What is it with dark circles? Nine out of ten people you see walking on the roads (or sometimes, even ten out of ten!) have them and there is absolutely nothing one can do about it. Or so it seems. Plus, with the kind of lifestyles we lead nowadays, it really isn’t possible to sleep for an entire eight hours at a stretch, which is recommended as the only treatment for these dark circles and sometimes even that doesn’t work!

But we simply can’t have those dark circles making ugly blotches on our faces, now can we! After all the pains we take with our appearance, the mere thought of dark circles just drives us mad not only that, when there are ways and means to eliminate them to a certain extent, then why not make use of them?

Yup, you read that right, it is actually quite possible to get rid of those killer dark circles, which everyone wants to avoid like the plague! You can reduce them considerably and let your concealer take care of the rest of the work for you! After all, that is what they are for!

There are a number of remedies for this condition. The best one, in my opinion, is the use of overnight facial masques. These work wonders for puffiness and discoloration. You can either buy the ones which are readily available, or make your own at home.

Right before you go to bed, get hold of a washcloth and then wet it with chilled water. Then, all you have to do is squeeze out any excess water and then place the cloth over your eyes as you sleep. It is as simple as that!

Another thing you can do, on a daily basis is apply cool tea bags and cucumber slices to your eyes daily. Teabags contain tannin which is a pigment that has actually been proved to decrease puffiness, swelling and discoloration.

Cucumber slices are an age old remedy for the reduction of puffiness, as we all know quite well. You just need to devote fifteen minutes to this entire process and you’ll be as good as new!

Changing your eating habits can also have a significant impact on your dark circles. A lot of times, dark circles are caused due to poor mineral and vitamin absorption. This generally occurs if you are used to a diet which is poor in antioxidants and we all know what you need to do – drink green tea and keep those fruits and veggies coming! Also reducing your intake of salt might help with the puffiness.

Last, but not the least, if you can, do get enough sleep. That is the BEST remedy for this condition.

A vast majority of the people of the world want to lose weight, in comparison to the number of people who want to gain weight. But, believe it or not, gaining weight is an absolute necessity for people who are too skinny. In fact, though a lot of us would love to have a super fast metabolism, like these skinny people, you must realize that being underweight makes you look as bad as being overweight does.

The term painfully skinny comes to mind when you look at celebs like Victoria Beckham, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know too many people who aspire to look like that! A lot of people try really hard to gain weight, but they simply can’t, or gain weight in the form of flab, which looks just plain ugly!

Gaining weight in the proper manner is as difficult, if not more as losing weight. When people talk about weight gain, they think they can have it easy and eat whatever they like. But that just leads to disproportionate weight gain in the form of fat. For example, you might end up with those skinny limbs, but a big tummy!

Firstly, here’s a revelation – you need to work out! Yup, in order to gain weight too, you need to work your body! But, unlike in a weight loss plan, a weight gain plan would involve short workouts of really high intensity. Alternate this with periods of low stress activity and watch the changes take place in your body.

Now, my friend, it might take a pretty long time to see significant results because gaining weight is as hard as losing it, but you need to be extremely consistent. Keep at it and any time you need motivation, just go look in the mirror! Another tip to keep in mind is that you need to intensity your workouts. Have your trainer customize a workout which is centered on gaining muscle mass, so no aerobics for you!

When you’re gorging on food, be sure to increase the amount of protein you consume as this will help in you gaining that much desired muscle mass. At the same time, don’t decrease your intake of fats and calories because that is what will provide the energy for muscle building.

Eating small, high calorie snacks also helps. Just don’t automatically associate the term high calorie with junk food. You need to eat healthy food! Muffins, smoothies, fruits (including ones with high glycemic index such as mangoes) are the way to go. Last, but not the least, never lose sight of your goal, because if you give up, then you can be rest assured that you won’t make it!

Women have been blessed with the greatest gift of all – the ability to create life. It is an immensely beautiful experience and every woman looks forward to it. Pregnancy does help you create new life, but at the same time, it also does its fair share to make your body look a whole lot uglier. The pounds which you pile on don’t just magically vanish after pregnancy; you need to get rid of them.

Most new mothers are more than eager to see the back of their maternity clothes. In their haste women get quite reckless and take drastic measures which have disastrous consequences on their still delicate bodies. Everyone wants to be like Giselle Bundchen, but they can’t! Most celebrity mothers who seem to magically shed their flab overnight have a team of doctors, dietitians and caretakers to look after their every tiny need, you don’t have the luxury for that so you really do need to take things slowly.

Did you know that it takes a period of up to six months to get your body back to normal and to fully recover from the strain of pregnancy? So don’t look to celebrity mothers as your source of inspiration for a postpartum weight loss spree. You’ll probably end up killing yourself!

Moreover, if you start cutting calories like no one’s business, you’re going to have a hard time looking after your baby. Give birth is an exhausting process and if you don’t give your body the necessary fuel it needs to recover from all that strain, it is going to take an even longer period of time for you to get back to normal. Coupled with this, is the heavy toll that taking care of an infant inevitably takes on your daily life. People barely get any sleep at night! So it is important to eat to keep up your strength.

Plus, if you are at the stage where you are breast feeding your child, you need to be eating about five hundred odd extra calories every single day so as to produce the necessary eight hundred and fifty ml of milk for your baby! In fact, the more you eat, the better for your baby, especially if you are underweight.

You definitely don’t want to risk your baby’s life in your bid to look good.
Following a hectic and vigorous exercise regimen after you give birth is probably not the smartest thing you can do. In fact, you might end up being unable to take care of your baby!

But do ensure that you start including light activities such as walking for half an hour every other day as soon as you feel up to it after you give birth. We don’t want your body getting lazy, now do we?

Slowly and gradually, increase the amount of time you devote to exercise every day and change your food habits so that you’re eating a healthy, low cal menu every day. Nothing can stop you from getting back in shape if you do so!

Staying healthy while you’re a student is of utmost importance. The kind of life you lead as a student is sure to influence the kind of lifestyle you are exposed to as you get older. Contrary to what people believe, the life of a student isn’t easy.

In fact, it is far from it! Hours and hours of classes, working part time to earn pocket money, studying and completing assignments…it’s a dog’s life!

The amount of stress that students have to deal with on a regular basis these days is not a matter of joke. Plus, if you aren’t mentally and physically fit, you can’t really do all the things you’re supposed to, in order to shape your career. So what does one do to relieve stress?

There are quite a few techniques for getting rid of stress which sits on the shoulders of students like a suffocating cloak. First off, you need to be positive. If you have a couple of hours to complete your assignment, BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN COMPLETE IT and submit it on time. If you do so, you’ll see that astonishingly, things will work out! After all, what have you got to lose? Being negative never got anyone anything.

When you feel as though you can’t concentrate because of all that stress, take a little break, a short one, and paint a picture on your mental canvas which is designed to bring you relief from stress; a tranquil picture, which soothes your frayed nerves. It could be anything…the sun shining down on a little country village or even a rising sun. Absolutely anything will work.

Breathing exercises are also a great stress buster, but the problem is getting yourself to do them. Establishing a routine in which you make sure to accommodate the time for your breathing exercises is a must. More importantly, you need to stick to it! Try the “Pranayam”, it’s a meditation technique which works wonders. I speak from experience, trust me!

Another thing which students almost unfailingly tend to do is not get enough sleep! I cannot emphasize enough the need for the good old eight hours of sleep. Sleep reduces your stress levels and hence increases your efficiency to do just about anything, so why give it the miss? Last, but not the least, try listening to tranquil music…trance or something equally relaxing, it really helps! Enjoy a healthy, stress-free student life! Good luck!

Protection is really important. As we all know, neglecting it has lead to devastating consequences time and again. Why give birth to a life if you only want to snuff it out like a candle in the wind? Isn’t it better to just prevent it? Who likes feeling like a murderer? I know I don’t.

The most common form of protection used is Condoms. Birth control pills comes a close second. But are those birth control pills which you keep popping with abandon, safe? Ever thought about that? I’m guessing that’s a no! Birth control pills might be great for preventing a new life, but it’s not so great for your body, trust me.

Let’s start with the most harmless side effect: Depression. Research shows that women who regularly use birth control pills have a 17.6% chance of suffering from depression as opposed to the 9.8% in non users? Shocking, isn’t it? Though depression itself doesn’t have any dangerous consequences, being in a constant state of depression might actually lead you to take drastic measures which you regret later on.

Closely interrelated with depression is mood swings. Women who use birth control pills fall prey to sudden mood swings. In fact, when you’re taking birth control pills, you’re actually bringing about an influx of hormones in your body. So it’s like being in a state of constant PMS.

A study shows that 57% of the users had mood swings, up to 63% are irritable and 65% are irrational and cry at the drop of a hat! Don’t know about you, but I really don’t think a few minutes of pleasure are worth all that!

Moreover, if you suddenly decide to chance your birth control pill you are likely to experience serious side effects and I’m not just talking about the ones mentioned above. I’m also talking about sexual side effects, of the adverse kind. You might experience lowered libido or other such undesirable side effects.

Birth control pills have serious physical side effects too. Users suffer from nausea, bloating and dizziness; not to mention the severe headaches associated with these pills. In extreme cases, there might even be formation of breast lumps, so you really need to be careful before you start using these pills.

Delayed and irregular periods too are not an uncommon side effect, along with hair loss and changes in the rate of hair growth. So think twice before popping that pill.