Tag: Ancient Romans

What is Arthritis? A Definition

What is Arthritis? A Definition
Wendy Owen

Copyright 2006 Wendy Owen

Arthritis is known to affect around forty percent of the
Americans and over fifty percent of the people globally. This is
one disease that is responsible for the maximum amount of pain
worldwide and thousands of dollars have been spent on pain
relief medications because of this.

Arthritis is one of the oldest diseases known to mankind which
could date back to thousands of years – in fact the Romans were
believed to have built the roman baths for therapeutic reasons
other than hygiene – as the hot water baths were used by ancient
Romans to ease the pains associated with arthritis.

The word ‘arthritis’ is a blend of the ancient Greek word
‘arthron’ which translated literally means ‘joint’ and the word
‘it is’ which means inflammation – the disease being
inflammation of the joint.

Arthritis is an autoimmune disease disorder, which causes
inflammation, pain and stiffness of the joints and connective
tissues. This may be accompanied by redness, swelling and warmth
of the joints, which are medically identified as signs of
inflammation of the joints.

Connective tissues are a set of supporting tissues for the
joints – typical examples of connective tissue being –
cartilages, tendons, ligaments and muscles. Arthritis is a wide
spectrum of disease conditions that include well over one
hundred diseases – predominantly those of ‘Rheumatoid Arthritis’
which can occur at any age and ‘Osteoarthritis ‘ which usually
occurs after sixty years of age.

Arthritis is an autoimmune disease that is known to occur due to
a disorder of the immune system and usually continues throughout
life with periods of remission (characterized by total absence
of disease symptoms) and exacerbation (with increasing severity
of disease). The disease is known to occur more often in women
as compared to men.

Arthritis is known to present in a variety of ways such as some
arthritic conditions are chronic while others are intermittent
such as Gout. The arthritic conditions are either inflammatory
or degenerative. The inflammatory form of arthritis is
characterized by the presence of swelling, redness and warmth of
the involved joints while the degenerative form of arthritis is
best identified as having a small element of inflammation and
being predominantly degenerative – which is best known for the
wearing out of the cartilages lining the joints.

Simply put, arthritis can be defines as any inflammation of the
joint and could either be chronic or short term in duration.
There is no simple cure for arthritis, however there are many
natural remedies available which can ease the severity of
arthritis symptoms and effect a repair on cartilage,

About the author:
Visit http://www.natural-arthritis-medication.com your resource
for information on natural remedies for arthritis. The author
Wendy Owen is a health writer and researcher. Join our list and
receive a free 6 part arthritis mini course

Coloring Your Hair

Coloring hair is very fashionable these days. You can easily see people of all age groups going for hair coloring. People are experimenting with all kinds of colors to look fashionable. It is no longer just natural black or golden people are going for, but they are experimenting with even red, green and blue and coming up with new hair coloring ideas.

Hair coloring has been in use since the ancient times. Ancient Greeks used to color or lighten their hair, which identified with honor and courage. They used harsh soaps to lighten or color their hair. There is evidence that ancient Romans also used to color or lighten their hair.

Now-a-days, coloring hair is very much popular throughout the world. According to some reports around 75% of women in the U.S. color their hair. Now people do not go for hair coloring just to hide their grey hair but to make a fashion statement as well. Young people experiment with many hair coloring ideas. The market for hair colors is huge spreading all over the world.

There are many products for coloring hair available in the market. There are permanent as well as temporary colors. A patch test should be conducted before using any coloring product to see if the person is allergic to the color or not. In the case the person is found allergic to chemicals used in hair colors the use of the same should be stopped immediately.

Some people lighten their hair, which is also known as bleaching or decoloring. This process involves the diffusion of the natural color pigment or arificial color from the hair.

Permanent hair coloring products contain oxidising agent and an alkalizing ingredient. These chemicals raise the cuticle of the hair fibre so the color can penetrate in the hair fiber. They also facilitate the formation of tints within the hair fibre and bring about the lightening action of peroxide.

In the case of temporary colors the the pigment molecules are large so they do not penetrate the cuticle layer. It allows only a coating action that may be removed by shampooing. Temporary hair coloring products come in various forms like shampoos and gels.

Normally temporary colors are used to give brighter colors to the hair. It is because temporary hair colourants do not penetrate the hair shaft itself. Instead, these dyes remain adsorbed to the follicle and can be easily removed with a single shampooing.

The use of color can cause damage to hair in some cases. It is always better to visit an expert to for coloring hair to avoid any kind of harm done to hair. Coloring hair in some cases can cause breakage of hair strands, hair fall and dry scalp.