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Rudresh Basavarajappa Beats Insomnia With Simple Lifestyle Changes From GOQii

Rudresh BasavarajappaSometimes, our health issues seem overbearing and we’re unable to break free. These illnesses can cripple our ability to function normally. While some issues require medical assistance, there are some that can be fixed with simple lifestyle changes. Our player Rudresh Basavarajappa suffered from insomnia for the longest time till he found GOQii and his life changed completely. 

Before GOQii 

Rudresh Basvarajappa is an entrepreneur based in Bengaluru. He runs a software company that employs 200 people. He had been battling sleep issues for a long time. He would sleep only for 20 minutes to half an hour. This lack of sleep affected his personal and professional life. Along with insomnia, he was also battling the loss of an untimely death of his brother-in-law and business partner. 

His insomnia issue created complications such as shivering of his hands and legs. He had gravitational Oedema. Due to gravitational oedema, he could not walk or even wear his shoes due to the pain. It affected his sleep further. Moreover, he was also smoking around 20 cigarettes a day. 

He visited a doctor and after numerous tests, they could not arrive at any conclusion. He was prescribed sleeping pills. As 1 dose did not work, he had to up it to 2. This didn’t work for him either. 

Making a Shift With GOQii 

After trying everything possible, Rudresh Basvarajappa came across a GOQii ad in the newspaper. He was intrigued that it was a Make in India product – of which he is a fan. Since it was during the pandemic, he found the features to track SpO2, temperature and other vital parameters very useful. 

Since he got the tracker, he hadn’t selected a coach for almost 2-3 months as he did not believe in coaches. In due time, he had to forcefully select a coach and opted for Coach Nishreen. Despite his earlier qualms about coaching, he says that the GOQii Coach was the best thing that happened to him. Within a month he witnessed positive results and was able to sleep properly. 

He says, “The GOQii Coach is like a god to me. The Coach was very perseverant. Slowly and steadily she introduced activities and food changes. Now, I walk 10km a day and I sleep 7-8 hours a day. My sleep is regular. My wife and son who are fitness freaks also noticed these positive changes in me. Then my wife wanted my son to be on GOQii as well . But I wanted the same coach for him too. Glad that now Nishreen is both mine as well as my son’s coach.” 

What Does Coach Nishreen have to say about Rudresh Basvarajappa?

Rudresh was very focused, determined and committed when he came onboard. He just had one thing in mind, that is to lead a healthy lifestyle. He joined GOQii to reduce his stress, improve sleep as he used to take 2 sleeping pills and reduce gravitational oedema – a gravity-related swelling in the lower body. He smoked 20 cigarettes everyday.

He had done all the possible tests as suggested by senior doctors but couldn’t come to a conclusion. This was adding to his stress as he couldn’t wear appropriate footwear and thus, further disturbing his sleep cycle.

After our first call we decided to make simple lifestyle changes like starting Pranayama to relax his mind, reducing the number of cigarettes as he was keen to quit smoking and some leg raise exercise to improve blood circulation. He had a passion for exercises, so he enjoyed his morning walks.

Over the span of 2 months, he could see reduction in swelling and great improvement in sleep. We were able to cross each and every milestone in his health journey up to date. He is able to sleep immediately as pranayama is a medicine for sleep, he has quit smoking and oedema in his legs is almost NIL! He’s very honest and disciplined. So he adheres to any changes and accepts them without complaint. He maintains a two way communication and shares his updates with me every day! 

Recently, Rudresh Basvarajappa appeared as a guest on GOQii Health Talks and shared his journey with our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal. You can watch the entire live session here: 

For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads! To get your own GOQii Coach, sign up for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr 

#BeTheForce 

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9 Steps For Building and Mainting Immunity

build immunity

In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, maintaining one’s immunity has become a must. However, even if not for any random virus flying off, one’s immunity is the biggest strength against any onslaught of a virus and bacteria. Taking care of one’s self is a lifestyle. It must be down as a means to protect one’s body. I’m writing this article touching on a few aspects of maintaining one’s immunity. Since these worked for me, I believe it might work for you all as well. Being healthy has to be imbibed in one’s lifestyle just so no virus or bacteria can affect you. 

How Do You Build Immunity?

If only maintaining immunity was as easy as popping a pill, life would have been a bed of roses.  But it’s not! You have to work for it to earn it. One’s immunity depends on the way one is born, to one’s genes! But, we are talking about factors which are in one’s hands. The thumb rule is to listen to your body, it never lies. And, most of what your grandmother said was right in terms of health… keeping all that aside, here are a few quick tips to build up your immunity.

  1. No Stress & Yes to Happiness: Stress can wreck any organ in your body. Let go and be happy. Remember, if you are stressed over Corona, you are at risk. A happy and positive person is less likely to fall sick usually.
  2. Maintain Personal Hygiene: Wash your hands with soap before and after eating, bathe, wear breathable clothing and follow all the instructions in basic science textbooks of a 2-3 class child. It will help to prevent a lot of infections!
  3. Seasonal Vegetables and Fruits: Every area is known for its own vegetables and fruits as per the season. For instance, the Saag in North India is awesome during winters. It’s a must have. And yet you get it during summers in some regions. That’s a big no! Watermelon is a fruit of the summer. It is best to have it at that time.
  4. Home cooked food is the best because there is no adulteration. It should be cooked by a healthy person who has no infectious disease, be it your maid, or a house member. I strongly believe that basic hygiene like washing hands before touching food, washing the vegetables before cutting, etc. must be followed. In fact, these are taught in our curriculum in primary sections!
  5. Back to Basics: Consume natural food, have good nutrition and avoid unnecessary medication. By natural food I mean raw vegetables and fruits. Refer to your doctor/nutritionist for your diet plan if you are unable to do so.
  6. Daadi maa ke nuskhe (Grandmother’s Secret Recipes) might just work better than medications for basic ailments like cough and cold. See what works best for your body. As a child, I remember my mother giving me ginger juice mixed with honey every day in the morning during winters. I hardly had a runny nose during childhood. When I grew up, teenage took over and the orthodox medicine said that medicine is the best cure, but it didn’t work for me. Even at this age, ginger juice and honey is my prevention from cough and cold and I’ve no idea why it works for me! Try and find what your remedy is!
  7. With respect to air borne  infections, we need to protect our body, especially the orifices from where we breathe. So for the nose, take very little cow ghee/castor oil/any kachhi ghanni (cold pressed) oil and rub it inside your nostrils. The thick ghee captures the dirt and germs in the nostrils itself. For your skin, apply virgin pressed coconut oil.
  8. Sun is a Friend: Basking in the morning sun is good. Don’t overdo it but remember that the sun is the best and the strongest natural disinfectant. So if you do not have a medical condition, and if the doctor has not advised otherwise, make the sun your friend. I do not deny the ugliness of buildings since people dry their clothes outside, but remember one’s clothes are best disinfected in the sun.
  9. Exercise: Are you a yoga person, jogger, swimmer or gymmer? See what suits your body and get into shape. Pranayam though must be followed by all.

We hope this helps you build and maintain your immunity against the coronavirus. For more articles on immunity, nutrition and the coronavirus, check out Healthy Reads. To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, sign up for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr 

Stay safe, stay healthy and #BeTheForce 

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Losing 22kg at 80 with GOQii! Col Ravi Minocha User Journey

Col. Ravi Minocha

As we age, we are often unable to do the things we could before. Mobility issues as a result of old age often become an excuse for older adults to not get active. But we’re here to tell you that age is just a number if you have the will, determination and proper guidance towards living an active and healthy lifestyle. Don’t believe us? Let our player, Retired Army Col Ravi Minocha, tell you how he lost weight and beat his mobility issues with sheer willpower and the right guidance from GOQii! Recently, he spoke to our Founder & CEO Vishal Gondal. You can watch their conversation here: 

Life Before GOQii 

“I was very active as an army officer. I was in the unit of Core of Electronics as a mechanical engineer. I retired from the army in 1994,” he says. “I always had a tendency to put on weight. After retirement, I joined the private sector and worked there for 10 years. In 2004, I stopped working and had developed arthritis issues in the knee due to which my mobility reduced.

Doctors suggested surgery as a solution, other than that, it was to pop some painkillers and go in for physiotherapy. I did not want to take pain killers and by now, my mobility had reduced a great deal. I could barely walk for 10 minutes. I reached a stage where I was shy of standing on a weighing scale as I had reached the weight of 99kg and had a waistline of about 48-49 inches. In June 2017, on my birthday, my daughter Latika gifted me a GOQii Tracker and what intrigued me was the coaching aspect.” 

Making Steady Lifestyle Changes 

Initially, Col Ravi Minocha struggled with losing weight and his son told him that he had to do something about controlling his weight. That’s when his health goal became to reduce weight. His ideal weight, as per his age and height was supposed to be around 76-77kg. 

After getting onboard the GOQii Ecosystem, Col Ravi Minocha dedicatedly followed all the instructions given to him by his GOQii Coach. “My coach has been very accommodating,” he says. “She has only been motivating, never once discouraging. As for my bad habit of eating unhealthy, she directed me well towards healthy eating. We started small. I followed everything that my coach said religiously. I started enjoying the interactions with my coach. My coach had a lot to work on, including my unhealthy eating habits, my weight and also my mobility issues. So we started slowly.” 

Within 3 months of being on GOQii, he started feeling the change and slowly his GOQii Coach revised the step count to 10K daily. His mobility issues persisted slightly even then but he realized it was getting better. The Coach also changed his eating habits by reducing his carb and sweets intake. He began eating millets, millet rotis – 8-10 meals in a week with millets, including salads. Controlled diet and exercises helped him improve his weight and with weight loss, his mobility improved. 

Col Ravi Minocha Sees The Results of a Healthy Lifestyle 

In 3 years, Col Ravi Minocha lost 22kg and his weight had reduced from 99kg to 77kg. His waist size has reduced from 49 inches to 38 inches now. Currently, he is working towards maintaining this weight which is ideal for his age and height. On an average, he completes around 12-13k steps. 

In May, he took around 270km steps, which is equivalent to almost 7 marathons. He was quite chuffed looking at the data. He says that, “The GOQii App is very good and getting feedback is a very good thing.” Col Ravi Minocha has been renewing his subscription year after year and is extremely happy and thankful to his coach. 

His daughter Latika stays in Singapore and is very happy to see her dad doing very well. She had gifted him a GOQii after her husband’s friend Jyotirmoy Saha, who also happens to be Vishal Gondal’s friend, suggested GOQii. She says, “What appealed to my dad was the personal coaching. We are all so proud of our dad and what he has achieved at his age. We all marvel at his will power and determination.  Even now, he calls and says how many steps he has completed. He has become a great influencer for all of us, including my mom.”

What Does His Coach Falguni Bhojak Have To Say? 

For Col Ravi Minocha, the goal we were working on was reducing his weight and tummy fat. But the main concern was his knee discomfort due to OA, because of which he had mobility issues. Due to his Arthritis issues, his mobility was restricted and he was not able to walk at a stretch for more than 10-15 minutes.

Then we started working on knee discomfort as in, started anti-inflammatory food, started knee exercises, walking with short breaks in between. I also looked into his diet and asked him to log his food every day so I could know what he was eating and how we could bring about changes in that. He started having lukewarm lemon water, more fruits and salads as well as green veggies. We introduced Millets in his diet and he started having millet roti and millet dosa.

He was so consistent and disciplined in updating logs from the time he joined! Even when he travelled to visit his daughter in Singapore, he kept updating his logs and kept updating me about his habits. Gradually, his mobility became better and he was completing 7-8 k steps by going to walk 2 times a day. Gradually we increased the time and now he can walk for an hour without breaks and discomfort.

He had some constipation problems in between, so we started including soaked black raisins to his diet and that helped. When his hemoglobin had shot down, we began including iron-rich food to ensure he remained healthy.

Col. Minocha is consistent with his habits and follows whatever is told to him. He is extremely disciplined in following his routine. Consistency and discipline have helped him achieve his health goals. Infact, on 29 June, he updated me that his weight is now down to 76.5kg.

As you can see from Col Ravi Minocha’s journey, it is never too late to make a positive shift to a healthier lifestyle. What’s stopping you? Subscribe for personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr  

For more inspiring stories, check out Healthy Reads. 

#BeTheForce 

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5 Ways To Build Your Immunity Naturally

immunityWe take our immune systems for granted at most times. With the heightened threat of COVID-19 infection that is something, we can no longer afford to do. Boosting your immunity doesn’t require drastic action however. By digging into our rich Ayurvedic traditions we can find plenty of helpful information. In fact, Ayurveda’s primary focus has always been on disease prevention, rather than treatment. This means that it contains a vast repository of knowledge on strategies to strengthen and support natural functions, including immunity.

To make meaningful changes that improve immune function, you don’t need to adopt therapeutic practices or use nutritional supplements. While those methods will help and are supplementary, your main strategy should be to make small and natural changes to your daily lifestyle.

Proven Strategies to Build Immunity Naturally

1. Get Enough Sleep
If you wake up without feeling refreshed and feel sleepy through the day, you’re just not getting enough sleep. There are endless debates over how much sleep is adequate, but if you wake up refreshed and with high energy levels you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, most of us are sleep deprived or have disturbed sleep, which severely weakens immunity. Research that appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that the risk of respiratory infections is significantly higher in people who get under 6 hours of sleep. This is because sleep deprivation leads to a rise in cortisol levels and impaired T cell function.

If you suffer from any kind of sleep disorder, you can take steps to improve sleep quality. Adopting a disciplined night time ritual will help. You can take inspiration from the dinacharya, adhering to meal, exercise, and sleep times. Avoiding exposure to digital screens, artificial lighting, and any stimulating activity is a must for a few hours before bedtime. Meditation before bedtime can also help calm the mind and prepare you for sleep. If you still have difficulty getting good sleep, you can try using Ayurvedic herbs that have adaptogenic and sedative effects like brahmi and jatamansi.

2. Find a Stress Buster
We often hear about stress as a risk factor for almost all kinds of diseases and infections. In the past this may have been based on anecdotal evidence, but that is no longer the case. Research shows a clear link between stress and increased vulnerability to infections. This is once again linked to a rise in levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reduced lymphocyte levels. Stress can also have an indirect impact on immunity.  When we feel stressed and anxious we are more likely to make bad choices.  A good example would be our turning to ice cream, chips, and junk as comfort foods.

Right now stress and anxiety levels are particularly high as it’s hard to stay socially isolated and trapped indoors. This makes it absolutely vital for you to adopt proven stress reduction techniques. In this context, mindfulness meditation is regarded as the most effective strategy and is even used in clinical programs to treat depression and anxiety disorder. If you need any additional support, you can also use Ayurvedic adaptogenic herbs like brahmi and ashwagandha.

3. Quit Smoking and Drinking
Nicotine and alcohol consumption are both regarded as harmful in Ayurveda because of their toxic effects. This is especially true with smoking as it has been linked to cancer and lung damage. From research, we now know that any kind of nicotine consumption is associated with such risks. Nicotine directly impairs immune function because of its adverse impact on antibody formation and T cell responses.

High intake of alcohol is also associated with severely weakened immune function. This effect is almost immediate, with a reduction in lymphocyte levels and weakened macrophage response soon after intoxication. Some of the toxic byproducts of alcohol are also known to directly damage lung function, increasing the risk of airborne illnesses.

4. Eat Smart
When it comes to diet and nutrition for immunity, Ayurveda has always been ahead of the curve. The importance of balanced nutrition, favoring natural foods with a high nutrition density has always been stressed. The importance of vitamin C from ingredients like amla has also been emphasized. Of course, to receive balanced nutrition that supports optimal immune function Ayurveda makes a broad recommendation too. The main principle here is to avoid or restrict all intake of processed foods, while opting for whole foods. This fundamental principle of Ayurvedic nutrition is now widely recognized.

Aside from increasing your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and pulses should also be included in your diet. Dahi is again important because of its natural probiotic content. This is important for the health of the gut microbiome, which researchers now recognize as critical to healthy immune function.

5. Stay Active
Ayurveda is notable as the world’s earliest medical system to recognize the importance of physical activity. Yoga has in fact been used as a form of physical therapy now for millennia. The importance of staying active for strong immune function has been validated by several modern studies. Such research shows that exercise helps through various mechanisms. It lowers stress levels and raises antibody levels. This has been shown to lower the risk of infection and significantly improve recovery.

Keep in mind that exercise to boost immunity isn’t about high intensity workouts or going to the gym. It is simply about staying active. In fact, over exercising can suppress immune function. Right now, the best choices would be activities like yoga, Pilates, dancing, and so on, as they don’t require you to step out of your home.

These are 5 of the most essential changes to strengthen your immune system. To get an added boost, you can once again turn to the wisdom of ancient Ayurveda. Herbs like amla, haridra, neem, sunth, tulsi, and ashwagandha are known to strengthen immune function and can be found in a wide range of Ayurvedic medications. Ayurvedic formulations like chyawanprash and triphala are also still highly regarded and remain the most popular antidotes to weak immunity. 

We hope this article helps you. For more tips on building your immunity, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to experts on GOQii Play. Additionally, you can also reach out to your GOQii Coach who can help, guide and motivate you! Subscribe to personalized coaching here:  https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr 

Stay home, stay safe and #BeTheForce 

From Terminal Illness To Complete Wellness! Ananda Mukherjee Health Story

As we observe World Cancer Day under the powerful theme ‘United by Unique’ (2025-2027)**, we are reminded that every individual’s journey with cancer is distinct, yet united by shared resilience, hope, and the collective fight against this disease. This theme places people at the centre of care and their stories at the heart of the […]