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September 27, 2023 By Dr Shreya Arora 4 Comments

Add Magic To Your Life With This Simple Technique

Positive Affirmations

More than often, we get disheartened if we are not able to achieve our goal well on time or if we face obstacles in achieving it. It’s not just related to our health journey but the journey of life as well. We face so many challenges on a daily basis. While some face them bravely by being positive and firm, others get discouraged or depressed for not being able to face failures. The way we deal with issues is different for each individual and that is okay!

Life is not about going through it passively, it’s about living it actively. Yes! Living life to the fullest. Joy comes from facing challenges head on, setting goals and giving it a 100% to achieve them with full zeal and spirit.

But how can we do it? That’s the big question with a very simple solution.

VISUALIZE
Yes, we need to understand that visualization is powerful enough to solve any problems that we face. Many of us don’t even realize that this power lies within us, all we need to do is use it.

We know that our body and mind are connected and our emotions are linked with our actions, right? For instance, if we are sad/depressed due to any reason, it reflects in our behavior. If we get irritated or angry/frustrated, the turmoil of emotions affects our health negatively.

HOW CAN WE WORK ON IT?
It’s simple! Just concentrate on your thoughts. What kind of thoughts are wandering in your mind? These thoughts have an impact on your feelings, emotions and actions. Trust me, if we are aware of the thoughts creeping in our mind, we have the power to change that thought, at that very moment. Don’t let the bad or negative thoughts enter your mind or affect you. There are thousands of thoughts in our mind. So, how many of them are we going to stick to or store, so that they can bother us? Make sure its none of the negative ones.

Hence, VISUALIZE, BE AWARE, KEEP NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AT BAY, GO EASY AND CHANGE YOUR THOUGHT TO A POSITIVE ONE!

Just close your eyes and visualize. For instance, if someone has a health goal of losing weight, but due to some reason, the player is not able to achieve it or is not getting the desired result in the stipulated time, the player might have some negative thoughts. The player may feel that ‘this goal cannot be achieved’ or ‘I can’t do it’. At this very moment, the player can stop this negative thought from entering his/her mind and instead visualize the positive, coming out of any fear that affects his/her mind.
Wake up every day with a positive mind and visualize. Visualize the day, how you are going to achieve your goal, what’s your target for the day and strive to fulfill that.
Never give up! It’s okay if you can’t achieve your target today, try again tomorrow.
If losing weight is the target, visualize that the habit, diet or exercise regime you are following is working for you and getting you closer to your goal. If any medical condition, then envisage that the treatment or the medication is working for you and improving your health.

Hence, it’s not only the physical aspect that we need to work on but the mind as well. Detoxifying our mind is equally important as detoxifying our body.

MAKE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

This has to be done every single day – Morning and night. Morning, you make an affirmation and visualize how you’re going to work on it. At night, introspect on how it all went and how the day was, just for a few minutes.
As soon as you wake up, make an affirmation with closed eyes. Spend a few minutes with yourself every morning and night.
Set it for a shorter duration or you can even set it for a week so that you can stick to it. Affirmations could be as simple as, “I will follow all my habits today”, or “I will be active today”, or “I will not get angry today”.
The key is to be committed and dedicated.

Once you start this process, you will see how your life changes positively. So go ahead and make one right now!

We hope you found this article insightful. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. For further guidance on holistic well-being, explore Healthy Reads, or speak to a GOQii Coach by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

September 15, 2023 By Pradnya Shinde Leave a Comment

Minimalist Living – Why Less is More!

“If you don’t know what you want, you end up with a lot you don’t,” – Well, if you have read Chuck Palahniuk’s masterpiece Fight Club, you’ll be familiar with this quote. It is funny how a work of fiction can hold so much relevance in the world we live in and maybe Tyler Durden, the film’s protagonist, was right when he said, “The things you own, end up owning you.”

How many times have you browsed through an online shopping portal and thought, “Oh! I might need a new phone”, “Wow! This is on discount. I should get this,” or just bought something that you don’t really need and it just sits on a shelf till you forget about it? No one would blame you. We’re living in the peak of consumerism where everything you need and don’t need is just a finger tap away.

Does happiness really exist in a big home with perfect flooring and matching drapes? Does it exist in a fancy car, smart electronic devices, furniture, fashionable clothes, jewellery, footwear et al? What if the answer was in the opposite direction?

When it comes to living a wholesome, healthy and holistic lifestyle, anything which is in excess is bad! Be it food, exercise, thoughts and even the things we surround ourselves with. One of the best ways to achieve good mental health is to declutter and take up minimalist living.

What is Minimalism?

Minimalism, in essence, is living with less. The whole idea is to live a life based on experiences rather than worldly possessions. This includes decluttering or minimum usage of things such as furniture, clothes, accessories, etc. It is a personal change one makes to add value to their life. You can choose what is important to you and throw away things which are not.

What are the Benefits of Minimalist Living?

Minimalist Living does involve sacrificing things you think you might need. Not necessarily the best life choice for hoarders and might seem a bit unnecessary but it needs to be done! Trust me, the pros most definitely outweigh the cons!

For instance, decluttering and reducing the number of things you own helps you focus only on the important things in life. With less distractions, you can pay attention to things that require it. This does not mean you throw out things important to you. Keep the things you really need and thrown away the things you don’t.

More space and less junk will definitely help you be more productive. A clean and organized house definitely reduces a lot of stress! More so, you have a lot less financial burdens and avoid unnecessary expenses.

How Do You Do It?

Let’s get started! Observe your home and your belongings. Make a list of things which you have not used in a year or two. There are less chances you will need it again so get rid of it.

Here, I am sharing a sample list to help you out:

Unused and worn out clothes, shoes, socks, etc.
Excess clutter in wallet
Unwanted receipts, bills, papers, books, manuals, etc.
Old electronics/ wires/ chargers/ batteries
Unused and expired beauty products and medication
Unused stationery that doesn’t work
Unused cleaning products
Broken or unused furniture
Damaged plastic containers
Kitchen gadgets and appliances you don’t use
Extra towel/ cushions/ scarf/ gloves
Junk drawer
Extra bags
Anything that you don’t know the purpose of

Remove all of it from your home. You can donate the things you don’t need to somebody who might have use for it or just resell, recycle or repurpose it.

You’re all done! Does it feel good?

Furthermore, you can also make additional changes to keep this habit going by thinking before you buy. Don’t purchase it just because you might need it in the future or because it is on sale. Buy only when you need. Regularly keep a check and see if you’re cluttering again.

In the next article, we will explore the wonderful benefits that minimalism offers and how it can help your health and life!

Stay tuned and #BeTheForce!

September 8, 2023 By Anusha Subramanian 2 Comments

“All you want to know about knees and Knee injuries and how to fix it”: Dr Anjana Laungani

Dr. Anjana Laungani

In the last decade or so people have taken to extreme sports like Running (Marathons), Ultra Marathons, Trail Running, Cycling and High Altitude Trekking. But, most are not aware of how to take care of their body or that they should go for a full body assessment to check if all is ok before they start on an extreme activity.

They do not realise that over doing these activities does not help the body in the long run. Many do it because their friends are doing it and many do it because they think this is the only way to prove to people that they are fit, not realising that over doing such extreme sports and doing it without enough knowledge can lead to fatal injuries. One of the worst injuries that people develop is knee injuries.

How can one avoid such injuries while training? Let us understand from Dr Anjana Laungani, a renowned physiotherapist from Mumbai who consults celebrities and has her own brand of a clinic – Physio Rehab in Mumbai tell us how people develop knee injuries and what can be done to avoid and treat such injuries.

She explains that the knee is the most common joint in the body that gets injured and one must understand why that happens. It happens because knees are in between the foot, the hip and the back. Knee sorts of gets whacked around because of any problem that might be there in the foot or in the hip or in the back.

“I call the knee the middle child syndrome, you know how in the family we have an elder child, a younger child, and a middle child gets really whacked around by them and bullied. The knee is exactly treated that way,” says Dr. Anjana.

According to her when one looks at knee injury one should also look at the foot, hip and the back. Because these could actually be the cause of the knee problems. When one is participating in extreme sports, you are not just climbing or running or walking only with your knees, the knee works as a team with the foot, the hip, and the back. This is called the Lower quadrant of the body and they have to work in synchrony with each other.

All those with knee injuries should always get themselves assessed entirety looking at how is the foot alignment. For instance, if you are flat footed you will be prone to injuries. If an individual has a hip muscle which is extremely weak especially the gluteus muscle will he develop knee problems, the risk factor is very high if the individual does not have a very good core muscle that gives him the power to run. Then all he would do is jam the weight of his body into his knee. So commonly according to Dr. Anjana only 20% of people have direct knee problems but 80% have knee problems due to other issues.

It is therefore very important to get assessed and looked at by professionals especially a physiotherapist who can do what we call as a lower limb kinetic chain assessment, these evaluations will give you a very good idea on where the problem is coming from. You need to look at foot you need to look at the hip muscles you need to look at the core muscles which could probably give problems to these areas.

Dr. Anjana says it is best when people approach physiotherapist when they do not have an injury and consult for how to avoid injuries rather than go for treatment after getting themselves injured.

Physio rehab is one such clinic where one does not have to go only when in pain. She and her team work with those who wish to improve their fitness so that they can undertake physical challenges like treks, pilgrimages, adventure holidays, overseas travel etc.

Ranveer Singh with Dr Anjana Laungani at PhysioRehab: Dr Anjana first worked with Ranveer Singh when he had suffered a back injury during the shoot of ‘Lootera’. Thereafter PhysioRehab once again came to his help when he shattered his right shoulder while doing a stunt for ‘Bajirao Mastani’. PhysioRehab helped him come back to fitness and perform all his action shots for the film.

Dr. Anjana has practiced for over 25 years and put together this clinic as a vision to be able to provide quality, scientific physiotherapy services to the community which she thinks was lacking when she started. “I feel that physiotherapy needs to be approached in a more scientific manner, there has to be proper assessment, proper diagnosis and most importantly patient education. I think the patient first needs to understand what is it that is going on with them and actually give them a sense of responsibility,” she concludes.

June 14, 2023 By Dr. Viral Thakkar 2 Comments

Is Blood Donation Really That Important?

Priyanka struggled to get blood for her father who was undergoing a surgery. The blood bank did not have her father’s blood type. As things got tougher, she tried to get in touch with other blood banks but none of them had it. In fact, she was ready to pay, but the blood banks did not have the blood type! Time was running out. She also started getting in touch with her friends but to no avail. Her friends all refused to donate blood due to their preconceived notions and myths.

Due to the shortage of blood, within a few hours, Priyanka lost her father. While she was inconsolable, what shattered her completely was the fact that in India, a country with such a large population, she could not garner enough blood for him, even though every human possesses it.

Timely, affordable access to screened blood is essential to the provision of safe surgical care. This depends on three key aspects:

Adequate volume of blood supply
Safe protocols for blood donation and transfusion
Appropriate regulation to ensure safe, equitable and sustainable distribution.

Different medical procedures require different components of blood. However, due to the lack of facilities, much of it goes to waste. Many low-income and middle-income countries experience a deficit in these categories, particularly in rural areas. This is coupled with lack of donor awareness and information.

The WHO recommends that the blood requirement of 1% of a country’s population be used as a ballpark estimate of its blood needs. By this measure, India was short of 1.9 million units of blood according to the data presented on March 2018.

One requires blood transfusions in various emergencies like women with complications during childbirth, anemia, accidents, complex medical surgeries, patient with thalassemia, sickle cell disease or it is also used to make clotting factors for people with hemophilia. Among other issues coupled with low donor rate, the blood banks in India face a crisis of blood almost every year.

Physical Benefits of Blood Donation

1. Lower Risk of Heart Disease: Blood donation may lower the risk of heart disease and heart attack since it reduces the blood’s viscosity. It also significantly lowers the total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, protecting against cardiovascular disease. Researchers note this is consistent with findings in other studies which found that blood donors had a lower risk of heart disease and heart attack.

According to a study, donating blood regularly may also lower iron stores which may reduce the risk of heart attack. The risk of heart attacks increase when the body stores a lot of iron.

2. Donating blood is an opportunity to get a basic health checkup done for free since the technician checks your:

Pulse
Blood pressure
Body temperature
Hemoglobin levels

This is an insight into your health! The blood is also checked for:

Hepatitis C
HIV
West Nile virus
Syphilis
Trypanosoma cruzi

Psychological Benefits

Donating blood has a feel good factor. It tends to improve one’s emotional well being. Hence, it might have an impact on stress reduction and providing a sense of belonging

Side Effects of Donating Blood

Post donating blood, one might feel

Nauseous, lightheaded or dizzy after donating blood. This usually settles in a few minutes
There might be slight bleeding at the site of the pick, or you might develop a bruise. I believe it is all good since it is for a wonderful cause!

However, get in touch with a doctor or your blood center if you:

Still feel lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseous after drinking, eating, and resting
Develop a raised bump or continue bleeding at the needle site
Experience arm pain, numbness, or tingling

Where to Donate Blood

I personally suggest citizens to donate blood at a blood bank or nearby government run tertiary health centers. Otherwise, get in touch with Red Cross centers near your house and donate! Avoid donating at generic blood camps since one is not sure of the storage procedures. But ensure that you do donate!

People’s lives are usually at stake just because of myths people have on donating blood. Priyanka’s friends, even though educated, did not understand the importance of blood donation! Donating blood is giving the gift of life. As a human being, it is the duty of every person to donate blood at least once a year as a service to mankind! The decision to donate your blood can save a life, or even several if your blood is separated into its components — red cells, platelets and plasma — which can be used individually for patients with specific conditions.