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This is why your cycle gets messed up when you travel

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , , ,

If your period has ever come super early or not at all while traveling, you’re not imagining things. Whether you’re crossing several time zones or waking up at the crack of dawn to catch the first flight of the morning, heads up: Any kind of travel can affect the two primary hormones—melatonin and cortisol—that control your cycle. “Even subtle changes to your daily pattern — waking up early one day and then sleeping late the next — can have a small effect on your melatonin levels,” Dr. Anita Mitra, an NHS gynaecologist, told…

7 drinks you need to stop buying now

Loknath Das, , , , , , ,

1. Fruit juice Despite what the packaging may tell you, this does NOT provide an easy and convenient way to get in one or two of your 5-a-day. Most shop-bought fruit juices are pasteurised (essentially boiled), which destroys a lot of the valuable nutrients, whilst concentrating the sugars. The juice is also extracted from the whole fruit, leaving behind the fibrous part of the fruit that helps to slow sugar absorption into the blood. 2. Fizzy drinks This is an obvious one, but did you know that just one can…

Dear senior citizens, bi-weekly exercise can improve thinking ability, memory

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , ,

Exercising twice a week may improve thinking ability and memory in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), suggests a recent study. Researchers explained that people with MCI have milder symptoms like they struggle to complete complex tasks or have difficulty in understanding information they have read, whereas people with dementia have trouble with daily tasks, such as dressing, bathing and eating. Mild cognitive impairment is a medical condition that is common with ageing. While it is linked to problems with thinking ability and memory, it is not the same as…

For a healthy heart and long life, munch on a variety of nuts everyday

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you’re looking for superfoods to remain healthy, this is it. Include nuts in your diet plan. Eating five weekly servings of walnuts, peanuts or other kinds of tree nuts was linked to a 14% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 20% lower risk of fatal complications due to hardened arteries, said the report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Walnuts appeared to be the healthiest option, according to the findings, based on more than 210,000 people who answered regular surveys as part of a nurses’ study that spanned…

We give people their humanity back’: inside Croatia’s pioneering mental health centre

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , , , ,

High walls still surround the oldest asylum in the Balkans, an 18th-century building pocked with the artillery scars of last century’s civil war, but the gates are no longer locked. Handles have been replaced on internal doors and bars removed from windows. “The jail,” said Darko Kovaoic, a 53-year-old poet with schizophrenia who lives here, “has broken open.” The institution in Osijek, eastern Croatia, is run by Ladislav Lamza, a former social worker who is taking on the government, the health minister, and his own staff to transform the lives of…

‘Our political issues must not affect health care’

Loknath Das, , , , , , ,

Sylvana Sinha, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, hopes to build a series of primary health-care centres with diagnostic facilities and pathological laboratories, called Praava Healthcare. Praava recently entered into an agreement with Narayana Hrudayalaya, based in Bengaluru. The mission, she tells The Hindu, is to have India’s neighbours cooperate and provide health care to millions in the process. Excerpts. Bangladesh’s health indicators have been better than most of South Asia for years. Where do you think the country lags? It is true that Bangladesh is doing better than any other country…