Kaizen 2: Proper Seating & Sitting

It is a general notion amongst all that those working, sitting on comfortable chairs and under fan or in AC would be hale and healthy. But when it comes to the physical fitness they are the ones in real danger and need lot of precautions and tips.
Coming from a software industry let me share about how the seating and sitting should not be and should be for the employees.
Most of us intentionally or unintentionally end up sitting somewhat like shown in the below picture:



But this is how exactly it should be:



Follow this simple kaizen and be fit.

Kaizen 1: Do not skip breakfast ...

Missing breakfast can be seen as a way of saving time in the morning, or of losing weight. During early and mid-adolescence, disordered eating patterns are very strongly associated with health-compromising behaviours like use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana."
Especillay in case of bachelors, they replace the breakfast with coffee and few puffs(smoking). This is really unhealthy and leads to irregular functionalities of many systems(digestive system, circulatory system).

BreakFast - breaking the fast
After nine or more hours of not eating (that is after your dinner), you are in a fasting condition. Blood glucose levels are very low and need to be replenished. To keep up mental work requires a large turnover of brain glucose. If glucose levels are inadequate, the brain cannot function efficiently. Breakfast helps to replenish blood glucose levels.

For School going children:
Studies of school-children have shown eating breakfast improves their concentration levels in the morning. There are multiple scientific studies that show that eating breakfast improves academic performance, including improved maths scores, better working memory and increased verbal skills. The studies also show an improved attitude towards school, as well as less depression, anxiety and hyperactivity.

For Obesed people:
People who were trying to lose weight were more successful if they had breakfast. And those who missed the meal were likely to be fatter, possibly because they are more likely to have unhealthy snacks mid-morning to boost their energy levels.

Skipping breakfast - U may fall prey for one of the below:
Is your friend restricting her food intake day and night? If so, he/she certainly is at risk for nutritional deficiencies. Some of these may include anemia, stunted growth (depending on her/his age), loss of bone or incomplete bone development, decreased immune function, amenorrhea (loss of menstrual periods in case of ladies), decreased thyroid function, increased susceptibility to colds and infections, low energy levels, poor concentration and cognitive development, and gum infections and poor dental health, just to name a few.

References:
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2296.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=4004
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/healthjournal/sep_oct_97_hj/articles/skipping_1.html
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/parenting/school/schheat/qas/0,,186627_187071,00.html

Kaizen for Health

Yesterday, I attended a beautiful session on Kaizen. Kaizen is a japanese word for "change for the better" or "improvement", the english translation is "continuous improvement", or "continual improvement". There the speaker/presenter highlighted the Golden rules and the Fundamentals of Kaizen.
In the speech there were lot of things to take away, but one simple analysis really caught my attention. This analysis was made with respect to an automobile company wherein, by improving the quality of the raw materials they could increase the sales. The logic behind was by improving quality of the processes, and materials we can avoid lot of rework, maintenance cost that proves very costly to companies. I quickly related it and started comparing it with the human body. It is infact astonishing, you take care your body properly, in all respects say from having quality food, regular medical checkups, follow strict diet and so on the chances of being hospitalised are really less.

No hospitalization, No tensions, No stress and No money loss

One of the Golden rules of kaizen is to "Start Now" and one of the Fundamentals of Kaizen is "Continuously make small improvements". I felt applying kaizen would help us in acquiring Optimal Health. I would be presenting these in the form of snippets, that will relieve our pain (of course we need to follow them strictly...). After all it's our Way2Health.

Diseases..! Are They?

Take sometime and ponder yourself on those good olden days where our great grand parents led a peaceful, healthy life, hospitalised very rarely if not never at all. Say you transported (in thoughts) to those days and be there. Just look around and see what people are suffering from Malaria, Plague, Tuberculosis... Have you heard of more people dying due to heart attacks, kidney problems, Alzheimer's ... Now come back to the present days, do you still find those old diseases Malaria, Plague, Tuberculosis as prevailing diseases. No, Thanks to advanced Medical Research. We got rid of them long back. Are we free from diseases? Are we leading a Healthy life?
What are the present haunting and lifethreatening diseases?
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,Heart Attack, Obesity...

Let me sow some seeds in your head to keep your mind ticking/thinking.
Are we treating diseases?
Is our approach (Medically) apt?
Is there any alternative?
First of all are they diseases?
If these are not diseases then What are they?

Health or Optimal Health!!!

Let us first ponder upon both Health & Optimal Health!
I just googled about "What is health?"

• The absence of disease or injury along with physical, mental, and social well-being.

I just googled about "What is Optimal Health?"

• The highest possible achievement of physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

That was google fetched for us.

But let me say what WHO has to say about the Optimal Health:

"Optimal health is not the mere absence of disease but the complete physical, mental, social and economical well being of a person. -World Health Organisation."

If you believe in the adage "Aiming Low is Crime", then you should aim for "Optimal Health".

Watch out for upcoming posts that are steps to attaining this "OPTIMAL HEALTH".

Holi(y)stic/Realistic View

In my last post I mentioned that Body is the temple of God. But I got feedback from my good friends and collegues saying that they want some realistic way of keeping their body/health fit. Let me tell you, though they are not aware that fitness also falls under this broad category of realising that Body is very much a temple of God. The intentions behind this blog is to show the methods, give away the tips & suggestions and giving the holi(y)stic view of the body. Psychologically, when you make everyone aware of the holistic feature they show more interest in listening and putting into practice whatever little they learn. I will be giving you my understanding (of course based on some literature, conferences that I attended) as and when I collect something and make sure that visitors to this blog have something to pick up when they land here. After all it is Everybody's Way2Health.