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02 Aug

What are Hormones?

A hormone is a substance that influences growth and development. These substances act as chemical messengers responsible for functions like metabolism, reproduction, and mood in the human body. These messengers control appetite, weight and mood, among other things and thus they strongly affect mental, physical and emotional health.

Understanding Hormonal Imbalance

Hormones are produced by endocrine glands including the pituitary, pineal, thymus, thyroid, adrenal and pancreas. These glands produce different hormones for different bodily functions. Any minor changes in the production of any of these hormones can cause major imbalances in cells or even the entire body function. Therefore, it is important to keep the hormones balanced.

However, age affects the production of certain hormones. Besides, medications, lifestyle habits, poor diet and nutrition and environmental changes can also cause hormonal imbalance.

Fortunately, a nutritious diet and a healthy lifestyle can help in keeping your hormonal health in check. Here is how you can keep your hormones balanced with the right diet and lifestyle.

Treating Hormonal Imbalance with Nutrition

Protein

Protein influences the release of hormones that control appetite and food intake. Eating protein-rich food stimulates the production of hormones that help you feel full.

Healthy Fats

Healthy fats trigger the release of hormones that help you feel full and satisfied. On the contrary, trans fats can promote insulin resistance and increase the storage of belly fat. To optimize hormone health, consume a healthy fat source at each meal.

Fibre

Soluble fibre is an important component of a healthy diet. Eating fibre-rich food protects against insulin resistance and overeating. It can also help in increasing insulin sensitivity and stimulates the production of hormones that make you feel full and satisfied. Although soluble fibre tends to produce the strongest effects on appetite and eating, insoluble fibre can also prove to be equally helpful.

Avoid Refined Carbs

Sugar and refined carbs have been linked to many health problems. Avoiding or minimizing these foods may be instrumental in optimizing hormone function.

Treating Hormonal Imbalance with Lifestyle Changes

Avoid Overeating and Undereating

Over or under eating may also result in hormonal changes which may, in turn, lead to weight-related problems. While overeating can increase insulin hormone levels and reduce insulin sensitivity, cutting down on calories can increase the stress hormone cortisol levels.

It is important to consume enough calories which can help you maintain hormonal balance and a healthy weight.

Regular Exercise

Physical activity can strongly influence hormonal health. Exercising can reduce insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity. Besides, physical activity can boost levels of muscle-maintaining hormones and growth hormones.

Quality Sleep

Poor sleep has been linked to hormonal imbalances including insulin, cortisol, leptin, ghrelin and growth hormone. Despite a nutritious diet and optimum exercise, not getting enough sleep can disbalance your hormonal health.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, hormones are involved in every aspect of health – physical, mental and emotional. And, we need a very specific amount of these chemicals in our body for its optimum functioning.

Although certain factors are beyond control to maintain a healthy hormonal balance, we can still keep the production of these chemicals in check by following the above-mentioned ways. Consuming nutritious foods, exercising regularly and engaging in other healthy behaviours goes a long way toward improving your hormonal health.

07 Jun

It is normal to feel tired, exhausted and low on energy when you have been sick and down with any viral infection. This tiredness is a part of the healing process which can linger for weeks or months.

This lack of energy that you experience while recovering from any viral infection is known as post-viral fatigue. It can make you sleep more, feel unsteady on your feet, make standing for long periods difficult and also affect your ability to concentrate on work.

Post-viral fatigue mostly continues for some time after the infection has cleared. However, it is important to recover from this fatigue in the due course of time. Because, if not addressed in time, it can make you susceptible to other viruses and infections.

Symptoms of Post-viral Fatigue

While lack of energy is one of the significant indicators of post-viral fatigue, one might also experience other symptoms including:

  • Poor concentration
  • Headache or pain in muscles and joints
  • Muscle stiffness or weakness
  • Sore throat and swollen glands
  • Breathlessness and heart palpitation
  • Weak immunity
  • Sleep disruption and depression

Addressing Post-viral Fatigue

So what should you do if you’re suffering from post-viral fatigue?

While there are no precise treatments, there are many things you can do to ease your symptoms and aid your recovery.

Nutritional Support

It is important to provide some extra nutritional support to enhance mitochondrial function. Some herbs and supplements can help restore energy. They can help in overcoming the effect of the virus on the immune system, liver function and digestive tract.

Good Rest

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important activities you can do for your health. When you sleep, the growth hormone is produced which repairs the tissue, regulates immune function and detoxes the brain and organ. Besides, sleep produces serotonin, the hormone that is responsible for regulating mood.

Moderate Activity

Moderate levels of activity like walking and stretching will increase circulation and improve lymph flow. The body takes time to recover and regain strength and stability. To engage in some moderate exercise, but don’t overdo it.

Sun Therapy

Soaking in the sun helps get the body Vitamin D. Since low levels of Vitamin D have been associated with a low performing immune system, it is important to take your dose of Vitamin D to recover faster.

The Bottomline

The recovery time from post-viral fatigue varies from person to person. Some people are back to normal within a few days to a week, while others experience the symptoms for long. However, getting an early diagnosis may improve recovery.

As your body gradually recovers from the illness, remember to keep a balance of diet, rest and exercise.

02 Feb

When it comes to fitness, healthy body or weight loss, we give due importance to diet and exercise. However, we often tend to overlook the importance of good quality sleep.

Sleep plays a crucial role in maintaining both – healthy body and healthy mind. The quality of your sleep affects how you feel physically and mentally. The way you feel while you’re awake depends on what happens while you’re sleeping.

During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain functioning and maintains your physical well-being. When you are sleep-deprived, it becomes difficult for the brain to function efficiently. This affects your ability to concentrate, think, and process.

Different age groups require a different amount of sleep. Like most adults require between 7 to 9 hours of nightly sleep. Whereas children and teenagers need more sleep and so do the kids below 5 years of age.
How much sleep should you take in a day?
According to the National Sleep Foundation guidelines, the recommended amount of sleep that must be practised by people of different age group is:

Category Hours of Sleep


New Borns 14-17 hours
Infant 12-15 hours
Preschool Kids 10-13 hours
School-Age Kids 9-11 hours
Teens 8-10 hours
Adults 7-9 hours
Senior Adults 7-8 hours


Why is sleep important for the human body?


Sound sleeping has many benefits on both physical and mental well-being. Here are a few reasons why good sleep is important.
Insufficient sleep can cause weight gain
Insufficient sleep is one of the significant risk factors for obesity. This school of thought is said to be backed by numerous factors, including hormones and motivation to exercise. So, if you are trying to lose weight, it is crucial to get good quality sleep.

Sleep deprivation tends to increase calories intake
Lack of sleep is believed to affect the daily fluctuations in appetite hormones and cause poor appetite regulation. It increases levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone called ghrelin and reduces the levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone known as leptin.

Therefore, people who take a good amount of sleep, as required by their body, tend to consume fewer calories as compared to those who don’t.
Sleep can enhance athletic performance
In various studies, players taking adequate sleep have shown to improve many aspects of athletic and physical performance like better speed, concentration, accuracy, reaction time and alertness.
Sleep keeps heart health in check
A healthy heart should get sufficient amount of sleep each night. Insufficient sleep can worsen blood pressure and cholesterol which are the major risk factors affecting the health of your heart.

The duration and quality of sleep are believed to drive chronic diseases, including heart disease and strokes.
Poor sleep affects metabolism
Poor sleeping habits are linked to causing adverse effects on metabolism in the general population. Sleep deprivation can alter the glucose metabolism and hormones involved in regulating the process.

The metabolic system will be out of balance in sleep-deprived people, which will eventually affect the dietary choices they make.
Body repairs itself during sleep
Sleep is a time when the body is hard at work repairing damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays, and other harmful exposure. The body produces more protein molecules, (the building blocks of the human body) during sleep allowing itself to repair the damage.
The bottom line
Along with nutrition and exercise, good sleep is one of the pillars of health. Many factors prevent us from receiving enough sleep viz work schedules, day-to-day stress, a disruptive bedroom environment or medical conditions. A healthy diet and positive lifestyle habits can help ensure an adequate amount of sleep.