The kidneys are responsible for removing waste products from the body. High blood pressure, diabetes, or hardening of the arteries, may develop kidney disease, preventing the kidneys from doing the job they are supposed to. Kidney disease is life-threatening, so it is better to do everything to look after kidneys and keep them clean. Hence, these nine foods naturally cleanse your kidneys. Try them out.
(Agencies)
Lemon water is pretty popular. Some people drink it for health benefits. Lemon water is very good for you.
Taken daily, you should be able to tell if it helps you within about 7 days. Here’s what may happen if you take up the lemon water habit. Give it a try! There is nothing to lose.
(Agencies)
KATHMANDU: The World Kidney Day has been marked by organizing kidney-related awareness programs across the country on Thursday. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli attended a program to mark the Day at the TU Teaching Hospital (TUTH) this morning.
Speaking at the program the Prime Minister urged people to maintain proper food habits, do regular physical exercises for the safety of kidneys. The PM also participated in a walkathon along with the hosts as part of the program.
The program was organized by the TUTH’s Department of Nephrology, Physician for Social Responsibility Nepal and Free Students’ Union. Talking to Khabarhub, Dr. Pukar Chandra Shrestha, executive director and kidney transplant specialist at Shahid Dharma Bhakta National Transplant Center, Bhaktapur, said a total of 3 million Nepali people are suffering from kidney ailments in Nepal. Of the total 3 million kidney patients, the 3,000 patients’ kidneys fail annually, Shrestha added.
The number of kidney patients receiving government treatment allowance has been increasing. The data maintained by the Nursing and Social Security Division (NSSD) shows that, in the Fiscal Year 2018/19, the number of patients taking government subsidy on kidney disease has doubled. A total of 4,661 kidney patients took government subsidy for the medicine, according to the division.
According to the statistics maintained by the Division, in the 2017-18 Fiscal Year, 2, 625 kidney patients received government allowance, of which 2,197 took the subsidy for hemodialysis, 88 took allowance for peritoneal dialysis service. Similarly, the 142 people took the service for transplantation service while 198 people took government subsidy for medicine.
In the Fiscal Year 2016/17, 4,300 people had received the government treatment subsidy, of which 1,939 patients took government allowance for haemodialysis, 85 took allowance for peritoneal dialysis while 157 received allowance for transplant services. Similarly, 222 people took subsidy for medicine, according to the data maintained by the NSSD.
Of them, 4,110 kidney patients took subsidy for haemodialysis, 188 took subsidy for peritoneal dialysis while 249 took subsidy for kidney transplantation while 114 took subsidy for medicine.
According to the record of the Division, a total of 8, 246 kidney patients have undergone haemodialysis while 361 peritoneal dialysis. Similarly, 548 patients underwent kidney transplantation service while 534 took government subsidy for medicine.
Given the data above, the number of kidney patients is growing every year. According to Dr. Shrestha, the kidneys fail due to unhealthy lifestyle and when the people do not undergo kidney-checking. High blood pressure and diabetes are the major causes of kidney failure, Shrestha told Khabarhub. Shrestha advise people to visit the hospital for kidney check-up once a year.
Govt. provides subsidy for kidney patients
The government has defined kidney disease as acute ailment and been providing subsidy to the patients for dialysis, transplantation and medicine. The government has been providing Rs. 400,000 to those kidney patients willing to undergo kidney transplantation in Nepal while those undergoing dialysis will get Rs. 100,000, among others.
Similarly, the government provides Rs. 50,000 each to kidney donors and receivers for their lab test, Rs. 2,500 for haemodialysis per session and 90 packets for peritoneal dialysis.
A healthy diet is low in sugar and deep-fried food, and high in fruit and vegetables. What’s less well known is how often a person should eat. Doctors recommend eating frequently – at least five to six times a day since our health must be replenished to work satisfactorily. According to Heiko Griguhn, a nutritionist, people wanting to lose weight often make the mistake of eating too seldom, he says. After a long interval without food, the body starts trying to conserve energy by reducing the number of calories it burns.
Heiko recommends eating frequently – five to six times a day. He suggests afternoon snacks to avoid low blood-sugar, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur. In order to maintain a healthy weight, it’s essential not to consume more calories than one burns, he says suggesting small portions of vegetables or other snacks in between breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, experts recommend chewing each mouthful of food 15 to 30 times. Likewise, experts also suggest drinking plenty of fluids, which helps in simulating the production of digestive juices. (Agencies)
Pretty soon, gyms might start losing their members. With Wifi, a smartphone and a bit of floor space at home, you can now YouTube your way to fitness.
Or can you really?
Last week, a friend of mine called, complaining of knee pain.
Not a fitness buff, and after giving birth to two lovely children, she had piled on more than 30kg and decided it was time she shed the excesses to usher in her 50th birthday in 2019.
Due to her size, she was too intimidated to sign up for a gym membership or hire a personal trainer. Not a nature lover either, she opted to learn from the Net.
As a newbie embarking on an exercise programme, the poor woman had no clue which videos were suitable for her except that she wanted quick results. Body awareness and alignment were furthest from her mind.
Monkey see, monkey do – you’ve heard the term before.
What happens? The chimp gets injured, of course!
Today, there are more than two billion free fitness videos on YouTube channels and countless more on social media platforms devoted to everything from weightlifting to aerobics, high intensity interval training, yoga, Pilates and more.
A lot of these videos have a tendency to make false claims that delude beginner followers into thinking they can transform their bodies just by doing 10 minutes of something (e.g. trimming, toning, tightening, etc) a day.
Or a four-minute workout that replaces one hour in the gym.
If only it were that easy, we’d all be looking like super toned models.
Better yet, I found one with three million views that suggests a workout before sleep to slim down the legs. All it takes is three minutes and you can do it in bed.
Midway through the exercise, the commentator asks, “Are you sweating and feeling the burn? That’s a good sign!”
Do you really want to sweat in bed performing non-intimate activities when you should be relaxing before drifting off to sleep?
My friend diligently followed a six-minute one that had 20 million views.
I took a look and it wasn’t too bad. You needed to perform the routine three times a week.
The problem: it wasn’t intended for beginners (although it claims to address beginners) because the host was obviously targeting the fit to get fitter. And you would have to have some knowledge of muscle groups to work efficiently.
For example, when words like “strengthen your quads and hams” are mentioned, the majority of netizens have no clue what muscles these are and where they are located. There were a series of squats and push-ups thrown in the mix.
Being a novice, the friend tried to follow as much as she could because she was motivated by how easy the instructor made it look.
Three months later was when I received her “busted-knee” call. She had a slight tear of both her knee ligaments (meniscus).
On the positive side, she managed to lose 4.5kg, so hooray for that. However, she has to wait until her knees heal before resuming exercise again.
YouTube videos do not allow the instructor to see you, check your form, and offer modifications or corrections based on your performance.
This means you could inadvertently perform exercises incorrectly, or even unsafely, without knowing it.
This is particularly concerning for beginners and those recovering from injuries, as they’re more likely to perform exercises incorrectly, especially squats and planks.
Fitness is a burgeoning industry, online or offline. There is tons of money to be made and stars to be uncovered.
These days, unlike the traditional workout video, where weight loss and fitness was the goal, consumers are logging on to their favourite fitness vloggers for a more intimate and interactive experience.
According to Flurry Insights, which analyses mobile app data, health and fitness app usage rose 62% in the first half of 2014, and it’s growing at a rate 87% faster than that of other industries.
A 2015 study by researchers at the New York University School of Medicine revealed that more than half of all smartphone users had downloaded a fitness or health app.
Yet, our society continues to be obese.
Before you get started on a new fitness regimen, get clearance from your doctor about what’s safe for you and your size. This is especially important if you’re pregnant, injured, ill, or have limited mobility for whatever reason.
Don’t wait till you bust a body part.
(Agencies)
The idea of retiring seems enticing; ending years upon years of long weeks at work to spend your days doing whatever you want. If you’re counting down the years until your retirement age of 65, one physician said that you might want to reconsider.
As reported by Reader’s Digest, a Japanese doctor urged people to never clock out of the workforce. Yes, you read that right. Never. In an interview with The Japan Times two years ago, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, who was “one of the world’s longest-serving physicians and educators” and had since 1941 worked as a doctor and teacher at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo and St. Luke’s College of Nursing, respectively (and served as chairman of both organizations’ board of trustees), said not retiring was one of his secrets to living a long, healthy life.
“There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65,” said Hinohara, who has penned around 150 books, including the best-selling Living Long, Living Good.
“The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago when the average life expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years, we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100,” he added
Keeping busy throughout the senior years can help give elderly people a sense of purpose and accomplishment. These are key traits to keeping the brain healthy and switched on as the body ages, he said.
Hinohara practiced what he preached. He lived until the age of 105, treating patients and working up to 18 hours a day up until a few months before his death in 2017.
(Agencies)
Research suggests that, in addition to some common causes of migraines, the result of fluctuating estrogen levels can trigger migraines in women more often. People often like to say, “‘Such-and-such’ illness doesn’t discriminate.” But in the case of migraines, the condition appears to do exactly that, according to experts from several research institutes.
Numbers from the Mayo Clinic in the United States indicate that 17% of women surveyed develop migraines, compared to 6% of men. Additionally, both the US National Medical Library and the Migraine Research Foundation in the US concluded in studies, that women are three times more likely to be afflicted by the condition.
Based on this, there looks to be a consensus across the board that migraines are a bigger issue for women than they are for men. Contrary to popular belief, migraines are not milder versions of headaches. Rather, it is a chronic neurological ailment that affects more than one billion people all over the world, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is listed among the top 20 “most debilitating illnesses in the world”.
Causes in women
Let’s take a look at some of the leading causes of migraines.
• Stress
It’s only possible to diagnose the causes of stress by analyzing a patient’s daily routine, which includes work, sleep, recreation, food, relationships and other lifestyle patterns.
Other times, psychological trauma might be involved and will require long-term counselling as part of the treatment.
• Weather
Women tend to suffer more easily from changes in weather, as it can create an imbalance in serotonin levels – a hormone whose many functions includes regulating mood. In cold climates, you might find women suffering from migraines more easily during the winter. The reverse is also true: when temperatures in hot climates rise to extreme numbers, that could also serve as a trigger for migraines.
• Alcohol
Excessive consumption of alcohol causes dehydration, which encourages migraines. Many types of alcohol also contain high amounts of tyramine – a naturally-occurring compound. It is a by-product of the tyrosine amino acid, which is found in many foods, including alcohol. Tyramine is akin to a panic-inducing element, elevating heart rate, spiking blood pressure and triggering migraines.
Hormonal changes
Several studies indicate that changes in levels of the female hormone, oestrogen, is a key cause of migraines. The cells that surround nerves inside the head, as well as nearby blood vessels, are quick to detect migraine triggers, and a drop in levels of oestrogen is viewed as a “flip of a switch”.
Dr Soma Sahai-Srivastava, associate professor of neurology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in the US, describes it like this: “Once this (switch) is flipped on, it spills toxic, inflammatory chemicals on the roadmap of the brain. “Then the blood vessels start acting out, which produces throbbing; it’s like an orchestra on the surface of the brain.”
There is still much more work to be done in understanding the role of oestrogen in migraines. What we do know presently, are four important scenarios where drastic changes in oestrogen levels have an impact on migraines:
• Pre-mentrual symptoms
Headaches are a common complaint women have before they are about to get their period.
This is when oestrogen levels are low, allowing painful migraines to attack.
• During pregnancy
For all the other inconveniences one experiences during pregnancy, you can rejoice to know that pregnancy helps to reduce migraine attacks.This is because an expecting mother’s oestrogen levels are high, and remain that way throughout pregnancy.
• Post-delivery
Unfortunately, good things come to an end. With the end of a pregnancy, your hormone levels fluctuate downwards, including oestrogen levels.
Now, with a baby at home to adjust to and care for, it’s best to have the husband and your family to support you, in order to not let stress or hormones trigger the migraines again.
• Pre-menopause
This is a challenging period for women who suffer from migraines, as your hormone levels become the most unbalanced. Some seek hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but the results differ for every individual. But for many, the headaches tend to go away post-menopause.
A study showed that those who applied lavender essential oil, made from lavender flowers like those shown in this filepic, had their migraine symptoms reduce much faster than those who applied a placebo.
Ways to reduce migraines
Paracetamol, ibuprofen and other similar drugs are the typical over-the-counter medications that are prescribed most often for migraines, but you can try natural remedies to alleviate migraines too:
• Acupressure
This is a good alternative to try for your migraines, as well as for other ailments. The method involves applying pressure to various points on the body, to reduce symptoms of a condition. It has been studied and found to be an effective alternative treatment.
• Lavender oil
Aromatherapy works differently on everyone, but a joint study by German and Iranian researchers found that study participants who applied lavender oil reported that their symptoms were reduced much faster than those who applied a placebo. It is always a good idea to invest in high-quality, 100% natural essential oils, and preferably organic ones.
• Magnesium
Deficiency in magnesium has been linked to increased migraines. You can add more magnesium to your diet by consuming foods like milk, peanut butter, eggs, oatmeal, almonds, cashew nuts and sunflower seeds.
• B Vitamins
Vitamins B6 and B12, as well as folic acid, may reduce the frequency, severity and disability of migraines, according to new research. Fruits, whole grains, veggies, beans, fortified and whole grain products, poultry, meat, fish and dairy are excellent sources.
• Yoga
Working on your posture, stretching and breathing exercises may reduce the intensity of migraines, studies show. It can ease stress by promoting vascular health and relieving the tension in your muscles. In any case, it is a great complementary therapy to encourage overall health.
• Ginger
This anti-inflammatory root is well-known for reducing nausea, and because migraines are a linked symptom, ginger may be able to help with that as well.Take a small amount of ginger powder – one-eighth of a teaspoon in hot water – or crush some sliced ginger root and steep in hot water to make tea.
In looking at solutions for migraines, it would be tremendously helpful to examine one’s overall lifestyle and any impact it may have on health. You’ll be surprised to find that sometimes, changes in your routine, such as cutting out poor lifestyle habits like late nights and excessive alcohol, can make a difference. Discuss your symptoms with your doctor, and for whatever the underlying causes, whether it is stress, nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalances, find the solutions that work best for you.
Source: star2
(Agencies)
New research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, finds that sleep deprivation increases sensitivity to pain by numbing the brain’s painkilling response. Sleep may be key for relieving chronic pain, a new study suggests. One in 3 adults in the United States, or 35 percent of the adult population, do not get enough sleep.
The effects of sleep deprivation on the brain are numerous, from inducing an inebriation-like state of cognitive impairment to hindering our ability to learn and form new memories. New research highlights another neurological effect of insufficient sleep: heightened sensitivity to pain.
A lack of sleep impairs the brain’s natural mechanisms for relieving pain, finds the new study, which draws attention to potential links between the public health crises of sleep deprivation, chronic pain, and prescription opioid addiction.
In the U.S., over 20 percent of the population, or around 50 million adults, are living with chronic pain, according to recent estimates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that, on average, around 130 people in the U.S. die from an opioid overdose every day. Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California in Berkeley carried out the study, together with doctoral candidate Adam Krause.
How sleep loss affects pain sensitivity
Walker and Krause induced pain in 24 healthy, young study participants by applying heat to their legs. As they were doing so, the scientists scanned the participants’ brains, examining the circuits that process pain. The participants did not have any problems sleeping or any pain-related disorders at the beginning of the study.
The scientists started by recording each participant’s pain threshold after a good night’s sleep by scanning their brain with a functional MRI machine while applying increasing levels of heat to the participant’s skin. Once the scientists had established the person’s pain threshold, they repeated the procedure after a night of no sleep.
“Across the group, [the participants] were feeling discomfort at lower temperatures, which shows that their own sensitivity to pain had increased after inadequate sleep,” reports Krause, the study’s lead author. “The injury is the same,” he explains, “but the difference is how the brain assesses the pain without sufficient sleep.”
The researchers found that the brain’s somatosensory cortex, a region associated with pain sensitivity, was hyperactive when the participants hadn’t slept enough. This confirmed the hypothesis that sleep deprivation would interfere with pain-processing neural circuits.
However, a surprising finding was that the activity in the brain’s nucleus accumbens was lower than usual after a sleepless night. The nucleus accumbens releases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which increases pleasure and relieves pain.
“Sleep loss not only amplifies the pain-sensing regions in the brain but blocks the natural analgesia centers, too,” explains Prof. Walker. Finally, the researchers found that the brain’s insula, which assesses pain signals and prepares the body’s reaction to pain, was also underactive. “This is a critical neural system that assesses and categorizes the pain signals and allows the body’s own natural painkillers to come to the rescue,” notes Krause.
‘Sleep is a natural analgesic’
To replicate their findings, the researchers also conducted a survey of over 230 adults who were registered in Amazon’s Mechanical Turk online marketplace. The participants reported their sleep patterns and pain sensitivity levels over several days.
The scientists found that the smallest changes in the participants’ sleep patterns correlated with changes in pain sensitivity. “The results clearly show that even very subtle changes in nightly sleep — reductions that many of us think little of in terms of consequences — have a clear impact on your next-day pain burden,” Krause says. Walker comments on the findings, noting, “the optimistic takeaway here is that sleep is a natural analgesic that can help manage and lower pain.” “Yet ironically, one environment where people are in the most pain is the worst place for sleep — the noisy hospital ward.”
Source: Medical News Today
William Shakespeare’s father has been credited with saving priceless paintings that were hidden in an historic chapel in Stratford-upon-Avon. John Shakespeare was Bailiff of the town during the Reformation under King Henry VIII, and was ordered to remove them from the Guild Chapel. Rather than destroying them as often happened, he painted over them with whitewash. The Heritage Lottery Fund has given a £100,000 grant so the images can be restored and put back on public display, according to BBC.
Some Facts about Shakespeare
Few people realize that apart from writing his numerous plays and sonnets, Shakespeare was also an actor who performed many of his own plays as well as those of other playwrights.
There is evidence that he played the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You Like It. During his life, Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays, 154 sonnets and a number of poems that we know of. In addition there are a number of “lost plays” and plays that Shakespeare collaborated on. This means Shakespeare wrote an average 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589.
Shakespeare has been credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with introducing almost 3,000 words to the English language.
Estimations of his vocabulary range from 17,000 to a dizzying 29,000 words — at least double the number of words used by the average conversationalist.
William Shakespeare is believed to have influenced the English language more than any other writer in history, coining—or, at the very least, popularizing—terms and phrases that still regularly crop up in everyday conversation.
Examples include the words “fashionable” (“Troilus and Cressida”), “sanctimonious” (“Measure for Measure”), “eyeball” (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) and “lackluster” (“As You Like It”); and the expressions “foregone conclusion” (“Othello”), “in a pickle” (“The Tempest”), “wild goose chase” (“Romeo and Juliet”) and “one fell swoop” (“Macbeth”).
He is also credited with inventing the given names Olivia, Miranda, Jessica and Cordelia, which have become common over the years (as well as others, such as Nerissa and Titania, which have not). Shakespeare has inspired lots of films in Hollywood, Bollywood, and beyond
Western films:
West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins) – Romeo and Juliet
Kiss Me, Kate (George Sidney) – The Taming of the Shrew
Forbidden Planet (Nicholas Nayfack) – The Tempest
My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant) – Henry IV parts 1 and 2
Gnomeo and Juliet (Kelly Asbury) – Romeo and Juliet
Looking for Richard (Al Pacino) – Richard III
Bollywood:
Omkara, Maqbool, Haider (all by Bhardwaj) – Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet
Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) – Romeo and Juliet
Japan:
Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) – Macbeth
Ran (Akira Kurosawa) – King Lear
Shakespeare invented lots of expressions that we still use today
(Agencies)
There is no compelling evidence to indicate important health benefits of non-sugar sweeteners, and potential harms cannot be ruled out, suggests a recent review of published studies in The BMJ, a leading general medical journal in the UK.Foods or drinks containing non-sugar sweeteners have become increasingly popular in recent times.
To understand the potential benefits and harms of sweeteners, a team of European researchers analyzed 56 studies comparing no intake or lower intake of non-sugar sweeteners, with higher intake, in healthy adults and children, the BMJ report said. The measures included weight, blood sugar control, oral health, cancer, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, mood and behavior. For most outcomes, there seemed to be no statistically or clinically relevant differences between those exposed to non-sugar sweeteners and those not exposed, or between different doses of non-sugar sweeteners.The study suggested small improvements in body mass index (BMI) and fasting blood glucose levels with non-sugar sweeteners, but the certainty of this evidence was low.Likewise, lower intakes of non-sugar sweeteners were associated with slightly less weight gain (-0.09 kg) than higher intakes, but again the certainty of this evidence was low.In children, a smaller increase in BMI score was seen with non-sugar sweeteners compared with sugar, but intake of non-sugar sweeteners made no differences to body weight, according to the study.
Several studies show that people who drink a lot of diet beverages tend to gain weight. However, the reasons for this are not clear. But there are a few theories. While a theory considers the cravings for sweet foods, another theory says people tend to think that since the biscuits or cakes are sugar free, they can increase the slice. Therefore, it is not necessarily true that drinking a diet beverage over a sweetened drink will result in weight loss.
(Agencies)