FITNESS FOR FREE: HOME WORK OUTS

In order to stay fit, a healthy food consumption, as different nutrients as key ingredients is very necessary along with consistent work outs. A commitment to a regular workout regimen will increase your fitness level, improve your health and generate a greater sense of mental well being. In this article, we discuss about the work outs and exercises that can be done in your home, if you do not wish to get a gym membership. These work outs can get you in shape if you are consistent, committed and doing it in slow, controlled manner. 

• Warming up is the most essential thing you should do when you try to start to work out. It makes your muscles warm and pumps up your heart rate and helps to avoid probable injuries. Warming up includes running, stretching, jumping, jogging up and down your stairs etc.. You need to warm up until you sweat out just before starting your regular working out routine.
• Start to do push ups, start with at least 5 and increase accordingly.
• Start to squat down and then up in your feet, do it at least 10 times consistently for the first time and then increase accordingly.
• 15 seconds Planck is a good technique to build strength in you. With your two elbows and your foot fingers only resting in ground, stretch your entire body with your head held perpendicular to the ground. Increase the time period accordingly.
• Hip and thigh extension includes lying back on the ground bending your one knee making 90 degrees and stretching the other leg straight. With a bent leg, squeeze your glute, push through your heal, push your hips up. Keep your other leg straight through out the exercise.

These are the tips covering a basic start guide to work out sets in your home. More articles about them will be featured in the upcoming days in this blog. Make sure to stretch out after you finish doing a set of exercises, before continuing to the other one. And again, be consistent. When you exercise with consistency, your muscles will develop gradually and your mind will experience reduced level of stress and greater relaxation, hence improving your health and fitness level. Here is a video about various working out techniques without any equipment, for your guidance.

MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." There is emerging evidence that positive mental health is associated with improved health outcomes. Health condition that is characterized by alteration in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and/or impaired functioning is a 'state of not being mentally fit' of an individual.

Researches suggest that an individual is mentally healthy when he/she indicates the state of psychological, social and emotional well being. These states may arise when a person possesses an intense feeling on self-acceptance, spirituality, positive relationships, optimism, hopefulness, satisfaction, happiness, cheerfulness, peacefulness, social acceptance, personal self worth, sense of community etc..

More details about mental illness and disorders in:

mental disorders

Learn more about mental health:

mental health

Tips to stay mentally fit:

• Love and take care of yourself. Be active and have a good eating habits. Frequently do the thing in which your passion lies. Combine physical activity with a balanced diet to keep you feeling good by nurturing your body and mind, inside and out.
• You become, what you think. So, try and develop a positive attitude towards all the situations in life. Start to think about good achievements and eliminate negative thoughts and feelings. Change the aspect of how you see and tackle your problems. Be consistent and stay focused on your goals.
• Try to be in a circle of people with positive thoughts in their lives and are supportive in every possible way because sometimes all you need is encouragement to be happy and mentally fit.
• Rest and refreshment are the another worthy reasons to be mentally active. Get a proper sleep daily, go to bed and wake up at a regular time on a daily basis. Refreshment could be achieved by for example, dancing, walking down to your favorite streets, listening to your favorite music, jotting down what you feel, travelling and exploring new places, letting your mind wander by imagining beautiful things and daydreaming etc..
• Be where you are. Enjoy what you are presently doing, for example if you are watching a movie of your favorite actor, don't let your mind hover around the problems your currently facing or something like that. Stay focused on what you are doing at present.
• Don't overthink and over-analyze the situations. Try to accept the change as soon as possible because overthinking doesn't mitigate the serious circumstances, either could make it worst. 
• Most importantly, work out at least 30 minutes per day. Working out or exercising helps you to relieve stress and helps in greater relaxation of mind. When you work out on a regular basis, your body releases a hormone called endorphin which helps as relaxation to stress. 

KNOW ABOUT DIABETES

Diabetes is a very common disease which is a chronic health condition in which the level of glucose in the body elevates. Diabetes can be classified into two types : Type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an uncommon type in which a body fails to generate insulin and affects mostly children. The common type of diabetes is type 2, where your body is unable to produce enough insulin or the produced insulin is unable to work properly. 90% of the diabetics are type 2 diabetics. This type 2 diabetes grow usually after the age of 40. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the insulin resistance of the body which increases sugar level in the blood.

The usually studied symptoms of diabetes are:

• being physically inactive

• increased tiredness and fatigue

• intense thirst

• frequent infections

• slow healing of cuts and wounds

• frequent hunger

• unclear or blurred vision

• nausea and vomiting

• body weight issues

• irritability

• loss of feeling in the feet

It is also observed that an individual with a family history of diabetes might also become prone to diabetes.

The problems caused by diabetes can range from heart disease to kidney failure to losing toes and fingers to nerve damage. A diabetic person is more likely to develop a heart disease than a non-diabetic one. But, keeping the diabetes under control helps to protect the health of heart as much as possible. Since diabetes causes high level of glucose in the blood, which affects the walls of the arteries and make them more likely to develop fatty deposits which are called atheroma, if built up in your coronary arteries, you may suffer from a coronary heart disease which triggers a heart attack.

Reducing the risk of developing diabetes for a non-diabetic:

• develop healthy eating habits
• control weight
• develop a habit to work out or perform different physical activities
• eliminate frequent consumption of sugar related items, as just one sweetened drinking in a day increases your diabetes risk by 25%

Reducing the effect of diabetes on the heart:

• do not smoke or drink
• develop healthy eating habits i.e. a balanced diet
• do physical activity as much as you can, consistently
• control your weight
• the drug treatment of diabetes is not fully effective, so it depends on you to control your glucose level by exercising and eating a balanced diet.

For detailed information : Complete Information Sheet of Diabetes

Choosing your sunscreen this summer

Taking care of your skin is also an essential part of your proper health and fitness. Primarily, trying to avoid the sun from about 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. would be the best idea to be safe from the harmful radiations of the summer sun. But, for people in different cases, this would not be a perfect idea because they have to go out or travel during this time period. So, for them to not compromise their safety, there are various tips to be protected from the sun while going out, including wearing sunglasses, wearing full sleeved shirts, wearing caps to protect the face from the sun, applying sunscreen to the exposed body parts etc.. 

Choosing a sunscreen:

While travelling out in the summer sun, applying a sunscreen to the exposed body parts is the best way to get rid of the harmful radiations of the sun which can alter your health conditions causing lot of skin problems including cancer. However, using a sunscreen just without any proper knowledge of the specifications and  the methods of application of the product, and thinking it to be a savior is no fruitful. So, there are basic things to take an account of before purchasing or using a sunscreen.

• SPF rating: SPF (Sunburn Protection Factor) is the factor which states that the vulnerability of getting affected by a person wearing a sunscreen is 'that factor' times less in comparison with a person exposed to the sun without wearing any sunscreen. For example, if a person is wearing a sunscreen with SPF 15, then he/she is 15 times less vulnerable to get sunburn than the person using no sunscreen. However, using sunscreen with SPF 30 or 50 would be highly prolific. It is often not recommended to use sunscreens with SPF higher than 50 because it is believed that specifying a sunscreen with SPF higher than 50 is just another marketing strategy and doesn't guarantee extra protection.

• Broad spectrum: There are three types of UV wavelengths which are classified as UVA, UVB and UVC. While SPF only measures the UVB, exposure to the combination of UVA and UVB contributes to a deadly skin cancer. So, it is recommended to consume a sunscreen which has been labelled as 'Broad Spectrum' since this type of sunscreen helps to protect from both UVA and UVB radiations.

• Testing a sunscreen: Before purchasing a sunscreen for the purpose of daily usage, test a sunscreen in a small patch of skin first. Note the effect of it in your skin, i.e. either it bothers you or not. Because every brand of sunscreen is not the same just like the other sets of products in the market, it is necessary to check the side effects of that particular sunscreen in your skin first. 

• Avoid using sunscreen with dangerous ingredients: Try to consume a mineral-based sunscreen containing zinc oxide or titanium oxide. Avoid using a sunscreen with an ingredient as oxybenzone since it is considered as a hormone disruptor and often triggers allergic reactions.

Sunscreens should be applied to the body parts which are exposed to the sun, 30 minutes before going out to the sun. It should be applied evenly on exposed skin including ears, neck, arms, shoulders and other body parts according to your clothing style but avoiding the eye. If you have been swimming, washing your face often or sweating a lot, make sure to reapply the sunscreen for positive results.