Why do our noses run when we have hot spicy food?

Why do our noses run when we have hot spicy food? Here’s some explanation:

Most spicy foods contain something called “capsaicin,” a chemical found in peppers. When ingested, it’s believed to affect “the quantity and thickness of mucus and other fluids secreted in the nasal passages.” In other words, it’s a kind a nasal decongestant. So, does ingesting a lot of spicy food help in curing allergies or cold?? Well, no. While spicy food like peppers and wasabi “offers brief relief,” in reality, nasal congestion will worsen, making one even more miserable. That’s because spicy foods cause greater congestion in the long term.

How much sleep is enough?

After reading quite a lot of gyaan crap from various websites, I found this site to be nice and candid

Research has shown that there is no set amount of sleep that everyone needs. Adult sleep requirements can range from less than five hours to more than 10 hours of sleep a night. In general, however, most healthy adults need an average of seven to nine hours of sleep a night. So, how do you determine if you are getting enough sleep?

Ask yourself a few simple questions. Do you have trouble staying alert during boring situations or when you are performing monotonous tasks? Do your co-workers or family members complain about your chronic irritability? Do you feel that your concentration and memory isn’t up to par? Do you go through the day feeling like you are in daze?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you probably aren’t getting enough quality sleep.

Ill effects of insomnia

Have gotten into a bad body cycle these days. I sleep for barely 4.5 hours a day. Considering the fact that I always wanted to clock this so that I get more time for work… I am happy. But am sure that this state of insomnia would be having some bad side effects.

• Distraction of mind resulting in poor performance at home and work. Poor performance can lead to distress.
• Gaining weight due to harmonal changes
• Lack of resistance to diseases due to lack of sleep and body rest. Muscles may be inflamed and weakened over a period of time.
• Not quick to react to situations.

Swine Flu

Was traveling in the Mumbai Locals and I see hazaar people wearing masks, kerchiefs and what not… to protect themselves from a possible swine flu attack. And after seeing all this… I was visualizing germs entering me… and was getting conscious about every breath I took.

Have been ignoring a lot of forwards/messages I was getting off late… Guess its time to do my little own research on the same.

The source of this research are the forwards/hospital websites etc…

What?

Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by Type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs.

Contagious? (Imp question)

Various international agencies (US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, World Health Organization) have determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human.

Symptoms?

The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people.

Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions

So how does it spread?

Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads.

Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza.

Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with live flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

And is there a vaccine?

Because the virus is new, there will be no vaccine ready to protect against pandemic flu.

Vaccine against Swine Flu virus H1N1 needs at least 6-12 months to be produced.

Seasonal flu vaccine or past flu immunization will not provide protection.

Best Technique? Wash hands regularly, avoid hand-eye contact

Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. Wash with soap and water or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner.

When you wash your hands — with soap and warm water — that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores.

If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn’t need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.

More Symptoms?

Fast breathing or trouble breathing
Bluish skin color
Not drinking enough fluids
Not waking up or not interacting
Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Fever with a rash

The question that strikes me now is… Do masks really help?

Electronic Cigarettes

Was talking to a friend about smoking and reducing it… Someone suggested electronic cigarettes… Had never heard about that term… so thot will put some research into it.

Wiki says electronic cigarettes

An electronic cigarette or “e-cigarette” is an alternative to smoked tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. It is a battery-powered device that provides inhaled doses of nicotine by delivering a vaporized propylene glycol/nicotine solution. In addition to nicotine delivery, this vapor also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no tobacco, smoke, or combustion is actually involved in its operation.

On googling, I found the concept to be pretty mature. There are sites (like this and this and many more) which are dedicated to electronic cigarettes.

The Electronic Cigarette Company describes the e-smoking process

It uses a small replaceable cartridge filled with a small dose of nicotine and flavoured propylene glycol liquid, utilized and powered by a rechargeable battery. When the user inhales on the device, the air flow is detected by a pneumatic airflow sensor switch. A microprocessor then activates an atomizer which injects tiny droplets of the liquid into the flowing air and vaporises the liquid.

But Why electronic Cigarettes?

• Tobacco free smoking
• No tar content
• Can smoke anywhere you want, without combustion. No carbonmonoxide

And here’s a video describing electronic cigarettes

Tonsils

Was having a sore throat off late. My room mate asked if I have got tonsils… and I did not know what it meant.

Are tonsils already in your system? Does “having tonsils” mean having more of tonsils or less of it?

A web-definition of Tonsil is

The tonsils are two clumps of tissue, on either side of the throat, embedded in a pocket at the side of the palate (roof of the mouth).  The lower edge of each tonsil is beside the tongue…way in the back of the throat.

Now this means that Tonsils exist in even a healthy body. So when someone says that he/she’s got tonsils, it probably means less or more of the tissue. Lemme figure this out.

The tonsils act as part of the immune system to help protect against infection. Tonsils tend to reach their largest size near puberty, and they gradually undergo atrophy thereafter. However, they are largest relative to the diameter of the throat in young children, and tonsillectomy (surgical removal of tonsils) may be indicated if they are obstructing the airway or interfering with swallowing. Also, when tonsils become overly enlarged or inflamed (tonsillitis), they may need to be surgically removed.

Probably this is what is meant by “having tonsils”, enlarging of the tonsil gland.

How does alcohol result in a belly?

People say a paunch is a direct result of consuming alcohol, hence the infamous “beer belly”. But my question here is, if I do enough exercise to compensate for the calories in the alcohol, will I be fit and fine… Lets find out.

After a lot of research, I stumbled upon this article

The article suggests that drinking would have far more effects than the ones that can be thought of

• It reduces the number of fat calories you burn (i’ll tell you how)

According to conventional wisdom, the infamous “beer belly” is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, less than five percent of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

Rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into a substance called acetate. In fact, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

• It increases your appetite and lower your testosterone for upto 24 hours

So all the greasy starters that you have with alcohol, they do not get burnt in metabolic activities and hence start accumalating. This is because alcohol acts as an appetizer.

So now you know who exactly is the culprit.

What is a balanced diet?

This is another of my attempts towards following a healthier lifestyle myself.

Apart from doing some physical exercise regularly, you also need to have a balanced diet (Click here to read more). The term “balanced” simply means that a diet meets your nutritional needs while not providing too much of any nutrients. To achieve a balanced diet, you must eat a variety of foods from each of the food groups.

There are several guidelines available to help you plan your balanced diet. They include:

• The Food Guide Pyramid
• The U.S. Dietary Guidelines (RDA guidelines)

The following is an image of the Food Guide Pyramid, where there are eight divisions from left to right. Food groups are arranged vertically, instead of horizontally like the older model, and are represented by six different colors and the person on the stairs represent physical activity.

Foods from each group should be eaten daily. The wider the food group band, the more of that product you should eat, although the widths are a general guide to portion size, not an exact recommendation.

Further recommendations on the different food groups are as follows:

• Grains(Orange), recommending that at least half of grains consumed be as whole grains
• Vegetables(Green), emphasizing dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, and dry beans and peas
• Fruits(Red), emphasizing variety and deemphasizing fruit juices
• Oils(Yellow), recommending fish, nut, and vegetables sources, and to be used sparingly
• Milk(Blue), a category that includes fluid milk and many other milk-based products
• Meat and beans(Purple), emphasizing low-fat and lean meats such as fish as well as more beans, peas, nuts, and seeds

There is one other category:

Discretionary calories, represented by the narrow tip of each colored band, including items such as candy, alcohol, or additional food from any other group.

Tea or coffee?

Am addicted to 2-3 cups of tea or coffee a day(difficult to stay up in office otherwise 🙂 ). Always had a pre-conceived notion that too much of caffeiene is bad for health but wanted to find out the exact details.

According to an article on BBC’s wesite, Instant coffee has about 61-70 mg of caffeine per cup of coffee whereas tea can have from 15-75 mg of caffeine per cup, depending on the brand. People with high blood pressure and pregnant women are advised to limit their caffeine consumption and pregnant women are supposed to restrict their consumption of caffeine to less than 300 mg a day. Both tea and coffee contain polyphenols that can bind to iron, making it difficult for our bodies to absorb. Avoiding tea and coffee during and around mealtimes is important for people at risk of iron deficiency.

But for the rest of the population, there’s no evidence caffeine does any long-term harm.

Howver, there have been some research to prove that both coffee and tea do have beneficial effects, for example coffee may reduce the chance of getting kidney stones or gall stones. However, according to this aritcle in the website of ABC News, more than 4 cups of coffee in a day is not recommended.

Tea contains some useful minerals such as zinc, manganese and potassium, and scientists are researching its potential to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and some cancers.

There is the strong suggestion that the antioxidants in tea – whether it’s black, green or white – have health benefits. Antioxidants can prevent inflammation of the blood vessels, and it has been linked to reduced risk for cancer. In terms of antioxidants, white tea has the most, followed by green tea, black tea and coffee.

How much workout do you need in a day?

This post was triggered by my guilt of doing absolutely no workout these days.

Came across an article in BBC’s website which said that according to the chief medical officer (government’s top dostor) in UK, this is what you need to do at a minimum:

• Adults should do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate-intensity physical activity, five days a week.
• You don’t have to do the whole 30 minutes in one go. Your half-hour could be made up of three ten-minute bursts of activity spread through the day, if you prefer.
• The activity can be a ‘lifestyle activity’ (in other words, walking to the shops or taking the dog out) or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these. But it does need to be of at least moderate intensity.
• People who are at specific risk from obesity, or who need to manage their weight because of a medical condition, need 45-60 minutes of exercise at least five times a week.

For older people it is more important to maintain mobility through daily activities and in case they are mobile enough the above apply to them also.

Also, this particular article in the website of an international charity organization which works for older people gives a few helpful tips:

• If you are heading for the hills and are unused to them, build up muscle strength gradually by brisk walking on the flat first. By far the most damaging form of exercise is running downhill, when the muscles are used as brakes: unless you have done this most of your life, avoid running down mountains or very steep hills. Even walking down a steep hill should be done carefully.

Avoid exercise if you are unwell, particularly if you have a significant infection – you may damage your muscles. Don’t immobilise yourself during illness however – it’s vital to keep moving about to avoid the risk of thrombosis and muscle wasting. Gentle pottering in your own home is the most you should attempt until you are fully recovered.