Health

In the midst of so many suicides that have taken place this year — I feel terrified. Sometimes I myself feel so trapped in the dark it feels like the only way out is to end it all.

We are all supposed to include three cups - or six servings - of vegetables in our daily diet. Unfortunately, most of us fail to do so. And that is why some of us take the quick and easy way out by drinking vegetable juice instead.

Until the age of one, a baby is protected from chicken pox by antibodies that have crossed over before birth from the mother. By the age of 20, 90 per cent of people has had chickenpox.

If you sprain an ankle or break a wrist this summer and cannot use one of your limbs, the muscles there will weaken and shrink - unless you exercise those same muscles in your other limb.

Asthma, or reactive airways disease, is a chronic controllable disease. It occurs in all ages and both sexes and affects 30 to 40 per cent of the Indian population. Fatalities are rare but can occur due to ignorance, poor management, lack of adherence to medical advice and a penchant to "doctor shop".

Be it reciting a jingle heard on the television, running after everything that catches their fancy or bewildering adults with their endless questions, toddlers give us a glimpse of their infectious energy every day. Their energy and curiosity often leave parents astounded. This fascination about the world around them stems from the fact that the brains of young children are more active than adult brains.

While sitting in a recent event on how to prepare oneself for graceful ageing, at a five-star property in Calcutta, my mind drifted to a very obvious paradox. We are getting more ‘connected’ through technology but on the flip side there is an ‘epidemic of loneliness’.

A child’s brain rapidly and dramatically develops in the early years; so much so that it achieves its 90% development by the age of 63!

Until recently it was believed that sugar is bad for health because it adds a whole lot of calories to the diet but no nutrition. Now, new research reveals that too much sugar in the blood - even if you are not a diabetic - can actually ravage your heart and liver, upset the hormonal system, raise the level of cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and increase the chance of cancer.

Backaches affect both men and women. Fortunately, most of them disappear with or without treatment after a few weeks. Some become chronic and last 12 weeks or longer. Others recur after a few months or years.