Health & Fitness
Here’s How Harmful Holi Is For Our Furry Friends & It’s Not Just The Toxic Colours
Holi is just around the corner and everyone (including me) is pretty excited. The colours, the liveliness, the parties and of course, the bhaang.
But just because we understand the concept of Holi (LOL) and how it’s celebrated (Again, LOL) doesn’t mean that everyone else does too. And the worst thing is when animals are subjected to the ‘celebrations’ inflicted by us.

If you were under the impression that Diwali is the only festival that leaves an impact on animals, you’re wrong. Holi is as dangerous — physically and psychologically, but in different ways, of course.
So, this year, please think twice before getting too involved in your celebrations and harming animals that are definitely already terrified of this festival.

For starters, colouring dogs, whether your own or a stray is a complete no-no. You might think that dry colours don’t cause harm to them as those pakka ones would. But unfortunately, these dry colours contain chemicals, metal oxides, lead, mica and sometimes pieces of glass too.These harmful substances cause a lot of skin-related diseases and can also be life-threatening.
While a human body sweats out the toxins, dogs don’t have sweat glands and hence, their body ends up absorbing all the chemicals.

If a dog ends up with such colours on his body, it might to lead to skin allergies like Dermatitis which can be extremely painful. Dogs also end up ingesting these colours when they lick themselves which can drastically disturb their digestion.
Inflammation on the skin and hair loss are also some of the many effects that these poor souls go through.

Another harmful thing that could happen to them through these colours is respiratory discomfort.The chemicals in these colours can block an animal’s nasal cavity which can restrict their breathing pattern.

And as far as ‘organic’ colours go, even though they are labelled as ‘non-toxic’, they can also cause considerable amount of damage to an animal’s health. Their immune system isn’t like ours and doesn’t fight against foreign substances as efficiently.

People tend to lose all sense of rationality during holi, cos well, ‘bura na maano holi hai’ is the only thought in their head that day.
Apart
from the obvious dangers that can be a result of coming in contact with
unnatural substances, water balloons are also something we need to be
extra careful with.

Water balloons, if thrown around carelessly and violently, can end up hurting these poor souls who look for cover during such times.If these balloons hit a fragile part of their body like the eyes, they can also lose their eyesight.

Also, since we are discussing water, please refrain yourself from using any this year. The obvious fact is that we are already short on fresh water and could completely run out of it in the coming years. But the other thing is that street dogs end up drinking colour-infused water during holi which does significant damage to their bodies. Ingesting such substances can lead to liver failure and even death.

And
if it’s not things that we use to celebrate holi, it’s the things that
we drink or eat during it which can also be harmful to our four-legged
buddies.People tend to lose the ability to think rationally
after being intoxicated and in the festival’s ‘spirit’ forget very
obvious things.
Bhaang, as much as it’s an essential part of
our celebration, is on the prohibited list for animals. And no animal
should be given any during holi or any other time. It can cause them
heightened discomfort which could also result in death.

Sweets are also a big fat no when it comes to animals. Their bodies aren’t like ours and cannot breakdown complex things like processed sugar and fat in such a high quantity. Things like chocolate, dairy, raisins etc. are known to make dogs very sick.

And in the cases where your own pets have been subjected to such cruelty, please make sure that you don’t use anything else except water to clean them. Do not attempt to take the colours off their bodies using spirits or anything else since those can also be very dangerous for them.

Last but not the least, please do not hesitate to call the authorities if you find a dog in discomfort during the festival as you could help in saving its life.Just in case, you’re wondering who to call, this list of animal NGOs might come handy.
Let’s make our festivals safe for those who don’t understand them.
Entertainment
Munmun Dutta shares transformation photos, says she is ‘feeling the change’
Munmun Dutta who is most popular for portraying the part of Babita iyer in TMKOC has taken instagram to share her change pictures.
She shared a split of two photographs showing the distinction in her look prior to going through the program, and after it. She wrote in the subtitle that the interaction is as yet in progress and she is anticipating her wellness venture.
View this post on Instagram
Munmun in her caption wrote, “Great part was, at long last after not turning out for right around 4 months, I got once more into the propensity for working out routinely once more. Long approach to accomplish the god-like physique however I am on target and persuaded to do as such. It will be an excursion and I am anticipating it.”
As of late, Munmun had purchased another level in Mumbai and shared photographs of it via online media. She said that purchasing the new house was a “little glimpse of heaven” second for her.
Health & Fitness
Life expectancy in India drops by 2 years due to Covid pandemic: Report

A statistical analysis conducted by Mumbai’s International Institute for Population Studies shows that life expectancy in India has dropped by roughly two years due to Covid-19 pandemic.
According to IIPS assistant professor Surayakant Yadav, the life expectancy at birth for men and women has declined from 69.5 years and 72 years in 2019 to 67.5 years and 69.8 respectively in 2020, reports Times of India.
‘Life expectancy at birth’ is defined as the average number of years that a newborn is expected to live if the mortality pattern during their birth remains constant in the future.
The study was conducted to analyse the effect of the Covid pandemic on the mortality patterns across the country, as thousands of lives were lost due to the deadly pandemic waves.
The study also found out that the Covid toll was reported to be the highest for men in the age group of 35-69. The excess deaths in this age bracket due to Covid led to a sharp drop in life expectancy.
The IIPS based its study on the data collected by the 145-nation Global Burden of Disease study and the Covid-India Application Programme Interface (API) portal.
Yadav further added, “The Covid impact has wiped out the progress we made in the last decade to increase the life expectancy figure. India’s life expectancy at birth now is the same as it was in 2010. It will take us years to catch up.”
However, IIPS director Dr K S James added that epidemics in the past in countries, including Africa, massively impacted life expectancy, but it recouped in a few years.
Source : IndiaToday
Health & Fitness
3rd Covid Wave Unlikely To Mirror Devastating 2nd Wave: Top Medical Body

Rapid scale-up of vaccination efforts, says the study, could play an important role in mitigating the present and future waves of the disease.
New Delhi: A potential third wave of Covid infections seems unlikely to be as severe as the second wave, says a modelling study by a team of scientists from the Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Imperial College London, UK. Rapid scale-up of vaccination efforts, says the study, could play an important role in mitigating the present and future waves of the disease.
India’s first wave of SARSCoV-2 infection began in late January 2020 with a peak attained in mid-September. This phase was relatively mild compared to the second wave that followed, from mid-February 2021 onwards, exhibiting a more explosive spread across the country. A major factor driving this second wave is the emergence of more-infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2, principally B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) and B.1.617.2 (Delta variant), of which the latter has played a dominant role in recent months.
Third waves have emerged in other countries – like the UK and the USA – and are driven by a range of factors, says the study.
The results suggest that a third wave, if it should occur, is unlikely to be as severe as the second wave, given the extent of spread that has already taken place in India, it adds.
“Consequently, for a virus to cause a major third wave in the face of this pre-existing immunity, extreme scenarios for the abrogation of that immunity are required, or for that matter, for the transmission fitness of any novel virus,” says the article in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
For the wave to be as devastating, at least 30 per cent of the population who had been infected earlier must entirely lose their immunity, or an emerging variant of the virus must have a reproductive rate (R) over 4.5, that is, each infected person should be spreading to at least 4-5 others and these must occur almost immediately after the second wave ends, according to the study.
The emergence of a third wave in India could be substantially mitigated by the expansion of vaccination, says the study, adding the rollout of vaccine should be in such a way as to cover 40 per cent of the population with two doses over a period of three months following the end of the second wave, which is on the decline currently.
Crowding, use of mask and physical distancing during social interactions are all key factors shaping transmission rate and therefore population-level spread, the study cautions.
“Lockdown-release mechanisms could be a plausible driver for a third wave in India, depending on how effectively lockdowns have controlled transmission during the second wave particularly when instated at an early stage of the second wave and prior to attainment of peak,” says the study.
The analysis, says scientists, is intended to be illustrative and not predictive.
“In the present approach, we considered essentially a uniform waning rate over the spectrum of severity. Second, the basic reproduction number (equivalently, the rate-of-transmission) was assumed to remain constant during each wave,” said the scientists explaining the methodology used in the study.
Source : NDTV
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