Shavasana for hypertension
Once, a senior colleague started a Women’s Exercise Center in our office. After the office hours, all the women staff who were “interested” in abdominal work-outs were to meet in the common room for exercise. It was an enlivening but painful experience for some people including me. During those mornings we usually greeted each other with a convulsive smile and would involuntarily ask “how’s the pain today?” perhaps to ensure that the pain was not individual. While it helped a few ladies to lose their extra fat, it triggered the food cravings and hunger in some others. To every body’s amusement, my friend would sneak in to the nearby store and discretely relish bars of chocolate after her ‘abs’.
Our sessions would certainly begin with warm up exercises and would end with a relaxing Shavasana of 10 minutes, often guided by the Lady-trainer. Well, during the Shavasana session I would go in to a trance not discernible from sleep. Lying ‘dead’ thus on the cold tiles of the silent building brought a lot of peace and tranquility within.
As a child, I had seen Shavasana being practiced by my father and believed to be a joke. Only when I grew up did I know that it was a real Asana!
Generally practiced to remove strain, exertion and fatigue, Shavasana is said to be the best exercise for cardiac problems, hypertension and insomnia. Shavasana relaxes every muscle and nerve of the body and helps significantly in lowering high blood pressure. Any individual who has been restricted from doing other asanas due to hypertension can perform Shavasana without trouble.
Most of the people term it as a simple exercise while some experts call it a challenging but highly rewarding posture. Shavasana, known as Corpse pose in English, is one of the most important positions in Yoga. It can be done to prepare yourself for a harder exercise and also after any strenuous physical activity to relax.
Shavasana calms both your body and the mind and promotes energy flow. Shavasana eliminates both mental and physical tiredness while preparing you for the conservation of positive energy. Shavasana essentially relaxes every nerve of your body and improves your respiratory and circulatory system. Mental worries and nervous tension are relieved as problems like headache, dizziness, mental weakness, hot flushes and sciatica are eradicated. To an extent it also benefits people with neurosis and fear complexes.
Shavasana is effective only if it can transform you to a spiritual world. At the same time, on the physical level it should bring you complete rest. Always remember to wear loose garments while doing Shavasana. Do not sleep off during your Shavasana. It is required to do Shavasana on empty stomach and for a month. For optimum benefits, it is said that Shavasana has to be practiced for 10-15 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. But there is no fixed duration as the ultimate aim is to relax. While practicing Shavasana for Blood Pressure, you should check your blood pressure regularly. If you find that you find your blood pressure dropping to the normal level, discontinue your practice. Shavasana, however, is not recommended for people with low blood pressure.
Shavasana embraces all the three realms of the physical, spiritual and the philosophical.
-Aparna K V
The statements here are suggestions and we do not offer any medical advice. You should always consult your doctor or any qualified medical practitioner before practising Shavasana.
Tags: natural, medicine, homeopathic, weight loss, chinese
Menopause
Menopause
Perhaps the human lady is most versatile. Not only does it provide emotional support, care and affection to the family but also offers a helping hand to the bread earner of the house. Over and above all of this, it is the woman who undergoes the turmoil of giving birth to her children. Right from her teenage when she experiences puberty, the young girl’s body experiences changes which result in physical appearance differences, hormonal differences as well as functional differences. After marriage the young girl transforms to a lady when her sexual organs are stimulated, soon when she conceives, she marks the beginning of another phase of life, that of motherhood and this tradition of change in a woman’s life continues even when she is fifty years old…that in form of menopause.
Menopause occurs when a woman permanently stops menstruating. The most common age range at which women experience menopause is 48-55 years. If menopause occurs in a woman younger than 40 years, it is considered premature. Menopause is considered late if it occurs in a woman older than 55 years. For most women, menopause is a normal occurrence.
What is perimenopause ?
The hormonal changes associated with menopause actually begin prior to the last menstrual period, during a three year period called perimenopause. During this transition, women may begin to experience menopausal symptoms and may lose bone density, even though they are still menstruating.
Why does menopause occur?
Every girl is born with many millions of eggs in her pair of ovaries. These eggs are nurtured by FSH or follicle stimulating hormone. As the age of the girl advances, these eggs reduce in number. Some of them are lost in the process of menstruation and many others die out. When the number of eggs in the ovaries is as low as a few thousands, the capacity of these eggs to function to their best is limited and perhaps even negligible. Moreover they also become resistant to FSH.
In addition to the reduction in the number of functional eggs in the ovaries, the production of estrogen and testosterone in the lady’s body is also inhibited. These are reproductive hormones in the human body which result in lady like characters and testosterone is the key to good sex life.
As a result of the above discussed changes, the female body undergoes a number of changes and her reproductive life comes to an end. This is menopause.
Symptoms in menopause
According to some studies, hot flashes occur in as many as 75% of perimenopausal women. The symptoms vary among women. Commonly, the hot flush may begin with a feeling of nausea or a headache, followed by a wave of heat, flushed skin, and palpitations (feeling a strong heartbeat). Often there is an increase in skin temperature and pulse, and they often cause insomnia, or sleeplessness.
There is a loss of control on urine release. In some cases, burning sensations while urinating is also experienced.
Vaginal changes:
Because estrogen affects the vaginal lining, perimenopausal women may also have pain during intercourse and may note a change in vaginal discharge.
Breast changes:
Menopause may cause changes in the shape of the breasts.
Thinning of the skin
The moisture and oil content of skin is lost and the skin starts sagging and thinning
During perimenopause, bone loss accelerates to about a 3% loss per year. Later, it drops off to about a 2% loss per year. Bone loss can cause osteoporosis, a condition that increases the risk of bone fractures. These fractures can be intensely painful and can interfere with daily life. They also can increase the risk of death.
Cholesterol profiles also change significantly at the time of menopause. Total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol increase.This is associated with an increased risk of heart disease.
Weight gain:
A 3-year study of healthy women nearing menopause found an average gain of 5 pounds during the 3 years. Hormonal changes and aging are both possible factors in this weight gain.
Diet in menopause
Postmenopausal women not on estrogen therapy should consume 1,500 mg of calcium daily to prevent loss of bone mineral density. Women on estrogen therapy should consume at least 1,000 mg of calcium daily.
The least expensive way to obtain calcium is through diet. Diet can easily provide 1,000-1,500 mg of calcium daily. All dairy food items, calcium fortifies juices and sea food like fish are rich in calcium.
Tags: alternative, blood pressure, weight loss, herbs, medicine
Banana, the best selling fruit
Bananas claim the title of the world’s best-selling fruit and are more popular around the world than apples and oranges. Though we say “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” a banana is a healthier fruit than an apple. Bananas are available in India in many sizes and colors. In south India, you start a diet of bananas as early as infancy. Babies receive the first solid-food with banana as the primary ingredient. It grows along with you to become a snack and to become a major part in your old age frugal diet. In America, it is estimated that in a year at least twenty-five pounds of bananas are consumed by a single person. The yellow Cavendish banana is the most favored one in America.
There are over four hundred varieties of banana. Bananas grow in bulk not on a tree but on a large plant which is known as a plantain. And the best part is that one can find use for each and every part of a plantain.
Banana would stand for instant energy. Even if you skip a meal, having a banana can meet your nutritional requirements. It is rich in iron and potassium while being low in salt. A banana would consist of 4 times the proteins, twice the carbohydrates,3 times the phosphorous,5 times vitamin A than an apple. It also has vitamin B6 and B12, vitamin C and magnesium. Let’s not forget the vital fiber content of bananas too.
Including bananas in your diet can boost up your brain power, regulate