Archives for May 2019

May 21, 2019 By Tabassum Parveen Leave a Comment

Foods to Boost Memory Power

If you have grandparents, you may be familiar with instances of them forgetting to take their medicines or forgetting names. This is due to weak memory power. Ever wondered why their memory is so weak? How can one boost memory power? Let’s understand this better!

What is Memory Power? Why is it Necessary to Boost it?

Memory power is the capacity of the brain to remember things. You can remember things for a short period of time or a long period of time depending on the importance of the information. Your brain decides what needs to be saved as a memory depending on the intensity of the matter.

From the above example of grandparents, weak memory happens due to decreased blood flow to the brain. Hormones and proteins protecting brain cells decrease with age, leading to reduced cognitive skills and memory power which result in forgetfulness.

Individuals who work long and hard for a presentation often tend to forget key points. This may happen due to the anxiety and stress which affects the nervous system. The nervous system plays an important role in memory. You may have noticed that when we try to rush, we often forget things such as a snack or a water bottle.

The best way to overcome this lapse in memory is to improve the blood flow to the brain. A few lifestyle changes and focus on certain food and boost memory power.

Lifestyle Changes to Consider

Lifestyle plays a major role when it comes to maintaining bodily functions such as gaining or losing weight, disease management and intelligence as well!

Healthy Weight: Being overweight impairs bodily functions. This includes the brain. It causes neurodegenerative diseases like Dementia, Alzheimer’s and may also shrink the brain’s size. Maintaining a healthier body weight by decreasing the body fat percentage and improving muscle mass can help prevent cognitive problems.
Physical Activity: improves blood flow to all the organs including the brain. It also improves the amount of oxygen delivered to the brain. You must exercise daily, be it walking, jogging, swimming or any kind of sports at least for 30-40 mins a day. Yoga and meditation can also be included as they heal your brain by improving oxygen levels.
Proper Sleep: Sleep is a phenomenon which is often neglected despite the fact that it has a greater impact on one’s health! A lot of psychological changes happen when an individual is asleep. Lack of sleep can affect memory formation. A peaceful 6-7 hours of sleep can boost your memory power and a powerful day nap of 30-40 mins can also help sharpen your memory.
Stress & Depression: can damage brain cells and cause memory loss. Reduce stress by laughing. Laughing engages multiple regions of the brain and also reduces stress and improves memory power!

Foods to Boost Memory Power

Nourishing yourself is the best way to improve your IQ level or memory power. To maintain brain health, avoid sugary drinks, refined carbs and unhealthy fats. Opt for nourishing and well-balanced meals.

Turmeric: Curcumin is the active compound found in turmeric. It has several health benefits. It protects the brain, reduces brain inflammation and boosts memory power by removing plaques. 2 gram of freshly grounded turmeric is recommended.
Blueberries: Due to its unique antioxidant properties, Blueberries help in boosting memory power. This is done by reducing the oxidative stress on neural tissues which improve brain functioning. Add them to your breakfast cereal or munch on them as a snack. You can even add them to your milkshakes, smoothies or salads!
Dark Chocolate: contains compound flavonoids which improve blood flow to the brain and help in learning and improving intelligence.
Fish: such as salmon, tuna and mackerel are all good sources of Omega 3 fatty acid which help in improving blood flow to the brain. They make you smarter.
Nuts & Seeds: Nuts, especially like miniature brain shaped walnuts and seeds like pumpkin seeds are filled with healthier fats which improve brain functioning. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with zinc, magnesium and iron, the absence of which may make your brain stop functioning.

We hope this article helps you improve your brain function and make you smarter! Do you have any queries? Type them out in the comments below!

#BeTheForce

May 20, 2019 By Divya Thampi Leave a Comment

5 Hacks To Help You Achieve Your Goals

Despite knowing the importance of persistence, most people have trouble focusing singlemindedly and putting in efforts consistently in the area that they want to succeed in. Our good intentions or brilliant ideas don’t see the light of day, because of some of the habits we possess that seem insignificant and mundane.

More often than not, we find ourselves doing not what we wish to do but what we are accustomed to doing. For example, I had been thinking for months that I must wake up earlier by an hour each morning. Easy enough, right? But each night, I would find myself spending time on trivial things that I had not planned to do, like reading random articles, or surfing through emails or reflecting about some things that may have happened during the day.

These unplanned non-events led to late nights and consequently each morning I woke up no earlier than usual. Some of you may relate to this situation. Just replace ‘want to wake up early’ with ‘want to go for a walk’, ‘want to read every night’, ‘want to eat healthy’, ‘want to meditate’, ‘want to spend more time with my team’, ‘want to get to the office before time’, ‘want to learn a new skill’… by now you get the drift.

Perseverance is a trait that people with high emotional intelligence possess. As Daniel Goleman says in his book ‘Emotional Intelligence’ – “Studies of Olympic athletes, world-class musicians and Chess grand masters find their unifying trait is the ability to motivate themselves to pursue relentless training routine”. One would think that these people are wired differently. But they are not. Perseverance is not something that you either have or you don’t, it’s something that can be developed. Following are 5 simple yet highly effective ways to build perseverance and pave your path to success:

1. Start Small & Take Breaks

‘Many drops make an ocean’ is definitely something to think about. If we straight away start thinking about all the effort and resources that would be required to achieve something, the thought could promptly dissuade our minds from giving it a try, hence begin small.

If you want to run 5 km each morning, start with one or even half a km. The initial few days of trying something new can be stressful. It takes our body and mind, time, to get used to things. If eating healthy is your goal, start with one healthy meal a day. It takes a little less effort and helps you get used to the change. If you are working on a report, work in half-hour chunks with a five-minute break between every half an hour ( check out the Pomodoro Technique)

2. Celebrate Small Wins

Even if you have run just a kilometer on two consecutive days, while your aim may be to run 5, give yourself a pat. Well begun is half done. Reward yourself with something small. It could be listening to your favourite music, reading your favourite book or spending time on a call with your friend. The choice is yours but the celebration is a must to keep you motivated.

3. Surround Yourself With Cheerleaders

Share your goal and efforts with people who care for you. Those people who would be excited and happy to see you do well. Enrol their help, let them check on your progress and remind you how well you are doing. They will become your support system and give you the much-needed boost when you feel like giving up. All of us need cheerleaders to cheer us on.

4. Watch Your Self-Talk

What do you tell yourself when you set out to run a mile but are tired and end up walking half the distance instead? Do you cut yourself some slack or beat yourself up? Do you think that you will rest a little and try again or do you say, “There I did it again! Why am I sloppy, slow and incapable?” Watch out, the one person whose words have a significant impact on you is YOU! Pay attention to your self-talk. Reframe the negative lines with positive ones. So instead of saying “I couldn’t even run 2 km”, say “I did 1.5 km, an improvement from yesterday”

5. The Last Stretch

Many years ago, as a hotelier, I was once asked to make 100 cold calls, to inform people about the upcoming New Year event. It wasn’t a very pleasant task because often people would hang up even before I completed my first sentence. Every time I was tempted to stop and take a break, I’d tell myself, “Just two more calls and then its break time”.

Consequently, I ended up doing those 2 calls more enthusiastically and I was done with all the 100, faster than expected. This strategy works really well. Stretch your limits, little at a time. If you have run a kilometer and want to stop, push yourself to run just another 100 meters more.

If you have written 600 words for the day, write just 50 more before you call it a day. Slowly but surely you will have a bigger appetite, higher capacity and things will get easier, not to mention that you will be getting closer to the win you have been looking forward to.

Little at a time, turn these pointers into habits and just like insignificant small habits can veer you away from your achievements, these small winning habits will steer you towards your big wins. Remember, nobody was born a winner or a loser, your thoughts and efforts make you so. Like Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”.

May 18, 2019 By GOQii 1 Comment

Sapan Gupta: Running For Good Health!

Have you been passionate about something but as you turned older, your busy life overshadowed your passions? Most of us can relate to this, especially when it comes to running or some form of sport. While being really energetic and active at a young age, one often falls prey to a sedentary lifestyle. Such was the case with Sapan Gupta as well.

Life Before GOQii

Sapan Gupta, a 37-year-old working professional is a Deputy Manager with an Online Software Development Company. Since school days, he had always been passionate about running but as he grew older, he stopped. He also suffered from frequent bouts of cold, cough and sneezing. In 2016, he began jogging but jogged for 2km max.

Stepping it Up With GOQii

In Jan 2018, Sapan Gupta was introduced to GOQii via his Axis Bank Account. Since then, he hasn’t looked back. After joining GOQii, with help from his coach, he began training for marathons. His health goals were to stay fit and reduce belly fat.

Since Sapan always ate home cooked meals and ate out only once a fortnight, there weren’t many changes made to his diet. His GOQii Coach introduced him to healthy proteins and mindful eating. His intake is more balanced and nutritious now.

Now, instead of 2km, he runs for 5km easily, everyday and sometimes even without a water break. He tries to walk for 20 minutes even when he is at work. On the weekends, he plays badminton and cricket. Sometimes, he even cycles.

As of now, Sapan Gupta has lost 4-5kg and his stamina has tremendously improved as well! His issues of cold, cough and sneezing has reduced significantly as his immunity has increased. He has successfully completed 3 half marathons and over 52 10k runs in the past 1.5 years. He is currently preparing for a full marathon in August.

Last year, he participated in the GOQii Trail Challenge and completed it within 12 hours! He says that it was one of the most enriching experiences he has been through and looks forward to participating for the next one! He also said it was well-organized.

GOQii Active Sunday Champion

One day, Sapan received a notification for a GOQii Active Sunday session. As it was close to his house, he decided to check it out. When fellow Champion Subhash Achanta asked him to lead a session as he was unavailable, Sapan took it up without hesitation. Soon, he enrolled as a Champion and from then on he has been regularly heading the sessions in Hyderabad.

Sapan has been very active on the GOQii App. He orders products from the GOQii Health Store frequently during flash sales. As per his experience, the products he purchases are of good quality. He even participated in the India Steps Challenged and won the GOQii Vital. He says GOQii should organize more such events!

Though his family members think he is overdoing it, he feels there is still so much more to achieve!

Here’s what Sapan Gupta’s GOQii Coach Had to Say

“Sapan entered GOQii with a goal to lose weight and he worked hard to achieve it. He is very interactive, keeps me posted with his food logs and all the data he can. He is focused and has an idea of what he wants. We started with simple changes like replacing unhealthy snacks with healthy options and eating small and frequent meals.

He has great insights towards working out, which is his strength. Even on a vacation, he used do well with his physical activity. One word to describe Sapan is ‘Energetic’. With his involvement, I was motivated to guide him to achieve his health goals.”

Keep going, Sapan and #BeTheForce!

May 17, 2019 By Dr. Viral Thakkar 1 Comment

Hypertension: Know it to Avoid it

Keshav, 38 years, is a party person. Weekdays, he works 12 hours a day, and weekends, are for partying only. He has been partying a lot recently, enjoying his financial success. However, a couple of days back, he was diagnosed with hypertension (BP 170/100mm of Hg).

Keshav is tensed and scared. For now, his doctor suggested lifestyle modifications. Since he wants to take up the responsibility for his health, he came across GOQii VITAL (tracks BP & Heart Rate among other features). He also downloaded the GOQii App, went through the website and read up on hypertension/blood pressure.

Blood pressure is the force exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels. The pressure depends on the work being done by the heart and the resistance of the blood vessels. The normal blood pressure is 120(systolic)/ 80(diastolic) mm of mercury (mmHg), but hypertension is higher than 140/90 mmHg. As reading keeps on fluctuating, one must take minimum 3 readings at least 2 hours apart to label chronic hypertension.

Primary Hypertension could be due to plasma volume and activity of the hormones that regulate blood volume and pressure or environmental factors
Secondary hypertension has specific causes and is a complication of another problem which could result from diabetes, overactive thyroid gland, Cushing syndrome, which can be caused by corticosteroid drugs, hyperparathyroidism, which affects calcium and phosphorous levels, pregnancy, sleep apnea, Obesity, CKD or kidney disease or pheochromocytoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal gland.

The Following Could Lead to Hypertension:

Stress
Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and high cholesterol levels
Alcohol and tobacco use is the cause of many health problems, not just hypertension
Hypertension is more common in people aged over 60 years even though many young people also have this disease
Being overweight or obese is a key risk factor
Men are prone to hypertension at a younger age and it is higher in older women. This might be due to men holding on to emotions and women tackling their stress better
Physical Inactivity is the key to be unhealthy! Move it, please! Manage your health with exercise!
If you take salt-rich diet associated with processed and fatty foods, low potassium in the diet, you are at risk
A family history of high blood pressure and poorly managed stress can also contribute. But you can create your own destiny! Manage your diet, exercise and tackle your stress!

If you are in any of the above categories, I will be worried!

Your Daily Routine Should Be:

When you open your eyes in the morning, be happy, grateful and chill!
Say no to junk, and yes to raw veggies and fruits. Have a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner. Your small snacks should consist of fruits, healthy snacks. Say no to junk!
Avoid extra salts – The WHO recommends reducing intake to under 5g a day to help decrease the risk of hypertension and related health problems.
Exercise regularly. At least 45 minutes every day. Dinner should be 4 hours prior to your sleep
STOP alcohol and smoking
Manage your body weight
Pranayama is the key to manage stress. Yoga is amazing! Try it!
For the ones who love numbers and track progress, you can manage your health and activity through GOQii Vital or the GOQii RunGPS (both readily available at a discount from the GOQii Health Store within the GOQii App)

Even if you are fit, please keep in mind that if undetected, it can cause damage to other organs as well. Hence, have your blood pressure checkup regularly. Long-term hypertension can cause atherosclerosis. This formation of plaque results in the narrowing of blood vessels making it hard for the heart to pump blood!

Hypertension-Related Atherosclerosis Can Lead To:

Heart failure/Heart attacks
An aneurysm or an abnormal bulge in the wall of an artery that can burst, causing severe bleeding and in some cases, death
Kidney failure or Stroke
Hypertensive Retinopathies in the eye, which can lead to blindness

The best way to deal with hypertension is to be mentally and physically healthy. Be stress free, happy and take care of your physical body. This will help your overall fitness and not just hypertension.

Please ensure that the medication is taken as per the advice of your doctor and remember that lifestyle modification is the key!