Physical activity must for healthy kid بچوں کی صحت کے لئے جسمانی ورزش بے حد ضروری ہے۔۔۔ بچے کی نشونما اور افزئش کے لئے باقاعدہ ورزش اہم ہے۔ اور بچوں کوفٹ اور مستعد رکھنے کے لئے بہت سے کم خرچ ذرائع موجود ہیں۔۔۔

The Nation: November 21, 2009

KARACHI – Regular physical activity is part and parcel of a child’s growth and development, and there are simple, low-cost ways to keep children active and fit at home, even indoors.

This was stated by Dr Maqbool Qadir, Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), while speaking during an awareness programme held on World Children Day 2009.
Dispelling the claim that involving children in indoor activities is challenging, Dr Qadir said that simple games, such as hide and seek, crawling through a home-made tunnel or an obstacle course, tag and skipping, all involve physical exercise that helps in keeping children fit.

“Exercises like `hopscotch’ involve jumping and landing besides improving balance and hand-eye coordination,” said Dr Qadir. Active children are more likely to become active adults who follow a healthy lifestyle. “The best way to encourage healthy eating is to set a good example yourself. If your child sees you eating a variety of healthy foods, he or she will be more likely to give them a try also,” said Dr Rehan Ali, Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist, AKUH addressing the most common problem mothers face, of children not wanting to eat food.

He said it is important to let a child choose what to eat, as long as it is nutritious. Sometimes a child may want to eat a particular food again and again for a while, and then not want to eat it at all.

Just as teaching a child how to eat right is important, teaching them when to stop eating, when they no longer feel hungry, is essential to a healthy lifestyle today, he stated.

Dr Aisha Yousafzai, Child Development Specialist, AKUH spoke about early childhood, from birth to three years of age, as the most important period for a child development, as this is when the brain develops rapidly.

She stressed on the importance of family support during these years, since this is the time when the foundation for future learning, language ability and social-emotional behaviours is laid.
“Infants learn from birth, by exploring the world around them, by seeing, copying, hearing and practising new skills. The more stimulation for learning we provide, the greater the development benefits,” said Dr Yousafzai.

A child’s health is dependent on the mother’s health, according to Dr Shazia Masheer, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. From the time before pregnancy till delivery and after birth, maternal health and nutrition are essential cornerstones of safe motherhood and child survival, she said and added that care should start before pregnancy with family planning and good maternal nutrition, said Dr Masheer.
According to her women who enter their reproductive years well nourished and free of any infection, have a much better chance of being healthy throughout pregnancy and delivery, and of passing the good health along to their child.

 

source – The Nation

Small doses of stress good for performance محدود حد تک ذہنی دباءو بہترکارکردگی کے لئے ضروری ہے۔۔۔ ذہنی دبائو اگر چہ ایک ترغیبی قوت ہے لیکن حد سے زیادہ دباءو ۔ خاموش قاتل ۔ بن سکتا ہے ۔ ڈاکٹر فردوس جہاں اے کے یو ایج

Small doses of stress good for performance محدود حد تک ذہنی دباءو کارکردگی کے لئے ضروری ہے۔۔۔ ذہنی دبائو اگر چہ ایک ترغیبی قوت ہے لیکن حد سے زیادہ دباءو ۔ خاموش قاتل ۔ بن سکتا ہے ۔ ڈاکٹر فردوس جہاں اے کے یو ایج

Gulf News – "Stress even acts as a motivating force but beyond a certain point, it stops being helpful and becomes ‘silent killer’,” said Dr Firdous Jahan, Consultant Family Physician at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) – a well-known non-profit health care facility in Pakistan.

Dubai: Small doses of stress can help an individual perform better, but it causes major health damage after certain limits, said a visiting medical consultant.

"Stress even acts as a motivating force but beyond a certain point, it stops being helpful and becomes ‘silent killer’,” said Dr Firdous Jahan, Consultant Family Physician at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) – a well-known non-profit health care facility in Pakistan.

Symptoms : In her lecture, organised by the AKUH Representative Office as part of its programme ‘Signs, Symptoms and Care’ at Ismaili Centre, Dubai, Dr Jahan spoke on stress management and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She defined stress as, "pressure that exceeds one’s perceived ability to cope.”

She said that one third of mental and physical illnesses are caused by stress, either directly or indirectly. "Too many positive or negative changes occurring in a short span of time can tax an individual’s adaptive capacity leading to increased susceptibility to illnesses,” she noted.

Symptoms of stress can range from a simple stomach ache to major heart disease, affecting the entire body, rather than just a single part. It also impairs the immune system, leading to greater vulnerability to infections. Individual responses to stress, however, may vary from person to person, depending on environmental, work-related and interpersonal factors, and from life events.

Dr Jahan stressed on the benefits of physical activity which can help release stress. Deep breathing techniques with the imagining of a warm, comfortable, safe and pleasant place, and progressive muscle relaxation are also effective in relaxation.

Meanwhile, Dr Zeba Iftikhar Ali, assistant manager of patient referral at AKUH, Dubai, said the AKUH in Karachi is an integrated, health care delivery component of Aga Khan University.

"It is a philanthropic, non-profit, private teaching institution committed to providing the best possible options for the diagnosis of disease and team management of patient care. Some 73 per cent of patients treated at AKUH come from low to middle-income areas. Those who are unable to pay for treatment receive assistance through subsidies including Patient Welfare Programme.

Gulf News – "Stress even acts as a motivating force but beyond a certain point, it stops being helpful and becomes ‘silent killer’,” said Dr Firdous Jahan, Consultant Family Physician at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) – a well-known non-profit health care facility in Pakistan.

Dubai: Small doses of stress can help an individual perform better, but it causes major health damage after certain limits, said a visiting medical consultant.

"Stress even acts as a motivating force but beyond a certain point, it stops being helpful and becomes ‘silent killer’,” said Dr Firdous Jahan, Consultant Family Physician at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) – a well-known non-profit health care facility in Pakistan.

Symptoms : In her lecture, organised by the AKUH Representative Office as part of its programme ‘Signs, Symptoms and Care’ at Ismaili Centre, Dubai, Dr Jahan spoke on stress management and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She defined stress as, "pressure that exceeds one’s perceived ability to cope.”

She said that one third of mental and physical illnesses are caused by stress, either directly or indirectly. "Too many positive or negative changes occurring in a short span of time can tax an individual’s adaptive capacity leading to increased susceptibility to illnesses,” she noted.

Symptoms of stress can range from a simple stomach ache to major heart disease, affecting the entire body, rather than just a single part. It also impairs the immune system, leading to greater vulnerability to infections. Individual responses to stress, however, may vary from person to person, depending on environmental, work-related and interpersonal factors, and from life events.

Dr Jahan stressed on the benefits of physical activity which can help release stress. Deep breathing techniques with the imagining of a warm, comfortable, safe and pleasant place, and progressive muscle relaxation are also effective in relaxation.

Meanwhile, Dr Zeba Iftikhar Ali, assistant manager of patient referral at AKUH, Dubai, said the AKUH in Karachi is an integrated, health care delivery component of Aga Khan University.

"It is a philanthropic, non-profit, private teaching institution committed to providing the best possible options for the diagnosis of disease and team management of patient care. Some 73 per cent of patients treated at AKUH come from low to middle-income areas. Those who are unable to pay for treatment receive assistance through subsidies including Patient Welfare Programme.

Heart attacks kill over 17m people every yearدل کا دورہ پڑنے سے ہر سال 17ملین لوگ ہلاک ہوجاتے ہیں۔۔۔۔

KARACHI – The Nation – The World Heart Day was commemorated on Sunday with a view to encourage people around the globe to adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle to reduce the risk of heart attacks which, together with strokes, kill over 17 million people every year.
To mark the occasion the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) arranged lectures by AKUH health professionals.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Javaid Khan, Chair, National Alliance for Tobacco Control and Head, Section of Respiratory Diseases, AKUH said that about 80 per cent of deaths from cardiovascular diseases occur in low- and middle-income countries where awareness about heart attacks and strokes is poor.  Premature deaths can be avoided if the main risk factors – tobacco, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity – are controlled, he added.
In several developed countries, heart diseases are declining as governments have taken appropriate measures to control tobacco and promote a healthy diet.
Tobacco use is the single most important risk factor not only for heart attack and stroke, but also for at least 30 other serious diseases, including lung cancer. Quoting a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Professor Khan said that the number of admissions for acute heart attack decreased in Scotland after the implementation of smoke-free legislation. He called for implementation of clean air laws in Pakistan also in order to protect citizens from the serious dangers associated with tobacco smoke pollution. Dr Fateh Ali Tipoo, Consultant Cardiologist, called for the government to focus on promoting preventive measures as treatment after a heart attack or stroke is unaffordable for the majority of citizens. High blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol and glucose, and smoking all increase a persons risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

Doctor! Doctor! I can’t hear a thing ڈاکٹر! ڈاکٹر! مجھے سنائی نہیں دے رہا۔۔۔۔ بہت سے لوگوں میں سماعت یا اونچا سننے کے مسائل اونچی آواز میں موسیقی سننے کے باعث پیدا ہوتے ہیں۔۔

The Times Online – By Selma Becker :  The damage that many people have done to their ears in their youth, playing loud music and going to rock concerts, has caught up with them. The use of MP3 players will make things even worse for today’s generation. Too many people listen to music on in-ear headphones at a volume that can cause damage. 

So how do you protect yourself from hearing loss? First, if you listen to music on an MP3 player use headphones that block out environmental noise, such as the Phonak Audéo PFE (www.pfe.audeoworld.com/audeo-pfe), although there are many other types. Second, there is a misconception that if your hearing is going to go it is going to go and that getting a hearing aid will not slow the decline. Wearing a hearing aid can help and the sooner you start the more benefit it will give you. The longer you leave your hearing unaided the more your brain is deprived of auditory stimulus. If you try to reintroduce the brain to sounds that it has not been aware of for many years it is much harder to retrain it.

While the stigma of wearing a hearing aid does not encourage its use, there are tiny aids available that clarify sounds rather than amplify them, and people should use these as soon as high frequencies begin to go.

Anyone over 50 should have regular hearing tests. It can be hard to acknowledge that your hearing is going, but try to look for the signs. For example, do you think that people mumble, or do you need the television volume higher than anyone else, or miss the sound of the phone ringing?

If you are worried talk to your GP, who can refer you to an audiologist, or go for a hearing test at a high street hearing aid audiologist. Hearing tests are available at Boots and Specsavers. ¶   Selma Becker is the director of the Help in Hearing clinic, http://www.helpinhearing.co.uk

حاتین سی نوجوان خواتین میںفشار خون کی کمی کا باعث بنتا ہے۔۔۔۔

Vitamin C linked to lower BP in young womenحاتین سی نوجوان خواتین میںفشار خون کی کمی کا باعث بنتا ہے۔۔۔۔

NEW YORK – A study in young adult women links high blood levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure. This “strongly suggests that vitamin C is specifically important in maintaining a healthy blood pressure,” lead author Dr. Gladys Block, of the University of California, Berkeley, told Reuters Health.

Previous research linked high plasma levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure among middle-age and older adults, typically those with higher than optimal blood pressure readings, Block and colleagues report in the Nutrition Journal.

 The current study involved 242 black and white women, between 18 and 21 years old, with normal blood pressures, who were participants in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. The girls had entered the trial when they were 8 to 11 years old. Over a 10-year period, their plasma levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and blood pressure were monitored.

At year 10, Block and her colleagues found that blood pressure, both the systolic and diastolic (top and bottom reading), was inversely associated with ascorbic acid levels.

Specifically, women with the highest levels of ascorbic acid had a decline of about 4.66 mm Hg in systolic and 6.04 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure compared with women with the lowest ascorbic acid levels. This difference still held true after researchers allowed for differences in body mass, race, education levels, and dietary fat and sodium intake.

Women with the lowest levels of plasma ascorbic acid likely consumed average amounts of fruits, vegetables, and fortified foods while those with the highest plasma ascorbic acid levels likely ate diets rich in fruits and vegetables or took multivitamins or vitamin C supplements, the researchers note.

Further analyses of vitamin C and blood pressure changes over the previous year, “also strongly suggested that the people with the highest blood level of vitamin C had the least increase in blood pressure,” Block said.

Since these findings infer a possible association between vitamin C and blood pressure in healthy young adults, Block and colleagues call for further investigations in this population.