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Your Heart and You: Signs of Heart Disease to Watch Out For

heart diseaseMishita, 55 years old, had been feeling low and depressed for a few months. For the past 2 days, she began experiencing slight restlessness, palpitations, and a suffocating feeling followed by mild chest pain radiating to her left shoulder. Being alone, she called her daughter to share these symptoms. Her daughter immediately alerted a neighbour who had basic knowledge about heart symptoms and helped save Mishita from a major heart attack. Early signs of arteriosclerosis were detected, and with lifestyle changes, Mishita is now happy, healthy, and almost off medication!

How & When Does Heart Disease Develop?

Heart disease often develops over time due to an unhealthy lifestyle. Early signs or symptoms can manifest long before a serious heart issue arises. In my practice, I have seen that the body, including the heart, will give several signs before it deteriorates. It’s up to you how much you listen to your body.

Heart disease describes a range of conditions affecting the heart. It could relate to blood vessels, such as coronary artery disease—especially arteriosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart, which can lead to myocardial infarction)—or arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats due to issues with the heart’s electrical system). Some people are born with heart conditions, such as congenital heart defects. Two major factors that affect heart health are a person’s physiological and emotional constitution.

Psychoneuroimmunology has proven that individuals who are sad, depressed, unhealthy, or unhappy are at greater risk for heart attacks and other diseases. Emotional, mental, and physical well-being are key to leading a healthy life.

Signs To Watch Out For

I’ll be discussing common symptoms of a heart attack, as the number of people affected continues to rise. If you experience any of the following symptoms at any age, it’s crucial to seek medical advice:

  • Chest Pain: Discomfort or pain in the chest, which can be felt on the left, center, or sometimes even the right side, and may radiate to the left shoulder, upper back, jaw, or chin. There are many causes of chest pain unrelated to the heart, but it remains the most common symptom of poor blood flow to the heart cells, leading to a heart attack (myocardial infarction).
  • It can feel like crushing pain or mild discomfort.
  • It might feel heavy, or like the heart is being squeezed. Some may feel a sharp, burning sensation in the chest or upper stomach area.
  • Chest pain may occur during activity, after emotional experiences, or at rest, and may improve with rest or nitroglycerin.
  • Bad indigestion can also cause chest pain, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate heart trouble. However, any symptoms are the body’s way of communicating, so do not ignore them.

Additional symptoms to be aware of include extreme anxiety, fainting, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, palpitations (feeling like your heart is beating too fast or irregularly), shortness of breath, and heavy sweating.

For individuals with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol, symptoms may include fatigue, shortness of breath, general weakness, or changes in skin color.

Symptoms That Need Cardiac Attention

  1. Shortness of Breath: When the heart can’t pump blood as well as it should, blood backs up in the veins that go from the lungs to the heart. Fluid leaks into the lungs and causes shortness of breath. This is a symptom of heart failure. One may notice shortness of breath during activity, while resting or when lying flat on the back – it might wake you up from sleep.
  2. Continuous coughing or wheezing could be a sign that the fluid is building up in the lungs. One may also cough up mucus that is pink or bloody.
  3. Swelling in the Legs, Ankles, or Feet: because the blood flow slows and backs up in the veins in the legs. This causes fluid to build up in the tissues. One may also experience swelling in the stomach or notice some weight gain. This is mostly seen in congestive cardiac failure.
  4. Narrowed Blood Vessels could mean a higher risk of a heart attack & can occur when cholesterol and other fatty material (plaque) builds upon the walls of the arteries. It is also the cause of hypertension.
  5. Fatigue: Tiredness can have many causes. It could be a sign of heart trouble when one feels so tired that regular activities are not conducted or when the feeling is sudden and leads to severe weakness
  6. Palpitations: If the heart can’t pump blood normally, it may beat faster to try to keep up. It might feel that the heart is racing or throbbing. A fast or uneven heartbeat can also be a sign of arrhythmia. This is a problem with your heart rate or rhythm.

The heart is an organ that never rests until you do. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential for maintaining heart health. Your diet, sleep, stress levels, emotional state, and physical activity all play key roles in your heart’s well-being. If you experience any of the symptoms mentioned above, seek medical attention immediately.

Don’t let the rhythm of your heart be disturbed. In most heart-related cases, prevention is the only cure!

Watch out for Part 2 of this article. For more on heart health, check out Healthy Reads or speak to a certified expert by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

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Heal yourself with the magic of “MUSIC THERAPY”

musik

There is nothing more soothing than music. If you’re stressed, tired or unable to sleep, listening to music can make you feel better almost immediately. This effect is a type of Music Therapy.

The concept of music therapy is not new, especially in India. Music has long been an integral part of Ayurveda, the holistic science promoting a happy and healthy lifestyle. The Vedas, particularly the Samveda, are rich in music mantras and ragas.

Great composers of Indian classical music have practiced music therapy for centuries. It is even said that the classical music maestro Thyagaraja brought a dead person back to life with his composition.

How does it work?

Music stimulates the pituitary gland, which in turn affects the nervous system and the blood flow. Healing with music is believed to work by vibrating the cells of the body, which can effectively change a person’s consciousness and promote health.

Personally, I love music and have always considered it my medicine. Whether I am stressed or confused, music always gives me the right direction. Having experienced a lot of positivity through Music, I wanted to share how music can be a positive healer.

The Power of Music Therapy

Music therapy uses music and sounds to:

  • Help express emotions
  • Cope with symptoms of a disease and its treatment
  • Improve emotional and physical well being
  • Develop self-confidence and self-esteem
  • Re-kindle a sense of creativity
  • Help relax and feel comfortable

You don’t need to have musical expertise to benefit from music therapy. The technique consists of various interventions and planned programs that vary depending on the situation. The type of music is important—soothing music, ragas, relaxing music, and motivational music all have different effects.

Types of Interventions:

A typical music therapy session may include different interventions, which can be grouped into four types:

  1. Performing/Playing: This can include singing or playing an instrument
  2. Composing: This includes any group or individual songwriting process, which can be simple or complex as needed
  3. Improvising: Creating music on the spot or in the moment
  4. Receiving/Listening: This can include a music and relaxation experience, a lyric analysis intervention, or a “moving to music” experience, such as gait training

A “typical” music therapy session may incorporate multiple interventions or just one long, in-depth one. The key is that each intervention is designed to target a specific therapeutic goal and objective.

Benefits of Music Therapy :

The right kind of music helps one relax and refresh. Even while working, light music can improve efficiency. It helps control negative aspects of our personalities like worry, bias, and anger, and can help cure headaches, abdominal pain, and tension. Music therapy is one of the most effective ways of controlling emotions, blood pressure, and restoring liver function. It can also reduce insomnia, schizophrenia, and epilepsy.

Here are some additional benefits:

  1. Coping with work-related stress
  2. Enhancing social skills in children with autism
  3. Symptom management in cancer care
  4. Treatment of tension headaches
  5. Promoting health and wellness
  6. Helping people undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy
  7. Providing physical and psychological support for people with cancer
  8. Assisting people at the end of life
  9. Alleviating cancer pain
  10. Supporting children and young people
  11. Reducing stress
  12. Improving parent-child interactions
  13. Encouraging conversation among people with middle to late-stage Alzheimer’s disease

Music therapy is a powerful tool for healing and improving well-being. Whether you are dealing with stress, health issues, or just need a way to relax, music can be a wonderful companion and healer.

I would like to end this blog with a quote:

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC”

― Kurt Vonnegut

We hope this article has enlightened you on the incredible healing power of music therapy. If you have any personal experiences with music therapy or have questions, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

#BeTheForce

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How To Control And Fight Hunger Cravings

hunger cravingsFor many of us, our lifestyle has become sedentary, leading to increased mental and emotional stress which often results in binge eating. When we are stressed, we find outlets to overcome it, and the first thing that comes to mind is eating! A sedentary lifestyle coupled with irregular sleep leads to hunger cravings which ultimately results in gorging on unhealthy food such as junk food, chocolates, refined foods, bakery products, juices, soft drinks, pizza, etc., leading to weight gain. Let’s take a deeper look. 

How Much Time Does It Take Food To Get Digested? 

  • After having a meal, our GI tract slowly empties by pushing food through the stomach. From there, it goes to the small intestine where it gets absorbed and then it reaches the large intestine. It takes approximately 2 hours for this entire process.
  • Hunger cravings occur 2 hours after having a meal when the food gets digested. So, our brain picks up messages from the stomach and tells us that it’s time for our next meal.
  • This entire system is regulated by two hormones in our body known as hunger hormones – Ghrelin and Leptin.
  • Ghrelin stimulates appetite and is produced in the stomach when it’s empty, promoting fat storage.
  • Leptin controls appetite and signals the brain to stop eating.
  • If we eat after every 2 hours, ghrelin will not be released, and there won’t be any overeating.

Tip To Control Hunger Cravings 

  1. Eat before you feel hungry at an interval of 2 hours.
  2. Have 6 meals in a day: 3 main meals and 3 mid-meals. Eat slowly and have a fruit as a mid-meal, avoiding fruits with the main meals.
  3. Snack on nuts like foxnuts, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and a mixture of various seeds to help you stay full.
  4. Add spices and chillies to your food as they increase satiety.
  5. Avoid fasting: Skipping meals can cause your body to go into a fat-storing starvation mode, making it harder to burn calories.
  6. Have jaggery, jaggery powder, stevia leaves and honey to curb sugar cravings. 
  7. Include proteins in all your meals. Proteins are the building blocks of our body. They take longer to digest than carbohydrates and are considered to be more satiating than carbs and fats. They keep your energy levels up and appetite down.
  8. Eat fiber-rich foods since they help regulate bowel movements and make you feel fuller for a longer duration. They don’t add calories to your diet and cannot be converted to glucose. Include leafy green vegetables, fruits with the peel like apple, pear, plum and even berries, sweet potatoes with skin, potatoes, oatmeal, fenugreek seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, cinnamon powder, drumstick, garden cress seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, figs, raisins and prunes.
  9. Quench your thirst to control your appetite by drinking plenty of water. Drink 12-15 glasses of water throughout the day. Have 1 glass of water before and 1 after a meal, as water is a no calorie quencher. You’ll be able to decrease your hunger before you start eating so you aren’t starving at the table. In case you don’t like the taste of plain water, have green tea, cinnamon tea, buttermilk, coconut water, lemon water or detox water.
  10. Exercise for 30 mins every day: It lowers the level of ghrelin. It increases the feeling of fullness, boosts your metabolism, and helps in burning more calories. Indulge in yoga, pilates, cardio, stretching, skipping, dancing, etc. 
  11. Maintain a regular wake up and sleep schedule: To avoid midnight hunger pangs, don’t stay awake for a long time post-dinner. Have soups, salads and protein-rich meals for dinner to avoid eating junk food. Make a habit of having 1 tsp flax seeds post-dinner since they have fibers that will make you feel satiated.

We hope this article helps you understand your hunger cravings and how to curb them. For more tips on controlling hunger cravings, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce 

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Let’s dance…for a better health and a better you!!

women-exerciseHow many of us look at dance as a form of exercise?

For me, the word “Dance” itself has so much of energy and power that it sets my pulse rate in motion. Dance is something that I have been doing since my childhood. As a child, I danced just for fun and enjoyment – little did I know about the positive changes it was creating within me.

Dance has several benefits, not only for our physical health but also for our emotional and mental health.

The best thing about dancing is that there is absolutely NO AGE LIMIT for it! It’s something that can be taken up early in life and still provide plenty of entertainment well after retirement.  It’s the perfect example of “joyful workout”. While, we’re having fun grooving to music and meeting new people, we’re getting all the health benefits of a good workout.

Dance by large is an aerobic workout that speeds up your heart rate and keeps it up for an extended period. It also involves some movements that are typically anaerobic in nature. We nearly use every muscle in our body to perform certain moves, holds, lifts, squats, spins, jumps or leaps. In fact, we build and tone our muscles while dancing, making them stronger with each session.

A good warm-up for about 10 minutes is essential before starting the dance to get into the groove. Once you get into regular dancing, it ensures an increase in flexibility and agility as it involves stretching, bending and twisting.

Dance has innumerable benefits. Not only is it the best way to lose weight (provided the diet is correct), but it’s also been shown to be beneficial for heart health, blood pressure management, reduction of total blood cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), and increase in levels of HDL (good cholesterol).

I have been looking at dance not only as a way to get better in terms of physical health but mental health as well. It’s one of the best ways to release stress and get your endorphin levels (feel-good factor) up! Dance also helps you release all kinds of emotions. Whether it be happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, or boredom, it all gets expressed while you dance. It’s a creative outlet as well, where you create your own new moves and choose a variety of music.

So let’s get active!! Put on your dancing shoes, turn the music on, and dance. You may not have the best turns or neatest moves, but as long as you feel the rhythm, you’re a good dancer. I assure you that you’ll never get bored with this workout, as there is so much to explore in dance and try out new forms or steps. Of course, it’s way better than jogging on the same old treadmill every day.

Dance on, burn the calories and say good bye to a gloomy or lazy day!

Incorporating dance into your routine is a fun and effective way to enhance your physical and mental well-being. So, let the music move you and dance your way to a healthier, happier you! We hope this article helps you. For further information or guidance, reach out to our certified experts by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

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