Posted by Editor | Comments Off on Sleep Like Sleeping Beauty

Sleep Like Sleeping Beauty

5 Tricks to Getting a Good Snooze at Night

Ever gone to bed promising yourself that you’ll sleep at 10 PM, only to stay up the whole night watching your favourite series? Well, if you find yourself doing this regularly, all the while complaining about feeling groggy the next day, then you’re not practising good sleep hygiene. Observing proper hygiene is crucial for getting a good night’s sleep, and here’s how you can do just that:

Sleep and Wake Up the Same Time Everyday

Waking up the same time every single day helps in stabilizing your circadian rhythm. This means you’ll also start feeling sleepy the same time every night, thereby normalizing your sleeping pattern. Health experts even advise to avoid extending your sleep, as it’ll only make you feel more tired later in the day. So turn off your snooze button, and just get up and start your day.

Adjust the Temperature in Your Bedroom

Adjusting your bedroom environment is part of proper sleep hygiene. One way of doing is to by lowering your room temperature, since a drop in body temperature help in inducing sleep. The ideal temperature is between 15 to 19 degrees centigrade. If it’s too cool for you, set your AC to a temperature that’d still prevent heat build-up at night.

Keep Your Bed Space Quiet and Dark

Along with lowering the temperature in your room, this is another way of adjusting your bedroom environment. External disturbances like bright lights and noise will just keep you up and about. Sleep specialists even say that people slept earlier during the time before electricity was discovered. So when it’s time for your hit the sack, ensure that you put the lights out and turn the radio or TV off.

Use Your Bed for Sleeping Purposes Only

Your bed should be a furniture piece that you’ll only use for sleeping – no other activities, such as reading or eating should done on it. If you wake in the middle of the night, get out of your bed and read. Just ensure that you only read a book, and just go back to bed when you’re feeling sleepy again.

Get Rid of the Blue Light

The blue light emanating from the screen of your phone is notorious for slowing melatonin production, which is essential for helping you sleep. To lessen its effect, wear eyeglasses that cancel out these blue glares. You can also put your phone on night shift mode, but the most ideal option is to just put your gadgets away.

Getting a good snooze at night won’t only make you look good in the morning, it’ll also help you focus more at work. So get the good shut-eye that you deserve by simply putting the aforementioned tips to work.

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Posted by Editor | Comments Off on What Can You Get from Whole Wheat Food?

What Can You Get from Whole Wheat Food?

Most of the diet regimen you might have read about almost always included whole grain and fiber, but do you know what can get from such food?

What is whole grain and refined grain?

Grain refers to food made from wheat, oats, corn, rice, and other related cereals. Whole grain contains all three major parts of a kernel, such as the germ, bran, and endosperm, which are high in nutrients. Whole grain for some people are less tasty than refined grain and have a shorter shelf-life.

Refined grain on the other hand, refers to grains that have been milled or ground into meal or flour to remove the bran or the germ in the kernels. Some refined grains are fortified with the missing vitamins and minerals, but still retain the fine texture and longer shelf-life.

What are the nutrients found in whole grain?

Whole grain food contains fiber, B vitamins (riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, and folate), iron, magnesium, and selenium. Although the nutrient content will vary based on the type of grain, the dietary fiber is the most important benefit you can get from the food. It will help individuals who are trying to lose weight and keep their blood glucose levels and blood pressure manageable.

How do I find whole grain food?

Some food manufacturers label their wheat products as whole wheat even if they’re not, so make sure to look at the list of ingredients and the food nutrition label (look for the “nutrition facts” table).

A whole grain food should have “whole grain” listed first and the dietary fiber included in the nutrition label. Some products will also include a “heart check” seal, which indicates that the food has limited trans fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.

What is dietary fiber?

Dietary fiber cannot be digested, but will help your body reduce bad cholesterol. It can either be soluble or insoluble and can hold excess water, help digestion, redistribute fat, cut inflammation markers, and reduce LDL cholesterol. Some dietary fiber sources, however, are high in saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar, so read the labels thoroughly.

What are the examples of whole grain?

Some examples of whole grain include whole wheat, brown rice, whole grain barley, wild rice, whole grain corn, oatmeal, whole oats, whole rye, freekeh, buckwheat, bulgur, quinoa, and whole wheat couscous.

The amount of grains your body needs will depend on your age and calorie needs. For example, a 2,000-calorie diet requires 25 grams of fiber daily, so the grains in your diet must be at least one-half whole grains.

What are gluten intolerance and celiac disease?

Unfortunately, not everyone is supposed to eat whole wheat, because of gluten intolerance and celiac disease. The former refers to an individual’s sensitivity to gluten found in most grain products. On the other hand, celiac disease, which is different from gluten intolerance, will cause the body to attack the small intestine that absorbs nutrients from whole wheat food.

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Posted by Editor | Comments Off on What Happens if You Have Iron Deficiency

What Happens if You Have Iron Deficiency

To understand what the lack of iron does to the body, you should remember its roles in the body. The most important thing to keep in mind is that iron is vital for blood production, oxygen transportation, energy metabolism, and immune function. At least a quarter of the iron in the body is stored in cells and circulated in the blood, which means that if the iron level is low, hemoglobin level is also low. Oxygen transfer to the tissues is inadequate. This condition then leads to iron deficiency, or a worse condition called iron deficiency anemia.

Iron Deficiency Anaemia

This is a common type of anemia especially for women who still have their menstruation. Usually a person with anemia experiences frequent fatigue, cold hands and feet, weakness, pale skin, headache, lightheadedness, dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, inflammation, brittle nails, dry and damaged skin and hair, poor appetite, restless legs, swelling or soreness of the mouth or tongue, frequent infections, anxiety, and unusual cravings.

Some of these symptoms may be mistaken for other conditions, so make sure to get a proper checkup to determine if you have another undiagnosed illness. Restless legs is a syndrome that is usually most obvious at night. The person experiences at urge to move the leg even at rest because of a tingling or crawling sensation.

Sometimes iron deficiency anemia is caused by the body’s inability to absorb iron. If this is the case, supplements will not be enough. Disorders such as celiac disease can affect not only how nutrients are absorbed in the body but the accumulation of the unused nutrients can also cause various other symptoms.

Iron Requirements and Sources

Iron level requirements is about 1.8 milligrams daily, but not all of it is used by the body. Although you can supplement your iron intake with ferrous sulfate tablets, you also need to have enough vitamin C to help your body absorb and use that iron.

The following are iron-rich food that you must include in your diet:

• Fish, shellfish, mussels, clams
• Chicken, turkey, beef, pork, veal, lamb, liver, and any red meat
• Green leafy vegetables, tofu, bean sprouts, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, corn, beets, peas
• Grapefruit, kiwi, oranges, melons, strawberries, tangerines
• Iron-fortified pasta, bread, and cereals

Some food may inhibit iron absorption, so you might want to limit your consumption of coffee and tea. Instead, eat more dairy and whole grain food to help your body absorb and use iron. Supplements might help, but you should keep in mind that there can be unpleasant side effects such as diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, nausea, and stomach pains.

Infants are recommended to drink only breast milk until 2 years of age. If the parents are unable to do so, however, iron-fortified formula is a good substitute. Toddlers should be fed pureed meat and fortified cereals at least twice daily.

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Posted by Editor | Comments Off on Everything You Need to Know About Placebo Sleep

Everything You Need to Know About Placebo Sleep

Having a hectic schedule and a really stressful routine can easily impact your sleep, the lack of which can lead to sleep deprivation and take a toll on your health. But here’s something that will change the way you go about your routine: if you haven’t slept a wink, you might just get through the day by convincing yourself that you rested well the night before.

This is known as “placebo sleep”, which a recent study has shown can improve the cognitive functions of participants regardless of whether they actually had enough rest.

What is the placebo effect?

The placebo effect is simply believing that something is effective, even when it isn’t, can actually have an effect. One case for this is with ordinary sugar pills and gel caps administered to patients who are told that it’s medicine, and their symptoms are shown to improve after some time.

A similar effect can be applied to sleep. You can convince yourself that you’re better rested by simply focusing on the hours of rest that you’ve actually had rather than the ones you missed.  There are other ways you can focus on the placebo effect with, like the following:  

• Changing your outlook – Adopting a positive attitude towards life can improve your overall health, since it encourages you to take better care of yourself.
• Staying active – Just like positive thinking, simply convincing yourself that you have

But while the placebo effect is real, and have positive effects, the question is: should you do it regularly or use it to go on less sleep for an extended period? Probably not.

Simply counting on the placebo effect to substitute for sleep doesn’t guarantee that your body will shrug off stress. In fact, it’s more likely that the effects of deprivation will continue to mount and have a negative impact not just on your body, but also on your overall routine.  

Improving your sleep quality

The best way to make sure you have the energy is simply getting the rest your body needs. Instead of relying only on the placebo effect and tricking yourself about being well-rested, try these tips to make sure you’re definitely well-rested:

• Be consistent. Being in sync with your body’s circadian rhythm makes it easier for you to fall asleep and wake up.
• Sleep at an earlier time. If you’re used to staying up late, sleeping fifteen minutes earlier is a good way to start.
• Stay hydrated. Drinking enough water reduces fatigue and gives you a much-needed boost for brain power and energy.
• Keep your room dark. Bright lights can interfere with the natural sleep cycle, and makes it take longer for you to sleep.

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Six Ways to Defeat Bird Flu

On January 20, 2014, China conveyed that there were two people who died from H7N9. H7N9 is a strain of bird flu and it was first noticed in China. Following the death of two people from China, MOH (Ministry of Health) assures the public that there is a low risk of bird flu outbreak here. Furthermore, MOH said that there is no indication of unremitting human-to-human transmission.

MOH simply pointed out that the circulation of the virus is increasing especially during the cold months. The increasing circulation can also be attributed to the mass movement and escalation of poultry production. People should expect more cases in the following months. Singaporeans should not be worried because MOH is closely coordinating with WHO (World Health Organization) to monitor and assess the situation.

To defeat bird flu, MOH is advising the general public to be vigilant and consider the following ways to eradicate the virus:

• Proper hygiene: If you practice proper hygiene, you will surely shun the virus. You can begin by taking a bath every day.
• Frequent hand washing: Apart from taking a bath, you need to practice proper and frequent hand washing. Wherever you go, you should always wash your hands.
• Avoid people with respiratory infections: You know that respiratory infections (like coughing) are contagious. It is best to avoid people suffering from it.
• Avoid interaction with animals, poultry and other birds: Bird flu comes from poultry and livestock. It is best to avoid interacting with them. When you touch them, quickly and thoroughly wash your hands.
• Wear mask: If you are experiencing cough and fever after or while travelling, you should wear a mask right away and go see your doctor. Wearing mask will prevent the spreading of the virus.
• Proper food handling: You are always reminded by government agencies to observe and practice proper food handling. Do not consume spoiled meats & eggs. More importantly, cook it well.

 

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Types of Overgrowth Syndrome

Have you heard about the overgrowth syndrome? According to doctors, overgrowth syndrome is so rare that it only occurs in 3 out of 1000 babies. There is a toddler in Malaysia that has this disease. The 13 month old toddler has been diagnosed with overgrowth syndrome and his parents were so worried about his condition because it hindered the movements and activities of the kid.

Every day, the toddler gains weight which alarms his parents. Though this condition is rare, it is still important that you know about overgrowth syndrome in case you have friends or relatives with that condition. Overgrowth syndrome, like any condition is a burden to the patient. Generally, overgrowth syndrome is a genetic disorder that is characterized by irregular increase in size. You should know that there are different overgrowth syndromes so it is essential that you let your doctor diagnose it. Here are some overgrowth syndrome:

• Parkes Weber syndrome – The characteristic of Parkes Weber syndrome is its malformations underneath the skin which can result to flush of the affected limb.
• Soto syndrome – One of the characteristics of Soto syndrome is mental retardation. You will know if the kid is suffering from Soto syndrome by looking at him/her because you will notice that these kids have eminent facial features like prominent jaw, broad forehead and malar flushing.
• Weaver syndrome – The characteristics of Weaver syndrome include bone maturation, mental retardation, deformities, hernia and bone maturation .
• Klippel-trenaunay-weber syndrome – One of the characteristics of Klippel-trenaunay-weber is the enlargement of the cutaneous hemangioata. The kid will suffer hypertrophy especially in his/her soft tissues and bones.
• Bannayan-riley-ruvalcaba syndrome – One of the characteristics of Bannayan-riley-ruvalcaba syndrome include skin or dermatological problems. The doctor will see if the patient has peseudopallidema and lipomas.
• Proteus syndrome – The characteristics of Proteus syndrome include unequal growth, irregular adipose tissue and other vascular deformities.
• Beckwith-wiedemann syndrome – The characteristics of Beckwith-wiedemann syndrome include gigantism, hypoglycaemia and macroglossia. This type of overgrowth syndrome is commonly associated with childhood cancers.
• Hemihyperplasia – Hemihyperplasia was commonly known as hemihypertrophy. Its characteristics include unequal growth of the kid. The unequal growth will cover other one or more regions of one’s body.
• Silver-russel syndrome – The characteristics of Silver-russel syndrome include low birth weight, short stature, broad forehead, thin mouth and small chin.

It is crucial that the doctor identifies the specific overgrowth syndrome so proper treatment and care will be considered and given. If you noticed unusual growth in your kid, it is essential that you get the insights of the doctor right away. Dealing with any of overgrowth syndrome is not easy but it is necessary. If you have a kid or a  friend dealing with such conditions, they will need your help in coping. The least thing that you can do is be with him/her, encourage and pray for him/her.

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