HEAL'THY MIND

EVENING SNACKS
2 Samosa 500
1 plate Pani Puri 400
1 plate Sev Puri 400


DINNER

1 plate French Fries 300
1 Veg Burger 350
1 Medium Pizza 700
1 600ml Coke 240

TOTAL BILL 2890 CALORIES

So how much did you spend this weekend?
Every day we see thousands of wiseacre diet conscious people poking around the best restaurants of the city for Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian and all varieties of food and promising themselves to burn those evil calories in the next week aerobics session. Unfortunately, that next week had never arrived!!

Nearly half of the Indian workforce is overweight and more than 1/4th school going children are obese according to the study done by AIIMS in 2008. 27% of our urban youth suffers from hypertension which can shorten life expectancy. The study says that 9% to 11% of people above the age of 45 in urban India have heart disease. Bus and taxi drivers, who are physically inactive, have a higher rate of heart disease than men in other occupations. People who remain physically active have a lower death rate than people who don’t. In Mumbai itself over 37,000 people have died only due to heart attacks in both private and government hospitals between 2004 and 2006. India is a diabetic capital of the world and its prevalence among adults in our country is 12%. Estimated 150 to 200 in every 10 lakh suffer from kidney problems.

Today life has become much more simple, versatile and effortless. Everything is just a phone call away, but this has restricted us to do that bit of physical activity which can increase our immunity, stamina and strength. The functional training that can help to get a fit and healthy body is vanishing under our plush lifestyle. We are restricting ourselves just inside a scintillating room with few machines around to lose weight, which is surely not an accurate approach to get fit. The modern mechanical ways can be well used to get in shape, however to stay healthy we have to add a lot more in our routine.

“I love doing yoga, but this is my profession.” a reputed gym trainer Dev Dunga strongly believes going to gym is not complete in itself to get a fit body. Hardcore exercises at gym work on the outer most muscles of the body whereas rest everything remains untouched while yoga works to every square inch like a complete fitness package. Yoga is a form of exercise where the body and breathe get connected with the mind. By controlling the breath and keeping the body in steady position called “aasans”, yoga helps in creating harmony. Ashri Mitra, a yoga trainer believes that yoga impacts the hormonal system, so the change happens from inside, which is what actually requires to get healthy. Such exercises also help in pre-postnatal depression, by relaxing the mind and putting a lot of fears at rest. The primary advantage of practicing yoga is that the essential breathing exercises provide mental calmness especially to pregnant women. Yoga works at the level of both body and soul.

Another way to stay healthy is to practice laughter yoga, a complete fun way to reduce stress. Laughter yoga controls breathing and each time one practice it, breathing becomes more readily and deeper. When one stimulates laughter, the body doesn't know that it is not real and reacts in the same manner as in your peak moments of joy. The concept of laughter yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. Therefore, one gets the same physiological and psychological benefits. One minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine. Laughter yoga is believed to be anti- aging. It increases blood supply to the face, nourishes the skin and makes it glow. It also increases the level of endorphins - the body's natural pain killers and even helps to dump depression, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders.

The scenario today is, some people are reluctant to start exercising because they are afraid it will be too strenuous but Kajal Kathuria, diet consultant of a reality show “Biggest Loser” believes that one doesn’t have to do such exercises to gain health benefits; moderate exercises are effective too. One must increase the amount of exercises and physical activity in order to induce endurance, strength, balance, coordination and flexibility. She believes there is no concept of best exercise as every kind of physical activity is good until we are enjoying it. The idea of going to gym, yoga, kick boxing or any type of classes is in vain until one is not doing it with passion.

In this healthy lifestyle which includes a balanced diet, regular exercise and a daily milti-vitamin food, there’s another critical element which often gets neglected and that is SLEEP. Experts recommend minimum of seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night which does not only keep us healthy but even increase our longevity. Lack of sleep has been linked to emotional troubles, such as feelings of sadness and depression. Sleep helps to keep us physically healthy, by slowing our body's systems enough to re-energize us after everyday activities. Sleep isn't just a form of rest. It plays a critical physiological function, and is indispensable for your intellectual development. Those who do not sleep enough are not likely to live to their full mental potential.

Better health is found in the integration of body, mind, and spirit; and meditation aids in the process. Doctors are spreading the good word about meditation, not because they think its cool, but because the studies have shown that it works. Along with yoga, it can reverse the buildup of plaque in coronary arteries, lower lactic acid levels and restore balance in psychiatric disturbances. Meditation increases intuition and clarity, which includes a sense of what it right for us at any particular time. There can be an increased feeling of well-being, lessening depression for the meditation followers. Also there can be an increase in energy, vitality, lessening of a tendency toward sickness, and quicker healing if one do meditation regularly. The National Institute of Health conducted an 18-year study that tracked 202 men and women whose average age was 71. The study has revealed that those who practiced meditation had longer period of life as compared to others.
Cardio kickboxing is another physical activity to burn calories and getting healthy body. It combines elements of boxing, martial arts, and aerobics to provide overall physical conditioning and toning. Cardio kickboxing improves and maintains cardiovascular fitness, increases strength, flexibility, improves coordination, balance and sharpens reflexes. Kickboxing also reduces and relieves stress. Its rigorous workout like controlled punching and kicking movements carried out with the discipline and skills required for martial arts can do wonders for feelings of frustration and anger. You can burn anywhere from 350 to 450 calories an hour with kickboxing
The benefits of exercise or any physical activity come from making them a permanent habit. So except fresh fruits and balanced diet other health benefits that you can avail by doing regular exercises are:-

1. By doing exercises like walking, running, hiking or weight training, one can build up bones.
2. Exercises make one feels more confident and if we feel proud of ourselves after a good workout, we’ll probably smile more.
3. Exercise reduces stress and also lowers the blood pressure.
4. By getting down the aerobics, known as “cardio” workout we can have a good heart. Aerobics like running, swimming, yoga, cycling, walking and other high energy activities will make muscles use up oxygen.
5. Flexibility of the body will increase which helps to keep us away from getting injured during workouts and keep muscles limber.
6. The energy levels will rise up which means we can do things including our work and hobbies with better quality. We can even enjoy better sex life.
7. As the endurance will improve, our stamina for the tasks we need to do to live and to do things like climbing stairs going for shopping et al will develop.
8. Even a small increase in muscle mass can make a big difference in ability, especially for frail people. Exercise can increase our metabolism, helping to keep our weight and blood sugar in control.
9. With the increase in flexibility body structure will remain in place.
10. Exercise can reverse the natural decline in one’s metabolism which begins around the age of 30.

In the present day many young girls are falling victim of anorexia and bulimia which can lead to severe nutritional deficiencies in them especially if it sets in before puberty. It’s believed that 50% of anorexic girls end up developing osteoporosis. When young girls are supposed to be packing their bones with calcium and protein rich food, anorexic patients are actually losing bone mass. Besides, they are also more prone to heart failure and hormonal changes which can lead to absence of menstruation resulting in infertility later on. However, lack of sports activities in the lives of young kids today has made the problem more acute and many girls consider starving the only solution for staying thin. Cycling, games like badminton, swimming or basketball, doing a lot of physical work is the key to unlock this problem for our young generation.
As food choices changes in the progressing world, educating common public about the potential risks of fast food and other sugar, high fat food is more essential. Health care and disease prevention in particular are the areas that demand more time and resources for the government. In 2008-09 via NRHM (national rural health mission) the increase in the central health budget is 14% in sharp contrast to the overall increase in central government expenditure of 20% revenue increase. This year out of total budget of Rs.16500 crore for the health ministry, Rs.12200 crore was allocated to NRHM, and 544 lakh was given for social health activities.

Modern Lifestyle diseases are the price unfortunately, the developing India is paying for progress. Although India counts for 16.5% of the world’s population, it contributes to more than 20% of the world’s share of diseases. Average 60% income of an Indian family is spending on single hospitalized member every year. In the Indian Journal Medical Research report the team has said, the top 10% of spenders in the sample they have studied had spend about 150% of their annual income on a single illness involving hospitalization. This is the appalling face of our awful health due to lack of exercise, nutritious and balanced diet which is coming across us in the form of facts and figures, but the time is not far when we will become another added number in these statistics.