Creative Desk

Opt for a Wellness Reset With Forest Bathing Take a break from the rush hours of daily commute and your routine life for a delightful vacay in the verdant lungs of this blue planet — the forests. Inhale a fresh breath of air to feel cleaner and better. Run away from the urban cacophony for some relief. Lull your tired eyes with the lavish greenery around. Give the soles of your feet a warm touch of the mossy soil beneath and douse them in the cool waters of olive green ponds for fishing. Last but not the least, smell the breeze of petrichor — the pleasant loamy essence preceding the first burst of monsoon showers. BY PRAMITA BOSE The bright orange sunshine spraying its light rays at the crack of dawn, the tall gigantic trees standing in sober silence with expansive diameters of their trunks, the lofty mountain massifs carpeted in thick green vegetation, the heavy bowers of bushes and patches of velvety grassy meadows woven to the ground below, the gurgling of silken streams along the r...

Watch out for Popcorn Lung Syndrome! Popcorn lung is a rare pulmonary ailment inducing breathing difficulty due to the impairment of small airways in the lungs called bronchioles. Pulmonologists discuss the disease that is steeped in history. The origin of this indication can be traced back to the adversely impacted lungs of workers at the microwave popcorn factories who would inhale the flavouring chemical known as diacetyl. But now the same substance is also used in vaping electronic cigarette flavours.   Image Courtesy: Pexels.com BY PRAMITA BOSE Symptoms Usual symptoms like persistent cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness and fever are issues that develop gradually and if left untreated for a long time, can progress into a lingering or recurring disorder. “While popcorn lung is not curable, it is controllable with treatment. It’s important to understand that such lung diseases are often permanent and can potentially result in respiratory failure over a p...