About Dr. Viral Thakkar

Dr. Viral Thakkar, M.B.B.S is a general physician with extensive experience in community and preventive medicine. He also has a vast experience in emergency care. With years of experience in allopathy and understanding of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and Mind Empowerment, Dr. Thakkar is a firm believer that the body can cure itself with the right management. The human body is the best software designed by creation which guides every moment to keep one healthy. The body produces the disease and also has an innate ability to heal. Modern medicine is a quick fix to the disease (body) but, ignores the mind and soul which are an important aspect of human existence. Hence a holistic approach of healing of mind, body and soul is essential and modern medicine should be judiciously used. He practices what he preaches. Meditation and yoga along with a complete diet govern his lifestyle. As a mentor, Dr. Thakkar conducts individual sessions, group sessions with corporates and civil society groups on ideal lifestyle.

March 28, 2020 By Dr. Viral Thakkar 1 Comment

How To Use A Mask The Right Way!

A mask is a barrier between the nose, mouth and the rest of the world. This small piece of cloth is extremely useful in preventing the spread of contagious infection that spreads through air. A mask prevents you from spreading infection and prevents the infection from coming on to you from others. A mask could be a piece of cloth covering your nose and mouth (your scarf or the basic cotton ones we see being sold these days) or specially manufactured to prevent infection (the ones we see doctors wearing).

Should I use a mask?

The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. If you are healthy and everyone at your home is healthy, do not wear it. I suggest this because the precautions to using a mask must be followed at all times under all circumstances.
Wear a mask if you have an infection (any infection like cough, cold, etc) or if you are a caregiver.
Wear a mask if you are stepping out of your house, do not take it off when talking to people or under any circumstances. Take it off and put it for a wash immediately once you are home.

WHO says, you should use a mask:

If you’re taking care of a person with infection (any infection)
If you have any infection

How to Use a Mask

A mask alone is not the only answer to protect you from an infection. Use alcohol-based sanitizers or wash your hands before, during and after using the it
Before you touch your mask, wash your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or with soap and water
Cover your mouth and nose and ensure there are no gaps in between
Once you pull off the mask, because of the breath, the dirt will stick to it from the inside. Do not use it again, get a fresh one.
One time use masks to be used once. Period!
Since the mask is protecting you from infections, it has all infections on it. So do not touch it when it’s on.
Discard it in a paper bag and then throw it in the dustbin.
If you’re using one made from cloth, you can wash it in warm water, dry it in a clean place and reuse.

There are different types available in the market. In the current epidemic, it is suggested to use the N95 respirator face mask to protect one from contracting COVID-19. All the indications to wear it stays the same as mentioned above. This mask filters particle (95% of very small particles) from the air that is breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. It is said that these masks can filter most of the bacteria and viruses. And hence its utility. If these are properly fitted and worn, minimal leakage occurs around edges of the respirator when the user inhales air.

Currently, we increasingly see common vendors selling masks on the road side, people wear to check and keep them back. This is unacceptable and we are creating a pool of infection by such practises. Ensure you sanitise and clean the mask properly, before you put it on. Keep your it only for your use and no one else’s.

However, in the current scenario where masks are required by the medical fraternity more than the common citizens, I must reiterate that your mask against COVID-19 must be ‘social distancing’ and nothing else.

You can get N95 masks from the GOQii Health Store within the app.

Stay safe. Stay at home. #BeTheForce against COVID-19!

March 21, 2020 By Dr. Viral Thakkar Leave a Comment

9 Steps For Building and Mainting Immunity

In the wake of the current outbreak of Coronavirus, maintaining one’s immunity has become a must. However, even if not for any random virus flying off, one’s immunity is the biggest strength against any onslaught of a virus and bacteria.

Taking care of one’s self is a lifestyle. It must be down as a means to protect one’s body.

I’m writing this article touching on a few aspects of maintaining one’s immunity. Since these worked for me, I believe it might work for you all as well. Being healthy has to be imbibed in one’s lifestyle just so no virus or bacteria can affect you.

How Do You Build Immunity?

If only maintaining immunity was as easy as popping a pill, life would have been a bed of roses. But it’s not! You have to work for it to earn it. One’s immunity depends on the way one is born, to one’s genes! But, we are talking about factors which are in one’s hands. The thumb rule is to listen to your body, it never lies. And, most of what your grandmother said was right in terms of health… keeping all that aside, here are a few quick tips to build up your immunity.

No Stress & Yes to Happiness: Stress can wreck any organ in your body. Let go and be happy. Remember, if you are stressed over Corona, you are at risk. A happy and positive person is less likely to fall sick usually.
Maintain Personal Hygiene: Wash your hands with soap before and after eating, bathe, wear breathable clothing and follow all the instructions in basic science textbooks of a 2-3 class child. It will help to prevent a lot of infections!
Seasonal Vegetables and Fruits: Every area is known for its own vegetables and fruits as per the season. For instance, the Saag in North India is awesome during winters. It’s a must have. And yet you get it during summers in some regions. That’s a big no! Watermelon is a fruit of the summer. It is best to have it at that time.
Home cooked food is the best because there is no adulteration. It should be cooked by a healthy person who has no infectious disease, be it your maid, or a house member. I strongly believe that basic hygiene like washing hands before touching food, washing the vegetables before cutting, etc. must be followed. In fact, these are taught in our curriculum in primary sections!
Back to Basics: Consume natural food, have good nutrition and avoid unnecessary medication. By natural food I mean raw vegetables and fruits. Refer to your doctor/nutritionist for your diet plan if you are unable to do so.
Daadi maa ke nuskhe (Grandmother’s Secret Recipes) might just work better than medications for basic ailments like cough and cold. See what works best for your body. As a child, I remember my mother giving me ginger juice mixed with honey every day in the morning during winters. I hardly had a runny nose during childhood. When I grew up, teenage took over and the orthodox medicine said that medicine is the best cure, but it didn’t work for me. Even at this age, ginger juice and honey is my prevention from cough and cold and I’ve no idea why it works for me! Try and find what your remedy is!
With respect to air borne infections, we need to protect our body, especially the orifices from where we breathe. So for the nose, take very little cow ghee/castor oil/any kachhi ghanni (cold pressed) oil and rub it inside your nostrils. The thick ghee captures the dirt and germs in the nostrils itself. For your skin, apply virgin pressed coconut oil.
Sun is a Friend: Basking in the morning sun is good. Don’t overdo it but remember that the sun is the best and the strongest natural disinfectant. So if you do not have a medical condition, and if the doctor has not advised otherwise, make the sun your friend. I do not deny the ugliness of buildings since people dry their clothes outside, but remember one’s clothes are best disinfected in the sun.
Exercise: Are you a yoga person, jogger, swimmer or gymmer? See what suits your body and get into shape. Pranayam though must be followed by all.

We hope this helps you build and maintain your immunity against the coronavirus. Stay safe, stay healthy and #BeTheForce

For more articles on immunity, nutrition and the coronavirus, check out Healthy Reads. For home workouts tune in to GOQii Play.

March 12, 2020 By Dr. Viral Thakkar 1 Comment

All About Your Kidneys – The Natural Cleansers

Can you imagine your house not being cleaned for a day? Imagine no sweeping or mopping, and no sweeper collecting the garbage. The house would start smelling, it will get intense, and eventually there will be decay. Just like our house, the body needs to be cleaned. This essential and unparalleled job is done by a 10 inch organ – the kidneys. The kidneys help in:

Removing waste and extra fluid from the body (Urine).
Maintaining a healthy balance of salts, water and minerals like sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium in the blood. It removes acid too!
They also make hormones that help control blood pressure, make red blood cells and keep bones strong and healthy.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Kidney is the powerhouse of the body, supplying reserve energy to any organ running low on Qi. Its partner organ is the bladder.

The Kidney’s Job Profile

Each of the kidney is made up of about a million filtering units called nephrons. Each nephron includes a filter called the glomerulus and a tubule. The nephrons work through a two-step process:

The glomerulus filters the blood and the tubule returns needed substances to the blood and removes wastes.

A blood vessel runs alongside the tubule. As the filtered fluid moves along the tubule, the blood vessel reabsorbs almost all of the water along with minerals and nutrients your body needs. The tubule helps remove excess acid from the blood. The remaining fluid and wastes in the tubule become urine.

The blood circulates through the kidneys many times a day. In a single day, kidneys filter about 150 quarts of blood. Most of the water and other substances that filter through the glomeruli are returned to the blood by the tubules. Only 1 to 2 quarts become urine.

Each kidney performs the process of reabsorption with great precision. Out of 180 liters of fluid that enters the tubules, 99% of fluid is selectively reabsorbed and only the remaining 1% of fluid is excreted in the form of urine.

By this intelligent and precise process, all essential substances and 178 liters of fluid are reabsorbed in the tubules, whereas 1-2 liters of fluids, waste products, and other harmful substances are excreted.

Urine formed by the kidneys flow to the ureters, and passes through the urinary bladder and is finally excreted out through the urethra.

Did you know that every minute, 1200 ml of blood enters the kidneys for purification, which is 20% of the total blood pumped by the heart? So in one day, 1700 liters of blood is purified!

Here is How You Can Take Care of Your Kidneys

Drink up! Kidneys balance the electrolytes and fluid levels and hence its essential to drink liquids which are non-alcoholic and not caffeinated. Juices, coconut water, water, smoothies, etc. are your friends
Check the colour of your urine. It should be the colour of a straw. Any darker means you need to drink up.
Too much oily and fatty food is a big no! It puts pressure on the kidneys. Greens are your friends!
Ensure you have a normal blood pressure. It can silently impact your kidneys.
Alcohol and smoking is a BIG no. There are no two ways about it! Just stop it
Got diabetes? If you do, work with your doctor to keep your blood sugar levels in check. If they’re not under control, that can cause problems for your kidneys over time. Along with hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes is one of the biggest concerns for kidney health.
Use your meds correctly. Take them as your doctor recommends, or follow the instructions on the package. Be wary of medicines that can cause kidney damage when you take them for a long time, including over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen and prescriptions such as lithium and HIV medications. (Street drugs like cocaine can cause kidney disease too).
Check your weight & exercise regularly.
Be positive, not just for your kidneys but for your overall health. People who tend to hold negative thoughts especially envious feelings with hatred tend to get kidney disorder as compared to a positive person, as every emotion is linked with an organ.

Yoga and Pranayama are your friends for life!

Nothing beats regular exercise especially yoga and pranayama. These not only help the kidney, but the complete body. Yoga asanas assist in managing water retention in the body which enables sound sleep schedules and hence better rest. It is also one of the best ways to maintain balance in the body. Few asanas facilitate internal cleansing and flush out the toxins. Pranayam is known to relieve stress.

To ensure that the kidneys perform their JD up to the mark, make sure you make your body do the following:

Setu Bandhasana stimulates the abdominal organs, helps bring high blood pressure under control and relieves the body of stress.
Bhujangasana stretches and strengthens the abdominal organs. It also raises the immunity level of the body.
Ardha Matsyendrasana stimulates the kidneys and liver; improves the body’s immunity level.
Paschimottanasana stimulates the kidney, improves digestion, and relieves menstrual discomfort.
Naukasana improves digestion and alleviates stress. It strengthens and stimulates the abdominal organs.

Be happy and hope you have happy Kidneys too!

#BeTheForce

January 1, 2020 By Dr. Viral Thakkar Leave a Comment

Celebrating the New Year? Read This Before You Head Out!

It’s that time of the year again! The Christmas bells ring and the New Year sweeps us yet again! For many, it sweeps with a lot booze & puke! And for many, this happens every week. So here it is guys, the gyaan of what you should and should not do this New Year (or even weekends for that matter).

I am a firm believer of ‘Health First’, be it New Years or Diwali. While the New Year comes once, the ‘dump’ you put inside it wrecks your system in and out. Trust me, if I was the body, I would hate New Years every year of my life!

Let’s Talk About Alcohol

The body can safely process around one unit of pure alcohol per hour. If you drink more than this, your body isn’t able to break it down fast enough and it accumulates in your body. It takes a lot of time to flush it out and the pressure on the liver and the body as a whole is immense.

Binge drinking increases the risk of blackouts, especially on an empty stomach. During this time, a person may do things that they do not remember later. So in case you are planning to drink, know your limits and of course listen to your body. Booze might be free but the body is priceless. Take a call on what you should prioritize.

Our body is designed to ensure that the nutrients reach the organs. All the food goes through the liver which processes the food and passes it on. Same is the case with alcohol. The liver metabolizes the alcohol, but it can only break down so much at one time. What the liver can’t break down is redirected throughout the rest of the body.

Drugs

Please know that consuming, passing on or giving drugs is illegal. Consuming high quantities of drugs can lead to poisoning and eventual death. Worse, if one is addicted, it is extremely difficult to bounce back to normal. Drugs can leave one in semiconscious/ unconscious conditions leaving the person vulnerable to literally ‘anything’. So if you are partying, or are attending a rave, please be safe! Best, don’t attend!

Too Much of Anything

Be it food, drinks, dancing or loud music – anything in excess is bad for your system just as alcohol, smoking or drugs. Too loud music hits the eardrums. That buzz you get in your head after the loud music is your body telling you that it has had enough!

Sex is beneficial and super for health, if done safely and with a known partner. So if you know you are going to get high, have a few friends who will protect you from the unwanted attention. Be safe. Else, just plan it with your partner!

Tips for a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year

In case of excess of alcohol consumption, the person might pass out or vomit. If you are in your senses, be with the person. Ensure they don’t choke on their vomit and that their breathing is normal. If not, rush to the hospital.
If you are hell bent on drinking, ensure you do not have more than a peg in an hour. It will give your body enough time to process it.
Listen to your body! If on any drink, you start feeling uncomfortable, or breathless, stop drinking immediately. Drink a lot of water which will help you flush out the drink. If you still feel uncomfortable, rush to the hospital
If you have done all of what should NOT be done, ensure that you give your body some rest in the coming 2 days. Flush it out by drinking lots of fluids and eating salads. Detox it should be!
Imagine a car loader which is overloaded with stuff. If one keeps overloading it, it will break down eventually. Compare this to your body and load it with only as much as it can take. If you do not know how much the body can take, consider the tips above.
Hire a driver or take the car rentals if you’re going to get high.

I know I sound like an oldie here with no life but I am a firm believer of protecting and befriending the body. If a party has to happen, I personally suggest people to chill with friends at home and order from your favourite food joint. Apart from saving money, I end up playing board games, eating my favorite food, catching up with friends & family and ending with a good night meditation. But everyone is not me! If you are not, consider the tips above, and enjoy your party!

Wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!