Sports N Health

If you have been spending long hours in front of the laptop and suffering from sore arms, backache, and neck pain, this is all because of long hours with the laptop.

Kevin Carneiro from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine said that the use of a laptop could inevitably lead to poor posture due to the way the computers are designed.

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Typing can also cause carpal tunnel syndrome, an injury to the nerve that passes through the wrist.

Carneiro said that your body should form 90-degree angles at your elbows, knees and hips. And your eyes should look straight ahead at the top third of the screen.

But because the keyboard and monitor are combined in a laptop, they can’t be positioned independently for typing and viewing.

That means having to make a trade off of some sort.

One solution is to use a docking station that either links a laptop to another monitor and keyboard or to a stand that raises the screen to a higher level.

You can also use a FireWire or USB cable to connect your laptop to an extra monitor or keyboard, which you can then adjust to the proper height.

In short, if you are a laptop user and experiencing neck and shoulder pain or wrist pain or tingling in your thumb, it is time for you to seek medical advice and observe a better posture.

A new study has suggested that Yoga is better than other forms of exercises when it comes to promoting positive effects on mood and anxiety.

The brain gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) levels of yoga subjects with those of participants who spent time walking were compared by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) to arrive at this conclusion.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Low GABA levels are associated with depression and other widespread anxiety disorders.

In the study, one group practiced yoga three times a week for one hour, while the remaining subjects walked for the same period of time.

Those who practiced yoga reported a more significant decrease in anxiety and greater improvements in mood than those who walked.

“Over time, positive changes in these reports were associated with climbing GABA levels,” said lead author Chris Streeter. According to Streeter, the practice of yoga should be considered as a potential therapy for certain mental disorders.

The findings appear online at Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

A new and economical device was recently developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab that could help in diagnosing refractive defects of the eye in less than 2 minutes.

The device is expected to make much-needed eye care accessible to villagers who cannot afford to make a visit to the optometrist.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

As of now, the NETRA can only be used with a high-resolution cell phone display, but Raskar said he hoped that “though not everyone can buy such a phone, a village shopkeeper may have one and it can be used to provide eye care to everyone in the village”.

“We are working towards an NGO model now. The cost of diagnosis is usually higher than the cost of delivering spectacles to those with faulty vision. Now that cost can be minimised. The point of this device is to provide an optometric solution where you don’t need trial lenses and a reading chart,” he added.

The Camera Culture Lab is exploring collaboration with Hyderabad-based LV Prasad Eye Institute. “When Director Balasubramaniam visited MIT a few months ago, we realised that the device was perfectly suited to a developing country scenario. It’s an ideal collaboration,” Raskar said.

Other projects at the lab include a 3-D display that requires no glasses, a new CAT scan machine and, hold your breath, a camera that can look around the corner and size up objects not visible otherwise — a tool that could be useful in medical procedures like endoscopy.

The Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment, or NETRA, is a small device that could be clipped onto a phone with the requisite software installed on it. The device can generate prescription in less than two minutes by using the phone display to run tests through an array of lenslets made of plastic.

A new study has disclosed that milk fortified with vitamin D could prove useful for making our bones stronger besides prevention of cancer and heart diseases.

Vitamin D is important for absorption of calcium and maintaining high standards of bone health along with proving additional worth by helping in prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Recent research has shown that vitamin D supplements are as good as some drugs at keeping prostate cancer under control.

It is also being said that taking vitamin D supplements in pregnancy and childhood could wipe out 80 percent of cases of multiple sclerosis.

Susan Lanham-New, the member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and Surrey University nutritionist, said a study of 14,000 pregnant women in Bristol during the 1990s found that more than 90 percent of them were not getting enough of the vitamin.

She said: ‘Vitamin D is known to be vital for a wide range of body functions. A lot of us are very worried about (deficiencies) and think it needs looking at.’

It is worth noting here that Vitamin D-rich foods include oily fish and eggs but as much as 90 percent of supply of this vitamin comes from the action of sunlight on the skin.

EFT or Emotional freedom technique has been nothing short of a revelation for individuals, health experts, and scientists. This technique is all about positive affirmations and tapping on various parts of the body in order to reduce or eliminate distress, pain, and suffering. Let us read more about this technique, which is often referred to as acupuncture without needles, to gain a clear understanding.

Emotional freedom technique or EFT is all about reducing or eliminating negative emotions and inducing positive energy in the mind and body. The fact that EFT adds deep dimensions and brings profound results in a short span of time gives a new meaning to healing and treatment methodologies.

It is worthwhile to note here that certain verbalizations (positive affirmations) are highlighted upon during EFT along with tapping on specific body parts in order to create and retain a positive physiological response. The primary purpose of EFT is to create a free flow of energy in energy system of the body so that disruptions in body mechanisms can be treated effectively.

By making use of positive affirmations, EFT sends positive and “repair” signals to the mind and body, especially the subconscious mind. Since words have power to heal, repetitive incidents of affirmations on regular intervals can result in profound results in context of the healing aspect. The best part about EFT is that it can be used by people of all ages and does not lead to any side effects besides being easy to use and follow.

We hope that this initiative by us to educate our site visitors on EFT or Emotional freedom technique was able to serve its purpose in the best possible manner.

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Unlike popular belief, the online survey “Suntelligence: How Sun Smart is Your City?” by the American Academy of Dermatology (Academy) has suggested that many of us are still living in the world of illusions when it comes to myths and facts about tanning and sun protection.

More than 7,000 adults nationwide took part in a poll; this poll was conducted for determining the levels of knowledge, behavior, and attitude in context of tanning, sun protection, and skin cancer detection.

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Myth:  Some types of ultraviolet (UV) rays are safe for your skin.

The survey found that only about one-third (35 per cent) of respondents correctly answered false to this question.

Fact: Sunlight consists of two types of harmful rays: ultraviolet A (UVA) rays and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays. UVA rays (which pass through window glass) penetrate deeper into the thickest layer of the skin known as the dermis. UVA rays can cause suppression of the immune system, which interferes with the immune system’s ability to protect a person against the development and spread of skin cancer. UVB rays are the sun’s burning rays (which are blocked by window glass) and are the primary cause of sunburn.

“Quite simply, all forms of UV exposure, whether from natural sunlight or artificial light sources found in tanning beds, are unsafe and are the No. 1 preventable risk factor for skin cancer,” said Dr. Draelos.

Myth: Getting a base tan is a healthy way to protect skin from sun damage.

Only 48 per cent of respondents knew this statement was false.

Fact: A tan is a sign of damage to the skin from UV radiation. Every time a person tans, the skin becomes damaged and this damage accumulates over time. This accumulated damage, in addition to accelerating the aging process, also increases a person’s risk for all types of skin cancer.

It is worthwhile to note here that no sunscreen can offer 100 percent protection but things are better with a sunscreen with higher SPF (sun protection factor) than one with a lower SPF.

If you think that the idea of switching on the lights of your home or workplace by having a thought is nothing but an idea straight from a Hollywood movie or plot of some science fiction, you need to think again.

A system known as thought-control computing has been developed by a Toronto-based company and is expected to help people control the light in our homes and for controlling the household products.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

A Canadian Press reporter who visited InterAxon’s office to test the technology confirmed that it works, but that its uses seemed to be quite limited at this point.

Garten predicted the headset will ultimately become as small as a wireless bluetooth device and the technology will be available within two years. Garten said aircraft giants Bombardier and Boeing were recently shown a thought-controlled in-flight entertainment system and “the initial meetings we had were greeted with great enthusiasm.”

But apart from controlling lights and other devices, the 30-year-old psychotherapist said the process could also be used in to treat children with Attention Deficit Disorder. “There’s a lot of research that shows 10 to 12 one-hour sessions using this system are as effective as Ritalin,” she said.

Garten said it could also help monitor a person’s mental state. “Just like we do heart-monitoring now, for example, brain-monitoring allows you to measures the health and distress of a patient,” she said.

Ariel Garten of InteraXon said that the “control signal” functionality could be used to program anything from lighting to music and many more things after an individual has learned the art of controlling the alpha and beta waves.

Statistics show that short people find it difficult to get elected to public office, find a mate, and make less money. A new study has some more bad news for short people.

According to an analysis published in the European Heart Journal, shortest short people (men under 5 feet 5 inches and women fewer than 5 feet) are roughly 50 percent more likely to have a heart attack or die from heart complications when compared to the tallest people.

From Edition.cnn.com:

A new study suggests that it gets worse: The shortest short people — men under 5 feet 5 inches and women under 5 feet — are roughly 50 percent more likely than the tallest people to have a heart attack or die from heart disease, according to an analysis published in the European Heart Journal.

Why? Probably due to a combination of underlying factors that contribute to both short stature and poor heart health, such as age, the researchers say.

“Older people are shorter,” the lead author of the study, Tuula Paajanen, MD, a researcher at the University of Tampere, in Finland, points out in an e-mail. “Also, you have to remember that height is at least a combination of genetics, socioeconomic status, and nutritional factors. So when using height we are also thinking about some confounding factors.”

Paajanen and her colleagues analyzed data from 52 high-quality studies that included more than 3 million people. Hundreds of studies dating back to 1951 have explored the link between short height and heart disease, but this is the first systematic review and analysis of all the good studies on the subject.

Michael Lauer, MD, the director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, however said that the findings are hardly any proof that people with short height are more prone to heart diseases.

India had launched the medical missions in Kabul. The attacks in Kabul had claimed the lives of nine Indians including a doctor and the operation was a failure  due to lack of  staff and security.

Indian medical mission was treating over 3 lakhs patients in Afghanistan, mostly women and children. They were giving free treatment as well as medicines to the patients.

From Timesofindia.com:

KABUL: India is set to resume its much-acclaimed medical mission work in Afghanistan which was scaled down following the terror attack in Kabul early this year that left nine Indians dead, senior officials said here on Tuesday.

“There is no scaling back. We are in the process of resuming full-fledged operations in Afghanistan,” a senior Indian official said.

India launched the medical missions in Afghanistan in 2001-2002 and was operating five such missions in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Though the Mazar-e-Sharif medical mission is functioning normally, the other four missions spread around the war-torn Afghanistan were temporarily suspended, the officials said.

The operation of the Indian medical mission at Kabul was suspended temporarily as the required staff and security was not available after the February 26 coordinated suicide attacks by Taliban at two hotels in Kabul that killed nine Indians, including two Major rank Army officers.

Of the 11-member medical team, one of the six doctors was killed in the attack and others injured.

The medical missions in Kabul and Kandahar are expected to resume full-fledged operations soon, the sources said.

“We are putting in extra security measures to ensure that our operations are not hampered in future,” an Indian embassy official here said.

The Indian medical mission in Afghanistan has treated over 3 lakh patients, mostly women and children so far. The patients were given free treatment as well as medicines.

During external affairs minister S M Krishna’s talks with Afghan national security advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta here on Monday, the issue of security for Indian nationals working in the country figured prominently.

Krishna sensitised the Afghan government on the Indian government’s concern over security for its nationals in Afghanistan and sought adequate security for them.

Spanta assured Krishna that the afghan government would take whatever steps it could to ensure that the “Indian guests” who have been doing impressive work in Afghanistan would be given adequate protection.

Nine years after US-led troops toppled their government, the Taliban have made a comeback and have inflicted heavy losses on foreign forces and has attacked foreign aid workers in the country.

The Taliban have repeatedly turned down past peace overtures from the Afghan government, saying they group will engage in peace talks only when all of the 140,000 foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

We hope that medical missions in Kabul and Kandahar will reassume soon with extra security measures to make sure that the operations are not hampered in the future.