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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Food and Mood

Many people have long believed that eating certain foods can influence a person’s mood— at least temporarily. Food that enters the body goes to make the constituent parts of the brain, is turned into the neurochemical messengers that make the brain operate and provides the energy for the brain to function. These neurochemical messengers are called as neurotransmitters. Apart from food, neurotransmitters are affected by many other factors, such as hormones, heredity, drugs, and alcohol. Three neurotransmitters-dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin-have been studied in relation to food, and this research has shown that neurotransmitters are produced in the brain from components of certain foods.

People are more alert when their brains are producing the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, while serotonin production in the brain has been associated with a more calming effect (and even drowsiness in some people). A stable brain serotonin level is associated with positive mood. Women have a greater sensitivity to changes in the brain serotonin levels. Mood swings during the menstrual cycle and menopause are majorly due to hormonal changes that influence the production of serotonin.

The foods that increase the production of serotonin in the brain are the ones high in carbohydrates. This explains the drowsiness that sets in the afternoon after eating a large meal of pasta, rice, sweets, breads etc. Carbohydrates affect brain serotonin because they increase the levels of tryptophan in the brain. Tryptophan is an amino-acid and is the precursor of serotonin.

We the CMS Data Bank trying to help you, through our exclusive database of specialist doctor. We suggest you to take advice of specialist doctors near you. You can visit our website www.cmsdatabank.com/healthcare or you can call our Patients Help line Number 0129-6542356. We will help be happy to help you.

………………………After all health is wealth………………………..

Healthy family fitness activities

While we're all leading busy lives, it can be hard to fit in family time, let alone time to exercise. Instead of trying to juggle the two, why not merge them together? We've put together some family fitness activities that will help you to bond as well as keeping everyone fit and healthy! Try out some of these healthy family fitness activities:

So how can you fit in time for fitness and time for the family when you have so little time on your hands? The answer is to combine the two: healthy family activities. With a little planning and organisation, you can enjoy time with your family and maintain yours and your family’s health and fitness at the same time. Think this is easier said than done? Then check out our top 10 healthy family activities, which is full of fun family fitness ideas, including sporting activities and non-sporting healthy alternatives.

Healthy family fitness activities: Sporting activities for the family

Getting the family involved in sport is a guaranteed way of improving everyone’s fitness – so why not try out some of the following sport-orientated family fitness suggestions?

Healthy family fitness activity 1: Swimming with the family. Swimming is always a sure-fire hit with the kids. In fact the difficulty is persuading them to get out of the pool. Swimming is an excellent family activity because it’s great fun and everyone can participate at their own level. Also, because it is a weight-supported exercise, it is ideal if impact activities are unsuitable for you or you have an injury. An hour swimming can burn up to 300 calories as well as build your upper-body strength and it also gives your heart, lungs and all the major muscle groups in your body a good workout.

Healthy family fitness activity 2: Family cycling. Increasingly there are more and more safe cycling routes available with areas that are traffic-free for family-friendly cycling. Even if your children are too young to control a bike on their own, you can buy child seats or attachments that link their bike to yours so that you can all enjoy a session together. The final bonus is that cycling is a fun way to shift the pounds because it burns between 200 and 800 calories per hour! Off-road cycling is the best because you recruit a greater range of muscles to cope with the challenge of the uneven terrain.

Healthy family fitness activity 3: Orienteering with the family. Take a compass, a map, and a wide variety of courses that cater for every level of fitness and age group, and you have all the ingredients for a great family activity. You can walk, jog or run an orienteering course, which will help to maintain your fitness and the sport is very family-friendly as it has different events designed for children, teenagers and adults. For an introduction to the sport, try an orienteering courses where children particularly enjoy the ‘hide and seek’ element.

Healthy family fitness activity 4: Indoor games for the family. Badminton, ten-pin bowling and table-tennis (to name just three) are all activities that everyone in the family can have a go at – and booking an hour or two at your local sports centre won’t break the bank either. As the children get older, you could organise mini tournaments and head-to-heads – where the competition is certain to provide you with a quality workout!

Healthy family fitness activity 5: Family activity holidays. Nowadays, there is a growing trend for the traditional beach holiday to be supplemented by something a little more dynamic and adventurous that involves sport and/or other activities. The opportunity to experience a new sport without compromising family time is ideal –and with the wide range of sports now on offer, there will be something for everyone. Water sports, trekking or even daily excursions are more beneficial and healthy than sun-lounger-type breaks – plus they are more enjoyable family activities.

We the CMS Data Bank have the list of top doctors of India. We suggest you a specialist doctor near you. You can visit our website www.cmsdatabank.com/healthcare or you can call our Patients Help line Number 0129-6542356. We will help be happy to help you.

After all health is wealth

Mental Health -Sleep Talking

Sleep Talking, Sleep Terrors and Nightmares are different types of sleep disorders, medically called Parasomnias. A Parasomnia is described as an unpleasant sleep episode that manifests as talking, walking or just suffering a terrible dream.

Sleep talking or somniloquy points to a word, set of words or sentences uttered during sleep. In most cases, sleep talking begins in deep sleep also called as NREM sleep. Of course this varies between individuals and some are known to talk during REM sleep. The causative factors of sleep talking point towards stress and ill health. Apart from it being a nuisance to others sharing the room, sleep talking is not much cause for worry.

Sleep Terrors generally strike during the initial phase of sleep. Also called as night terrors, it may begin unexpectedly with a loud and frightened scream. The victims may also sweat profusely and experience palpitations. Mostly occurring during the third and fourth phase of NREM sleep, night terrors are also known to dawn at any time in the night. Generally no memory of the night terror exists, though there could be a few exceptions.

Nightmare disorders are scary dreams that occur during REM sleep which causes the victim to wake up completely. Some victims experience sweating and palpitations. While victims may not recall the experience of night terror, night mares have an opposite effect on the victim. Not only do they completely wake up from their sleep, they are also able to distinctly recall the nightmarish episode. Thankfully, nightmares are infrequent and in cases where it is not, medical attention is advised.

After all health is wealth

Get your kids active through exercise

It’s never been more important to get children active. The use of the internet and computer games, combined with increased car usage and parental concerns about allowing children out alone, has resulted in lower levels of activity in children – which could potentially set them up for health problems later in life. That's why kids need to get more active. Here are some top tips on getting your kids active through exercise.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are plenty of activities that the whole family can get involved in which the kids will love (and parents too!). These will set a great example and contribute to keeping your children fit, active, and most importantly, healthy.

Get kids active through exercise 1: Make it fun

The most important thing to remember when choosing activities to do with your kids is to keep the activities fun, otherwise you’ll turn their interest levels down to a minimum. For example: children might turn down the suggestion of taking a scenic woodland walk but if you combine the walk with a list of things for them to search for, identify and collect, suddenly they’ll become more interested, and that boring old walk will take on a completely different focus for them. Similarly, children love any sort of game, so an easy way to get them active is to make a game out of a particular healthy activity, plus they won’t even realise that they’re exercising!

Get kids active through exercise 2: How to use this guide

To help you choose suitable activities for your children’s ages, each activity is categorised into one of three children’s age groups:

· Activities for younger children

· Activities for older children

· Activities for younger and older children

Simply browse through the ideas below and select ones that are best suited to your children’s ages.

………………………After all health is wealth………………………..

Benefits Organic Foods

The industrial revolution and modernization has been at the cost of Mother Nature. Modern man has contaminated both the soil and the atmosphere, giving rise to the 'greenhouse effect' that is hreatening to destroy our planet.

The current fad for organic food is more than just hype. Today it is a common practice for farmers to liberally make use of pesticide sprays and fertilisers in order to improve the crop yields. The effect of this 'chemical cocktail' has been held responsible, among other factors, for the increase in the global incidence of cancer.

A group of people, who felt very strongly, about the long- term effects of these tampered food, started to grow what is now called, “organic” food. Described as “wholesome goodness”, organic foods are produced by natural methods, and therefore considered nutritious and safe.

Organic food refers to crops grown, or products from animals reared, according to the legally-regulated standards of the country that they are sold in. Certification of organic food is required and non-certified farms cannot claim their products to be ‘organic’.

When crops are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, sewage sludge or unnatural fertilizers, and processed without the use of ionizing radiation or the addition of food additives, they are termed, ‘organic’.

Improving soil quality, or ‘feeding the soil to feed the plant’ is the bottom line of organic farming. This method of farming extracts the benefits of the cumulative effects of varied techniques. A variety of methods such as careful crop selection, use of mechanical controls, such as row covers and traps, using organic mulches and crop rotation are employed in organic farming. The farmers who carry out organic farming, also avoid the use of plant growth regulators.

Organic farmers make use of green manure and compost, besides using certain processed fertilizers, such as seed meal, mineral powders and green sand, which is a naturally occurring form of potash. Pest control employs different methods, one of which also involves the introduction of beneficial organisms that stop the proliferation of pests.

‘Organic’ animals are those that are not genetically modified, and those that are fed on organic fodder and reared without using growth hormones.

After all health is wealth