Archives for December 2017

December 8, 2017 By GOQii Editor Leave a Comment

Let our family take care of yours

Rajnish and family

Introduces Health Food delivery, Online Pharmacy, Gym Partnerships, Genetic Testing, and Rewards program.

Rajnish and Reena Kansal, both in their mid-forties are a happy couple with two happy kids. They are a fit family that believes in healthy eating and being active daily to lead a happy life together. As a family, they exercise together and bond well. Based on this true experience and learning, GOQii has now introduced GOQii Family Care, a one-stop solution for all health concerns of your family. This new offering is part of GOQii’s Smart Preventive Health Care platform 3.0 ecosystem.

Preventive care services to maintain your health and prevent disease for you and your family is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy. GOQii family care is GOQii’s commitment to encouraging players as well as their family to make a permanent shift towards a healthier lifestyle. GOQii Family care connects, tracks and takes care of the family’s health with consultations by GOQii care team consisting of GOQii Coach, GOQii Doctors and GOQii health experts.

Family (2)

December 7th, 2017, marked a milestone in GOQii’s 3 year journey where the company apart from the Family health care plans also launched a suite of new offerings for its esteemed players in the area of gaming, e-marketplace, rewards and cash points and a sleek new slimmer tracker that will be available to all existing GOQii users at the beginning of 2018. These services will be available in India and will roll out to other countries through 2018.

The launch celebrations took place in Mumbai in the presence of the entire GOQii family that included GOQii staffers, coaches, players, partners and media among others. Many travelled from as far as Nadurbar and Lucknow to be a part of this celebrations.

let’s take a peek at the new offerings

Games4Good: Cognitive abilities can be maintained or improved by exercising the brain, the same way physical fitness is improved by exercising the body. GOQii Games4Good is a series of puzzle-based cognitive games built into the GOQii app that helps players exercise their mind and prevent brain disorders and improve their memory, cognitive powers and overall mental health.

GOQii Health Store: Is a GOQii curated health marketplace with a suit of a wide variety of products and services catering to individual’s needs and preferences. GOQii has entered into one of the most comprehensive strategic partnerships with various companies in the health and fitness categories such as healthy snacks, health food delivery brands, health supplements, online pharmacy, diagnostics, genetic testing, gym, and accessories. With these collaborations, GOQii is looking to provide its players with the convenience of getting customized products and services delivered to their home or office.

GOQii Cash: Rewards Program: Health is Wealth. To motivate its players to live a healthy lifestyle, GOQii will reward them with GOQii Cash- a virtual currency system for indulging in different activities such as completing daily targets, taking a doctor or expert consultation, uploading medical records, taking HRA (Health Risk Assessment) etc. GOQii is encouraging its players to be healthy and in return get wealthy. GOQii Cash can be used for redeeming various health products listed in GOQii store. Lastly, players can also use GOQii Cash to purchase various services and product in the GOQii Health marketplace.

GOQii 3.0, a slimmer and sleeker design tracker: GOQii will ring in the New Year with the launch of GOQii 3.0 tracker. The new tracker will be sleeker, slimmer with a multi-touch colour display with themes to suit one’s style and attire. The V3 tracker will also come with a new sensor with heart rate variability (HRV) and Presence Plus, a networking feature that GOQii launched at the recently concluded GES conference in Hyderabad. The new tracker will be available from January 2018. Existing GOQii players can upgrade to GOQii 3.0 tracker for an additional fee.

Pricing: GOQii Family health plans will start at Rs.1999/- onwards and portion of this will also be eligible for Tax Savings under Section 80D

December 6, 2017 By Neha Kapoor 5 Comments

6 Magical herbs that can help you sleep

Do you have problems getting sleep at night? Sleep disorder is a common issue these days thanks to the work stress and bad lifestyles.

There are many people who face severe issues of sleep disorder and we find it difficult to help them fall asleep. Sleep is a key component of good health. They say humans need at least 8 hours of sleep a night to rejuvenate and restore their bodies. Unfortunately, in the days of stress, chaos, constant electronic bombardment, adrenal fatigue, and hormonal craziness we are seeing people generally getting less sleep, and the sleep they do get tends to be interrupted in some way. This means the sleep quality and quantity have a lot to be desired. Thankfully we have natural herbal allies to help us relax, rejuvenate, and come to a quiet place of rest and relaxation.

What herbs do you love for a restful night sleep?

Ashwagandha (Winter Cherry): It is an adaptogen with strong affinities towards the nervous system. It helps the body deal with stress and hormone fluctuations caused by stress, especially helping regulate cortisol levels at night time. Cortisol is what wakes you up at 2 am thinking about a million things at once and not being able to fall back asleep. Taking 500mg of Ashwagandha daily can help your body even out stress hormone levels which can help you get a good night sleep. It has also been shown to ease anxiety and depression.

Chamomile: It is a wonderful calming herb. It relaxes both the body (muscles) and the mind. It is also a wonderful gentle sedative. It is safe and effective for children. Chamomile tea sipped by a breastfeeding mother can soothe the baby after breastfeeding. Toddlers can sip chamomile tea with a little bit of honey before bedtime to calm them before bed. Adults can drink 2-4 cups of chamomile tea at the end of the day to help calm down before bedtime. Steep chamomile in hot water for 10 minutes in a tightly capped jar, strain and enjoy.

Chamomile oil can also be put in bath water (5-6 drops) to soothe overwrought nerves, diluted to 2% to make an excellent massage oil, or used as an inhalant.

Dose: Tea, 1 cup 2-3 x daily; Tincture, 30 drops 3 x daily.

Lavender is the herb everyone knows that is great for relaxing and calming the mind and body. The essential oil can be diffused in the evenings alone or combined with other relaxing essential oils to bring on a state of peace and relaxation. The leaves can be drunk as a tea, or added to food. It is great for insomnia, agitation and restlessness.

Lavender is a gentle strengthening tonic for the nervous system. A few drops of lavender oil added to a bath before bedtime are recommended for persons with sleep disorders. Additionally, the oil may be used as a compressor massage oil or simply inhaled to alleviate insomnia.

Dose: Tea, 1 cup 2-3 x daily; Essential oil–oil may be inhaled, massaged into the skin (use 10 drops essential oil per ounce of vegetable oil), or added to baths (3-10 drops).

Passionflower It’s a great herb for people who wake frequently throughout the night. It is a safe herb for most (excluding excessive use in pregnancy, especially in the first trimester), including children and can be taken in large doses frequently. It is used to promote a deep restful sleep and ease anxiety. Take 30-60 drops of passionflower tincture an hour before hitting the bed, and again at bedtime if you are not yet tired. The herb can be combined with others to make a wonderful night time tea as well.

Passionflower is used for minor sleep problems in both children and adults (Bruneton, 1995). It is an excellent sedative with no side effects even when used in large doses (Spaick, 1978).

Dose: Tea, 1 cup 3 x daily; Tincture, 30-60 drops 3-4 x daily.

These herbs can be combined to make a lovely relaxing night time tea that works for your specific needs. That is the great thing about herbs, some speak to you more than others. Those are typically the herbs that you should do some more work with to see if they fit with you.

Lemon balm its used primarily to lift mood and promote calmness and relaxation. Since depression is often related to insomnia, probably because of a lack of serotonin, lemon balm can help you achieve sleep by promoting mental and physical health. Several studies have confirmed its sedative effects, however, it should be noted that too high of a dosage (1800 milligrams) actually increased anxiety. Here, it is made into a mild, uplifting, and relaxing tea.You will need…

-2 tablespoons of dried lemon balm, or 8-10 tablespoons of fresh lemon balm
-2 teaspoons dried chamomile
-Honey to taste (optional)
-8 ounces of fresh water

Directions-Place the loose herbs in a mug and cover with 8 ounces of boiling water. Steep for 5 minutes, strain, and drink 30-45 minutes before bed.

California Poppy, This is a great herb for insomnia due to restlessness and anxiety (and it’s safe and gentle enough for children). This herb not only helps you to fall asleep, it improves the quality of your sleep as well. A tincture is the most powerful way to take this. Try 30-40 drops twice daily (the second dose close to bedtime).

At GOQii our coaches’ help with tips to get quality sleep as this will go a long way to help protect mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.

December 2, 2017 By Satish Kurapaty 2 Comments

Get out in the cold, get fit-Benefits of winter season

Winter if not very cold is a very pleasant season. We feel quite lazy during this season, like to cuddle under our blanket and not feel like getting up from the bed early in the morning. More often than not we just like to sleep and let the day pass by.

Today, I would like to share some very interesting and informative information on how we could utilise this season to our benefit. If You intend to have a lean or bulky body , this is the right season to start.

Winter season is mostly dry season unless ofcourse it snows. Winter sky is clear and blue and sun is mild and warm. Sum comes out very late and when it does comes out its not too hot but, pleasant.

Cold whether boosts our endurance and keeps us happy. Calorie burn can be higher in the cold, as the body has to expend energy on staying warm.

Here are some benefits of workout during winter season.

Burn up more: – This is probably the best and most popular perk. Because your body is working hard, your metabolism revs up and your body burns more calories and fat to produce energy for your workout.

Endurance boosts up :- By challenging yourself in the cold weather, you are strengthening your heart, lungs and circulatory system, thereby improving your overall health.

Helps against SAD ( Seasonal Affective Disorder) :- Being out in the open and taking in more sun during the daylight helps keep the mind sharp and relieves you of depression. It also helps your body manufacture more vitamin D.

Makes us feel happy :- The cold stimulates our parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system is known as the fight response while the parasympathetic is known as relax and renew system. These endorphins can trigger the release of dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that keep us happy, feeling good and eases depression.

Increases blood flow :- We place greater toxic burden on our poor liver and it could really do with some support. Moderate exercise increases the blood flow to the liver thereby improving its ability to detoxify waste.

Try to choose an activity that increases your heart rate but make sure that you can still hold a conversation. i.e. brisk walking, gentle jogging, swimming, cycling.

Improves Immunity: – We all need protection from germs that circulate around the office or being brought home from school by our children. Regular moderate exercise will boost immunity by improving lymphatic and cardiovascular circulation.

No excuses now! Don’t let the cold keep you indoors this winter. Get outside, get yourself moving and enjoy the extra benefits a cold weather workout has to offer.

December 1, 2017 By Dhruvi Rathod 4 Comments

Water consumption in Winter

It’s winter and it’s the most dreadful season especially for those who do not have resistance to withstand cold. One is all the time trying to hunt for things to keep us warm be it externally or internally. Water comes least in our winter checklist.

Did you know we get easily dehydrated in winter as we do in summer? As the surrounding temperature drops, we cling to the heater or cover ourselves with layers of clothing to keep us warm. This artificial heat does cause dehydration.

Though we do not sweat during this season, water vapour is still lost from our body through our breath. Winter can even accelerate dehydration because of the lifesaving mechanism that’s functional in our body which constricts our blood vessels in cold weather, in turn conserving heat and maintaining body temperature.

Shrinking blood vessels increase the blood pressure making our kidneys produce more urine which means less blood to fill in the veins and arteries and frequent visits to the loo, hence increasing the risk of dehydration.Dehydration causes muscle fatigue, cramps, loss of coordination and even a stroke. A dehydrated body is easily prone to flu and winter cold.

Basically, during winters we refrain from having enough water. With the days being short it makes us exercise less and our food intake grows. When our body is well hydrated its efficiency to break down fat for energy increases so that we have better control of our appetite.

The other concern is that of water retention due to the body not being well hydrated during winter. This takes place when our body starts feeling the scarcity of water and it starts holding back water leading to water retention.

How do I know if I am dehydrated?

Thirst is our body’s way of saying “I am on the verge of dehydration” You can even be watchful of how clear or light coloured the urine is.

How do I hike my water intake?

HAVE WARM WATER:

90% of the excuses that we give for not having water in winter is that it makes us feel cold. The best solution to it has lukewarm water, which would not only soothe your throat but also replenish your water stores, while it boosts up your metabolism

TRY TO BALANCE OUT YOUR TEA / COFFEE WITH WATER:

Caffeine’s and alcohols are diuretics (they cause us to lose more water through urine), so try to have a glass of water before having your evening tea/ coffee add another glass after few mins of after having your tea/ coffee This way we can replenish our body’s water store.

INCLUDE WATER BASED FOOD IN YOUR MENU

Vegetables and fruits are naturally rich in water, which also provide vital minerals and vitamins. You can add soups to your menu.

DRINK THROUGHOUT EXERCISE

Make it a point to have water before, during and after your exercise. Due to the cold climate, there are very fewer chances of sweating too much or feeling too thirsty, mind it your body needs it!!!

MAKE WATER INTERESTING

Many find drinking plain water very boring. If you are one of them then you can add natural flavours to water (not free calories though!!!) by adding some fruits or herbs which give the water some mild taste and make it delicious to sip on.

In conclusion, I would say be it summer, be it winter, our body remains same through the year.

SO “Keep walking and sipping water.”