Are Books Better Than Movies?

When you read a book, your imagination is running wild. That’s the amazing thing about the written word, you cannot simply look at  text as if it’s abstract squiggles.

Words have meaning and, more importantly, those meanings have the power to create images. The cool thing is that those images are always personal. So, when I saw “The flowers smell wonderful”, every single person will have a slightly different sensation. Those with a truly active imagination may even be able to smell them. Your imagination is a wonderful tool.

But hold on, what  is imagination? Well, the dictionary defines it as:

the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

So that very much applies to reading a book. After all, you only have a sheet of paper with some ink on it, yet it enables one to be transported to different times, different countries and even completely different scenarios.

Why is it good to stimulate one’s imagination?

Well, the human imagination is just like a muscle, so it’s a case of “use it or lose it”. Nobody has the choice to completely stop using their imagination, but they can become so reliant on crutches that they cannot walk on their own two feet. Many people have this experience when they go back to reading books again. At first they cannot seem to create a vivid picture and follow the storyline but with enough perseverance they find that their imagination can create a far more realistic and enjoyable experience than any movie.

Imagination is also the foundation of creativity. Creativity is all about forming new ideas and concepts, and you simply cannot do that without an active imagination. This doesn’t just mean that you have to read lots of books, you need to have lots of experiences.

This is where movies fall short, even with the advent of advanced CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). The problem is that everything is pretty much given to you on the a silver plate. You don’t have to imagine what the characters look or sound like or what the surroundings look like.

This can also can limit the scope of a movie, especially if the budget is somewhat limited. CGI can be incredibly expensive and so can on-location shooting so unless an ambitious movie has solid financial backing, it will not be made or, if it is made, it may be clearly a “budget flick”. Very good movies try and leave certain scenes to the imagination and the effect is always that much more powerful.

So I guess it comes down to the fact that watching is a passive pastime  while reading is an active pastime.

Ten Harmful Effects Of Cosmetics.

Cosmetics, they have become the need of society. People spend monthly on these and the amount of variety is so high that cosmetics are available for different seasons and climates as well. The makers claim to have their own RnD and make one of the finest products for us. We all know that it is very difficult these days for someone to just make a product beneficial for its customers; he ought to make a huge profit out of it. Quality is compromised most of the times and generally a common man is unable to raise the voice or submit complain on which action would be taken. Many times it happens that the ingredients mentioned are not true and that affects us. So there is an ugly side to these beauty products as well. I don’t mean to say that they don’t work; they do work but have harmful effects also along with.  There are many harmful effects of using cosmetics; here I have listed the top ten of them.

10) UNWANTED DEPENDENCY ON COSMETICS

The common notion among people is that they cannot look beautiful or handsome if they missed out on a cosmetic or just ran out of it. This dependency can lead too many troubles and is nothing less than an addiction for them. From my personal experience I would like to add that here are people who can skip occasions or get-togethers if there cosmetics are not with them or if they can’t do make up. Well with god’s grace everyone has been given with a good face and I can’t find myself a reason to be so dependent on cosmetics. Believe me you can look even better without them.

9) HEADACHES

Headache is a very common issue after putting up make up for long periods of time. Generally ladies feel dizziness, tired and nausea after prolonged exposures to high makeup. Even men must have felt that during the long wait for performance in annual function with full make up. even if the performance was not so tiring but you would feel sleepy and dizzy, its the effect of makeup. A lot of care is therefore taken while removing of makeup. Absolutely nothing should be left behind. It has been found that cosmetics contain certain ingredients which on exposure to humans directly in large amount may lead to a state of unconsciousness. So wear makeup, but make sure its not for just too long and if you have to spend a large amount of time then prefer light makeup to avoid headaches.

8) HAIR PROBLEMS

Funky hairstyles are very popular and eye catching. Today’s youth and children find it very cool and thus make a move for them. Use of shampoos, conditioners, hair colors, gels and serums may actually harm your tresses pretty badly. They look great when used and one may receive many compliments for the style or even help you get a girl but these cosmetics keep on affecting the hair quality and quantity. There can be thinning of hair, redness in scalp, hair fall or even excessive dandruff. The use of hair sprays is even more dangerous with sources suggesting that long term usage may result in scalp skin damage and permanent discoloration of hair color.

7) DANGER TO REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS

Use of bubble baths or certain oils may affect your reproductive organs if in direct contact. They can even lead to infertility. It has been found that any cosmetic containing asbestos like talcum powder when in direct contact with organs can even affect the menstrual cycle leading to other imbalances. Shower gels and shower creams during bath may also prove to be harmful. We will definitely feel that they did the cleaning but once after getting inside they may affect severely. There can be vaginal infections or even danger or prostate and ovarian cancer if the cosmetics are flawed and low on quality.

6) AGEING

Yes one may start looking older than heshe actually is. All the makeup and moisturizers actually do some damage to your skin and with prolonged use wrinkles and other signs of ageing may be visible. The cosmetic makers are so smart that they then release anti- ageing creams and lotions. These cosmetics then fight the signs of ageing. They are making money and it is us who have to suffer. Be careful while choosing your products and make sure if their reviews are correct and genuine because not all products in market may be harmful.

5) CANCER AND OTHER CHRONIC DISEASES

With the benefits, cosmetics also bring danger of diseases like cancer and many other chronic ones. Lipstick contains aluminum which may cause long term anemia and even glucose intolerance. Many products contain chemicals like zinc oxide, BHA, barium sulphate etc. are very harmful for body and may result in many organ failures like that of kidney and liver. Further if swallowed even by mistake; generally the lip cares, lip balms and lipsticks go in with food can lead to many respiratory diseases also. It has also been reported that cosmetics like body moisturizers can cause trouble to endocrine system as well and disturb the thyroid content of body.

4) DAMAGE TO NAILS

Nail paints, Nail polish, manicures and pedicures all seem very hygienic but are actually damaging to nails if done very regularly or frequently. The quality of nails decreases and they become fragile. Keeping long nails becomes a big issue after that; extra care has to be taken. The nails become thin and lose their natural color starting to look pale.

3)  HARMFUL FOR EYES

Eye shadow, mascara, kajal and other forms of eye makeup can harm the eyes of user very badly. Girls who wear lenses may harm their eyes even more because the chemicals present affects the lens material and can result in something very damaging like thinning of eyelashes and eye infections. Mascara can cause blindness as it contains pseudomonas aeruginosa which is a very harmful therapy bacteria. Resistant to heat and cold this bacteria is very difficult to remove from mascara and often pollutes it despite many precautionary measures.

2) ALLERGIES

There are different types of allergies possible with excessive use of cosmetics and at times there side effects even if the usage is limited. The allergies can be of skin, breathing, eating, hair etc. Skin allergies may be allergy to certain kind of lotions or creams. Breathing allergies are damage to nose and nasal passage due to intake of cosmetics by mistake or even deliberate. Eating difficulties as it may result in glucose intolerance as mentioned earlier as well. Hair allergies are like allergy to usage of shampoos or conditioners or intolerance of scalp to certain oil. So with the benefits of cosmetics comes a parcel of never ending list of allergies you are at risk of. Be careful while choosing your products.

1) SKIN DISEASES AND REACTIONS

Skin diseases and reactions have been a common problem with use of fairness creams, sunscreens and sunblocks. There may be a permanent discoloration of skin or severe damage to skin. Believe me a damage to skin especially on face may be very torturing. every now and then a person from the crowd may pop up and ask what happened or would have loads of advice to give you because his relative had the same problem.  There can be much severe issues with the skin like skin cancer, presently skin cancer is not that easily treatable at mostly fatal.

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Obesity.

Welcome to the MNT Knowledge Center, your source for our most detailed content on specific conditions and subjects. Click through to Knowledge Center Home to read more.

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knowledge center home » obesity / weight loss » all about obesity » what is obesity?

All About Obesity

• How Much Should I Weigh?
• What Is Obesity?

• Body Mass Index (BMI)

• How To Lose Weight

What Is Obesity?How Much Should I Weigh?Body Mass Index (BMI)How To Lose Weight

What Is Obesity?

An obese person has accumulated so much body fat that it might have a negative effect on their health. If a person's bodyweight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight. If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese.

What is Body Mass Index (BMI)?

The BMI is a statistical measurement derived from your height and weight. Although it is considered to be a useful way to estimate healthy body weight, it does not measure the percentage of body fat. The BMI measurement can sometimes be misleading - a muscleman may have a high BMI but have much less fat than an unfit person whose BMI is lower. However, in general, the BMI measurement can be a useful indicator for the 'average person'.

To calculate your BMI, use our BMI Calculator

Why do people become obese?

People become obese for several reasons, including:

1. Consuming too many calories.
   People are eating much more than they used to. This used to be the case just in developed nations - however, the trend has spread worldwide. Despite billions of dollars being spent on public awareness campaigns that attempt to encourage people to eat healthily, the majority of us continue to overeat. In 1980 14% of the adult population of the USA was obese; by 2000 the figure reached 31% (The Obesity Society).
   
   In the USA, the consumption of calories increased from 1,542 per day for women in 1971 to 1,877 per day in 2004. The figures for men were 2,450 in 1971 and 2,618 in 2004. Most people would expect this increase in calories to consist of fat - not so! Most of the increased food consumption has consisted of carbohydrates (sugars). Increased consumption of sweetened drinks has contributed significantly to the raised carbohydrate intake of most young American adults over the last three decades. The consumption of fast-foods has tripled over the same period.
   
   Various other factors also may have contributed to America's increased calorie and carbohydrate intake:
   •  In 1984 the Reagan administration freed up advertising on sweets and fast foods for children - regulations had previously set limits.
   •  Agricultural policies in most of the developed world have led to much cheaper foods.
   •  The US Farm Bill meant that the source of processed foods came from subsidized wheat, corn and rice. Corn, wheat and rice became much cheaper than fruit and vegetables.
2. Leading a sedentary lifestyle.
   With the arrival of televisions, computers, video games, remote controls, washing machines, dish washers and other modern convenience devices, the majority of people are leading a much more sedentary lifestyle compared to their parents and grandparents. Some decades ago shopping consisted of walking down the road to the high street where one could find the grocers, bakers, banks, etc. As large out-of-town supermarkets and shopping malls started to appear, people moved from using their feet to driving their cars to get their provisions. In some countries, such as the USA, dependence on the car has become so strong that many people will drive even if their destination is only half-a-mile away.
   
   The less you move around the fewer calories you burn. However, this is not only a question of calories. Physical activity has an effect on how your hormones work, and hormones have an effect on how your body deals with food. Several studies have shown that physical activity has a beneficial effect on your insulin levels - keeping them stable. Unstable insulin levels are closely associated with weight gain.
   
   Children who have a television in their bedroom are much more likely to be obese or overweight than kids who do not, researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA, reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (December 2012 issue).
3. Not sleeping enough.
   If you do not sleep enough your risk of becoming obese doubles, according to research carried out at Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick. The risk applies to both adults and children. Professor Francesco Cappuccio and team reviewed evidence in over 28,000 children and 15,000 adults. Their evidence clearly showed that sleep deprivation significantly increased obesity risk in both groups.
   
   Professor Cappuccio said, "The 'epidemic' of obesity is paralleled by a 'silent epidemic' of reduced sleep duration with short sleep duration linked to increased risk of obesity both in adults and in children. These trends are detectable in adults as well as in children as young as 5 years."
   Professor Cappuccio explains that sleep deprivation may lead to obesity through increased appetite as a result of hormonal changes. If you do not sleep enough you produce Ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite. Lack of sleep also results in your body producing less Leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite.
4. Endocrine disruptors, such as some foods that interfere with lipid metabolism.
   A team from the University of Barcelona (UB) led by Dr Juan Carlos Laguna published a study in the journal Hepatology that provides clues to the molecular mechanism through which fructose (a type of sugar) in beverages may alter lipid energy metabolism and cause fatty liver and metabolic syndrome.
   
   Fructose is mainly metabolized in the liver, the target organ of the metabolic alterations caused by the consumption of this sugar. In this study, rats receiving fructose-containing beverages presented a pathology similar to metabolic syndrome, which in the short term causes lipid accumulation (hypertriglyceridemia) and fatty liver, and eventually leads to hypertension, resistance to insulin, diabetes and obesity.
   
   Poorly balanced diets and the lack of physical exercise are key factors in the increase of obesity and other metabolic diseases in modern societies. In epidemiological studies in humans, the effect of the intake of fructose-sweetened beverages also seems to be more intense in women. (From - "New Data On Fructose-Sweetened Beverages And Hepatic Metabolism").
   
   Although there appears to be a consensus on the negative effects of fructose-sweetened beverages there is still some debate over the effects of fructose versus high fructose corn syrup - two studies of note are:
   "AMA Finds High Fructose Syrup Unlikely To Be More Harmful To Health Than Other Caloric Sweeteners" and "Fructose Sweetened Drinks Increase Nonfasting Triglycerides In Obese Adults".
   
   Fructose effect on the brain may promote obesity - researchers from Yale University School of Medicine compared the effects of fructose and glucose on the brain with MRI scans and found that high fructose diets may be behind the current obesity epidemic.
   
   In an article published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), the authors said they found that regions in the brain that regulate appetite became active when people consumed glucose, but remained inactive when they ingested fructose. When those regions become active, they release hormones that produce feelings of satiety (fullness) - in other words, the hormones tell you to stop eating.
5. Lower rates of smoking (smoking suppresses appetite).
   According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) "Not everyone gains weight when they stop smoking. Among people who do, the average weight gain is between 6 and 8 pounds. Roughly 10 percent of people who stop smoking gain a large amount of weight - 30 pounds or more."
6. Medications that make patients put on weight.
   According to an article in Annals of Pharmacotherapy, some medications cause weight gain. "Clinically significant weight gain is associated with some commonly prescribed medicines. There is wide interindividual variation in response and variation of the degree of weight gain within drug classes. Where possible, alternative therapy should be selected, especially for individuals predisposed to overweight and obesity." (The Annals of Pharmacotherapy: Vol. 39, No. 12, pp. 2046-2054. DOI 10.1345/aph.1G33)
7. Is obesity self-perpetuating?
   The longer a person is overweight, the harder it becomes for them to lose weight. Many have wondered whether obesity itself becomes a permanent state, i.e. does obesity promote obesity?. Researchers from the University of Michigan and the National Council of Science and Technology (COINCET) in Argentina, reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that in animal experiments, obesity seems to become a self-perpetuating state.
   
   They found that the “normal” body weight of mice that become obese starts going up; their bodies’ perception of normal weight becomes a heavier than before, regardless of whether they are made to go on diets which had made them lose weight.
   
   Senior author, Malcolm J. Low, M.D., Ph.D., said "Our model demonstrates that obesity is in part a self-perpetuating disorder and the results further emphasize the importance of early intervention in childhood to try to prevent the condition whose effects can last a lifetime. Our new animal model will be used in pinpointing the reasons why most adults find it exceedingly difficult to maintain meaningful weight loss from dieting and exercise alone."
8. Obesity gene
   A faulty gene, called FTO, makes 1 in every 6 people overeat, a team of scientists from University College London reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (July 2013 issue).
   
   Lead researcher, Racher Batterham, explained that people who carry the FTO gene variant tend to eat too much, prefer high-energy, fatty foods, and are usually obese. They also appear to take much longer to reach satiety (feeling of being full).

Who's the Best.

Which countries have the most naturally athletic populations?

Below, we have provided the Beijing 2008 Olympics medal table.
Update: Data from the 2012 London Olympics is now available here.

What other information do you think should be taken into account to answer this question fairly?

Make a plan of the information you will collect and the calculations you will perform. Then carry out your plan to decide which countries are naturally most athletic.

Send us your top rated countries, together with your justification for the data and criteria you chose to include in your analysis.

In the Beijing 2008 Olympics the final medal table was as follows (spreadsheet CSV form)
 

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
China	51	21	28	100
USA	36	38	36	110
Russian Fed.	23	21	28	72
Great Britain	19	13	15	47
Germany	16	10	15	41
Australia	14	15	17	46
Korea	13	10	8	31
Japan	9	6	10	25
Italy	8	10	10	28
Netherlands	7	5	4	16
France	7	16	17	40
Ukraine	7	5	15	27
Jamaica	6	3	2	11
Spain	5	10	3	18
Kenya	5	5	4	14
Ethiopia	4	1	2	7
Romania	4	1	3	8
Belarus	4	5	10	19
Norway	3	5	2	10
Canada	3	9	6	18
New Zealand	3	1	5	9
Slovakia	3	2	1	6
Brazil	3	4	8	15
Poland	3	6	1	10
Czech Republic	3	3	0	6
Hungary	3	5	2	10
Georgia	3	0	3	6
Argentina	2	0	4	6
Kazakhstan	2	4	7	13
Mexico	2	0	1	3
Cuba	2	11	11	24
Mongolia	2	2	0	4
Thailand	2	2	0	4
North Korea	2	1	3	6
Switzerland	2	0	4	6
Denmark	2	2	3	7
Azerbaijan	1	2	4	7
Zimbabwe	1	3	0	4
Belgium	1	1	0	2
Dominican Rep.	1	1	0	2
India	1	0	2	3
Latvia	1	1	1	3
Panama	1	0	0	1
Tunisia	1	0	0	1
Uzbekistan	1	2	3	6
Finland	1	1	2	4
Indonesia	1	1	3	5
Slovenia	1	2	2	5
Turkey	1	4	3	8
Bahrain	1	0	0	1
Bulgaria	1	1	3	5
Iran	1	0	1	2
Portugal	1	1	0	2
Cameroon	1	0	0	1
Estonia	1	1	0	2
Iceland	0	1	0	1
Ireland	0	1	2	3
Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	2
Mauritius	0	0	1	1
Rep. of Moldova	0	0	1	1
Singapore	0	1	0	1
Taiwan	0	0	4	4
Trinidad/Tobago	0	2	0	2
Croatia	0	2	3	5
Israel	0	0	1	1
Sudan	0	1	0	1
Tajikistan	0	1	1	2
Armenia	0	0	6	6
Bahamas	0	1	1	2
Chile	0	1	0	1
Ecuador	0	1	0	1
Greece	0	2	2	4
Lithuania	0	2	3	5
Nigeria	0	1	3	4
Sweden	0	4	1	5
Afghanistan	0	0	1	1
Venezuela	0	0	1	1
Egypt	0	0	1	1
Malaysia	0	1	0	1
Morocco	0	1	1	2
Serbia	0	1	2	3
South Africa	0	1	0	1
Togo	0	0	1	1
Algeria	0	1	1	2
Austria	0	1	2	3
Vietnam	0	1	0	1
Colombia	0	1	1	2