World Health Day

7th April has been dedicated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the World health day. The day witnesses various events held worldwide to spread the message of good health and promote best health care practices. Each year there is a different theme declared and everyone works around it to spread the message of good health.

World Health Day celebrations across the world focus on increasing the life expectancy of people. The day is aimed at promoting healthier living habits through efforts from doctors, NGOs and students various media.

This year’s theme, Universal health coverage (UHC) is about health for all. The theme aims to ensure that all people get the quality health services they need, without experiencing financial hardship. A lot needs to be done in India to ensure that there are sufficient medicines, health policies, financing strategies to enable everyone to get access to equal healthcare. “Universal” in UHC means “for all”, without discrimination, leaving no one behind.

Here are some facts and figures about Healthcare:

• At least half of the world’s people are currently unable to obtain essential health services.
• Almost 100 million people are being pushed into extreme poverty, because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
• Over 800 million people (almost 12 percent of the world’s population) spend at least 10 percent of their household budgets on health expenses for themselves, a sick child or other family member. They incur so-called “catastrophic expenditures”.

We are listing down some essential health tips which help you lead a healthy life:

• Never skip breakfast – It is the most important meal of the day and fuels your entire day. Plan your breakfast in advance and ensure that you have a nutritious one.
• Aim for fiber – Eating more fiber allows you to feel more satisfied while stabilizing blood-sugar levels and curbing hunger pangs. Diets high in fiber have been linked to lower bodyweight, decreased disease risk and improved longevity.
• Hygiene – Maintain hygiene in all your daily activities like bathing, brushing, cooking as well as in your homes and workplaces.
• Stay hydrated – Your body needs adequate water to function well, always stay hydrated. Water regulates your body temperature and lubricates your joints. It helps transport nutrients to give you energy and keep you healthy.
• Take care of your bones – Get your daily calcium by taking a medicine, having milk or eating yoghurt. It’ll keep your bones strong. Remember that your bone density declines after the age of 30. You need at least 200 milligrams daily, which you should combine with magnesium, or it simply won’t be absorbed.
• Stay tobacco free – Any kind of tobacco is harmful for you. Do not start and quit if you are addicted to tobacco. Apart from causing heart diseases and cancer it also  accelerates bone density loss and constricts blood flow.
• Limit your alcohol intake – Heavy drinking is linked to serious health problems and diseases including bowel cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and liver disease.
• Keep stress in check – Give yourself a break. Take time to relax and unwind when under stress. It’s important to treat your body well, practise deep breathing to relax yourself in stressful times.
• Wash your hands – It may sound very simple, but not all follow this basic hygiene method. Make it a habit to wash your hands with soap and water before and after meals and after using the washroom too.
• Get enough sleep – Poor sleep can reduce your physical and mental performance. It is also one of the strongest individual risk factors for future weight gain and obesity.
• Maintain a healthy diet  – The key is not to count every calorie, but to simply be mindful of what you are putting into your body. Lean meats, leafy greens, nutritious grains, fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious. Eat more plants.
• Regular health checkups – Make yearly age appropriate health checkups a part of your daily routine. Timely diagnosis help finding and treating diseases early.
• Be mosquito free – Keep your home and surroundings clean and dry devoid of any stagnant water. Take precautions to avoid mosquito bites by using repellents when stepping out.
• Physical activity – Dedicate 30 minutes per day to physical activity. Apart from the fitness benefits it will also help boost your mood and your energy for the rest of the day.
• Keep your brain busy – Take care of your brain health by practising puzzles, games, brain teasers. It helps your brain stay sharp and protects you against Alzheimer’s.
• Socialize – Social relationships are incredibly important. Not only for your mental wellbeing, but for your physical health as well. Studies suggest that people who are close with friends and family are healthier and live much longer than those who are not.
• Choose fresh food instead of Junk food – All the processed junk foods are the biggest reason for obesity. They are low in fiber, protein and micronutrients, but high in unhealthy ingredients like added sugar and refined grains.
• Say No to excess sugar – Choose your foods wisely. Added sugars contain a whole bunch of calories with NO essential nutrients. Sugar is also very bad for the teeth, because it provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in the mouth.
• Eat Probiotic Foods – Probiotic foods like yogurt are highly beneficial for your gut and help boost your immunity, mental health and digestion.
• Get some sunshine – Ensure that your body gets enough sunlight or take supplements if needed. In addition to mood, Vitamin D helps with cholesterol levels, hormone balance, and so much more.

Summer has arrived in all its glitz and glory and it brings with it soaring temperatures and an insatiable craving for ice-creams! While it is alright to give in to these cravings once in a while, what one needs to remember is that having fruits is what will keep you healthy and hydrated during this season.

We’ve compiled a list of 5 summer fruits and their mind-blowing benefits. Take a look!

Pear

While apples are regarded as a superfood, pears shouldn’t be left far behind. Not many are aware that a single Pear has more fibre than an apple, comparable Vitamin C and just a little more carbs and calories. Pears are great for the overall health of your body. In addition to controlling blood sugar levels, this fab fruit also aides in digestion and boosts your immune system.

Sweet Lime

Sweet Lime, also known as Mosambi, is a rich source of Vitamin C. The acids in this fruit helps flush out toxins from your bowel tract. If you’re prone to constipation, this is one fruit you should have on a regular basis as it contains a high amount of dietary fibre. The juice of Sweet Lime has the ability to keep you cool while you face the blazing heat of summer which is why it is a must-have.

Watermelon

Watermelon has 92% water content and it is rich with a variety of nutrients! Each juicy bite that you take of this fruit has significant levels of Vitamins A, B6 and C. What’s more? This quintessential summer fruit is also fat-free! Recent studies have found that watermelon seeds are wonderfully nutritious too, that is, they are high in potassium, magnesium and Vitamin B.

Papaya

Next on this list is Papaya. This one is considered to be an all-round summer fruit. In addition to soothing sunburn and reducing tan, Papaya also lowers blood pressure and aides in digestion. You can eat it, apply it on your skin and even make a hair pack of it! It’s also a great fruit to include in your weight loss diet!

Mango

This list would be incomplete without the ultimate summer fruit that children as well as adults wait for all year long! Mangoes taste so good that people often forget that they have several health benefits too. You can mix the juice of green mango with water and add a sweetener to cool down your body and prevent harm from heat. What’s more? Vitamins A and C in this fruit helps keep your immune system healthy and strong!

The above-mentioned fruits are not only healthy to consume, but also a delight for your taste buds! Have more to add to this list? We’d love to know in the comments below.

Day 4

Unfortunately today didn’t go our way. It was always going to be a huge challenge facing the world no.1 in the first round, but obviously that’s sport, sometimes you come up against the toughest competition out there. Ideally this would have happened in a later round with a little rhythm under the belt, but the draw was never in our hands.

The other sure fact in sport is that there always has to be a loser. So the week didn’t go our way result-wise, but from my side, I was happy that Saina felt physically good on the court. After the 5-6 weeks of rehab leading up to this tournament, it’s a small victory to come out of the other side without any aggravation of what has been a chronic string of injuries for Saina stretching back to August 2016. And as I’ve said, the progress she has made from 6 weeks ago can only be a positive leading up to Commonwealth Games.

The game itself was a good one to watch. The first game didn’t start out as well as Saina would have liked, but the second game was very positive. As usual, there are generally a number of factors involved in the overall performance. Having chatted to Saina after the game, she felt her movement was better than it has been, but maybe the fact that we had to focus on rehab, she maybe didn’t get to do enough high intensity training in the build up.

So we’ll take the positives out of the week and move forward with the next goal in mind. Saina was always getting stronger, but now we can work more on speed, agility and conditioning.

Until next time.

Day 3

Fortunately the sleep is getting better, everyone seems to be rising later every day, which as an athlete, helps to plan the rest of the day when you’re on a normal schedule.

Saina had a quiet morning concentrating on good nutrition, rest and relaxation. The day before the tournament starts it is important that she is really fresh both mentally and physically, so being able to rest and relax is paramount. We did a light cardio and full body session in the gym, followed by some passive recovery before the evening session.

The Indian team had the arena courts booked from 9pm, which gave everyone a decent amount of time to prepare. The downside being that the games start as early as 9am which means less than 12 hours of recovery between tonight and tournament play. Not ideal. As it turns out Saina is off at around 10.30am tomorrow (third on court), so really not great timing, but this is the world of professional sport. Regardless, Saina and the rest of the team had a good concise session, before racing through a quick recovery routine, a small high protein meal, and getting to sleep.

Huge match to tomorrow to kick things off – World number one Tai Tzu Ying from Taiwan. Let’s hope all the hard work clicks and we get the result the country is looking for!

Day 2

Another early start on a pretty miserable and cold English day, the change in time zones is certainly still a factor.

We had a good breakfast, and ended up chatting with Gopi (Head National Coach) and a senior badminton official afterwards about everything from fast cars, corruption, the history of the All England Championship (Gopi famously won here while still a player), to the state of cricket in South Africa – which incidentally is quite good!

The allocated on-court practice time for the Indian team was 12-1pm. So after breakfast we rested for a bit before getting to the gym for some activation and warm-up. These sessions are pretty routine (we don’t really want to change much in a tournament week), with a few added extras based on how Saina is feeling.

The arena is close by, but even a 5-10min walk can seem quite a bit further in ice cold rain. By the time we got to the courts I think the entire team had probably cooled down to the extent that they needed another thorough warm up. The session was always going to be a little lighter than normal practice, again, on a count of the proximity to the first match. The practice surface at the arena is also very hard (harder than the courts will be), so that is also a factor in going a little easier.

The practice session itself was good, with a lot of high intensity skill work. Saina informs me that Gopi has a way of always mixing it up just a little to keep it beneficial. All the Indian players are looking in good shape going into Wednesday.

Besides the Indian players, it was nice to see some of the other players (Thailand, China and Malaysia were practicing at the same time). Watching a legend like Lee Chong Wei who is still impressive at the age of 35 was awesome. Chen Long is also obviously very impressive. It was good to get to chat to a few of the other physio’s as well, understanding what colleagues are going though, hearing about different approaches and communication surrounding Sports Medicine in general is a key in the progression we are making as a profession.

Post-session recovery included some stretching, active recovery in the cold, and a great high protein meal. The afternoon nap couldn’t have come at a better time!

The rest of the day was very relaxed, we’re in real preparation mode now – resting, napping, a decent dinner and some some tissue before bed for Saina will hopefully see her nice and fresh for tomorrow’s on court session. Tomorrow is going to be tricky to plan as we still don’t know what time Saina is playing on Wednesday (schedule only comes out on Tuesday). The Indian team has only been allocated on-court practice at 9.30pm – so we’re hoping for a later start on Wednesday!

On a personal note – I kept my run until the evening. Not sure it was the best idea though, as it was freezing and raining and the roads were slippery as anything, so it didn’t last very long…

Another early start tomorrow so I’m off to bed.