March 24, 2023 By Urvi Gohil 4 Comments

5 Simple Lifestyle Changes To Manage Hypertension

By now, anyone who is conscious about their health is aware of hypertension. In case you don’t know, hypertension is basically another name for high blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force that blood exerts against the walls of the blood vessels. The force depends on the resistance of the blood vessels and how hard the heart has to work. Hypertension is the primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart attack, heart failure and aneurysm.

An optimal blood pressure level is a reading under 120/80mmHg while a reading over 140/90mmHg is generally considered to be high. It is extremely important to keep blood pressure under control. Lifestyle management is standard and first-line treatment for hypertension.

5 Lifestyle Changes to Manage Hypertension

Kick the Bottle. Stub the Butt: Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure to unhealthy levels. Having more than 3 drinks in one sitting temporarily increases your blood pressure. Repeating it on a regular basis can lead to long term changes. Heavy drinkers who wish to reduce blood pressure are advised to slowly reduce the alcohol intake over 1-2 weeks to avoid risking very high blood pressure. Also, each cigarette you smoke can increase your blood pressure for many minutes after you finish. Stopping this can help you a lot in normalizing your BP. Quitting smoking can reduce the risk of heart disease and improve your overall health as well.
Let Go of Stress: Your body produces a surge of hormones when you are in a stressful situation. These hormones temporarily increase your blood pressure by causing your heart to beat faster and your blood vessels to narrow. But when your stress goes away your blood pressure returns to normal. However, frequent, temporary spikes in blood pressure can damage your blood vessels, heart and kidney in a way similar to long term high blood pressure. Exercising 3-5 times a week for 30mins can reduce stress, try yoga and meditation, get plenty of sleep and stay happy. If you need help with yoga and meditation, join live, interactive sessions conducted by experts on GOQii Pro. You can book a class via the GOQii App.
Reduce Sodium Intake: Even a small reduction of sodium in your diet can improve your heart health and reduce blood pressure by 5-6mmHg if you have high blood pressure. In general, limit your sodium intake to 2300mg a day or less. However, a lower sodium intake of 1500 mg a day is ideal for most adults. 1500mg = less than 1 teaspoon of salt per day. To reduce sodium in your diet, read food labels, choose foods with less sodium, avoid processed and packaged foods like noodles, soups, chips, biscuits, etc. Use herbs and spices to add flavor to your food. Cut back gradually, your palate will adjust over time.
More Fruits & Veggies: Eating a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low fat dairy along with avoiding saturated fat and cholesterol can lower your blood pressure by 11 mmHg if you have high blood pressure. This eating plan is known as DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of potassium and it can help lessen the effect of sodium on blood pressure. Try to have fruits and salads on a daily basis. Going for vegetable + fruit smoothies is a smarter approach. Also try to add beetroot in your smoothies, they are known to reduce blood pressure. Individuals with blood sugar issues should consult their doctor before eating beetroot.
Exercise Regularly: Making exercise a habit can help lower your blood pressure. You do not need to go to a gym but just being active enough that you are breathing harder and making your heart beat a little faster which includes brisk walking, jogging, swimming or biking. Go for a moderate activity for at least 30 min a day for 5 days a week. This is a great way to reduce stress and also improve energy levels. Consult your doctor or coach about how and when to start physical activity once high blood pressure is detected.

We hope these lifestyle changes help you manage hypertension and curb high blood pressure! Do share your thoughts in the comments below!

For more on living a healthier lifestyle, check out Healthy Reads or speak to a GOQii Coach by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.

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March 5, 2023 By Arooshi Garg 6 Comments

Celebrate a Skin-Friendly Holi With Natural Colors

Holi is the festival of colours in India that also marks the arrival of spring – a season of joy and hope. The festival is famous for its colours and how people apply them to each other’s face. I remember one horrendous incident a few years ago that left my face scarred due to an allergic reaction and I was on anti-allergens for over a month. The culprit was a toxic paste colour that my skin came in contact with. I, therefore, thought I should share some good ways to enjoy a safe and non-toxic Holi this year.

In the last couple of years, chemical colours are being used to celebrate Holi as they are cheaper than natural colours. Chemical colours can be very harmful to the health and skin of individuals as well as the environment.

Use of safe, natural and eco-friendly colours, can help to save our environment and conserve our biodiversity. Natural colours are obtained from skin friendly sources such as turmeric, flower extracts, sandalwood powder, mehndi (Henna), etc and are safe to use.

Here’s How You Can Create Safe, Non-toxic Colours

Brown color: Brown is one color that is never spotted anywhere in the color markets during Holi. So go ahead and surprise your visitors with this different and amazing color! Acacia catechu (Kattha) – which is commonly consumed with betel leaves (pan) gives a brownish color when mixed with water.
Other methods: Boil tea or coffee leaves in water. Cool it and use it.
Saffron: Soak a few stalks of Saffron in 2 tablespoons of water. Leave for a few hours and grind them to make a fine paste. Dilute that with water as per the desired color strength.
Other methods: The Flame of the Forest, commonly known as Test, Palash or Dhak, is the source of the wonderful, traditional color for Holi. For fragrant yellowish-orange colored water, the flowers are soaked overnight in water and can also be boiled.
Green: Save a trip to the parlor by using green colored henna powder (Mehendi) this Holi. Either use it separately or mix it with an equal quantity of any suitable flour to get a lovely and natural green shade. Make sure to use pure henna that does not have Amla (Indian Gooseberries) mixed in it, as this would be brown in color.Dry henna will not leave color on your face and can be easily brushed off. When mixed with water, it will leave a slight color, thereby making it a fast color.
Other methods: Dry and finely powder Gulmohur tree leaves or crush the tender leaves of the Wheat plant to obtain a natural green color for Holi. The color can also be obtained by mixing a fine paste of green leafy vegetables like spinach (Palak), coriander (Dhaniya) or mint (Pudina) in water.
Blue: Dry Jacaranda flowers (Neeli Gulmohar/Jungle Badam) in the shade and grind them to obtain a beautiful blue powder.
Other methods: The blue Hibiscus, which is found in Kerala, can be dried and powdered just like the red hibiscus, or crush berries of Indigo plant and add water to it as per the desired colour strength.
Yellow: Mix two teaspoons of Turmeric powder with twice the quantity of gram flour (besan). Turmeric and gram flour have magical qualities that are very good for the skin. Ordinary wheat flour (Atta), refined wheat flour (Maida), rice flour, ground nut powder, fuller`s earth (Multani Mitti) and even talcum powder can be used as substitutes for gram flour.Other methods: Flowers like Cassia fistula (Amaltas), Marigold (Gainda), Yellow Chrysanthemums and Black Babul yield different shades of yellow. Dry the petals of these flowers in the shade and crush them to obtain a fine powder. Mix an appropriate quantity of the powder with gram flour or its substitutes and see your festival come alive without any harmful effects of chemically-loaded colors.
Pink: Slice or grate one beetroot and soak it in 1 liter of water for a wonderful magenta. Boil or leave overnight for a deeper shade and dilute it before use.
Other methods: Boil the peels of 10-15 pink onions in half a liter of water for a pinkish color. Remove the peels before using them to remove any unneeded smell. You can also soak pink Bauhinia variegate (Kachnar) flowers in water overnight or boil them for a bright pink color.
Red: Red Sandal Wood Powder, which has a beautiful red color, is extremely beneficial for the skin and can be used in place of Red Gulal.
Other methods: Dry red hibiscus flowers in shade, powder and add any flour to increase the bulk. For a bright orange-red, mix a pinch of lime powder with 2 spoons of turmeric powder and a few drops of water. Use the resulting paste only after diluting it with 10 litres of water. Peels of Red Pomegranate boiled in water, juice of tomatoes and carrots diluted with sufficient quantity of water to remove the stickiness also give a natural yet beautiful red color.
Black: Last but not the least, comes black. Often derived from very dangerous sources like used batteries, this color may cause a lot of trouble later. However, for a safe black color, boil dried fruits of Indian Gooseberry (Amla) in an iron vessel and leave it overnight. Dilute with water and use.
Other methods: Extract juice of black grapes and dilute with sufficient quantity of water to remove stickiness.

Tips For a Skin-Friendly Holi

Cover up: Nothing can beat covering the maximum part of your body with full sleeved clothes and trousers. But the old remedy of using mustard oil, coconut oil, olive oil or vaseline over your entire body on the morning of Holi does wonders in removing the colours easily
No warm water: Do not use warm water for bathing/removing colours. This can lead to the fastening of colours. Instead, always opt for cold water to wash the colours off. You should also try to remove the dry colour powder with dry hands rather than using water as it spreads even more after water application.
Stay Hydrated: Drink lots and lots of water as skin tends to get dehydrated with the use of chemicals. You can try other refreshing water-based drinks too. For instance, a virgin mint mojito, or fresh lime and buttermilk, to beat the heat out of your body!
Hair Care: Before you use a shampoo, rinse your hair with water to allow the additional colours to wash off. It is extremely vital to condition your hair to prevent any hair damage. Make a simple hair pack by soaking a few fenugreek (Methi) seeds in four tablespoons of curd. Apply this pack or egg yolk on your scalp and wash your hair with a good shampoo after 30 minutes. You can also apply a mixture of honey and olive oil for deep conditioning.
Face: Do not scrub the colour off with soap. Opt for a mild cleanser and follow it up with lots of moisturizing cream. If you feel any skin irritation during the process of taking off the colours then take 2 tbsps. of calamine powder and mix it with a few drops of honey and rosewater to make a paste. Apply this on your face and once it has dried up, wash it off with water and apply a moisturizer. You can also take off the colour with a mixture of Gram Flour (besan) and milk. If you are unable to do anything else, simply apply a generous amount of Multani-Mitti on the entire face and body to revive your skin.
Natural body scrub: You can use a homemade scrub by mixing the following ingredients: 2 tbsp. wheat bran, 1 tbsp. sandalwood powder, 1 tbsp. rice flour, along with some poppy seeds (khus-khus), few drops of honey and a mashed tomato. Scrub your body with this to clear off the colours and to bounce back to your fair and glowing skin.You can also rub a piece of papaya on coloured areas of the face and body to get rid of the colours. There is another good body scrub you can use to wash off colours. Mix curd, gram flour, orange peel powder along with little turmeric, a few drops of lemon and 1 tbsp. of olive oil. This will help clean your skin.

Post Holi Skincare Regime

For the next two weeks, apply a Multani Mitti face pack every alternate day to ensure that your skin remains soft and supple. Do not go for any skin treatments like waxing, threading, facials, or apply any other external medication on the skin for 2-3 days after Holi. Your skin is very sensitive after Holi. These treatments may cause an adverse reaction.

We hope these tips help you. For more, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalised health coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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December 16, 2022 By Urvi Gohil 2 Comments

Why You Should Eat Slowly For Good Health & Better Digestion

Mary Roach, in her book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal describes the digestive system as a highly elaborate inside of the tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus.

Let’s address an important facet of pre-digestion: Chewing – a much neglected lifestyle habit.

What Happens When You Eat Slowly?

The chewing process serves as the first step to proper digestion. Two interesting things happen while chewing: Firstly, Ptyalin, which is required for digestion of carbohydrates is secreted. The other thing is that the brain kicks into action and recognizes whether you are chewing proteins, carbohydrates or fats and accordingly tells the stomach to secrete the right enzymes.

It takes approximately 20 minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to send out signals of fullness. When you eat slowly, it allows ample of time to trigger the signal from your brain that you are full. Feeling full translates into eating less.

Speed eating, gorging and binge eating majorly contribute to unhealthy weight gain. Studies confirmed that chewing every bite for a longer period of time helps you lose weight and improve digestion. This is because it provides more time for your brain to receive the signal. Therefore, the slower you chew, the lesser you eat and the more satisfied you are. Eating fast promotes weight gain and makes you feel out of control of your eating habits.

Follow These Simple Steps!

The very first step to mindful eating is to choose the smallest plate in your house. Take that plate and serve your portions and sit
Sit down to eat in a calm environment with minimal distractions. It is your time with your food. Don’t eat while driving, watching TV, while texting, etc.
Add 1 exchange of raw or cooked vegetables right before the main meal and use a fork to eat it. Try setting a minimum number of chews per bite
Look at your plate and see how colorful it is and what good it is going to do to your body. Sense the aroma and question yourself about its nutrition
Take a fork or chop stick to eat your meal. If you’re eating roti-sabji, take very small bites of the roti and more vegetables. Chew 30 times or more per bite and gulp it down
Set your time to eat. At least 20-30 minutes for each meal and preferably even longer at dinner. This will set your relationship with food
When you eat slowly, it improves your health in more ways than one. It leads to better digestion, better absorption, reduced bloating, acidity & constipation as well as aids weight management

So eat slowly, chew properly and live healthy! We hope this article helps you chew your food for better digestion and absorption of all those precious nutrients. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

For more health tips like this, check out Healthy Reads or speak to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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November 12, 2022 By Neha Sharma Leave a Comment

Can You Die From Pneumonia? 6 Serious Complications You Should Know

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs which can be caused by bacteria, fungi or a virus. It can range from mild to life threatening – when you require medical intervention at the earliest. When the air sac of one or both lungs are filled with some fluid or pus, it leads to inflammation which causes chest pain while breathing, cough with phlegm or pus, fever, chills and difficulty in breathing. Newborns upto 2 years of age and older people above 65 yrs of age are more prone to pneumonia as their immunity is not strong enough to fight the infection.

Types Of Pneumonia

There are four types of Pneumonia.

CAP (Community Acquired Pneumonia): It is a type of pneumonia that occurs outside the hospital or other healthcare facilities and is caused by bacteria, bacteria like organisms, fungi or a virus like COVID-19 as well.
HAP (Hospital Acquired Pneumonia): This type of pneumonia occurs during a hospital stay and can be serious as the person is already sick.
Health Care Acquired Pneumonia: This type of acquired pneumonia occurs when patients stay for a long term in hospitals or go to outpatient clinics for dialysis or chemotherapy.
Aspiration Pneumonia: This type of pneumonia occurs when you inhale food, liquid, saliva or vomit in your lungs and that causes an infection and it also occurs when there’s a brain injury.

What Are The Complications That Occur?

Even with treatment, some people with Pneumonia, who have other health ailments, suffer complications. Here are some of them:

Bacteremia: When infection is caused by bacteria, it travels down to the bloodstream and can lead to septic shock that lowers the blood pressure and the heart cannot pump blood into the organs and organs may stop working altogether. So, if you are having symptoms like fever with chills, low blood pressure, stomach upset, fast breathing with a fast heart rate, you need to consult a doctor immediately.
Lung Abscesses: Sometimes, due to pneumonia, pus pockets are formed in the lungs and give rise to fever, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite and coughing. This basically happens when a person is having bacteremia, gum disease, weakened immune system and regular intake of alcohol.
Pleural Effusions, Empyema and Pleurisy: There are two types of layers surrounding your lungs called pleura. One from the outer side and one lines the part of your chest where the lungs sit. They help the lungs to move smoothly when one breathes. Sometimes, pain occurs while breathing and this is because the pleura swells and sometimes a fluid forms in between the layers and that is known as PLEURA EFFUSION. And if the fluid gets infected it leads to EMPYEMA.
Respiratory Failure: With pneumonia, your lungs get infected and they will not be able to transfer oxygen to organs and won’t be able to get rid of carbon dioxide from the body which leads to this condition. Symptoms are fast breathing, irregular heart rate, anxiety, fatigue, losing consciousness or bluish tint on your skin, fingertips or nails.
Kidney Failure: It’s not a common complication of pneumonia but when you are having bacteremia or septic shock, your heart may not be able to pump enough blood to your kidneys and they might stop functioning. Chances of kidney failure are high if it is coupled with other metabolic disorders.
Heart Failure: Chances of heart diseases are higher if you have pneumonia as the heart may not be able to pump enough blood and oxygen as the heart itself doesn’t have enough supply.

All the complications of pneumonia are not to be taken casually. If you experience any of the above symptoms or complications, seek medical help immediately. You can also track symptoms such as low blood oxygen, low blood pressure, increased heart rate and high body temperature with Smart Devices from GOQii. Tracking these symptoms early can help you avoid any unnecessary complications and get medical assistance on time.

We hope this article helps you. For more on Pneumonia and other medical conditions, check out Healthy Reads or ask your GOQii Coach directly by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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