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Is Blood Donation Really That Important?

blood donationPriyanka 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.

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Why Cycling Is One Of The Best Ways To Stay Active!

cycling

Cycling is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get fit. In fact, it is the best way to stay active! If your workplace is at a distance of 4-5km, it’s the best mode of transport as well.

If you’ve been glued to social media, you might have realized that a lot of people have taken to cycling – either solo on in a group. If you’re new to cycling or if your city doesn’t have specific trails for it, here are some measures you should follow:

  • Wear a helmet
  • Stay to the left side of the road.
  • Ride on well–lit paved roads and if possible, bike paths. If there are no bike paths, take the service roads. 
  • Wear reflective clothing and have front and back lights
  • Use arm and hand signals to indicate turns.

Furthermore, ensure that your bike is adequately maintained. Proper clothing (t-shirt and padded shorts are recommended). You also require a proper fitting helmet, padding (optional), bike reflectors, flashers and headlights, gloves, proper shoes and eye protection.

What Are The Health Benefits of Cycling?  

Before we go on to the health benefits, it is important to understand the correct sitting posture on a cycle. Maintaining proper posture is important not only for efficiency but also to prevent any form of injuries and aches.

Cycling is easy on the joints because you put your weight on a pair of bones in the pelvis called the ischial tuberosities unlike walking, where you put your weight on your legs. It is good for anyone with joint pain or age-related stiffness.

Regular cycling can reduce the risk of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke. It can also improve your mood and keep your weight under control. Adults should ride at least for one hour daily. It decreases stress levels and increases muscle strength and flexibility. It also strengthens your immune system! Cycling releases endorphins, which makes you feel young at heart. Furthermore, it improves your stamina! 

It is an incredibly sociable sport. Joining a cycling club or group is an excellent way to grow your social circle and stay fit and active at the same time! 

We hope this article motivates you to take up cycling and improve your health! For more on staying active and living healthy, check out Healthy Reads or get the best tips to improve your cycling experience from a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized health coaching here.

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How Chronic Cardio Could be Making You Fat

chronic cardioHow often do you hit the gym and go ballistic on the treadmill? Quite often? We perfectly understand the need to run! Whether you’re running to train for a marathon, to reach a goal, chase a finish line, catch a departing train or bus, we understand how crucial running is… especially to stay fit!

But what happens when you go overboard? Do you actually cause more harm than good? You can literally run for your life and not even see an inch of a difference and sometimes, even the opposite – you’ve gained weight instead of losing it!

This can be a total nightmare for someone trying to lose weight. There’s a perfect explanation for it.

How Chronic Cardio Might be Making You Fat

1. Excessive cardio can increase stress in the body and increase your heart rate to increase blood flow to your muscles. When you do too much cardio, your stress hormones stay elevated. Some amount of stress can be good for the body, but when cortisol i.e. our stress hormone stays consistently high, it can create a lot of issues.

  • Stress can cause insulin resistance to circulate more glucose in the blood to supply energy for stress management. Insulin resistance not only means that you have more sugar in your blood than required, it also means that you store fat more easily as insulin promotes fat storage.
  • In stress, your body shuts down or slows down to fight stress effectively. Your thyroid function slows down, the levels of TSH is reduced in the body, which again promotes weight gain.
  • In women, stress can also disturb the menstruation cycle. Thus creating hormone imbalances in the body, thus promoting weight gain.
  • Chronic stress also promotes the storage of fat in the linings of our organs i.e. visceral fat, as a protection to our organs from stress. This again starts a vicious cycle of excess belly fat, insulin resistance, and more fat storage.

2. Chronic cardio can take a toll on our muscles. Chronic cardio not only burns fat, it burns muscle as well. Your muscle mass determines your metabolism and Basal Metabolic Rate. If you have more muscle, you burn more fat. So when you lose muscle, your metabolism drops and you do not burn as much fat anymore.

So, how do we get the most of our workout? Do a combination of cardio and weight training to promote muscle growth and fat burn. Also indulge in yoga and meditation on a regular basis for better stress management, better sleep and preventing the issues listed above.

We hope this article helps you and keeps you from going overboard. Remember that anything in excess is bad! Stay moderate and stay healthy!

If this information helped, let us know in the comments below. You can find more articles on fitness here. To level up your workouts and get the right guidance and motivation, you can join live, interactive sessions conducted by experts on GOQii PRO. Book a class via the GOQii App now.

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Benefits Of Eating Watermelon During Summer

watermelon

Summers are incomplete without the red and juicy watermelon. Watermelon is a large, sweet, and refreshingly low calorie fruit. It is grown in a favorable climate from tropical to temperate regions worldwide. Besides cantaloupe, honeydew and cucumber, watermelon is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. All parts of this fruit are edible.

There are lots of nutrients from the seeds to the white flesh closest to the rind. The rind contains more amino acid citrulline than the flesh. Rind is edible after cooking. Watermelon rinds are often cooked as vegetables in most parts of India. Watermelon seeds are also loaded with nutrients. They are high in protein, fiber, vitamin B and omega 3 fatty acid.

Healthy Reasons To Eat Watermelon 

Each bite contains 92% water and 6% sugar. It’s name makes perfect sense, as it consists mostly of water. So apart from keeping you hydrated, what else does this healthy summer fruit offer? 

  • Rich in nutrients: It is an excellent source of a wide variety of nutrients specially Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, Dietary Fiber and Antioxidant Compounds.

Nutrients present in 100gm of watermelon are as follows :

Sr.No. Nutrients Units Quantity
1 Energy Cal 30
2 Carbohydrate Gm 7.5 including 6.2 gm sugar
3 Fiber Gm 0.4
4 Magnesium Mg 10
5 Potassium Mg 112
6 Choline Mg 6.3
7 Vitamin A Mcg 27
8 B – carotene Mcg 467
9 Lycopene Mcg 4532
10 Vitamin C Mg 8.3

One ounce i.e 28.5gm of seeds provide around 8gm of protein.

  • It helps you to shed extra kilos: Watermelon is the best fruit to eat if someone is trying to lose weight. It is rich in lycopene. It will increase your body’s Arginine level, an amino acid, which helps burn fat quickly. Due to its low calorie and highwater content, it keeps a person full for a long time and helps promote weight loss.
  • Good for eyes: Lycopene, an antioxidant present in watermelon keeps the eyes healthy and protects against age related macular degeneration (AMD).
  • Keeps your kidney healthy: Watermelon is a natural diuretic. Potassium present in watermelon removes toxic substances from the body and reduces the percentage of uric acid present in the blood.
  • Prevents constipation: It is high in water and a good source of fiber that helps prevent constipation and promotes good bowel movement.
  • Promotes a healthy heart: It is the best source of Citrulline – an amino acid that our body converts to Arginine, an essential amino acid that plays a key role in relaxing blood vessels and helps improve blood flow. It also helps control blood sugar and helps lower blood pressure.
  • Keeps your skin and hair healthy: Watermelon contains vitamin C, which the body needs to produce collagen – a protein that keeps your skin supple and hair strong.
  • Helps in cancer prevention: Being a source of numerous antioxidants and flavonoids, watermelon consumption helps in protecting against certain types of cancer such as colon, breast and lung cancer.
  • Helps with sore muscles: Due to the presence of amino acid, citrulline in watermelon, muscle soreness can be treated. Watermelon may enhance performance and speed of recovery post exercise.
  • Reduce asthmatic attack: An antioxidant lycopene present in watermelon helps reduce asthmatic flares up in both children and adults.
  • Keeps you energetic: Potassium present in watermelon has electrolyte properties that leaves you feeling energetic for a long time.
  • Enhances the immune system: Vitamins and antioxidants present in this fruit, aids the production of RBC (red blood cells) which keep the immune system strong.
  • Good for the brain and nervous system: Being rich in Choline, an antioxidant present in this fruit, helps in learning, memory and brain development.

It is the best cooling fruit to eat during the summer season. Apart from the above benefits, Watermelon also has Vitamin B6 and potassium. Potassium maintains water balance in the body while Vitamin B6 improves immunity. Citrulline prevents muscle cramps. Remember that Juicing breaks down the fiber, making sugar easier to absorb and you may not get the benefit of fiber. People with diabetes should consider eating fresh, whole watermelon rather than drinking the juice.

We hope this article helps you head to the market and pick this amazing fruit now! Find more tips on nutrition and healthy summer eating here or speak to a GOQii Coach by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.  

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