Search Results for: mental health

March 16, 2016 By Twinkle Thakkar 2 Comments

Psychology of good health: It’s all in your Mind!

Eat right, be active, sleep well seem to be the ultimate health mantra these days. Yet, when we look around we find people having the most nutritious diet and doing the right mix of cardio and strength training exercises along with well-balanced polarities of activity and rest; and yet end up falling ill or having some or the other lifestyle disease thereby reducing their life span eventually.

Most people then end up blaming their genes, lower immunity levels or toxic environment in general as the main cause for all the diseases. One rarely looks within to find the cause. The issue is largely about the way one thinks and feels. Yes, our ‘Beliefs create our Biology’!!!

Does this seem complicated to you? Let me explain this with the analogy of a car.

Good food is like quality fuel. The exercise we do to build stamina and muscles is akin to the strong car tyres or the car body. And sound sleep is like the idle engine or off road time of the car. Just as diet, exercise and sleep are essential for our health and well-being in the same way for a quality car to perform well requires fuel and maintenance. Just as the car requires a good driver to manoeuvre it, our body too requires a good functional brain and nervous system to run it smoothly.

NERVOUS SYSTEM

I am sure everyone is wondering why we are taking you back to your school days telling you about the nervous system but, it is essential to understand how a good nervous system goes a long way in keeping one healthy and happy.

It is very important to understand the way the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in our body works.ANS regulates the pulse, blood pressure and our breathing apart from being responsible for controlling the functions of internal organs and glands which secretes hormones. It is also involved in our ability to experience emotions.

ANS is made up of these 2 different branches…

Sympathetic Nervous System–it prepares the body for any action – increased blood flow to the muscles and other responses known as “fight-or-flight (just like the gas pedal in a car).
Parasympathetic Nervous System – it functions when the body is at rest and helps the body store energy for future use. (just like the brakes in a car)

For smooth functioning both these components of ANS operate in sync, example during exercise the sympathetic increases heart rate whereas after exercise the parasympathetic helps to slow down the heart rate.

However emotions like anger, anxiety or worry can cause the signals going to these two parts of the ANS to get out of sync with each other. (It’s like we have our foot on accelerator and other on brake pedal at the same time which causes jerky rides and burns more fuel) This disharmony can lead to stress, wear and tear of our body and depletes its energy.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Continuing with the car analogy; the car definitely will not run longer if the fuel line is leaking or ruptured. Same way if the nutrients are not properly absorbed from the food we eat then even the most nutritious food will not make us healthy. This is exactly what happens when we are stressed. The brain is unable to distinguish between physical threat and mental tension. Body’s reaction to both is either flight or fight. The body prepares itself for flight or fight by supplying extra blood to our limbs and less to the visceral organs. This extra stimulation and inadequate blood flow causes improper digestion of even the most nutritious food.

IMMUNE SYSTEM

Immunity levels also decreases when we face stress for prolonged period of time. During such times the focus is to fight the external enemy or situation and not the virus attacking the body within. At most times it so happens that we keep thinking about a negative event of the past and feel stressed out both emotionally and physically. We unknowingly are making ourselves less immune because of our inability to correctly distinguish between the actual and virtual threat.

Thus, to end with the car analogy – the car can function only when it is run by a good driver who operates the accelerator and brakes in proper sync. The car surely requires good fuel, strong tyres along with enough engine idle time for a smooth drive; but most of all it requires is a good driver.

In the same way humans also need a sound mind which can distinguish between actual stressful situations and the trivial ones. It’s only then, we can keep ourselves calm and sleep well, eat right and move more for perfect health and longevity.

To achieve complete wellbeing we require a sound mind in a sound body.

This fact was very well exemplified by the oldest documented living person – a French woman Jeanne Clament who lived for almost 123 years without suffering any ill effects of her smoking habit of 100 years. As it’s said “Thought is more important than lifestyle”!!!

February 29, 2016 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Stay Healthy and Save Money

Today’s Union Budget presented by Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley provides for new health protection scheme that will provide health cover up to Rs One lakh per family. And for senior citizens an additional top-up package up to Rs 30,000 will be provided. This is good but, how about staying healthy and reducing health costs once for all.

Lifestyle plays an important role in heart ailments but, perhaps many have not taken this to heart. Getting angioplasties and stents that cost thousands of rupees do not prolong life or prevent heart attacks in stable patients. Similarly, lowering blood sugar with drugs does not fully prevent the economic and human costs of diabetes (including heart attacks, strokes, amputations, impotence, kidney failure, and blindness), but lowering blood sugar with diet and lifestyle prevents all of these human and economic costs.

Bringing about lifestyle changes is easier said than done. Simple lifestyle changes like walking or cycling instead of driving, climbing stairs instead of taking an elevator, eating nutritious food or making dietary changes, exercising on a daily basis and incorporating some behavior modification technique can have a big impact on you and your pocket for the better. And rather than buy a pricey gym membership to get in shape, there are ways to work out on the cheap or choose a fitness tracker with a coach to guide you.

Her are 6 healthy habits that can keep you fit.

Portion Control and Mindful Eating: Watching how much you eat is one of the best ways to maintain your weight. Have smaller portions of food instead of filling your plate in one go and have 5 small meals a day that is healthy and nutritious. This will help you manage your weight, keep your cool, maintain your focus and avoid cravings.
Exercise Daily: The best way to start your day is with some good physical activity. We all know the importance of physical activity, but still only a less percentage of the population in the world follow the same. Exercise has been found to decrease your chances of depression, anxiety, and stress. It is also related to higher success in your career. If you don’t care about your body, every other aspect of your life will suffer. Take care of your body. It is the only place you live.
Have Enough Water: Staying well hydrated is one of our body’s basic needs. Water is needed to enable the body to keep eliminating the toxins generated, to produce digestive enzymes, maintain healthy skin, hair, organs and to help your body absorb essential vitamins, minerals and natural sugars. Water also regulates the body temperature, cooling one down by evaporating through the skin. Drinking at least 3 litres of water a day is a must.
Get A Healthy 7+ Hours of Sleep: Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right time can help protect your mental and physical health, quality of life, and safety. Sleep is just as important as eating and drinking water. Despite this, millions of people do not sleep enough and experience insane problems as a result. The way you feel while you’re awake depends partly on how you have slept or what kind of sleep you have had. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health.
Think Positive and have a sense of Gratitude: Being positive and thinking positive builds a healthier immune system and boosts overall health. Body believes what you think so think positive. Gratitude is good for our bodies, our minds, and our relationships. Showing gratitude also keeps one happy. Gratitude also blocks toxic and negative emotions and
Avoid Stress: The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Here are few things you can do to avoid stress. Namely meditate, deep breathing, be alert, relax, laugh out loud, listen to music, and chase your hobbies.

So let’s stay healthy and save money and rather use that money for things we love to do.

January 13, 2016 By Nidhi Sarvaiya Leave a Comment

Healthy mini meals for your child

Every child is unique and each of them develops in their own way and in their own time. Parents play an important role in their child’s development. Young children learn all the time and mostly from their mum and dad. Parents are the role models for their children. Development refers to the changes that occur as a child grows and develops in relation to being physically healthy, mentally alert, and emotionally sound.

Balanced nutrition plays a vital role in nurturing your child to overall health and development. The right nutrition during childhood forms a strong foundation for the healthy future of your child.

The tiniest humans can create big challenges for their parents. Are you also one of them having hard times feeding your child?

Here are some yummy recipes to make your child’s mouth water packed with a bunch full of Nutrients.

1. Indian popcorn:

Ingredients:
Phool Makhana/ Puffed fox nuts – 1 cup
Ghee: 1/2 Tbsp
Chaat Masala – 1/4 tsp
Pepper Powder – a pinch
Red chili powder – to taste
Black Salt – to taste

Method of preparation:

Dry roast Phool Makhana/Puffed fox nuts till crisp
2. Heat ghee in a pan, add red chili powder, pepper powder, chaat masala & black salt.
3. Add Phool Makhana/Puffed fox nuts to it and mix well
4. Serve as a healthy snack anytime

2. Yummy Chapati Pizza!!

Ingredients:
Chapati – 1 no
Bell peppers, sweet corn, etc – 1/3 cup chopped (any vegetable)
Grated Cheese – 1/4 cup
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Garlic – 1Tbsp (finely chopped)
Onion – 1/2 cup (chopped)
Tomato puree – 1/2cup
Chilli Flakes – as required
Oregano – as required
Pepper powder – a pinch

Method of preparation:
Saute garlic and add onion in a pan, add tomato puree, pepper powder, chilli flakes and oregano and let it cook until the sauce is thick.
Spread the prepared sauce on chapatti. Top it with sauted capsicum, grated cheese and then cook in a covered pan for few minutes. Pizza is ready to serve with some chilli flakes and oregano sprinkled

3. Try healthy Oats Dosa!!

Ingredients:

Quick Oats – ½ cup (ground)
• Semolina (sooji) – ¼ cup
• Rice flour – ¼ cup
• Fresh curd – ½ cup
• Water – 1 ½ cup
• Onions – ¼ cup (finely chopped)
• Ginger , green chilies, coriander leaves, curry leaves – 1 tsp each (finely chopped)
• Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
• Black pepper – ¼ tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil for shallow frying

Method of preparation:

Mix all the ingredients (except oil) to make a thin batter of flowing consistency and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Take a ladle full of batter and make dosa drizzling some oil on non-stick pan. Serve hot with chutney.

4. Brownie phirni!!

Ingredients:

Ragi & Rice flour (mixed) – 1/4 cup
Milk – 2 cups
Grated jaggery -1.5-2 tbsp
Dates puree – 1.5 tbsp
Dry fruits for garnishing

Method of Preparation:
Boil milk, add Ragi and Rice flour by mixing well and simmer. As the mixture thickens a bit add jaggery and cook till jaggery dissolves. Cool it and then add dates puree to it mix well. Serve cold with dry fruits.

5. Hara Bhara Dosa:

Ingredients:

Rice, Lentil, Spinach dry red chillies, ginger, cumin seeds, asafoetida (hing), salt with some water

Method of Preparation:

Grind soaked rice and lentil coarsely. Make a batter of the mixture with spinach, dry red chillies, ginger, cumin seeds, asafoetida (hing), salt with some water. Make dosas out of the batter by shallow frying. Serve hot with chutney.

6. Soya Sticks:

Mash boiled Soya bean and mix it with boiled vegetables, season it. Make a small ball of the mixture and put it around the ice-cream stick like a lolly-pop and Grill it.

7. Colourful Bhel:

Mix cooked chick peas, chopped cucumber, pomegranate, sliced onions, chopped tomatoes and coriander. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper and mix well and serve on any baked vegetable.

Try these Lip smacking snacks for your child and make them Healthy. It’s really hard to find out creative snacks for your kids. But just follow the basic guidelines while preparing snacks for your children which will also help you stay creative:

Healthy
Homemade
Low Sugar/ starch
Simple

Just follow this simple tip and I am sure your kids will love the snacks prepared by you. Also you can make your child eat Rainbow.

Encourage your child to make balanced food choices and fill each day with plenty of colourful fruits and vegetables. The more colours your children consume the more varied the nutrients their bodies are receiving. Make it fun and colourful !

Try these, but don’t be afraid to experiments on your own. Wishing you and your kids, a healthy, productive and joyous health.

November 17, 2015 By Ruta Satam Leave a Comment

Giving keeps you healthy

Giving has always proved to be good for health.. Giving to others has been shown to increase health benefits in people with chronic illness, including cancer and multiple sclerosis. One good deed a day is all it takes to be healthy both physically and mentally apart from all the exercises that you do. The one reason giving may improve physical health and longevity is that it helps decrease stress, which is associated with a variety of health problems. Giving to others gives an inner happiness to one.

The opportunity to do Karma or good to others awaits all of us. There is an opportunity for us as an individual to be bold and use our unique role as philanthropists to spark, and drive, large-scale social change. Whether as a social entrepreneur or by supporting a social cause, each one us have the opportunity to participate and do ‘Karma’(Doing good to others). Karma will only help bring a positive change in your life, a change for the better.

Who knows…One day, you may look back and say, “I was there at the beginning—and I made a difference.”

We kick start with our Karma Blogs from this auspicious Diwali week. GOQii’s Karma Specialist Ruta will enlighten us regularly on the various Karma topics and Karma deeds. We kick start with the issue of Child Labour and how Education is every Child’s right.

Burn all evils and embrace the Good

The festival of Lights has just passed and its been a good one week of celebrations with our families and friends. Festive season has just begun and will continue till the end of the year. It’s that time of the month when we cannot enough of all the shopping both for ourselves, our loved ones and for our home. As children, we all have fond memories of these festival celebrations be it Dusshera, Diwali or Christmas with our families.

It’s not enough to just think about our own kids and their well being. Sadly, like our children there are so many poor kids on the street all by themselves with no one to look after them and who have no idea what festivities are or what a festival like Diwali or Christmas feels like. These lesser privileged kids live their life each day as it comes.

Many of them are forced into begging and if it is not begging then they are forced into child labour. You might not realize but, there could be many new things in your house which might have been made by these tiny hands. The new Saree that you are wearing, the lantern that is lighting your home might just be some of the things that these children have lent their hands to.

It is not a good feeling when you see a child slogging to earn some few bucks instead of going to school and gaining some knowledge. Every child has the right to education. School ideally is the right place for them and not traffic signals and restaurants.

According to the World Labor report by International Labor Organization (ILO) child labor is considered as ‘forced labor’ because children are rarely in the position to give free consent to any activities performed by them as most aspect of their lives are determined by adults.

Official figures shared by ILO in its ‘World report on Child Labour 2015’ indicates some 168 million children remain trapped in Child Labor while at the same time there are 75 million young person aged 15 to 24 years of age are unemployed.
The largest numbers of children are employed in places like textile factories, dhabas (roadside restaurants) and hotels, or as domestic workers.

It’s a vicious circle:

The day when a child is employed it is the very day when the young mind is denied access to education which is actually his or her right. Lack of education leads to lack of opportunity which finally leads to poverty and also other bad habits.
Child labor exists because there is a demand! Child Labor continues to be a concern in this day and age but because of the efforts of labor groups, governments, companies and ordinary people like you and me, the number of companies employing child labor is going down.

Simple steps that you could take to eradicate child labor:

BE’ a responsible citizen and ensure you do not employ child labor. Even if it means to employ as a house help to take care of your child
As a consumer, you can make sure that the products you’re buying do not employ child labor.
ACT’ as a responsible citizen and make responsible choices. Ensure that your society does not employ child labor.
‘EDUCATE’ and create awareness amongst people employing child laborers and the parents sending their children to work.
Further, ‘REPORT’ cases of child labor.

So festivities or no festivities let us do our bit! Let us consciously try and help the deprived children and give them what they really deserve. There are many organizations that work for the welfare and betterment of children. Instead of burning your cash on crackers why not you could probably think of sponsoring one child’s education.

Psychology of good health: It’s all in your Mind!

Stay Healthy and Save Money

Healthy mini meals for your child

Giving keeps you healthy

Transforming Health and Life: Dhiren Matani’s Inspirational Journey to Wellness

What’s Your Excuse?

Prioritizing Health: Kuntal Goswami’s Post-Pandemic Pursuit of Wellness

Reducing HbA1c from 7.2 to 6.1 | Ram Sharma Health Story