7 September, 2013

Can exercise cure insomnia?

While many may tell you that tiring your body is the best way to get sleep, we delve into it to find out...

Whether this logic holds true; according to a new study, even though you might exercise and strain yourself at the gym, you needn't get sleepat night. You may need to stick with that fitness routine for a while before you see snooze-time benefits.

Constancy is the key: Exercising one single day will not improve your sleep; you need to follow this routine for at least four to five weeks for you to fall asleep better.

Exercise at a proper time: Exercising any time of the day does not help you fall asleep. Your body starts feeling tired when you exercised sometime around 5 or 6 pm, for you to fall asleep at 10 or 11 in the night.

Strenuous exercise not needed: You don't have to kill yourself sweating on the treadmill, an hour's exercise or brisk walk is enough to put you to sleep. Don't stress yourself out by doing high intensityworkouts like running or weight lifting.

Eat well for proper sleep: Exercise is not enough for a good night's rest. You also have to ensure that you have a proper meal at night to sleep well. Don't eat anything heavy because it might make you feel uncomfortable throughout the night, small meals may do wonders instead.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

07.09.2013

Indian lungs are weaker, rescue them!

Indian lungs are 30% weaker than those in the West, and Mumbai's pollution doesn't help. Here's how you can rescue them

Before the show at the multiplex begins, the sight of two hands wringing liquid tar out of a sponge makes you queasy. You are told that's what cigarette smoking does to your squishy pink pair of lungs. You feel better because you don't smoke, or you can 'control'. But it turns out you don't need to puff on cancer sticks to paint your lungs black. In a study conducted across five cities on 10,000 healthy, non-smoking individuals, Pune's Chest Research Foundation has found that we Indians have 30 per cent lower lung function as compared to Europeans, and air pollution is the villain.

Lung stung 

Our lungs literally introduce life into our system, with each of the 22,000 breaths we take in a day, pumping oxygen in, throwing carbon dioxide out, nourishing every cell of our bodies. Our lungs are so wellequipped that they can easily last us a lifetime if we don't them to hell. "But once they are damaged, it's a downhill course from there," says Dr Sundeep Salvi, who along with Dr Rahul Kodgule, helmed the study.

The lung strength of 10,000 individuals across Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Srinagar and Hyderabad, was assessed by measuring the Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (the rate at which a person exhales). Women had 30 per cent lower PEF values than men. "Such poor lung strength makes us susceptible to chronic lung diseases such as asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Caused by air pollution or smoking, COPD happens to be the leading cause of death in Maharashtra, and in India, it's second only to heart disease," says Salvi. This study perhaps corroborates what Canadian researchers had already found in an international study across 17 countries — Indians' lungs were the worst off.

Dr Pralhad Prabhudesai, Consultant Chest Physician, Lilavati Hospital, says the city has witnessed a sharp spike in respiratory illnesses. "Not just the elderly and young adults, but children too have been increasingly getting respiratory problems related to viral infections and allergies. The trick is to not turn to antibiotics, because they will only worsen the condition. Instead, bronchodilators for COPD, and inhaled steroids for asthma, work well."

Source: www.timesofindia.com

07.09.2013

One should dream of doing something instead of becoming something