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July 6, 2021 By Premlata Sharma Leave a Comment

Coronavirus Prevention Tips For Older Adults

We are well aware of how contagious COVID-19 is. Research has found that the coronavirus creates inflammation in the body. Inflammation has been connected to most of the major diseases of our time and over half of us are living with chronic inflammation driven by diet, stress and lack of sleep. According to the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases, older adults are considered to be at high risk as compared to others because their immunity weakens as they age. The risk increases with 50+ and those who are 85+ are more vulnerable to severe infection. WHO has provided guidelines and coronavirus prevention tips for older adults to manage themselves during this pandemic.

Coronavirus Prevention Tips For Older Adults

Some of the basic guidelines suggested by WHO include:

Washing hands frequently with proper hand wash
Avoid touching eyes, nose and ears with unwashed hands
Wear a mask when going out
Clean frequently touched surfaces with disinfectants
Avoid going out if you are sick
Cough or sneeze into your flexed elbow to avoid spread of the virus
Maintain social-distancing of about 6feet (1meter)
Do not go out in public places even if you feel healthy, if important follow all the instructions given by local authorities
Socialize over the phone with friends and relatives
Avoid unnecessary traveling

For Adults With Health Conditions

Older adults with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, BP, cholesterol, thyroid, kidney problems, asthma etc. should avoid going out. Do not visit the hospital unless necessary.
Take precautions if you suffer from respiratory disorders
Monitor your health via devices to avoid panic. You can use the GOQii Smart Vital to measure your blood oxygen levels (SpO2), body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. You can also use the GOQii Vital ECG to check and detect issues such as arrhythmia and other abnormalities in heart rhythm.
Prefer online consultation and purchase medicines online too.
Plan 2 weeks in advance and purchase daily requirements online
Get vaccinated as soon as you can. For now, this is the best preventive measure you can take.
Forego vices such as smoking, alcohol and consuming tobacco products as they may deteriorate or worsen health conditions.

Some Health Tips You Can Follow

Switch to a healthy diet: Include whole grains, cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts.
Maintain healthy weight: If overweight, try to reduce your weight gradually in a healthy way. Your GOQii Coach can help you with this!
Reduce stress: Don’t panic in critical situations and don’t over stress as this can lead to low immunity levels.
Sleep well: Proper and timely sleep is very crucial in maintaining health. The quality of your sleep also matters. Read more about sleep in our Sleep Series: https://goqii.com/blog/?s=sleep+series
Keep yourself hydrated: Have at least 3 liters of water everyday. Should be adjusted according to individual needs.
Exercise regularly: Even mild exercise such as walking or yoga accompanied by pranayama can go a long way in keeping you healthy!
Boost your immunity: Immunity of a person can be boosted in many ways through nutrition, exercise, etc. It is believed that acquired immunity can be made strong by following a healthy lifestyle. Get some immunity boosting tips here: https://goqii.com/blog/?s=immunity
Avoid processed and packaged foods: They are high in fats, sugar and salt. Preservatives present in these items lower our immunity.

Foods That You Can Eat

Dark green leafy vegetables: Such as spinach, methi etc. are rich in vitamins and minerals.
Fruits: Especially citrus fruits like orange, strawberry, sweet lime, lemon etc.
Unsalted nuts and seeds: Flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds etc. provides good fats.
Fatty fish: Salmon, sardines are rich sources of beneficial fatty acids and omega 3.
Olive oil and coconut oil: Prefer cold pressed, virgin, double filtered and filtered ones.
Millets and whole grains: Ragi, oats, barnyard, little millet etc. as they provide more fibers compared to refined products.
Green tea: Rich in antioxidants and flavonoids, green tea helps in boosting immunity.
Herbs: such as ginger, garlic, turmeric pepper corns, cinnamon, giloy, tulsi, etc. helps in boosting immunity.
Probiotics like curds, ACV etc. keep the gut healthy!

We hope these immunity boosting coronavirus prevention tips for older adults help you stay healthy and active! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! For more on the health and wellness of senior citizens, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to classes on GOQii Play.

To get more tips directly from your GOQii Coach, sign up for personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

September 5, 2022 By Parwage Alam 10 Comments

8 Reasons Why You Need a Health Coach!

Have you ever taken a year long subscription to a gym but barely gone twice before you decided to quit? What about one of those fancy weight-loss diets that never helped you cut out junk food? Is binge-watching episode after episode of a thrilling web-series while sacrificing sleep a daily routine? The real question is how many times have you lost motivation while trying to be your own health coach?

Let’s face it! Most people find it difficult to stick to a routine. Even if you do find the time to squeeze in a workout, are you doing it right? Are you eating the right food for your body type? Is your dietary intake in line with your health goals? There are many questions and more than often, being your own health coach can backfire in more ways than one.

This is where you need a health coach. A health coach is like a teacher who teaches and guides you in the right direction by helping you take decisions on the right food and exercise. Having a health coach does not only keep you accountable but also keeps you motivated!

8 Reasons Why You Need A Health Coach

Discover Natural Remedies: Having a health coach who knows what they are talking about can help you understand symptoms of a sickness and help you with natural healing options. Imagine if the contents available in your kitchen and even normal food can heal you, wouldn’t you want to know?
A Health Coach Is Your Friend: Life is increasingly fast-paced and monotonous. It is difficult to find someone who is willing to listen to you and your problems. Eventually, this kind of isolation and lack of communication can lead to increased stress levels. If you have a health coach, he/she is always there to listen to your issues and is well trained to counsel you in that particular situation. The coach in this sense is your buddy and is all ears to listen to your woes, ask the appropriate questions, and help you identify the root cause for your concern and help you resolve it.
Responsible and Accountability: Research shows that 80% of the population who make health resolution on New Year’s, break them within 2-3months. With a bit of self-motivation, you can stick to your plans 1-2 or 3 months at best but after that, you tend to go off track. Now, if you have a health coach, you will be answerable to that person, which in turn will help you stick to your resolutions for a long time and eventually achieve your goal.
Help You Understand Your Body: Leading an unhealthy lifestyle can be costly! Weight gain, loss of stamina, a weak immune system are just some of the banes. Imagine getting active, getting on a great diet plan but it doesn’t work for you! This is where a coach comes in and helps you identify the reason. It might be your body type and your body type might require a different approach.
Increase Your Knowledge: All the nutritional tips, exercise routines and even techniques to sleep better can enable you to manage a healthy life on your own for years to come. Getting the right knowledge to manage your lifestyle is a gift that you can share as well. Knowledge is power and a health coach gives you the power to live an active, healthy and happy life!
Setting Realistic Goals: We always set goals without knowing whether we will be able to achieve them or not. For instance, setting a target of losing 30kg in 2 months is not realistic. Can you achieve this goal with your current lifestyle? A coach can counsel you on setting more realistic and achievable targets based on your daily routine. Setting small targets to achieve a long-term goal is what a coach can bring to the table.
Problem Solver: Can’t stop that sugar or pizza craving? Got a headache? A hangover maybe? Don’t know what mid-meal you should eat? Is whole wheat bread good for you? You just ate a cupcake! What should you do? Your coach will always be by your side to answer these questions, to assist and guide you through all your problems!
Authentic Source of Knowledge: There is this rising trend of fake health news on the world wide web and it can be extremely dangerous! These fake health tips coax people into trying ridiculous things like eating banana peels or following something like beer yoga! Your expert coach can guide you with proper factual information and keep you from making mistakes that can harm you!

Most importantly, a health coach can motivate and push you to achieve your goals!

Can’t find a coach? Subscribe to GOQii and get your own personal coach available on chat or call. You can even tune in to GOQii Play within the GOQii App for LIVE sessions with experts in fitness, general health, yoga, emotional wellness and sexual wellness, to name a few. Place your health concerns in the hands of your GOQii Coach and make a positive lifestyle change! Subscribe here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

April 30, 2022 By GOQii Leave a Comment

How Ruta Pandya Managed Ulcerous Colitis & Arthritis With Lifestyle Changes

We’ve always spoken about how you can manage lifestyle diseases with minor tweaks to your habits. But sometimes, it isn’t enough. Especially when one condition leads to another. Our player Ruta Pandya suffered from a condition called Ulcerous Colitis and a series of other medical issues which she battled for years. After fighting an uphill battle for what seemed like eons, she was finally able to manage them well with help from her GOQii Coach Hina Marwaha. Here’s how her Health Story unfolded.

Battling Ulcerous Colitis & Other Medical Issues

Ruta Pandya is a 44 year old teacher. For the past 17 years, she suffered from Ulcerous Colitis – which is a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. Its symptoms include rectal bleeding, bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps and pain. Along with this, she also suffered from Arthritis.

Her medical issues began after she had contracted Typhoid. Due to the Ulcerous Colitis, she had issues with food absorption which eventually led to weight loss. She weighed 30kg and her BMI was 12.6 – which meant she was severely underweight. This was primarily due to skipping meals. If she ate proper meals, she would face digestive issues which were difficult to manage.

During her struggles and multiple doctor visits, she was recommended to try GOQii through her doctor in Ahmedabad. After much thought, she joined as a part of the Abbott Gut Health program.

Managing Medical Conditions With GOQii

When Ruta Pandya spoke to her GOQii Coach Hina Marwaha, she was quite hesitant towards the coach’s suggestions regarding food habits. She refused to eat as she feared digestive issues but Coach Hina was persistent. After a couple of tries, Ruta finally gave in and began making changes to her eating habits.

She was asked to start with small quantities and gradually increase intake. Earlier, if Ruta ate one meal, she would skip the next. Coach Hina’s task was to ensure that Ruta ate all her meals without facing any issues. She gradually increased Ruta’s breakfast intake which included nuts such as walnuts, almonds, figs, etc. Later, milkshakes were also added to her diet.

Ruta was asked to divide her meals into 5-6 parts i.e. to eat every 2-3 hours. She had to avoid hot and spicy foods as they would trigger the acidity and make her stomach ulcers worse. Slowly, fruits were added to her diet – which were light, high in antioxidants and helped her heal her gut as well as get more energy. Slowly, Ruta Pandya began eating more without facing digestive issues.

She was also asked to walk and perform exercises. Yoga, along with small walks helped Ruta Pandya build her strength and alleviate back pain and find some relief from arthritis. Before, Ruta would struggle to complete even 2k steps but by slowly increasing step counts, she can now walk 7km.

Coach Hina Marwaha also introduced Ruta Pandya to deep breathing exercises which were effective in helping her reduce stress and improve sleep. Better sleep meant better internal healing!

Making Remarkable Improvements

Currently, Ruta’s food habits have improved tremendously. Before, she used to skip breakfast and mid meals and now, they are a part of her daily routine. She eats every 2-3 hours. She is happy that she is able to eat, absorb nutrients and put on weight. Her BMI is now at a normal range of 17 and her weight is around 35kg.

In the 3-4 years that she has been with GOQii, her Irritable Bowel Syndrome is under control, constipation is non-existent and her digestion issue has also been resolved. Apart from that, due to back pain, she couldn’t walk long distances but now she can cover them with ease and she works out as well. Some of the changes also include:

Her hemoglobin levels improved from 9gm/dL to 10.9 mg/dL
Her piles issue has improved 100%
Inflammation in the stomach has improved
Sleep which was initially poor, has now improved as she sleeps a minimum of 6 hours a day and wakes up fresh.
Her starting weight was 30.7kg which has now improved to 35kg

Recently, our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal spoke to Ruta Pandya about how her Health Story with GOQii unfolded. You can view the complete conversation here –

What Does Coach Hina Marwaha Have To Say About Ruta Pandya?

Ruta started her journey with GOQii in September 2018. The day she joined as a player, she was having a lot of health issues. At that time, it was her inner fire and faith in herself which was pushing her to the levels where she was putting all her efforts to follow the routine.

Due to her medical condition, it was not possible to give her all the tasks at one time, but we followed the concept “Slow and Steady always wins the race”. At a time, only 1 or 2 tasks were given to follow and focus on. Like a mother, I have seen her changing and improving. I have seen her screaming and crying in pain and now she has empowered herself so much that she goes for long walks and does yoga every day.

In this beautiful world, our body is capable of responding and evolving at every second minute, positively or negatively. Ruta is a live example of this. With her dedication to get fit, potential to follow the routine, consistency with the routine and managing her time, she has proven that “proper diet and lifestyle” can help you evolve and grow, mentally and physically. Undoubtedly, she is an inspiration to me and to others as well.

Does Ruta’s Health Story inspire you to start yours? Subscribe for GOQii’s personalized health coaching today to begin your Health Story now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

For more inspiring User Stories, check out Healthy Reads.

#BeTheForce

January 27, 2022 By Geetika Patni 1 Comment

COVID Care: Managing Stress

As COVID is raging all around us, I see a surge in stress levels on HRA scores, indicating that people are not managing stress effectively. I also receive messages like “This is too hard for me to cope with”, “What will happen in the future?” showing higher than usual levels of general anxiety and stress amongst us all. During a crisis like this, it is common for everyone to experience increased levels of anxiety and distress particularly due to social isolation, fear of the unknown and concern regarding the health of oneself and a loved one.

The tell tale sign of a spiraling high stress/anxiety levels are:

Feelings of fear, frustration, sadness, worry or anger that doesn’t go away with tried methods of managing stress
Changes in appetite levels, energy levels, desires and interests
Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
Overthinking, difficulty in sleeping or nightmares
Physical response, such as headaches, body pains, stomach problems, and skin rashes
Worsening of chronic health problems
Worsening of mental health conditions
Increased use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances

Tips For Managing Stress Levels

Learning to cope with high stress levels in a healthy way is the need of the hour. I am listing some suggestions below that might help you or your dear ones in managing the current crisis on an emotional level.

Feel free to feel your feelings: Do not bottle up, share your thoughts with people you trust. If you are in isolation, find ways to talk to your loved ones using internet/telephonic services. Share your thoughts/feelings with your GOQii coach if need be.
Manage your expectations: Go easy on yourself. It’s okay if chores are pending, office work or a report is pending. Be realistic in what you can do in a day. Do not overwhelm yourself by your own thoughts of comparison with past productivity and your worries of the future.
Set a routine: Eat well, exercise well, sleep well, meditate once a day or unwind by doing something you enjoy like card games, painting, playing an instrument, reading a book or watching a comic series, you get the idea right? Just stay away from social media and constant news related to the virus, and follow a routine. A healthy routine is a human’s best friend.
Stay in the present: Manage uncertainty by staying in the present. Think about the next one hour at max. Over dwelling on thoughts of the future, even thoughts of tomorrow, can cause you more fear related to uncertainty. So stay in the present – use mindfulness meditation techniques which are proven to be very effective.
If health is your major reason for stress, please know that the human body is wonderfully capable of healing itself. Time is the best healer. So hang in there and give your body time to recover. Having said that, do not undermine the need for medical assistance when an emergency arises. If your symptoms warrant you to seek medical attention, please meet your treating doctor at the earliest. Remember, you have sailed through many health crises in the past (a bruised knee, a broken leg, a tooth extraction, a stye in the eye and so on), reassure yourself that you’ll sail through this as well.
Stay in the company of positive people OR be the positive influencer for people around you. Believe in the power of positive emotions such as kindness, honesty, contentment. These emotions improve our immunity, which as you know, is our main warrior when dealing with a virus. Give hope to anyone who you know is recovering from the viral infection. Just a few words of hope can do more good than you can imagine.
Accept and let go: When it becomes really tough, breathe deeply, use the mantra “this too shall pass” and learn to let go.

Not everything from the above might be applicable to you, so go as per your ability. I hope and sincerely do, you will not let yourself be vulnerable in these current times – physically nor emotionally! Wishing our world a quick recovery!

For more on managing stress or any COVID-related article, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Stay safe, manage your stress and #BeTheForce