Cholera, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Plague, Tuberculosis, Dengue Fever, Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Smallpox, Chickenpox, and many more diseases are commonly seen in India. Almost all of us fall sick now and then, as if we have a pattern to follow. Newborn babies, small kids and children are more vulnerable to fall ill, and when they fall sick, the first thing their parents do is to visit a doctor, a dozen of tablets and, at times, an injection is given to help recover soon. Teenagers, youngsters and adults are stable and they fall sick rarely, and when they fall sick, they try to fight with their immunity first, and only if they fail, they pay a visit to a specialist, where they will asked to take a blood test, and a dozen of other tests to identify the disease and given tablets to recover soon. Old people are more often fall sick and they live on medicines. Unlike the above, there are people who end up in cancer, AIDS, and all other unknown diseases, which we have one ultimate result death.
Life of a human being is not as sweet as we read in books. We fight with a lot of enemies every day without our knowledge. Sometimes we win and most of the times we lose. The reason behind that is simple – immune system – that protects us like our army men do and at times, fails before a powerful enemy. In such cases, we seek the help of medicines to rebuild our army again. But did we ever analyse why did we fail? I suppose No.
In how many houses, our grandfather and grandmother falls sick? Less, very less I believe. They stay healthy despite their age and body, they walk faster than we could; they are fit than we are. It is because, in 60’s and 70’s, a mother breastfeed her child till he or she turns five, they drank Raagi Kanji (Raagi Porridge), they ate Koolu Urundai and they worked in their farms under the sunlight. Their body was a weapon to fight with many unknown enemies, a tool to accomplish tasks, a flower when it comes to love. In 80’s people were a bit more cautious, they drank milk mixed with a pinch of turmeric, they ate spinach regularly, and they had a proper food structure, which provided them enough nutrients for their body to function properly.
Nowadays less than a year old babies are suffering from Dengue Fever, Malarial Fever, and several other diseases...kids suffer, all because of one reason. Immunity System…today’s children are more vulnerable to diseases because they lack immunity system. They are not breastfeed like us for years; they are not given Ayurveda products like us; they do not live in an environment like us, they are not like us at all. They are weak, terribly poor immune system and are likely to be attacked.
They say, “வைத்தியனுக்கு கொடுப்பதை வாணியனுக்குக் கொடு” I second that. My manager’s baby girl was suffering from fever, which was later found to be Dengue, made him go on leave for three months to take care of the baby. His doctor labelled them as careless parents. He was shocked, “Careless parents?” He loved his precious baby girl a lot. He took care of her more than his better half did, and then he realized that lack of breastfeed is the major reason for his baby’s poor immune system. Along with that, one must eat a healthy food and that’s mom made. Green leaf, green vegetables, carrot, beetroot, broccoli, orange, apple, banana constitute a good diet. Children when growing must eat these instead of eating at McD’s and KFC’s. Make it a habit.
Kids should be allowed to sleep for a good amount of time. How many of us allow kids to sleep peacefully? I believe right from their kindergarten kids are developing of habit of sleeping for six hours due to the busy schedule. I strongly suggest kids to sleep for at least 8 hours per day. In our times, we used to play round the clock, but nowadays kids sit for hours before PS3’s. It makes them dull, creates eyesight problem and deteriorates their briskness. Parents should encourage their kids to play outdoor games like cricket, football, hockey, kho-kho, kabbadi, etc. It helps them grow faster and stronger.
It is our duty to ensure that our children have a healthy environment, which helps to develop a strong foundation and a body that is built on strong immune system. The secret of building such an immune India is simple. Breastfeed babies, proper food structure, outdoor games, exercise, and a healthy mind!
Stay healthy. Stay smiling.
I badly needed an alternative so that I escape in office parties. That’s when one of my colleagues introduced me to Bacardi Breezer in an office party. His favourite flavour was cranberry, but then he advised me to taste Jamaican Passion, as he thought that it would suit me the most.
