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| HEALTH & FITNESS |
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Healthy skin can improve your looks
Beware of fast changes in glasses’ number
Health Notes
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Healthy skin can improve your looks Beauty is not just skin-deep. It is linked to your health. With the work environment getting increasingly competitive, the need to appear well-groomed has assumed a lot of importance. However, the fast pace of life today leaves little time for personal grooming, forcing people to turn to professionals for improving their looks. Oily skin
Oily skin ages more gracefully and does not wrinkle as easily as dry skin. Always use a mild liquid cleanser, preferably a foaming one, formulated for oily skin twice a day. Choose an oil-free light moisturiser if necessary. Use oil-free foundation and oil-free sunscreen only. Do not over-use powder to mop up oil — your skin will look chalky. Combination skin
Combination skin tends to be oily around the so-called T-zone and dry around the perimeter of the face. Choose cleansers for combination skin. They are formulated to be gentle on dry spots and tougher on the T-zone. Dry skin
In India, the harsh sun and pollution make the skin dry and rough. Use mild moisturising soaps and put on a rich moisturiser immediately after bath to lock in the moisturising soaps and put on a rich moisturiser immediately after bath to lock in the moisture. The most important thing that will take care of your dryness is the use of sunscreen on all the exposed areas, i.e. face, neck, hands and forearms. Use a sunscreen even if you are indoors. Most sunscreens work only for three to four hours, and therefor, it is important to use it at 8 a.m., 12 noon and 4 pm daily. Facials
A facial is one of the most common ways of refreshing your skin. Facials deep-cleanse, rehydrate and rejuvenate the skin. A lot of skin problems can be prevented and reduced with regular facials. They are useful as a mild treatment to take care of skin blemishes, dry skin and, of course, wrinkles. Advantages of facials *The skin is deeply and thoroughly cleaned. *Provides in-depth moisture. *The steam during a facial not only provides moisture to the skin but also improves circulation by dilating the blood vessels. It also helps melt the oil and grime clogging up the pores. *It enhances the good effects of the products used by increasing their penetration. lIt increases and improves natural cellular regeneration. *It rejuvenates the skin by aiding in faster cell renewal. *The gentle and rhythmic strokes of the massage during a facial relaxes the muscles. The face has over 120 muscles. Research has shown that even low-grade stress can strain these muscles leading to early wrinkling. Therefore, muscle relaxation is very important in order to delay wrinkles. There are different kinds of facials offered by professional salons. The facial most suitable for you will depend on your skin type, your lifestyle, your constitution, approximate metabolic balance, etc. A facial is beneficial only if it is done in a scientific manner. It is, therefore, extremely important that you get a facial done by fully qualified, experienced personnel in completely hygienic surroundings. Clean-ups
Clean-ups are prophylactic and basically help your skin remain clean, healthy and youthful. It cleanses, exfoliates and moisturises the skin. Like a facial, it should be undertaken once a month. Clean-ups are basically advised for those between the ages of 15 and 25 years. Advantages *Provides deep and thorough cleansing. Provides gentle exfoliation and improved cell renewal leading to healthier skin. *Clears the skin of blackheads and whiteheads — the starting points of ugly, infected pimples — which may leave scars and blemishes. This should be done with a vacuum apparatus which is gentle and leaves no infection or blemishes. The writer is Chief Dermatologist, Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation,
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Reduce weight to fight low back pain Obese individuals are not only at the risk of suffering from hypertension, diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease but are also likely to have low back pain (especially lumbar spine), joint pain, muscle pain, etc. Women with a waist measurement of more than 35 inches and males with a measurement of more than 40 inches are at a greater risk of low back pain. The spine is designed to carry the body’s weight and distribute the load encountered during rest and activity. When excess weight is carried (as in obese individuals), the spine is forced to assimilate the burden which may lead to structural compromise and damage — injury, sciatica, etc. Extra weight around the abdomen/belly pulls the pelvis forward, thereby straining the low back. Obesity leads to fatigue and difficulty in breathing during short periods of exercise. Sedentary lifestyle leads to poor flexibility and weak muscles in the abdomen, back and the pelvic area. These causes back strain and abnormal tilt. Weak back muscles increase the load on the spine, causing disc compression. Arthritis of the spine can be aggravated when extra body weight strains the back. It has been observed that mostly obese people with a back problem believe that they should avoid all exercises in an effort to protect their back from further injury. However, in reality, inactivity and lack of exercise can actually increase the pain and worsen the existing problem. These patients are unaware that gentle exercises stimulate healing by increasing the flow of nutrients within the spine. This is especially important for low back patients suffering from a disc problem. Physical activity causes the discs to swell with water and then squeeze it out. This causes an exchange of nutrients between the disc and the other spinal structures. When a patient does not undertake physical activity, the spinal discs are deprived of the nutrients, causing discs to degenerate. There is an improvement in the metabolism when a person is doing aerobic exercises but the fat reduction starts in the body while exercising at a target heart rate for about 20 to 30 minutes continuously. To calculate the target heart rate, one is required to subtract one’s age from 220, the maximum heart rate at birth. The target heart rate is 60 to 80 per cent of the maximum heart rate. For beginners, particularly those in a poor physical shape, initial aerobic training using 50 per cent of the maximum heart rate is recommended for the first few weeks or months before they can start burning off fat. The following exercises help in conditioning and strengthening the muscles that support the spinal column. These exercises should preferably be done after cardiovascular exercises — walking, cycling, etc. Exercise that aggravates the pain should immediately be stopped. Pelvic tilt: Lie back with the knees bent. Flatten the small of the back against the floor by squeezing the stomach. Holding for a count of 10 and repeat it five times. Hamstring stretch: Lying on the back, bend one hip holding the thigh so that the knee points towards the ceiling. Now move the foot towards the ceiling, feeling the stretch on the back of the thigh. Hold for a count of 20. Repeat it thrice. Knees to chest: Lying on the back with knees bent, pull both knees towards the chest. Hold for a count of 10. Slowly return to the starting position. Repeat it 10 times. Partial curl: Lying on the back with the knees bent and the hands on the opposite shoulders. Slowly raise the head and the shoulders off the floor. Return back and repeat it 10 to 15 times. Lumbar spine stretch: Start it on the hands and the knees like a four-legged animal. Move back on the heels and stretch the arms in front as far as possible. Stay for a count of five and return. Repeat it 10 times. Managing weight reduction through diet and exercise not only reduces the existing back pain but can also prevent any back problem in the future. The writer is a former doctor and physiotherapist, Indian cricket team.
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Beware of fast changes in glasses’ number Not many people know that a rapid change in the number of glasses could be due to a condition known as keratoconus. Especially so, if the change involves the cylindrical number (Astigmatism). Rapid changes are usually due to the alteration in the curve of the front part of the eye, the cornea. This forward bowing of the cornea is known as keratoconus. Cornea is the clear central part of the eye covering the brown iris. An early diagnosis can be made with the help of new scanning devices like Pentacam. A routine examination, however, would miss the diagnosis at an early stage. Pentacam is also an excellent tool to monitor the progress of the disease and to identify changes. This optical, non-contact painless camera captures images of the eye and uses a specialised software to prepare “height” maps of the cornea whereby any area which is beginning to become cone-shaped or keratoconus-like is detected. A two-pronged strategy is recommended for the management of keratoconus. First to improve the vision with glasses, contact lens or eye transplant and second to stabilise it. In early keratoconus cases, the vision can be improved to normal with glasses. However, there may be a high cylindrical number. As the disease progresses, the glasses fail to correct the vision satisfactorily. In such advanced cases a rigid contact lens can be used to improve the functional vision. However fitting these lenses is difficult and time-consuming, and the lenses may not be very comfortable. Most importantly, these lenses do not halt the progression of keratoconus. Soft contact lenses have a limited role in such cases. Further progression of keratoconus makes it impossible to fit a contact lens and the thinning of the cornea is associated with tears and scarring near the apex of the cornea leading to permanent visual disability. A corneal transplant is the only help at this state. The procedure, known as penetrating keratoplasty, involves removing a central portion of the cornea called a button from the diseased cornea and replacing it with a button taken from a normal donor cornea. However, the limited availability of good quality donor corneas in our country is a severe constraint for this procedure. In addition, long-term studies show that keratoconus can recur even after a successful corneal transplant. There is, however, a ray of hope for keratoconus patients now. Researchers in Germany and Switzerland have developed a new technique whereby the progression of the disease can be halted and even regressed in some cases with the use of a special dye and specific radiation. The revolutionary Keratoconus treatment is known as C3R (Corneal Collagen Cross linking with Riboflavin). As in all procedures, it works best in early stages. For an early diagnosis a comprehensive topographic analysis is a must. The single biggest advantage is the fact that it halts the progression of keratoconus which can be a visually debilitating disease. Luckily, this facility is available in Chandigarh. The writer is CEO, Grewal Eye Institute, Chandigarh
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Health Notes LONDON: Diabetics around the world could soon be freed of painful insulin injections, after boffins have invented an artificial pancreas to do the job. The device, which has been developed by Cambridge University researchers, uses a pager-sized pump and a high-tech sensor to top up levels of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, which is vital for the conversion of sugar into energy. Sufferers of type 1 diabetes are unable to produce any insulin and rely on a series of daily injections to keep their blood sugar levels under control. The artificial pancreas, along with replacing insulin injections, could also reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and blindness, all of which are made more likely by big fluctuations in glucose levels. “Research shows blood glucose control is the most important predictor of the devastating complications of diabetes. Achieving good blood glucose control dramatically lowers the risk of serious complications, by as much as 75 per cent for some problems,” the Daily Mail quoted Karen Addington, of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the charity funding the trial, as saying.
— ANI
Fever actually helps the
body fight infections
LONDON: A new research by boffins at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, US, has found that trying to combat fevers with drugs and cold compresses may not be such a good thing after all. The researchers, led by Sharon Evans, found that not only do fevers disrupt the ability of viruses that thrive at body temperature to multiply, but they also aid the body’s immune system to identify an infection, and raise an army of white blood cells (lymphocytes) against it. Sharon Evans said that while the researchers were not as yet advising against the use of cold compresses or drugs to break a fever, the results of the study had raised serious questions of how beneficial are fevers to the body. “We’re not advising against cooling fevers, but our results raise questions about the advantages of lowering temperature. We have found a physiological mechanism for improved immune surveillance,” New Scientist quoted her, as saying.
— ANI
Teens handle hangovers better than adults
LONDON: Hangovers hit older people harder, a new research conducted in the UK has found. Scientists have shown that teenagers have a greater resistance to alcohol, and not only are they less clumsy and sleepy on the night itself, they do not suffer as much the next day. It is thought that the adolescent brain, which develops rapidly during the teenage years, copes better with the intoxicating effects of alcohol. Although, it has been found that teenagers can handle hangovers more easily than older people, researchers said that their brain is much more vulnerable to alcohol damage.
— ANI
Electric shocks during sleep give memory a boost
LONDON: A small study conducted by German researchers shows that a gentle electric current, when applied to the brain during sleep, helps boost memory significantly. Jan Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany says that students who were administered half an hour of brain stimulation with electric current while in deep sleep, showed an improvement of about 8 per cent in their performance at a verbal memory task, during the study. The researchers say that the approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep.
— ANI
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