Every thing about Jeera

Jeera:

Jeera/Cumin (belongs to the Apiaceae family) seeds are very famous for their medicinal benefits having spicy flavour and slightly bitter taste. It has a strong phytochemical compound called as the cuminaldehyde (4-isopropylbenzaldehyde) which gives it a pungent aroma as well as the hot and spicy taste. Generally, in India it is used to fry the soups, curries, sauces and etc to get the aromatic and yummy taste. It has lots of pharmacological effects on the human body health because of its medicinal properties including anti-tumour, anti-diabetic, anti-epileptic, Immunologic, antimicrobial and etc activities. In the southern regions (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) of the India, drinking jeera water regularly for the medicinal purposes is very famous. They say that jeera works as the medicine, spice and food which are used in many home remedies.

Benefits of Jeera (Cumin)

• Drinking luke warm jeera water is considered as to rehydrate the human body and keep refresh all the time.
• It helps in improving the saliva secretion, enhancing appetite and relieving the digestive disorders.
• It also provides relief from the chills, reduce swellings, relieve breathing difficulties, regulate bowel movements, relief joint infections, treat umbilical hernia, treat intestinal diseases, eyes problems and toothache.
• It helps to get rid from the constant crying in the children.
• Eating cumin seeds in food and drink its water improves the breast feeding in the lactating mother.
• It manages the proper blood content in the body and lowers the blood sugar level in the blood.
• Because of its richness in the iron content, it helps in treating the anaemia by maintaining the haemoglobin content of the blood.
• It increases the blood haemoglobin level thus enhances the oxygen carrying capacity of the cells throughout the body.
• Jeera/Cumin seeds act as a good bronchodilator and have a compound called Thymoquinone which helps in reducing the inflammations and treating asthma.
• It is a very good anti-oxidant spice which fights with the free radicals in the body and enhances the body immunity to better fights with all the infections.
• It is very beneficial for the women of all age group as it helps in maintaining the healthy menstrual cycle.
• It is very effective against the cancer and prevents from the colon, stomach, liver and breast cancer as it contains the variety of anti-carcinogenic agents such as thymol, dithymoquinone, thymoquinone, thymohydroquinone and anti-oxidants like eugenol and limonene.
• Jeera seeds are rich in the Vitamin C and have anti fungal properties thus aids in curing the cold including other respiratory problems.
• It also helps in maintaining the kidney health and metabolism process.
• Starting every morning with a glass of jeera water helps to fight with the various disorders such as morning sickness, diarrhoea, flatulence, nausea, dyspepsia, malabsorption syndrome as it helps in stimulating the secretion of enzymes which breaks the carbohydrate, glucose and fat.
• Drinking jeera water is very advantageous for the major organs like liver, stomach and kidney.
• Soak a tsf of jeera in a glass of water for the entire night and drink it in morning, it facilitates the bile production by the liver which relieves from the bloating, acidity, abdominal gas and etc.
• Jeera water clears up the respiratory passage by diluting all the collected mucous in chest. It acts as an antiseptic which kills the microorganisms and prevents from the cold, cough and fever.
• Regular intake of jeera water helps in treating the sleep disorder and enhances the sound sleep.
• Taking jeera water with some ginger soothes the sore throat.
• It is rich in the flavonoid phenolic anti-oxidants like zea-xanthin, carotenes and lutein which have lots of beneficial effects on the body.
• It enhances the brainpower and sharpens the memory and intelligence.
• It maintains the health of the digestive tract and excretory system.
• It speeds up the digestive processes and reduces the risk of piles.
• Potassium content available in the jeera maintains the blood pressure and heart rate thus prevents from the hypertension.

Benefits of Jeera Powder

• Powdered cumin is a very good laxative and has anti fungal and anti microbial properties, thus enhances the wounds healing process.
• Using roasted jeera/cumin powder in the recipe helps in treating the diarrhoea, support the stomach muscles, remove intestinal gas problems, enhance urination as well as increase the sexual desire.

Benefits of Jeera Water

Jeera water has lots of health benefits which includes the following:

Benefits of Jeera Water during Pregnancy

• Jeera is very in the iron which is very good for the pregnant and lactating women.
• It prevents the fetus from various birth defects.
• Roasted cumin seeds enhance the milk secretion in breastfeeding mothers.

Benefits of Jeera Water for Skin

• Jeera seeds are full of dietary fibres which remove the toxic materials in the body and cleanse the skin to make it clean, fresh and rejuvenate.
• It makes the facial skin naturally glowing and healthy.
• It boosts up the skin functioning and enhances its ability to absorb more essential nutrients to be nourished and healthy.
• It has necessary minerals (potassium, calcium, selenium, copper, manganese) playing vital role in keeping the skin supple, soft and smooth.
• Regular intake of the jeera water in the morning provides enough vitamins (vitamin A, C and E) to the body which nourishes the skin.
• It replenishes the skin and prevents from getting wrinkled thus aids in preventing the premature ageing.
• It acts as a natural remedy to remove acne problem. Applying boiled jeera water regularly on the skin makes it toned, clear and acne-free.
• It soothes the skin by relieving the burning sensation of the skin.

Benefits of Jeera Water for Hair

• Jeera water nourishes the hair follicles and makes it long, flawless, shiny and strong because of its vitamins and minerals contents.
• It nourishes the hair by the root and makes it silky and lustrous.

Benefits of Jeera Water for Weight Loss

It slightly aids in the strategy of the weight management as it stimulates the appetite, removes toxins from the body and treats various digestive disorders including gas and bloating problems.

Benefits of Jeera Water for Men

• Drinking jeera water or tea in the morning (empty stomach) improves the sexual health in the men, enhances the sperm production, controls the heart rate and blood pressure.
• It also helps in treating the erectile dysfunction, low sperm count, premature ejaculation and sperm virility.

Benefits of Cumin Seeds Oil

• Cumin seeds oil extract works as a good stimulant, carminative, anti-oxidant and diuretic.
• It is greatly used for purposes of aroma therapy, massage and scalp treatment to get rid of dandruff.

Nutritional Value of Jeera/Cumin Seeds per 100 g

Energy: 375 Kcal

Dietary Fibre: 10.5 g

Carbohydrates: 44.24 g

Protein: 17.8 g

Fat: 22.27g

Vitamins

Thiamine: 0.628 mg

Riboflavin: 0.32 mg

Pyridoxine: 0.435 mg

Folates: 10 µg

Niacin: 4.58 mg

Vitamin A: 1270 IU

Vitamin C: 7.7 mg

Vitamin K: 5.4 µg

Vitamin E: 3.3 mg

Electrolytes

Sodium: 1788 mg

Potassium: 68 mg

Minerals

Calcium: 931 mg

Phosphorus: 499 mg

Magnesium: 366 mg

Copper: 0.867 mg

Manganese: 3.3 mg

Zinc: 4.8 mg

Iron: 66.36 mg

Phyto-nutrients

Carotene-ß: 762 µg

Lutein-zeaxanthin: 448 µg

Selection and Storage of Cumin Seeds

Buy fresh cumin/jeera seeds by selecting it for the market. Fresh and quality jeera has pleasant yet peppery flavour when pressed between fingers. Try to buy cumin seeds instead of powdered as it may have some contaminated spice mixtures. It can be stored in a dry, cool and dark place in the sealed container for a year.

Disadvantages and Side Effects of Jeera/Cumin

• Jeera has property to lower the blood sugar levels hence during or after the surgery it may interfere with the blood sugar control. Thus it should be avoided 2 weeks before going to the surgery.
• It should be avoided while going on medications for diabetes as it may interact with the cumin.

100 Facts about Human Body

100 Very Cool Facts About The Human Body

The human body is an incredibly complex and intricate system, one that still baffles doctors and researchers on a regular basis despite thousands of years of medical knowledge. As a result, it shouldn’t be any surprise that even body parts and functions we deal with every day have bizarre or unexpected facts and explanations behind them. From sneezes to fingernail growth, here are 100 weird, wacky, and interesting facts about the human body.

The Brain

The human brain is the most complex and least understood part of the human anatomy. There may be a lot we don’t know, but here are a few interesting facts that we’ve got covered.

1. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.
2. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.
3. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or any other encyclopedia for that matter. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes, making your brain’s memory power pretty darn impressive.
4. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. So breathe deep to keep your brain happy and swimming in oxygenated cells.
5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day.Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain power than, say, lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you turn off your brain turns on. Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams.
6. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream. While this may be true, don’t take it as a sign you’re mentally lacking if you can’t recall your dreams. Most of us don’t remember many of our dreams and the average length of most dreams is only 2-3 seconds–barely long enough to register.
7. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. For years scientists and doctors thought that brain and neural tissue couldn’t grow or regenerate. While it doesn’t act in the same manner as tissues in many other parts of the body, neurons can and do grow throughout your life, adding a whole new dimension to the study of the brain and the illnesses that affect it.
8. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.
9. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. That doesn’t mean your head can’t hurt. The brain is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that are plenty receptive to pain and can give you a pounding headache.
10. 80% of the brain is water. Your brain isn’t the firm, gray mass you’ve seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you’re feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

Hair and Nails

While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

11. Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime, longer than a killer whale.
12. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair.Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.
13. Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races, making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.
14. One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzel much more plausible.
15. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.
16. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.
17. Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.
18. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that you’re trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails you’re not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.
19. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.
20. You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.
21. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

Internal Organs

Though we may not give them much thought unless they’re bothering us, our internal organs are what allow us to go on eating, breathing and walking around. Here are some things to consider the next time you hear your stomach growl.

22. The largest internal organ is the small intestine. Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself it wouldn’t fit inside the abdominal cavity.
23. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. No wonder you can feel your heartbeat so easily. Pumping blood through your body quickly and efficiently takes quite a bit of pressure resulting in the strong contractions of the heart and the thick walls of the ventricles which push blood to the body.
24. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. While you certainly shouldn’t test the fortitude of your stomach by eating a razorblade or any other metal object for that matter, the acids that digest the food you eat aren’t to be taken lightly. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal.
25. The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels. To put that in perspective, the distance around the earth is about 25,000 miles, making the distance your blood vessels could travel if laid end to end more than two times around the earth.
26. You get a new stomach lining every three to four days. The mucus-like cells lining the walls of the stomach would soon dissolve due to the strong digestive acids in your stomach if they weren’t constantly replaced. Those with ulcers know how painful it can be when stomach acid takes its toll on the lining of your stomach.
27. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court. In order to more efficiently oxygenate the blood, the lungs are filled with thousands of branching bronchi and tiny, grape-like alveoli. These are filled with microscopic capillaries which oxygen and carbon dioxide. The large amount of surface area makes it easier for this exchange to take place, and makes sure you stay properly oxygenated at all times.
28. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s.The main reason for this is simply that on average women tend to be smaller than men and have less mass to pump blood to. But women’s and men’s hearts can actually act quite differently, especially when experiencing trauma like aheart attack, and many treatments that work for men must be adjusted or changed entirely to work for women.
29. Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions. You may not think much about your liver except after a long night of drinking, but the liver is one of the body’s hardest working, largest and busiest organs. Some of the functions your liver performs are: production of bile, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification.
30. The aorta is nearly the diameter of a garden hose. The average adult heart is about the size of two fists, making the size of the aorta quite impressive. The artery needs to be so large as it is the main supplier of rich, oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
31. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart. For most people, if they were asked to draw a picture of what the lungs look like they would draw both looking roughly the same size. While the lungs are fairly similar in size, the human heart, though located fairly centrally, is tilted slightly to the left making it take up more room on that side of the body and crowding out that poor left lung.
32. You could remove a large part of your internal organs and survive. The human body may appear fragile but it’s possible to survive even with the removal of the stomach, the spleen, 75 percent of the liver, 80 percent of the intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from the pelvic and groin area. You might not feel too great, but the missing organs wouldn’t kill you.
33. The adrenal glands change size throughout life. The adrenal glands, lying right above the kidneys, are responsible for releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In the seventh month of a fetus’ development, the glands are roughly the same size as the kidneys. At birth, the glands have shrunk slightly and will continue to do so throughout life. In fact, by the time a person reaches old age, the glands are so small they can hardly be seen.

Bodily Functions

We may not always like to talk about them, but everyone has to deal with bodily functions on a daily basis. These are a few facts about the involuntary and sometimes unpleasant actions of our bodies.

34. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph. There’s a good reason why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze–that sneeze is rocketing out of your body at close to 100 mph. This is, of course, a good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze.
35. Coughs clock in at about 60 mph. Viruses and colds get spread around the office and the classroom quickly during cold and flu season. With 60 mph coughs spraying germs far and wide, it’s no wonder.
36. Women blink twice as many times as men do. That’s a lot of blinking every day. The average person, man or woman, blinks about 13 times a minute.
37. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball. No wonder you have to run to bathroom when you feel the call of the wild. The average bladder holds about 400-800 cc of fluid but most people will feel the urge to go long before that at 250 to 300 cc.
38. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water. While we might typically think that urine is the liquid part of human wasteproducts, the truth is that what we consider solid waste is actually mostly water as well. You should be thankful that most waste is fairly water-filled, as drier harder stools are what cause constipation and are much harder and sometimes painful to pass.
39. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. With that kind of sweat-producing power it’s no wonder that your gym shoes have a stench that can peel paint. Additionally, men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.
40. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva plays an important part in beginning the digestive process and keeping the mouth lubricated, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis.
41. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.
42. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Sex and Reproduction

As taboo as it may be in some places, sex is an important part of human life as a facet of relationships and the means to reproduce. Here are a few things you might not have known.

43. On any given day, sexual intercourse takes place 120 million times on earth. Humans are a quickly proliferating species, and with about 4% of the world’s population having sex on any given day, it’s no wonder that birth rates continue to increase in many places all over the world.
44. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. While you can’t see skin cells or muscle cells, the ovum is typically large enough to be seen with the naked eye with a diameter of about a millimeter. The sperm cell, on the other hand, is tiny, consisting of little more than nucleus.
45. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Pregnancy hormones can cause mood swings, cravings and many other unexpected changes. Oddly enough, hormones can often affect the types of dreams women have and their vividness. The most common are these three types, but many women also dream of water, giving birth or even have violent or sexually charged dreams.
46. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. While few babies are born with teeth in place, the teeth that will eventually push through the gums of young children are formed long before the child even leaves the womb. At 9 to 12 weeks the fetus starts to form the teeth buds that will turn into baby teeth.
47. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The color of your eyes depends on the genes you get from your parents, but at birth most babies appear to have blue eyes. The reason behind this is the pigment melanin. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.
48. Babies are, pound for pound, stronger than an ox. While a baby certainly couldn’t pull a covered wagon at its present size, if the child were the size of an oxen it just might very well be able to. Babies have especially strong and powerful legs for such tiny creatures, so watch out for those kicks.
49. One out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born. Nursing mothers may cringe at this fact. Sometimes the tooth is a regular baby tooth that has already erupted and sometimes it is an extra tooth that will fall out before the other set of choppers comes in.
50. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. When only a small fraction of the way through its development, a fetus will have already developed one of the most unique human traits: fingerprints. At only 6-13 weeks of development, the whorls of what will be fingerprints have already developed. Oddly enough, those fingerprints will not change throughout the person’s life and will be one of the last things to disappear after death.
51. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. All life has to begin somewhere, and even the largest humans spent a short part of their lives as a single celled organism when sperm and egg cells first combine. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
52. Most men have erections every hour to hour and a half during sleep. Most people’s bodies and minds are much more active when they’re sleeping than they think. The combination of blood circulation and testosterone production can cause erections during sleep and they’re often a normal and necessary part of REM sleep.

Senses

The primary means by which we interact with the world around us is through our senses. Here are some interesting facts about these five sensory abilities.

53. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp. If you’re heading to a concert or a musical after a big meal you may be doing yourself a disservice. Try eating a smaller meal if you need to keep your hearing pitch perfect.
54. About one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. Glasses and contact wearers are hardly alone in a world where two thirds of the population have less than perfect vision. The amount of people with perfect vision decreases further as they age.
55. If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it. In order for foods, or anything else, to have a taste, chemicals from the substance must be dissolved by saliva. If you don’t believe it, try drying off your tongue before tasting something.
56. Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life. Studies have shown that women are more able to correctly pinpoint just what a smell is. Women were better able to identify citrus, vanilla, cinnamon and coffee smells. While women are overall better smellers, there is an unfortunate 2% of the population with no sense of smell at all.
57. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. While a bloodhound’s nose may be a million times more sensitive than a human’s, that doesn’t mean that the human sense of smell is useless. Humans can identify a wide variety of scents and many are strongly tied to memories.
58. Even small noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate. It is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise. The sound causes their pupils to change focus and blur their vision, making it harder to do their job well.
59. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins.Newborns are able to recognize the smell of their mothers and many of us can pinpoint the smell of our significant others and those we are close to. Part of that smell is determined by genetics, but it’s also largely do to environment, diet and personal hygiene products that create a unique chemistry for each person.

Aging and Death

From the very young to the very old, aging is a necessary and unavoidable part of life. Learn about the process with these interesting, if somewhat strange facts.

60. The ashes of a cremated person average about 9 pounds. A big part of what gives the human body weight is the water trapped in our cells. Once cremated, that water and a majority of our tissues are destroyed, leaving little behind.
61. Nails and hair do not continue to grow after we die. They do appear longer when we die, however, as the skin dehydrates and pulls back from the nail beds and scalp.
62. By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do. Older individuals tend to lose their ability to taste, and many find that they need much more intense flavoring in order to be able to fully appreciate a dish.
63. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. When babies look up at you with those big eyes, they’re the same size that they’ll be carrying around in their bodies for the rest of their lives. Their ears and nose, however, will grow throughout their lives and research has shown that growth peaks in seven year cycles.
64. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. If you’ve ever been kept awake by a snoring loved one you know the sound can be deafening. Normal snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, intense snores can reach more than 80 decibels, the approximate level caused by a jackhammer breaking up concrete.
65. A baby’s head is one-quarter of it’s total length, but by age 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. As it turns out, our adorably oversized baby heads won’t change size as drastically as the rest of our body. The legs and torso will lengthen, but the head won’t get much longer.

Disease and Injury

Most of us will get injured or sick at some point in our lives. Here are some facts on how the human body reacts to the stresses and dangers from the outside world.

66. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest. Yet another reason to loathe Mondays! A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.
67. Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. While you might feel better prepared to stay up all night partying than to give up eating, that feeling will be relatively short lived. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.
68. A simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels extensively. How extensively? Studies have shown that it can take four to fifteen months for them to return to their normal condition. Consider that the next time you’re feeling too lazy to apply sunscreen before heading outside.
69. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress. That high stress job you have could be doing more than just wearing you down each day. It could also be increasing your chances of having a variety of serious medical conditions like depression, high blood pressure and heart disease.
70. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. While it might be gross to think about, the blood in the head may be enough to keep someone alive and conscious for a few seconds after the head has been separated from the body, though reports as to the accuracy of this are widely varying.

Muscles and Bones

Muscles and Bones provide the framework for our bodies and allow us to jump, run or just lie on the couch. Here are a few facts to ponder the next time you’re lying around.

71. It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Unless you’re trying to give your face a bit of a workout, smiling is a much easier option for most of us. Anyone who’s ever scowled, squinted or frowned for a long period of time knows how it tires out the face which doesn’t do a thing to improve your mood.
72. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. The reason for this is that many of the bones of children are composed of smaller component bones that are not yet fused like those in the skull. This makes it easier for the baby to pass through the birth canal. The bones harden and fuse as the children grow.
73. We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. The cartilage between our bones gets compressed by standing, sitting and other daily activities as the day goes on, making us just a little shorter at the end of the day than at the beginning.
74. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. While you may not be able to bench press much with your tongue, it is in fact the strongest muscle in your body in proportion to its size. If you think about it, every time you eat, swallow or talk you use your tongue, ensuring it gets quite a workout throughout the day.
75. The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. The next time someone suggests you take it on the chin, you might be well advised to take their advice as the jawbone is one of the most durable and hard to break bones in the body.
76. You use 200 muscles to take one step. Depending on how you divide up muscle groups, just to take a single step you use somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 muscles. That’s a lot of work for the muscles considering most of us take about 10,000 steps a day.
77. The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself. If you’ve ever chipped a tooth you know just how sadly true this one is. The outer layer of the tooth is enamel which is not a living tissue. Since it’s not alive, it can’t repair itself, leaving your dentist to do the work instead.
78. It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it. Lazy people out there shouldn’t use this as motivation to not work out, however. It’s relatively easy to build new muscle tissue and get your muscles in shape, so if anything, this fact should be motivation to get off the couch and get moving.
79. Bone is stronger than some steel. This doesn’t mean your bones can’t break of course, as they are much less dense than steel. Bone has been found to have a tensile strength of 20,000 psi while steel is much higher at 70,000 psi. Steel is much heavier than bone, however, and pound for pound bone is the stronger material.
80. The feet account for one quarter of all the human body’s bones. You may not give your feet much thought but they are home to more bones than any other part of your body. How many? Of the two hundred or so bones in the body, the feet contain a whopping 52 of them.

Microscopic Level

Much of what takes place in our bodies happens at a level that we simply can’t see with the naked eye. These facts will show you that sometimes that might be for the best.

81. About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home.Germaphobes don’t need to worry however, as a majority of these are entirely harmless and some are even helpful in maintaining a healthy body.
82. Humans shed and regrow outer skin cells about every 27 days.Skin protects your delicate internal organs from the elements and as such, dries and flakes off completely about once a month so that it can maintain its strength. Chances are that last month’s skin is still hanging around your house in the form of the dust on your bookshelf or under the couch.
83. Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute. While that sounds like a lot, it’s really just a small fraction of the cells that are in the human body. Estimates have placed the total number of cells in the body at 10-50 trillion so you can afford to lose a few hundred million without a hitch.
84. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. You may not think much about losing skin if yours isn’t dry or flaky or peeling from a sunburn, but your skin is constantly renewing itself and shedding dead cells.
85. Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells. Your body not only needs energy to keep your organs up and running but also to constantly repair and build new cells to form the building blocks of your body itself.
86. Every tongue print is unique. If you’re planning on committing a crime, don’t think you’ll get away with leaving a tongue print behind. Each tongue is different and yours could be unique enough to finger you as the culprit.
87. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long.Anyone who has ever tasted blood knows that it has a slightly metallic taste. This is due to the high levels of iron in the blood. If you were to take all of this iron out of the body, you’d have enough to make a small nail and very severe anemia.
88. The most common blood type in the world is Type O. Blood banks find it valuable as it can be given to those with both type A and B blood. The rarest blood type, A-H or Bombay blood due to the location of its discovery, has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered.
89. Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. This explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather. Cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker color.

Miscellaneous

Here are a few things you might not have known about all different parts of your anatomy.

90. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. It isn’t entirely clear to scientists why this is the case, but if you are opposed to having nightmares you might want to keep yourself a little toastier at night.
91. Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. This is to your advantage, as the mucus that lines your nose and throat, as well as the tears that wet your eyes are helping to prevent bacteria from infecting those areas and making you sick.
92. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. If you’ve seen the Matrix you are aware of the energy potentially generated by the human body. Our bodies expend a large amount of calories keeping us at a steady 98.6 degrees, enough to boil water or even cook pasta.
93. Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren’t. The chemicals and hormones released when you are afraid could be having unseen effects on your body in the form of earwax. Studies have suggested that fear causes the ears to produce more of the sticky substance, though the reasons are not yet clear.
94. It is not possible to tickle yourself. Even the most ticklish among us do not have the ability to tickle ourselves. The reason behind this is that your brain predicts the tickle from information it already has, like how your fingers are moving. Because it knows and can feel where the tickle is coming from, your brain doesn’t respond in the same way as it would if someone else was doing the tickling.
95. The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your armspan is a pretty good estimator of your height.
96. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears. In the animal world, humans are the biggest crybabies, being the only animals who cry because they’ve had a bad day, lost a loved one, or just don’t feel good.
97. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. This doesn’t have a genetic basis, but is largely due to the fact that a majority of the machines and tools we use on a daily basis are designed for those who are right handed, making them somewhat dangerous for lefties to use and resulting in thousands of accidents and deaths each year.
98. Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men.
99. Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands. Studies on primates have suggested that even cloned individuals have uniquefingerprints.
100. The indentation in the middle of the area between the nose and the upper lip has a name. It is called the philtrum. Scientists have yet to figure out what purpose this indentation serves, though the ancient Greeks thought it to be one of the most erogenous places on the body

Important facts India

Know 44 Important Facts about India

Know 44 Important Facts about India -

1.
India covers an area of 32, 87,263 sq. km.



2.
India is 7th largest country in the world

3.
Countries having a common border with India are Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west, China, Bhutan and Nepal to the north, Myanmar to the east and Bangladesh to the east of West Bengal.

4.
Sri Lanka is separated from India by sea




5.
The river systems of India can be classified into four groups viz., (i) Himalayan rivers, (ii) Deccan rivers, (iii) Coastal rivers, and (iv) Rivers of the inland drainage basin.

6.
India Climate Type - tropical monsoon

7.
Seasons 4 - (i) winter (January-February), (ii) hot weather summer (March-May); (iii) rainy south-western monsoon (June-September) and (iv) post-monsoon

8.
India’s climate is affected by two seasonal winds - the north-east monsoon and the south-west monsoon.

9.
north-east monsoon or winter monsoon – blows from land to sea

10.
south-west monsoon or summer monsoon – blows from sea to land , brings rainfall

11.
The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with its headquarters in Kolkata and 16 regional stations is responsible for surveying the faunal resources of India.

12.
India accounts for only 2.4 per cent of the world surface area of 135.79 million sq km. but we got more than 16 percent of the world population.
We need to reduce population

13.
India has about 18% of world's population and 15% of livestock population to be supported from only 2% geographical area and 1.5% of forest and pasture lands.

14.
The per capita availability of land has declined from 0.89 hectare in 1951 to 0.37 hectare in 1991 and is projected to slide down to 0.20 hectare in 2035.

15.
As far as agricultural land is concerned the per capita availability of land has declined from 0.48 hectare in 1951 to 0.16 hectare in 1991 and is likely to decline further to 0.08 hectare in 2035.



16.
India National Flag - The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July 1947.

17.
THE National flag is a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion.
In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel which represents the ashok chakra. Has 24 spokes.

18.
The Flag Code of India, 2002, has taken effect from 26 January 2002

19.
The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.

20.
In the state emblem, adopted by the Government of India on 26 January 1950, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden from view.

21.
The song Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950.
It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Kolkata Session of the Indian National Congress.

22.
The song Vande Mataram composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji.

23.
First time the song Vande Mataram was sung at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.

24.
Panthera tigris, a striped animal is the national animal of India

25.
The Indian peacock, Pavo cristatus, the national bird of India, is a colorful, swan- sized bird

26.
Lotus (Nelumbo Nucipera Gaertn) is the National Flower of India.

27.
The Banyan Tree (Ficus benghalensis) is the National Tree of India.

28.
Mango (Manigifera indica) is the National fruit of India.

29.
Indian constitution was adopted by Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950.

30.
India comprises 28 States and seven Union Territories. They are: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Union Territories are : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.

31.
The Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 are made by the President of India under Article 77 of the Constitution for the allocation of business of the Government of India.

The Ministries/Departments of the Government are created by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister under these Rules.

32.
The Cabinet Secretariat in terms of provisions of the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 functions directly under the Prime Minister.

33.
The Constitution provides for an independent body known as Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for recruitment to Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ Gazetted posts under Central Government and for advice in various service matters.

The Chairman and members of the Commission are appointed by the President for tenure of six years or till they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

34.
To promote the use of Hindi for the official purposes of the Union, the Department of Official Language was set up in June 1975 as an independent Department.

The Department of official language primarily aims to replace the usage of English language with Hindi in all the Central Government offices through its different activities and programmes.

35.
A Committee of Parliament on Official Language was constituted in 1976 under section 4 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 to periodically review the progress in the use of Hindi as the Official Language of the Union

36.
For every state, there is a legislature which consists of Governor and one House or, two Houses as the case may be. In Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, there are two Houses known as legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) and legislative assembly (Vidhan Sabha) in the remaining states, there is only one House known as legislative assembly.

37.
State legislature has exclusive powers over subjects enumerated in List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and concurrent powers over those enumerated in List III.

38.
The superintendence, direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, elections to Parliament and State Legislatures and elections to the offices of the President and the Vice-President of India are vested in the Election Commission of India.
It is an independent constitutional authority.

39.
Independence of the Election Commission and its insulation from executive interference is ensured by a specific provision under Article 324(5) of the Constitution that the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court and conditions of his service shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.

The term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners is six years from the date he/she assumes office or till the day he/she attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier

40.
The Parliament on 22 March 2003 enacted the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003 and Conduct of Elections (Amendment) Rules, 2003 which came into force with effect from 22 September 2003 .
This gave arm forces to vote using proxy.

41.
India is the third largest producer and consumer of fertilizers in the world after China and the USA.

42.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was established in 1861.
It functions as an attached office of the Department of Culture.

43.
The National Archives of India (NAI), New Delhi known until Independence as Imperial Record Department was originally established in Kolkata on 11 March 1891.

44.
The Central Secretariat Library (CSL) originally known as Imperial Secretariat Library, Kolkata was established in 1891. Since 1969 the Library has been housed at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi.


45.
Maternal deaths are defined as the number of women who die during pregnancy or within 42 days of the termination of pregnancy.
India has reduced MMR significantly from 437 per one-lakh live births in 1999 to 212
maternal death in every six minutes in 2010 to 10 minutes now year 2012

46.
More than 237 million Indians are still living in hunger – Year 2012

Largest Maha Vishnu Temple in World

Angkor Wat

The largest Sri Maha Vishnu Temple in the world

                    Angkor Wat (Cambodia)  is not only the largest Hindu Temple, but also one of the wonders of the word. Yet, unknown to many Hindus all around! An architectural marvel and a piece of world heritage. Indians know more about Taj Mahal and almost nothing about this temple at Angkor Wat. Religion apart, this beautiful temple and it's intricate architectural wonder that signifies a symbol of Science and Mathematics in ancient times. There might not have been any Civil Engineering at that time, but even today the Engineers of Modern days, will have to bet their heads to recreate smething like this. Likewise, there are many wonders which people do not know about. We are lost in Eiffel Tower and things like Egyptian Pyramids, but there are lot more of Indian marvels and structures, in other places - why, even in China, Japan & Singapore also!

                     Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. The largest and best-preserved temple at Angkor, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre- first Hindu, then Buddhist- since its foundation. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors drawn by its architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs and the numerous devatas adorning its walls

 History 

                    The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113-c. 1150). Dedicated to Lord Sri Maha Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city, with the royal palace located between the temple and the north gate, and the city filling the remainder of the outer enclosure. In the 14th or 15th century the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Unusually among Angkor's temples, although Angkor Wat was somewhat neglected after the 16th century and required considerable restoration in the 20th century, it was never completely abandoned. Its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle. During this period the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok, after the posthumous title of Suryavarman. The temple's modern name means "City Temple": Angkor is a vernacular form of the  word nokor which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (capital), while wat is the Khmer word for temple.  

 Conservation efforts at the temple continue, notably the German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP), which endeavors to protect the devatas (or apsaras) and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organization's survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone.

The following Pictures & Photographs shows the main entrance to the Angkor Wat temple proper, seen from the eastern end of the Naga causeway; outside walls of Angkor Wat, main entrance and stretch of water;  Angkor Wat, One of the rare surviving statues, the statue of the god Vishnu with 8 arms. An 1866 photograph of Angkor Wat by Emile Gsell.

These images were sent to me by Sri Ranganathan, from Hyderabad. Since these images surely represents the Hindu & Srivaishnava culture, I reproduce the same for the readers to take a tour! 

TRS Iyengar