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How to Support Older Adults During the Coronavirus Pandemic

older adultsCurrently, elderly people are vulnerable and at the highest risk of experiencing significant health complications due to the second wave of COVID-19. Being socially isolated also creates a panic, affects mental and physical health of the elderly. Due to the pandemic, most older adults are not able to take walks, exercise and have limited access to their daily healthcare needs. Though social distancing and self quarantine is necessary, it is essential for older adults to feel connected in order to avoid depression or helplessness. Loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty give rise to chronic stress, depression and insomnia in older people.

How Can You Help Older Adults In Your Neighborhood? 

During this time, it becomes important to help older adults in our neighbourhood, especially the ones living alone. Here, I’ll be sharing some tips which families and caregivers can use to keep older adults disease-free, happy and mentally fit! 

  1. If you have parents or grandparents you’re not living with, give them a call to provide regular emotional support. 
  2. Ensure that an older adult’s daily needs and essential requirements like medicines, fruits, food, etc. are taken care of.
  3. Take additional efforts to check and confirm that they are maintaining proper hand and respiratory hygiene. 
  4. Older Adults are more sensitive in the current situation. To safeguard them, it’s better that they should avoid stepping out for any reason as much as possible.
  5. If routine check-ups can be done via phone consultation, please do so. Go to the hospital only when necessary. 
  6. Guide and educate the older adults in your area with the latest updates, precautionary measures, etc. Keep them informed! 
  7. Provide extra care if needed as some of them are on multiple medications due to chronic illnesses and sensory problems such as loss or difficulty in vision, hearing, etc. 
  8. Before self-medication with any drug, please consult a doctor.
  9. Family members need to be super sensitive to the early symptoms of COVID-19 and testing if needed should be promptly done. This, however, should not give rise to panic, self-isolation and stigma.
  10. Psycho-social issues are vital and families need to be sensitive to them. It is natural to be stressed, but signs of excessive panic, depression, sleep problems need urgent attention from a qualified mental health professional.
  11. The elderly need to be involved in decision making even in times of crisis. Their rights, self-respect and dignity must be preserved and protected.

 We hope this article helps. For more information or sessions on helping older adults, tune in to experts on GOQii Play. 

Stay home, stay safe and #BeTheForce  

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All You Need To Know About Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is an umbrella term for a long standing functional (relating to the function of) gut disorder that affects around 1 in 10 people worldwide. It is more common than you may think. It has now been recognized as the most common debilitating gastrointestinal disorder in the general population globally.

Classically, IBS manifests as abdominal pain or discomfort, that is relieved by passing stools or is associated at its onset. With an alteration in the stool frequency (either an increase or decrease) or a change in the appearance of the stool (to either loose or hard). There is still a lot that is being researched about this disorder, and although there is currently no cure, we can still manage the symptoms and live a quality full life!

What Causes Irritable Bowel Syndrome? 

While the main causative factors of this disorder are uncertain, it is considered to be caused by a play of numerous physical as well as emotional factors. Physical factors being lack of physical activity, improper dietary habits and poor sleep quality, coupled with a number of emotional stressors and impaired mental health. Research has shown that those who endure extended periods of stress, anxiety and depression, are more prone to experience IBS related symptoms & vice versa. However, people who consume high doses of antibiotics or antidepressants, are more likely to experience this symptom complex.

What Are Its Symptoms? 

The symptoms of this disorder vary individually. They can range from constipation, diarrhoea, bowel movements that are alternating between constipation and diarrhoea, bloating and abdominal pain/discomfort. Symptoms can be exacerbated on intake of certain foods and drinks, called ‘triggers’ or on days that the individual is experiencing poor sleep or excess mental pressure.

Note: If you are experiencing any other symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, blood in the stools, a prolonged change in bowel movements for 6+ weeks or have a family history of bowel cancer, consider consulting your General Practitioner.

How Can It Be Managed? 

Diet and Lifestyle

  1. Keep a Symptom diary to help identify potential trigger foods
  2. Practice Mindful eating: Eat slowly without any distractions like television or mobile phones
  3. Yoga and Physical Exercise can help reduce stress and some symptoms. It also aids in maintaining a healthy weight status.
  4. A varied diet is the key to microbial diversity. Having a balanced meal with foods from different food groups helps maintain gut microbiota
  5. Limit fruits to 3 portions/80g a day. This is because of the fiber profile of fruits that may interact with gut mobility
  6. Probiotics may improve symptoms, yet an individualised approach is needed

Food and Drinks

  1. Avoid long gaps between eating. Regular meal timings and controlled portion sizes prevent symptoms from exacerbating
  2. Consume lots of fluids, approx 6-8 glasses a day. However, limit fizzy drinks
  3. Spicy foods can irritate the gut lining, especially if used with highly flavoured ingredients such as too much onion and garlic. Limit them! 
  4. Caffeine should be reduced to less than 3 cups a day (tea/coffee)
  5. Reduce Alcohol intake to 30-60ml or even lesser per week
  6. Resistant Starch is seen to exacerbate symptoms. Reduce the intake of cooked and cooled carbs like frozen pizza/cold pasta, day old boiled potatoes, etc. or refined wheat flour products like bakery products 

We hope this article helps you manage Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below and share this article with someone who needs to read it! For more on living a healthy lifestyle, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. 

To get the right guidance for lifestyle issues such as IBS, Subscribe or Renew your GOQii subscription now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

#BeTheForce 

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Sleep Series: The Relentless Rivalry of REM and NREM

REN and NREMWhen we sleep, we go through a few stages. Prominent among them are REM and NREM. It is observed that for some non-specific reason, there is significant movement of the eyeball in all directions rapidly during REM sleep BUT does NOT send any visual signals to the brain. Hence, the name Rapid Eye Movement ( REM) sleep and the opposite – Non REM sleep. Some also say that they are “deep sleep” vs “shallow sleep” which I am not a great fan of. I believe they are simply various stages of sleep.

 

Sleep Series

Courtesy: sleepadvisor.org and Mathew Walker.

IF we draw a graph of brain neural activity, the graph will look something like this

As you can see, at the start it is the NREM which is occupying the real estate and the REM shows up intermittently. Approximately each of the cycles lasts for 90 minutes and then it changes. But in general, we can see the domination of NREM in the first half and REM in the second half. 

Interesting Facts on REM and NREM 

  • Dream your way to creativity: As homo sapiens came down from trees to sleep on flat grounds, they developed REM sleep as an evolutionary advancement. REM sleep is responsible for the evolution of creativity, memory and problem solving. It is during REM sleep, the neural network gets more intricately wired with new synapses being formed. In some sense, it is the REM sleep that contributed to the supremacy of humans over other animals.
  • Early morning school timing inhibits creativity: If schools, colleges or universities start pretty early in the morning, it is quite possible that the student has to wake up early and hence, foregoes some part of REM sleep. That is NOT good news for memory and creativity, which are most critical for studies.
  • Sleep algorithm is an enigma: NREM has been measured in 4 stages depending upon how deep it goes. The deeper it goes, the body gets better rest and the housekeeping activity of scavenging the brain of useless memory and storing of useful memory in the long term storage area happens – this is a totally involuntary activity based on an enigma algorithm. God/Nature is the first and best coder. 
  • Forgetting is beautiful: The brain decides to delete (forget) what is irrelevant. You will definitely not remember what breakfast you had the same day last week. Forgetting is an essential function just as much as remembering is. 
  • Striping emotion – REM heals: REM sleep is responsible for stripping emotion from past events over time. For example, you would remember the death of a close relative. But rarely you can recollect the emotions that were recorded when it happened. It is a blessing in a way. It is not the Time, but it is REM that heals! 
  • 7 hours or nothing: 5 cycles of 90 minutes – 450 minutes approx. 7 hours gives you a good full cycle. Anything less is like jumping 90% of the well! Short sleep leaves work undone and there is no use. You add to the pressure of work.
  • There can be no sleep “Deposit” and Sleep “Loans” ( this would appeal to the Finance community). You cannot oversleep to compensate for a past deficit nor you can accumulate a deficit to be cured by oversleep a bit later. It is 7.5 to 8 hours  a day, every day! You would now have understood why from the chart above.
  • You cannot “Live your dream”: The motor activity other than breathing is all frozen during REM stage , all muscles (particularly limbs) are frozen – imagine you swishing your sword or trying to run away when chased by a cobra! It protects you from getting injured!
  • You are not meant to remember your dreams: You will only remember that you had vivid dreams or nightmares. Dreams have been the subject of so much research. Only one thing is clear – every dream is made of illogical and impossible combinations. If you behave during the day like the way you behaved in your dream, you will find yourself in a psychiatric ward. It is the façade or alibi as the brain is reorganizing the hard disk.
  • Dreams have no meaning: Do not over analyze, dreams have no hidden meaning. If you need to know something, why would it be revealed in your dream? It would rather appear in Times Square visible to all.
  • NREM is all about detox and growth: NREM sleep detoxifies the body, grows tissues, improves immunity, repairs injuries. Breathing slows down, body temperature goes down, blood pressure drops and the body gets a deep relaxation to get ready for the next day. 
  • You need both: It is NOT that NREM is better and preferred than REM. Combined activity and result from both is critical for overall physical and mental health.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article on REM and NREM sleep. Stay tuned for more from the Sleep Series by Srini! To read more about sleep and sleeping techniques, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. 

#BeTheForce 

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Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction, Is It Real?

erectile dysfunction Erectile dysfunction is one of those things that affects many couples, and people still don’t talk about it enough. For some it could be a source of embarrassment and confusion, especially because it is associated with aging, illness or hormonal imbalances.

Before getting into this article, remember: a sexual disorder is something that can affect anyone. It is not a ‘failure’ on anyone’s part and it is nothing to be ashamed about! For most people, Erectile Dysfunction (ED) can be treated successfully with a combination of methods, both medical and alternative. But what if we told you that there could be a link between your media consumption and erectile dysfunction? More specifically: could porn be harming your sex life?

What Does the Research Say About Erectile Dysfunction?

While the increase of Erectile Dysfunction in younger populations casts pornography as an obvious culprit, there is still no proven link between porn and sexual dysfunction. Porn is everywhere now. It’s free, it’s available, and it caters to every fetish or fantasy imaginable. So when it comes to porn, does the common-sense approach ‘too much of anything is bad’ hold true?
The research is unclear, but what we do know is that porn triggers an instant release of dopamine, also known as our ‘happy hormones’. A quick fix of dopamine! That explains why porn can be so addictive. For many, this addictive nature of porn can direct them to more specific or extreme types of porn to get that desired dopamine hit. As the body gets accustomed to this, a regular sexual experience may no longer feel exciting enough.
But erectile dysfunction is not the only issue. Another common issue that could be related to porn is ejaculation control. Those masturbating to porn tend to do so very quickly to avoid being caught. A hasty ‘quickie’ is quite normalized these days. While this may provide quick release, it also trains our bodies to orgasm very quickly, a habit that carries on into our sex life with other people. In fact, premature ejaculation may be far more connected to porn viewing than erectile dysfunction.

Porn and Arousal

ED is rarely a single-cause issue. Health, disease, age, exercise, habits like smoking and drinking, mental health and body image can all affect arousal and sexual health. For many, porn creates a safe atmosphere for arousal; one without fear of judgement or pressure to perform in front of another person. It makes arousal easier. At the same time, this comfort also makes it easier to ignore underlying issues and turn to porn as the only escape. Porn can also make you crave for newer and newer content. But when there is new content, perfect bodies and extremely specific sexual niches readily available online, regular sex with the same partner pales in comparison. Sex with another person can be complicated and messy, sometimes even intimidating. It requires work, communication, trust and vulnerability in a way that watching porn doesn’t. Porn can become an easy way out, at the expense of working on the issues that really matter.
If this sounds like you and you suspect that watching porn is affecting your sex life negatively, then here are some questions to think over: Do you only feel like there is a problem during partnered sex? Do you find yourself dependent on porn to masturbate and reach orgasm? What sort of porn are you watching, do you get bored of one type of content and move on to the next quickly? By trying to understand which situations make arousal difficult, it can give you clarity on whether your problem is mental, physical, or a combination of both.

You think you may have a problem: Now what? 

If you feel like porn is seriously affecting your sex life, consider speaking to a professional or a sex therapist. Otherwise, on your own, you could try masturbating without porn. Focus on situations outside of porn that have been arousing, invest more in connecting with your partner and visualizing sex as an extension of that connection. Experience the sensation of touch and maybe don’t even focus on orgasming initially. Get to know your body, even outside of a sexual context: what sort of sights, sounds, tastes and feelings do you enjoy? Deepening your connection with your body in everyday life is bound to be rewarding during sex.

While some groups suggest that porn should be given up altogether, the most practical approach is to enjoy porn in moderation or to watch porn that portrays more realistic sex and bodies. Porn-induced erectile dysfunction is still a debated idea. Overall, most experts agree that there is nothing inherently wrong with masturbation or pornography.

Like with everything else, what matters is how these practices fit into your life and how you relate to them. Health and wellness are complicated, diverse spectrums: there is no singular way to have a healthy sex life. So pay attention to your body, your feelings, pleasure and your individual desires and goals, and ask yourself: is porn helping or harming?

We hope this article helps you! For more on sexual wellness, tune in to LIVE sessions by our sexual wellness expert Pallavi Barnwal on GOQii Play. You can also connect with her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pallavibarnwalcoach

#BeTheForce 

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