A state level Athletic and Pole Vault champion, Parwange Alam encourages and motivates people to be healthy. While pursuing his graduation at the Punjabi University of Patiala, he also doubled up as a coach training students in running. His mission is to help people improve their lifestyle and lead them towards a healthier future with his acquired knowledge in fitness and experience. Apart from a sporting career he is also an artist and likes to express his feelings through painting. Parwage believes that every individual has a sportsman spirit within them and if coached well it can unveil that sportsman in the individual.

About Parwage Alam

September 19, 2017 By Parwage Alam 1 Comment

Myths and Health Benefits of Meditation

Stress can be dangerous. Here is a link to a blog on Stress

http://goqii.com/blog/avoid-stress-lead-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

In this blog, I am going to talk about meditation and its health benefits in detail. Most foreigners are it the Americans or the Europeans aren’t raised to sit and say “Om.” But, today whether it is outside of India or within our country at every nook and corner you can find a yoga and meditation centre. Meditation has gained millions of converts, helping them ease chronic pain, anxiety, stress, improve heart health, boost mood and immunity, and resolve a lot of medical issues even pregnancy problems.

According to doctors, any condition that’s caused or worsened by stress can be alleviated through meditation. Peace is something we all seek for or let’s say satisfaction is something we all long for. Satisfaction could be different for different people. For some satisfaction could mean happiness, for some it could be an achievement. The influence of external factors in our life largely decides our state of mind to be happy, sad or angry.

We often seek for happiness or peace in the outside world. People have their own ways of finding peace or relaxing their mind. Most common practice is going out of town or getting away from our usual routine. It’s very necessary to find peace within us as not everyone can afford to go out of station often. So here is what we can do and also save some money in the process to reach our goal of happiness and peace- MEDITATE.

Meditation you can transform the mind. Meditation doesn’t mean that you have to sit in a particular posture and focus on any single point on the wall or certain point. The definition of meditation is different for different people. If you ask me, meditation is the art of focusing our attention (100%) in one area. We all believe that our mind gets maximum rest while sleeping; however, the fact is that our mind gets to rest and relief while meditating.

Doctors who recommend meditation say that the relaxation response [from meditation] helps decrease metabolism, lowers blood pressure and improves heart rate, breathing, and brain waves. Tension and tightness seep from muscles as the body receives a quiet message to relax.

Articles in medical journals on Meditation indicate there is scientific evidence that shows how meditation works. In people who are meditating, brain scans called MRI have shown an increase in activity in areas that control metabolism and heart rate. Other studies on Buddhist monks have shown that meditation produces long-lasting changes in the brain activity in areas involved in attention, working memory, learning, and conscious perception.

There are some dangerous myths about meditation like:

1. Meditation is a religion: Meditation is not related to any religion. However, meditation brings all religion together.

2. Just relaxation: Meditation is not about just relaxation like sitting on your sofa or lying on your resting chair, meditation helps to produce specific chemical changes in the brain. For example, Transcendental meditation is known to cause the brain to release a soothing hormone known as prolactin.

3. Sit in the lotus posture to meditate: There is a myth that meditating you should always sit in a lotus posture. However, while meditating it is more important to be comfortable and steady. You can sit cross-legged, on a chair, in a sofa – it is fine, but it is mandatory that you have to maintain the same position till you finish meditating.

4. Meditation is for old people: Most of the people believe that meditation is only for people who have reached a certain age or for old people. That is so untrue. Meditation is universal and anyone can do it. It adds value to lives of people of all age groups. A study in the American Journal of Hypertension showed that teenagers who meditated for 15 minutes twice a day for four months were able to lower their blood pressure a few points.10 minutes of meditation in the morning clean your mind, it gives zeal and enthusiasm.

5. Meditation is like hypnotizing yourself: Most of the people believe that Meditation is hypnotising you. But, that’s again false. In hypnotism no one is aware what he or she is going through, however, in meditation, you are always aware of each and every moment.

If you are feeling tense, tired, depressed or anxious or stressed, the one simple word I can suggest or recommend is ‘Meditation’. Five to 10 minutes of meditation will help you relax and get over your stress and restore your calm and inner peace.

Anyone can start meditating with a small practice. It’s really very simple and does not require you to visit therapists or a practitioner of meditation. It also does not require any equipment. You can practice meditation whenever and wherever you are – in office, home, on the bus or train, or waiting at the doctor’s clinic or even in the middle of a difficult business meeting.

Meditation works as a medicine of mind and body and produces a deep state of relaxation. During meditation, we centralize our attention and get rid of the unwanted stress-causing thoughts. This process results in enhanced physical and emotional well-being.

Some great Benefits of Meditation:

Psychological Benefits: Reduces stress and anxiety, increases creativity and intelligence. Reduces depression, increases learning ability, reasoning and memory power, reduces irritability and moodiness, Feelings of vitality and rejuvenation, increase emotional control, self-esteem, alertness, Improves relationships and also concentration

Physiological Benefits: May help lower blood pressure, Prevents or relives any pain, boosts immune system- with meditation higher levels of antibodies are produced against the flu virus, according to the study in Psychosomatic Medicine, lowers blood cholesterol levels, improves airflow through the respiratory system, especially in those with asthma, Youngers your biological age.

Women can also benefit from meditation. Quoting a study from an article in WebMD, the article says that PMS symptoms subsided by 58% when women meditated. certain other issues such as anxiety, depression, and fatigue can also be reduced by a regular meditation program.

July 7, 2017 By Parwage Alam 7 Comments

Educating players to read Nutritional Labels

How many of us really read nutrition labels when we buy a food product?

Today, the market is full of fancy branded food products with fancier food labels that are very confusing and tricky to understand. To add to that, our busy schedule seldom allows us enough time to read, ponder and interpret the labels and figure what it means and how to use the products.

But, as people are getting more health conscious they have started checking out nutrition labels. Having said that, the food companies are no less and have gotten smarter than the consumers and have started choosing different ways to entice the consumers into buying products by making them believe that they are choosing healthy food. But, in reality, the consumers are just buying the same unhealthy food with fancy and attractive packaging.

Let me give you an example to explain the above better- It’s no secret that Bollywood and Cricket is a religion in this country. These stars are worshipped like a god. Probably one of the reasons why companies bring on board film stars and sports stars to endorse brands.

Stars endorse anything from perishable products like food and beverages to non-perishable items such as hair oils, cars and mobiles. The advantage of getting a film star or a sporting star on board is that they will prompt the consumers to buy the product. Anything recommended by our favourite star whether or not it’s required or beneficial to you, a consumer will buy the product only because it has been endorsed by the Star.

Take for instance beverages. Most of the Bollywood and Sports stars endorse them. The product is largely seeing sales thanks to these stars fan following.

Consumers here seldom have the habit of reading labels on food products whether be it for its expiry date or to understand its nutritious value. Therefore, the understanding of whether an aerated beverage is good for health or no is out of the question.

In reality, if one checks the label on the bottle, a half- litre aerated beverage bottle contains approximately 64gms of Sugar, which does no good for one’s health. Some adverse effects of Sugar include the rise in triglycerides, reduction in HDL (good cholesterol), suppressing your immune system, causing hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness, especially in children.

Given the above example, you would realise how important it is for us to read the nutrition label on each product. As per my knowledge and the studies undertaken by me, here are a few tips I can safely recommend for packaged food and beverages.

Understanding food labels can help you make wise choices―if you know what to look for. Here’s a rundown of the most important elements.

# Do not get fooled by fancy packaging. Always check the facts on the Nutrition label and ingredient list

# Always check the first ingredient in the greatest amount (by weight) in a food product. So if the first ingredient is SUGAR, you can easily conclude if the product is good or bad for you.

# Always avoid products that contain artificial flavours, partially hydrogenated oil, Trans Fat, Salts, High Fructose Corn Syrup.

# Try to choose food with the less Ingredient list because long ingredient list may hide things that your body doesn’t need. In general, foods with shorter lists tend to be closer to nature (more wholesome with more natural ingredients).

# Among the grain products try to get the product which has at least 2 grammes of fibre per serving. Beware of “whole grain imposters”. Choose whole grains and fewer refined grains.

While the above might come across as being very restrictive ideally, it is not so. You do not have to give up on the food you like; all you need to do is make the right choices. Today, there are a number of options available in the market. Therefore, you need to take care and read the nutrition label carefully and select the right option, which is good for your health.

April 30, 2016 By Parwage Alam 1 Comment

Educating players to read Nutritional Labels

How many of us really read nutrition labels when we buy a food product?

But, as people are getting more health conscious they have started checking out nutrition labels. Having said that, the food companies are no less and have gotten smarter than the consumers and have started choosing different ways to entice the consumers in to buying products by making them believe that they are choosing healthy food. But, in reality, the consumers are just buying the same unhealthy food with fancy and attractive packaging.

Let me give you an example to explain the above better- It’s no secret that Bollywood and Cricket is a religion in this country. These stars are worshipped like god. Probably one of the reasons why companies bring on board film stars and sports stars to endorse brands.

Stars endorse anything from perishable products like food and beverages to non-perishable items such as hair oils, cars and mobiles. The advantage of getting a film star or a sporting star on board is that they will prompt the consumers to buy the product. Anything recommended by our favorite star whether or not it’s required or beneficial to you, a consumer will buy the product only because it has been endorsed by the Star.

Take for instance beverages. Most of the Bollywood and Sports stars endorse them. The product is largely seeing sales thanks to these stars fan following.

Given the above example, you would realize how important it is for us to read the nutrition label on each product. As per my knowledge and the studies undertaken by me, here are a few tips I can safely recommend for packaged food and beverages.

Understanding food labels can help you make wise choices―if you know what to look for. Here’s a rundown of the most important elements.

# Do not get fooled by fancy packaging. Always check the facts on the Nutrition label and ingredient list

# Always check the first ingredient in the greatest amount (by weight) in a food product. So if the first ingredient is SUGAR, you can easily conclude if the product is good or bad for you.

# Always avoid products that contain artificial flavors, partially hydrogenated oil, Trans Fat, Salts, High Fructose Corn Syrup.

# In grain products try to get the product which has at least 2 grams of fiber per serving. Beware of “whole grain imposters”. Choose whole grains and fewer refined grains.

February 16, 2016 By Parwage Alam 4 Comments

16 major exercises to shed your excess weight -Part 2

In the first part of my blog, I mentioned 5 basic exercises that one can do to get fit and shed those extra kilos. In the second of part of the blog, I shall take you through with some major and slightly tough exercises, which will help corpulent people to get fitter. Start with some lighter exercise.

Warm Up Exercise:

Wrist rotation

Shoulder rotation

Shoulder adductions

Waist rotation

Ankle rotation

After your warm up, you can do the following exercise:

Wall Push-Ups: Stand at a distance of 4 feet from the wall. Face the wall and keep your hand outstretched and lean your body towards the wall with your palms well placed on the wall. Now start pushing your body forward and back until you are once again in a standing position.

Standing Cross Leg Stretch: Stand straight with legs crossed and outsides of feet together and bend to stretch.

Lying down one side’s upper and inner leg raises: Lie on one side with your head resting in a resting position on your hand just above your elbow. Keep your other arm in front of your central abdominal part with your palm facing down. Start lifting your top leg as high as it will go slowly. You can keep your free hand either on your hip or on the floor in front of you for some additional support. Keep looking straight in front of you instead of looking up at the leg. Gently lower your leg until it meets the other leg. Try to keep your spine straight and to avoid caving forward as you lift your leg.

Cat and Camel pose: Keep your hands and knees on your mat/floor. Your hands should be beneath your shoulders and your knees directly beneath your hips. Relax your head, and allow it to droop. Take a deep breath to start and while exhaling – gently pull your abdominal muscles backwards and towards your spine. Tuck your tailbone down and under. Gently contract your glutes, now your spine should look rounded upwards similar to a camel. After that gently inhale your breath and lower down your spine like a cat.

Child Pose: Kneel on your mat with your legs together and sit back on your heels and keep your palm on your thighs. Exhale and slowly rest your torso over your thighs so that your forehead touches the mat.

Yoga Pose -Bhujangasan: If you have carpal tunnel syndrome or other wrist injuries, or if you have recently had a surgery, or if you have back problems that are irritated while bending. Lie down on your mat facing towards the floor. Place your palms flat on your mat directly beneath your shoulders with your fingers facing forward. The tops of your feet should be flat on the floor.

Spread your fingers and press your palms against the floor. Rotate your shoulders back and down, away from your ears, keep your elbows close to your body and pointing behind you instead of out to the sides.

Lift into a low cobra pose. Keeping your hands, your hips, and the tops of your feet firmly planted on the floor, begin to lift your upper torso off the floor. Try to use mostly the muscles in your back to lift you. Tilt your chin upward and lift your chest toward the ceiling)

Pelvic Raises: Lie on the floor on your back with your arms behind your head. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor about hip-width apart. Contract your abdominals as you press your back down. Hold your back on the floor as you tilt your hips to raise your butt about an inch off the floor — 2 inches maximum. Stay in this position for a moment. Slowly bring your butt back to start. You may want to lift the lower back up. For the Pelvic Tilt to be effective, keep the lower back in neutral alignment for the duration of the exercise. Do not raise your head, neck, or shoulders. Remember not to arch your back.

Superman Raises: To begin, lie straight and face down on the floor or exercise mat. Your arms should be fully extended in front of you. This is the starting position. Simultaneously raise your arms, legs, and chest off of the floor and hold this contraction for 2 seconds. Tip: Squeeze your lower back to get the best results from this exercise. Remember to exhale during this movement. Note: When holding the contracted position, you should look like superman when he is flying. Slowly begin to lower your arms, legs and chest back down to the starting position while inhaling.

Crunches Half: Sitting upright on your butt on the floor, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Sit up and hold your arms out in front of you while leaning back halfway (between sitting upright and lying on the floor) and then sit up completely, trying to touch your chest to your knees. Go down half way and then up again. This will work your lower back and upper abdominals.

Spot Marching: Walk in the same place at an easy pace, swinging your arms naturally.

Half Squats: Stand straight with feet hip-width apart. Keep your shoulder blades down & back. Brace the abdomen & squeeze the glutes. Squat by pushing the hips back and out before bending the knees. Stop when the thighs are halfway from being parallel to the floor. Return to starting position.

Wide Squats: Same process of Half Squats but with the wider leg position

One Floor Stairs: You just need to climb stairs one floor three times in a day.

Hamstring Curls: You need to stand straight, if you are not able to stand properly in the same place, you can use chair or anything to support. Bend your knee by folding your leg and try to touch your butt with your ankle. Try to raise as much as you can. Try to do the same posture with both legs alternatively.

Standing Alternate Side Leg Raises: Stand next to a chair, which you may hold onto as a support. Stand on one leg. This will be your starting position. Keeping your leg straight, raise it as far out to the side as possible, and swing it back down, allowing it to cross the opposite leg.

Back Leg Raises: Stand up tall holding onto the back of a sturdy object like a chair or resting your hands on a wall. Raise one leg, pressing it straight back behind you, and squeeze your glutes at the top of the motion. Pause and then return to the starting position.

Now you have all the information with the right instruction, so what are you waiting for? Let’s pledge for the healthy lifestyle and move one step ahead into your fitness.