Archives for June 2017

June 13, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian 2 Comments

Going beyond Barriers with Divyanshu Ganatra

Late August Last year he tread upon the road unseen. He rode 550 kilometres from Manali to Khardung La along with his sighted captain Gagan Grover to become the first tandem cycling pair with a blind rider to achieve a feat like that! He is doing this same ride again this year but with 8 more blind individuals and 4 amputees and one quadriplegic and few sighted riders. He is raising funds for the same through a crowd sourcing platform.

https://gocrowdera.com/in/ngo/M2K2017/Adventures-Beyond-Barriers-1459

“This is a chance for cyclists to discover new perspectives while simultaneously spreading the message of inclusiveness and accessibility,” Says Divyanshu to Vishal Gondal, in the newly launched ‘Beneath the Force-The Vishal Gondal Show’.

Divyanshu, is somebody for the last two decades, ever since he turned blind one morning has been fighting attitudinal barriers on a day to basis. No matter how educated, well read and a great orator that he is, his resume never finds takers.

“There is a shame and stigma associated with disability,” says Divyanshu. There are 200 million disabled people that is close to 15% of the population. “We are the largest invisible minority community,” he adds.

According to Divyanshu, blindness is not his disability. Disability is in people’s mind and it is a social construct. He says that his biggest handicap is because the world is not designed for persons with disability and not designed the way it should be wherein there is equal opportunities for all. Today, the able bodied people are decided what a person with disability can do and not do.

“People in my community want to do new things. They want to experience outdoor adventure sports but, unfortunately nobody has presented them that opportunity. Most do not want to empower us. They want us to remain the way we are. Therefore, ABBF was started to provide that opportunity to one and all,” says Divyanshu.

Divyanshu’s message to persons of disability and the others out there is ‘believe in yourself and don’t let the world decide for you. Imagine possibility for yourself’.

Going forward Divyanshu wants to get away from the city and stay amidst the mountains and grow his own food, keep continuing to work for the betterment of his community and want to see the end of special schools.

Listen here :-

https://soundcloud.com/vishal-gondal-show-beneaththeforce/episode-2-going-beyond-barriers-with-divyanshu-ganatra

June 9, 2017 By Dr Manali Rao Leave a Comment

Vaccination: Prevention is better than Cure!

All of us have seen Mr. Amitabh Bachchan saying ‘Do boondhZindagiki’, but very few of them would have realized the magnitude of importance of that advertisement. The fact that one of the most vivacious and accomplished Bollywood star is chosen as the brand ambassador for the campaign of immunization shows us the important role it plays in every child’s life.

What lead me to writing this blog?

Having a month old baby at home and finding myself pouring over the immunization schedule made me think that there are so many people unaware of the importance of vaccination.

The last week of April is the World Immunization Week. It is a global public health campaign to raise awareness and increase rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world.Each World Immunization Week focuses on a theme and this year it is “VACCINES WORK”.

So what is IMMUNIZATION?
It is the process by which an individual’s immune system becomes fortified against an agent (known as the immunogenic).

Immunization is done through various techniques, most commonly vaccination. Vaccines against microorganisms that cause diseases can prepare the body’s immune system, thus helping to fight or prevent an infection.

Immunization can protect against 25 different infectious agents or diseases, from infancy to old age, including diphtheria, measles, pertussis, polio and tetanus. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates active immunization currently averts 2 to 3 million deaths every year.

The WHO lists 25 diseases for which vaccines are available:

Anthrax
Measles
Rubella
Cholera
Meningococcal disease
Influenza
Diphtheria
Mumps
Tetanus
Hepatitis A
Pertussis
Tuberculosis
Hepatitis B
Pneumococcal disease
Typhoid fever
Hepatitis E
Poliomyelitis
Tick-borne encephalitis
Haemophilusinfluenza type b
Rabies
Varicella and herpes zoster (shingles)
Human papilloma-virus
Rotavirus gastroenteritis
Yellow fever
Japanese encephalitis
Malaria
Dengue fever

There are also some vaccine-preventable diseases, which are not on the WHO-list, probably either since the vaccine is not very good according to present standards, or the disease is not any longer a threat.

Anthrax
Plague
Q fever
Smallpox

IMMUNIZATiON SCHEDULE :

SL. NO.	AGE	VACCINE	DISEASE
1.	Birth	BCG + OPV	Tuberculosis + Polio
2.	1.5 months	DPT + OPV + IPV + HBV + HiB	Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus Polio Hepatitis B H Influenza B
3.	2.5 months	DPT + OPV + IPV + HBV + HiB	Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus Polio Hepatitis B H Influenza B
4.	3.5 months	DPT + OPV + IPV + HBV + HiB	Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus Polio Hepatitis B H Influenza B
5.	9 months	Measles	Measles
6.	15 months	MMR	Measles Mumps Rubella
7.	18 months	DPT + OPV + IPV + 1st booster HiB	Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus Polio
8.	4.5 – 5 years	DPT + 2nd booster OPV	Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus Polio
9.	10 years	Tdap/ Td	Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus

VACCINES UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES;

SL. NO.	AGE	VACCINE	DISEASE
1.	2 years Booster dose to be given every 2-5 years	Meningococcal	Meningitis
2.	< 9 years : 2 doses to be given every year. > 9 years – 1 dose to be given every year	Influenza	Flu
3.	0,3,7,14,28 days	Rabies	Rabies

SIGNIFICANCE:

Vaccination protects children from serious illness and complications of vaccine-preventable diseases which can include amputation of an arm or leg, paralysis of limbs, hearing loss, convulsions, brain damage, and death.

Elimination of polio in India:

Polio was last reported in India in West Bengal and Gujarat on 13th January, 2011.

On 27th March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared India a polio free country, since no cases of wild polio had been reported in for three years.

As of mid-2016, only Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan have wild polio cases.

The Pulse Polio Initiative (PPI) aims at covering every individual in the country. It aspires to reach even children in remote communities through an improved social mobilisation plan.

No child should miss the immunization.
Cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) are to be reported in time and stool specimens have to be collected within 14 days.
Outbreak response immunization (ORI) should be conducted as early as possible.
Maintaining a high level of surveillance.
Performance of good mop-up operations where polio has disappeared.

ADULT IMMUNIZATION:

Even adults need to be immunized from time to time. It is recommended for adults who meet the age requirement, lack documentation of previous vaccination or lack of evidence of previous infection. Also older adults with medical conditions like Diabetes need to be immunized as recommended by their Doctor.

IMMUNIZATION AGAINST CERVICAL CANCER:

> 10 years females

0 dose

After 1 month

After 6 months

Protects against HPV (HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS) which causes cervical cancer.

Immunization is one of the safest ways for you to protect your health. Vaccine side effects are usually mild and go away on their own. Severe side effects are rare.

Regular immunization of your child will prevent many serious diseases. Follow the schedule and the advice of your child’s Pediatrician. Minor illnesses are not a contraindication to vaccination. Report any adverse events following immunization.

June 7, 2017 By Trishala Chopra 17 Comments

Is DOMS stopping you from workout?

The moment I recommend intense workout to my players, they start saying this:-

“My body is paining, the workout which we did yesterday was not for me”

“I guess I did wrong workout, my body is paining today”

“I guess I pushed it beyond my capacity, is that the way it should be?”

In none of the above cases my players said, let me workout today and see if it is still there. Everyone says that I just cannot do the workout today, I need a break. So a question arises here is, should you workout with so called post workout pain?

Let me clear out some facts!

Technically, Soreness is of 2 types:-

(1) Acute muscle soreness

– Which is felt shortly after the workout but it disappears in few hours.

(2) The pain or the numbness which you feel post workout is not a pain. It is DOMS!

DOMS- Delayed onset muscle soreness.

– DOMS is typically begins within 12-24 after exercise and it can last up to 72 hours.

What happens during DOMS?

DOMS develop as a result of microscopic damage to muscle fibers which are involved in the type of exercise you are doing.

This damage can be because of the excess stress on particular part of the body during the exercise regime. DOMS is basically a side effect because of damage to the repairing process of the body.

Does lactic acid play an important role in DOMS?

Well, I have heard this quite often that the pain in my body is because of lactic acid accumulation. Just to get the facts out lactic acid does have an important role in acute soreness but not DOMS.

It has absolutely nothing to with your DOMS.

What causes DOMS?

Activities which leads to lengthening of muscles with excessive force leads to DOMS.

These are the most common examples of activities causing DOMS:-

– Jumping exercises.

– Aerobic exercises.

– Jogging.

– Crossfit.

– Strength training exercises.

– High intensity interval training.

Severity of DOMS completely depends upon the type and intensity of force applied on that muscle during that activity. Higher number of repetitions causes more DOMS then lower number of repetitions.

Can DOMS occur to everyone?

Well, yes DOMS can occur to everyone who is exercising. It is a myth that DOMS can occur to only those people who are new to exercises.

It can happen to people who are working out since ages as well but, the only difference will be the severity of DOMS.

If you are exercising since long time, your body gets adapted to it as a result your performance will not be affected completely.

If you keep training yourself for the same activity for years, you become less susceptible to DOMS in that particular exercise or activity.

Is soreness the only cause of DOMS?

Well no. Here are some most common symptoms of DOMS other than soreness:-

– Swelling in the area of extreme pain.

– Stiffness of joints.

– Tenderness.

– Reduced strength.

Should you workout the next day with soreness?

Most of players say, they just can’t workout because of the pain. If the pain is extreme and unbearable it is okay not to do extreme exercise but, it completely okay to do some light workouts or something as simple as stretching.

If you try and workout the next day, the symptoms of DOMS will start vanishing while you are performing the activity but there are chances that they might reoccur post workout (In your recovery process).

Don’t work out on the same muscle groups after DOMS. For example, if you are having severe soreness post jogging then you can workout on your upper body the next day. There is absolutely no need for – NO WORKOUT!

If the symptoms are extremely unbearable and excruciating then yes, do not workout.

How to ease DOMS?

To reduce the symptoms, apply ice pack on the area where it is paining.
Gentle massage.

These are just to reduce the symptoms but the complete healing can take place only after the exact diagnosis.

How to prevent DOMS?

If you undergo severe DOMS on your first day of your workout you probably have might done something wrong.

Check for these points before doing your next workout:-

* Proper form:-You need to be extremely careful while doing exercises especially the one with weights.

* Progression should be extremely personalized:- It should always be started at a slow pace and it should be light with least repetitions (2 different people cannot do the same intensity exercises- It should be personalized)

* Intensity plays a very important role:- It should be started with low intensity depending upon the muscle strength and then it should be gradually increased.

Once you start taking care about these points and train yourself, your body will start preparing itself for the same exercise in future.

Remember the old adage that says there is NO GAIN, WITHOUT PAIN!

DOMS cannot be completely avoided but, the severity can be reduced by taking care about the points mentioned above!

– Light pain cannot stop you from working out.

– Sometimes working out the next day makes you to recover faster!

So the crux of this entire article is, please do not skip workouts because of your soreness! Go ahead and do some light exercises or target a different set of exercises!

June 2, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

‘Finding Your Everest with Kuntal Joisher’

“Mountain Climbing is my life and Veganism defines me. However, Veganism supersedes Everest”, says Kuntal Joisher in a conversation with Vishal Gondal on his newly launched podcast ‘Vishal Gondal Show’- Beneath the Force.

From quitting his plush MNC IT job, reducing from 110 kg to 80 kgs to climbing some of the toughest mountains in just a span of 8 years, Kuntal, a Gujarati from Ghatkopar (a Mumbai suburb) stood on top of the world on May 19^th, 2016 at 9:30 am as the first vegan.

Prior to Kuntal, there have been many non-vegetarians and vegetarians who have summited the highest peak in the world, but when Kuntal started his journey to scale the Everest it was unheard of that a vegan could climb as well. It was a natural scepticism as most climbers and especially those climbing 8000 meters peak are recommended meat and dairy rich foods. For a Vegan being on plant-based foods requires that much more hard training than a traditional climber it was concluded.

However, Kuntal has dispelled all myths. With no altitude sickness and fit throughout his 60 days climb, he has shown and inspired the world that mountaineering can be done on healthy wholefoods vegan diet. For Kuntal its ethical reasons to be Vegan and not any health reasons to go Vegan. He says that Vegan food is not bad as everyone things. “Nor am I an extreme Vegan,” he says. But, he is so much of a Vegan that his Mountaineering Gear is 80% Vegan as well.

“My diet has never been an issue. I’ve been part of over ten serious Himalayan climbing expeditions, and I’ve never had any problems being a vegan, even on this last attempt to climb Everest,” says Kuntal.

Kuntal in his in-depth conversation on‘Beneath the Force’ show talked about everything from his life, to his profession to how he decided to climb mountains and about a few life hacks that he uses to help himself.

Before climbing Everest, he scaled many incredible mountains in India and Nepal. Just to names some important ones he has climbed Mt Elbrus in Russia (one of the peaks of the Seven Summits) and Mt Manaslu, another 8000 mt peak in Nepal and is the 8^th highest peak in the world. Kuntal is the only second Indian civilian after Arjun Vajpai to have scaled Manaslu.

On his achievement in Mountaineering and conquering Everest the third time around Kuntal says, “I have conquered my fear of height. Before climbing Everest I actually had the fear of heights.” “If you win in your mind, you win over your fears”.

According to Kuntal, mountaineering is a combination of training and experience. One cannot leave anything to luck. One has to push themselves physically to get that mental edge. He admits and says, “While mountaineering is a risky sport and that I do take risks by climbing mountains but, I would in the same breath say that I am a very risk averse climber. In my 8 years of climbing career, I have trained so much and also gained considerable experience to be able to understand what is going wrong and take the right decisions”. He says, ‘getting up on a mountain is optional but climbing down alive is mandatory”. Most climbers get up and then become complacent. Most accidents in the mountains take place while climbing down.

But, training for Everest was not easy. Kuntal emotionally detached himself from his family to be able to focus on his goal.

When asked both being vegan and being a mountaineer are two extreme things and isn’t it like being insane. To this Kuntalchuckles and replies, “Not at all. However, he adds, “I get my insanity from my dad. But, unfortunately, today, my dad cannot understand any of these insane things I do as he suffers from Dementia (LBD) for the last 15 years. Kuntal is working towards creating awareness about this disease in his own ways by climbing mountains. Kuntal says his dad also did some crazy things and went out of his way to do new things. His father used to farm earthworms.

One of Kuntal’s life hacks that helped him survive on his way up to Everest was ‘Oreo’ biscuits. Whoever knew that Oreo that people hog on is a vegan biscuit? Once at a high altitude above 26000 ft beyond the death zone and from camp 3 to camp 4 to summit and back to camp 2, Joisher ate only two Oreo biscuits he says. Towards, the summit, Joisher had Unived’s vegan energy gels. These gels contain electrolytes and carbohydrates that are instantly released into the blood. “They kept me going,” saysKuntal.

Some of the clear learning from this interview which all of us can take with us –

Be focused towards your goal
Prioritise what is more important for you. Select a few things to do and give your 500% to it.
Training and Experience are very important for climbing and leave nothing to chance.

About the Vishal Gondal Show-Beneath the Force

The show encapsulates the lives of successful and inspirational people. The in-depth profile is the show staple — a nuanced look at a personality on a bi-monthly basis, revealing the person’s workout regimen, their struggles, their habits, thoughts on their latest project and, if we’re lucky, some as yet unrevealed factoid to file away in our collective unconscious. Whether we want to be like them, be with them, or just find out what it feels like to try on a different persona for a while, ‘beneath the force ‘we’ll always be drawn to Q&As about other people’s lives.If you want to get your fix of stories about fascinating lives but tired of staring at screens or loathe the paper pileup of discarded monthlies, listen to this podcast.

Listen to Episode 1 – Find your Everest with KuntalJoisher by The Vishal Gondal Show – #BeneathTheForce #np on #SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/vishal-gondal-show-beneaththeforce/vgs-episode-1-find-your-everest-with-kuntal-joisher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ2Sm2lDodg&utm_source=GOQii-Youtube&utm_medium=SMM&utm_campaign=GOQii-Youtube-Podcast-Kuntal-Joisher&utm_term=Podcast&utm_content=Kuntal-Joisher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hoiv9nMCF4