Unhealthy habits that may be ruining your health

Habits that may be ruining your health

As easy and tempting as it is to lead an unhealthy lifestyle, it is as difficult to get back in shape and maintain a good physical and mental well-being. We as humans pick up many habits along the way that determine whether or not we're capable enough to carry out a healthy lifestyle. Habits are something that we cannot get rid of in a blink of an eye. While some aid us in becoming great people, others might tamper with our goals. Differentiating between the two is of utmost importance, especially when it comes to looking after our health.

There are many negative habits that may seem harmless but may lead to ruining your health in the most grievous ways. That said, here are some habits that you must watch out for and change.

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A lazy lifestyle

Being lazy is one thing, but leading a lazy lifestyle can affect you and your life in the long term. Accompanied by procrastination, it can make things worse. Laziness, as soothing as it is, can make you physically and mentally inactive. It can weaken your cognitive abilities and can also discourage you from eating and drinking healthy.

Especially during the pandemic, which still continues, many people have lost track of their time and have begun to lead a sedentary lifestyle. This has proved harmful in many ways. Whether in terms of mental health or in respect to gaint a lot of unhealthy weight, laziness only impacts our health negatively.

No-nutrition diet

In the modern times, where everything is fast-paced, home-cooked meals and healthy foods have lost their importance. Especially amongst the younger generation, fast foods and eating at a restaurant has become the new trend. Although it is fun and exciting, it is not purely healthy. Eating foods that are high in calories but lack healthy nutrients can cause severe digestive problems in the long run. It can lead to unhealthy weight gain and can also increase risk of many diseases.

Living a stressful life

Stress and anxiety have become extremely common in today's era. With technological advancements, people have reaped the benefit of staying in touch with everyone, but on the contrary, it has also exposed people to a whole lot of criticisms and negativity. This in turn leads to heightened stress, which can cause poor mental health in people. Additionally, studies have linked stress to a rise in the cortisol levels in the body, which can cause unexplained weight gain in people.

Reduced water intake

Being hydrated is extremely important. Water ensures the healthy functioning of the body and also keeps illnesses at bay. However, if you're not having enough water, your immune system may weaken, making you more prone to physical ailments like dehydration and others.

Drinking plenty of water also helps you maintain a healthy weight. It keeps you satiated for longer periods of time and keeps high-calorie foods at bay.

Excessive alcohol consumption

Occasional drinking sure harms no one. But if your drinking becomes compulsive and you cannot go without having a glass or two in a day, then it may have become a habit that you must avoid. Alcohol in no form is healthy and must be avoided, especially if you suffer from a chronic condition. While it may impact you immediately, it may slowly affect your vital organs and may cause serious complications in the long run.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Is your relationship hurting your mental health? 5 signs to watch out for

Relationships can impact us in very different ways, depending on the relationship. Some relationships can uplift our spirits, give comfort during stress, fill our day with fun and playfulness, or instill a profound sense of purpose in our life. But there are also some relationships, which can pull us downward, drain our energy, take a toll on your mental health and erode our happiness. The symptoms of dealing with such relationships may not be obvious, as they can come out in the form of some obsessive behaviour, such as obsessive hair-picking.

For example, if you are dealing with an emotionally abusive partner, the stress and anger may spill over into other areas of your life. From having trouble concentrating on work to beige watching and losing temper with friends, you are likely to burst out anger in many ways. Here are some signs that can tell your relationship is hurting your mental health.

You’re feeling depressed

Studies have found association between lower-quality relationships and symptoms of depression. Researchers say people in toxic or abusive relationships are more likely to feel depressed. At worst, it can also lead to suicidal thoughts.

You’re not doing well physically

You mental and physical health are connected. Researchers also say relationships have direct influences on cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, neurosensory, and other physiological mechanisms.  An unhealthy relationship can cause anxiety or depression, as well headaches, insomnia, or muscle pain.

You’re indulging in unhealthy habits

While trying to distract yourself from thinking about your relationship, you may end up doing many unhealthy habits like obsessive hair-picking, binge-watching, oversleeping, etc.

You’re feeling low about yourself

If you have started feeling low about yourself and less interesting, your partner may be blamed for lowering your self-esteem. When a close person makes you feel inferior, you may start to believe you are.

You feel relieved when he leaves

You eagerly wait for your partner to leave your place, and just the thought of it excites you.  This feeling of relief shows that your partner is causing you stress.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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This IIT Hyd device can alert doctors about heart diseases by monitoring ECG data in real-time

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad) have developed a low-power device that can monitor electrocardiogram (ECG) and alert patients and doctors in real-time about the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). CVD tops the list of public health concern compared to other diseases and has almost become the primary cause of human deaths, as per a survey of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The main causes include changing trend in lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits, tobacco usage, low fruit and vegetable intake and lack of physical activity and lot of stress. These factors necessitate developing a personalised CVD monitoring device powered by battery backup and with a very low form factor to achieve unobtrusiveness that works under the emerging cyber-physical system setup.
The research was conducted by a team comprising Vemishetty Naresh (PhD, Research Scholar, Advanced Embedded Systems and IC Design Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering), IIT Hyderabad and Dr Amit Acharyya, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering. As a proof of concept demonstration, the researchers have taken healthy and various unhealthy cases from the Physionet database to validate the proposed method. Their research has been published recently in the peer-reviewed international journal Scientific Reports, an online open access, scientific journal published by prestigious Nature Research.
Speaking about the importance of this research, Dr Amit Acharyya said, "CVD is one of the deadliest disease and irrespective of the economy of the country people are getting affected by it. It is manifested in different forms necessitating the early diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. Hence the proposed work on the classification is going to be of immense help for the society."
In addition, they also worked on developing different classification techniques and integrating them to make a generic algorithm. A novel System-On-Chip (SoC) architecture is developed in a low complex way by resource sharing concept for the CVD automation. Thus the whole system can cover various ECG abnormalities and finally come up with the prototype board which looks similar to as a smartphone at the patient end.
Speaking about their plans to take this research to benefit the society at large, Vemishetty Naresh said, "There is an exponential increment in human mortality rate, due to the delayed diagnosis, lack of proper distribution of health care facilities and prognosis centers in the vicinity. There is a need of a robust automated device for the early detection of the vital abnormal ECG signals in chronic CVD patients."
This medical science and technological needs impose many challenges on such device development such as low power consuming system design trade-off between the on-board processing and RF (Radio Frequency) communication, low complexity analog front-end circuit design and energy harvesting or self-power mechanism to prolong battery life. Further, there is great necessity to develop a robust algorithm to find any desynchronisation in the ECG waves. With the present advancement in technology, there is a great scope for developing robust medical ECG devices in analysing the ECG signals and classify the patient condition. This method will predict the departure from the healthy condition to unhealthy condition corresponding to the CVDs.

How does the system work?
The researchers overcame the above mentioned challenges by proposing a novel System-on-Chip (SoC) architecture for CVD monitoring. Scrutinising the technical challenges like low-power and low-area for delivering reliable healthcare under resource constraints, they have proposed low-complex Boundary Detection (BD) and Feature Extraction (FE), low-complex f-QRS Detection and Morphology Identification (FDMI) architecture, Rule Engine (RE), and Token based compression technique. The aim of the researchers is to take this idea further to the system level from the concept and propose a low-complexity but medically reliable SoC architecture.
The above proposed methodologies are used to extract the essential clinical features from each ECG beat and compared with the standard values to give the binary classification as normal or abnormal. Many research articles had put thrust on studying the clinical features of ECG beats and the heart rate variability for the diagnosis. Despite these findings, it is difficult to derive an equivocal temporal relationship of these methodologies to predict arrhythmias. The prediction of ECG abnormalities associated with the change of morphology in the localised features (PR interval, QRS complex, QT interval) will allow the clinicians sufficient time to intervene to stop its escalation causing sudden cardiac death. 

"To mitigate the above limitations our attempt in this thesis is to propose a generalised Phase Space Reconstruction (PSR) based detection and classification of the CVD by exploiting the localised features of the ECG unlike the state-of-art PSR techniques," said one of the researchers. Since the aim was to do the real-time ECG classification on an edge-device that is running under resource constrained environment with scarcity of power and area, therefore the idea of the researchers was to propose a low-complexity yet accurate solution and therefore they adopted classical technique of localised features detection.
This research was partly supported by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India under the ‘Internet of Things (IoT) Research of Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS) Programme,' with the Project entitled ‘IOT Based Holistic Prevention and Prediction of CVD. 

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
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7 ways your car is making you sick

Is your car safe?

Car travel is in equal parts fun and stressful! While a card ride helps people relax and destress, the long commute hours and the traffic jams can take a toll on you. Traveling in a car may seem convenient but at the same time, it can also be the reason for you to catch germs and illnesses. We list down some sneaky ways your car is proving to be a health hazard:

It is an access point for germs

Think about the number of times you touch the car which has been parked in a dusty, polluted environment and the number of times your hands come in contact with the surface. A car, much like a public bathroom or toilet (or the phone screen) is an access point for germs, fecal residue and small viruses to settle in and manifest problems. It is just so gross!

To stay safe and clean from the germs, it is very important to sanitize and deep clean your car after long rides and regular trips, much like you would do with your home. If you are ignoring this crucial step, you are putting yourself at a big risk!

Increases the risk for depression

I s your everyday commute and route making you feel dull and gloomy? Pay attention. According to newer studies, the longer your route is, lesser is your happiness score. Research has found that people who drive for a minimum of 50-90 minutes on a daily basis are at the highest risk of developing a negative attitude and go through anxious and depressive episodes. Confined to a closed environment on a long route has been linked to symptoms of chronic unhappiness, which has been further linked to bad sleeping patterns, weight fluctuations, eating disorders and mood fluctuations.

Can't travel without the AC on? Think again!

If you can't survive without the AC running in the car, we hate to break it to you but you are attracting a lot many diseases spreading and breeding bacteria and viruses towards you. The closed AC vents are a good hiding place for germs to lurk in and spread infections like cough, cold and wheezing. Even when the AC blows out hot air, it just increases the risk for germs to survive in the moldy environment.

You are breathing in toxic chemicals!

Considering the dust and pollution which you travel in every day, chemicals and soot find a way to settle in your passageways and end up harming you. In fact, what most of us do not realize is that fresheners in the vehicle which give out the 'new car smell' are actually just masking the toxic chemicals. So the next time you brag about that musky fragrance in your car, think again.

Makes you more prone to adopting unhealthy eating habits

What is a car trip without some snacks or drinks opened along the way? While this feels like a part of the necessary road trip checklist, this habit is actually costing you. When you are sitting idle or facing stressful traffic situations, you are bound to reach out for carbs and comfort foods, even when you are not really hungry, contributing to unhealthy cravings.
In fact, according to studies conducted across Canada, those who consumed sugary sodas and salty snacks were at a higher risk for developing cardiac problems and obesity than those who didn't. Considering all the time you end up sitting for long hours without stretching, coupled with bad eating habits, you are making yourself sick.
The best option remains to keep yourself hydrated en route. This will also cut down on the hunger pangs and the cravings which develop out of stress.readmore

Raises the risk of anxiety

Driving is not an easy job and there's always the fear of something going wrong, car horns beeping at you or not being in control of the wheel. In such panicky situations, when you have to make decisions in a split second, driving anxiety can be experienced. Sweating, racing heart rate, shaking, confusion, shortness of breath can make the journey difficult and further lead to a host of health problems.
A good way to deal with this is to cut out foods or triggers that can increase the risk of anxiety before you get behind the wheel. When you are more in control of your route and plan, driving gets a little easier.

Road rage

Now this one needs no introduction. Getting stuck in never-ending traffic jams or a tiff with another driver can test your patience levels. The way you react to them can shoot up your blood pressure, test your nerves and even put you in a bad mood. If not controlled in time, road rage can drive you to take extreme steps as well.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   
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Why high blood pressure is misdiagnosed 40% of the time

Hypertension, or simply high blood pressure, is one of the most common cardiovascular conditions, affecting a wide range of people all over the world. According to the National Health Portal of India, one in every five adults suffers from high blood pressure. However, due to the absence of any apparent symptoms, it is often ignored and/or misdiagnosed. Estimates suggest that 50% of patients don’t even know they have hypertension.

Recent reports by the India Heart study (IHS), the nation’s biggest study focusing on the importance of home-based blood pressure monitoring, now show that hypertension misdiagnosis is much more common than anticipated in India. This severely worsens the prognosis of hypertensive patients - high blood pressure is the most common cause of heart diseases and stroke.

What is hypertension?

Blood pressure is the force your blood puts on blood vessel walls while it's flowing through the body. It is measured in mm of mercury: mm Hg. A blood pressure reading of more than 140 mm Hg systolic pressure (denoted by the upper number) and 90 mm Hg diastolic (lower number) is considered hypertension.

Hypertension can be caused due to several factors like unhealthy lifestyle, stress, obesity, and genetics. Growing older, excessive salt intake and secondary conditions like diabetes increase the risk of hypertension. Interestingly, men are more prone to high blood pressure than women. However, regardless of the cause, most hypertensive people don’t really show any apparent symptoms.

Uncontrolled blood pressure may manifest in the form of headache, fatigue, confusion, breathing difficulties, chest pain, palpitations and hematuria (blood in urine). In serious cases, it can lead to complications such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, and chronic kidney failure. High blood pressure is responsible for about 10.8% of deaths in India, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Regular monitoring of blood pressure is important if you fall in any of the high-risk categories.

Difficulties in diagnosis

Hypertension is mainly diagnosed through a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure machine) reading. Sphygmo means “related to pulse”, and a manometer is a device to measure pressure.

However, your blood pressure can rise due to anxiety when you visit the doctor - this condition is known as whitecoat hypertension and it increases the chances of misdiagnosis.

On the other hand, some people have masked hypertension. It is a condition in which a hypertensive patient shows normal blood pressure readings at a doctor’s clinic but high blood pressure at home. According to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority, U.S., masked hypertension is seen more commonly in men, alcoholics, tobacco users and people who live in an otherwise stressful environment. Such people show normal blood pressure readings at the doctor’s office but have high blood pressure soon after they go back to their everyday work.

In the IHS study, lead investigator  explained that whitecoat hypertension and masked hypertension lead to misdiagnosis in about 40% of cases in India.

Due to these conditions, non-hypertensive people end up being prescribed with blood pressure-lowering medications. On the other hand, people suffering from high blood pressure go without treatment.

Furthermore, he added that Indians have a much higher resting heart rate - 80 beats per minute compared with 72 beats per minute in the West. Blood pressure readings in most Indian patients are noted to be much higher in the evenings than during the morning. Clearly, there is a need to reconsider the right timing for the administration of anti-hypertensive drugs for Indians.

For accuracy of diagnosis, doctors already suggest that at least three different readings should be taken at the clinic.

Treatment

Hypertension can’t be cured completely but it is manageable with a combination of anti-hypertensive medications and healthy lifestyle and dietary habits. Drugs like beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and diuretics are given to avoid hypertension complications. Lifestyle habits like quitting smoking, weight management, reducing stress, regular exercise and a DASH diet (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) are generally recommended.

It is important to seek medical support if you are suffering from hypertension. Timely and prompt diagnosis may go a long way in promoting longevity and improving the quality of life.

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