Wellness Trends for 2018

The passion for fitness is here to stay forever, so it is natural for us to extend our personal capabilities and make room for more and more of it- which includes wellness this time. Enter the super cool world of wellness and fitness which is no mean business and is only meant to serve you holistically, sensuously and in the zeal of good health. People are familiar with the underlying factors of fitness like good health, sustainable health and the various means to achieve them. They don’t need another gym trick to get that fit body. Now, they need better means to achieve the same level of fitness, so the natural re-routing will happen through wellness which is as much about the physical rejuvenation as it is about the mental relaxation. Without the mental nodes, there is no physical revitalization too. Both need each other and so do we need them now.

So, here is how people will correlate good health and fitness with wellness in 2018.

Wellness Travel

We were travelling for wellness and now, we will plan a wellness holiday to go deep within. There are the best retreats which work closely and personally with each guest and give them accommodation to mingle with nature and the self. There are absolute serenity and solace with a hill journey and if your direct spot is a wellness resort, it cannot get any more personally inquisitive.
The best wellness retreats offer their guest the extreme luxury of indulgence with personalized treatments, personalised menu, personalised wellness routine, thus a perfect wellness vacation. It is the preferred treatment delivered in specialised settings, which cannot get any better, can it!

Wellness Specialities

As more and more people get acquainted, the wellness concept will gain further traction. Also, those seeking further respite in nature and wellness will drive the diversification in wellness and natural care. It will only get more interesting and exciting as more people continue to dwell on the topic of wellness. The wellness outlets on their part will continue to offer an insight to help people get friendly to the idea and understand its relevance deeper.

Like any wellness centre begins with doing a postural assessment and then prescribe a suitable therapy like aromatherapy, recovery, de-stress, reflexology, Vedic spice or invigorating massage and the Yogic kriyas (according to prescription). There are personal trainers to help you do personal yoga sessions. There is TRX, stretching sessions, spinning, dance, laughter therapy, pranayama, meditation and more to do some mind, body and soul-searching.

The biggest trend for 2018 will be an infrared sauna, acupuncture, Reiki and the natural beauty products gaining mainstream attention.

Visiting Experts

A wellness visit is always experiential and to make it particularly effective, one should ideally long for more experience and observations. There are many wellness destinations which offer you an opportunity to get up and close with nature and understand the life here.
Lookout for interactions and special engagements with chefs, athletes, healers, doctors, gardeners, to learn every bit about the art of spiritual healing, healthier habits and top of the skills to offer wellness.  It is good to interact and carry meaningful conversations back home.

Silence

Take a willful break from the world of constant communication and be in your cocoon. It is a big task to take a recluse and only a wellness resort destination can help you do that. Go up the hill and enclose yourself in the silence. 
Instead of a virtual experience on-screen, pave way for the mindfulness and meditative nature walks, enjoy the utmost silence with the spa therapists, or even the lovely lookout at nature from your room. Engage with natural things of life by doing physical workouts like aqua exercises, Pilates, stretching sessions, laughter therapy, jogging through nature or simply meditating. Take out time once in a whole to enter the no-cell zone in personal comfort and willingness to mingle around.

Mental Health

Boost the on-going awareness of this subject and focus on one of the most unaccepted facts of human behaviour.  Educated and support people to openly talk and discuss their mental well-being. Work towards mindfulness... encourage discussions at workplaces, public forums, educational institutes. Celebrities are already promoting mental health and so will wellness industry.

In the Nutshell

As more and more people walk into the wellness zone, the presumption is that they have a renewed purpose of fitness and good health. Naturally, they are not alien to the nuisances of the daily life and how a wellness retreat can be a perfect match for them. It is just that they now wish to experience it and be a part of this blissful journey. To do so, they will look for value-add through wellness. This is where the big opportunity lies.

We don’t need to convince people to visit us, but we definitely need to give them an experience which they will cherish for a lifetime. Repeat visits will be our biggest success since a single guest visiting us many times means that they know how wellness can make a difference to us. So, personalization will rule the roost.

Reasons for Healthcare Crisis in India

While India has made rapid strides in raising economic growth and lifted millions out of poverty, progress in improving healthcare has been slow.

In its recent assessment of the Indian economy, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) identified India’s poor health outcomes as one of our major developmental challenges. India is a laggard in health outcomes not just by OECD standards, but also by the standards of the developing world. In 2012, India witnessed 253 deaths per 100,000 persons due to communicable diseases alone, much higher than the global average of 178. India faces a higher disease burden than other emerging economies such as China, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and Sri Lanka, as the charts below illustrate. Even poorer neighbours such as Nepal and Bangladesh have a better record in health compared to India. 

While India has made rapid strides in raising economic growth and lifted millions out of poverty, progress in improving health outcomes has been slow. As a result, India continues to face an extraordinarily high disease burden, which saps the productivity of Indian workers and lowers their earnings. According to a 2010 World Bank estimate, India loses 6% of its gross domestic product (GDP) annually because of premature deaths and preventable illnesses. 

A key reason behind the poor health of the average Indian is the low level of public investments in preventive health facilities such as sanitation and waste management, as well as in medical care facilities such as primary health centres and health professionals. Even when public health facilities are available, they are often of poor quality. The poorest income classes receive fewer benefits from the public health system than their better-o peers. The lack of reliable public health services and the absence of health insurance compel the poor to spend heavily on private medical care. According to a 2011 research paper by Soumitra Ghosh of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, out-of-pocket health expenditures account for nearly one-sixth of India’s poverty burden. The high costs of healthcare also act as a deterrent for poor people in seeking treatment, leading to delays and aggravating health problems. 

1) India has one of the highest disease burdens in the world. Many more die of preventable diseases in India than in other countries. 

2) One big reason driving India’s health crisis is the unavailability of doctors and nurses. 

3) Another key reason for poor health of Indians is the high proportion of out-of-pocket expenditure on health because of low insurance coverage and weak public health systems, which forces even poor people to visit private medical practitioners, and drives up average health costs. High healthcare costs often lead people to delay treatment, aggravating health problems. 

4) Public health expenditure in India has moved up over the past decade, but still remains among the lowest in the world. 

5) India’s public health expenditure is not just low, it is also regressive. The poorest income classes benefit less from the public health system than the better-off sections of society.

Health Benefits of Drinking Water in the Morning

1. Drinking water balances the lymphatic system of your body. This prompts the lymph to reach your heart in a continuous motion. The lymph glands also help strengthen the immune system, which ultimately helps your body fight infections.


2. Drinking water first thing in the morning, it purges toxins from the blood, which results in glowing and better-looking skin.


3. Drinking water in the morning increases your metabolism by almost 25%, which ultimately leads to weight loss.

4. Drinking water helps in rehydration, which would help you get rid of headaches and back pain. These are often caused by dehydration.

5. Drinking water early in the morning would make you a regular cycle, as it helps in digestion of food and prevents constipation.

6. Drinking water helps you think better, as your brain is made up of fluid.



7. Drinking water also boosts your energy levels as the nutrients are absorbed better.

Also, when you start the habit of drinking water in the morning, start with not more than 4 glasses of water. Increase the intake eventually as you start to realize the advantages.

Why Nutraceuticals ?

The Word Nutraceutical

• Formed from ‘nutrition’ and ‘pharmaceutical’
• Coined by Stephen DeFelice, MD, founder and chairman of the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine (FIM), Cranford, NJ
• Refers to a food – or part of a food – that provides health and medical benefits

Nutraceuticals are

• Any substance that is part of a food 
• Dietary supplements
• Isolated nutrients
• Genetically engineered designer foods
• Processed foods 
• Herbal products,
• Substance is used for the treatment and prevention of illnesses

Health Canada’s definition of nutraceutical

• A product derived from food 
• Sold as medicine 
• Used for physiological benefits 
• Used for protection from chronic diseases

Nutraceuticals are becoming very popular in the United States

• Medical treatment costs in America one of the highest in the world 
• Consumers want better preventive therapies for chronic diseases, more personalized medical care, and preventive solutions for effects of aging 
• Interest in preventive therapies and Nature cures is also sweeping the country

Growing Market

• Nutraceutical industry worth $86 billion in the United States 
• Industry even bigger in Europe and Japan
• Almost 40 percent of Americans try alternative medicinal therapies every year 
• Increasing number of physicians prescribing nutraceuticals before giving pharmaceutical drugs to patients
• Belief that they are just as good as pharmaceutical drugs but without side effects

Common claims about benefits of nutraceuticals

• Cartilage and joint health
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Stress reduction
• Cholesterol levels 
• Lung functions

Categories include

• Dietary supplements with botanicals 
• Some minerals
• Some vitamins
• Carnitine
• Co-enzyme Q 
• Ginseng
• Many others

Foods 

Functional foods include

• Bran
• Oats
• Lignin
• Psyllium 

Additionally 

• Probiotics
• Omega-3 acids
• Medicinal foods 
• Genetically engineered foods

Warning

• Medical experts and regulatory authorities say certified nutraceuticals still rare in market 
• Most raw materials used for the manufacture of nutraceuticals are imported therefore is no quality control 
• Very little data available on how the herbal and botanical ingredients – that go into manufacture of nutraceuticals – are cultivated
• Nutraceuticals clearly affect physiology but not tested as strictly as pharmaceutical drugs

How many meals one should have daily?

Healthy eating and healthy living revolves around having sufficient balanced diet. 

But how many meals should you have per day? Healthy eating is a key component of weight loss and muscle building for those who want to maintain a healthy weight. Our strength and conditioning expert, Arnav Sarkar lays out the benefits of three meals versus six meals. He also tells you when you should have three meals and six meals for optimal health benefits.

As per popular belief "going more than three hours without eating anything would lead to a drop in energy levels, loss of lean muscle tissue, increased fat storing, etc," says Arnav. Hence it was always important to eat every three hours. So, three good meals in a day is a good option since fasting experts reveal that six meals is responsible for body fat and poor hormones.

"One of the major claims for three meals a day being better for fat loss is that it helps to keep insulin and blood sugar levels low and thus bodyfat is lower. In my personal opinion, however, this is where most people make a major mistake. They do not take the total caloric intake into calculation," explains Arnav.

Arnav Sarkar elaborates the benefits of eating 3 meals a day:

Easy to follow in the long term - All offices, schools and colleges give people time to have breakfast, lunch and dinner — meals that you can eat at home. There are also those who do not feel like eating first thing in the morning, and generally do not feel like eating till lunch. If this is the case, then do keep in mind that breakfast does not have be eaten immediately upon waking up. You can eat your breakfast even a couple of hours after waking up. So no need to miss breakfast altogether.

Allows you to eat bigger meals - This is where six meals a day becomes a problem for those who love to eat big and are trying to lose weight. Six small meals never make one mentally feel like they have eaten a meal, they always feel that they are snacking, and thus mentally are always craving for a meal.

Teaches you to control hunger better - In most cases, eating six times a day tends to make one eat more, since they tend to mentally crave food every 2-3 hours whether they are actually hungry or not. So when they decide to eat only three times a day, they slowly start to control their hunger better as they now go longer without food and develop better mental control.

Arnav Sarkar elaborates the benefits of eating 6 meals a day:

Ideal for eating a lot of calories - If you need to eat a lot of calories to gain weight or because you are an athlete who burns a lot of calories, then frequent meals is ideal for you.

Great to follow when trying to consume high amounts of protein - Our bodies were not designed to be able to digest 70-80 gms or more of protein in one meal easily. It's always best for most people to keep protein to about 15-40 gms at each serving, and maybe a bit more for really big guys who exercise a lot.

Great to follow when trying to consume large amounts of carbs.

Helps avoid drops in energy/sugar levels - Some people truly cannot go on for more than 3-4 hours without eating anything and still be able to perform well. For these people, smaller frequent servings work well and help to keep their energy/sugar levels stable.

Arnav has chalked out and elaborated the importance of three meals and six meals; it is up to you to decide what are your needs and which meal will supplement it.

Read more Personal Health, Diet & Fitness stories on www.healthmeup.com

Myths about Heart

1. All kinds of exercise are good for the heart

Among some of the most common myths related to heart care, according to renowned cardiologist Dr Ashok Seth, is that all kinds of exercise is good for the cardiovascular system.

‘A 45-minute brisk walk, or aerobic exercise is good for your heart. But weightlifting and gym exercises are not necessarily good for your cardiovascular health,’ Seth told IANS. (Read: Is running bad for your heart?)

2. Women are less prone to heart ailments

It’s also a misconception that women are less prone to cardiovascular ailments.

‘Cardiovascular disease is the biggest cause of death in women, six times more than breast cancer,’ Seth said. ‘But traditionally it’s seen that in most Indian families this doesn’t appear as a concern vis-a-vis a woman’s health. If the man has a slight discomfort, they rush to the hospital, but the women, maybe because they have a high tolerance level, simply ignore any such discomfort’.

‘Even while going for health check-ups, a mammogram or a pap smear test is listed (to detect cancer), but not a heart check-up, which is very necessary,’ he added.

Agreed K.K. Talwar, cardiologist at Delhi’s Max hospital. ‘Although women have the protection cover of the estrogen hormone, lifestyle habits like smoking, unhealthy eating habits and contraceptive pills make them prone (to heart ailments). And after menopause, the risk increases,’ Talwar said. (Read: Indian women more vulnerable to heart diseases now)

3. Young cannot be affected by heart ailments

That the young cannot be affected by heart ailments is another myth, Talwar says.

‘It’s no longer true that only those in their 50s and 60s can have cardiovascular problems. Even those in their 30s are coming with such problems these days. In fact, because of lifestyle habits like junk food, alcohol consumption and smoking, plus stress, they are prone to acute heart attacks that can be fatal,’ he said.

According to Talwar, about 20 percent of heart attack patients in Max hospital are in the 30-40 age group. In the West this number is 5 to 10 percent lower because South Asians are more prone to cardiovascular problems at a younger age than their Western counterparts. ‘Five to seven percent of those who come for angiography are below the age of 35,’ Talwar told IANS. (Read: More young people falling prey to hypertension)

4. Heart pain, indicating emergency, will be on the left side of the chest

It’s not necessary that heart pain, indicating emergency, will be on the left side of the chest, Sunita Choudhury, another cardiologist, emphasised. ‘It may also be in the right arm, upper abdomen, and usually in the left arm,’ she said.

5. A particular brand of oil is good for your heart

Much against TV and print commercials promoting a particular kind or brand of oil as being good for the heart, doctors say that such information should be taken with a pinch of salt.

‘Trans-fatty acid is bad for the heart, and one should look out for food containing that. Other than that, there is no truth that only a particular kind of oil is good, like the trend is of olive oil. Even mustard oil is good,’ Talwar said. But even as the Mustard Research and Promotion Consortium says that mustard oil can prevent coronary artery disease, many doctors say that it’s best to keep changing one’s brand or kind of oil every few months.

Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

6. Nuts are bad for your heart

Nuts, a rich source of oil, are also not at all bad. ‘Almonds and walnuts are good for the heart, and one should have 8 to 10 pieces of almond, soaked in water, every day,’ Seth said. But don’t go overboard – fried almonds are a big no. As doctors say, it’s often a thin line separating information and misinformation.