Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases in Women? {Women Stuff}

Today is World's Heart Day. So, I am borrowing this article from The Hindu Magazine, September 23, 2012. They had published a small article on how to take care of the heart. I shall try not to infringe on the copyright and am again asserting that this post may end up being a copy of the article. So, the entire credit for the post goes to the Hindu newspaper.

Symptoms of CVD in women feeling of discomfort between breasts or behind breastbone pain radiating over arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach shortness of breath, weakness or fatigue unusual anxiety or nervousness indigestion or nausea  sudden sweating, dizziness and collapse

Cardiovascular diseases are getting more prominent in women. Its no longer a man's disease!!!Its especially dangerous if you smoke, drink or lead a sedentary life or have high blood pressure or sugar or cholesterol levels or are under huge amount of stress due to personal and professional problems.

In fact, even children are at risk from the condition called Cogenital Heart Defect. The improper development of heart during the pregnancy can result in this. Mothers who do not take care of themselves or their diet during pregnancy have a high risk of having children with this defect. Also, if you are a diabetic, your child is prone to heart-related problems.

How to Prevent? Be physically active!!! Walk or exercise daily. Avoid salt, sugar and fatty foods. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.  Maintain a healthy weight.   Quit smoking and avoid respiratory irritants.  Limit or stop alcohol.  If you have lung problem, get influenza vaccination annually.

The reason for these heart diseases are mainly the fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries. Interestingly, these deposits may occur on both the inner walls as well as the outer walls. And, in fact, there is absolutely no cure to remove the deposits on the Outer walls of the arteries so that makes weight management and diet a very important consideration in life.

If the arteries are blocked even partially due to these deposits, the blood flow is not smooth to the heart and heart may fall short of adequate oxygen and other nutrients needed to function properly. When this blockage gets severe, it can result in heart attack. Women of 50-52 are at more risk and especially if there has been a family history of coronary diseases.

So, how do you take care of your heart?
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Do you stop in middle of your exercises? {Your Opinion}

This question is prompted by two facts. One of my friends with whom I regularly go for a walk always gets tired by the end of fourth round and prefers to sit down before continuing. We walk on a walking track of around 750 metres on which we prefer to take four rounds every night. Also, I have another friend whom I used to accompany occasionally on her walking trips and she used to totally halt in between the walks because she used to get tired. And, no it never used to be brisk or on a very difficult terrain either and not long even (around just 1km) and she always had jogging shoes on!!!

Yes, I do feel bad for people who are young and can't walk even that much. This is when I always realize how important it is to be physically active because I do not desire to be in either of my above-mentioned friend's place. I am lazy and that's where it all ends. But, I just wanted you to ask if you stop in between when you are doing any mild form of exercise. Also, it opens up an interesting theory which I have been meaning to share with you all since quite long.

Did you know that when you are exercising, it is advised to vary your paces with time. So, for example, if you are walking, start slowly and then work up to a brisk walking pace and then suddenly slow your pace to slow walk and then keep on varying the speeds of your walk. Likewise, when you are cycling, going from vigorous to light to medium to heavy to vigorous is recommended. The reason is it improves stamina and burns more calories. But, at any point of time, stopping the exercise in between is never EVER recommended. If you are used to doing so, never ever do that!!! Always start slow and end slowly and if you feel you are tired, slow down but NEVER STOP.

So, for how long do you take your walks or keep your exercises going? Do you prefer to stop or vary your paces?

PS: For all the book lovers, check out my review of "The Krishna Key", the latest anthropological thriller by Ashwin Sanghi here. Looking forward to seeing you there :)

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Dare to Change : Chuck gadgets away while walking

So, this is specially for people who care to take a walk daily or even on weekends. I do try to maintain a routine of taking a walk everyday but yes, I do get tired sometimes and skip it. Sometimes, I am purely lazy as well. But, whenever I am out for walk, I have noticed a trend that many people walk/jog with their i-pods or mobiles plugged in their ears or if they are walking, they are carrying out a phone conversation most of the time. 

I do understand why people do it because I myself do it, in fact. It gets boring or monotonous to do exercise without having anyone with you so most of the time I also prefer to be on phone. But, I have also noticed that when I walk without having phones or anything to while away my time, I felt more peaceful and felt as if I did spend my time doing something worthwhile and the walk also refreshes me a lot. 

Otherwise, I don't feel refreshed at all. So, probably, having something else dominate your mind while doing exercise is not a good idea. Try ditching phones and i-pods while doing exercise, especially, walks. This way you also connect with nature and enjoy the walks completely. Also, another issue which is important is that using head phones in the ears increases bacterial growth in the ears. So, try to reduce their usage as much as possible.

Do you go for walk? Do you also pass your time with FM's and songs?

Previous Dare to Change challenges:

Use Stairs 

Get up 15 minutes early

Close laptop an hour before you go to bed 

Take out time for yourself

Do you love midnight snacks? {Your Opinion}

So, my question for today. I totally love to gorge on at midnight but yes, let me make my disclaimer here. Its a very unhealthy habit. You should eat light at dinner and go to bed directly (after two hours and by midnight, you should be deep in sleep). Being awake till midnight is bad for your health and gorging on food is even worse!! It does lead to weight gain as well. 

But, I totally love to have midnight snacks. At one point of time, I used to have ruffles and good day biscuits. But, I am trying to control and have slowly changed to hippo and aliva but I would prefer not to have anything in fact. I wish I could sleep by then but the problem is that whenever there is a Friday and Saturday, I feel like celebrating. 

Either, I end up watching movies or something on lappy or read into the wee hours of morning. Do you also have such habit? And, what do you think of midnight snacks? Do you have a healthier version for midnight snacking?

Image Courtesy:powerpuff.wikia.com

Dare to Change : Take out time for yourself

So, after a long hiatus, I am reviving my Dare to Change series because it really helps with my lifestyle. Now, the reason I wasn't writing on this topic was because of my little unsettled routine and time, I wasn't able to take out to think about my next challenge or anything!! So, this week's challenge came from the same issue. 

Always try to make at least 15 minutes to think and do something you want to do. 

Now, lets review how my previous challenges are faring. 

• First Challenge - Not that I am following it very regularly but I can still say that I am faring well in this challenge of mine because I know my body has got used to this exercise and I can climb up to 6 floors pretty easily. So, yay to it!!

• Second Challenge - Ok, so this is such a difficult challenge that I am not at all sure I can ever succeed in doing it. Getting up 15 minutes early is a far away thing, in fact I have started getting up at 8 these days!!! So, nay to it and try and try and try :(

• Third Challenge - I am not able to follow this regularly because of one major issue and that is boredom. I know I should stay away from laptop after a complete day spent staring at in the office and then while putting up posts and other surfing but I am just not able to do it. So, will have to keep up with it and try to indulge more in books :)

What about you? Are you trying out any of these challenges currently? 

Image Courtesy:purpleringsociety.blogspot.com

Body Weight vs Body Fat {Health}

This is for all those people obsessed with weight loss who start in the dark and don't seek enlightenment. When you are getting on to a weight loss regime, you should be definitely aware of certain facts. I am definitely not a big supporter of gymming but lately one of friends told me about the extra facilites a gym provides. You are given a trainer on a payment basis which is I think you are already aware of. 

But, what you might not be aware of is that they calculate right from your height to measure your BMI, cholesterol levels, fat levels and all other things which even I am not aware of :D So, this enlightenment came to me when I was talking to my friend and so, I thought I would spread it out to you :)

So, the very important thing you want to remember is that your fat levels should be in limits. And, no body weight is not directly proportional to body fat. Even people with normal weight can have higher fat levels depending on their lifestyle. So, when you start on a weight loss or fitness regime, you would want to keep or bring your fat levels in control.

Btw, I would like to tell you an interesting fact. Stairs are damn good to burn your fat levels. So, get going :) Also, if you had followed my Dare to Change series (I know, I have been very lazy lately!!), my first challenge was to use stairs instead of lifts as much as possible. And, then, I read this book called Sexy@Sixty in which the author asks one question "Can you climb up three flight of steps without gasping for breath?". And, I can proudly say that I can climb upto 3 floors without really getting short of my breath and 5-6 storeys with a long breath inside!! Yay, I am happy to know I am fit enough :D What about you? How many floors can you climb without being too much stressed out?

Dare to Change: Get up 15 minutes early

I absolutely love cartoon images and wish I could feel like this in the morning :)

So, this is my second challenge for the month. And, trust me, I think I have jumped on the tougher bandwagon really early!! Coz, I am so lazy that getting up in the morning is literally a huge challenge for me. These days I am getting up at about 7:30 on average. 

So, now, I shall try to get up at 7 sharp or latest by 7:15 AM

I know some of you might think that getting up at 7 is not exactly achieving a huge thing but yes, it is, for me!! I have been trying to do the same since like ages together. And, failed miserably every time. And, do check out the cartoon below :)

I could not NOT share this one with you :)

Btw, I am sure you guys might also be interested in how the first challenge is coming up? Well, to be honest, not really good coz this weekend I had moved and was busy with all that and really tired and then, yesterday and today, I came back from off at like 7 - 7:30 which is like really late for me. 

So, all this is tiring me up coz I really do not get time to relax. And, if I can't relax, its difficult to follow any routine. And, worst part is that I am not even able to take out time to write posts :( And, yeah, I am struggling on it right now at 10 by which time I should be reading P.G.Wodehouse and preparing for my sleep. And, honestly, I do wonder how you guys with extremely hectic schedule really manage to take time for yourself and your blogs. Kudos to all of you :) 

So, are you ready to join in for the second challenge and if you really took the first one, how did it go?

Lose weight with these easy tips {Health}

The inspiration to this post is that I am trying to lose out all the extra flab I have put on and I have exactly a month to do that. So, lets get on with the tips :) I have done a post on all these tips individually so I am linking them to the posts directly. Click on the headings to read the post.

• Deep Breathing
• Water for Weight Loss
• Chew your food morsels properly
• Early to Bed 
• Early to Rise
• 20-minute Walk
• Eat four to six times a day
• Sit on the ground 
• Sit on the chair properly and with your spine erect

These were the simple habits which helps a lot in controlling the excess weight. Apart from that, simple yoga postures which help in weight loss are:

• Anuloma-Viloma
• Some postures to cut back the belly fat

Hopefully, this post will make me again practice all the simple daily habits which I had forsaken in the state of extreme laziness. Also, do let me know how do you like to lose your weight?

Image Courtesy:bestweightlossprogram.freereviews.org

Do not pick on your skin!!

Ohk, so yes, I have been MIA for a very long time now and you have been seeing quite a few sporadic posts from me. The reason is I'm just being plain lazy. Give me a laptop and I will read all 24 hours but when it comes to writing for my own blog, it takes lot of diligence and patience. I do like to particular about my posts and make it as easy to read as possible so if I am not in mood, it kinda becomes difficult. So, yeah, life is not so good at the moment but then there is always a beacon of light shining at the end of the tunnel. I am just waiting to reach the end. And, before I run away with my philosophical perspicacity on my circumstances, I shall come to the topic of the day. If you remember, I had started a series of bad habits which we are not aware of consciously but are extremely harmful for our skin in December. So, continuing in that vein, today's bad habit to be eradicated is - Picking or Poking or unnecessarily irritating your skin.

Yes, I suffer from this very very bad habit and I have my college to blame for it. In my college, I has 1 or 2 stray hairs on my chin which my friends made fun of :( and I got into the habit of plucking them out with my nails. Very very Harmful habit as I have come to realize. It has many implications which I'll discuss with you in a short while. I have also seen a few other people who are addicted to this habit. 

Effects on Skin

So, what happens to skin if you pick or pluck on it?? Well, for one, your skin sags at those areas. Yes, it will make you look old. Secondly, blemishes and dark spots are a direct consequence because of the blood clots under your skin and it really takes a long while to heal. Thirdly, when you pick at your skin using your nails, you are harming the nails in the process. They get brittle, drier and unattractive. So, another incentive to stay away from this  habit.

Worst of all the consequences is bad breakouts. Oh Yes, it has happened with me and I am currently dealing with the situation :( It is not pretty at all, trust me. When you pick at your skin for whatever reason, the cells under the skin get irritated and if you are really insensitive with your skin, it can trigger and inflammation. This can easily happen when you are dealing with facial hairs or eyebrows and popping pimples. This inflammation can result in the worst form of acne - the bubbles filled with pus which you can't treat using anything (trust me, I have been there and done that !!). So, stop this habit right now. Your skin will thank you. Either learn to live with your skin as it is or do something else but do not pick at your skin. Just stop touching your skin with your fingers coz its equally bad as we know that bacteria from the fingers get settled on the face.

Now, I would not discuss in detail how to get rid of this habit coz I have been trying since quite a long time but have not yet been able to. But, strict self-control seems to be the light of the day. Habits die hard but it is said that if you can carry a habit for 21 days to be precise, it becomes a habit. So, control yourself for 21 days and you will live!!  

Ayurvedic Tips

Ok, guys!! So, today morning I was going through my regular list of e-mails and other blog feeds and I came across an amazing article on "Ayurvedic Beauty Regimen" posted in IMBB. You gotta check it out. Its very informative and opens a vista of lifestyle habits which are extremely healthy and will keep your beautiful and happy. Among those things, I have already talked about head massage and body massage and their benefits for the body. I would also try to inculcate the other things and would share my experiences with you.

12 foods you should eat regularly

Eating nutritional food is the very need of a human body to look great, feel great and live longer happily. The article I am sharing with you today brings into notice 12 foods which should be made a part of our daily diet without any omission. The articles talks about the healing powers of these foods. The lists consists of foods ranging from fruits to veggies like cherries, guava, kiwi, beans, spinach, onions, carrots, cabbage and broccoli. Of course, some of these fruits and veggies are not easily available. So, substitute them with more quantities of available and nutritious food. Read the article here.

Do you clean your tongue? {Oral Hygiene}

I wanted to talk about how to detox your body and then, I came across an article which said that tongue cleaning was a habit which has been carried out since centuries and it actually has a great importance for our body according to Ayurveda. I was a little surprised to read that because I had always thought of it as a habit which has to be carried daily after we brush our teeth and I thought its importance was limited only to hygienic purposes. But, what I came to learn about was that it is one of the ways to help our body get rid of toxins. 

The question which pops to our minds is How? During our sleep, body gets rid of all the toxins in our body, right. So, how do all these toxins get out of our body? Sweat, urination or excretion. Yes. But, some of the toxins also get deposited as a film on our tongue. So comes the ritual of tongue scraping in the morning to remove this film of toxins. The bacteria present in these toxins are also the cause of bad breath. And, they prevent our taste buds from getting a proper taste of the food. How? Because, they get deposited continuously and if not cleaned, the deposits can become pretty thick and the food we eat is not actually tasted by our taste buds. Ultimately, we do not get the feeling of satiety which the taste buds trigger to the brain because taste buds do not know that we are eating. So, we end up overeating and gaining weight in the process. So, I hope you realise how important it is for us to clean our tongues everyday.

Now, how do you clean your tongue? Using a plastic tongue scraper or your brush? Well, both of the methods are not advisable. Plastic is not good for health and the brush actually does not clean the tongue. It just disturbs the bacteria and sometimes, the bacteria can begin breeding in the brush too which is definitely not good for your dental health. So, you should use a tongue scraper made of gold, silver, stainless steel or brass to avoid toxicity from metals. Be gentle while using the scraper but firmly remove the debris from your mouth. Hold the scraper on both sides and place it at the back of the tongue near the tonsils and start scraping from there. Repeat the movements 5 times. Clean the scraper properly and disinfect it occasionally using baking soda.

Today's Lesson: Detox your body by making tongue scraping a habit.

Drink Water to Lose weight

Losing weight easily becomes a nightmare for everyone. We all try so desperately to be in shape and most of the time we are unsuccessful and the sole reason for this is because we are not trying it in the right way. And, things which we go wrong about are, generally, the most trivial and the most important habits of our daily life . I would be talking about one habit per week and you can change or inculcate the habit in your life and see the difference it makes in one week.

Today's Habit: Drinking adequate amount of Water

I know it sounds pretty simple and obvious. And, many will think they are already doing it quite right. But, there are many ifs and buts involved in this seemingly simple habit too. I would advise you all to first go through the post "Drinking Water for Skin and Hair Care". 

Water cleans up the toxins from our system and improves the fat metabolism. It helps the liver to fight the fats in our system and pushes it out through the kidneys. But, there is a loophole there.

Too much of water can wash away a lot of minerals and vitamins too from the body along with the fat. So, regulate the amount of water you drink according to your body weight, age and the physical activity you do in a day. A good estimate would be not to increase the regular water intake if you find your urine to be colorless. Another very good way to regulate water in body is to drink a liter of water in the morning as soon as you wake up and reduce your water intake after 7 PM in the evening.

Sometimes, drinking water leads to water retention in the body instead of passing it out of the system. The reason is due to the presence of huge amounts of salt and sugar in your body. So, reduce the intake of salt and sugar to reduce your weight. You can see the difference in a week. Tips to reduce salt and sugar intake:

• Drink your tea and coffee with honey or without any sweetener to reduce the calories
• Decrease the amount of salt you take everyday by a pinch and soon you will be used to less salt 
• If you drink milk, do not add sugar to it
• Reduce the desserts, sweets, chocolates and carbonated beverages you take