Why kids should not watch too much TV

Raising children is a wonderful and exciting part of life. However, your child's health care needs your overwhelming attention. 

Even the smallest of things matter and that's why you should pay utmost attention to what your toddler or child is up to in his / her leisure time. 

For instance you need to keep a tab on details like your child's TV watching hours. Why, you may ask?

Happy Valentine's Day

Dear Readers,

Long Sleep Causes Nightmares?

Sleep deprivation has drastic consequences on health. Short sleep can lead to hypertension, diabetes, higher levels of bad cholesterol, obesity, brain fogginess, memory loss, inability to learn and retain new information, poor judgement and a host of other health problems. 

But did you know that sleeping for long hours is also not healthier either? 

In any case, it is not a healthy practice to loll in bed for long hours. Anything in excess is always bad, including sleep.

 

While there is no conclusive proof to show that long sleepers are shy, introverts or over-anxious types, long sleepers are at a risk of several other health issues such as stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes etc. 

A recent research has also found that sleeping for more than nine hours a night is associated with having bad dreams / nightmares.

Stephanie Rek at the University of Oxford and her colleagues performed one of the largest ever studies of nightmares in the general population.

As expected, the team found that worry and anxiety about the future, or about doing things wrong, was most strongly associated with the frequency and severity of nightmares. Worrying before bedtime obviously feeds negative dream content, increasing the chance of nightmares.

Key findings of the study:
Results reveal that sleeping for more than nine hours a night is associated with nightmares, but does not affect their severity.

Increased nightmare frequency is thought to be due to more sleep meaning a person spends longer in the late-night REM phase, which is when unpleasant dreams are most likely to occur.

Nightmare frequency and severity are also associated with worrying, hallucinations and paranoia.
Yet, it may be that nightmares cause disturbed sleep, which exacerbates pre-existing worries.

Study author Stephanie Rek said: 'Worry can be effectively treated using cognitive behavioural approaches. 

'It would be interesting to do more research to see whether these alleviate nightmares.'

No association was found between alcohol use or exercise and nightmares, despite previous studies finding booze increases the amount of REM.

Unfortunately, the team didn’t look at the influence of food on nightmares.

I had written about repercussions of long sleep in the post "Sleeping for long hours is not good for health" and interestingly, received flak for that from a commenter. Here's what  the commenter had to say about it; I am also attaching my reply to him/ her.

Never wear makeup while exercising

We all are familiar with the most commonest beauty tip that is doled by aestheticians and makeup artists alike and often mentioned in most beauty magazines, blogs and forums. And that tip is one should always remove makeup before going to bed.

But did you know that you should also remove every scrap of makeup from your face before your exercise? Or for that matter that you should never wear makeup when you exercise? Yes, it's true. By leaving your makeup on before an exercise session, a gym workout or a sports activity, you could be wreaking havoc on your delicate skin and more so if you are doing it on a regular basis.

Use of antacids is risky during pregnancy

Pregnant women need to think hundred times before they pop pills and they should never ever do this without consulting their doctor. Pregnancy isn't without constraints and an expectant mother is bound to catch a flu or cold in the course of her pregnancy.

Paracetamol, usually considered safe during pregnancy is usually prescribed for this. But is the use of paracetamol safe for the unborn baby? Apparently not, according to a study which says that high doses of paracetamol during pregnancy could affect the fertility of the unborn child, especially if it is a girl.

Standing can help you lose weight

Did you know that siting is the new smoking and that standing every now and then can help you lose weight? Yes it's true!

 

Long back I had shared how sitting for long hours is detrimental to health and how standing more often and moving about can help lower your risks of several lifestyle diseases. Prolonged sitting has been linked to the obesity epidemic, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. 

 

Charles E Matthews, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute says that sitting for hours is linked to more cancers than just breast and colon cancer. He warns that we need more physical activity than we thought - but more importantly, we need to sit less. 

 

Just one hour of TV a day puts even the most active of us at a higher risk of not just breast and colon cancer - which we already knew - but also nine other cancers including lung and head or neck. 

 

Furthermore if you just laze around the whole day by sitting or lying down and then do vigorous exercise for an hour, it would still be as good as leading a sedentary lifestyle with no health benefits.

Stand more often to lose weight