A Few Points on Safe Driving in a Bad Weather

The most important aspect of driving is to reach the desired destination ALIVE! Hazards come secondary when defying death becomes the main aim during a weather atrocity. Bad Weather can have disastrous effects on certain lives that do not follow the safety precautions while driving. The following are the safety tips for driving amidst such bad weather:

·         Check your VEHICLE thoroughly before you set out. Make sure that the vehicle is fit to withstand the weather; this includes examination of lights, indicators, brakes, tires, wipers, steering wheel and exhaust system for any petty issues that can irritate you on the way. Any major faults should be cleared at the service station instead. Avoid getting stranded without fuel, plan in advance where you will refuel. Most importantly, the vehicle must not be overloaded.

·         Plan your ROUTE in advance and inform about it to a responsible friend or family member who is not travelling with you. This should be done before starting to travel. Updates about the course of the journey should also be given if possible. This keeps them alert and you have somebody to ask for help if you get stuck just nearby a safe location. Finally inform them on reaching the destination safely.

·         WEATHER reports should be checked for the areas along the route that you will be driving through before leaving the home. It is particularly important for you to be updated about the current scenario. This helps you getting prepared for the possible risk of driving in heavy rain or snow. While driving, turn on the car’s radio to a station that will alert you about any approaching dangers like storms in the area.

·         Maintaining a DEFENSIVE behavior not only helps in your own safety but also aids in the safety of other travelers. One needs to avoid distractions such as using your cell phone and focus on the road. Reduce your speed (slow down by 10 miles per hour) below the actual speed limit. Lights should be kept on during any situation with lowered visibility because being visible is another important aspect of safety on the highways.

·         DO NOT expect others to be as obedient to the law as yourself! Dip your headlights before a vehicle approaches within the range of the main beam. Driving on the blind spot of other vehicles or urgent braking should be avoided; these can lead to unexpected collisions. Maintain a safe distance at all times, especially at night and during foggy or snow conditions. Overtake with caution, only when it is absolutely safe to do so.

Carefully evaluate beforehand, whether to follow your travel plan and risk your life or instead let the bad weather to pass. The single most recommended tip to be kept in mind – if you are unable to handle your vehicle safely, you should NOT be driving! Once you get that feeling of being uncomfortable, you should STOP your vehicle as soon as you can safely do so. Sometimes uncertainty can be certainly dangerous.

Teeth Brushing Not Once But Twice!

Brushing is usually done once a day in the morning before breakfast, but one should also develop and maintain the habit of brushing before going to the bed at night. Brushing not only helps us in keeping our teeth clean and odorless but also makes us feel fresh. As individuals we need to be presentable everywhere we go and our smile play an important role in this. Teeth easily become visible when a person smiles and a good smile needs clean white teeth which provide a naturally presentable look to our face. Teeth play a more important role in our daily nutrition by chewing the food that we eat. Teeth also help in the process of our metabolism by breaking down our food during the process of ingestion. Thus it becomes quite important for us to maintain the good habit of brushing every day and possibly twice a day.

                We might think of brushing twice as a simple task but in reality, most of us become lazy after a heavy dinner. The entire day’s work makes us feel tired, leading to a lack of energy and enthusiasm for brushing our teeth. This we might feel like skipping brushing of teeth for that particular day, but as time passes on, we end up brushing twice a day for just 2-3 days in a week. Here some of us may say that our mouth smells bad and needs cleaning mainly in the morning. This is true to some extent, but the smell is due to the improper cleaning done at night. Food particles remain stuck in between our teeth throughout the day’s eating and thus need to be removed by brushing at night before going to the bed. Brushing of teeth is not taken seriously by everyone around us. Many people remain casual about brushing and maintaining their oral hygiene, thus leading to poor consequences such as bad breath, yellowing of teeth, cavities, gum disease and eventually loss of teeth.

The ill effects actually start due to accumulation of plaque or a film or layer of bacteria that grows on surfaces within the mouth. These bacteria depend on simple sugars in our food such as sucrose for their energy needs and grow when left undisturbed (due to irregular and improper brushing). Plaque deposit is initially colorless and odorless but later on it becomes brown or pale yellow and start to have a foul smell. It is usually seen between the teeth, on the front of teeth, behind teeth or along the gum line. Plaque is the main cause of tooth decay and gum diseases. Different people experience different symptoms depending on their oral conditions. Common symptoms include toothache, bad breath, difficulty in eating; whereas in extreme cases there can bleeding gums, inflammation around the tooth, infection or abscess formation and tooth loss. We must not ignore the fact that even the initial symptoms like bad breath and pain can cause a lot of anxiety and distress in individuals.

We saw a few issues which can come up due to ignorance of our oral hygiene, but here we are again with our topic Teeth Brushing! Regular brushing can easily remove food particles stuck on tooth surface and prevent plaque formation. Thus, if we knowingly and willingly give time to the simple task of brushing our teeth twice per day, we can actually avoid all the above dental problems in the simplest of way possible. “Prevention is always better than cure”. We need to understand the importance of our teeth and take their best possible care.

Understanding the Art of Stress Management

Most people in the world experience stress at different stages of their lives. Stress arises due to such circumstances or situations which are perceived as obstacles by an individual. The belief of inability to cope with such obstacles leads to stress. Stress may be big or small depending upon the situation and how people perceive it. It can be classified according to the level of difficulty to tackle and the level of anxiety it produces in the particular individual facing it. Some people may feel helpless and hopeless in these types of stressful situations while there are others too, who learn the art of understanding situations and ways to manage stress.

                The first thing one should think while in a stressful situation is the primary or actual reason behind the stress. Often there are surrounding similar obstacles which contribute to stress but it is important to find and focus on the main cause. Simplification and solution to this primary cause of stress can eventually release the stress and the other smaller contributing factors become easy to take care of. Once the chief stress causing reason is clear, the next task is to think of the immense amounts of pressures and stress which people are facing around the world. There are conditions where even simple livelihood becomes difficult. If one compares his reason for stress to such conditions, some amount of stress is sure to decrease in the initial step itself. The next step is to tell oneself that “you are NOT alone!”, because as someone thinks of the stress other people are facing, one should also think that nobody is facing a particular type of problem situation alone in this world. There are thousands of people who face similar stress causing issues. Finally the self-motivational part of thinking that if people with even lesser resources are confronting their stress, then it is surely possible for others too. Resources may include trustworthy people around us, things which can motivate us and things which can actually solve our problem.

Another reason to feel stress-free is the fact that nature does not differentiate between individuals. For example, usually when the sun shines, it provides heat and light energy to a particular region impartially, equal for all the individuals. People should learn to make use of the available resources positively so as to resolve their obstacles in the simplest of possible ways without causing much stress or anxiety. When such stress causing obstacles are resolved, an individual not only feels relaxed and free but also becomes experienced and mentally strong, to face such tough situations in the future. It becomes particularly important here, that not only should an individual seek help from close friends and relatives when in stressful situations, but should also share his experiences with them when one resolves these issues successfully. This can motivate them to clear their obstacles with patience and strength.

The world is full of various types of anxieties and stressors. It is the choice an individual has to make whether to think positive or negative about a situation. Stress can be in any smallest of things we try to do and there can be no stress in doing the biggest of things in life. It entirely depends on individual attitude, self-motivation and the use of available resources. There is a need to understand the art of managing stress with a positive approach of mind.