Archives for January 2016

January 29, 2016 By Mitali Ambekar Leave a Comment

6 ways how sports play a role in overall health?

I have been always had to battle the question how come you are so thin or why are you so thin? All I say is I have been lucky to have inherited my parents’ genes who were also thin in their younger days. My father played a sport and probably and that explains my interest in sports and they have always pushed me to be on my toes and stay fit. I get very restless if I am not fit or do not feel fit.

Sports, makes sure that you are active, mentally and physically, even if you take a break for some time. If you were played a sport in your life and discontinued playing the sport because for your job, studies, family or any other reason and as a result put on weight, don’t worry, you just need to kick start your engine and your body will accelerate faster than others and make you lose on that stubborn fat, as your cells have the memory of being active. It’s never too late to start again.

Sports when merely started as an extracurricular activity in school and college gives you a break from your studies. Eventually, it will help us as a kid to be fit and healthy. I can say this out of my own personal experience. I have been a sportsperson right from my childhood and loved playing any game that I was offered.

Sports have changed the way I look at life and deal with it. I count each situation of my life as a match in the game of life. Just because, I scored less in exams or did not get a promotion it never stopped me from fighting back and winning it with a plus point next time.

Listing down some BONUS POINTS, because of Sports/ Physical Activity being a part of life:

*It teaches you to be patient, have a fighting spirit, and never settle for less in life.

*Even studies show that, children who have been into sports or are blessed with super active genes are always a quick learner, are very social with people, perform better at all the given tasks, they are more attentive in class and their grasping powers are better.

*Sports at an early age helps in life-long fitness habits.

*Earlier it was believed that any type of physical exertion can make a child feel more tired and thus less attention towards studies, which is now seen to be reversed. Where in the kids are more intellectual and perform better as compared to the sedentary kids.

*Also looking at the growing occurrence of Teenage Obesity, Sports can again be a great advantage.

* Any sport or activity will give them a dash of endorphins, thus reducing any kind of stress.

Sports do not help kids alone but, it has a similar effect on adults too. Adults who play a sport perform better at work, have a good career graph, they are better in dealing with emotional issues, more energy over the day, lesser health issues and so on.

Don’t sit back and say I am old, bring the kid out of you and play a sport and encourage your child to play too!

January 28, 2016 By Ruta Satam Leave a Comment

GO GREEN: Love your Environment

Environment is paramount. If we keep our environment clean it automatically creates a healthy atmosphere for us to live healthy. Environment encompasses a whole lot but, among all environmental issues ‘pollution’ is one issue that is widely talked about as it affects all of us on a daily basis.

In a year old report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) 13 of the top 20 most polluted cities are from India. Interestingly, Delhi tops the chart and has six times the levels of airborne particulate matter than are considered safe. With each passing day it is getting bad to worse.

Due to constant exploitation of natural resources we have endangered ourselves and our future generation. With the growing population our needs have also been constantly growing. However there have been no efforts taken to restore these natural resources on an individual level!

The way we take care of that expensive electronic gadget is different from the way we take care of the green tree in our vicinity. The difference is we are incapable of understanding the loss of the rare natural resources.

Each time we use any natural resource, it seldom occurs to us how we are going to reproduce the same rare resource. The day we decide to think about our future generation, it is the day when we will put efforts to save environment

One of the recent examples set by Mr. KaustubhTamhankar a common man from Thane, Maharashtra has proved that he can lead an eco-friendly lifestyle. For the past 12 years he has not generated a single piece of garbage in his house. How has he been able to do this? Very systematically everyday he segregates wet and dry garbage in his house. With the wet garbage he makes vermin-compost. It is his determination and motivation that has kept him going. Today, he has also encouraged his neighbors to do the same.

Going green is easier than you think. There are little things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and make a less harmful impact on the environment. Taking care of the Earth is not just a responsibility — it’s a privilege.

If you search through the internet you will find thousands of ways on how do we adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle but the real struggle is to adopt.

Some of the simple ways which could become a part of your eco-friendly lifestyle could be:

Reuse, Recycle, Reduce:These help to cut down on the amount of waste we throw away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space and energy.
Go Solar: Increasing demand for electric power has resulted in many businesses resorting to alternative sources of energy. Solar energy is a sustainable choice and one that can be used in various applications.
Carpooling: Carpoolingreduces air pollution and traffic congestion, something that benefits all of us! It saves money and reduces congestion on our roads and highways. For short distances use a bi-cycle to travel its pollution free and healthy.
Plant tress: The simple act of planting a tree benefits the environment in many ways-from filtering air to reducing soil erosion, creating shade and helping recycle water.
Conserve water: Water conservation is the most effective and environmentally sound method to fight global warming and help in reducing scarcity of water.

If we all do our part we can help reverse the effects of global warming. We owe it to ourselves and each other to help make a difference.

January 27, 2016 By Parwage Alam Leave a Comment

6 Ways to achieve your New Year’s Goals

New Year 2016

We are in the last week of the first month of 2016 and I am sure many of us out there would have made some New Year resolutions. The common resolutions made are – “Lose Weight and Get Fit”, “Quit Smoking”, “Learn Something New”, “Eat Healthier and Diet”, “Get out of Debt and Save Money”, “Spend More Time with Family”, “Travel to New Places”, “Be Less Stressed”, “Volunteer”, “Drink Less. The question is are we still at it?

The above desires to want to change something about yourself happens year after year. People’s intentions are good but seldom do they end up fulfilling the resolution that they take up. A recent article by Forbes magazine said that only 8% of the people actually achieve their New Year’s goals.

Why is it so hard to keep your New Year’s goals? Why do so many people fail at goal setting? And what is it about those few who manage to get it right and achieve their goals?

There are many answers to the why’s and how’s. New Year goal setting is just seen as an opportunity to dish out our large bucket lists of all that we wanted to achieve through the year and could not. It’s an attempt to tell yourself that this year will be definitely better than the last.

This enthusiasm continues in the first week of the New Year. Then gradually asdays pass, months cross and finally quarter of the year end, the interest in goals set weans away. Human Mind always finds excuses to not keep up to the goals set or lose interest mid-way or blame others for not being able to achieve something. Looking inward at one’s own short coming seldom happens.

Here are 6 ways to stay on track with your goals once the New Year “feeling” starts fading off.

Create a Q&A: If you have decided to resolve a habit prepare some questions that you can ask yourself at timely intervals this really helps you to boost your enthusiasm and keep a check on your progress. Analyze your life. Is there anything you would change or improve? All answers start with questions, so be ready to create your list. Ask who, what and how: Who do I want to become? What can I improve? How can I change? Give yourself plenty of time — anywhere from a few hours to several days.

Devil’s in the Details: Now as you have your list ready, it’s time to check and analyze your report so that you stick to your routine and check the progress. This will help you to carry out your resolution by the end of Year. For Example: “if you resolve to lose 10 KG by the end of this month, always keep a record and check at the end of every month how much you have achieved, this detailed data will help you to reach your goal. This works as your Roadmap”.

Gaze into the Future: Now you have your New Year’s roadmap in hand, it’s time to create some emotional attachment with your goals. This really makes your journey enjoyable because it links you to your imagination (Mind Game). You have to visualize that how you are feeling after achieving your goals. For Example: If a girl’s goal is to lose 10 KG she should start visualizing herself in one size smaller this in turn will motivate her to achieve her goal. The more senses you engage, the better. This is your future self — get excited!

Eating Elephants: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. We always have to break our goals into small proportion to achieve, this really helps us to accomplish our Targets on time. For Example: if you have to run 10 Km – your mind start thinking it’s a huge distance, which you have to cover and you lose your motivation. But if you break this into milestone that you have to complete 1 KM 10 times – it will become very easy to achieve your TARGET.

Rewards: Human Nature always needs bribes or rewards. So it’s the best way to give yourself a reward after achieving milestones of your ‘Main GOAL’. This further motivates you to achieve your goal. For example: If you are planning to run 10 KM and you have already broken your target 1 KM in 10 times, start rewarding yourself after every 1 KM –by walking 100 meters this will give you some rest and your body will be energized to run another 1 KM.

Socializing: It’s a human behavior when you commit something in front of someone you always behind to achieve that goals. So it’s better to publish your resolution in social media and tell about it to your friends, also update your result in a timely manner, this will help you to stick with your routine and achieve your goals.

So what do you intend to resolve in 2016? Follow the above methods to achieve your GOALs.

January 23, 2016 By Richi Seth Leave a Comment

Tennis Elbow: Symptoms, management and its prevention

How often have you heard or read in news about a sportsman suffering a tennis elbow or your friend saying I am suffering a tennis elbow? Many a times I am sure. But, are you aware of what is ‘Tennis Elbow’ and how can you prevent it.

The elbow is known as the “funny bone” but if you suffer from tennis or golfer’s elbow, the pain you undergo when you hit the elbow is unbearable.

Tennis elbow can be caused by sudden injury of the muscle and tendon area around the outside of the elbow where the muscles and tendons of the forearm attach to the outside bony area- the lateral epicondyle of the elbow. Another common term, “golfer’s elbow,” refers to the same process occurring on the inside of the elbow called as medial epicondyle. It not happens with the sports persons only, it’s just the term which is referred to the sport as it can be a significant problem for some tennis players.

What Are the Symptoms of Tennis Elbow?

Pain around the outside of the elbow.
Pain is worse by moving the wrist with force. Examples include lifting, using tools, opening jars, or even handling simple utensils such as rolling pin, using a tooth brush or knife and fork.

How do you manage a Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow is treated primarily by physiotherapy which includes some exercises of forearm and wrist along with their strengthening progressively, bracing for resting the muscles, topical anti-inflammatory gels, topical steroid gels, and steroid injections. Surgery is needed in rare cases.

Immediate line of treatment to reduce the pain and inflammation of tennis elbow should be:

Rest
Avoid any activity that causes pain.
Apply ice to the affected area. Holding a cold compress, such as a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel, against your elbow for a few minutes several times a day can help ease the pain.
Massaging and manipulating the affected area may help relieve the pain and stiffness, and improve the range of movement.

Exercises:

It is important to maintain the fitness levels with performing some light exercises like:

Aerobic exercises like walking, running or jogging that are good for overall fitness.
Gentle stretching exercises can help in rehabilitating the elbow and some of the good exercises for tennis elbow include gentle wrist extensions, flexes and rotations, wrist curls and extensions with the help of light dumbles.
Isometric exercises such as squeezing a ball, are also a good cure for tennis elbow.

Tennis Elbow prevention through nutrition

Apart from the above mentioned treatment options, it is also important to support the connective tissues’ health with a nutrient-rich, anti-inflammatory foods :

Have plenty of colourful fruits and vegetables daily in your diet.
Consumption of Pineapples is beneficial as they are rich in vitamin C that helps in building collagen. They are also rich in bromelain, which contains powerful anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce pain and swelling caused by tennis elbow.
Having good quality protein which contains high biological value like eggs, lean meat which serves as the “building blocks” for tissue repair.
Having supplements with vitamin C, vitamin A, zinc and copper.
Having anti-inflammatory foods and supplements such as barley, ginger, curcumin, omega 3 rich foods like fish such as mackerel and salmon, walnuts, flaxseeds etc.
Limit the intake of processed and canned foods and sugar.

Precautions to be taken

To help lessen the stress and abuse on tennis elbow:

Use the proper equipment and technique in sports.
Use of a counter-force brace, an elastic band that wraps around the forearm just below the injured elbow (tendon) may help to relieve pain in some people.
Avoid tight gripping and overuse of the wrist.