YAISHWARYAJ: Health is Wealth

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Health is Wealth

Sleeping well? Five common nocturnal problems and the warnings they may be signalling

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 10:35 PM PDT

�For most of us, night is a time for rest and recuperation. But it's also the time when you might experience symptoms that are clues that things are not well. A problem with sleeping can�be a symptom in itself. General practitioners believe night sweats, for example, could be a sign of tuberculosis, teeth grinding depicts stress levels in the body and leg cramps are a result of poor diet.�HERE ARE SOME COMMON NOCTURNAL PROBLEMS AND WHAT THEY MAY MEAN�

SYMPTOM HEARTBURN�
COULD BE Barrett's Oesophagus�
��Experts says that up to 40 per cent of people have heartburn at some stage of their life and the majority have nothing wrong with them.�
��However, long-term, persistent heartburn isn't normal and should be investigated. It can lead to changes in the lining of the gullet — this is called Barrett's Oesophagus. It makes the oesophagus more resistant to acid but more prone to cancer. Regular check-ups can catch cancer early. It can also be treated with lifestyle changes to reduce acid. Many people who are troubled by heartburn get it day and night. At night, you lie flat on your back, so with no help from gravity, more acid can enter the oesophagus.�COULD ALSO BE�
Gastritis, oesophagitis,�
gastro-oesophageal�
reflux or hiatus hernia�
SEE YOUR DOC IF�
Heartburn is long term, you have difficulty swallowing, you're losing weight�
SYMPTOM TEETH��GRINDING�COULD BE STRESS�
��This is either clenching the jaw and teeth, or teeth grinding. A lot of people make so much noise with their teeth that their partner can't sleep.�
��Teeth grinding is a recognised sleep disorder — the third most common behind insomnia and snoring. There are many different causes, including stress and anxiety. Don't pop the sleeping pill, it can make things worse. However, hypnotherapy may help find the cause of the stress.�
��Other treatments include mouth guards and mandibular advancement devices, which hold the lower jaw and tongue forward. Bruxism can also be affected by lifestyle — alcohol, smoking and excessive caffeine can bring it on.�COULD ALSO BE�Linked with obstructive�sleep apnoea where you�
stop breathing at night�
SEE YOUR DOC IF�You're suffering from stress and anxiety, or have sleep apnoea. Else, see your dentist.�SYMPTOM NIGHT SWEATS�COULD BE TUBERCULOSIS�
��With TB, the body temperature tends to rise in the evening and at night, rather than during the day time. It tends to be severe — the kind of sweating where you need to change the sheets. In such a case, the body temperatures could go up to 100.4ºF.�
��However, be warned that night sweats happen with other conditions, too, so you need to check for those.�
��According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India accounts for one-fifth of the global TB incident cases. Each year nearly 2 million people in India develop TB, of which around 0.87 million are infectious cases.�COULD ALSO BE�Menopause, pneumonia or leukaemia, or lymphoma. Or you could be wearing a ticker blanket�
SEE YOUR DOC IF�It lasts longer than a week and you have lost more than three kilos of weight�
SYMPTOM VISITING THE LOO A�LOT — NOCTURIA�COULD BE DIABETES�
��Going to the loo at night is a common symptom of undiagnosed diabetes. The body has high sugar levels and is trying to push it out with the urine, which makes a person want to relieve their bladder often.�
��People above 40 years of age often put it down to getting old, but it's a symptom that needs to get checked. Other symptoms may include drinking more than usual and excessive tiredness.�
��If a child who has previously been dry at night starts to wet the bed, parents often think that they're upset about something at school. But it's also a red flag symptom of type 1 diabetes.COULD ALSO BE�Pelvic floor and urogynaecological conditions (women), enlarged prostate (men)�
SEE YOUR DOC IF�It's a new problem, especially if you have other risk factors for type 2 diabetes�
SYMPTOM LEG CRAMPS�COULD BE POOR DIET�
��Leg cramps can be a sign of deficiency in electrolyte nutrients, such as, potassium and magnesium, which help control the balance of fluids in the body. This affects the muscle's ability to function. Calcium is also needed for effective muscle fibre contraction. Magnesium helps with nerve impulses across muscle tissue. Build up magnesium by eating pumpkin seeds, fish and green vegetables. Stock up on potassium with bananas or a supplement. Leg cramps in healthy people can be due to low levels of sodium (salt). This happens if you exercise and sweat a lot. Drink plenty of fluids. Coconut water is a good hydrator and contains electrolytes.�COULD ALSO BE�Caused by your�
medication, especially�diuretics�
SEE YOUR DOC IF�You also have cardiovascular issues�
— Daily Mirror

OFF THE TABLE The one thing that you will never find on these city nutritionists' plates

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 10:29 PM PDT

��They never tire of telling you to eat a well-rounded diet involving whole grains, vegetables and fruits, or to keep off your favourite bites — fried foods, colas and pastries. But what foods do nutritionists and dieticians themselves avoid to stay healthy and fit? Mirror asks experts to share their diet secrets.

Vinod Channa Celeb diet advisor�
AVOIDS MEAT GRAVY�
��When it comes to chicken or fish dishes, I never eat the gravy because it is soaked in all the fat of the meat that it holds. I separate the meat chunks and eat them as they are. I also never reach for pastries when I get a sweet craving. I snack on dates instead.�
��Also, as a rule, I stay off white rice because it contains both fat and carbs, and the fat gets stored in your system. Brown rice though is fat-free, packed with pure carbs and a lot of high-quality protein.

Kajal S Khaturia Dietician�
AVOIDS 'DIET' FOODS�
��Iam so wary of diet foods that I don't touch any snack with a 'diet' label, because although they are baked instead of fried, they are high on salt content. You are essentially replacing too much fat with too much sodium. Diet khari, for instance, is full of hydrogenated fat, which is the same semi-solid, trans fat you find on the sides of an oil pan in which vadas have been fried for hours. Even wheat kharis are laden with trans fats so that they are soft.�
��Also, artificial sweeteners an absolute 'no-no' for me. The 'nutritive sweeteners' present in candies and some chocolates, for instance, give 2-3 kilocalories per gram while sugar gives 4 kilocalories per gram. I would rather have a teaspoon of sugar, if at all, as it has no sideeffects unlike nutritive sweeteners which cause diarrhoea if consumed in excess. I also avoid non-nutritive sweeteners found in zero-calorie drinks, because there are studies which claim that they may damage our nerves in the long run.

Shonali Sabherwal Macrobiotic diet expert�
AVOIDS DAIRY PRODUCTS�
��Istay off all dairy products because I believe our body doesn't assimilate them well. Unlike the olden days when milk would be pure, dairy is far from healthy now due to pasteurisation and homogenisation. Not only are they very high in saturated fat, dairy foods predispose you to cholesterol deposits and their protein, casein, doesn't augur well for our bodies. We end up with digestive problems and fat deposits in the gut. Also, the pH balance (measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution) of dairy products is very high.�
��What's also banned for me is sugar. It doesn't give you anything, but strips you of minerals and makes you prone to a lot of melodrama like anxiety and mood swings. Apart from throwing off the pancreas and stomach out of gear, sugar also adversely affects the spleen, which is governed by the emotions of anxiety and worry. Also, it disturbs the body's pH balance. I prefer using grain-based sweeteners, or at times, agave.

Samreedhi Goel Nutritionist�
AVOIDS 'SUGAR-FREE' PRODUCTS�
��Ialways make it a point to read the labels of each item I buy. Breakfast cereals and some cookies, for instance, have a lot of added sugars that are buried in fine print under terms like malt extracts and fructose corn syrup. Often, products that scream 'sugar free' are laden with hidden sugar components that I am always keep an eye out for. While we are mindful of adding sugar to our coffee, we are getting cheated by loading unnecessary calories in our system by letting these slip through. I ensure I don't fall prey to that.�
��I also never eat salads at restaurants in the rainy season, mainly because leafy veggies like lettuce may harbour worms. Also, I never touch sauces and chutneys given as accompaniments with Chinese or Indian cuisine as those bottles, having been used by other patrons, contain a high bacterial count. Besides, to preserve them for long, a lot of oil and salt is added. You can certainly do without them.

Reading books could boost your brainpower

Posted: 04 Jul 2013 10:21 PM PDT

�New research suggests that reading books, writing and participating in brain-stimulating activities at any age may preserve memory. The study is published in the journal N e u r olo g y.�

��"Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person's lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age," said author Robert Wilson, with Rush University Medical Center.�
��For the study, 294 people were given tests that measured memory and thinking every year for about six years before their deaths at an average age of 89. They also answered a questionnaire about whether theyreadbooks,wroteandparticipatedinothermentally stimulating activities during childhood, adolescence, middle age and at their current age.�
��After they died, their brains were examined at autopsy for evidence of the physical signs of dementia, such as lesions, brain plaques and tangles.�
��The research found that people who participated in mentally stimulating activities both early and late in life had a slower rate of decline in memory compared to those who did not participate in such activities, after adjusting for differing levels of plaques and tangles in the brain. Mental activity accounted for nearly 15 per cent of the difference in decline.�
��The study found that the rate of decline was reduced by 32 per cent in people with frequent mental activity in late life, compared to people with average mental activity, while the rate of decline of those with infrequent activity was 48 per cent faster than those with average activity. MM