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COVID Care: Home Remedies For COVID related Cough

covid related coughIf you or your loved one is recovering from the COVID-19 infection, taking proper care for curing your COVID related cough is important. Currently, cough is one of the most common symptoms of the viral infection and can manifest in the form of both wet (productive) cough as well as dry persistent cough.

COVID Related Cough Needs Care!

I am sharing a few remedies that might help you deal with a COVID related cough. These supportive remedies are not meant to replace any medically prescribed cough medications, but to give you additional relief. If your symptom of cough worsens with difficulty in breathing, please report to your treating doctor at the earliest. 

Some of the emergency symptoms are:

  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Extremely high temperature, 103 F or above
  • Chest pain or pressure
  • Confusion
  • Severe cough with choking
  • Blue lips or face

Tips To Manage Wet Productive Cough

  1. Water: Lukewarm water helps in loosening of phlegm and allows for an easy exit out of the system. Drink a generous serving of lukewarm water, sip by sip, throughout the day. For added benefit, throw in 5-7 leaves of fresh ‘tulsi’ in your water jug.
  2. Steam inhalation: 3 times a day will help loosen up the phlegm congested in your lungs. Make sure to take deep breaths (with your eyes closed) when you inhale steam.     
  3. Lie down on the right or left side: Lying in these positions helps drain phlegm from the respiratory tract. While intermittent proning will also improve breathing, do not lie down on your back which is not a cough-friendly resting position.

Tips to Manage Dry Cough

  1. Warm liquids: Warm tomato soup, rice gruel, moong dal soup, herbal decoction (of dried ginger, clove and honey) or plain warm water may help you have an immediate relief from a dry cough. In case you don’t have any soothing drink around, swallow repeatedly.
  2. Turmeric tea: Ingredients required- 1/4th tsp dried turmeric powder (Haldi), pinch of black pepper (Kali Mirchi), 1 spoon of jaggery (Gudh) and 1-2 drops of organic ‘ghee’. How to prepare? Boil a glass of water > add turmeric, black pepper and jaggery in it > allow to simmer till quantity reduces to half > Turn down the flame, strain the tea in a cup and allow it to cool > once warm add 1-2 drops of ghee before drinking. Adding few threads of ginger root and pinch of clove while boiling, makes it a more powerful antiseptic and anti-inflammatory agent while Ghee makes the curcumin from turmeric more bio-active in our body.
  3. Gargling with salt water (1/4th tsp salt dissolved in a glass of water) is an age old remedy for cough and sore throat. You may also add a pinch of turmeric powder in your gargle water for a more antiseptic effect or gargle with a betadine solution dissolved in water (1part betadine in 3 parts water). Do not drink or swallow saline water or betadine.

Hope these remedies provide you some help in dealing with COVID related cough! We wish you and our nation a super speedy recovery! For more useful tips like these, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. 

For any further queries, reach out to your GOQii Coach by subscribing to GOQii now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu 

Stay home, stay safe and #BeTheForce 

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How to Support Older Adults During the Coronavirus Pandemic

older adultsCurrently, elderly people are vulnerable and at the highest risk of experiencing significant health complications due to the second wave of COVID-19. Being socially isolated also creates a panic, affects mental and physical health of the elderly. Due to the pandemic, most older adults are not able to take walks, exercise and have limited access to their daily healthcare needs. Though social distancing and self quarantine is necessary, it is essential for older adults to feel connected in order to avoid depression or helplessness. Loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty give rise to chronic stress, depression and insomnia in older people.

How Can You Help Older Adults In Your Neighborhood? 

During this time, it becomes important to help older adults in our neighbourhood, especially the ones living alone. Here, I’ll be sharing some tips which families and caregivers can use to keep older adults disease-free, happy and mentally fit! 

  1. If you have parents or grandparents you’re not living with, give them a call to provide regular emotional support. 
  2. Ensure that an older adult’s daily needs and essential requirements like medicines, fruits, food, etc. are taken care of.
  3. Take additional efforts to check and confirm that they are maintaining proper hand and respiratory hygiene. 
  4. Older Adults are more sensitive in the current situation. To safeguard them, it’s better that they should avoid stepping out for any reason as much as possible.
  5. If routine check-ups can be done via phone consultation, please do so. Go to the hospital only when necessary. 
  6. Guide and educate the older adults in your area with the latest updates, precautionary measures, etc. Keep them informed! 
  7. Provide extra care if needed as some of them are on multiple medications due to chronic illnesses and sensory problems such as loss or difficulty in vision, hearing, etc. 
  8. Before self-medication with any drug, please consult a doctor.
  9. Family members need to be super sensitive to the early symptoms of COVID-19 and testing if needed should be promptly done. This, however, should not give rise to panic, self-isolation and stigma.
  10. Psycho-social issues are vital and families need to be sensitive to them. It is natural to be stressed, but signs of excessive panic, depression, sleep problems need urgent attention from a qualified mental health professional.
  11. The elderly need to be involved in decision making even in times of crisis. Their rights, self-respect and dignity must be preserved and protected.

 We hope this article helps. For more information or sessions on helping older adults, tune in to experts on GOQii Play. 

Stay home, stay safe and #BeTheForce  

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Fatigue Fighting Hacks To Supercharge Your Mornings At Home

fatigue fighting hacksTrrriiing! There goes your 6 a.m. alarm! 

Boing! There goes the snooze button hit! Just another ten minutes you plead with your fatigued mind even though you know you’ll be late for that zoom call!  

How often have you caught yourself doing that in a week? The day whizzes by in a blur as you struggle to stay awake through that all-important morning call, exercise restraint from unnecessarily blowing your top at your colleague, force yourself to be patient as your junior takes longer than expected to understand a concept, and stop short of actually dozing and snoring at your comfy workspace at home as the day slowly comes to a close…

Morning fatigue can be pinned down to many reasons: a super-late night, hypothyroidism, too much progesterone, midnight visits to the washroom, sleep apnea, an overworked mind, and more. Chronic fatigue can take a toll on human health, and is best nipped in the bud. Once hormonal imbalances and sleep apnea have been ruled out as the cause of your daily fatigue, try out these fatigue fighting hacks to keep you alert through the day.

Fatigue Fighting Hacks To Supercharge Your Mornings

  1. Set a Double Alarm: A full sleep cycle is approximately 90 minutes. So, if you need to step out of bed at 7 a.m., set an alarm for 5:30 a.m. and another one for 7 a.m. Turn off the 5:30 alarm once it begins to shrill – go back to getting another complete sleep cycle – and bounce out of bed happily when the second alarm goes off! You won’t need the snooze button at all! 
  2. Exercise: If home workout isn’t your style – fret not! Begin your day with a few simple stretches or a 10-minute yoga session. The release of endorphins that this brings on will keep you feeling energized through the day. 
  3. Be a Sunflower: Just like a sunflower thrives on the energizing rays of the sun, so does your body. Throw open your windows, draw back the curtains and revel in the joy that comes along with the morning rays hitting your face. You’ll get a good dose of vitamin D too whilst you are at it.
  4. Power-up with Protein: Skipping breakfast is never an option if you want to feel fresh throughout the day. But choosing the right breakfast foods is important. Begin and end your day with protein-rich foods. Research indicates that protein induces serotonin and subsequent melatonin release that brings on better quality sleep while also leading to a build-up of enzymes that signal the brain to wake-up in the mornings. Plate up the eggs, fish, yoghurt, pulses, peanut butter, and nuts and roll away the sugar-laden carbohydrates.
  5. Tank up on Water: Dehydration can often be the reason for fatigue in the morning and all through the day. A glass of plain water or fruit-infused water is a sure shot way to get your body into “run” mode. Placing this by your bedside and reaching out for it as soon as your alarm goes off will get you moving faster than the Duracell rabbit!  
  6. Alexa to the Rescue: Programme Alexa to play out your favourite music at the exact hour you need to be out of bed. What better way to begin your day than with a blast of pop, hip hop, golden oldies, jazz or Hindi chartbusters? 
  7. Tease your Brain: Alarm clocks and mobiles that need you to perform a mental task before they can be “snoozed” or shut off are now available in the market! Not only will they supercharge your morning, but you’ll have increased your IQ by 5 points at least by the end of the month.

List Of Don’ts Before Bed 

I don’t need to dwell on the much-touted DON’Ts that keep you away from enjoying your mornings, but a quick reminder will reinforce your learning:

  • Limit water intake to just one glass a couple of hours before you hit the sack; then you won’t need to blame your midnight loo visits for your morning fatigue.
  • Cut down the fat at dinner to help you drift away to dreamland sooner.
  • Make sure your bedroom has just the right amount of light and is at the right temperature to allow for some uninterrupted sleep. 
  • Choose the right sleep accessories – pillow, mattress, blanket, and even a cuddly toy, if that’s what will keep your peepers tightly shut for 8 hours straight.
  • Stay away from electronic devices at least an hour before bedtime. Reading a book may be a better bit to bring on deeper sleep.
  • Maintain a sleep schedule so that the natural release of melatonin takes charge at the right time. 
  • Stay away from alcohol and caffeine closer to bedtime; they are diuretics that will cause you to wake up to piddle in the middle of the night! 

Sleep has no replacement. Fatigue is easily prevented. Do your health a huge favour – beat the morning blues! 

We hope these fatigue fighting hacks help you make your work from home more productive! Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below. For more tips, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. 

To directly interact with your GOQii Coach, subscribe to GOQii now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

Stay home, stay safe and #BeTheForce 

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Panicked Due To The Pandemic? You Need To Know This!

panicked due to the pandemicThere must be few people you know who have been affected by COVID-19 during this global pandemic. Maybe you have gone through this too. Maybe you are experiencing few symptoms. You might have witnessed a few unfortunate deaths around you. This is like one of those sci-fi movies gone real. Everyone is talking about it and it’s terrible! 

How You Can Avoid Panic During The Pandemic 

As humans, we crave for stability and we are facing this uncertainty for more than a year now. Are you wondering when it will all end? Do we even see an end in sight? How do we deal with it?  covid-19 anxiety

Change Your Mindset!

The stress can cause frustration, worry, fear, helplessness, lack of hunger, overeating, tiredness, sleeping too much, headache, nightmares or the inability to focus on work. If you are overwhelmed due to this pandemic situation, let me tell you that you need to overcome this. When you panic, your body responds in the same way. If this is the battle, then half the battle is lost when you panic. When your mind gives up, then slowly your body gives up. 

Everyone has suffered a cold and blocked nose at some point or the other in their life. And you experience breathlessness in such times. People with Asthma deal with breathlessness many times. Before the pandemic, you used to get cold, cough and fever, but you didn’t think that you would die. Then there’s no need to think that way now. I am not suggesting that you ignore the symptoms or your health. By now everyone knows what they need to do for their safety. I Am not repeating here. I am talking about the mindset. How you deal with this mentally and emotionally is important. 

You can get the information you need but stop binge watching news channels and be conscious of what you read, watch and listen. You can make a habit to get the update at a specific time from a trusted source only. Other times, keep yourself involved in something meaningful.

If you get a cough, start a treatment or medicine for the cough. You can talk to your coach for a nice home remedy. If things get worse and you need to get admitted in the hospital, let me repeat, the first thing you need to do is stay strong emotionally.

What Can You Do Now?

Let’s start working for the things which are in our hands. Your immunity is so much more important right now than ever before. Cut down sugar slowly from your diet. Sugar has inflammation enhancing properties. It supports more mucus production in the body, which increases the chances of you getting infected easily. When I say sugar, I mean sugar from tea, coffee, biscuits, desserts, ketchup and all kinds of packaged food. It’s difficult but start making changes one by one. Taking action for better health is much better than taking stress. 

Regular exercise will help to beat the anxiety. Work to improve your lung capacity. If you have a habit of smoking, please stop it. Breathing exercises are a great way to improve your lung function. You can breathe better. Spend a good time for meditation regularly. It will reduce your anxiety. If you are not fond of it, then indulge in any of your hobbies, which you can pursue at home.

You will help a lot as an individual by NOT spreading fear. Stop discussing the topic with ten people. Don’t forward random whatsapp messages. Stay calm and keep calm. If possible, provide emotional support to those who are going through it. If you can help them in any means it would be great. We are physically apart, but you can stay connected with your loved ones like friends and family through calls or video calls. Provide the emotional support. Having a conversation with friends and family will help to reduce your stress.

Remember that we’re all in this together. So remain calm, observe your body and stay strong. More so, you can also self monitor using the GOQii Smart Vital which checks body temperature, SpO2, heart rate and blood pressure – basically all the vital parameters that could alert you if something is wrong. Till then, there’s no need to panic! 

For more COVID-related articles, you can check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. Furthermore, you can subscribe to GOQii and get the right guidance from a certified expert: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

#BeTheForce 

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