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Say ‘HELLO’ to a healthy heart!

Our heart is one of the core organs of our body and it’s crucial for our well-being that we have a healthy heart. If you truly agree to this, how about going over a few tips that’ll keep your heart healthy!  Come on, let’s go over these tips.

Concentrate on the middle – Excess belly fat is directly related to higher blood pressure and unhealthy blood lipid levels. If you have extra fat around the middle, it’s time to get rid of it. Eating fewer calories and exercising regularly is the best way to do it.

Get back to hobbies – High stress levels are not good for your heart. Gardening, knitting, cooking and many such activities play a vital role in distressing yourself. Other relaxing hobbies, such as woodworking, cooking, or completing jigsaw puzzles, may also help in punching away that stress.

Move to the music – Get on the dance floor whenever possible as dancing is great activity for your heart’s health. Similar to other forms of aerobic exercise, dancing raises your heart rate and gets your lungs pumping. It also lets you stay slim and fit as dancing also burns up to 200 calories or more per hour.

Go fishing – Try to eat fish at least twice a week. Fish are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids that help in keeping heart diseases at bay. Fish like Rawas (Indian Salmon), Rohu (Roho Labeo), Bangda (Indian Mackerel) and Surmai (Indo-Pcific King Mackerel) provide the much needed Omega 3 fatty acids.

Laugh it off – Laughter is good for your heart. Watch funny videos, films or just crack jokes with your friends. A good laugh will keep your heart healthy. Laughter helps reduce stress hormones, decreases inflammation in the arteries and raises the level of high density lipoprotein which is known as ‘good cholesterol’.

Stretch it out – Yoga can help you relax and relieve stress. It also has the power to improve your heart health. It helps ward off cardiovascular diseases.

Lower salt intake – Processed food and restaurant food tends to be heavy on salt. So limit your intake fast food and limit eating out. Those with high blood pressure problems should avoid salt for a healthy heart.

Get moving – Couch potato lifestyle or even sitting in one place for long hours can have an adverse effect on your heart. It negatively affects your blood fat and blood sugar. If your work involves sitting at the desk, take short breaks to move around at regular intervals. Go for a short walk in your lunch break and exercise in your leisure time.

Get involved in housework – Vacuuming, mopping the floor and other household chores can give your heart a bit of workout. They’ll help you burn extra calories. So just play your favourite music to add some pep to your daily chores.

Get nutty – Almonds, walnuts, peacans are high on heart healthy fats, protein and fiber. Including these foods in limited quantity in your diet can help keep heart diseases away. But remember to take them in moderate quantity as nuts are high calorie food.

Pet your pet – Other than great company, pets also offer numerous health benefits. Owning and cuddling a pet may improve the health of your lungs and heart.

Take the stairs – Good exercise is important for a healthy heart. So whenever possible, avoid going up by the elevator. Take the steps instead. You can also play with your kids and pets in the park instead of watching them idly. This will prove good for a fitter heart.

Try making the above changes in your lifestyle and see the magical effects on your heart health. Live long!

Beat stress, the effective way

Being in a state of tension over a long period of time can take a toll on your mind and body. It’s very important to become aware of the warning signals of stress as multiple studies link chronic stress directly to higher risk of heart diseases, stroke, memory loss, depression, weight gain or weight loss.

The most crucial part is to realize that you are stressed to be able to do something about it. Here are some symptoms of chronic stress:

It’s very important to realise as when to calmly close your eyes and take a deep breath as we feel a rise in the tension.

Here are some ways to combat chronic stress in a very effective way:

Try to create a work – home balance – If you observe yourself spending too much time in office, readjust your calendar to a lot specific time to enjoy and have fun, either alone or with others.

Exercise regularly – Moving your body on a regular basis facilitates better blood circulation that helps in flushing out the stress hormones from your body.

Eat right, limit alcohol and stimulants – Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine seem to alleviate stress temporarily but are deterrents to a healthy mind and body in the long run. They can make stress worse. A well-nourished body copes better with stress. So have a good breakfast, include more veggies and fruits in your diet and avoid processed food. Drink plenty of water.

Be in touch with supportive people – Try to bank on good listeners. Having a face to face conversation with people can help reduce stress.

Make time for hobbies – Do you enjoy cooking, reading, listening to music or some other creative activity? Engage in activities that bring you pleasure and joy. Research has proven that indulge in healthy hobbies reduces stress by almost half.

Practise meditation or Yoga – Relaxation techniques help counter balance the stress hormones that give fight or flight signal. You can also take up a mindfulness based stress reduction course to learning effective and time tested tools of relaxation.

Get good sleep – It’s important to sleep well for 7 – 8 hours every day which will help your body to manage stress better. If you have disturbed sleep, address the cause of this disturbance and add extra relaxing activities for good sleep.

Take a vacation – It’s very important to take a break from work and daily chores. So take a vacation away from your phone and laptop and feel the new invigorated you on your return.

See a counsellor or a therapist – If negative thoughts make it impossible for you to make positive changes in your lifestyle, seek professional help from a counsellor or a therapist. A good therapist can really provide you with the necessary tools and techniques to help you keep stress at bay.

Try and work over the above tips and see your mind and body get healthier!

Smile – the best oral health is in your hands

There’s always a feeling in us that dental diagnostics and treatment is very expensive. A tooth problem not just sets in a throbbing physical pain but also a much dreaded mental ache which says – “Oh God, here comes a treatment that’s going to create a hole in my pocket!” Do you too get this feeling at times? If yes, then we have the right answer to soothe your pain. Here’s good news. Diagnopein now offers complete dental diagnostics and treatment at an affordable price.

Opting for dental treatment is a later stage when your dental/ oral health is suffering. There are ways you can avoid this treatment. Let’s see some great tips for healthy gums and teeth.

Don’t hit the sack at night without brushing your teeth – There’s a general recommendation to brush your teeth twice a day. But most of us feel lazy and neglect night time brushing. Don’t do that. Brush your teeth before going to bed at night to get rid of germs and plaque that has accumulated throughout the day.

Brush correctly – The way you brush is crucial — in fact, poorly brushing your teeth is almost as bad as not brushing at all. Take your time, moving the toothbrush in gentle, circular motions to remove plaque. If the plaque is not removed, it can harden, leading to calculus build up and gingivitis which is an early gum disease.

Clean your tongue – We might be brushing our teeth well but many of us tend to neglect tongue hygiene. Plaque tends to accumulate on the tongue too. This can lead to bad mouth dour and can cause other oral health problems. So every time you brush your teeth, make sure you gently clean your tongue with a tongue cleaner.

Use a tooth paste that has Fluoride – Remember that when it comes to tooth pastes, there are more important elements to look for than the whitening power and flavours like fluoride content. No matter which flavour or colour of toothpaste you choose, make sure it has fluoride in it. This is because fluoride fights tooth decay. It fights germs that cause tooth decay and also provides a protective layer over your teeth.

Make use of dental floss – Flossing your teeth is as important as brushing them. Many who brush regularly don’t floss. Flossing not only removes those tiny particles that are stuck in your teeth but it also stimulates the gums and helps in removing plaque. It also helps lower inflammation in the area where you floss.

Try and use mouthwash – Mouthwash helps in three ways – It reduces the amount of acid in the mouth, cleans hard-to-brush areas in and around the gums, and re-mineralizes the teeth. For more sensitive teeth, prescription mouthwashes are also available. Mouthwash also helps prevent foul mouth odour.

Drink plenty of water – Water is best for your overall health along with oral health. Drinking water after every meal can help wash out the negative effects of sticky and acidic foods and beverages in between brushing.

Limit intake of acidic and sugary foods – The sugar that you consume ultimately gets converted into acid that tends to corrode the outer enamel of your teeth. Acidic foods, teas and coffee also have the same effect on your teeth. So try and limit the consumption of such foods.

Visit your dentist once every 6 months – In our busy life, we might neglect our dental health. But it’s wiser to pay a visit to your dentist every 6 months to ensure healthy oral health.

If you follow the above tips, you’ll enjoy good oral health. In case you have any dental health issues, feel free to book an appointment with Diagnopein Diagnostics and Dental Care Services to avail excellent dental diagnosis and treatment at a price that won’t pinch your wallet.

OMICRON – the new COVID 19 variant

Omicron is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 that was first identified in COVID-19 patients in Botswana and South Africa. The WHO Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) feels that this virus had several mutations and may easily spread globally causing a severe rise in COVID cases worldwide. The biggest concern about this variant is whether it’s more infectious than other VoCs and whether it can infiltrate the vaccine protection.

Covid 19 Omicron variant has started spreading in India too. The symptoms of Omicron include weakness, tiredness, headache, low fever and pain in the throat. Scientists are still collecting data on various characteristics of this variant. However, early uncoverings from South Africa hint that Omicron may be more transmissible, while WHO has indicated that there may be increased risk of reinfection as compared to other variants. This might be true even in patients who have been previously infected with COVID 19. Experts have stated that few more weeks will be needed to understand different complicated aspects of the new variant—including the real nature of the variant’s severity, ability to transmit and to elude vaccines.

Though current vaccines may continue to fight against the Omicron variant, experts have suggested that booster doses may also be needed to tackle the new Omicron variant. Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have started gearing up to tweak their vaccines to be able to fight the new variant better. A hard and fast timeline is still uncertain, although vaccines that utilize mRNA technology can be adapted to handle the current situation more rapidly. Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines train our cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response inside our bodies. This immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if and when real virus enters our bodies. According to both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, a new shot could be developed and approved within a few weeks.

So now you must be wondering as to what is that we individuals can do protect ourselves against Omicron. Current guidance from experts suggests that the most important thing that a person can do to reduce transmission and protect themselves against the virus is to get vaccinated. Even as the entire world waits with a baited breath for more information about how effectively the current vaccines will protect against the variant, all the WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines have proven effective up to a very large extent in preventing severe illness and death due to the virus.

Remember that not only does vaccination protect us from COVID-19 infection, it protects our family, friends, neighbours and communities by putting a halt on the circulation and mutation of the virus. In order to fight Omicron variant, in addition to the vaccine, individuals should continue to follow COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions such as sanitizer (washing hands), social distancing, wearing masks, and staying away from large crowds.

Currently there’s still a lot of disparity between the vaccination rate that exist between wealthy and poorer countries. The older COVI9 19 variants along with Omicron have taught us that nobody is safe until everybody is safe. More the number of people across the world get vaccinated, safer we all will be. The best possible way to win this war against the pandemic is to show solidarity and keep working together.