The following is a list of the things that may lead to hair loss:

Prolonged, chronic illness. Disorders of the kidney and liver, and poly-cystic-ovary-syndrome in women, can result in abnormal hair loss.

Hormonal imbalance. Abandoned diabetes, afflictions of the thyroid gland, excessive secretion of the male hormone androgen in females, pregnancy, among other factors may interfere with the production of new hair follicles. This causes thinning of hair.

Continued medications. The sustained use of some medicines, like isotretinoin used to cure bipolar disorder, or antibiotics, or diet pills, or anticoagulants, antidepressants, Vitamin A supplements, chemotherapeutic drugs and such others can cause hair loss.

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“Health” and “illness” are contrasting terms. They can be used in physical or in mental context. We know that physical exercise done on a regular basis keeps us healthy. Mental exercise also keeps us mentally healthy. Just like after doing physical exercise we need rest, after mental exercise the mind also needs rest. But we hear the term “physical rest” frequently. The term “mental rest” is rarely used. No doubt then that as mental activities have increased with industrialisation, stress has increased. This stress results from our inability to allow our mind to become inactive or relaxed for even a short time.

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SSRI drugs were once hailed as wonder drugs for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. They are still regarded as the anti-depressants of choice because of their selective action on the somatic factor of depression-causing mechanism, namely inadequate availability of serotonin in the brain cells. Serotonin is the chief mood-enhancing neurotransmitter in the brain, and SSRIs correct imbalances in their availability to brain cells. Apart from their specifically-targeted therapeutic action, SSRIs are also distinguished for their relatively low toxicity profile. The best example is Lexapro (generic name: escitalopram oxalate), which has even fewer and milder side-effects and heals faster than older SSRIs.

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Can you cure depression by simply going to the gym? The answer to that question might have you finally buying that club membership. According to a report published in Psychosomatic Medicine, regular (3-4 times per week) exercise may fight depression just as effectively as prescription medication (anti-depressants).

How Exercise Can Help Cure Depression

According to the research, patients who followed a modest exercise program fared as well as patients who took a particular popular anti-depressant. Almost 200 diagnosed depression sufferers followed one of three depression treatment programs: Exercise, Anti-Depressant Drug, or a Combination of Exercise and Anti-Depressant Drug. The group followed the program for a four month period and all three groups had lower depression

rates at the end of the trial. However, follow-up examinations six months later on the subjects revealed that the exercise group experienced significantly lower relapse rates than the anti-depressants medication groups.

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Somewhere in England during the 1600 s, the poet John Milton, in his epic Paradise Lost, stated, through the voice of his character Satan, the mind is its own place and, in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. I can think of no better nor more eloquent statement to summarize the teachings of Cognitive Therapy. Cognitive Therapy acknowledges that the mind is a powerful place; it operates on the premise that our thinking is the precursor to moods and emotions, both heavenly and hellish. It is not the outer event that makes us feel any particular way but how we interpret and evaluate that event that makes us feel happy or sad,

depressed or joyful, frightened or safe, energized or lethargic.

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