Posts filed under 'Healthy Lifestyles'
There’s been a lot of publicity in the UK over the last few days about research which has found that sleep deprivation in teenages can cause hormonal changes that can result in obesity.
The TV and newspapers have been full of information about how teenagers are spending too much time playing computer games in the evening, or later, and therefore reducing their sleep time, triggering hormonal changes that induce them to overeat and hence increase their chances of becoming obese.
I can’t question the validity of this research, of course, however I do wonder if it is missing the point.
The pathway from lack of sleep to hormonal changes to increased appetites to obesity is a bit of a long and tortuous one. Surely any hormonal changes must be small and therefore the final effect on increasing obesity must be small too.
Much more threatening to the health of our children, is the general lack of physical exercise that the young are suffering from. Spending evenings playing computer games instead of kicking a football around a field must surely account for incidences of over weight and obese children.
Exercise makes you physically tired, so you sleep better and then, according to this research, your hormones will be more in balance and you will control your eating (though I must confess that exercise makes me hungry and I have to be careful not to overeat as a result!).
So lets do everything that we can to encourage our children to be as active as possible. I am convinced that they will be sharper intellectually, healthier and happier as a result. What could be better than that?
October 20th, 2006
Written By: chris
Interesting research has been published which shows how your body image can affect your willingness to control your weight within healthy limits.
You can read more about the experiment here, but in essence the research found that subjects who were asked to think about their body image were more encouraged to slim and lead a healthy lifestyle than those who had no cause to consider how they looked.
I guess that these findings should not surprise many people, however it does tie in with thoughts that I have had previously about how people perceive themselves when they look in the mirror.
I know that if I look at myself in the mirror and think that I’ve put on a few pounds, I immediately think “uh oh I need to shed those excess pounds as soon as possible”. I’ll take care to do so until the image that stares back at me in the mirror looks “right”.
I guess that I have a strong body image.
I wonder, though, about those who are grossly overweight or obese. They haven’t just acquired that extra weight overnight, but have gradually gained pound after pound. Do they adjust their standards when they look at themselves ie “I look ok with those extra few pounds, I needn’t do anything about it”.
Then later “I look OK with that extra stone - I’m fine”.
I don’t know what goes through their minds, but as our series of articles on eating disorders show, the way in which people perceive themselves and the pressures that are placed upon them by society, can be very damaging.
It depends on the individual if they end up suffering from an eating disorder - either leading them towards anorexia or towards obesity - or steel themselves to lose weight until their actual image matches their perceived image, in a healthy way.
October 16th, 2006
Written By: chris
A study on the eating habits of children by Dr Olds, professor at the University of South Australia could not have come at a more opportune moment than when I was getting nervous over my inability to take my seven year old daughter out to the playground.
The study, among other things, points out that parents worldwide are too busy to spend time with their children out in the parks; the lack of physical activity being the main cause of rising incidence of obesity among children.
My daughter has had a bit of paunch which has reduced quite a bit over few months of yoga practice with me. But more than her physical health what bothered me was her increasing tendency to stay indoors – ours or at other children’s where she often goes to spend time in the evening. I knew very well that my inability to spend time out with her in the park was taking toll of her outgoing and healthy disposition.
After having posted a blog here on the Dr Olds’ study, I decided to make a few resolutions with my daughter – not using our car for short distance travel and to go out jogging early in the morning; I promised her the latter will soon be replaced by a few rounds of badminton.
Last Sunday was the first day when we walked five kilometers to and from a market near our home. We had a good time shopping and window shopping, and got back home tired and perspiring. The next morning was our first day at the park. While I jogged around it three times, my daughter gave up after one, promising to do better next day, which she did.
While nutrition has its important place in our lives and more so in the life of our children, physical activity prepares us to take imbalances and deficiencies in our diet in our stride.
As we perspired while jogging, my daughter did not like the sweat beads going down her forehead. I had to explain to her that sweating flushed out excess salts from our body which are bad for our health. She stopped complaining about the sweat straight away!
September 20th, 2006
Written By: lalitgambhir
Like many others, I have many commitments which often seem to collide and conflict. I guess this is part and of parcel of being a parent. We are conditioned to put our children first and to look after their needs before ours.
This must be the right approach, mustn’t it?
Well actually it seems that so called “Me time” is an important part of our lives that is easy to ignore as we rush of to our next commitment. “Me time” is time in which we can focus on what we want to do, temporarily stepping off the treadmill of our busy lives and chilling out for a while.
A leading American cardiologist believes that life without sufficient “me time” can cause all sorts of stress related conditions such as elevated blood pressure, heart disease and even diabetes. These sound like stress related disorders initiated by continually living a pressurized life style.
It seems that “me time” can be anything that we find enjoyable and relaxing, anything that takes our minds out of gear for a while and lets us gather our thoughts and de-stress. Personally I find going to the gym on most weekdays is a perfect “me time” activity. Doing something physical is very different from my time working at my computer and its pleasing how more focussed and clear thinking I can be after a session working out.
Other people can spend their valuable “me time” in different ways. My wife, for example, relaxes watching soaps on TV for about an hour after the traumas of putting our two tired children to bed. Personally I find these programmes mind numbing, but maybe they allow her to gather her thoughts and just chill out for a while.
This is the point though. “Me time” is personal and is what gives you, the individual, an enjoyable and beneficial break. We could all lead more healthy and fulfiling lives if we created a bit of space and time to be ourselves and put ourselves at the centre of our universes - just for a short while.
September 19th, 2006
Written By: chris
Dr Olds, professor at the University of South Australia has researched children’s diets from over three decades and has arrived at this conclusion - Children of today are eating less food (including less fat) than they used to.
According to his research, which included an extensive study of 1700 published research papers, two-year old children in Australia were eating 16 percent less than a decade ago. Similarly, the intake of 11 year-olds was down by 5.6% over the same period.
The professor blames the drop in physical exercise as the reason for rampant obesity in childhood and not overeating or fast food consumption as believed.
While the popularity of fast food among the children is definitely on the rise – be it Australia, US, UK or Asia- as the spiraling sales at the global outlets of fast food indicate, ruling out its role in child obesity could be debatable.
But even more important observation that’s come from Dr Olds is the fact that busy parents have no time to take the kids out to the playground. This is a serious trend and probably universal too.
I do not have to look far to find an example on this. As a busy parent myself, I do not recall when was the last I took my daughter out to play in the park. It’s not that she did not ask me to take her out. And it’s not that I have been too lazy to meet the demand. The fact of the matter is that the daily grind of working life and long distance travel between home and office have clearly taken toll of responsible parenting.
It is precisely for this reason that I put my daughter to regular practice of yoga. For, even I was concerned about her paunch and her being increasingly lethargic about going out with other kids whenever they came calling.
Fast foods are a bane of our times for reasons of their being low on nutrition and essential fibre. We as parents have an immense responsibility of educating our kids about not just healthy diets but also bringing them to the playground and the world of physical activity.
September 18th, 2006
Written By: lalitgambhir
A thought struck me out of the blue a few days ago.
It suddenly occurred to me how dependent we are on medicine, medical technology and the availability of medical services. Looking around at my family and friends, I realised that very few of us would be here now if it hadn’t been for medical treatment at some point in our lives.
I, for one, wouldn’t be here now. I probably would have died from some infection when I was very young, but if I hadn’t, then an attack of acute appendicitis would certainly have killed me when I was ten, however medicine, or more accurately, surgery saved me.
Almost everyone I can think of has had some form of life threatening disease, condition, or accident at some point in their lives, however they have been fortunate that medical intervention was available when needed.
Thinking through this is more detail, I started wondering about Ayurveda and other forms of traditional medicine. Two thousand years ago, when people realised that they could cure themselves and each other with concoctions made from the plants and substances naturally available to them, they started to increase their chances of surviving diseases and accidents.
Imagine the mortality rates then though. Local plants and natural substances can only go so far and even simple infections would have been hard to contain. There must have been a desperation to learn more, experiment more and strive to increase their life expectancy.
So here we are today with our sophisticated drugs, diagnostic and surgical equipment and advanced medical knowledge. I, and everybody else, I suspect, owe our lives to the medical advances that are available for us, however there is still a place for the holistic natural alternatives that can offer treatments, and even cures, that conventional medicine cannot.
September 13th, 2006
Written By: chris
Quite a few people who are referred to me have mental health problems.
One, such person, Shirish Fernandes, called me from Bangalore, the Information Technology capital of India. He told me that he was highly successful within a very short time after joining an IT company and was drawing one of the best salaries in the industry. The fat pay packet enabled him to apply for a loan to buy a swanky apartment in an upmarket location of the city. He could afford a decent car too.
All this and more brought a turnaround in his life-style over a very short time. While the goodies were enjoyable, the repayments Shirish had to make were making him insecure. What if he could not sustain his high-pressure job and could not repay his loan, then all that he could afford would be gone, he told me. He had a number of examples to substantiate his fears. And often he thought of giving it all up and going back to his past life without the luxuries.
The dilemma was affecting both his work and personal life.
This call of Shirish came at a time when a news item that had appeared in the newspaper a month back, was still fresh in my memory. It announced that Bangalore was emerging as the suicide capital of India with 3.28 deaths a day, 1200 a year. The newspaper reported that the city had been registering the tragic figure every year for a few years now. The report further pointed out that the main cause of suicides was high stress levels among its working population.
Close to 70% deaths were reported within an age-group of 20 to 40.
I gave a patient hearing to Shirish. I told him that I would design for him a crises management program which he could work with at home. I asked him to work through the program for three days and then call me up with his feedback.
The crisis management program for Shirish included yoga exercises. I suggested the breathing exercises called pranayama to be practised with a simple diet, as a part of the yoga regime.
Shirish did not call me up after three days. I was anxious to find out the result of my program. When I called him up he could not take my call.
He eventually called me back to say that he was busy in a meeting at his office. The meeting was on the crises management program that I had sent him. He said that it worked so well with him that he shared it with his colleagues. Hence, the meeting.
Shirish told me that the circumstance he was in had not changed. But yoga helped him take the things in his stride. “I have started taking life as it comes, and no insecurity about it.”
Shirish was at peace with himself. That was what I had predicted for him.
September 11th, 2006
Written By: lalitgambhir
One of the hardest habits to give up is smoking. You may hear a number of people who claim to have given up smoking, but if you check on them after sometime, you will find that they have gone back to their favourite habit.
For twenty years I had been a habitual but a moderate smoker. I used to smoke on average five cigarettes a day, but often I would go on a binge and smoke as many as 15. This went on even after I took to practising yoga.
My yoga teacher had assured me that being a practitioner of yoga I would not keep smoking habit for long. For, according to him, yoga would force me to give up my habit. I did not take that too seriously and continued smoking along with my practice of yoga.
After a few months of yoga, my habit of smoking a cigarette after breakfast started making me uncomfortable. After smoking a cigarette I started feeling sluggish and sleepy. Since I used to smoke while driving to my office, my being sleepy started telling on my nerves. After a few days, I was still lighting up my cigarette but I could not go beyond smoking it more than a half. Later on even smoking half a cigarette was leaving me tired and was giving me headaches. I had no choice but to give up my morning cigarette.
Soon I stopped smoking a cigarette after lunch and even when driving back home in the evening traffic. Smoking in the evening started making me intolerably hungry and I could not help snacking. That was enough to kill my appetite for dinner.
Untimely eating gave me a kind of constipation I never experienced in my life. I started spending working hours with bloated bowels and a mild but continuing headache. My productivity level plummeted sharply and I started losing my temper at the slightest provocation.
First smoking ceased to be a pleasure and very soon it became a nightmare. I really did not have to fight with my age-old habit or exercise restrain.
I realized that yoga just won’t let me go on with this vice of mine. It’s been nine months now since I last smoked. Now even the thought of reaching for a cigarette makes me feel ill.
September 7th, 2006
Written By: lalitgambhir
Working in cardiology at the local hospital, as I did several years ago, I came across many patients in different age groups and with a huge variety of medical problems.
Of course each patient had to be treated differently according to their physical and mental health, however I was struck how some people in their 80’s or even 90’s had the physical energy of those twenty years younger, and also that some in their fifties or sixties had the decrepitude of someone 30 years their senior.
I came across “young” 90 year olds and “old” sixty years olds, and often the factor that differentiated them was their mental outlook on life. Frail looking 90 year ladies, born soon after the first world war, would be remarkably active and alert. By and large they enjoyed life, had a ready laugh and a discernable twinkle in their eye.
Of course many people, unfortunately, contract a disease or ailment that can dampen even the most positive of spirits over time - I imagine constant arthritic pain could wear away any desire for life, for example, however those who are lucky to remain reasonably healthy, alert and mentally positive, can enjoy an active and enjoyable lifestyle in their later years.
Why am I saying all this now?
Well, one of my wife’s relatives has always been young for her age and I’ve never really accepted that she is in fact 85, as she has the disposition of someone twenty years younger.
That was until very recently, as she has now been told that she needs a reasonably simple operation. This realisation that something is wrong seems to be playing on her mind. She has become a bit introspective and quiet and has mentioned the phrase “if I live until Christmas” several times. Her lightness of spirit is somehow diminished and I can now see her as she is - an 85 year old lady with a medical condition.
She has suddenly become an old lady and I now fear for her future.
September 4th, 2006
Written By: chris
I came across this article about how scientists are trying to halt the ageing process.
It was interesting to see that a plastic surgeon is hoping to cash in on a potentially huge market by offering patients a therapy based on human growth hormone, that he claims reverses the aging process. After all very few of us want to die. Most of us would chose to live for as long as possible as long as the quality of life is there too.
The article got me thinking about my own attitudes, though. Why do I go the gym, or swim, four or five times a week? To be honest I have never really analysed it. I have always assumed that it is a good thing to do as it makes me fitter and healthier (hopefully).
Am I trying to stay youthful for longer? Probably not, as I know that is a lost cause already, but I am trying to stay as fit, alert and active for as long as possible. I truly believe that if you have adopted an active and energetic lifestyle throughout your life, then you will probably be active and fit in your later years.
This should increase the number of years where there is both quantity and quality of life. At least I hope so.
I am reminded of a patient I saw in the Cardiology department that I worked in. He had chest pains and needed an exercise stress test to rule out the possibility of it being cardiac in origin. He was in his late sixties and had the physique of someone at least thirty years younger.
He had walked three miles to the hospital for his test. During the exercise tolerance test he reached almost the maximum speed and incline, which very few people of any age can attain. He then walked the three miles back home again.
Needless to say his heart was completely healthy - he must have strained a muscle doing all his press ups and sit ups.
So when I go to the gym or plough up and down the swimming pool, I want to be like him. I want to be as fit and healthy as him in my late sixties.
Maybe then I can have a few more extra years with a good quality of life.
August 31st, 2006
Written By: chris
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