Information – Health +
Stay young for long
Stay young for long
By Bharat Thakur Published: May 16, 2008, 23:39 GULF NEWS
Everyone would like to remain young forever. However, the laws of nature dictate that each of us gradually ages.
In today’s times, people are much concerned about how they look as they age.
Hence, we find many people turning to Botox and other cosmetic treatments such as facelifts.
Unfortunately, these invasive treatments have a detrimental effect on the individual’s health.
Before we look into ageing, we must understand what health is.
In layman’s terms, health can be defined as a feeling of wellbeing, with the individual possessing physical and mental competence. As we age, the body’s functioning deteriorates.
Spinal flexibility
Yoga, more than any other therapy in the world, helps those who practise it to “age gracefully”.
The first thing to understand is the importance of spinal flexibility. Yogic wisdom shows us that the flexibility of the spine is directly linked to the ageing process.
As one’s spine gets more rigid, the muscles of the neck also stiffen and the blood supply to the face, scalp and brain is restricted.
This speeds up the wrinkling and hair-greying process. Yoga helps loosen the muscles of the back, spine and neck so that the face and head receive regular nourishment through blood supply.
Apart from the spine, yoga helps in firming up the skin, enhancing our immune system and improving our posture and tone of the muscles. It also helps maintain regular blood pressure levels.
Those who wish to invest in their health from a young age and want to retard the ageing process must give special importance to their lifestyle.
Inverted poses beneficial
You must practise some yogic stretches for the body. Yogic inverted poses are especially beneficial as they redirect blood supply to the head and face.
Apart from slowing down greying of hair and wrinkling, these postures help enhance and maintain mental faculties such as memory and concentration.
To stay young we also need to get adequate sleep. Sleep is the time when the body’s cells rejuvenate, allowing you to cope with daily life.
Nutrition also plays a big role. Important foods that help in ageing well are apples (rich in antioxidants), berries (vitamin C), garlic (detoxfies the liver) and broccoli.
Finally, the best deterrent to ageing is to practise pranayama (breathing exercises) and meditation. It has positive effects on the physiology as well as the mental make-up.
Meditating will help you deal with ageing and understand that change is the law of nature and you cannot hold on to your youth.
Vipareet karni mudra
* Lie flat on your back.
* Raise your legs to form a 90° angle with the torso, and support your hip with your hands as you raise it off the ground.
* Maintain this posture and close your eyes.
* Hold for as long as is comfortable (not exceeding 30 seconds to one minute).
* Slowly, bring the back down to touch the floor. Lie flat on the back for about 1 minute.
Halasana
* Lie flat on your back.
* Raise your legs to form a 90° angle with the torso, and support your hip with your hands.
* Now, begin to bend your legs further and try to touch the toes to the floor.
* Maintain this posture for as long as is comfortable and close your eyes.
* Slowly, return to the first step. Lie on your back for about one minute.
Maha bandha
* Sit comfortably in a cross-legged position on the floor, or on a chair. (If you sit on a chair, keep your legs apart).
* Place palms on your knees.l Inhale deeply. Exhale completely.
* First, contract the anal region of the body (this is called mool bandha.).
* Second, contract and pull the stomach inwards (uddiyaan bandha.).
* Third, drop and press the chin to the jugular notch on the chin (jalandhar bandha.).
* Hold for 5-10 seconds.
* Then, slowly release the chin, the stomach and finally the anal locks.
* Breathe in and slowly exhale.
* Repeat this practise. Maha bandha can only be done thrice, as further practise will cause an imbalance in the hormonal level.
Caution: People suffering from high BP should avoid holding their breath in the practise. They may hold their breath in the final step for no more than 3 seconds.
Shavasana
* Lie on your back.
* Keep your legs slightly apart and your hands beside the hips with the palms facing the ceiling.
* Begin to practise deep abdominal breathing.
* Count your breaths from 11 down, till 1.
This is a highly relaxing exercise and can be done everyday before going to sleep.
— Bharat Thakur is the founder of Bharat Thakur’s Artistic Yoga. For questions on yoga, write to dubai.artisticyoga@gmail.com. For more information, log on to http://www.bharatthakur.com
Top tips for the morning after
Top tips for the morning after
If in spite of your best intentions you end up drinking more than you should, there are a few things you can do to ease the morning after.
* Drink as much water as you can before going to sleep, and put some beside the bed too.
* A painkiller – soluble is best – helps with the headache
* Take an antacid to settle your stomach
* Alcohol is a depressant, so tea or coffee can perk you up (but it can dehydrate you, so keep up the water as well)
* Drinking lowers your blood sugar level, so eat as soon as you can. Bananas, cereal, or egg on toast are all good morning-after snacks
* Never ever do hair of the dog – you’ll just prolong the agony
* Have 48 hours off the booze if it was a heavy session
And next time, follow our top tips for a great night out and you won’t suffer again
High BP among world’s biggest killers
High BP among world’s biggest killers
4 May 2008, 0354 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha,TNN
NEW DELHI: High blood pressure, a largely ignored physical condition, is now turning to be one of the world’s biggest killers. What’s worse, it’s causing high mortality among people in developing countries like India and China.
A study to calculate high BP’s real effects has found some chilling facts —about 54% of all strokes, 47% of ischaemic heart disease, 75% of hypertensive disease and 25% of other cardiovascular disease globally resulted from high BP.
Conducted by a team of scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and reported in medical journal ‘The Lancet’ on Saturday, the study also estimated that 7.6 million people died prematurely because of high BP in 2001.
The study also breaks the myth that high BP was a major problem in high-income countries, and says that more than 80% of high BP related diseases occur in developing countries like India and mostly among younger adults.
Over 92 million of all disability adjusted life years were also attributable to high BP.
The study says that 52% of deaths from such disorders in India occur before 70 years of age, compared with 23% in established-market economies.
Reacting to the study, Dr Anoop Misra from Fortis hospitals says that hypertension is directly responsible for 57% of all stroke deaths and 24% of all coronary heart disease deaths in India.
“We estimate there are 31.5 million hypertensives in rural and 34 million in urban India. It’s mainly due to high salt intake, obesity, diabetes, stress and genetic factors,” he said.
Cardiologist Dr K K Agarwal said even a slight reduction of high BP can greatly benefit people. “If pre-hypertension is reduced, 40% of heart attacks can be prevented. If 5 mm of BP is reduced, 21% mortality can be reduced. For every kg you lose, your BP will come down by 1 mm.”
Cardiologist Dr Deepak Natarajan added: “India has a scandalously high number of hypertensives, thanks to the fact that we are the world’s most sedentary nation. Both the poor and the rich are suffering from high BP.”
Dr Carlene Lawes from the University of Auckland, who used data from WHO’s Global Burden of Disease study to calculate the statistics, said rates of disease are generally much higher in developing than in developed countries and occur most in people aged 45-69 years.
Tree effect on Asthma
Tree effect on Asthma
Indo-Asian News Service
New York, May 01,
Growing more trees might not only make for a less polluted environment but also lower the incidence of asthma among children, according to a study.
Researchers here based their findings on a study of the city’s children in the 4- to 5-year age group. The city has an average of 613 street trees per square kilometre, and nine percent of its children have asthma.
The study found that asthma rates in this age group fell by almost a quarter for every standard deviation increase in tree density, equivalent to 343 trees per square kilometre.
This pattern held true even after taking account sources of pollution, levels of affluence, and population density, all factors likely to influence the results.
The study has been published in the latest issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Asthma happens to be one of the leading causes of hospitalisation among New York’s children.
Trees may be helping to curb asthma rates by encouraging children to play outdoors more or by improving air quality, the study said.
New York City is planning to plant a million extra trees by 2017, which could provide the perfect opportunity to discover exactly what impact tree density has on asthma, the authors of the study added.
Vegetable diet cuts heart attack risk
Vegetable diet cuts heart attack risk
20 Apr 2008, 0333 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha,TNN
NEW DELHI: A 24-year-long American study has offered the strongest evidence yet to show that a diet rich in vegetables, low on animal protein and moderate intake of low-fat dairy products cuts chances of heart attack in middle-aged women by nearly a quarter.
The study, which followed over 88,000 otherwise-healthy nurses, found that those who followed the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet —fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk and plant-based protein — over meat had 24% less chances of suffering a heart attack and 18% less likely to have a stroke than women who consume more meat.
Women in the study were in their mid-30s to late 50s when the research began in 1980.
Reporting this finding in the latest edition of the journal “Archives of Internal Medicine”, scientists from Simmons College, Boston, said that even though the study only followed women, men too would benefit equally by following a similar dietary regime.
The study’s lead author Teresa Fung said: “People might think they don’t have high blood pressure, so they don’t have to follow it. However, the results suggest that even healthy people should get on it.”
Reacting to the study, senior cardiologist at Apollo hospital Dr Deepak Natarajan said: “Besides essential nutrients, food also produces bioactive compounds that improves health and protects against disease. A low cholesterol and high fibre diet, which includes at least six portions of vegetables and fruits a day, contain essential micro-nutrients and vitamins that produce antioxidants — substances that protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Antioxidants prevent advent of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.”
Dr Natarajan added: “A recent study, examining the importance of heart disease risk factors, looked at more than 20,000 people in 52 countries and found that most Indians follow a non-vegetarian diet. Not only is the volume of vegetables consumed low, reheating of vegetarian dishes — a common practice among Indians — destroys the micro-nutrients. Indians, therefore, face heart attacks five years earlier than people in the West.”
Designed to stop hypertension (high blood pressure), the DASH diet has previously been shown to reduce both systolic and diastolic BP levels — top and bottom numbers, respectively — in people with high or normal BP.
This BP-reducing diet has been linked to a reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), commonly called bad cholesterol. To examine the association between the diet and cardiovascular health, the team analyzed 88,517 female nurses, none of whom had cardiovascular disease or diabetes in 1980.
On seven occasions between 1980 and 2004, participants in the study detailed the types of foods they ate frequently over the past year.
The researchers used eight food and nutrient components from the data to develop a DASH score for each woman. If women ate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, then their DASH scores increased.
As participants ate more red and processed meats and sweetened beverages, their scores decreased.
After 24 years of follow-up, the researchers found that 2,129 women had a non-fatal heart attack, 976 died of coronary heart disease, and 2,317 had strokes. Women with higher DASH scores were found to have a reduced risk for heart disease and stroke.
kounteya.sinha@timesgroup.com
‘Saffron may ease PMS symptoms’
‘Saffron may ease PMS symptoms’
21 Apr 2008, 0007 hrs IST,REUTERS
NEW YORK: Saffron, a spice known for flavouring cuisine, might also offer an antidote to premenstrual syndrome, a small study suggests.
It’s thought that the spice might influence depression symptoms via effects on the brain chemical serotonin. Because alterations in serotonin activity are suspected in PMS, a team of Iranian researchers decided to study whether saffron supplements might help relieve these symptoms.
M Agha-Hosseini and colleagues at Tehran University of Medical Sciences randomly assigned 50 women to take either saffron capsules or a placebo twice a day over two menstrual cycles. The women, had all had PMS symptoms for at least six months.
At the end of the treatment period, three-quarters of the women on saffron capsules reported at least a 50% reduction in PMS symptoms.
That compared with only 8% of women in the placebo group, the researchers report in the medical journal
BJOG. In addition, the researchers found, 60% of the saffron group showed a 50% improvement in depression symptoms.
New medical form for accident victims
New medical form for accident victims
Staff Report GULF NEWS Published: April 20, 2008, 00:34
Dubai: New medical check-up forms for accident victims were approved in a meeting for the Traffic Department heads in Dubai’s police department and the Dubai Health Authority.
The new forms used for those injured in car accidents will categorise their degrees of injury.
The meeting, which was attended by Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Al Qadir Al Banay, head of the Rashiddiya police station, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Al Fishti, head of the Al Qusais police station, Younis Khadum, director of Medical Affairs at the Health Authority, and other senior officials from both departments, discussed the importance of preserving the rights of all those entailed in car accidents.
The meeting also decided that the official language used in the approved medical forms has to be Arabic.
A coordinator from the Traffic Department was chosen for the exchange of medical reports, to ease cooperation between police and the health authority, to activate institutional partnership as indicated in the strategic plan of the Police Department.
Egg ups death risk in middle age
Egg ups death risk in middle age
10 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST,REUTERS
WASHINGTON: Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of earlier death, US researchers reported on Wednesday.
Men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death during a 20-year period studied, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . The study adds to an ever-growing body of evidence, much of it contradictory, about how safe eggs are to eat. It did not examine what about the eggs might affect the risk of death.
Men without diabetes could eat up to six eggs a week with no extra risk of death, Dr Luc Djousse and Dr J Michael Gaziano of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found.
“Whereas egg consumption of up to six eggs a week was not associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, consumption of (seven or more) eggs a week was associated with a 23% greater risk of death,” they wrote.
“However, among male physicians with diabetes, any egg consumption is associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality, and there was suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI (heart attack) and stroke.” They urged more study in the general population.
Eggs are rich in cholesterol, which in high amounts can clog arteries and raise the risk of heart attack and stroke. One expert on nutrition and heart disease said the study suggests middle-aged men, at least, should watch how many eggs they eat.
“More egg on our faces? It’s really hard to say at this point, but it still seems, if you’re a middle-aged male physician and enjoy eggs more than once a day, that having some of the egg left on your face may be better than having it go down your gullet,” said Dr Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado and a former president of the American Heart Association.
Abu Dhabi pharmacies issued new directives
Abu Dhabi pharmacies issued new directives
Staff Report GULF NEWS Published: April 01, 2008, 00:42
Abu Dhabi: Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has issued instructions asking pharmacies to have a licensed pharmacist on duty during business hours.
It also issued another circular informing all pharmacies that it is mandatory to use a new triplicate controlled prescription form.
A copy will remain with the pharmacy, another one will be handed to the patient and a third copy given to the insurance company.
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