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Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
‘If I’d known I was going to live so long, I’d have taken better care of myself.’
The unfortunate truth is that inside every older person is a younger person wondering what in the world went wrong. And life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
‘It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to get one single remedy.’
‘There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled.’
‘Having peace, happiness, and healthiness is my definition of beauty and you can’t have any of that without sleep,’
Some of the factors that can affect your sleep are: Pain such as body aches, headaches, toothaches Itching associated with psoriasis, eczema, and other skin conditions Medical disorders such as nose blocks, asthma, breathlessness and coughing Psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety Addictions such as alcohol, caffeine, drug abuse or digital addiction Stress, for example, due to job loss, death of a loved one, divorce or moving homes Acidity causing ulcers, heartburn or acid reflux Irritable bowels thus causing frequent trips to the bathroom Environmental factors such as light, noise,
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Many factors that result in sleep deprivation
Sleeping for more time while in bed (at least 85 per cent of the total time) Falling asleep in thirty minutes or less Waking up no more than once per night Being awake for a break of less than twenty minutes during sleeping hours
Quality of slee
The body cycles between NREM and REM every ninety minutes. This is known as the sleep cycle. For most people, the first REM period may be just five minutes, the second, ten minutes, and the third, fifteen minutes. Your last dream of the night can last for thirty to sixty minutes. Remember, you may or may not recall dreaming, but everyone dreams each night.
Good sleep affects you more than you think. Here are the key benefits that meeting your sleep quota can ensure: Enhancing decision-making skills Improving memory and concentration Increasing work efficiency Widening attention span Increasing alertness
The one supplement that you do not need to take advice for is a time-tested grandmothers’ remedy—warm milk. It’s a natural melatonin booster owing to its calcium content.
Do not have a lot of water at one go if you suffer from dehydration headache. Drink small amounts frequently—say 200-250 ml every hour. Electrolytes play an essential role in water retention. Failure to replace lost electrolytes will lead to difficulties in rehydrating. Add some electrolyte powder to your water for fast electrolyte replenishment.
A simple day-to-day routine is to have a full glass of water first thing in the morning. Remember it has to be plain water without honey or lime or anything else, the first thing in the morning, as soon as you get up. Water triggers what is now scientifically called the gastrocolic reflex that stimulates your bowels.
Lack of water can actually increase your chances of constipation, leaving you uncomfortable and bloated. In fact, water can actually reduce the incidence of ulcers, bloating, gas, gastritis, acid reflux and irritable bowel. However, do not drink water along with or immediately after meals.
Contrary to what people think, drinking more water results in less fluid retention. Why? Because it helps the body to get rid of excess sodium that causes fluid retention in the first place.
Increased water intake appears to decrease the risk of kidney stone formation because it increases the volume of urine passing through the kidneys. This dilutes the concentration of minerals so that they are less likely to crystallise and form clumps.
Dehydration is often a cause for migraine and people prone to migraines must make an extra effort to keep their water intake regular. Only if the pain is intolerable, take a painkiller. However, remember that this will only treat the symptom and not the cause.
When our bodies are dehydrated they create more histamines—organic nitrous compounds that usually regulate our immune response. Increased histamine count can result in breathing difficulties and allergic reactions.
You can reduce acne, dermatitis, psoriasis and premature aging through increased water consumption. Without water, our skin is unable to properly rid itself of toxins which results in the skin becoming irritated or inflamed.
The human brain is comprised of about 75 per cent water. People who drink water during cognitive tasks tend to perform better than those who do not.
Proper hydration can prevent many health complications and diseases. Water consumption can protect against kidney stones, constipation, asthma, urinary tract infections, coronary heart disease and even some cancers.
A grandma remedy from Indian ayurveda is lime water with a pinch of salt. Alternatively, chamomile, asparagus and mulethi are supplements that help hydration.
‘All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.’
if you are looking to lose weight, remember that simply cutting down fat from your diet is not the solution.
keeping track of your waist measurements in addition to your weight is a far better option.
Atkins Diet: People on the Atkins diet avoid carbohydrates but can eat as much protein and fat as they like, particularly meat. This lowers their insulin and results in fat burn. However, drastically cutting carbs in the early phase of the programme can result in side-effects like headache, dizziness, weakness, fatigue and constipation. Ketogenic Diet: This involves reducing carbohydrate intake and upping fat intake. While it may sound contrary to common sense, it allows the body to burn stored fat as a fuel rather than sugar. In the beginning of this diet, you may experience some negative
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ensure that you get all the nutrients in recommended quantities through your diet. Fasting Diet: This requires intermittent fasting to lower insulin levels. Intermittent fasting can be for sixteen hours, eighteen hours, twenty-four hours or even a few days. There is a contrary view that eating breakfast within one hour of waking up is important to kick start your metabolism which intermittent fasting prevents. There is also a view that your body’s muscle content will decrease and your metabolism will suffer if you continue this diet for long. Weight Watchers Diet: People following this plan
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including lacto-vegetarian, fruitarian vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, living food diet vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and semi-vegetarian. It is unimportant to get into the specifics of each variant here. Some might argue that a vegetarian diet lacks proteins. But soya is a rich source of prot...
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‘I’ve been on a diet for two weeks and all I’ve lost is fourteen days.’
‘I’m on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it.’
Having ghee is a piece of grandmotherly advice that is back in fashion after having been demonised for many decades.
Research suggests that eating when you’re distracted results in consuming many extra calories in a day.
Chew slowly, and don’t take another bite until you have chewed enough.
Chew every morsel of your food thirty-two times. Our Indian grandmothers would say in Hindi, ‘Daanton se khao, aanton se nahin.’ It meant that the work of chewing should be done by the teeth, not the intestines.
Eat your last meal before 6.30 p.m. if possible. If not, eat it at the earliest that you can, keeping a gap of minimum three hours in between your last meal and sleeping.
Try to get the maximum amount of your nutrition from completely unprocessed foods. This not only means more fruit and vegetables but also means brown rice instead of white rice and whole grains instead of refined grains. It’s better to c...
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Don’t eat fruits and nuts after 4 p.m.
Eat slowly so that there is enough time for your brain to receive information from your stomach. If you simply stop for a few minutes to let your food settle, you will be more capable of stopping.
Whenever possible, cook meals at home. This makes it far easier to avoid processed ingredients and gives you far more control over what you eat. Use salt and fats, including butter and oil, as required. Stop treating them as enemies.
Moderation is everything. One of the easy ways of getting yourself to eat in moderation is to divide your plate into quarters. Half your plate (two quarters) should be occupied by fruits and vegetables. Another quarter of the plate should be covered by protein, and the final qu...
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Overeating can be a way of pushing down unw...
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Drink lots of water through the day.
A balanced internal ecosystem is vital to the well-being of your gut. Consider consuming a probiotic supplement and eating fibre-rich foods to keep your gut clean.
Your plate should have two-thirds alkaline and one-third acidic food
Vegans consume a diet rich in whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.
Natural plant-based diet is rich in fibre, folic acid, vitamins C and E, magnesium, unsaturated fat and phytochemicals. Vegans therefore have low risk of high cholesterol and blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. Almonds, chickpeas, broccoli, lentils, spinach and tofu are all rich in proteins.
Artificial sweeteners may change the way you taste your food, due to which you are less likely to make healthier food choices. Routine use of artificial sweeteners can make you shun healthy and nutritious foods while consuming more artificially flavoured foods with less nutritional value. This happens because frequent use of these ‘hyper-intense’ sweeteners leads to overstimulation of sugar receptors. This means people who routinely use them may find foods that are not intensely sweet, like fruits, less appealing, and foods such as vegetables downright unpalatable!
Diet soda may contain aspartame, which according to some studies might cause cancer with long-term use. Also, many of these diet drinks contain caffeine, which may curb your appetite temporarily, but may lead to overeating later on in the day. Sodas also contain phosphorus, too much of which can leech calcium from your bones, weakening them. Also, understand that with sodas you may bloat easily since they often cause indigestion.
Exercise actually causes changes in those areas of the brain that control stress and anxiety. Exercise improves the sensitivity of your brain to hormones such as serotonin and norepinephrine. These are hormones that reduce feelings of depression. It also ups the manufacture of endorphins which boost positivity and reduce pain.
Increased fitness also improves sleep patterns. As little as ten minutes of aerobic exercise, such as walking or cycling, can dramatically improve the quality of your sleep, especially when done on a regular basis.
