Everyday heart triggers

What are the things that go tick-tock and take your ticker to explosion point? The most commonly known ones are of course fried food, lack of

Everyday heart triggers (Getty Images)

exercise .

But does it mean that if you don’t eat fried food, and hit the gym everyday, you are free of heart disease? What if hitting the gym is the very thing triggering your heart? According to the recent Saffola Life Heart survey, over an alarming 49.1 per cent of the Indian population is ‘high risk’ and 29.8 million are already affected by coronary disease. While, according to the survey, Kolkata has the lowest risk, people in metros like Mumbai and Chennai, and industrially advanced states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu have highest heart risks with factors like commuting, changing dietary habits pointing the way. So what is it we in the city are doing wrong?

Long commutes
Yoga: The stress builds anxiety. Chanting something, deep conscious breathing or the Hridayamudra help heal the heart.
Cardio: Daily stress all adds up. Reading or listening to music take your mind off the stress and soothes.
Endo: If your commute involves a brisk walk, it is good. If it is more than one hour it cuts down your sleep time, is a sedentary activity and adds to hypertension. Listen to music — it lessens stress.
Psych: Long commutes can result in high blood pressure, anger and resentment. The key is to take your mind off it — enjoy music or the view around to relax.

Road rage
Yoga: Accumulated stress is triggered off. When angry, you breathe at 80-90 breaths/minute. When calm, it’s 10-11/minute. The faster your breath rate, shorter your life span.
Cardio: Sometimes in a rage, your heart attacks. Whenever there is excessive adrenaline secretion it causes constrictions in the artery and leads to a greater wear and tear of interior linings. This leads to faster atherosclerosis. Try shavasana to be calmer.
Endo: Road rage could be a sign that you have hypertension. Get blood pressure checked. You need to change your overall lifestyle.
Psych: Emotional stress affects the heart. Don’t allow the other person to ‘control’ you. Being ‘cut off’ doesn’t mean the person is trying to undermine you. Don’t react.

Long working hours
Yoga: The issue is not so much working hours as the package deal; deadlines, competitiveness, etc. For every one hour, take two minutes off to stretch, go for a small walk.
Cardio: Long work hours (upto 10 hours) are fine as long as you enjoy your work; 14-15 hours is overwork. If you don’t enjoy your work, change your job before a heart attack.
Endo: Can be counterproductive because typically such jobs encourage sedentarism with high mental stress, which increases metabolic stress. For optimum heart health, two good four-hour sessions is the maximum allowed, anything more is risky for heart health.
Psych: It’s a package deal. Improve your time management skills, delegate, intersperse work with recreation or fitness activities, have a support system at the workplace.

Yo-yo diets
Yoga: Have small meals in a day. Eat whatever you want, but in small quantities and only when hungry. Suryanamaskars and Kapalabhati Kriya also do wonders.
Cardio: Reduce the quantity of carbohydrates and fats both. Have proteins and fruit, but have a high fibre content. Consult a dietician tailored to your traditional way of eating.
Endo: We are a fasting and feasting country — the crazier the diet, the better. Suddenly dropping carbohydrates and increasing proteins can negatively impact metabolic function by turning them into saturated fat.
Psych: Over time, such diets cause depression or fatigue. When carbohydrates are low, your organs don’t get enough energy and begin to burn muscle tissue from even vital organs. This can result in kidney/liver failure, heart attacks and stroke.

Eating dinner on the sofa while watching television
Yoga: It’s the worst thing to do to your system as violence or sadness on TV is ingested with food. Sitting at the table is fine, but it’s best to sit cross-legged on the floor. Vajrasana post-dinner for 5 to 10 minutes aids digestion.
Cardio: Scientifically, I cannot say how one eats or where affects the heart.
Endo: TV dinners are killer dinners — they are full of calorific excess. Traditionally, sitting on the floor cross-legged is good for digestion.
Psych: People eat more while watching TV. If it’s a regular habit, the risks of obesity-related heart concerns are higher.

Having chips/fries/papads with food
Yoga: It adds up. But, if you have a little bit, it’s okay as long as you are regular with all your exercises.
Cardio: If you are having a fried papad with khichri and not having other fried foods, what is the harm? It is better than junk food home delivered daily!
Endo: There is no such thing as ‘little bit’ of fried food. Fried food fries our endothelium and kills us faster. Eating out in any form attacks the system.
Psych: Oil-based food as side dishes are fine occasionally but regular intake increases bad cholesterol.

Late night snacks
Yoga: After 8 pm, the entire digestive system moves into rest-mode. It is not geared to operate at peak level.
Cardio: Snacking is a Western habit because they have dinner at 7 pm. You can’t have dinner at 10 pm and snack; you’ll pile on cholesterol.
Endo: Untimely bingeing is responsible for obesity in India. ‘Serial snacking’ is where women watching TV serials put on 7-8 kgs snacking. Eat well, eat less — it is not the type of food that matters — but eat right, eat on time.
Psych: Snacking before going to bed leads to indigestion. Our biological timing system governs our daily cycles. It is important that they stay co-ordinated else it affects.

Speaking loudly/shouting
Yoga: When you shout, you are not hurting others but giving yourself hypertension. When angry, do shitali pranayam. Instant deep breathing reduces anger immediately.
Cardio: Shouting harms you first. It can be a sign of the initial stages of high BP and you should get it checked.
Endo: Shouting leads to overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system and hypertension increases, creating adrenaline flow that harms hearts.
Psych: Cultivate speaking softly as people react to the tone of your voice. You are creating stress for yourself and others. Assertion works better than aggression.

Drinking/dancing in clubs
Yoga: Alcohol is not good for you everyday. Dancing can be cathartic, but not in a smoke-filled closed atmosphere.
Cardio: Alcohol in moderation is okay, it’s excessive alcohol that is harmful as it’s all about carbohydrates and calories. Dance can destress. The mantra is modertion.
Endo: Rhythmic dancing is good for health, though loud music can be counterproductive. Alcohol is bad as it’s addictive.
Psych: Drinking has become a common negative way of coping with stress. This can lead to dependency.

Sex life or lack of it
Yoga: The entire system is in a state of excitement which increases the heart rate, breath rate and BP. Too much sex lays unnecessary stress on the body. Yoga maintains hormonal balance and stabilises breath rate, and the heart rate.
Cardio: A healthy sex life is good. A recent study has shown that heart risk is high in people with extra-marital affairs. Guilt adds up and affects the heart.
Endo: Normal sexual activity is healthy — a lack of sexual life will lead to depression. A couple of days a week is normal and an abnormal amount of sex is abnormal.
Psych: A recent study shows that sex twice or more a week reduces risk of heart attack by half for men. At least once a week, is good. Immediately before orgasm, levels of hormone oxytocin rise by five times, releasing endorphins, which raises immunity. People who have more sex handle stress better.

Smoking
Yoga: Smoking or passive smoking are both not good for your heart. Yoga is a system that believes in breaking habits. Complete yoga helps you make a lifestyle shift.
Cardio: No way should smoking be tolerated. Cigars, pipes, hookahs, beedis, cigarettes are all equally harmful. Nicotine enters the blood and damages the coronary artery.
Endo: Smoking affects the entire system and should be banned.
Psych: Smoking leads to anxiety, restlessness and reduces tolerance levels, leading to hypertension.

Waking up early/late
Yoga: Early in the morning, oxygen levels are high, the air is purer, there is more calmness in the air. It soothes the heart. It is not the number of hours of sleep you have but the quality of sleep that matters.
Cardio: Sleep has no impact on the heart. Some people are refreshed with five hours sleep. Six hours sleep is optimal. The heart doesn’t rest, but during sleep it is the closest it gets.
Endo: We need six to eight hours of good sleep. Above 10 hours, and BP goes down.
Psych: Getting up late very frequently can be a result of chronic fatigue or depression.

Gymming or overgymming
Yoga: Exercising with machines injures muscles and is not beneficial in the long run. Yoga works on your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels while gymming works only on the physical body.
Cardio: Ot’s foolish for a middle-aged person to hit the gym and start working out with weights and doing heavy exercises. If you are in your 20s, then you can do it. Above 30, you need to consult a doctor first and get prescribed physical activity appropriate to your heart’s status.
Endo: Maximum physical exercise advisable is 45 minutes — above that, doesn’t help to lose weight, and also puts unnescesary strain on your body. For optimum heart health you need to relax and take it easy. Smile more.
Psych: Gymming is good as regular exercise helps prevent obesity and increases endorphins. But obsessive gymming can lead to hypertension and weakness.

Mobile/internet addiction
Yoga: It crowds your head with many thoughts. In an unspoken way, it messes up your head. Allocate one hour without TV, mobile, internet.
Cardio: I have not read anything that suggests a relation.
Endo: Talking five mins on a mobile can push your BP up by 2-3 ml. After half an hour the warmth you feel in your ears is your BP going up.
Psych: Studies find high-frequency electromagnetic fields cause headache, dizziness, numbness in the thigh, heaviness in chest among mobile phones users

How some people maintain weight loss, others don't

Ever wondered how some people successfully maintain a significant weight loss, while others tend to regain the

How some people maintain weight loss, others don't. (Getty Images)

weight?

Well, researchers at The Miriam Hospital attribute such tendencies to a difference in brain activity patterns.

The researchers showed that when individuals who had kept the weight off for several years were shown pictures of food, they were more likely to engage the areas of the brain associated with behavioural control and visual attention, as compared to obese and normal weight participants.

The findings of the study suggest that successful weight loss maintainers may learn to respond differently to food cues. "Our findings shed some light on the biological factors that may contribute to weight loss maintenance. They also provide an intriguing complement to previous behavioral studies that suggest people who have maintained a long-term weight loss monitor their food intake closely and exhibit restraint in their food choices," said lead author Dr. Jeanne McCaffery.

Long-term weight loss maintenance continues to be a major problem in obesity treatment. Participants in behavioural weight loss programs lose an average of 8 to 10 percent of their weight during the first six months of treatment, and will maintain approximately two-thirds of their weight loss after one year.

However, despite intensive efforts, weight regain appears to continue for the next several years, with most patients returning to their baseline weight after five years.

The researchers used functional magnetic resource imaging (FMRI) to study the brain activity of three groups- 18 individuals of normal weight, 16 obese individuals (defined as a body mass index of at least 30), and 17 participants who have lost at least 30 lbs and have successfully maintained that weight loss for a minimum of three years.

When the participants were shown pictures of food items after a four-hour fast, it was found that those in the successful weight loss maintenance group responded differently to these pictures compared to the other groups.

Specifically, researchers observed strong signals in the left superior frontal region and right middle temporal region of the brain - a pattern consistent with greater inhibitory control in response to food images and greater visual attention to food cues.

"It is possible that these brain responses may lead to preventive or corrective behaviors - particularly greater regulation of eating - that promote long-term weight control. However, future research is needed to determine whether these responses are inherent within an individual or if they can be changed," said McCaffery.

Time for office work-out

If you have a demanding job that requires you to sit for long hours, body transform experts tell you how to get Time for office workout! (Getty Images) some exercise... Desk Workouts The main culprit for weight gain is long hours at work and no gym time. Swap one of your coffee breaks and do these simple desk exercises. A 10-minute session will burn between 50 and 100 calories.All you need is a chair without wheels. Perform these exercises as a circuit or individually throughout the day. Two or three times a week will give you more benefits. A spine twist to target the shoulders, back and abs Sit on a chair with feet flat on the floor. Extend arms overhead with palms facing in, shoulders down. Exhale and twist upper body to right; at the same time, press arms out to sides at shoulder height. Inhale. Return to start. Switch sides and repeat. Do 20 reps, alternating sides. Wall press with leg lifts to target shoulders, chest, core and lower back Face the wall with feet shoulder-width apart and a couple of feet away. Extend right arm at shoulder height in front of you, and place palm on the wall. Lift left leg behind you, about 6 inches off floor and flex your foot. With the back held straight, bend right elbow as you lean body in towards wall. Press into palm to return to start. Then quickly switch sides so that left palm is on the wall, right leg extended behind you. Alternate sides and do for 1 minute. Chair-pose repeater to target the Back, Glutes and Thighs Stand with your back facing the chair, with feet hip-width apart, arms down by sides. Sit back into hips and squat, keeping knees behind toes and back straight, until butt is about 1 inch from the seat. Reach arms up and forward diagonally so there’s a straight line from butt to fingertips. Hold for 20 seconds. Return to start. Do 20 reps. Diet Tip For luminous and toned skin, include foods rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin E found in apples, citrus fruits, and whole-grain cereal.

A-Z of weight loss

Dietician Neesha Bukht brings you the ABCs of

A-Z of weight loss (Getty Images)

staying slim.

A
AVOID ALCOHOL: You booze, you lose! Alcohol increases your levels of the hormone leptin, which in turn makes you crave sweets.Don’t want to be branded a teetotaller? Order a glass of Sauvignon Blanc – 119 cals per 5 ounces.

B
BREAKFAST: A good breakfast with fibre and protein will keep you full till lunchtime and help you avoid bingeing. Opt for multi-grain cereal, lowfat curd or fruits to kick-start your metabolism.

C
CORTISOL: Prolonged stress leads to high levels of cortisol which makes you crave junk foods. Solution: deal with long-standing stressors. As for short-lived ones, treat yourself to an oil massage.

D
DENSITY: Go for grub with an energy density of two or less. To calculate this, simply divide the calories by the weight in grams (per serving). Stay at it and watch the pounds melt faster.

E
EAT AT REGULAR INTERVALS: Go no longer than five hours between meals. Several small meals through the day lead to a better metabolism and greater control over binges.

F
FRUCTOSE: Ditch the artificially sweetened juices and sodas and get your fructose from natural sources such as fruits. Because natural fructose is kinder to your waistline.

G
GUM: Chewing on gum helps cleanse the mouth of bacteria, satisfies a sweet-tooth and reduces your urge to eat. The next time you feel the urge to reach for a biscuit packet, try a piece of sugarless gum instead for a zero-calorie treat.

H
HEART-HEALTHY FOODS: Overweight people face a greater risk of heart disease. So, switch to olive and vegetable oils. Fill up on omega rich foods like walnuts and fatty fish. Choose non-fat dairy products and lean cuts of mutton and skinless poultry.

I
INSULIN: The amount of insulin you secrete may dictate your diet. High insulin secretors shed more weight on a low-carb diet and less on a lowfat/high carb diet. Got a jelly belly? You secrete excess insulin and could benefit from fewer carbs.

J
JOURNAL: Write down everything you eat and you could cut your intake by 1,000 calories a day. Food journaling may seem boring but goes a long way in making you aware of what you eat and thereby helps you shed pounds.

K
KETOSIS: Ketosis refers to the point where your body runs low on carbs and burns fat for fuel. Therefore, ketosis jump-starts a diet. Restrict carbs and lose more initially. Later, allow yourself wholegrain cereals and roti, in moderation.

L
LOW BLOOD SUGAR: This is often the reason for between-meal cravings especially for sweet. When it strikes, reach for naturally sweet foods such as fruits and accompany it with a little low-fat dahi for a healthy dose of protein.

M
MILK: Get better results from your workout by downing milk. Two cups of skim milk after intense weightlifting can build more muscle and burn twice as much fat as drinking fruit juice. But go with real cow's milk as it’s more beneficial than soya milk.

N
NUMBERS: Nobody enjoys weigh-ins, but people who hop on the scale once a day are more likely to lose and maintain their loss. Make a standing appointment for yourself. But try to strike a balance rather than obsess over the number you see.

O
OMLETTE: Eggs are an ideal protein source. Protein helps build muscle, which will fry more calories per pound than fat. Bonus: You burn about 25 per cent of the eggs' calories just by digesting them.

P
PEANUTS = PROTEIN: Take the edge off your appetite by snacking on a handful of peanuts everyday. Because, protein is the "secret" to weight control. Peanuts also boost your resting metabolic rate due to their fatty acid content.

Q:
Q 10
Coenzyme Q10 is one of the nutrients needed to produce energy. Most people an energy - mg a day. Other benefits include a stronger immune system. Besides, it's also a great antioxidant.

R
REPLACEMENTS: Replace any silly weight loss pills you have been advised to take, with a good low fat smoothie.You will lose just as much weight without the side-effects of a pill.

S
SLIP-UPS: Slip-ups are bound to happen.Anticipate them. Instead of letting them derail your efforts, learn from them and get right back on track by simply keeping your eye on your target.

T
TEA: The fat-busting benefits of green tea boil down to disease-fighting compounds called catechins. Max your results by steeping your tea for longer. The darker the hue of your brew, the more catechin-rich the cup.Add some lime to tone down the bitterness.

U
USER-FRIENDLY: There are a million fad diets around; your friends are probably trying some too. But what helps you lose weight isn't the type of diet but compliance with it. Find a plan you can live with so you'll stick to it.

V
VINEGAR: Studies show that consuming 4 tbsp of a vinegar mixture with a high-carb diet drops your calorie intake by 275 per day. If you can't stomach vinegar, mix into a low-fat dressing to add zing to your salad.

W
WATER: It quenches thirst without the calories. Infact, water also ups your caloric burn rate. Sipping six extra 8-ounce glasses a day can burn 17,400 more calories (about 5 pounds of fat) per year.

X
XYLITOL: Xylitol is a natural substance found in vegetables that tastes and looks just like sugar. But while sugar harms, xylitol protects against disease and has anti-ageing benefits. In its crystalline form, it can replace sugar in cooking.

Y
YOGA: Normal-weight women who practise yoga for four or more years will gain three pounds less over 10 years than those who don't. Grab your mat and get breathing!

Z
Zs
When you skimp on sleep, your brain thinks you're low on fuel and sends a message to your stomach to start growling.Women who sleep for 5 hours or less are an average of 5 pounds heavier than women who snoozed for 7 hours.Want to stay slim? Hit the pillow.

Why going 'veg' is good for you

xperts tell you why going veg is a good idea, even if it’s just once

Veggie delight (Getty Images)

a week

Detoxifies: A veggie diet contains dietary fibre (bottle gourd, pumpkins, spinach, cabbages), which flushes toxins out of the body. A diet containing only eggs, fish and mutton is a poor source of fibre.

Stronger bones: Gorging on meat can lead to protein overload. This can tax our kidneys, interfere with the absorption of calcium and prompt the body to extract existing calcium from the bones. Such calcium excretion is rare amongst vegetarians.

Carb deficiencies: A non-vegetarian diet is a poor source of carbohydrates. Carb-deficiency can lead to ketosis – a condition where the body starts breaking down fat (instead of carbs) as a source of energy.
Easy digestion: Complex carbohydrates in vegetarian foods are digested gradually providing a steady source of glucose. Conversely, meats rich in fat and proteins are difficult to digest.

Healthy skin: Eating beetroot, tomato, pumpkin and bitter gourd can clear off blemishes. And guava, apples, pears and peaches, eaten along with their peel, promise a glowing complexion.

Weight management: Avoiding meat is the simplest way to reduce fat intake. Instead, eating whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, and fruits, lowers cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and obesity.

Easy on the teeth: Our molars are more suitable for grinding grains and vegetables than tearing flesh. Digestion begins with the saliva, which can only digest complex carbohydrates present in plant foods.

Phyto nutrients: Diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, stroke and bone loss are partially preventable with a good intake of phytonurtients. As these are present only in vegetarian diet, the non-vegetarians are at a loss.

Taller people are happier than shorter ones

Taller people are much happier with their lives than shorter peers, says a new study by U.S.

Taller people are happier than shorter ones (Getty Images)

academics.

The research published in science journal Elsevier's Economics and Human Biology claimed people of greater height ''live better lives'' on average, as they are better equipped to deal with life’s problems compared to their vertically challenged counterparts and they possess more of a positive outlook.

To reach the conclusion, scientists interviewed around 454,065 American adults, asking them all to detail their height, their emotions and where they saw themselves on an “imaginary life ladder.”

From analyses, boffins found that taller people reported a range of positive emotions such as enjoyment and happiness than shorter people in the survey, reports The Daily Express. Men who reported that their lives were the ''worst possible'' were more than eight tenths of an inch (2cm) shorter than the average man.

Women who saw themselves ''on the bottom step'' were shorter than the average woman by half an inch (1.3cm). However, not everything was rosy for leggier participants. The taller you are, the more likely you are to experience stress and anger, whilst tall women have a tendency to over-worry, the study found.

Tips to stay healthy!

GO RUN!
It’s well-known that cardio exercises reduce the risk of stroke, improve blood circulation, lower hypertension and relieve stress.

Ways to stay healthy (Getty Images)

However, a crucial benefit of cardio is that it boosts the body’s immunity. Regular exercise ensures constant flow of nutrients and infection-fighting cells throughout the body.

BOWEL-ED OVER
Two or three bowel movements per day ensures that the body’s defence system is not put under any excess strain. So, keep the body well-hydrated for regular and healthy bowel movements, and have food rich in fibre such as cereals, whole grains and fruits like apples.
STRESS CHECK
The ‘S’ factor also affects immunity. Keep stress under check. Incorporate a relaxing practice such as meditation, yoga or deep breathing into your daily routine. You may even try Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art, to calm yourself.

HAVE THESE
Mushrooms: A recent Arizona State University study says that mushrooms can indeed help cement the body’s immunity. Interestingly, the common white button mushroom has stronger immunity boosting properties as compared to the exotic varieties.
Chocolate: Chocoholics rejoice! Chocolate is a good source of arginine amino acid (a component of most proteins) which is crucial in boosting the body’s immunity. Besides, it is also considered beneficial for the liver.
Tea: Good ol’ chai fights infections attacking our body, says a study conducted by the Harvard Medical School. The study showed that the immune system of those who have tea, works five times faster as compared to those who had coffee. The chemical in tea that supports immunity is L-theanine.
Fish: Apart from being a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, which have a host of benefits of their own. Fish is also a rich source of glutamine that helps build immunity .
BREATHE RIGHT
Belly breathing: The most efficient way of breathing is diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing. Most infants and young children do it easily, but as we get older, we tend to breathe using our chest and shoulder muscles and less of our diaphragm. Practise the following exercise and re-learn your breathing technique:
Pick a comfortable position — sitting, standing or lying — on your back. When standing or sitting, make sure that your feet are flat on the floor, the back is straight and hands are at your side. Close your eyes and inhale deeply thrice, through your nose and exhale from your mouth. Feel the stress leave your body with each exhalation. As you inhale, let the breath completely fill your lungs and push your belly out. Exhale completely, feeling your belly move back in. Do a series of seven breaths. Rest for two minutes and repeat.
Alternating nostril breathing: This is recommended for those suffering from chronic sinusitis, allergies and lung infections:
Sit comfortably on a chair or on the floor. Press the thumb of your left hand against the left side of your nose, blocking the air passage, the other fingers of your hand kept straight, not touching your face.Breathe in through your right nostril for a count of ten. Move your hand such that your index finger closes the air passage on the right side of your nose. Breathe out from the left nostril for a count of ten. Repeat five times. Switch hands. Inhale through the left nostril and exhale from the right nostril for a count of ten. Repeat five times.
Having done these, you can welcome the changing weather with a smile.

Does your behaviour affect your career?

You are trying to finish an urgent piece of work for a deadline, but the phone interrupts for the fifth time. What do you do?
a) As on the

Behaviour at workplace (Getty Images)

previous four occasions, answer politely giving the rehearsed company spiel
b) Put the call on hold until you’ve finished your work
c) Ignore it. Someone else will answer it

How do you behave when you’re at a work-social function?
a) You tend not to drink too much and are always on your guard. You never know who’s listening
b) You have a few drinks to
unwind but know your limit. You don’t want any comeback at work tomorrow
c) You relax as you would at any other alcohol-fuelled occasion. Getting drunk with your work-mates is a perk of the job

How would you normally relay a message to a colleague?
a) Walk round to where they’re sitting
b) Send them an e-mail
c) Shout across the room. They only sit about three desks away anyway

What excuse do you use when you’re late for work?
a) It’s usually a genuine one involving delayed transport or having to take the children to school
b) Any one of the classics: ‘My alarm didn’t go off, the dog was sick on my suit, I thought it was a Saturday etc...’
c) I’m never late

SCORING
Maximum As:
You appear extremely professional.You do your share diligently, following all the rules and etiquettes. It gives your seniors a very good opinion of you and makes you a prime candidate for any promotion.
Maximum Bs:
You understand that there are unwritten rules at work, but you don’t choose to observe them all the time.You’d much rather just do your job and not be bothered with the politics that goes with it.This might give you a healthier work-life balance, but you might not have very healthy chances of promotion. If you want to get ahead, try to re-think your behaviour.

Maximum Cs:
You couldn’t care less — be it appearing professional or follow the unwritten rules at work.You would flout them any way and do whatever you think is convenient. Do you really care for a career? If yes, you better change your behaviour while there is still time.

Why students don't like going to school?

Be it parents or teachers, all of them often ask one question-Why don’t students like school? Now, a psychologist has tried to answer the

Why don't students like school? (Getty Images)

question in a new book.

Aptly titled " Why Don’t Students like School ?" the book by Daniel Willingham, a University of Virginia cognitive psychologist explains how the mind works - and what it means for the classroom.

"If you ask 100 high school students if they like to learn new things, almost all of them will tell you they like to learn. But if you ask those same students if they like school, many of them will tell you they don’t," said Willingham.

He explained: "The mind is actually designed to avoid thinking. Thinking is a slow process; it’s effortful and even uncertain. People naturally want to avoid that process, and instead rely on memory, the things we already know how to do and are successful at."

Using cooking as an example, he said: "If you want to make spaghetti sauce, you could go onto the Internet and search out new recipes. You could go through all your cookbooks. And if you are really into cooking, you might do exactly that. But most people will just make the sauce the way they always make it, because they already know how. And so it’s a lot easier that way."

He claimed that one of the reasons why students don’t like school is that they are forced to think, to accept new challenges, to learn new things, and therefore do the thing their mind most wants to avoid - thinking.

However, the reason is only applicable to a point, because people are also curious.

"People actually enjoy thinking - when it is at a level that is not too simple, and not excessively difficult. People like to be challenged. That’s why we play games, it’s why we read books, why we do many of the things we do. So there’s a sweet spot, a level where learning is neither too simplistic to be interesting, nor too difficult to be enjoyable. This is the spot that teachers are always trying to find for their students in the classroom," said Willingham.

And that’s where creative teaching comes in-using a combination of storytelling that evokes emotion and thought, and exercises that put lessons into context and that build upon previous learning.

He added that it’s also sustained hard work that creates thinking skills dependent upon factual knowledge.

"We want to create learning experiences that last," he said.

While teachers keep asking how to work with students’ different "learning styles," Willingham said that such styles don’t really exist.

He said: "There are different abilities, but really, we all learn the same way. It’s not left brain versus right brain, or visual or auditory or kinesthetic. We learn using a combination of skills, and we are all more similar in our learning styles than different."

And naturally, students learn better in the areas or disciplines where their abilities lie.

He stressed that the key for teachers, and for students, is to find that "sweet spot," where learning is the wonderful challenge that inspires us to do more than simply make sauce the same way we’ve always made it.

Single Parents May Do as Well as Two: Study

SATURDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Family stability -- regardless of whether it's a one- or two-parent household -- may help a child succeed in school and life, a new study shows.

The findings, by an Ohio State University professor, challenge the conventional wisdom that two-parent households are always best for children. A single parent marrying or moving in with a partner may be as disruptive to a child as a divorce, the author suggests.

"Based on this study, we can't say for sure that marriage will be a good thing for the children of single mothers, particularly if that marriage is unhealthy and does not last," Claire Kamp Dush, an assistant professor of human development and family science at Ohio State, said in a university news release.

Only in black families did Kamp Dush find a particular advantage in children always living with two parents as opposed to growing up with only one. Black children from stabled married families scored better on reading and math tests than those from single-parent families. Otherwise, regardless of race, the children of stable single-parent households did as well academically and behaviorally as their counterparts in married households.

"Our results suggest that the key for many children is growing up in a stable household, where they don't go through divorce or other changes in the family, whether that is in a single-parent home or a married home," she said.

The findings appear in "Marriage and Family: Perspectives and Complexities," a recently published book that Kamp Dash co-edited. She looked at information gathered from nearly 5,000 households nationwide during two long-term periods over three decades. While many past studies show an advantage for children growing up in married households, Kamp Dush notes those did not distinguish between family structure and family stability.

For example, in one breakdown of the data, Kamp Dush compared similar households where the only difference was whether the mother was single or married during the entire study and found little difference in how the children did in school or otherwise.

"My message to single moms is to think carefully before they decide to get married or live with a partner," she said. "Both romantic relationships and parenting are hard work. Unless you think that you and your partner can make it for the long haul, I think it would be better for single moms to avoid moving in with romantic partners. Family transitions are hard for kids."

Indoor plants can be injurious to health

Potted plants might add a certain aesthetic value to your house, but they are likely to have adverse health effects, suggests a new study.

The research team headed by Stanley J. Kays of the University of Georgia's Department of Horticulture has shown that these indoor plants actually release volatile organic compounds into the environment.

During the study, they identified and measured the amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by four popular indoor potted plant species Peace Lily, Snake Plant, Weeping Fig and Areca Palm.

Samples of each plant were placed in glass containers with inlet ports connected to charcoal filters to supply purified air and outlet ports connected to traps where volatile emissions were measured.

A total of 23 volatile compounds were found in Peace Lily, 16 in Areca Palm, 13 in Weeping Fig, and 12 in Snake Plant. Some of the VOCs are ingredients in pesticides applied to several species during the production phase.

Other VOCs released did not come from the plant itself, but rather the micro-organisms living in the soil.

"Although micro-organisms in the media have been shown to be important in the removal of volatile air pollutants, they also release volatiles into the atmosphere", said Kays.

Furthermore, 11 of the VOCs came from the plastic pots containing the plants. Several of these VOCs are known to negatively affect animals.

Interestingly, VOC emission rates were higher during the day than at night in all of the species, and all classes of emissions were higher in the day than at night.

The study concluded, while ornamental plants are known to remove certain VOCs, they also emit a variety of VOCs, some of which are known to be biologically active.

“The longevity of these compounds has not been adequately studied, and the impact of these compounds on humans is unknown."

The study is published in the American Society for Horticultural Science journal HortScience.

Exposure to diesel fumes causes cancer

American scientists have for the first time shown how exposure to diesel fumes causes cancer.



Qinghua Sun, an assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Ohio State University, says that diesel exhaust has the ability to induce the growth of new blood vessels that serve as a food supply for solid tumours.

The researchers found that in both healthy and diseased animals.

According to them, more new blood vessels sprouted in mice exposed to diesel exhaust than did in mice exposed to clean, filtered air.

They say that this finding indicates that previous illness is not required to make humans susceptible to the damaging effects of the diesel exhaust.

The researchers say that inhaled diesel particles are very tiny in size, which is why they can penetrate the human circulatory system, organs, and tissues.

This suggests that diesel fumes can cause damage just about anywhere in the body, they add.

Diesel exhaust exposure levels in the study were designed to mimic the exposure people might experience while living in urban areas and commuting in heavy traffic.

The levels were lower than or similar to those typically experienced by workers who use diesel-powered equipment, who tend to work in mines, on bridges and tunnels, along railroads, at loading docks, on farms and in vehicle maintenance garages, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“The message from our study is that exposure to diesel exhaust for just a short time period of two months could give even normal tissue the potential to develop a tumour,” said Qinghua Sun, senior author of the study.
“We need to raise public awareness so people give more thought to how they drive and how they live so they can pursue ways to protect themselves and improve their health. And we still have a lot of work to do to improve diesel engines so they generate fewer particles and exhaust that can be released into the ambient air,” Sun added.

A research article on the study, supported by Health Effects Institute awards and grants from the National Institutes of Health, has been published in the online edition of the journal Toxicology Letters.