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A sweet Coke a Day, takes you closer to the Grave!



The fiery rays of the Sun caressed my skin, immediately I alighted from the Danfo bus which came to a halt at a point in Oshodi. Here I was, in one of the busiest places in Lagos, where humans crisscrossed the roads like ants.

Leaving the screams of the conductors, behind me, I walked forward to where long rickety buses, en route to Ikorodu, were parked.

Luckily, I found a seat in one of these buses that was filling up with passengers, pretty fast. The weather was quite hot that afternoon but my attention wasn't on the heat but on a fellow passenger that sat beside me.

He looked uneasy as he called the attention of a street hawker, with a hiss. Immediately he grabbed the chilled bottle of Coke, he uncapped it and began gulping it down his throat to the very last drop! I stroked my chin as I pondered over this!

**Quick Fact 1**
Roughly 65% of your whole body mass is water! Roughly 80% of your pink, squishy brain is water! Roughly 90% of the blood, flowing in you, is water! And when you lose water, roughly 90% of it must be replenished from what you eat and drink!

From my studies in Medical School, I understood that when the weather is hot, your body will attempt to eliminate internal heat by increasing blood flow to your skin.

To improve heat elimination, your sweat glands will also be stimulated to release water onto your skin, which absorbs and evaporates this heat in your blood.

Now, as water is gradually being lost from you, via sweating and breathing, a point is reached when you become really thirsty.

What do you do when thirst comes knocking? Grab a sweetened drink, like my bus partner did or have a chilled bottle of clean water, which your body cries for?

I must admit that one of the untold factors that contributes to the development of life-threatening chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes & hypertension, is Water Drought!

This is a situation where your body loses more water than it receives. Sadly, the consumption of soft or hard drinks, worsens the situation by dehydrating you further.

What more? Numerous studies have shown that regular consumption of soft drinks leads to premature aging, tooth decay, heartburn, asthma, premature birth, kidney stones, liver damage among other serious issues!

**Quick Fact 2**
Sugar is addictive and can lead to oxidative stress. A 60cl bottle of Coke, Fanta or Pepsi contains at least 50g or 10 spoons of sugar! That's 30 spoons or more if you drink 3 bottles, today!

A sweetened drink, a day, takes you closer to the Grave! However, you can turn the table around and begin experiencing a longer, stronger and happier life when you observe the Rules of Smart Drinking that make up the 2nd Law of Diet.

For the sake of brevity, I'll share just 2, of about 18 rules available, relevant to this newsletter.

Firstly, when you are thirsty, drink water and nothing else. If you are already addicted to soft drinks, don't abruptly stop consuming them to avoid the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Instead, cut down your intake over time!

Secondly, when you are hungry, don't eat but drink water or consume a fruit with high-water content, such as watermelon. Your body usually confuses hunger with thirst so when you feel hungry at an unusual time, it's most likely your body asking for water. Listen to it!

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How Deep Breathing Suppresses The ENEMY Within You

Series | | Final Episode

I'll never forget a certain experience, which happened to me many years back though it still feels like it was just a day ago.

With my slim "chinos" trousers and tucked-in, sleeveless shirt, that lacked a tie, I sat in a large hall, at campus with about 100 medical students, watching group representatives, walk towards the stage to do their presentations.

As the time drew near for me to represent my group and speak to the crowd of students, I began drowning in the pool of trepidation. I could hear my heart, beating out loud, like a steel hammer.

I walked to the stage which did lack a microphone and a projector and began offloading words. Then it happened!

As I looked at the faces of the students, who either stared blankly or appeared sleepy, I caught talker's block. I opened my mouth and words no longer came out! The second speaker had to step in to resume our group's presentation.

I must admit that you and I are truly a masterpiece of creation, physically equipped with as many as 10 bodily systems which work perfectly together to ensure our survival on Earth.

One of the systems, that relates to this topic; the one that was responsible for me, getting cold feet before the crowd, is the Nervous System (N.S).

Simply put, the N.S, comprising your brain, spinal cord and countless miles of nerve cells and tissues, collectively work to coordinate, at the speed of light, your body's response to external events.

Now, when you encounter a situation that threatens your survival, a certain part of your N.S, known as the Sympathetic or the Fight-Or-Flight System, is instantly activated.

On the obvious surface, your breathing rate hastens, your heart beats up like a loud drum, your skin turns pale, your muscles become jittery and your eye pupils dilate.

Below the surface, your cardiovascular system diverts greater amounts of blood to the organs in you that need to be supercharged, such as your brain & muscles, so you can fight or flee away from the "threat".

As a result, food digestion slows down, reproductive function ceases, your kidneys halt urine production and your immune system weakens.

Ultimately, billions of cells, that make you up, needed for the fight or flight, are supercharged and grow weaker as they consume tons of stored energy.

Now, this cascade of bodily events is crucial when faced with a situation that requires your urgent response in just a short time. Sadly, we are no longer in a world of cavemen whose N.S helped them successfully fight or flee away from wild animals.

We are now in a world where the enemy is no longer out there but within us; a world where we give negative, heart-wrenching meanings to our daily experiences.

Our body really doesn't know the difference between what kills us emotionally and what kills us physically so it just activates the N.S so we "survive".

Now, imagine the havoc this causes in every cell within us, as every hour is spent fighting an enemy that doesn't exist. A havoc that culminates into chronic diseases and eventually, untimely death!

Cutting to the chase, Deep breathing is vital in switching your body from the sympathetic state of restlessness to the parasympathetic state of calmness!

The human body is really not a divided many but a united whole. So, when you deliberately take a deep breath, you pass a message to every cell in you, across all the bodily systems, that there is no cause for alarm!

Consequently, your cells are able to replenish their energy as normal, bodily functions resume. This then puts you, on the path to a longer and stronger life.

So, yet another amazing way, deep breathing can lengthen your days on Earth is by switching your body to a state of calmness, needed for optimum health!

The PEACE Booster, from the stables of RED Hub is available to help you make a habit of Deep Breathing and consequently enable you live a longer, stronger and happier life!

Wanna know more about it? Let's take a walk to: m.me/RedHealthLover.

I appreciate your time with me, through this exclusive series about Deep Breathing!

Cheers!

Written By Akpan Simon || Human Physiologist.