As markets take Covid-19 hit, is it time to invest?

The fear of Covid-19, more commonly referred to as novel coronavirus, spreading outside China at an alarming pace has spooked global equity markets, including the Indian equity market. The benchmark S&P 500 index which measures the stock performance of the top 500 US companies, corrected around 13% between 19 and 28 February. Taking cues from global peers, S&P BSE Sensex lost 1,448 points on 28 February alone, wiping out close to ₹5.5 trillion of investors’ wealth. Till 28 February, it had corrected 9% from its peak on 14 January 2020. On…

Read More

Matt Kuchar, social media, and stories that take on lives of their own

att Kuchar leaves Hawaii a winner, but not entirely unscathed. That’s the prevailing sentiment from a sect of golf observers, the byproduct of an accusation by a former PGA Tour player on Saturday afternoon. The match was lit at 5:08 p.m. ET; by 10, Kuchar, a beloved and venerated personality by American crowds, had come on the business end of a Twitter roasting . . . over how much he paid a fill-in caddie. Five hours is all it took. Five hours in which Kuchar was on the golf course,…

Read More

Mums, take it easy. Maternal depression may affect child’s immune system

Turns out, depression in mothers may have long-term effects on their children’s stress and physical well-being. In a new study, researchers followed 125 children from birth to 10 years. At 10 years, mother’s and children’s cortisol (CT) and secretory immunoglobulin (s-IgA)–markers of stress and the immune system–were measured, mother-child interaction was observed, mothers and children underwent psychiatric diagnoses, and children’s externalizing and internalizing symptoms were reported. Depressed mothers had higher CT and s-IgA levels and displayed more negative parenting, characterised by negative effect, intrusion, and criticism. Children of depressed mothers…

Read More

Read this before you take sleeping pills

Insomnia or sleep disturbance is the most common of all sleep disorders. Insomnia is the difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep, even when a person can sleep in. According to a report by the National Institutes of Health, it is estimated that around 30 per cent of the total general population complains about sleep disruptionand over 10 per cent have been associated with symptoms of daytime functional impairment consistently, with the diagnosis of insomnia. Treatment of insomnia depends on the severity of symptoms and underlying cause. Sleep medications are not the first line…

Read More

Wish To Keep Your Brain Healthy? Take Care Of Your Heart First

It turns out maintaining low blood pressure does not just help prevent heart attacks — it can also keep your mind sharp. Research presented Wednesday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago found that at-risk people whose blood pressure was kept lower than the recommended level had a significant reduction in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the precursor to dementia. The research was part of the federally funded Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), a large-scale, long-term clinical study that also measured the effects of lower blood pressure on cardiovascular…

Read More

Your summer Goa trip can go horribly wrong. Take these precautions

With the mercury shooting through the roof, Goa’s private lifeguard agency issued on Thursday an advisory for the hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals who head for the beaches in summer, especially in May, when the temperature in the coastal state peaks at 38-40 degrees Celsius. The advisory asks tourists to look out for rip tides and powerful underwater currents that are a major cause for drowning off beaches — a regular phenomenon in summer, while also advising swimmers and beach-goers to stay hydrated and avoid direct sunlight. “The…

Read More