Tag: SLEEP

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Scientific process of rest and recovery

Such free hobbies tend to keep your body and mind grounded and generate a sensation of rest. To some extent, meditation and yoga may also fall into this parlance…reports Asian Lite News

Rest has been termed a necessary factor for healthy function and life. However, if you are involved in intensive training, trying muscle building as a hobby or even simply coping with an illness, rest and recovery should become your focus.

Following a proper rest and recovery regimen allows you to recover faster, avoid muscle stress and injuries, and stay active for longer hours. Vijay Thakkar, founder, 48 Fitness shares five essential elements for the scientific process of rest and recovery:

The Sleep Rhythm: Sleep has been described and understood as an important element of rest and recovery. Though, it’s just not enough to sleep for eight-nine hours every day, the quality of sleep matters as much as the quantity. Some studies also point to a third angle in the equation – other activities.

The amount of sleep you need will depend on your lined up activities which require your complete focus and mental or physical strength. For instance, an athlete preparing for a competitive tournament should do well with a nine-hour sleep. However, an academic preparing for a competitive exam will do better with just seven hours.

So, your sleep patterns have to be personal depending on your age, occupation, and living environment. Idea is to ensure a high level of alertness, energy and focus while awake. Studies have also found napping to be a phenomenon to supplement your sleep deprivation.

Perceived Pleasure Activity – Hobby: Creative activities like painting, playing a musical instrument just for pleasure and activities like reading a book, walking in a garden etc. have been found to calm your mind and rejuvenate your energy.

Even for sportspersons involved in high-intensity physical activities, short periods of low-intensity exercise has been useful in improving muscle damage and recovery. More scientific definition classifies such activities as any activity which is simple to do, is different from your normal engagements, and you can start without pressure or time constraints.

Such free hobbies tend to keep your body and mind grounded and generate a sensation of rest. To some extent, meditation and yoga may also fall into this parlance.

Physical Stimulation: Physical stimulation has been an active way of removing inflammatory biomarkers and muscle damage indicators from the bloodstream of sportspeople. One of the oldest and most popular methods of physical stimulation is massage.

Massage has been the most effective method of aiding recovery in sportspeople. The use of massage therapies has been popular for chronic pain like headache, lower back, neck and shoulder pain.

However, evidence strongly supports massage therapy for recovery after a high-intensity physical workout. Other methods of physical stimulation include cold showers, stretching and water immersion.

Hydration: Stress induces a series of bodily functions which intensifies dehydration. Whether in sports or normal day to day functions, hydration plays an important role in replenishing the body and managing stress.

Under normal duress, while you are busy with work or handling daily challenges, forgetting to drink water also leads to dehydration. Not that it has a long-term effect but, it can add to your stress woes.

Staying hydrated will help you keep the cortisol levels in check. Cortisol is the chemical our body produces when under stress. Cortisol production drains the electrolytes from your body. Drinking adequate water helps maintain the electrolytes and reduce the negative impact of stress on your physical and mental capacities.

Nutrition: Nutrition is an obvious part of your overall health and an important element in recovery. But, rest? Does nutrition play a role in keeping you relaxed and rested? Turns out, it is not only important for replenishing the body, but it also affects your sleep quality.

Studies have associated high fibre, healthy fats, and vitamin-rich vegetables with good quality sleep. On the other hand, higher trans fats, sugar and non-fibre intake results in more waking bouts during sleep,i.e. low sleep quality.

Thus, fruits, veggies, high fibre foods, nuts and a smart mix of seeds and dairy are all necessary for the nutrients and rest that your body needs.

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Let’s make ‘HEALTH’ a long-term priority

8 ways to sleep better during COVID-19 stress. (Photo Courtesy: Pixabay)

Vitamin D supplementation is important not just for bone and immune system health, but it can also help avoid chronic health problems…writes Veronica Kumra

There are many ways to give a healthy start to the new year. Follow these tips:
Eat more whole foods: Making a conscious effort to fill your plate with more whole foods (such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and pure protein sources) and less processed foods is the easiest approach to start a healthy year (like bread, cheese, processed meats & pre-made frozen meals).

Choose a sustainable Diet: Rather than following fad diets that promise quick results while jeopardising your metabolism and mental wellness. Diets that you won’t be able to maintain in the long run once you’ve reached your ideal weight without feeling deprived. Then worrying that your weight will return once you resume eating without a fixed diet is not worth the effort.

Choose a dietary plan that not only satisfies your objectives but also fits into your daily routine. Delivers slow but long-lasting benefits. It’s a privilege to have a diet that may become your lifestyle rather than a “diet.” Where you may strike a balance between your social life and your occasional treats without jeopardising your progress or making you feel bad. Making long-term health a priority, developing self-awareness, and eating intuitively is your recipe to a “sustainable transformation”.

Increase Vitamin D intake: Vitamin D supplementation is important not just for bone and immune system health, but it can also help avoid chronic health problems (such as heart disease, diabetes, and some malignancies) and even encourage hair growth. As a result, make sure to catch some sun for at least 15-20 minutes per day and complement with a vitamin D supplement (no more than 4,000IU per day).

Incorporate movement into your daily routine: It doesn’t matter if you’re doing a workout, playing a sport, or simply going for a walk. For maximum functioning, it’s critical to get your blood flowing and stimulate oxygen delivery to every region of your body. Make it a point to include some type of physical activity in your everyday routine.

Prioritize sleep: We often end up preferring socialising above sleeping as overworking has become a badge of honour in our society. We push our bodies to extremes by depriving them of sleep and over-caffeinating them, which leads to anxiety and weakened immunological systems. Sleep deprivation and poor-quality sleep can cause major health issues like insulin resistance, neurological issues, weight gain, depression, and anxiety, to mention a few. As a result, it is critical that we obtain 7-8 hours of excellent sleep each night in order for our bodies to function at their best.

Reduce stress: Stress is a major contributor to practically all health problems, from heart disease, obesity, and diabetes to digestive disorders (such as IBS, GERD, and gastrointestinal problems) and depression. Internal and external sources of stress are both possible. Although the ultimate goal should be to eliminate all stress.

However, while it is virtually impossible, you may reduce stress by engaging in activities such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, exercise, counselling, or whatever else you enjoy to help you disengage from the outside world and reconnect with yourself. “Me time” is not a self-indulgent indulgence.

Form a morning routine: Having a morning routine is similar to showing up for yourself and prioritising yourself. It’s the same as honouring yourself and prioritising your needs. Following a morning routine allows you to get your day off to a good start by allowing you to be in tune with yourself before dealing with the rest of the world. This way, rather of allowing your day to control you, you take charge of it.

Say your daily affirmations: Speaking your daily affirmations aloud will not turn you into a narcissist, but it will help you stay on track with the proper energy and mindset. Positive self-talk has the ability to transform unbelief, self-doubt, negative thinking, and body shaming attitudes into gratitude and romanticising your existence. So don’t dismiss the importance of positive affirmations.

Set daily intentions: Setting your daily aims has a lot more impact than you might believe. It opens up our receptivity, manifests, and sends out what we want to bring into our lives. Intentions provide us with a sense of direction as well as motivation and inspiration to attain our goals. Together, writing down your intentions and saying your affirmations for the day creates the most effective visualising tool for staying focused and committed to your goals.

10. Choose passion over perfection: Stop doing things half-heartedly. As a result, you put in more effort and become frustrated. However, if you are enthusiastic about a job or work, you should be able to complete it with less effort and more joy. Because you’ll give it your all and put your heart and soul into it. You are defined by your passion. It elevates you and allows you to shine.

(Veronica Kumra is a Holistic Nutritionist)

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Is your kid a morning bird? No worries

Having a sound sleep at night can help children lead healthy lives. Thus, from babies to school-aged kids and teenagers, parents might be keen to know many hours of sleep is essential for their child…writes Mubashshir Muzammil Khan.

Do your children wake up late every day? Then, you should be happy as it is a good sign that your child is sleeping well. But you have to worry when the child fails to wake up even after several alarms and you literally have to drag your child out of the bed. There are many children who fail to get sound sleep at night and feel lethargic and are unable to focus on studies during day time.

Is your child cranky? Is your kid unable to concentrate on studies or do their daily chores with ease? Then, he/she must encounter sleep problems. Yes, you have heard right! Many children become night owls, and that takes a toll on their overall well-being. Sleep is vital for young children. Early in life, one experiences tremendous development that impacts the brain, body, emotions, and behaviour and sets the stage for their growth through childhood and adolescence.

Having a sound sleep at night can help children lead healthy lives. Thus, from babies to school-aged kids and teenagers, parents might be keen to know many hours of sleep is essential for their child.

New-borns’ need to get around 14 hours of sleep, infants need around 15 hours of sleep, toddlers need approximately 14 hours of sleep, pre-school children need around 10-13 hours of sleep while school-going children of 6-13 age need around 9 hours of sleep. Here are a few fool proof tricks to help your child get sound sleep at night:

* Allow your child to get at least 10 to 11 hours of sleep every day without fail. If your child has a habit of sleeping late then make bedtime earlier half-an-hour as doing so will help your child wake up on time, and he/she will not have to miss online classes.

* Try to maintain the same schedule and your child will be able to sleep peacefully and complete his/her sleep properly. Create a consistent bedtime routine to calm down the child and make him/her sleep on an immediate basis.

* You will have to limit your child’s exposure to electronic gadgets at least 1 hour before sleeping. Do not allow your child to play games on the mobile or watch television before hitting the sack as doing so can snatch away the child’s sleep.

* Avoid caffeine and sugary drinks, particularly in the second half of the day as it hampers good sleep. Don’t let your child drink a lot of water before sleeping as he/she will have to make continuous trips to the loo and the sleep will be disturbed.

* Maintain good lighting and temperature in the kid’s room. Don’t fill up the child’s bed with toys and heavy blankets that will suffocate the child and make him/her uncomfortable. Use a good pillow and mattress that will support your child’s back and neck. Improper mattress and pillow can lead to back and neck pain.

If your child has any sleep problems such as loud or heavy breathing, snoring, and even waking up after regular intervals then you need to consult the doctor. Make sure your child gets enough sleep on a regular basis so that he/she can stay healthy and hearty.

ALSO READ-Health consequences of sleep loss

READ MORE-Are you sleeping on time?

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Are you aware of these dangerous habits?

Sticking to your chair for the whole day when you go to the office is as dangerous as smoking…writes Siddhi Jain.

In our modern life, we have certainly habits that we think are alright to follow but in reality, could be slowly eroding away at our health and immune systems.

Neha Mittal, the co-founder of healthcare device company OneAbove, shares 5 habits as dangerous as smoking:

Compromising sleep: Have you noticed how cranky and irritated you become the next day if you do not sleep properly? It is one of the side effects of ignoring quality sleep. As per health professionals, we must take at least 6 hours of sleep each day to make sure our body is rejuvenating at its natural speed. Any compromise in the sleep hours affects your immune system, respiratory and digestive system negatively.

Eating high animal-protein meals: Excessive consumption of meals rich in animal proteins such as cheese and meat can promote cancer growth due to a hormone named IGF1. The risk factor for this is equivalent to smoking. To avoid overconsumption of such proteins, do include plant proteins, like beans, in your meals.

Long hours sitting: Sticking to your chair for the whole day when you go to the office is as dangerous as smoking. Studies have linked sitting for long hours, whether it is for work or driving, to various cancers like lung, breast, and colon. Be sure to move around a little every one or two hours and then continue your work.

Being lonely: While in normal life, we may not view being lonely as an important issue, it certainly is. Being lonely makes one more prone to heart diseases. Not just that, it invites additional diseases such as anxiety, emotional disturbances, and even harmful addictions. Try to make some good friends who listen to you even when you are low.

Tanning in a controlled environment: Many people have started tanning in a controlled environment rather than taking in sunlight. Sunlight can indeed cause skin cancer, but tanning indoors is harmful too. Stop going to the local tanning salon and start taking adequate sunlight.

ALSO READ-Covid Changed Health Habits

READ MORE-‘Fitness Habits: Breaking The Barriers To Fitness’

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Health consequences of sleep loss

Sleep disorders have also been linked road traffic accidents and major industrial accidents globally…writes Siddhi Jain.

Sleep is an important part of our daily routine — we spend about one-third of our lives sleeping. Quality sleep — and getting enough of it at the right times — is as essential to survival as food and water, says Sibasish Dey, Head, Medical Affairs, Asia and Latin America, ResMed.

Writes the sleep expert:

Globally, studies have shown that sleep along with other benefits, helps in improving our learning and problem solving skills. Whereas sleep deficiency on the other hand alters neuro-cognitive process, and we may experience symptoms such as irritability, poor decision making, low problem-solving skills, depression, loss of memory, among others. Thus, this world sleep awareness month, let’s take a pledge to relook at our sleep schedules, maintain a healthy circadian rhythm and also increase conversations around the need for a healthy sleep hygiene as we cannot achieve optimal health without taking care of our sleep.

5 natural alternatives to help you cope up with work stress.

Why are we sleep deprived?

Barriers to a good sleep cycle may include a hectic lifestyle, long erratic working hours, and sleep disorders. Also, habits such as too much screen time, lack of physical activity, consumption of caffeine before bedtime and low exposure to sunlight may disrupt our sleep cycle. Underlying, sleep disorders are also causative of poor sleep. Insomnia is a widely known disorder, but obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is a form of sleep disordered breathing is also a common sleep disorder. OSA is caused due to momentary stopping of breath due to muscle relaxation of neck muscles while sleeping and can lead to repeated micro-awakening during sleep — thus disrupting sleep. Statistics have shown that around 28 million people suffer from sleep apnea in India, 80 per cent of whom are undiagnosed.

(Photo Courtesy: pixabay)

What are the consequences of a disordered sleep cycle?

The cumulative effects of a long period of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been linked to deleterious health consequences, including an impact on our cognitive functions, cardio-metabolic diseases, obesity, impaired immunity, etc. OSA impairs glucose metabolism and promotes weight gain, which puts us at the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Individuals with OSA are at a higher risk of stroke and irregular heartbeats. Hence, quite often OSA management goes hand-in-hand along with cardio-vascular medications in individuals who have had a history of cardiac disease.

Few studies have also linked impaired sleep with the risk of cancer. A research at Stanford University has confirmed that sleep deprivation alters the balance of two hormones, cortisol, and melatonin. Cortisol helps in the regulation of immune system activity whereas melatonin helps to fight tumour growth and promote DNA repair, leading to cancer protective effects.

Sleep disorders have also been linked road traffic accidents and major industrial accidents globally.

How can we sleep better?

It is important to be in sync with our body’s natural sleep — wake cycle. We must set aside 8 hours for regular sleep and try to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Exercise, exposure to sunlight are important to get good sleep. Pre-sleep activities such taking a warm bath and meditation also helps us sleep well.

In case of symptoms such as morning headaches, excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, breathing pauses during sleep, unexplained fatigue, it is important to seek help of a sleep specialist. With the advent of digital technologies, sleep diagnosis is easily accessible in our bedrooms. One such test is OneSleepTest, which is one of its kind, safe, accurate, simple, and comprehensive home sleep test-kit being distributed by ResMed in India. Battling sleep issues with easy remedies and treatments is the first step we can take to manage the global problem of sleep deficiency. Sleep therapies can help in bringing us closer to living life to the fullest.

Also Read-Excessive Mobile Use Affects Sleep

Read More-Sleep Apnea The Potential Cause Of Depression

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Are you sleeping on time?

8 ways to sleep better during COVID-19 stress. (Photo Courtesy: Pixabay)
80 per cent of the respondents said they do not sleep on time due to mindless scrolling on smart phones. The ideal sleep time would be around 10 p.m….writes Puja Gupta.

Sleep apnea is a common disease in the modern era of technology. Sleeping post 10 p.m. is clinically declared as an inappropriate time to go to sleep and it triggers a change in the sleeping pattern that leads to sleep deprivation. This is irrespective of the number of hours of sleep. However, a recent study has revealed that although a majority of Indians are aware that sleeping at 10 is an ideal time, they tend to give excuses when it comes to actually following it.

A study conducted by Godrej Interio across 1,000 Indians living across the metros found that seven out of every ten respondents cites ‘binge watching’ as an excuse to not sleep on time.

Around 56 per cent of the respondents admitted that “work for home” which includes the household chores could be delaying their sleep time while 80 per cent of the respondents said they do not sleep on time due to mindless scrolling on smart phones. The ideal sleep time would be around 10 p.m.

Commenting on the findings, Anil Mathur, COO, Interio Division, said,”We at Godrej Interio are committed towards health of the nation and ‘Sleep at 10’ is an initiative which promotes right sleeping habits which is beneficial for overall health and productivity. The study was conducted to emphasise on how health is becoming more important and how sleeping on time is quintessential to leading a healthy life.”

According to the sleep data, collected by the survey 20 per cent respondents indulge in mindless texting on smart phones. Similarly, 29 per cent cites ‘pajama partying’ as an excuse to not sleep on time. Also, 44 per cent respondent’s mentions “work from home” which includes the official work as the primary reason to not sleep on time.

Also Read-Does poor sleep affect your heart health?

Read More-Home remedies to overcome Sleep Apnea