Health Adda

We spend one third of our life in sleep. Experts feel that 6-8 hours of sleep every day is required for the restorative functions of the body. In recent times our attempts to gain more waking hours at the cost of sleep time is posing a hazard for our generation. The acute, or short term, form of sleep deprivation is common, often before examinations, during travel or festivities, or after late-night parties. The effects observed the next day are frequent yawning, micosleeps or dozing, lack of attention, impaired reflexes, altered mood and tiredness. The dangers of sleep deprivation are nowhere more apparent than on the road. Our reflexes are impaired, reaction time prolonged and judgement distorted. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that one in every five serious motor vehicle injuries is caused by driver fatigue. Alcohol trebles the effect of sleep deprivation, making highways so dangerous at night. Surgeons who sleep less are also more prone to commit fat...

What is causing considerable concern to cardiologists in recent years is the observation that young, apparently healthy men in their 30s and 40s are falling prey to heart disease. Once considered a malady of the elderly, it is emerging as a major heal th problem in young Indians. When Shailender, a cheerful 41-year-old clerk of our department complained of “gas” and heaviness in the upper abdomen one morning 2 years ago, he was pre scribed the customary Digene tablets. When he insisted on showing the cardiologist, his colleagues called him a hypochondriac. A day later, we were startled on hearing that he had to undergo an emergency angiography and stenting the previous evening for an acute myocardial infarction! There are 9 conventional risk factors for heart disease that cardiologists talk about: obesity, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, alcohol, lack of physical exercise, abnormal blood lipids, strong family history of heart disease, and stress. The interesting f...

As more people in developed countries are living longer and the elderly comprising a significant proportion of the population, the best brains and laboratories are researching why we grow old. Divisions are sometimes made between the young old (65–74), the middle old (75–84) and the oldest old (85+). However, chronological age does not correlate well wit h functional age, i.e. two people may be of the same age, but differ in their mental and physical capacities, and   some at 85 may  play golf and be mentally alert, while another at 65 may be bedridden with diabetes, stroke and dementia. The term "ageing" is somewhat ambiguous, but refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand, explaining why the proportion of elderly among politicians tends to be high....

One of the non-controversial aspects of President Barrack Obama’s recently passed Health Care Law is a requirement that fast food chains and restaurants disclose the calories contained in their products. With obesity and life stye disorders resulting from consumption of excess calories becoming the new epidemic in USA, politicians of varying hues seem to have agreed to this recent necessity. From 2011, every time one walks into MacDonald’s and orders a Big Mac burger, the consumer will find a label, stating that it contains 500 Kilocalories, staring at him. With the daily calorie requirement being around 1500 to 2000 Kcals, you will be reminded that you are about to consume a quarter to a third of your daily requirement at just one go. Add an ice-cream and you may have downed half of your daily amount with that post-movie snack! Restaurant and fast food giants are unhappy, but have had to yield after years of resistance and lobbying. The devil now is in the detail; how pro...

Scientists are still grappling with the question why only some people develop undue fondness for alcohol and become addicts, while others are able to keep within healthy limits. While alcoholism is known to run in families, it is not clear whether it is the effect of the environmental exposure from childhood or our genetic make up that makes us so.The role of genes became suspect when studies on identical twins, separated early in life and brought up in different homes were found to have a much higher chance of showing a similar pattern when traced in adulthood. If one was an alcoholic, then the other ha d a very h igh chance of being one too, even if separarted over long distances! The search for the addiction gene has however not been easy: it has become increasingly clear in recent years that there me be as many as 20 genes that determine addiction, just as there could be severasl reasons why people drink. It is common knowledge that anxious people find relaxation in ...