plants) make is stored in:-

• ·         Seeds
• ·         Fruits
• ·         Stems
• ·         Roots
• ·         Or leaves.

On such food the animals depend for their nutrition. The food that is made comes in forms of carbohydrates (energy giving), proteins (body building), lipids (fats and oils), vitamins (for proper body functioning), and roughages. 

DISCOVER THE VALUE IN DOING PHYSICAL EXERCISE

If you have no time for physical exercise, then prepare for sickness!! Use your body or lose it.  If you don't use your body, you will surely lose it.

If feel burdened in my heart if I do not alert you of the impending disaster that is going to destroy your life if you ignore physical exercise in your life!

Have you seen moody people, sickly ones, dull ones, lazy ones, and the obese?  Chances are many they have ignored / neglected/ under looked this single aspect of physical exercise.

I have personally seen many people die at tender age in the name of heart attacks, blood pressure and many other ailments still because they have ignored physical exercise. 

In Africa not so many people engage in deliberate physical exercises, apart from sports men and women. The African men try to some extent but not the women. However, I have seen the whites do the exercises routinely both men and women.

These exercises take different forms but not limited to: - running, jumping, skipping, digging, riding bicycles, swimming and others. When you do any of them you are putting your body at work.

Friend reading this message, physical exercise is meant for all of us who need to live longer and healthy bodies. It is a good choice to take up. 

There are many of us who work in offices where work requires long hours of sitting, and when it comes to moving we use cars. In addition the office apartments have lifts to move you from one level to the next. This kind of work is desired by many people, but it is a silent killer.

Now, if you want to feel better, have more energy and to live longer, your solution is none but exercise. The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity cannot be ignored.  The young and old, female and male all need physical exercise.  

 Exercise controls weight. Engaging into physical exercise is a measure to prevent excess weight gain and a tool to maintain weight loss. You burn extra calories when you engage in physical activity. The more you carry out the activity, the more calories you burn. The extra calories would instead cause you to fatten.

Learn about the human brain structure, functions of its parts and general functions of the brain.

THE HUMAN BRAIN
The brain is one of the largest and most complex organs in the human body. The brain is however very delicate. Any damage to it is serious to the body in general. The brain is surrounded by a layer of tissue called the meninges. Meninges protect the brain from shock. The skull (cranium) helps protect the brain from physical (mechanical) injuries.

The brain is made up of more than 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) that coordinate body activities. Since body organs do not work in isolation, there activities have to be coordinated. This coordination is real communication.

Humans need to be aware of what is happening around them and within their bodies.  This communication is done by the nervous system and the hormonal system.

The brain deals with electro-chemical messages called nerve impulses. The nerve impulses are generated when different stimuli are perceived by body sense organs.

The sense organs we have include;-
Eyes –for light perception (seeing).
Ears –for sound perception (hearing) and body balance.
Skin – for temperature and touch.
Nose – for smell.
Tongue- for tasting.

THE HUMAN BRAIN

The brain is located in the head. Because it is very delicate, it is protected by the cranium (skull), a very strong bone. It is connected to all body parts by a system of nerves.

 The nerves are of three types: - the sensory, relay and motor nerves.
Sensory nerves- carry messages to the brain.
Relay nerves- are involved in interpretation of information
Motor nerves- effects the necessary changes (responses).

“A brain that is not exercised (dull brain) rusts!’’
The brain is a very important organ in our lives.
 It directs ones, way.
There is a common saying which says “as he thinks, so he is.”

If the brain is fed with correct information, it will produce right things.
The brain is very important in decision making.
The brain stores information and the information can be retrieved when it is needed.
Like a hard disc is present in a computer, the brain is present in the human body.