Posts Tagged ‘Health’
evawhite on November 1st, 2008
You know I always thought that I should be able to get by on 6 hours of sleep, why should I need more; I am not a child. But this site here gave me some very interesting information about sleep and debunked some of the misconceptions that I harbored about sleep:
You need less sleep as you get older: Not true: all adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep everyday and a deficit can be a contributing factor to high blood pressure, diabetes and even weight gain! You need this basic quota of sleep for optimum performance health and safety.
In fact a surprising study found that there is a connection between childhood obesity and amount of sleep the children got. It was found that sleeping an extra hour a night reduced the chance of being overweight from 36 percent to 30 percent in young children, and from 34 percent to 30 percent in older children.
Adults don’t need afternoon naps: I thought I was weird in that I need a 15 to 20 minute nap in the afternoon that I wake up from completely refreshed and recharged. But it turns out that an afternoon nap not only is beneficial but can actually improve one’s memory, because sleep and specifically naps can help memory consolidation. Therefore the concept of a power nap I guess. That also validates my study methods during important exams: I used to study for say 3 to 4 hours and then nap for half an hour. It really seemed to work!
Exercise and sleep: I find that if I have had a sedentary day, I get the restless legs syndrome when I sleep at night, and if I have had my usual brisk walk for half an hour and had my usual active day, I sleep quite promptly and like a baby! I also finish dinner at least three hours before bed time as recommended. I suppose I have good habits and therefore no sleep problems. If you do however, check out these tips for getting a good night’s rest.
Snoring is annoying, but not a problem: Not true! So the next time you get a snorer as a co passenger in bus/train/plane, wake them up and tell them to get help because it isn’t just something that is annoying to others, it may be caused by sleep apnea and may be potentially dangerous.
evawhite on August 21st, 2008
I have in the past told you about the hair and skin care tips that I incorporate into my everyday life. That post had got a very substantial response so I thought that I would also share with you the everyday good health rules that I live my life by. Firstly I understood the difference between trying to be healthy and trying to get to a particular size. Being healthy is far more important than being thin or fat or any particular size and to that end I live by the following rules to stay healthy:
Be Active: I go grocery shopping on my bicycle; an amazing number of things fit into that bike-basket of mine! I take the car only if someone else is coming with me; if it is a short trip I walk and ask that someone else to walk with me. If I am not in a hurry I take the stairs rather than the lift or the escalator.
I take my four year old to the park every day, I trot along with her as she rides her bike (with the trainer wheels in place, she cannot manage without them) and I play catch or any other physical game with her, which is great fun, great bonding and a bit of a workout as well! I also try to go to the gym 3 times a week to do moderate weights, but I have to admit I am not always successful.
Eat Right: I made some replacements in the family diet a while back and I have honestly seen positive results. I reduced the amount of salt and sugar that we were consuming. Where possible I replace the sugar with honey or jaggery. I replaced the white bread with whole wheat bread (not just brown bread because often ‘brown’ is merely caramel or color added to white bread).
When I buy packaged foods I read the label and if it says the words ‘hydrogenated’ or ‘partially hydrogenated’ vegetable oil or if it has sugar listed as the first ingredient, I put it back on the shelf and don’t buy it. These few simple rules have stood me in good stead.
Be Happy: Play with your kids, laugh a lot, keep away from stress or at least learn to manage stress effectively. Start an interesting hobby or take time out to do that which you enjoy doing even if it is something as simple as going for a walk in your favorite park to enjoy the flowers or reading a book. Take a holiday with the family and take time to just be and not do!
Lastly don’t make excuses (like this cartoon here)!
These few things keep me healthy and sane, what about you?
evawhite on July 10th, 2008
I am on a weight loss spree. I had made certain resolutions on the 1st of Jan 2008 though I have not met with any successfully. One of them was to get myself in perfect shape and have a leaner and fitter body. Now being desk chained the whole day, it leaves very less time for any kind of fitness program.
I have lately heard of diet pills, which are easily available in the market and they help in weight loss. Now, I have never used these pills. I have got mixed opinions for the same. I would like you’ll to give me a feedback. If you’ll have heard from anybody or used it yourself, please let me know your experience about it.
It’s July already and I am not even close to meeting my target weight. Please help me guys……
evawhite on May 22nd, 2008
Ever wondered why shoes do it for you? It is basic and primal; but as it is out today, scientific as well! I decided to look a little deeper on this so called ‘scientific’ aspect to it to something otherwise almost primal. I have of course poured and pepper my thoughts on what I found.
Footwear, women and the obsession goes back thousands of years ago. The Chinese women had a peculiar obsession with foot binding. No one really knew why and many reasons were given, of them for purely sexual reasons, erotic appeal and to even say quote “If her feet were not bound, she would be as strong as her husband”. That’s certainly not my quote. There is a picture here of an ancient Chinese high heel.
Men I know are not aroused by their feet, they are tickled but that’s it. Women on the other hand are. No you say? Only because you haven’t tried. It’s why you like shoes, the feeling you get with a good pair of shoes is ….. (Primal)
*primal* used to denote a natural unknown feeling*
Perched on high heels is a provocative stance. It’s impossible for a woman to cower in high heels (have you tried?) You are compelled to take a stance, strike a pose (stylishly) because three inches above you need to find that (sexy) sense of balance.
The stance; Quote “”Tapers the toes, arch the instep, lift the calves, tilt the fanny and bow the back while oiling the hips and sashay the gait…. They make the foot look shorter and more precious and yet add the formidableness of extra height. An illusion of longer and more defined legs more pronounced and curved breasts and needless to say a rounder butt. High heels emphasize all the aspects that are considered to belong to the realm of women’s physically sexual attributes.”
The sexually enhanced posture definitely adds to the psyche. Makes one feel infused with a sense of empowerment (must have felt it) its not some offshoot of masculine machine, it’s an electric undercurrent of feminine empowerment.
Lets look at now the scientific aspect to sex on high heels, a study by a female doctor who proved successfully high-heels are, well, good. Read on.
Pelvic muscles are primarily responsibly for sexual performance and satisfaction so wearing high heels creates an optimum posture providing essential blood to the pelvic muscles which are relaxed and walking in the high heels then exercises and improves strength of the pelvic muscles and the ability to contract. Clearing resulting in improved sexual experience.
Quote “It makes sense that heels are good for abdominal and pelvic muscles, To counter the lean forward, you tighten the abdominal muscles and push the pelvis under.”
Statutory warning: The angle of the heel must be comfortable. Ideally at a 15 degree angle. Two - Three inches at the most for normal use. Higher heels on occasion.
evawhite on May 6th, 2008
Alternative health care: Lets look at it; these methods of today are incursive ‘alternate methods’ to the original method of time immemorial. The right method is allowing the nature to be, i.e. allowing human nature to be and understand how to approach an illness than to attempt to force the body into submission. Which is why allopathic medicines have side-effects. A correct method will have no side-effects.
Let’s look at some correct and obvious methods to good health.
Human beings are meant to be active. If you were to just sit idle while popping pills and drugs you would not get too better. Which is why majority of people are on long-term medication. Simply because the pills provide short-term relief, people refuse to do nothing more than to sit idly hence short-term becomes long term.
Try something; whatever medication you are taking compliment it with some physical activity. See the difference for yourself. That is why Yoga is so popular world over. It is essentially nothing more than to activate and energise the body. Some activity can work wonders.
The kind of medications themselves. These drugs and modern surgery are principally barbaric. Something isn’t right, cut open and remove it..! Or something is broken, stick a piece of metal in there, it should surely help!
Ridiculous! The human body needs subtle care, not such barbaric methods! How many stories have we heard of surgeries not helping even as making things worse! Take for instance the condition ‘corn people get on their feet or so. This one person I know had it operated on several times to have it removed and it kept coming back! Treat the source for crying out loud! Than to just keep cutting it out!!
Eat properly, or balance junk intake!
Try Ayurveda or Homeopathy. Ayurvedic methods are completely natural. Made from plants and herbs work perfectly well with another work of nature; the human body. I know you are probably saying at this point what of all those adverse stories you might have heard on these methods of health care. As with allopathic medication, these methods must be administered properly with correct dosage. Results are very tangible and many problems are cured for life!
I know of many people who with a combination of physical activity (Yoga) and Ayurvedic medication have recovered from very serious illnesses. Why then would massages be part of Ayurvedic treatment if the belief isn’t on physical activity?
Get out of that chair and get active! It’s the best way to build up immunity.
evawhite on April 28th, 2008
Biofuels, biofuels, biofuels it’s everywhere these days. You find politicians making headlines on it, environmental groups protesting against it, scientists publishing various reports on the helpful/harmful nature of the fuels, car companies advertising their ‘biofuel compliance’. Phew! That’s a lot of them! So, I decided to see for myself what these biofuels are about. You’ll be surprised.
So what is the ‘bio’ in biofuels? Biofuels don’t really pollute any lesser, it is a convoluted concept. What is also a convoluted concept the carbon credits/carbon emission system which I’ll talk about in another post? The biofuel concept goes like this; Biofuel is plant derived fuel. Where ethanol is derived from various crops and mixed with regular fuel in different percentages. Like bio-30 or bio-60 means that much percentage of plant-derived ethanol is present in the regular gasoline/diesel.
The biofuel consumers don’t pollute any lesser. The theory is the carbon consumed by the plants is offset by the carbon emitted by the vehicles. A theory. Tailor made to appeal to some politician to sell to the masses. There is pressure already to drop this biofuel business (click on link for more)
Here’s how it really works.
The problem is in production of biofuels. The problems are the crops used for Biofuel processing; deforestation to gain land for plantation and the one which really pinches is regular farmers quitting farming vital crops to grow ‘biofuel friendly’ crops. The last point is understandable only, only from an economic point of view. The farmers pick what pays them best, but what of the masses? They stop producing vital crops which result in a shortfall of food!
The other hugely debated aspect is choosing the correct crop to be harvested for biofuel processing. Many of the methods currently used for biofuel production are more environmentally adverse than producing conventional forms of energy, only a select few are not. Ethanol for fuel is made through fermentation, the same process which produces it in wine and beer. So there can be several methods, but which has the least environmental impact should be picked.
The UN Report (click link to see) on biofuels says quote:
“Environmentalists have warned that the biofuel craze can do as much or more damage to the environment as dirty fossil fuels”
“Changes in the carbon content of soils and carbon stocks in forests and peat lands might offset some or all of the benefits of the greenhouse gas reductions”
“Liquid biofuel production could threaten the availability of adequate food supplies by diverting land and other productive resources away from food crops”
What/Who is causing these concerns? The politicians are of course. The biggest problem with politicians is that they are never in office long enough for the boomerang to come hit them back in the face. They see public concerned about the environment, so they come up with a convoluted theory, encourage the private sector to put their money in it by offering them governmental sops, so what happens? Rise in commodity prices, strain on water supplies, large deforestation and farmers moving away from harvesting vital crops.
The developing countries are the ones most heavily hit by this phenomenon, while some countries divert food (click for more info) to produce bio fuels like in the US 20% of the corn produced is diverted for biofuel production.
Last word from a political leader “It is a sign of the lopsided priorities of certain countries that they will resort to measures that will produce fuel at a cheaper cost in order to meet the transport requirements of a section of their population,”
“The pursuit of such policies at a time when many in the world could barely afford to eat was “outrageous and… must be condemned”.
evawhite on January 25th, 2008
Junk Food: The Silent Killer.
Junk Food is one thing that we all know is bad for our health and body but still we cannot do without consuming it. It’s one tough job to stay away from junk food. There are just so many avenues which are available which attract us towards Junk Food, especially children. Avenues like television advertisements, hoardings, mushrooming fast food restaurants, roadside eateries all attract us to junk food like bees to honey.
Here are some statistics which show a clear picture about the percentage of junk food that we consume.
Percentage of people who snack at least once a day
United States………80%
Germany…………….74%
United Kingdom…. 69%
Brazil…………………64%
Italy……………………62%
Spain…………………57%
Japan………………..66%
France……………….53%
India………………39%
China……………..25%
Consumption of Snacks
As reported in the July/August issue of Fiery Foods Magazine
Americans are the biggest consumers of savory snacks such as crisps and nuts, having eating 2.7 million tons in 1996. Chinese people consume the least, having eaten 6,000 tons in 1996.
Consumption of Chips
As reported in the July/August issue of Fiery Foods Magazine
Almost 89 percent of U.S. households buy potato chips in a year, replenishing about every three weeks.
76 percent buy tortilla chips and replenish about every 32 days.
63 percent buy pretzels and replenish about every 37 days
Apart from these stats at any gi
