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)
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.
Research has shown that consuming fruits and vegetables lead to a higher level of happiness than sugar or unhealthy food.
Doctors have suggested intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and unprocessed proteins in the everyday diet. According to a recent research conducted in Australia, besides physical health, healthy eating will impact our mental health.
Likewise, unprocessed diets, which are higher in plant foods, protein and fats are associated with better mental health outcomes. These diets are considered rich in fiber, it said.
An unhealthy diet is high in trans fats, sugar, processed and refined foods. Therefore, consumption of such foods will increase the risk for depression, especially in children and teens, according to studies. This also deprives the brain of the nutrients it needs.
Likewise, unprocessed diets, which are higher in plant foods, protein and fats are associated with better mental health outcomes. These diets are considered rich in fiber, it said.
A study conducted by epidemiologist Felice Jacka of Deakin University in Australia, consisted of 67 subjects with depression. Many of them were receiving psychotherapy while some of them were taking antidepressants and some with both. Half of them were given nutritional counseling while the other half were given one-on-one social support or counseling.
Researchers suggests a diet made up of vegetables, fruits, cheese and yogurt, nuts, whole grains, seafood, and lean red meat. They have suggested elimination of fried and processed foods.
In a span of 12 weeks, the group that changed their diet felt happier than the group that received additional companionship, the report said.
Depression has several origins such as genetic or triggered by a specific event or circumstance. Lifestyle choices if also one of the reasons for depression. It is a disease of the brain.
Likewise, a study made by the University of Konstanz in Germany found out that consuming vegetables led to a higher level of happiness than intake of sugar or unhealthy food. In the study, eating vegetables contributed the largest share to eating happiness. According to the study, sweets provided induced only eating happiness.
Researchers suggests a diet made up of vegetables, fruits, cheese and yogurt, nuts, whole grains, seafood, and lean red meat. They have suggested elimination of fried and processed foods.
Your teenage daughter, who has been working very hard for a major exam, receives her result and is very disappointed with it. Later that day, she brings several packs of potato chips into her room. She laments: “I feel so bad about my result. I want to eat all of this.”
Sounds familiar?
It may be a case of emotional eating, where a person increases food intake in response to, or as a way to, soothe certain feelings, especially negative ones like stress, tension, sadness, boredom, loneliness or anxiety.
Emotional eating occurs when people eat not to satisfy hunger, but for comfort; hence the term “comfort food”.
This can lead to an unhealthy cycle, where negative emotions trigger eating, which provides temporary relief or comfort, but then the person starts feeling bad or guilty for overeating, which, in turn, triggers more eating to relieve their negative feelings.
This can become a habit that continues into adulthood, which increases risks for health-related problems such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
There are also studies linking emotional eating with poor cognitive performance, particularly in obese adolescents.
Physical or emotional hunger?
When you are under stress, your body produces more cortisol and this can lead to increased appetite, causing emotional hunger.
Eating sugar and carbohydrates can also trigger the release of dopamine, which is why you feel “comforted” by binge-eating.
It can be difficult to differentiate emotional hunger from actual physical hunger. Here are a few pointers:
Physical hunger
• Comes on gradually and can be postponed.
• Can be satisfied with any type or quantity of foods.
• Likely to stop eating when full.
• Doesn’t cause feelings of guilt.
Emotional hunger
• Feels sudden and urgent.
• Causes very specific cravings, e.g. for pizza, ice cream, fries, etc.
• Tend to eat more than normal.
• Can cause guilt afterwards.
Controlling emotional eating
No one is 100% free from emotional eating. There are times when even you as an adult will surrender to your cravings after a hard day at work.
Your teenage kids tend to give in more easily to their emotional hunger due to the changes in their hormones from puberty.
However, there are ways we can control this tendency from becoming a habit:
• Check hunger.
Ask if she is really hungry or if it is just emotional hunger?
If she just had a lunch an hour ago and her stomach is not rumbling, it may be just a craving.
Give it time to go away by doing other activities or drinking water.
Refer to the signs above to help differentiate physical and emotional hunger.
• Manage stress.
Emotional eating is mainly caused by stress. Find the source and solve it.
Reduce stress by meditating, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep.
• Tackle boredom.
Simply being bored can also lead to munching.
Instead of grabbing a snack when bored, advise her to go for a walk, listen to music, read a book or indulge in a hobby.
Find a replacement activity to escape emotional eating.
• Avoid temptation.
Do not keep her favourite comfort food at home.
Delay the trip to the grocery store if she is feeling angry, sad or frustrated.
• Choose healthy snacks.
Replace her usual comfort food with low-calorie snacks, or pick a healthier version such as fruits or whole-grain unsalted chips.
• Food journal.
Ask her to keep a record of her eating habit, i.e. what, when and how much she eats, as well as her mood when eating.
Over time, she will start to see links between food and mood, and this can help her make better choices.
• Be an example.
Remember that you are the role model of your children. They learn your habits through observation.
If they see you eating ice cream whenever you are sad, they may develop the same habit when they are older.
• Don’t reward them with food.
If you give cookies to stop your children from crying, they may start to associate cookies with comfort.
Avoid rewarding or disciplining them using food as they may “learn” emotional eating as they grow up.
The trouble with emotional eating is that once the pleasure of eating is gone, the feelings that cause it remain.
Don’t be afraid to seek expert help if the problem becomes worse.
Nutritionists can help identify eating patterns and get your teen on track with a better diet, and therapists can help them deal with their sources of stress or depression.
Take control of your family’s diet today!
Source: Star 2
If you want to boost your health, but resolutions seem too daunting, then read on for five easy ways to improve well-being each day and throughout the coming year.
Cut Out Soft Drinks
Even making small diet changes can boost health, and cutting out soft drinks and other sweetened beverages are one of the biggest small changes you can make, reducing both calorie intake and sugar consumption. A high intake of sugary drinks has been linked to a variety of health problems, including increased risk of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, lower chance of getting pregnant, an increase in visceral fat (the type of fat that wraps around internal organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines), and even an increased risk of death.
Walk More
If the thought of a gym membership or marathon training is too big a fitness goal, simply walking more will still bring benefits for health. One study found that walking at least four hours a week, or just 35 minutes a day, may reduce the severity of a stroke, and walking to work has been linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death, with an even lower risk for those who also walk in their leisure time.
Picking up the pace can also bring extra benefits, with walking at an average pace linked to a 20% lower risk for all-cause mortality compared with walking at a slow pace, and walking at a brisk or fast pace reducing the risk even further, by 2%.
Get Some Daylight
Getting enough natural daylight has previously been linked with a lower risk of depression, a lower risk of postnatal depression in women, and more recently, with improved eye health. Previous research has suggested that getting outdoors in the morning is most beneficial; those who struggle to get outside are advised to open the curtains at home and sit by windows in offices to try to maximize the amount of light, or use light therapy lamps to help fight depression in winter months.
Enjoy A Massage
A massage is a great way to help you de-stress, which is important for health, but recent research is suggesting the benefits may go further than simply helping us to relax. A recent study also linked regular massages with improved arthritis symptoms, while a study published back in 2014 also suggested that shiatsu massage could aid sleep.
So if you choose just one way to improve health this year, booking yourself in for a massage might be the most enjoyable one.
Visit Blue And Green Spaces
If you live in the countryside, this one is easier, but even in a city, most of us have access to blue spaces, such as lakes and rivers, and green spaces, including parks and nearby forests. Taking in these locations can not only help you get more active through walking, but many recent studies are also uncovering a variety of benefits from being near nature and natural space, including fewer respiratory problems, reduced risk of breast cancer in women, improved mental health and a lower risk of depression, as well as improved overall well-being.
(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
Eyes, as an extremely sensitive organ, needs protection and caring. They need to be taken care of to improve vision.
However, there are certain myths that surround the care of eyes and need to be busted.
Myths: Carrots are considered the best food to improve eyesight.
Fact: Carrots are good for the eyes, but may not be the best food. Rather go for green leafy vegetables and other foods rich in antioxidants to keep your eyes even better. Consuming green vegetables may help in avoiding and delaying problems like cataract.
Myth: Low light will affect your vision.
Fact: Low light does not affect your vision. However, it tires the eyes quickly.
Myth: Staring at a computer screen all day affect your vision.
Fact: The light of a computer screen will not directly affect the eyes. It, however, can cause you to blink less often, which can lead to tired and weary eyes. It can cause blurred vision and similar problems but the problems are not because of the screen. It is because of not blinking enough and not giving your eyes proper lubrication.
Myth: Taking a break from your glasses or contact lenses is healthy for your eyes.
Fact: Wearing a glass according to the doctor’s recommendation is suggestible. Not wearing glasses will make your eyes tired and may cause a headache or pain in the eyes, not proven to deteriorate the vision.
Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Consulting your doctor is suggested.
(Agencies)
I am 19 years old and my gums bleed when I brush. I read online that it could be because of dental plaque and tartar. What is dental plaque? What should I do to prevent bleeding?
Plaque is a biofilm, meaning collection of microorganism (bacteria) in an organized fluid forming a thin layer of film over teeth and oral surfaces. Plaque is constantly forming on teeth. If it is not cleaned by brushing, particularly in the difficult to reach areas such as between teeth, at the back of the mouth and near the gum-line, it hardens to form tartar (calculus). Tartar irritates gums and causes inflammation and consequently bleeding. Since tartar cannot be removed by regular brushing and flossing you need cleaning by professionals such as dental hygienists, dentists or in severe case a specialist (periodontist).
How frequently should I visit the dentist?
Removal of plaque with brushing and flossing on a twice daily basis and removal of tartar by a dentist and dental hygienist is the first step towards oral health. By the time teeth problem begins to hurt, it may be too late. Seeing a dentist regularly can help prevent this and many other problems. Under normal circumstances, we ask our patients to visit every 6 months but some may require visit more frequently like every 3 months depending upon oral health status.
My father has heart disease. His dentist has told him to keep good oral health. Are heart diseases related to dental health related?
Yes, heart diseases and oral health are related. Bacteria found in dental plaque release chemicals that are toxic and irritate the gums. Gradually, these bacteria cause the underlying bone around the teeth to be destroyed, a condition known as gum disease. Study shows that professional teeth cleaning (scaling) is linked to lower risk of heart attack and stroke. Recent research suggests that gum disease is linked to other health problems including heart disease, stroke, pneumonia and some pregnancy complications such as preterm delivery, low birth weight.
DrSujaya Gupta is Periodontist at Kantipur General & Dental Hospital, Basundhara, Kathmandu