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September 1, 2014 By Parwage Alam 1 Comment

One-Stop Shop Workout – Swimming

Swimming is a sport or activity of propelling oneself through water using the limbs. Swimming is an activity that burns lots of calories, is easy on the joints, supports your weight, builds muscular strength and endurance, improves cardiovascular fitness, cools you off and refreshes you in summer, and one that you can do safely into old age.

Some people who enjoy swimming want to take it to a competitive level. This can provide the health benefits of a vigorous workout as well as the fun and thrill of competition. The main strokes used in competitive swimming are breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. The distances swum in competition swimming can vary from 50 meters in a pool to much further distances in open water such as the sea.

Swimming can offer people of all ages a huge range of health benefits. You might just feel and look younger, have stronger muscles, and (according to a long time swimmer) better hair. Although you might not have awesome, shiny and chlorine enriched hair, you can find at least ten other reasons to swim.

Swimming gives your body the workout minus the harsh impacts. Another benefit is the living longer factor. You prolong your life and have higher brain activity with a regular swimming program. Control your weight and have a healthier heart plus lower your risk of diabetes, stop asthma symptoms and have a higher quality of life.

Swimming is a great workout because you need to move your whole body against the resistance of the water. There are plenty of reasons to swim! Swimming is a good all-round activity because it:

Keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body
Builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
Helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs
Tones muscles and builds strength
Provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used during swimming.

Swimming has many other benefits including:

Being a relaxing and peaceful form of exercise
Alleviating stress
Improving coordination, balance and posture
Improving flexibility
Providing good low-impact therapy for some injuries and conditions
Providing a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day
Being available in many places – you can swim in swimming pools, beaches, lakes, dams and rivers. Make sure that the environment you choose to swim in is safe.

Before you dive in, Make sure you know how to swim, choose a safe environment, warm up and stretch your muscles and joints before entering the water and don’t overdo it if you’re just starting out.

There you have it. Swimming is an activity that builds strength, endurance, and tones muscles. It’s an activity that you can do all year long, inside or outside, it burns lots of calories, you can share it with your family, it’s low-impact (just in case your bones are creaky), and you can do it until you’re 100! It’s not too late to start if you never learned how (learning new stuff is cool even when you’re adult!). All in all, swimming is a winner, and if you have the inclination, I suggest that you go for it!

July 31, 2014 By Parwage Alam 2 Comments

Sitting Job leads to a shorter life

You might have often heard people say “Sitting is Killing Me”. This phrase seems to be spoken lot more these days thanks to the busy schedules that people have. I believe that 75% of working people are in desk jobs which require them to be seated on their chair for at least 8 to 10 hours a day of not more. No wonder that most of these corporate employees complaint of lot of pain issues including one of sitting pain due to sitting all day long.

A sitting job is as dangerous as smoking can be for your body. Most sit at their work stations and have no other activity apart from staring into their computers. On an average 10 hours a day is spent at the work desk as compared to 7 hours of sleeping. Sitting is so prevalent and so pervasive that we don’t even question how much we’re doing it.

Excessive sitting, defined as nine to 10 hours a day, has been called a lethal activity. Dry eyes? (“Your eyes are not designed to keep focusing and moving repetitively across a computer screen,”) Weight gain? (Sitting job mostly stressful and when you are stressed out, your body is flooded with Cortisol, a stress hormone, which makes you crave for carbohydrates, sugar and fatty foods). You might not realize this being parked at a desk but, all this goes into your body.

A sitting Job leads you towards a shorter life. Sitting down the whole day doubles diabetes and heart attacks risk. Some research shows difference in health outcomes between the most and least sedentary workers. Those who spent the most time sitting down had a greater risk of diabetes. Risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks or strokes increased in the most sedentary workers.

You should get to know how uninterrupted sitting hours can be dangerous for your health:-

Working long hours in a similar sitting position affects the blood circulation of body
Increased risk of having diabetes and heart diseases
Causes eye strain
Causes tiredness in the back and neck muscles
Reduces efficiency of heart and lungs
Leads to back and joint pains
Responsible for digestive problems

Few suggestions to keep you active at workplace:-

Take small breaks.
Avoid the elevator, use stairs.
Go for a short walk during the lunch hour
Rinse your eyes with water
Move neck forward or backward
Change body positions frequently
Make correct adjustment of chair (height, tilt etc.)
Carry out some simple exercises
Sit in a comfortable position

June 19, 2014 By Aqsa Shaikh 3 Comments

Effects of ALCOHOL on your health..?

Today, most of are used to late night parties- be it an office party, a birthday party, a marriage anniversary or the likes. Partying has been taken as a way to relieve our stress and thereby let your hair down and enjoy.

One of the most common beverage in parties is ALCOHOL…Any celebration and there is alcohol to celebrate it with or in other words there is beer, vodka, champagne, tequila, rum, whisky, etc…..flowing like water does. Some people enjoy drinking alcohol be it hard liquor or beer, while some are social drinkers who drink to enjoy and celebrate. Many drink under the garb of being stressed or over worked. The stress drinking invariably ends one to become an alcoholic.

The harmful effect of alcohol is known to all what it can cause to our body and immune system but, yet there is this constant feeling of wanting to drink at the drop of a hat.

The real fact is that one is not completely aware of the dangerous side-effects of alcohol and that it can get one addicted to it which is harmful for one’s immune system and the liver.

A good immune system helps our body to fight diseases and virus that enter our body. But, too much of alcohol deprives the body of valuable immune-boosting nutrients such as Vitamin A, and can make white cells, which is our body’s defense against illness and disease – less able to kill germs.

Damage to the immune system increases with the level of alcohol consumed. For those who are addicted to alcohol there are several issues such as

Slurred speech
Drowsiness
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Upset stomach
Headaches
Breathing difficulties
Distorted vision and hearing
Impaired judgment
Decreased perception and coordination
Unconsciousness
Anemia (loss of red blood cells)
Coma
Blackouts (memory lapses, where the drinker cannot remember events that occurred while under the influence)

LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL

Binge drinking and continued alcohol use in large amounts are associated with several issues and heart problems including:

• Unintentional injuries such as car crash, falls, burns, drowning

• Intentional injuries such as firearm injuries, domestic violence

• Increased on-the-job injuries and loss of productivity

• Increased family problems, broken relationships

• Alcohol poisoning

• High blood pressure, stroke, and other heart-related diseases

• Liver disease

• Nerve damage

• Sexual problems

• Permanent damage to the brain

• Vitamin B1 deficiency, which can lead to a disorder characterized by amnesia, apathy and disorientation

• Ulcers

• Gastritis (inflammation of stomach walls)

• Malnutrition

• Cancer of the mouth and throat

By the way alcohol is not just harmful to your body and its system; it can also lead to weight gain. As per research, Calories from alcohol are ’empty calories’, they have no nutritional value. Most alcoholic drinks contain traces of vitamins and minerals, but not usually in amounts that make any significant contribution to our diet.

Drinking alcohol also reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy. While we can store nutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fat in our bodies, we can’t store alcohol. So our systems want to get rid of it, and doing so takes priority. All of the other processes that should be taking place (including absorbing nutrients and burning fat) are thus interrupted due to alcohol.

Here are some of the various forms drinks and the alcohol content in them :-

Beer 2-6% alcohol

Wine 8-20% alcohol

Tequila 40% alcohol

Rum 40% or more alcohol

Brandy 40% or more alcohol

Gin 40–47% alcohol

Whiskey 40–50% alcohol

Vodka 40–50% alcohol

These are some calories counts and the quantity of the per glass of drink

(1) Beer contains 43 calories per 100 ml

(2) Wine contain 83 calories per 100ml

(3) Tequila contains 96 calories in 1 jigger (glass) of tequila shot

(4) Rum contains 231 calories per 100 ml

(5) Brandy contains 104 calories in 1 jigger (Glass)

(6) Gin contains 222 calories in 100grams

(7) Whisky contains 700 calories in per 100 ml

(8) Vodka contains 231 calories in per 100 ml

Having said all this would you still want to consume alcohol? Think twice.

April 25, 2014 By Parwage Alam 2 Comments

Bollywood Illusion: Read before you buy!!

illusions

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 sport stars to endorse brands.

Today, 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 star on board is that consumers will buy as they feel like a start themselves owning the same product. That’s natural consumer behavior. 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 Sport 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 question.

In reality if one checks the label on the bottle, a half- litre aerated beverage bottle contains approximately 64gm of Sugar, which does no good to one’s health. Some adverse effects of Sugar include-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 realize how important it is for us to read the nutrition label on each product. As per my own knowledge and the studies undertaken by me, here are a few tips I can safely recommend for packaged food and beverages

Do not get fooled by the 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.
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).
In grain products try to get the product which has at least 2 grams of fiber per serving. Beware of “whole grain imposters”. Choose more 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 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.