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January 26, 2021 By Sunita Arora Leave a Comment

5 Ways To Keep Your Lungs Healthy

keep your lungs healthy

Even though the heart gets a lot of attention, healthy lungs are also crucial for overall health — particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Lung infections often develop as a complication of other chronic illnesses. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), exposure to air pollution results in 4.2 million deaths worldwide each year. Cigarette smoking is the cause of death for one in every five people in the United States. So, lungs should not be taken for granted. Though the body has a natural defense system to protect the lungs, there are some ways to keep your lungs healthy! 

How To Keep Your Lungs Healthy 

1. Practice Deep Breathing
Although lung capacity can diminish as you age, certain deep breathing exercises can help you breathe better. Breathing exercises can help healthy people as well as those with breathing problems. You can try these two types of deep breathing techniques to keep your lungs healthy.

  • Diaphragmatic breathing helps in building lung capacity and helps people with COPD. Inhale through your nose for two seconds, feeling the air move into the abdomen and breathe out for two seconds. 
  • Pursed-lip breathing: Breathe in through your nose and then breathe out slowly through pursed lips.

2. Detox Your Lungs
Our lungs are mostly self-cleaning organs but there are certain simple ways which help cleaning lungs, so that they function at an optimum level.

  • To break down the mucus, start your day with 1-2 crushed cloves of garlic in one tsp of raw honey.
  • Drink 250ml of lemon water, add a pinch of cayenne pepper and drink it in the morning to loosen up the mucus. 
  • Drink fenugreek seed water and chew the soaked fenugreek seeds to break down the mucus. 
  • Steam inhalation with peppermint and eucalyptus oil for 5 minutes twice a day is an effective way to keep your lungs healthy.  
  • Castor oil has properties to destroy mucus, massaging your chest deeply with warm castor oil is good to cure congestion.

3. Get Fit & Stay Active
Exercise forces the muscles to work harder, which increases the body’s breathing rate, which in turn gives a good supply of oxygen to the muscles. It also helps in improving circulation and making the body more efficient in removing the excess carbon dioxide that the body produces when exercising.

4. Stay Hydrated
The best way to keep your airways moist is to stay well hydrated. Staying well-hydrated is very important if you have breathing problems because it helps the lungs to do their job better. It keeps the mucosal lining in the lungs thin and this thinner lining helps the lungs function better.

5. Prevent Infection & Avoid Exposure To Pollutants
Sometimes respiratory infections become very serious. To safeguard your lungs from various infections you should: 

  • Wash your hands often with soap and water or use alcohol-based sanitizer
  • Maintain good oral hygiene, brush your teeth twice a day and see your dentist every six months
  • Avoid crowded places during cold and flu season. Get yourself vaccinated against influenza and pneumonia every year
  • Minimize exposure to outdoor air if the quality is not good and avoid exercising outdoors on bad air days
  • Don’t exercise near heavy traffic to avoid inhaling polluted air
  • Avoid exposure to indoor pollutants which worsen lung disease. Make your home and car smoke-free
  • Dust the furniture at least twice a week. Keep your home clean as much you can, use natural cleaning products and make sure you have adequate air ventilation at home.
  • Instead of using synthetic air fresheners and candles, you can use an aromatherapy diffuser, essential oils like lavender oil, peppermint oil, rosemary oil, etc.
  • Stop smoking as soon as possible because it causes chronic inflammation in the lungs and destroys lung tissues which can lead to chronic bronchitis and lung cancer.

Apart from the above therapies, you can add some anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich foods to your diet which helps in reducing the inflammation of the lungs. Try adding turmeric, green tea, cherries, blueberries, olives, walnuts, beans and lentils, etc. to keep your lungs healthy! 

We hope this article helps you. To know more ways to keep your lungs healthy, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. 

#BeTheForce 

January 25, 2021 By Pragati Godara Leave a Comment

5 Tips To Stay Active During Winter

stay active during winter

It’s tough to stay active in winter when you’re nice and cozy under a warm blanket. Binge eating and browsing through some series seems so much more appealing. It can be tough to get motivated when the weather blows in, but don’t give up all thoughts of staying active. A little planning can help you stay active during winter. 

Tips To Stay Active During Winter 

  1. Team up with a partner: Sometimes, the hardest part of staying active is getting motivated. Consider exercising with a partner. It will keep you accountable and could give you the extra push you need. There’s the additional benefit of making friends and hanging out with like-minded people.
  2. Exercise during your lunch break: It seems to be frustrating when it’s dark in the morning and dark when you come home from work. The solution is to workout in the middle of the day, during peak light hours. Take a long, brisk walk during lunch hours. This provides the additional benefit of getting Vitamin D from sunlight.
  3. Indoor activities: Even if the weather is nasty, there are dozens of indoor activities to keep you moving during winter. Aside from taking stairs, we all can opt for dancing, mall walking, active housework like sweeping & vacuuming, bowling and yoga. Have some fun and stay active at the same time.
  4. Take the stairs: Make small changes to your daily habits to stay active during winter. A perfect choice is taking the stairs instead of opting for an elevator or escalator. The extra movement will keep your muscles working and will help you burn fat.
  5. Create a home gym: The moment when you don’t feel like going out for exercise, then you can easily set up a great workout area in your living room and basement. Buy some inexpensive equipment like stretch bands, stability balls and hand weights. You can also wear a heavy backpack to add intensity to your workout or do bodyweight exercises like push-ups, lunges and squats.

We hope this article helps and motivates you to stay active during winter! Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more on winter, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play. 

#BeTheForce 

January 23, 2021 By GOQii 2 Comments

Nikita Jain Battles A Rare Condition & Wins With The Right Coaching

Nikita Jain

The pandemic wasn’t easy on a lot of us. The entire lockdown, coupled with social distancing and movement restriction impacted a lot of people in different ways. A unique problem that one of our players Nikita Jain suffered from was Vocal Cord Dysfunction – a condition which was latent in her till the lockdown. Nikita Jain says that due to her location, her house gets less sunlight and ventilation. The need to stay indoors always along with the paranoia of contracting an infection if she stepped outside, aggravated her stress, causing panic attacks and breathlessness which was eventually diagnosed as Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD). 

When she consulted her local doctor, he assumed it was asthma and put her on a nebulizer. She did experience some relief, however, it was only for a short while. Later in August 2020, she consulted an Asthma and Allergy Specialist who diagnosed it as VCD and prescribed medication and some breathing exercises. Around the same time, she happened to see GOQii’s Brand Ambassador Akshay Kumar talk about the GOQii Smart Vital on YouTube. She then decided to buy a tracker and took a 3-month coaching subscription. 

Start of the Journey 

In their first conversation, her coach Mamta Joshi understood everything about her medical condition and lifestyle in general. Then she calmly explained the need to adopt healthy eating habits and minor modifications in her current diet. She introduced small tweaks in her meal pattern like reducing intake of carbs like roti and rice and switching them with protein sources. She started with fruits and salads which were not a part of her diet until then. She also started including soaked nuts and jeera water upon waking up. 

She used to skip breakfast all the time, which her coach said was not advisable. Every habit was inculcated slowly one by one so that she was able to follow them without difficulty. Nikita Jain rarely indulged in any physical activity apart from normal household chores. Her GOQii Coach asked her to start with yoga and meditation for a few mins every day. She regularly watches live GOQii Play sessions and follows Ronak Gajjar for meditation, Sheetal Tiwari for yoga and Mukesh Morwall for nutrition tips. 

She was also experiencing a lot of back pain and ankle pain which has magically disappeared after practicing some stretches and yoga every day. The coach also suggested an oil concoction for her ankle pain which helped her a lot. 

Transformation and Leveling Up! 

Nikita Jain says that the major transformation in her is in terms of her energy levels. There is no lethargy whatsoever and she is able to stay active throughout the day. She doesn’t feel any weakness or pain nowadays which helps her stay happy and peaceful. 

She says, “Coach Mamta has brought back the smile on my face which was missing before and which was sorely missed by my family. More than me, it’s my Dad who is eager to see all my meal intake updated on the app for the coach to see and check if they are good enough.” 

She enjoys Coach Arooshi Garg’s cooking sessions on GOQii Play and tried the recipes from the sessions at home. Being a housewife, she used to cook before too but now she cooks not just tasty but nutritious food as well. So it isn’t just her who benefited from the GOQii Coaching Subscription but her entire family on all levels. 

What Does Coach Mamta Have To Say About Her Player Nikita Jain? 

Nikita joined GOQii with a goal to get relief from a rare kind of health issue that developed during lockdown. She experienced some rare and abnormal complications such as paralysis of the left side of her body, stretched arms and limbs, intolerable body pain, breathlessness and excessive sensitivity to smell.

In our first discussion, I read her plight in her withered voice .She was intensely insecure about her future too. After some evaluation, I figured it was her disconnection with nature and to get her back to it might be the only possible solution. So we planned habits like getting some indoor plants, keeping doors/windows open during the day, soaking in sunlight on the building terrace, plus an oil massage for pain relief, breathing exercise/meditation for stress management and gradually the results started appearing. She started eating a healthy, well-balanced diet and her energy levels/stamina improved. From an almost bedridden state, she now exercises 1.5 hours a day.

I am glad she mustered the courage and will to not only tackle the problems head on but overcome them as well. Though it was an uphill battle, she won! Her stress levels have gone down, she clocks in 10,000 steps daily, has lost some weight , got in shape and the journey is still going on! The best thing about Nikita is that she never took any of my suggestions lightly and always adhered to them religiously. She honestly updated and acknowledged me about her condition and progress logs from time to time. And the result is a big victory in a short span of time.

Does Nikita Jain’s story inspire you to begin yours? Head over to the GOQii App or our website to begin your journey today! For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads. 

Want to share your story with us? Fill this form and we’ll reach out to you.

#BeTheForce 

January 21, 2021 By GOQii 2 Comments

Simple Ways to Overcome Depression

Overcome DepressionMost of us tend to feel low when things don’t work in our favor. At times, we give a 100% to a task expecting something good in return. When these expectations aren’t met, we succumb to negative thoughts and depression.

Depression drains you of energy and hope. At times, it makes you feel helpless. It makes any task all the more difficult. Depression becomes a problem when it fails to pass and we don’t fight back. Feeling low is a part and parcel of life and is completely natural. But if this feeling intensifies and stretches over weeks or months, it could become problematic.

Are You Really Depressed? 

It is important to identify whether we are really depressed or we are just upset. It is easy to work on it once you know for sure. If we are upset, it is just a matter of time and everything is normal. If we are in depression, the sinking feeling of helplessness, loneliness and other negative feelings can go on for weeks or months with no end in sight. Depression is unhealthy for your mind and body but you can fight it!

Simple Ways To Overcome Depression

  • Get Into a Routine: If you feel depressed, have a routine and follow it regularly
  • Start Small & Stay Focused: If you feel the work you are doing is too much, break it into small tasks. For instance, if you are unable to walk 10km at a stretch, start with 1 km and gradually increase it. Eventually, you will be able to complete 10km at a stretch
  • Talk to Your Friends: Talk to a friend you trust. You will feel relaxed and your thought process will change
  • Sleep: Depression leads to issues with sleep. We should aim for at least 8 hours of sound sleep
  • Eat Healthy: There is no diet that can fix depression. It is better to keep an eye on what we eat. If Depression makes you feel like overeating, then keep portion control in mind
  • Challenge Negative Thoughts: To overcome depression, a lot of work is mental. Change the way you think. We tend to leap to the worst possible conclusions when depressed. The next time you are feeling terrible about yourself, use logic as a natural depression treatment. Ask yourself why you are feeling this way? Is this really true? Can you do anything about it? Is it possible to let go? It takes practice to clear your mind, but in time, you can beat back those negative thoughts before they get out of control
  • Exercise: It temporarily boosts endorphins and makes you feel good. It may also have long-term benefits for people with depression. Regular exercise seems to encourage the brain to rewire itself in positive ways

The solution to a depression-free life is to use all the tools you can to get better. If you feel that your depression is getting worse, seek professional help. Needing additional help doesn’t mean you are weak, it is the most practical solution. It is completely possible to get lost in negative thoughts. Just remember that depression can be treated and you can feel better!

We hope this article helps you overcome depression. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more on mental health and emotional wellness, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

#BeTheForce 

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Nikita Jain

Nikita Jain Battles A Rare Condition & Wins With The Right Coaching

The pandemic wasn’t easy on a lot of us. The entire lockdown, coupled with social distancing and movement restriction impacted a lot of people in different ways. A unique problem that one of our players Nikita Jain suffered from was Vocal Cord Dysfunction - a … [Read More...]

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Nalin Talwar

Nalin Talwar Goes From Couch Potato To Fitness Freak!

Can you make a positive lifestyle change in just 3 months? Is it even possible? After completing 3 months with GOQii, our player, Nalin Talwar decided that it’s a good time to share his experience. He did face some unfavourable experience with the hardware but for most of it, his overall experience has been good. […]

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