Teasing or being teased has always been an inevitable part of one’s childhood journey. In a milder form, it is often considered to be a form of playful social exchange and can help promote acceptance and humility. It also helps children adapt to constructive criticism. However, not all teasing is friendly, and it can often have harmful consequences. Hence, it is pertinent that parents identify the signs of bullying and take necessary steps to bully-proof children.

How can you help?

One of the key methodologies to help your child cope with teasing is to understand his/her perspective. It is also important to establish communication with children to show them that you stand by them. In the meantime, it is also good to teach them simple techniques that will empower them and prevent feelings of helplessness.

One such technique, called the PZW technique – Play it cool, Zip the lip, and Walk away provides children a coping tool by giving them a clear behavioral plan that is focused on increasing their control of the situation. This technique requires the child to:

1. Play it cool: The child is trained by family and teachers to take careful control of his/her own facial expressions and body posture and present a completely relaxed and non-agitative appearance.
2. Zip the lip: The child consciously learns not to respond with any verbally aggressive language.
3. Walk away: The child is also taught mental imagery or distraction techniques that help him/her walk away from the altercation.

Initially, the teasers respond by an increased frequency of teasing as they are surprised and often taken aback by the change in attitude. However, the inability to elicit any response soon persuades them to give up teasing.

Watch out for warning signs

Teasing that is repetitive, hostile, or violent may need to be dealt with differently. As parents, it is also important to keep a lookout for signs of violence, inappropriate touching, or physical contact. It is also imperative to see if the teasing is affecting physical or mental health, academic performance, or hurting the child’s self-esteem. In such extreme cases, the correct course of action is to work closely with teachers and administrators to put an end to the harassment.

What takes place inside your body when you lose your temper? In the wide spectrum of emotions we experience, anger features prominently amongst the lot. While we’ve all experienced this emotion, the degree in which we feel it and the way in which we handle it differ.

Some of us might show physical signs such as the clenching of fists, grinding of teeth, flushing or paling of skin, sweating, etc. while others may not.

But What Happens When You Get Angry?

Most emotions originate inside two almond-shaped structures in our brain called the Amygdala- the part of the brain that identifies threats. Anger is basically the instantaneous reaction of the Amygdala to ‘fight or flight’ before the Cortex- the reasoning part of the brain- can react, basically resulting in you reacting first and thinking later.

The first physiological reaction is the release of stress hormones such as Adrenaline and Cortisol in your body that in turn increases your heart rate and accelerates the flow of blood to your brain and muscles. In the meantime, your body also starts producing Testosterone that causes you to get aggressive. The Adrenaline causes various reactions such as an increase in the speed and volume of your speech, a change in your facial expression, shaking of your hands and legs, tensing of your muscles, and dilation of your pupils. You experience a burst of energy and most of it is focused on the trigger because your brain is trying to get your body in protective mode. And that’s how you experience a fit of anger.

Even when you begin to calm down, the process of getting back to a resting state is not easy. The Adrenaline in your body not just keeps you tense for a long time, but it may also lead to an outburst soon after. In this phase, even the smallest of things might lead to a flare up.

Frequent bouts of deep anger can have various harmful impacts on your body:

 

• • Puts you at risk of heart disease and strokes

• • Can lead to deterioration of your mental health, especially in men

• • Can impact the longevity and quality of your life

• • Can impact your digestive health

So, work towards controlling this emotion that can cause severe damage to the body. Immediate responses for the same include taking deep breaths, counting to 10, and even walking away from the situation if need be. Long-term measures consist of a process of identifying triggers and altering your reaction to them as well as adding exercise and meditation to your daily routine. Boosting your wellness and happiness levels can help tremendously in managing your anger.

Tired? Stressed? Feeling Over-burdened? Need to meditate? Try coloring!

Art therapy is increasingly considered as one of the most effective forms of therapy, with colouring books giving you access to nourishment and replenishment for your mind without making much effort. Experts in all aspects of wellness – from medical researchers to yoga practitioners – even suggest coloring as an alternative to meditation.

Psychologists and counsellors credit colouring books with counteracting the hyperactivity of the region of the brain called the amygdala, which controls the fear response. The repetitive motion of colouring is believed to settle the pace of a brain otherwise pulsating with activity.

Colouring takes you back to days that were free – of wires or otherwise.

Unless you are a parent, chances are the last time you picked up a crayon was when your only worry in life was hiding your ‘crimes’ from your mother. The very act of colouring will transport you back to a time when you had not learned how to worry. And for some time at least, your mind will be quiet.

A colouring book can be scaled from a personal hobby to an opportunity to bond (or not)

Apart from using it to soothe yourself, you could even use your book to bond with your significant other, family members, and friends, and to bring back some lighthearted fun into your weekday monotony. If you are socially shy, the book could come to your rescue on long flights to kill time without forcing yourself to make small talk with a co-passenger.

Get social with the crayon

If the popularity of wine and palette evenings among adults are anything to go by, colouring could be the next activity to catch on like wildfire. Think office parties with crayons and beer fests with doodling. The possibilities are endless!

And if you’re looking for some inspiration to get started, look no further – not only are adult colouring books a new explosion in the publishing business, but even crayon makers have launched art sets specially designed for adults to indulge in their creative needs.

So, what are you waiting for? Pick up a book and a set of crayons, and let’s get coloring!

For weight loss to be permanent, you must also learn a new way to live, not just a new way to diet.

Successful weight control depends solely upon you – not on a diet product, not on a workout program – but purely on you! As it turns out that the key to losing and keeping weight off isn’t simply a matter of what you eat or how much you exercise – it’s your attitude too. Simply put, be patient. Don’t be a perfectionist – we are all only human.

Slow and steady wins the race

Rome wasn’t built in a day – don’t expect those love handles to melt like ice-cream on a Caribbean beach; they won’t. Consistency is important. Set yourself regular targets and review them regularly. An important message here: celebrate small victories – they do as much for mental as for physical health. That is not to say grab a huge cheesecake but allow a few cheat nuts or a small piece of dark chocolate every time you cross a milestone. Hey, you’ve earned it!

Know yourself first and be realistic

To start with, set realistic goals for yourself that show results which are bound to make you happy. You are bound to have cheat days – you can’t change that! So, if you do indulge a wee bit on a particular day, don’t fret. BUT stay focused.

Educate yourself constantly about what you are ingesting into your system. Learn to identify your own hunger patterns. Do you binge when you’re extremely upset? Do you go overboard when you see a perfectly healthy individual being able to enjoy her Mac-n-Cheese while you are on salads? Only once you identify them, can you learn how to control pangs of hunger.  

Get your cheering team going 

Your friends and family have a massive part to play here. They must play messiah to your efforts. Nothing’s worse than watching your best friend polish off a Christmas cake and an entire bottle of the bubbly, while you chomp on celery sticks and lime water. Nothing! Find support groups and other people with similar goals.

So, stop being a trout, swimming upstream all by yourself. Your own discipline might just surprise you!

I jumped off the plane for a 14000 feet dive. That very moment I jolted awake from the dream and took a few minutes to stabilize. Fast forward, next day, the Sigmund Freud in me decided to backtrack why I had this crazy dream considering I’m anything but an adventure junkie. However, I ended up engulfed in the world of understanding dreams and so here I am with some uber-cool facts that I absolutely loved. 

What makes dreams so fascinating is that despite so much scientific research since decades, it is still certainly shrouded in mystery. For starters, while we might dream four to six times during sleep, most lucid dreams occur during a phase called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This is when our brain is most active and most of our muscles are paralyzed during this phase to prevent us from acting upon our dreams. How cool is that?! Else I would have landed on my floor if I took that skydive in my dream!

The next curious question I had was, do all dreams mean something? Well, there are different schools of thought around this. Some experts believe that dreams have no meaning and serve no function. While others believe that our dreams do mean something; ranging from coping with unconscious desires, and personal conflicts to providing a place to hold our memories.

All said and done, analyzing dreams and ascribing meaning to them is legit fun and introspective. Remember how Dr. Jehangir Khan helped Kaira unearth the meaning of the bizarre dream she had in the movie “Dear Zindagi”? Looks like there are dreams that are very common and most of us at some point or the other would have dreamt about being attacked, being naked in public, being chased, falling, losing a tooth, having sex, taking a dreadful test, flying, or a loved one dying. All these dreams have underpinning themes of trust, fear of the unknown, failure, anxiety, letting go, childhood trauma, imposter syndrome, and more! Do you believe that dreams reflect the events of your waking life?

Anyway, I then stumbled upon precognitive dreams. Like how you dream of getting a call from a long-lost friend and the next day you actually receive a call from that person? Though there is no scientific evidence, some people have foretold life events after a dream. I got a bit spooked that Abraham Lincoln had a vivid dream about his assassination, a few weeks before he was shot dead. He had shared his dream with his friend Hill Lamon. In the dream, Abraham witnessed mourners in the East Room of the white house, the same room where his body would be laid in state. Curious here, would you ever want such a foretelling dream? 

Coming full circle on the dream that I had, looks like the best way to analyze would be to journal down everything. Then take a hard look at what it might mean to me, connect the dots between the events of the dream, and the feelings it evoked. 

You now know what to do when you dream next! 

The cozy pillow popping from her company swag kit was an absolute delight. 

My friend sensed my curiosity and excitedly explained how her company promotes daily siestas, how they have comfy sleep pods, and how even the calendars of employees are blocked from 2 to 2.30 pm as the “hours of common silences”. 

Today’s workforce is primarily a young India that is acing the business and tech world with innovation and disruption but at the same time is burnt out and over-stressed. And for companies to be successful, the employees must be highly productive daily. But imagine this? Despite planning each day meticulously, we often grapple with ticking off that to-do list. You start the day all pumped up, but something kicks in around 1 PM. You feel groggy and not alert anymore. Welcome to the midafternoon sluggishness.

While we all know the importance of a deep sleep, the power of a nap has been historically ignored. As much as we would love to believe that humans are monophasic (sleep only once a day) sleepers, research indicates that we function better as biphasic sleepers (sleeping two times per day), including the popular ‘siesta’ or ‘forty winks’. People across cultures have embraced power naps to maximize productivity; Kalo Mesimeri in Greece, Riposo in Italy, Siesta in Spain, and Idlip in the Philippines. A 30-40 minutes nap can boost your alertness for up to ten hours. The benefits are far beyond feeling refreshed. A siesta directly impacts enhanced memory, improved cognitive performance, and stronger logical reasoning and can reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases.

So many companies such as Google, PWC, Nike, Uber, Cisco, Zappers, and Indian startups such as Wakefit strongly believe in the power of an afternoon nap. They have cozy sleep pods with many taking it a notch above with their quirky designs. Hey, we hear you loud and clear. Of course, not all workplaces romanticize afternoon slumbers. But thanks to the post-pandemic world; the hybrid work model, freelancing is all now a reality, and nothing stops you from your beautiful siesta, at least for most days!

All set to take that siesta? Remember that power napping is like meditating.. A disciplined approach yields phenomenal results.  The optimal time is 30-40 minutes, and the best window for the nap is between 1 – 3 pm. You can set the alarm or take the help of apps such as Pzizz, Gentle Nap, Sleep Cycle, and Power Napp to manage your siesta. Avoid caffeine or any exercise before nap time and unwind in a calm and dark place for complete rest. 

Bubye 1 PM sloth and hi to the productive you!

5,20,00,00,000 results in 0.61 seconds. That’s the number of articles you will find on Google when you search for fitness, and let’s not even get started with the slew of fitness apps available in the market. 

When it comes to crushing those fitness goals, have you wondered why some of us are razor focused with unwavering determination while many of us grapple with our goals? We might have the answers you are looking for!

You desperately want to get into that perfect shape you have always dreamt of. You sign up for a gym and even consult a nutritionist to craft a personalized plan that is going to work fantabulously for you. Fast forward, a couple of months later, you have lost a few kgs but you feel frustrated as you don’t see the results you hoped for and you altogether give up. You succumb to your old unhealthy lifestyle, and yet again fitness becomes a distant dream. This vicious cycle sounds too familiar, isn’t it? The underpinning issue is that our fitness goals are often inspired by what others do and what others tell us we should do. We end up chasing something which we did not even want in the first place. 

Say hello to “Feel good fitness”! 

Feel Good Fitness is as simple as it can get. It’s a mind frame where no particular form of exercise is thrust upon you. The idea is that no one should ever feel intimidated by fitness. You simply adopt what works best for you. This means if walking is the only thing you enjoy the most, you do more of that and not worry about those dreadful heavy weights which were never your jam. The result is you are being yourself, celebrating everything that makes you uniquely you. Feel Good Fitness is for people of all ages to feel their best through exercise, good nutrition, and socialization. It is a simple funda that if you don’t love your fitness regime, you won’t make it your lifestyle.

Tips to practice Feel Good Fitness:

1. Follow the cues: Discover what feels best to your unique body when you think of exercise. Time to think beyond the gym. We are talking about dancing, hiking, tai chi, boxing, Zumba, tennis, yoga, HIT, or even horse riding!
2. Make it your lifestyle: Instead of looking at fitness as a short-term transformation goal, marinate the thought that fitness is here to stay for the long run. 
3. Keep it real: Take no stress if you have had a few cheat days in a week. The idea is to exercise whenever and wherever you can in whatever budget you can. 
4. Track progress:  Does Feel Good Fitness means you no longer push yourself hard? Absolutely not. Once you have found your true fitness calling, you will without force exercise more, feel happy and healthy, and eventually shed those extra kgs at your own pace. 

So are you ready to redefine what fitness means to you!?

How did that piping hot chai smell? Or hey, when was the last time you paused to enjoy the breathtaking hues of the sky? 

It is exciting for us to induct you into the world of mindfulness, a practice rooted in Buddhism. When you live by the moment, fully aware of your thoughts and bodily sensations, you are mindful. You are cognizant of your surroundings through a gentle, nurturing lens. 

First things first, are meditation and mindfulness the same? The answer is a No.

You can practice mindfulness anywhere, anytime, by being more observant and present. Some examples are being more focused when you hear birds chirping or attending to the humdrum of doing your laundry, cooking, cleaning the house, and meditating too!

On the other hand, meditation is a more rigorous practice; it is about sitting in one place and focusing all your attention on a specific focal point. 

Let’s visualize a venn diagram. To your left, you have mindfulness which is being watchful of your thoughts, and to your right, you have meditation which is “letting go” of your thoughts. And the intersection of this is mindful meditation. For example, you meditate where the focus is on the sensation of your breathing. 

Research shows that when you train your brain to be aware,  you are remodeling the physical structure of your brain. Being mindful offers many benefits, such as improving sleep quality, fighting depression and obesity, and improving learning, memory, emotion regulation, and empathy.

Sounds good, right? But are we all wired to be mindful? Yes, the good news is that we all naturally possess mindfulness and hone it better when we practice it daily. 

But we get you; In today’s hustle culture, with all those tight deadlines and gazillion to-do tasks, it would sound impossible to stop and smell the roses. So we are here to share a few very relevant simple techniques:

1. Mindful eating: Chew your food mindfully and notice the taste and pace at which you eat.
2. Practice gratitude: Journaling is a great way to focus on all positive things bestowed upon us. Every day make it a habit to write all the good stuff that happened.
3. 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique: Stop what you are doing for a moment and fire up your senses. Around you; See five things, touch four things, hear three things, smell two things, and taste one thing.

Seize the day, my friend!

The tantrums were unbearable and you caved in. You feel a pang of guilt as you reluctantly give the chocolate to your baby who is threatening you with top-notch crying skills. As parents, we often battle with what’s right vs what’s convenient. We are well aware of the harmful effects of sugar and how it can affect our children’s weight, behavior and concentration. But is there really a foolproof way when it comes to monitoring the sugar intake of children? Well, there are a few things that are 100% in our control, and that’s a good starting point toward a conscious sugar consumption journey.

First order of business, what is the right amount of sugar children can have? In the teaspoon world of measurement;

• Zero spoons for children under four years of age
• Five teaspoons for kids aged between 4 to 6 years
• Six teaspoons for kids in 6 to 10 years of age group
• Seven teaspoons for 10+ years old children

The usual suspects when it comes to sugar-heavy food products are your biscuits, cookies and breakfast cereals disguised as healthy food options but containing high levels of sugar, ice creams, carbonated drinks (did you know one can of carbonated drink has over nine teaspoons of sugar), and smoothies. This is not an exhaustive list but you get the idea, right?

Three practical tips to ace the sugar game:

1. Decipher the labels: Brands make tall claims such as ‘zero sugar’ and whatnot to market their products. Luckily to the consumer’s rescue, the ingredients list on the label reveals a lot more. The indicator to look for is; total sugars of 22.5 g per 100 g are high and anything less than 5g per 100 g is low. 
2. Embrace Indigenous Indian produce: There are a plethora of Indian breakfast options that can be made using millets, lentils, jowar, oats, poha, and the list goes on. Today there are many Indian store brands that sell conscious children-friendly products that are delicious and healthy too. 
3. Fruits are your allies: Fruits keep the energy levels up and at the same time cater to the sugar cravings. Fruit tarts, fruit popsicles, fruit platter, the list here is endless!

We hear you, all this is easier said than done. Keeping sugar off children is like remembering a rhyme made in the dream. It is difficult, but it is important to remember that it is a lifestyle change and that each baby steps towards it is awesome and you are creating a healthy eating habit for your little human! What are some of the innovative ways you follow to keep sugar off your children!? Share with us in the comments below or on social @driefcasehealth

A 55-year-old farmer appeared for the NEET exam! And hey, Manju Ji started her restaurant when she was 80. When we hear such norm-shattering news, it does make us think that age is really just a number, isn’t it? 

And rightly so, as Betty Friedan, an American feminist writer once said, “Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength”.

The only limitations are the ones you set for yourself!

For most of us, aging is no fun. At least I think of an older, shrunk, and bespectacled version of myself hobbling my way along with a stick. Very melodramatic, I know!

Anyway, many of us believe that old people lack memory, cognitive skills, interest in sex or intimacy, and certainly the strength for heavy exercise. Well here’s to bursting the myths, none of these are true! One’s health does deteriorate a bit over the years, but with good care, your old age will be more than just hospital visits and feeling glum; it will be fulfilling, and rewarding. You get to pursue leisure activities and hobbies you always wanted.

So here are the top four things you should start doing soon to age well

Get moving: Exercising and staying physically active lays a strong foundation for healthy aging. Pick a sustainable form of workout that you think you will enjoy doing when you are 60. 

Healthy eating: Make smart food choices today to age gracefully. Be mindful of your solid fats, processed foods, refined sugars, and unhealthy fats consumption. It is a great idea to start consuming less salt to keep your blood pressure down.

Visit the doctor regularly: Screening tests twice a year can catch a health condition even before it starts showing symptoms, helping you take preventive measures. Here is an indicative list of tests that you need to start in your 30s and continue through to your 50s – Complete Blood Count test, blood pressure test, blood sugar test, lipid profile, ECG test, liver function test, urine analysis, vitamin D and calcium levels, dental check-up- and the following tests particularly for women- Mammogram, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone test, and pap smear. 

Build your tribe: The fact is that humans are social creatures, and we thrive on human interactions, well for most of us at least. A research study conducted over a period of five years highlights that older folk with strong social networks are less likely to develop symptoms of dementia and maintain good physical and mental health. Time to make that pact with your buddies to grow older together!

Let’s embrace the wiser, more mature, and better future version of us!