Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Monday, February 7, 2022

Environment & Our Mood

 Let’s know the connection between the Environment and Our Mood

Environment

Ever since your childhood, almost everyone would have stressed the importance of a clean environment. By clean environment - they meant a tidy place. However, there is a lot more to know about the environment around you, it’s not just about tidying up.

Undoubtedly maintaining a neat and clean environment is the first and foremost of all. Unless and until you pay attention to the magical factors that we are about to discuss in this article - you are about to miss a boon that is just one step away from you.


Glide down, to get an idea of how the environment could impact your physical, social and psychological health.

Is your mood low- check what’s around you!

You are positive and energetic when you are at a particular place(say home/office). In short, say:


  1. Balcony

  2. Terrace

  3. Cafeteria

  4. Friend’s room

  5. Play area

  6. Gym

  7. Temple


 Some of these places raise up your mood. Have you ever thought, why do you feel so - excitement may be one of the reasons. 


Remember- little but effective factors like


  1. Color


  1. House plants


  1. Light

All these around you have an impact on your mood. 


Sometimes you might suddenly feel low without any reason, probably the color or light is playing that game with you.


Scroll down to check if you have experienced this before/give it a try if you haven’t experienced it before.

Colour and Light

Studies conducted in the real-life work environment, clearly show that 

the light and color of the workplace had an influence on the mood of people working there. 

Mood declines with bright and dark light whereas the right lighting and color improve mood. 


As per Times of India


  1. Blue is a soothing color that lets you manage stress at ease.


  1. The Green color allows you to calm down and stay refreshed.


  1. The Pink color is apt to promote peace.


The London Image institute states,


  1. Yellow gives a feeling of hope and happiness.


  1. Purple gives a sense of creativity, fantasy, and royalty.


In reality, as you know every story has two sides- too much yellow could cause anxiety, agitation especially when people are already stressed.


Red is stimulating as well distracting. White is boring and uninteresting on the other hand Blue color had a drowsy and sleepy effect. It’s all backed by research


Now that you have an idea about colors and light. Next time be sure to “say no to the current trend and yes to psychological health”. Choose the paint colors wisely when you want to paint your house.

House plants/Indoor plants

House plants not only make your living space beautiful but they have a soothing effect on your moods. Have you ever noticed/felt it before? 


Imagine sitting in a hall with a houseplant after a long day would let you feel refreshed. You will have a feeling of ta-da finally "I could relax".


It’s proven that interaction with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress. 

Benefits of Indoor plants

Add beauty to your interior design and also get these bonus benefits at an affordable price,


Indoor plants are


  1. Therapeutic


  1. As house plants reduce stress - it also improves productivity


  1. Feel the refreshing air inside your house


  1. Increases focus


  1. Reduces fatigue

List of affordable house plants

  1. Aloe vera


  1. Pothos


  1. Spider plant


  1. Snake plant


  1. Anthurium

Final thoughts

Hope this article gave you excellent science-based solutions - To lift your mood up without spending a lot on courses and counseling. Keep an eye on the color of paint and light going forward. Get rid of stress without stressing your pockets much. Start growing indoor plants to reap those remarkable benefits. Good moods go hand in hand with a good environment.

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. 

Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author: Janani Chandrasekar 

All photos credited and designed by Pexels

Monday, January 31, 2022

MUSIC AND OUR MIND

Music is defined as any vocal or instrumental sound combined in a way so as to produce beauty of harmony, emotion and expression. Music is something that transcends the boundaries of body or mind and connects one’s soul to another. Music has no language. It sometimes becomes the mode of transport for feelings to be conveyed from one person to another while other times it acts simply as a medicine. Yes! You heard it right. Music is a kind of medicine as well as the correct kind of music causes a sense of calmness, a feeling of happiness and thus reduces stress and restlessness in one’s mind.

POWER OF MUSIC AS A HEALER:

As American physicist Debashish Mridha once said, “Music can heal wounds that medicine cannot touch.”, music has a way of connecting our hearts to ourselves and to the world around us. Hence it has been used as a therapeutic intervention since the late 18th century. Today, music therapy is a method which is scientifically proven/validated.

Music therapy is often employed quite effectively to treat various illnesses (primarily owing to mental disturbances). Autism, depression, Alzheimer’s, etc. several such diseases if not cured fully, can at least be stabilized to a large extent through music. The music therapy sessions mostly include creating, singing, and listening to music, and hence it opens up avenues for communication that transcend the limitations of verbal expression. Music therapy can induce the following improvements or changes to a person suffering from certain mental turbulences:

  • Induce positive changes in emotional states.

  • Since music connects the worlds to us, it helps one to enhance more control over life by increasing awareness of one self and the outside world.

  • Development of a sense of relaxation from worldly troubles.

  • Improves concentrating power for a longer duration of time.

  • Since, all of the above improvements can be brought to one’s life through music, it can also help to resolve conflicts and lead to stronger bonds of relationships.


MUSICAL BEATS AND OUR BRAINS:

When we walk into a disco, we find people dancing, banging their heads and moving their body almost in synchrony to the thumping music. In this simple example we find that our unconscious mind is somehow controlled by rhythmic sounds, causing us to move simultaneously in a regular manner. This simple example has a much deeper meaning to it. According to psychologist Annett Schirmer “Rhythmic sound, not only coordinates the behavior of people in a group, but also it coordinates their thinking-the mental processes of individuals in the group become synchronized”. This simple finding shows the extent of power of music, which easily taps into the brain circuits of people controlling their emotions and even their physical movements. This type of examples can also be found amongst people in a tribe who dance synchronously on drum beats, people dancing on a religious function, or people dancing due to excessive happiness during several religious or secular occasions.

Researchers from the Society for Neuroscience meeting in New Orleans, attached electrodes to the scalp of subjects to determine if the brain’s electrical activity was somehow affected by the beats of the sound and they found that rhythmic sound synchronizes brain waves. Thus, music impacts thinking and working of the brain to an extent we may not know of.


CONCLUSION:

As we have seen, music necessary controls our brain functions and thus enable us to think better and as a result it can help us to boost our energy, calm our mind, improve sleep and most importantly improve our mental conditions. Specially in this pandemic affected world where we might find ourselves lonely most of the times, music can be the best companion one can have. So, throw all the negativity away and let all your emotions flow with music as music is the best healer. Happy listening!

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author Ranit Laha

All photos credited and designed by Unsplash


Friday, January 28, 2022

An Insight On Eyesight

 “WE ARE ONLY BLIND, AS WE WANT TO BE”-

The name of this topic is a well-known quote made by American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. Although the quote was made with a different thought in mind, it also applies to us, common people who don’t pay proper heed to instructions or methods when it comes to taking care of our eyes. Don’t worry, as CUREYA is here to debunk some of the myths regarding treating our eyes the right way, as well as providing proper methods for the same.

HOW TO TAKE PROPER CARE OF EYES? :-

Eyes form one of the most, if not the most vital sensory organ when it comes to the human body. It helps us to navigate and often it’s the eyes that show early symptoms of anything wrong happening in our body, both physically and mentally. Taking care of eyes is not simply wearing Sunglasses when going out on an extra sunny day or simply, getting a pair of corrective lenses to improve vision. It’s much more than that.

You can fight back against eye diseases employing the following methods-

  • Proper Sleeping- When it comes to taking care of eyes, nothing beats proper sleep, i.e., giving our eyes proper amount of rest. Also, we must keep in mind that resting eyes doesn’t necessarily mean sleeping for 16 hours straight, or going into hibernation mode, as 8 hours sleep is enough for our body. We can rest our eyes by lowering our exposures to high U-V radiations (Computer, Mobile Screens, etc), whenever we can.

  • Choosing Proper Eyewear- Wearing protective sunglasses on an extra sunny day or wearing specialized glasses with U-V protective coating while going out in the sun, helps to a certain extent to keep our eyes safe and eyesight sound. It's equally important, as in the cases where we need to wear goggles and special protective coverings on our eyes when dealing with chemicals or working with harmful radiations. So all the budding chemists do take some notes!

  • Following A Healthy Diet- Having foods rich in Vitamin A (such as carrots) can help to a much larger extent than we think it does! Sticking to a healthy and nutritious diet sure helps in treating the eyes well.

  • Avoid Harmful Habits Like Smoking- Ever wondered that smoking not only affects the lungs but also the eyes? Several research papers have established this fact that smoking increases the risk of getting eye diseases like glaucoma, dry eye syndrome and such incurable diseases. Also, smokers are three- times more likely to be affected by diseases like cataract than non-smokers.

  • Eye Check-Ups- In our daily busy schedule we often tend not to follow the above guidelines. So, it is advisable to pay a visit to an ophthalmologist, at least once every six months.

MYTHS REGARDING EYE-CARE: -

Coming to this, one quote seems to come to my mind, “All that glitters is not gold, and all the statements are not facts, as some are MYTHS too!” Here’s some of those myths (Some are hilarious by the way!):

  • People who are colour blind, see no colours at all! – Just imagine this, the people who are colour blind are seeing this world in a retro fashion. No, this is simply a myth as colour-blind people often have problems distinguishing the colours between red and green.

  • Reading in dim-light may cause loss of eye-sight! – No! Not at all! Its true that reading under improper light conditions may cause eye-strain (only if you are reading for long hours), but that can simply be relieved by taking a break in between. However, it will not cause any sort of blindness.

  • Reading small-lettered writings very closely can harm your eyes greatly- It's similar to the earlier case where it can cause a mild eye strain but wont damage your eyesight extensively.

  • No need for checking your eyes until you are 40- This is also a myth as one can have eye-sight issues right from birth (generally congenital) or can occur at any age (generally acquired). So, as stated earlier, regular visits to an ophthalmologist is advisable at any age.

  • If you are wearing specs which are poorly fit, you will face serious eye-problems- Poorly fit spectacles won’t cause any harm to your eyes, but also won't lead to proper vision too, so get that fixed, without believing in this myth.

So, as long you take proper diet and follow some of the mentioned guidelines and stay away from the myths you are good to go! So cheers to a healthy lifestyle!

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. 

Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author Ranit Laha

All photos credited and designed by Unsplash

Monday, January 24, 2022

FOODS THAT RELIEVE ANXIETY

In today’s world, the one thing, we all are mostly and equally suffering from is anxiety. Anxiety is such a state of mind in which we tend to think or worry persistently. Symptomatically speaking, anxiety often comes up with no symptoms at all, but at times can cause palpitations accompanied by heavy-breathing or sleeplessness.

We often need to seek medical help for dealing with severity, but in certain mild cases certain daily food items can help dealing with anxiety. Therefore, let's embark upon a journey that will teach treatment of anxiety, deliciously!

HOW AND WHY DOES FOOD HELP DEALING WITH ANXIETY? -

Before knowing which food items will help you deal with your anxiety issues, let's understand how food actually works in our system in this regard. All of the food items that deal with anxiety controls the secretion of one hormone known as dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone that is released when we do something that makes us feel good. Eating food items that are sweet and nice to taste causes such release and hence makes us feel happy and distracts our mind from anxiety issues at least for a while. Now don’t get me wrong as there are still food items which when consumed on a daily basis can cure anxiety disorders permanently. Here goes some of them-

WHICH FOOD ITEMS HELP DEALING WITH ANXIETY? –

  • Dark Chocolates- Chocolates specifically dark chocolates can help a lot dealing with anxiety. Research conducted in 2013 published in the Journal of Pharmacology, showed that a special compound found in cocoa called polyphenols can help increase calmness of mind while reducing stress and anxiety. It also consists of Tryptophan which improves levels of serotonin in the body, which helps fight anxiety. Magnesium is one of those few nutrients which has a positive impact on anxiety. Magnesium is one of the ingredients of dark chocolate and hence such items act as mood enhancer.

  • Also, most of the chocolates are sweet (i.e., milk chocolates in general) and having anything sweet gives pleasure to mind and body, but it has to be kept in mind that such chocolates have not much nutritional value. Hence dark chocolates which are sugar-free are far better in these aspects, as it can deal with your feelings of anxiety without causing your health any other harm.

  • Turmeric- Okay, so enough of sweetness, let’s spice things up a bit! Turmeric is one such spice that consists of Curcumin. Curcumin is known to relieve long-term inflammation, and also benefits brain health.  It has high-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as well. One gram of curcumin (through turmeric) everyday can reduce levels of anxiety in your system.

  • Salmon- Salmon is one fish which has high nutrient value to go with its ability to enhance dopamine and serotonin secretions in our system and thus lowering anxiety levels. It has vitamin-D and omega-3 fatty acids like EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA are two fatty acids that help lower rates of anxiety. They help keep up brain health as well.

  • Water- When in stress or anxiety increasing levels of water intake can be a momentary solution, as it rejuvenates your body and makes it calmer. 

  • Other items consisting of Zinc and Magnesium- Foods that consist of high amounts of Zinc and Magnesium in them can help fight anxiety as well. Food items like meat, nuts, peas, lentils, etc. are such which are an excellent source of zinc and magnesium.

FOOD HABITS THAT ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR LOWERING ANXIETY:

Along with goods there are evils and similarly not all food items can improve anxiety-related issues. Some might worsen them.

  • Beverages- Sweetened or carbonated drinks are harmful not only to physical health but also mental health. Such drinks can increase anxiety levels and can even cause depression.

  • Highly-processed food items- Highly processed food items cause sudden sugar level increase in our system and then crashes it and that has a very negative impact on anxiety levels. Even if those food items are sugar-free it still has no useful nutrients in it which can be beneficial. These include ketchups, toast, pickles, energy drinks, etc.


  • Coffee- Coffee consists of large quantities of caffeine. Those who are not used to having coffee may cause more harm than good trying to consume it. Even though you are used to it, too much consumption is not advisable. Caffeine reduces sleepiness and hence messes up with your sleep routine which is not at all advisable while dealing with anxiety.

Hence, food does help fighting against anxiety but you must be smart enough to choose the right foods. 

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. 

Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author: Ranit Laha 

All photos credited and designed by Unsplash

Friday, January 7, 2022

GOOD FOOD, GOOD MOOD!

Food is the essence of life. Having good nutrition can help you to deal with stress and mood disorders quite effectively. The fact that good food (nutrition) is directly proportional to good mood is not a mere statement but a well-proven certitude. Researchers recommend “fixing the food before anything else”, when dealing with anxiety or feeling low; as there’s always a connection between our gut and our brain. 


CONNECTION BETWEEN FOOD AND MENTAL HEALTH:

Generally, we associate eating habits with our physical health rather than our mental health. Hypoglycemia, commonly known as “low-blood sugar”, is often the cause of our anxiety or and confusion.  We do not relate these emotional changes with food, however it is in fact strongly related.

    Suppose you’ve not had your food for a long duration of time due to work pressure and when you have a break you go have some junk/unhealthy food. This can cause disruption in the balance between the good and bad bacteria in your gut, and cause gradual mood disorders. Now you'd blame your bad mood or irritation on your job or work, while the main reason is your afternoon lunch, not anything else. A poor diet can worsen such symptoms of mood disorders, leading to depression.

You, may have also noticed that what or how much you eat, depends on your mood. Some foods can uplift your mood and concentration, while others might have the opposite effect for the same food.

SEROTONIN-THE MOOD REGULATOR:

Serotonin is the hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings and happiness, which in turn affects the entire body. The anti-depressants we take, work by controlling this hormone/neurotransmitter. Serotonin helps in sleep regulation, helping to cause ‘quality sleep’. Our body converts serotonin to melatonin while going to sleep and hence having enough serotonin in the brain is necessary to fall asleep.


Now, how is the secretion of serotonin related to the food we eat? 90% of the serotonin in our body is produced in the gut and thus the health of the gut and balance of bacteria within our gut, impacts our resilience towards stress and anxiety. When stressed, the body’s ANS (Autonomic Nervous System), which controls the involuntary organs in our body like the heart, lungs, stomach, etc. behaves abnormally and we tend to feel disgust, irritation, anger and various such emotions. Serotonin helps regulate these ANS functions and cause us to remain stress free. So, “When our stomachs are happy, so are we”.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A HEALTHY DIET FOR MENTAL DISORDERS? :

A study conducted in the year 2019 examining the diets of older adults, found a direct relationship between anxiety and high-carb diet. While a similar study conducted in the year 2017 found that, for treatment of depression more often than not, dietary counselling was far more effective.

Researchers say that, besides our brain affecting how our stomach feels, the stomach health too in turn affects the functions of the brain. It can cause a sense of calmness as well as cause alarm, sending suitable nervous signals up towards the brain. So, while uncovering all these relationships between gut health and mood disorders a new field of science, known as nutritional psychology came into existence.

According to this study, it’s found that having healthy foods can make us feel better and stress-free and hence more concentrated in our day-to-day activities. Certain foods contain Vit. B12, tryptophan etc. which increase synthesis of serotonin. These foods are called brain foods and examples of such are: -

  • Pineapples

  • Salmon Fish

  • Cheese

  • Soy, nuts, seeds

  • Kiwis

  • Tomatoes

  • Bananas

  • Whole Grains

  • Poultry

There are certain categories of food items which you should avoid at all circumstances to improve your gut health and they are the quite obvious ones and are as follows,

  • Processed foods/Junk Foods- The foods that contain preservatives and such chemicals can tamper with your gut health to a really larger extent.

  • Inflammatory foods- Certain high-sodium foods are more likely to cause an inflammatory response in your system, and if you have any underlying food sensitivities (foods which might cause allergic reactions), such foods are supposed to be avoided.

One thing to remember however is "Don’t be too strict". : Most importantly don’t be too harsh on yourself regarding your food choices. It’s not necessary to eat right all the time. Your day should be 75 percent right choices regarding food while the remaining 25 percent should be the choices which your stomach or brain craves for, as nothing can pacify your stressful mind more than food!


Eating well helps you feel more energetic and hence cleanses your head of all negativity. With increased serotonin secretion, you’ll sleep better and these several scientific, and emotional factors that connect nutrition and brain health if followed will give you more energy to do and achieve your dreams. So, happy eating!

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. 

Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author Ranit Laha

All photos credited and designed by Unsplash

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