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Health Benefits of Fasting
Fasting is part of the practices of many religions including Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Today many are trying to dig up the benefits of fasting. Some people fast for spiritual reasons while others fast as a way to physically discipline the body. Whatever reasons one might come up with, it has been scientifically proved that fasting has tremendous health benefits.
First, fasting is said to play an important role in the detoxification of the body. Detoxification is a normal body process of eliminating or neutralizing toxins through the colon, liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph glands, and skin. This process starts when fasting. Food no longer enters the body and the latter turns to fat reserves for energy. These fat reserves were created when excess glucose and carbohydrates were not used for energy or growth, not excreted, and therefore converted into fat. When the fat reserves are used for energy during a fast, it releases the chemicals from the fatty acids into the system which are then eliminated through the body organs, leading to the cleansing of the whole body.
Another known benefit of fasting is the healing process that is obvious in the body during a fast. When fasting energy is diverted away from the digestive system due to its lack of use and towards the metabolism and immune system. The healing process during a fast is made easy by the body’s search for energy sources. Abnormal growths within the body, tumors and the like, do not have the full support of the body’s supplies and therefore are more susceptible to disappear.
Fasting also leads to a feeling of rejuvenation and extended life expectancy. This might be due to the detoxification effect of fasting. A study was performed on earthworms that showed the extension of life thanks to fasting. The experiment was performed in the 1930s by isolating one worm and putting it on a cycle of fasting and feeding. The isolated worm outlived the other worms by 19 generations, while still maintaining its freshness and youthful physiological characteristics.
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Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking from dawn until sunset. Ramadan had been the name of the ninth month in Arabian culture long before the arrival of Islam. In the Qur’an it is said that “fasting has been written down (as obligatory) upon you, as it was upon those before you” which is a reference to the Jewish practice of fasting on Yom Kippur. Fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality.
Ramadan is a time for Muslims to fast for the sake of God and to offer more prayer than usual. During Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.
As compared to the solar calendar, the dates of Ramadan vary, moving backwards about ten days each year as it is a moving holiday depending on the moon. Ramadan was the month in which the first verses of the Qur’an were said to be revealed to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. That was during a night that Muslims call Laylat al-Qadr (the night of decree.) The night is believed to be one of the 10 last days of the month.
Ramadan ends with Eid ul-Fitr on the first of Shawwal, with much celebration and feasting.
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A stereotype is a fixed idea that people have about what specific social groups or individuals are like, especially an idea that is wrong. Other terms that are associated with the term stereotype are prejudice and cliché. The term has a Greek origin: stereos means solid or firm and typos mean impression, engraved or mark. The term was first used in the printing business. The first modern English use of the term was in 1850, meaning “image perpetuated without change.”
Because stereotypes are standardized and simplified ideas of groups, based on some prejudices, they are not derived from objective facts, but rather subjective and often unverifiable ideas. As Sociologist Charles E. Hurst states “One reason for stereotypes is the lack of personal, concrete familiarity that individuals have with persons in other racial or ethnic groups.”
The existence of stereotypes may be explained by the need of groups of people to view themselves as more normal or more superior than other groups. Consequently, stereotypes may be used to justify ill-founded prejudices or ignorance and prevent people of stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in various activities or fields. The stereotyping groups are, generally, reluctant to reconsider their attitudes and behavior towards stereotyped group.
Stereotypes may affect people negatively. This includes forming inaccurate and distorted images and opinions of people. Stereotypes may also be used for scapegoating or for making general erroneous judgments about people. Some stereotyping people may feel comfortable when they prevent themselves from emotional identification with the stereotyped group, which leads to xenophobic or racist behavior. Finally another serious consequence of stereotypes is the feeling of inferiority that the stereotyped people may have and which may impair their performance.
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Ivory Trade
Ivory trade poses a threat to the very existence of elephants. Ivory hunters were responsible for wiping out elephants in North Africa perhaps about 1,000 years ago, in much of South Africa in the 19th century and most of West Africa by the end of the 20th century. At the peak of the ivory trade, pre 20th century, during the colonization of Africa, around 800 to 1,000 tons of ivory was sent to Europe alone.
Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for centuries with records going back to the 14th century BC. Throughout the colonization of Africa ivory was removed, often using slaves to carry the tusks, to be used for piano keys, billiard balls and other expressions of exotic wealth.
Although many ivory traders repeatedly claimed that the problem was habitat loss, it became glaringly clear that the threat was primarily the international ivory trade.
Should there be a legal trade in elephant ivory? This debate has been going on since at least 1989, when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted to “ban” the international trade in ivory after a ferocious wave of poaching in Africa that left hundreds of thousands of elephants butchered.
While some conservationists say that a limited legal ivory trade is needed to satiate demand, especially in China, in a controlled manner, environmental activists ask whether elephants can survive a legal ivory trade. They argue that the 1989 ban must be kept in place to protect elephants, especially now that poaching has once again risen to catastrophic levels.
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Do Whales Sleep?
Whales are mammals, so in many ways, they are just like human beings. The most important difference is that humans and whales live in different environments and whales have a special respiratory system that enables them to stay underwater for several minutes without breathing oxygen. For this reason, they are said to be voluntary breathers. That is, because of whales’ underwater environment, they must be conscious breathers. They think about every breath they take and come up to the surface of the water to breathe through blowholes on top of their heads.
What is outstanding about whales is the way they can sleep. While all mammals sleep, whales cannot afford to become unconscious for long because they may drown. The only way they can sleep is by remaining partially conscious. It is believed that only one hemisphere of the whale’s brain sleeps at a time, so they rest but are never completely asleep. They can do so most probably near the surface so that they can come up for air easily.
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