Melatonin, commonly known as the sleep hormone is responsible for our cicardian rythm. But, it has some fascinating facts to be known.
1. The pineal gland, located at the base of the brain, is known to produce 5% of the total quantity of melatonin. Surprisingly, in all of the cells throughout the entire body, the mitochondria generate the remaining 95% of melatonin.
2. Our body cells’ mitochondria typically serve as the energy-generating organelles. They absorb glucose and oxygen to create water and ATP, which serve as the body’s power source. Free radicals are created during this procedure. However, the free radicals can be neutralised by our body’s defence systems. Melatonin acts as the potent anti-oxidant which causes free radical damage.
3. The melatonin which is produced in the body cells due to the sunlight, especially the infra red rays trigger the release of glutathione and other potent anti-oxidants. Melatonin also has anti -inflammatory properties and anti cancer properties too.
4. Since, melatonin is an effective anti-oxidant, it helps to prevent eye and ear damage. Research shows that it is effective in prevention of age related macular degeneration and retinopathy.
5. Melatonin protects the brain. Melatonin serves to promote the growth of new brain cells and improves memory, according to studies. Melatonin levels were discovered to be low in those with Alzeihmers disease. Thus, it is possible to prevent Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease from becoming severely disabling by increasing melatonin levels.
6. Research shows that melatonin stimulate growth hormone production. Evidences showed that oral administration of melatonin increased the level of growth hormone, two fold times.
7.Melatonin production declines noticeably as we get older. Therefore, in order to maintain melatonin levels in our everyday lives, we must get enough sun exposure during the day and turn off lights at night so that darkness can help to stimulate melatonin production.
8. Sub-cellular melatonin which is produced in the body naturally is more effective than taking melatonin pills. Melatonin pills do work on short term basis and should be taken only if clinically recommended.
9. Aside from the infrared radiation that comes from sunlight, which is typically present in the early morning, other sources of infrared radiation that contribute to a sufficient amount of melatonin production include candlelight and being in front of a fire.
10. Incadescent light bulbs, spending time in greenery parks, outdoors all help to boost melatonin production.
1. The human body in which each of us lives is made up of around 37 trillion cells, to be precise. And every day, about 1-2 percent of the cells are renewing. So, exactly after 90–100 days, a new “me” appears. We remain so busy with our routine lives that we hardly acknowledge this fact, and many of us are not even aware of it. So, ‘change’ is the constant tune, not just within the universe but also within us.
2. Now that we understand that our bodies undergo transformation on a daily basis, So, the question is: how does this self-renewal occur? Let’s go back to our past a little bit. The human body develops from the human embryo, which is fertilized by an oocyte and a sperm cell. This embryo is made up of stem cells. The stem cells are the basic cells (undifferenciated cells) of the human body, which, through the process of mutation and transformation grow into different cells like nerve cells, bone cells, muscle cells, blood cells and so on. Throughout our lifespan, these stem cells undergo cell division and keep replicating; that’s how self-renewal happens.
3. Under normal physiological self-renewal processes, different cells in the body have differing rates of cell division. So, the replication process of various tissues, organs, and blood cells in the body has a different time frame, like the skin epidermal cells, which can take around 10–30 days, whereas a bone cell takes 3 months, or a hair grows about 1 cm in one month, and so on.
4. Though our body is constantly changing due to the continuous self-renewal process through different cell cycles like shedding the old skin cells, renewal of intestinal cell lining, and growing hair or nails on a routine basis, this isn’t a simpler process. The human body is still very complicated and has exceptions. Some cells, such as those in the brain (cerebral cortex), eyes (such as lenses), and heart, do not change from birth to death.
5. But then, why is self-renewal important and must be maintained? Under normal physiological conditions, stem cells have two functions: proliferation and differentiation. Though stem cells have a natural proliferative capacity throughout our lives, disease conditions can affect their physiological self-renewal ability and behavior due to factors such as damage or an unhealthy lifestyle (obesity, lack of physical activity, smoking, or a poor diet).
6. A lack of an appropriate environment within the body or poor maintenance of the human body might eventually lead to the exhaustion of the capacity of stem cell proliferation, which causes premature aging or tissue atrophy. With aging, stem cell activity, tissue regenerative and haemeostasis is significantly declined.
7. Sometime, due to the unhealthy environment within the body, mutations lead to aggressive stem cell division without going through the natural cell differentiation process. This can lead to abnormal tissue growth or cancer in the body. Therefore, the physiological process of stem cell division and the natural stem cell behavior can be affected by four disease conditions, like degenerative, metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory conditions.
8. Regenerative medicine and therapies have arisen as a result of the discovery that defective self-renewal mechanisms in the body are the root cause of malignancies and abnormal cell proliferation. Many disorders are being treated with regenerative medicines based on stem cells. Recent years have seen a significant increase in the use of stem cell treatment to treat a variety of diseases like cancer and disorders including type 1 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, Parkinson’s, burns, osteoarthritis, by regenerating cells, repairing tissues, and transplanting organs.
9. The fact about regenerative medicine is that, though it has helped many patients around the world, the cost of treatment is quite high as the procedure is complicated and the failure rate is high. Human stem cell treatment requires culturing human stem cells in a laboratory setting for a longer period of time, which is quite difficult.
10. The market is flooded with products that promote cell regeneration, anti-aging, and longevity. The lofty claims made by these items are still quite dubious. But it is true that some supplements do work to improve health, lower inflammation, and increase immunity. But in the end, having a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, a calm mind, and exercising regularly is all that’s necessary for good health.
Reflux is the upward movement of the material from the stomach to the oesophagus through the lower oesophageal sphincter. The content of the material can be acid, food or air now and then. Usually, the sphincter remains tight, but when it becomes loose, stomach content migrates to the oesophagus.
Common causes of Acid reflux can be:
1.Overweight or obese. 2.Pregnancy 3.Hiatus Hernia (when part of the stomach bulges out into the chest through the diaphragm) 4.Eating a heavy meal and lying down on the right side or bending forward.
5.Drinking fizzy, carbonated drinks or alcohol. 6.Smoking.
7.Having too many beverages, like tea and coffee. 8.Intake of blood pressure medication or pain killers.
Commonly occurring symptoms are :
Burning sensation behind the sternum/breast bone. Also known as heartburn. Belching/ Regurgitation of food. Acidic taste in the mouth. Atypical symptoms like coughing at night.
Acid reflux pain or heartburn can be very annoying and uncomfortable. If the episodes become frequent, the diagnosis is called gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The condition is diagnosed based on physical symptoms. But in prolonged cases, or frequent episodes, or in case of hiatus hernia, oesophageal stricture, diagnosis is done by ultrasound and CT scan. The treatment recommended with medication proton pump inhibitors, Omeprazole. In severe cases, some may require surgery.
But, there are several Lifestyle measures which we canadapt to reduce Acid reflux:
1. Changing the eating pattern by avoiding eating late at night. Avoiding large, heavy meal.
2. Getting rid of trigger foods like spicy, fried, citrous or even tomato-based food items.
3. Eating small meals at regular intervals and eating slowly by chewing properly.
4. Avoiding carbonated and fizzy drinks, avoiding alcohol, too much tea and coffee.
5. Quitting Smoking.
6. Destressing yourself before meals like by taking 5-6 deep breaths before each meal.
7. Don’t eat 2-3 hours before going to bed.
8. Sleeping on the left side so that it decreases the pressure on the lower oesophageal sphincter and reduces gastric stress.
9. Using a pillow of sufficient height to support the head so that the abdomen and oesophagus are all in alignment.
10. Avoid tight clothing which may again cause gastric pressure and on the oesophageal sphincter.
11. Food preferred are
Green leafy vegetables Non-citrous fruits Oatmeal Eggs Lean meat and fish Probiotics like yoghurt, buttermilk Fennel seeds Winter melon/Ash gourd Ginger/turmeric
Brain fog is a state of foggy, ambiguous thinking.It may be associated with a lack of concentration, a short span of memory loss, anomic aphasia, susceptible to distraction. Brain Fog is a loosely framed term not in medical terminology. There is no evidence of neuropsychological evidence. So, it has no proper medical diagnosis. As far as symptoms are concerned, we may all relate to the concept of brain fog from time to time.
But, yes, when such symptoms are stable and have been steady for quite some time, we surely need clinical assistance. When the difficulty with cognitive functioning becomes problematic, interferes with daily activities, people surrounding you have noticed the symptoms, and slowly they are progressive and declining, we surely need neurological evaluation.
Common symptoms: Slow thinking Difficulty focusing confusion Lack of concentrating. Forgetfulness.
Common causes of brain fog :
1. Depression is a state where there is pre-occupied thinking of sadness, worries, hurt, loss, persistent failure. This thinking pattern progresses to affect mood and impair cognitive and behavioural functionalities.
2. Anxiety is a state when there is ruminating about failures, lows of life, worries and so on. 3.Chronic illness or continuous physical pain. 4.Untreated sleep apnoea. 5.Alcohol, drug abuse 6.Chronic Fatigue syndrome. 7.Medications: Benzodiazepines, topiramate, anticholinergic drugs. 8.Sleep deprivation 9.Pregnancy. 10.Appetite disturbances, poor nutrition.
A neuropsychological evaluation is necessary by formal testings of Core battery tests, a general cognitive assessment like memory, attention, language, motor function and visual-spatial and so on. Treatment is based on the underlying cause and symptoms.
Any one of us can have brain fog at some point or the other. The general lifestyle of living in stress, anxiety, overthinking, sleep disturbances can easily affect our thinking and behavioural pattern from time to time. It’s essential to be more aware of our mental state and be proactive to notice and correct the gap or shortcomings by bringing out changes in our lifestyle. Some changes lifestyle like :
Improving diet with more brain-boosting foods and probiotics. Cutting down inflammatory foods Improving sleep cycle. Increased physical activity. Try not to be self-critical. Socializing. Self-care to de-stress ourselves. (developing hobby, being creative, sports)
Time and again, it has been proved by extensive Medical researches that most of the chronic illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, type 1diabetes, irritable bowel disorders, migraine are all associated with gastrointestinal disorders. A patient who suffers from chronic symptoms’, the history should be thoroughly investigated for an underlying food or lifestyle habits that may be co-related. Our body is not a single entity, nor each of its organs works independently of each other. Every structure, including the skin, tissues, mucosal lining, organ, system including a huge colony of microbiota are all interconnected and work together as a biological system. Not only this, the immune system, biochemical processes, endocrine and the autonomic nervous system, are all very much interdependent. Therefore, while considering any chronic disorder, the entire system has to be taken into account, including food habits and lifestyle in the process of management of such illnesses.
1. The food, we eat reaches the intestines where they are bind to enzymes where filtration and absorption take place. Then, the nutrition of the food is absorbed in the bloodstream through the intestinal barrier. Without digestion, the food cannot escape directly through the intestinal/gut wall. The intestinal lining is typically intact and tight. It doesn’t let food, bacteria or toxins to escape directly to the bloodstream. Nutrients of food also absorbed through small villi on the intestinal wall. Usually, there are tiny holes of 1-7 microns in the gut lining through which the nutrition permeates into the bloodstream. When there is Leaky gut, the holes become bigger about 200-300 microns, and the intestinal villi are damaged too because of which the intestinal integrity is lost. That is the reason leaky gut is also called intestinal permeability. There is directly permeability on the gut lining through which the food material, bacteria, toxins escape into the bloodstream. The immune system comes into play and starts reacting. There is extensive inflammation of the intestinal lining and its structures. There is swelling and slowly scarring of the intestinal walls.
2. Evidence has proved that genetic predisposition is one of the leading causes of leaky gut. But, emerging researches have shown the not only DNA is to be blamed alone. Lifestyle conditions like high gluten diet, fat, sugar-rich diet, smoking, alcohol, stress, pain killers (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and food intolerance are some of the common conditions predisposing leaky gut. Therefore, leaky gut commonly found in chronic conditions like Celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, HIV/AIDS, cystic fibrosis, chemotherapy and radiotherapy patients. Leaky gut not only creates symptoms in bowel disorders but also linked to most conditions of autoimmune origin. It may be associated with autoimmune diseases like Lupus, Type 1diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, allergies and mental illness. Autoimmune disorders are difficult to diagnose and treat. They can be managed and controlled but has no permanent cure.
3. Trigger factors of leaky gut are like a gluten-rich diet, dairy-rich, soy food or drugs like antibiotics or over the counter pain killers like aspirin, acetaminophen which may disturb the intestinal lining and cause leaky gut. Such triggers lead the immune system to be activated, causing an immune response in the body to produce antibodies against our own body’s intestinal tissue lining, causing inflammation. This inflammation can increase the intestinal permeability that is the escape of food and toxins directly into the bloodstream leading to symptoms like pain, diarrhoea, joint pain, fatigue, headache and depression. As Leaky gut is associated with a number of symptoms, so, it is called Leaky Gut syndrome.
4. Common symptoms are Diarrhoea, Constipation Pain abdomen, bloating Skin rashes like acne, eczema, rosacea Brain fog, memory loss Depression Chronic Fatigue Joint pain.
5. Though strong evidence shows that many chronic conditions are associated with an underlying cause of leaky gut. Leaky gut is still not considered an official medical diagnosis, nor it has a standard protocol of treatment. A proper detailed history of the patient can detect the leaky gut condition. Therefore the management also differs from individual to individual depending on the full range of trigger factors.
6. Diet and lifestyle changes do help a great deal in such conditions. Drugs that suppress the immune response and also to control the inflammation are required in some cases. The most important message is that we know our body better than anybody else. Even if we go to the best of the specialist physician, we should do what works best for us. Never stop self investigating and self-analysing yourself about why and what may trigger or lead to such symptoms. Be your observer, and make changes accordingly, which may be very helpful.
7. Hold on to basics. As, from my own experience, the best thing is leading a simple life; more fundamental is food and lifestyle, less is the list of complications or symptoms of chronic illnesses. Stick to the essential food habits that you may have inherited from your ancestral lineage because that’s how your genetic makeup and your body is comfortable. Follow work, exercise and sleep balance. Always maintain calmness of mind by using techniques of meditation and mindfulness because a healthy mind has a high impact on the physical body.
Other measures that can be beneficial are: To limit the amount of carbohydrate from the diet. To eat more of fermented food (Kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, yoghurt) Limiting dairy products and using more probiotics in the diet. Eating more of soluble fibres in the diet. Limiting the use of antibiotics and pain killers and using them only when necessary.
8. Vitamin deficiency of D, A, C, Zinc are related to increased intestinal permeability. So, dietary sources and vitamin supplements can be helpful to some extent. Vitamin D also suppresses inflammation in the gut. Certain supplements like Curcumin, L glutamine, collagen peptides, Zinc and probiotics are also helpful in some instances.
Chronic diseases contribute to huge healthcare expenses. Regular doctor’s visits, buying the prescription drugs, undergoing procedures, hospital treatments and stay, all of them incur huge expenses.
We know by now that inflammation is the key to all chronic diseases in the body. Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, lung diseases like COPD and asthma, Crohn disease, arthritis, HIV, Cancers and the list goes on. Not only these, even brain diseases like Alzheimers, dementia, and Parkinson are also related to inflammation in the brain.
The only solutions to this huge health issues are prevention and controlling the chronic conditions. So, how do we do that? Researches have already proved that most chronic conditions are caused by food and unhealthy lifestyle. So, the easiest and efficient way to reach our goal to prevent and control chronic conditions is by switching on to a healthy diet and making lifestyle changes. 80% of our immunity comes from good gut health. So, eating right, removing stress, active physical life, all contribute to a healthy gut. Therefore , the five some ….
1.Food:The problem is that too much information on food flooding the internet, conflicting information, different diet regimens like keto, paleo, vegan, Meditteranean and the list is long. Too many lists of superfood come out daily. So, how do we know what is right for us?
I think following any diet, there is always pros and cons because you eat some and skip something else. Depending on your goal, whether to lose weight or maybe for some chronic conditions like diabetes, your diet is scheduled and designed. Though following a particularly strict diet, do benefit like losing weight in case of a Keto diet. Sometimes, it can lead to unhealthy outcomes. And, following a particular diet seems to be like, you are doing for a temporary phase. But, to have a goal of a healthy life, the food and lifestyle changes has to be permanent and adopt it as a way of life. It has to be a mentality shift. Again, not every type of grain, vegetables, fruits available in every part of the world. Different regions grow different crops according to their climatic conditions. So, the best food is preferably,organic (devoid of pesticides) and locally produce grain, vegetables and fruits so that they are fresh. And locally produce grains, veggies, fruits are usually affordable. Your daily consumption should be a majority, about 70% of plant-based food like greens, veggies, fruits, nuts. About 30% should be whole grain fibres, low fat and protein like eggs, chicken and fish. This is how simple a daily healthy diet plan can be.
2. Exercise:Right from evolution, we, humans are meant to be active. So, being active is essential. Follow your daily routine exercise of at least an hour. Do whatever you like, running, walking, swimming, cycling, gymming., dancing. The workout you enjoy doing. There is no hard and fast rule.
3.Meditation/ Mindfulness: I have already written posts on meditation and it’s benefits. it is important to empty our mind daily, at least for some time.Spend a few minutes in silence every day. If you can, be mindful (being aware ) as much as you can. Being mindful means, paying attention to your thoughts, emotions without being judgemental. Staying mindful, by following your natural breaths, simply just being aware of, at least 20 mins or more is very beneficial. It reduces your stress level.
4. Support: Have always a support system. Loneliness is a major factor in many health issues. People with a good support system can better control chronic conditions. Rely on your spouse, partner, friends or a social support group where you can open up.
5.Sleep: Though ideally recommended in adult as 7-8 hours of sleep. But the fact is, the quality of sleep is more important than the quantity. When you follow sleep hygiene of going to bed and getting up from bed at a routine timing, whatever hours of good sleep, you get is enough.
All these 5 steps can guarantee you for a healthy life for the longest time. Even, if you suffer from a chronic condition, it can be maintained better with a disciplined lifestyle.
