It is known that poor sleep hygiene can lead to overeating. But can poor diets impair your sleep? Let us take a look.

Big Meals:

Having dinner atleast 2 hour prior to bed time is the ideal practice. This way, most of the food will be digested before sleep, leaving you to enjoy a restful night. It is better to avoid greasy and fatty foods, spicy gravies and side dishes for dinner. It means a lot of hard work for your stomach to digest and may even cause tummy ache and acidity during the night.

Drinking alcohol before bed:

It is a popular misconception that alcohol induces sleep quicker. Or you may also argue that you have only wine or take just one drink. Be that as it may, alcohol disrupts your sleep hygiene and prevents you from going into deep sleep. And it is during deep sleep that body carries out all its repair works so that you can start your day afresh the next day.

Coffee (or any caffeinated foods) at night:

Caffeine being a stimulant is the best friend of late night workers and nocturnal learners. Hence coffee is a sleep-foe. Caffeine can lead to sleep problems even after 10-12 hours of drinking it. Same is the case for caffeinated foods such as chocolate and fizz drinks. Hence try to eliminate your coffee habits post lunch. Think about cutting down gradually; as in if you drink 5 cups of coffee regularly, try to make it 3 this week.

No Smoking:

Add disturbed sleep and associated problems to the long list of reasons to why you should quit smoking. Nicotine being a stimulant disrupts sleep. It causes trouble in breathing while sleeping. As the night progresses, the urge to take a puff (withdrawal symptom) may take over, which will make it difficult to fall and stay asleep.

Feeling hungry at bedtime:

Choose light and healthy snacks like a banana, apple, a bowl of grapes, a cheese sandwich or yoghurt. This won’t strain your digestive system and your hunger pangs too will subside.

Help us spread the word:

Share

You exercise, eat well and even sleep a good 7-8 hours. Still your weight hasn’t come down at all. You feel disappointed. – Is this the current scenario in your weight loss efforts?

What you’re missing here is Portion Control. Just because you have started exercising, it doesn’t mean that you can indulge and overeat all the time. Overeating is often followed with slight tummy ache, lethargy etc. But over time you get used to it and overeating becomes a habit.

And since you are taking in more calories than you lose by exercising, your weight remains the same. This is where you need to master the art of portion control and ingrain it in your daily life.

Portion control is not eating less. Portion control is eating only the amount of food your body needs.

At home, it is easier to control portion as you can measure foods with the plates, cups and bowls you’re familiar with. But this may not be practical when you decide to eat out, go to a party or picnic. Well, there’s no need to worry your head as you have the perfect measuring tool with you- your hand.

The hand method presents you a simple way to gauge a sensible serving. Let us see how.

How about trying this out at your next meal and see if it works? Here’s a toast to healthy eating with healthy portion!

Help us spread the word:

Share

It is a universal fact that a good night’s sleep of 7-8 hours is essential for functioning. It is the nature’s salve to every hassle and rejuvenates you like nothing else. Yet too much of a good thing can harm you. Apart from putting your body in a permanent lethargic mode, oversleeping is related to a gamut of health problems and lifestyle issues including diabetes, lack of productivity, lack of time and heart problems.

1. Diabetes

Research says that sleeping too much (i.e. more than 9 hours) increases risks of getting diabetes by 50%, though the reasons for this is not clear.

2. Grogginess

You’re most likely familiar with the feeling of being tired and lazy from too much sleep (especially those who sleep till noon during weekends). This disturbance to the normal sleep pattern can cause ‘sleep drunkenness’ and makes you feel unable to stay active or concentrate.

3. Headache

Some people may get up with a headache when they over sleep. Lack of sleep discipline on weekends or any other days has adverse affects on certain neuro-transmitters (serotonin) in your brain. Since serotonin in brain is responsible for inducing feeling of wellness and happiness in you, any such disturbances in serotonin balance can lead to headache.

4. Mental health issues

Plenty of studies have confirmed that people with depression or anxiety tend to sleep more (perhaps to delay facing the real cause of depression). But sleeping in will only worsen your depression. Same holds true for people with continual back pain and migraine.

5. Obesity

Sleeping in more means leaving your stomach in starvation mode for longer hours. This will slow down your metabolism i.e. fat burning rate. According to research, people who sleep for more than 9 hours are 20% more likely to become overweight in the coming years compared to people who sleep the normal hours.

If you sleep for more than 9 hours on an average basis, it is advisable to get expert help to bring your sleep schedule on track. Your doctor can help you to determine why you oversleep and how to reverse the situation.

Help us spread the word:

Share

Cancer is one of the leading causes of deaths globally, accounting for over 75 lakhs deaths annually. Hence there’s almost a deep fear surrounding cancer, mainly due to ignorance and prevalence of myths. Yet the sad fact is that 30% of cancers can be prevented through mere lifestyle changes or avoiding certain key triggers. Another 30% of cancers could be reduced with early detection and treatment.

Did you know…? 10% of cancers are due to poor diet & low nutrition.

You need to know your own body well enough to identify any changes such as lumps or bleeding. These are the alarms that should get you to a doctor’s at the earliest. Of course most of such slight changes may not be precursors to cancer. Most cancers, if detected early enough, can be successfully treated. Even better, the four significant lifestyle changes that can largely prevent cancer are:

• NOT Smoking
• Staying Active
• Moderate Alcohol Intake
• Including 5 portions of fruits & veggies in daily diet

Your contribution in ‘Breaking the Silence’ matters however small…

• Though a sensitive topic, sharing knowledge & talking about cancer can pass on hope and reinforce the mantra ‘early detection saves lives’.
• Getting leaflets from your nearest palliative care centre and passing it on among family, friends and colleagues can help spread hope rather than despair.
• You may come across people with a history. Here you can impress upon them that how cancer treatment has advanced over the last decade.
• If someone you know confide in you about certain suspicious bodily changes, assure them that most screening tests are quite simple and quick.

Help us spread the word:

Share

AN AVERAGE OF ONE LITER OF SALIVA IS PRODUCED WITHIN THE BODY EACH DAY!

Saliva is one factor of our body that’s most undervalued and overlooked. Lets explore the multidimensional role of saliva and give credit where credit is due:

As a digestion-aid:

Saliva has a significant role in digestion. It binds the food you eat into a single group and makes it easier to swallow. Saliva uses its enzyme called amylase to decompose the starch in your food to sugar (maltose). This is how saliva kick starts the digestive process as you begin to chew food. Its effectiveness is manifold with good & thorough chewing of food.

As a bad breath fighter

Saliva helps to get rid of food remains in your mouth, which can prevent or reduce risks of tooth decay, cavities and bad breath to a large extent. Tooth decay is prevented by cleansing the mouth of carbohydrates and thus neutralizing lactic acid. This process is possible thanks to the presence of sialin (an antibody) in the saliva.

As a healer:

Healing powers of saliva is known and used for centuries. Sudden burn when cooking (handling stove or touching hot vessels) can often be soothed by putting a bit of saliva on it. This natural reaction of many actually works to shorten the time it takes to heal the wound or stem the bleeding.

As a cleaning agent:

Food residues get stored in between the teeth which is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. It helps to neutralize acids that enter the body through the mouth when you eat foods with carbohydrates. It also kills certain types of harmful germs in the mouth before it enters your blood.

Don’t you agree that saliva is a great multi-tasker?

Help us spread the word:

Share

Some people’s jobs demand plenty of official travelling- meetings, conferences, marketing etc. And the rest of the world looks on enviously at the high-flying life of such executives from cities to cities. But considering the amount of compromise they have to do on one of their basic needs, that is sleep, this envy is certainly misplaced. Sleeping in bumping trains & buses and travelling across different time zones means disturbed or badly timed sleep, which causes confusion to your body’s sleep-wake cycle.

Of course sleeping away from home never gets easier, but certain tips can definitely help these regular travelers to bring back the sleep hygiene.

• If you’re flying abroad, selecting flights that don’t interfere too much with your sleep schedule is the smart way. Try adapting to the new time schedule for a few days before departure.
• If you arrive at the destination during day time, don’t go to bed immediately. Daylight is a natural stimulant that can retune your bio-clock. If you’re still tired, take a short nap.
• Remember to drink plenty of water and fruit juices. Thirst can make it further difficult for your body to stick to your sleep schedule.
• Starting on alcohol, tobacco, caffeinated drinks such as coffee, fizz drinks, tea etc immediately after arrival ‘so that you can relax and sleep quickly’ is a bad idea. This will prevent you from going to deep sleep mode which is essential for bodily repairs and fat burning.
• At the destination, make sure to reserve a hotel room which is away from elevators or entrance areas. This means lesser disturbances due to late comers.
• If it is practical, take your own pillow or blanket. This is known to induce sleep quickly. Same goes for placing a couple of personal objects such as photographs in your hotel/guest room.
• You never know, you might be required to share room with a colleague or two. In that case, take a sleep mask & a pair of earmuffs with you.
• Keeping the fan on may cut down noises from hotel neighbors or road traffic to a large extent.

Help us spread the word:

Share

“Let me buy a good pair of running shoes and I’ll join you in your morning jog”

“I need to get some smart track pants before I go jogging”

And finally you have purchased all jogging gear including a headband and an iPod. Lets quit with the excuses that sound lame to our own ears and start this very morning or evening. Most old-hand joggers seem to foster a love-hate relationship with running. They love the health benefits and the feel-great factor that come with running. They hate the tedious task of getting up early and start running. Yet the benefits effortlessly cancel out the hatred.

Your reasons to go for daily jogging can range from goal for toned legs, weight loss, good health, enjoying with friends and so on. But as a beginner you need to keep certain things in mind.

• If you’re new in the joggers’ area, it is most likely that you’re out of shape and have been inactive for a while. Don’t get caught up in the beginners’ enthu and try to run 3-4 kilometers on your first day. A 5-minutes warm ups and stretches can get your body ready for the ‘shock’.
• It depends on the amount of time you’re willing to dedicate for jogging. Start with 10 minutes. Follow the pattern of 2-minutes brisk walk, 2-minutes running and then again 2-minutes brisk walk. Use a watch as your ability to judge time can be affected by your tiredness.
• Since even the best shoes’ shock absorbers can get weaker over time, it is recommended that you replace your jogging shoes atleast once a year. Let’s hope that your resolve to run daily last that long.

Help us spread the word:

Share

Invention of contact lenses has saved lakhs and lakhs of people from being teased as ‘four eyes’. They have the liberty to choose the lens color in which they look most attractive. Yet contact lenses are delicate objects and needs careful handling. Without good care, they can be a pain in the eyes, literally, causing you serious eye infections.

Hence instructions from your (eye doctor) oculist and the company you purchase the lenses from should be diligently followed.

If you use contact lenses, here are some essential tips to protect your eyes from the protector i.e. lenses.

• Visit your eye hospital for regular eye exams as per your doctor’s advice.
• Wearing of contact lenses come with a schedule, which will be prescribed by your oculist.
• Remove your contact lenses before you take a shower, go swimming, visit a beach or water theme park.
• Wash hands with soap and water for atleast 20 seconds and dry well before touching your lenses.
• Contact lenses come with specific cleaning instructions from your doctor as well as the manufacturers, which must be followed correctly.
• Never reuse cleaning solutions or mix new solution to old. Always use fresh solutions every time you clean and store lenses.
• Contrary to popular belief, saline solutions are not good or accepted lens-purifier.
• Never forget to clean, wipe, and douse lenses in solution each time you remove them. It will help remove bacteria & dirt from the lenses.
• Change storage cases of lenses atleast once every 3 months.

In case of symptoms like eye pain or redness, swelling, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, sensation of something in the eye, or excessive tearing, consult your specialist at the earliest.

Help us spread the word:

Share