Ways to become “mindful”

Learning to focus the mind can be a powerful antidote to the stresses and strains of our on-the-go lives. The ability to pay attention to what you’re experiencing from moment to moment — without drifting into thoughts of the past or concerns about the future, or getting caught up in opinions about what is going on — is called mindfulness.

This basic mindfulness meditation exercise is easy to learn and practice.

1. Sit on a straight-backed chair, or cross-legged on the floor.
2. Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
3. Once you’ve narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of sounds, sensations, and ideas.
4. Embrace and consider each thought or sensation without judging it as good or bad. If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.

The effects of mindfulness meditation tend to be dose-related — the more you practice it, the more benefits you usually experience.

A less formal approach can also help you stay in the present and fully engage in your life. You can practice mindfulness at any time or during any task, whether you are eating, showering, walking, touching a partner, or playing with a child. Here’s how:

• Start by bringing your attention to the sensations in your body.
• Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air to move downward into your lower belly. Let your abdomen expand fully. Then breathe out through your mouth. Notice the sensations of each inhalation and exhalation.
• Proceed with the task at hand slowly and with full deliberation.
• Engage your senses fully. Notice each sight, touch, and sound so that you savour every sensation.
• When you notice that your mind has wandered from the task at hand, gently bring your attention back to the sensations of the moment.

> Find out more: Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, mindfulness, and inner strength, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

Weight loss is a vital public-health issue

When walking on the streets, you can not ignore the many people who carry with them too much fat.

In May, a landmark study presented at the European Congress on Obesity, in Dublin, outlined the true cost of obesity to the NHS, revealing that the health service could save £14 billion a year if everyone were a healthy weight. Obese patients were found to cost the NHS twice as much as those of a healthy weight.

Weight loss is a vital public-health issue, but the personal benefits are equally great. Being overweight or obese has been proven to significantly increase the risk of developing serious health conditions, including cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, among others.

For many people it might look very difficult to lose weight. But it does not have to be such a struggle. We should reflect more on how food/drink/activity makes us feel. How many people don’t take sweets when they feel bad, or grab alcohol to feel better? More than once, we let our morals undermine our physical situation rather than show ourselves strongly and not let ourselves be done by circumstances outside ourselves. Occasionally a glass of alcohol will not hurt, but if it becomes a regular grab to the bottle, we will enter the danger zone. Furthermore, the danger lurks around the corner that we are influenced by the fear of thickening, which makes us stress and eat more small snacks that will make us turn on. We should avoid any ‘Stress’.

A 2016 study published in the journal Cell Metabolism found that losing 5 per cent of body weight was enough to significantly reduce the risk of common diseases in a sample of 40 obese adults. In practice, this means the average British man (who weighs 13st 5lb/85.4kg, according to NHS data) would need to lose about 9½lb/4.27kg; for the average woman (11st 4lb/72.1kg), it is 8lb/3.6kg.

“Five per cent is a good target to be aiming for, and it’s possible to achieve over about a 12-week period for many people, depending on your starting body weight,”

says consultant endocrinologist Dr Saira Hameed. And, she says, you will feel the benefit in every area of your life.

“Your mobility will improve; your physical fitness will improve; it will take pressure off your back, your hips and your knees,”

she says.

“Losing 5 per cent of body weight also has metabolic advantages in lowering cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.”

Marcus Ampe is convinced each person has everything in his hands. He says people do not have to take a drastic diet. Mostly when they start such a diet, they shall not be able to end it and after they stop it the will put on wight again and as such shall end up in a yo-yo system of losing and gaining weight, which is much worse for their body and shall also have a negative impact on their mind.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, and more than four out of five CVD deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes. Excess weight and obesity can lead to high cholesterol and blood pressure, both of which can contribute to heart disease.

We have to avoid strain on the heart. Being overweight or obese makes us to carry an extra load and is a key risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin, resulting in high blood-sugar levels. In turn, type 2 diabetes is linked with an increased risk of other serious health conditions.

Research led by the diabetes expert Roy Taylor, professor of medicine and metabolism at Newcastle University, showed that a low-calorie diet and weight-management programme put diabetes into remission in 46.5 per cent of people, and of those, 70 per cent were still in remission two years later.

We may not forget that weight loss in general reduces the chance of illness overall.

“In terms of avoiding all sorts of problems, including cancers, we found there was a clear benefit of weight loss,”

Prof Taylor says.

In 2022, NHS guidance changed to prioritise telling arthritis patients to exercise and lose weight over prescribing them painkillers. Over-60s who exercise suffer 25 per cent less joint pain than those who are sedentary, according to a study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Mr Ampe is also convinced that regular physical exercise is the most important factor to get our figure in shape again; But he warns people that they might not be afraid that the numbers on the scale would go higher at first. This happens because the growing muscles weigh more than the lost fat. But bit by bit, by doing regular exercises and eating healthier food people shall lose weight.

“When we are overweight or obese, we also tend to have high insulin levels, in association with being insulin resistant. Insulin is a growth factor for normal healthy cells, but also cancer cells, so that plays a part,”

says Dr Hameed.

“When you’re overweight or obese, you are in a low-level state of chronic inflammation, as cytokines [proteins that help regulate inflammation] are released directly by body fat, and they probably also play a role in the development of cancer.”

That is why people with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk: recent research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that the risk of dying from any type of cancer is 18 per cent higher among people with type 2 diabetes than it is in the general population.

Therefore, Mr Ampe recommends that people do not wait too long before taking measures to adjust their dietary habits. But he also recommends working on a regular lifestyle so that eating heavy meals late will be a thing of the past. Because those meals eaten late at night are a major cause of unnecessary fat build-up.

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Preceding

The Proper Place of Excess

Incorporate new things into your daily routine – without feeling like it’s a struggle

Depression, High cholesterol, heart attack risk and happiness matters

Levels of sound and visceral fat

The healthier foodstuff turns out to be quite the opposite

Helping us maintain muscle in later life and getting fit

A key to effortless weight loss

Self-care routine

Northeast Now in Asia is convinced that a solid self-care routine is critical to maintaining in this stressful busy life where we don’t get time for ourselves.

Self-care is different for different people depending not just on who you are, but on what you’re going through, how much time you have, what you find makes you feel less stressed and what you can afford.

There are people who believe stress is bad and others who think being busy all the time is actually a good and bad thing at the same time, and in such situations, one can have some form of stress that can motivate to do the things as good as possible. Others do find that one may be happy when there is a feeling of stress. It is true that we got to think about our targets and plan things. Ass such we do have to find the time to do things. A danger of setting our goals or targets in life is that we try so hard to live up to the standards of success created by a money driven competitive society that we get frustrated if we fail to live up to those standards.

In life it is a matter of finding the balance between reaching goals and doing things in a not too burdensome way. Often we forget that

the more you crave to fit into standards created by others, the more you refuse to accept yourself. {Stressed? Be happy by Rashmi S. Malapur}

We can find lots of people who are in a constant chase of reality and identity, many people do want to know who they really are and for what reason they are here on earth living not always such a nice life.

Some people can not cope when they are seeing that things are not going their way or when they do not seem to be capable to reach their goal in the time they set for it themselves. Some of them do not set in some time to relax and by not taking a nap or not having enough sleep they do not notice they become slower and less focused. Therefore, schedule time for recreation to relax your mind and body.

Sometimes it can be good to divert your attention from thinking about things that are going on in your life. But also getting attention to other people around you, noticing how they cope or do not cope with life. It is often wise to look at your neighbour and coming to help him or her. Doing something for someone else will get your mind off of yourself, and by doing so also diminish stress.

Naturally, it also can happen that others are the cause of stress. Their demands or the way how they treat you.
If you find the source of your stress is other people, try giving in, instead of fighting and insisting you are always right. Or when they are bullying, just turn your back on them and walk away, or when it becomes too bad are not afraid to look for outside help.

If the problem is beyond your control, do know that it is better to step away from the problem or try your best to accept it until you can change it.

It beats spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. {Getting a handle on stress}

by NE NOW NEWS advises to:

1. Zone out for a while
2. Connect with a close friend
3. Keep your Sunday’s for a self pampering routine
4. Spend 20 minutes clearing clutter
5. Refill your water bottle hourly
6. Steep up your morning routine
7. Create a “Yay!” List

They also say:

Snag a fun new journal to motivate you. It will get you thinking with daily prompts about what inspired you, times you felt strong, and more.

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Preceding

Monthly Self Care

Creating Community and Togetherness

Doing more

The Importance of Self-Care in Today’s Busy World

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