Uses

Vitamin C is one of the most widely known vitamins these days. It will surprise you that body needs vitamin C for over 300 plus functions. Vitamin c is also known as ascorbic acid, water-soluble, carbohydrate like substance involved in various metabolic processes. Vitamin C has the power to heal the body and without it, the body won’t be able to heal itself either. The body is not able to make vitamin C on its own neither it stores vitamin C. That is why you should include plenty of vitamin C-containing foods in your daily diet. Vitamin C has been proved to help protect against heart disease, cancer, and other serious illness. Vitamin C is also vital for the synthesis of collagen. The collagen helps in quick healing in case of cuts or other injuries by repairing the damage. Without sufficient C vitamin, this would be very hard. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant and helps other vitamins and minerals to be absorbed better by the body. Folic acid and iron, for example, need vitamin C to show their usefulness to the best. Its antioxidant power protects body cells against damage from harmful molecules called free radicals. The more vitamin C body has a better defense system and immunity against colds and other ailments. Vitamin C does not guarantee that person will never catch a virus but helps as a shield for early recovery. Vitamin C has a vital role in managing high blood pressure.

Source

As per experts, the recommended daily intake for vitamin C is about 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men. Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin. It must be obtained from the diet or supplements.  Citrus food is a rich source of Vitamin c. Cranberries, kiwi fruit, melons, acerola cherry, strawberries, bell peppers, broccoli, kale, and spinach have high c vitamin content. Unfortunately, since the C vitamin is water-soluble, many vegetables lose much of their Vitamin C content if they are boiled for a long time. If you feel you are not getting sufficient Vitamin C from your diet, vitamin C supplements are an excellent way to boost your vitamin C intake. Consult your doctor before having it.

Conclusion

For strong body immunity and protect your body from high blood pressure, flu, cancer risk, eye diseases or treat lead toxicity daily intake of vitamin C is very essential.

The post How Vitamin C Benefits Your Body And Its Vital Role In Immunity appeared first on WellnessHub Nourishing Your Mind, Body, and Soul.

Countries across the world are using measures like social distancing and lockdown to prevent this infection’s spread. Efforts are being made to increase capacity for quarantine. New hospitals and Intensive Care Units are being set up to manage positive cases. In India, even several hotels, schools, and trains are being turned into isolation wards. All over the world, governments are trying to contain the spread of the infection and reduce fatalities.
At such a time, ensuring the safety and preparedness of Frontline Health Workers (FLHWs) is essential. FLHWs include all types of health workers like doctors, nurses, midwives, community health workers, pharmacists, and all others who provide healthcare directly to their communities.

The Rapid Evidence Synthesis team at The George Institute for Global Health, India, recently researched the issues and challenges that FLHWs would face during COVID-19 pandemic. The research team looked at global evidence from recent pandemics to understand issues and challenges for FLHWs during COVID-19.

“It will not be business as usual,” emphasizes Dr. Soumyadeep Bhaumik, the lead for this research. “Disruption in supply chain, logistics and supportive supervision would impact routine service delivery of FLHWs. It is important to plan which activities are essential and thus to be continued and which might be postponed.”

“FLHWs will experience stigmatization, isolation and social ostracization. Providing psychosocial support, non-performance-based incentives, additional transport allowance, child-care support should be planned. Awards and recognition are required for motivation. Without an active and motivated health workforce, it is difficult to tackle COVID-19,” adds Dr. Jyoti Tyagi, another member of the research team.

The key points of this RES report include:

Increased risk of COVID-19 infection:

Frontline Health Workers will face an increased risk of COVID-19. The governments and medical organizations need to provide personal protective equipment (surgical masks, gloves, hand sanitizers; N95 masks if involved in contact tracing) in sufficient quantities. FLHWs must also receive training on proper usage of these equipment in the early phase itself.

Disruption in supply chain:

Disruption in supply chain, logistics and supportive supervision might occur. This would impact routine service delivery. FLHW should be given advice on which activities are to continue and which they might postpone. They must also get proper guidelines, protocols, and training for conducting additional activities.

Risk of engaging FLHWs in additional duties:

Engaging FLHWs who continue to perform routine service delivery in additional duties like contact identification and listing is not without its risk, including the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Social stigma:

FLHWs might experience stigmatization and isolation. They might even face social ostracization. Therefore, providing psychosocial support, child-care support, non-performance-based incentives, additional transport allowance, etc. should be planned for the Frontline Health Workers. Awards and recognition should also be considered for boosting their morale.

Conclusion:

Frontline Health Workers provide health services directly to communities, including in remote and rural areas. They are the first and sometimes the only healthcare providers for people. It is essential to provide proper training and support to FLHWs so they can fulfill their duties successfully, and without risk to their physical and mental health.

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Obeying the lockdown and maintaining social distancing is essential to stay safe from Coronavirus. But these measures may also give rise to anxiety, depression, and boredom. Staying locked within homes for days can be especially hard for children.

At such a time, you need to keep yourself and your family engaged in interesting activities. Sure, binge watching Netflix or playing games on your phone and computer can be fun. But this kind of fun is not good for your eyes and health. Instead, try spending the lockdown days in other interesting and productive activities.

Here are some ideas for you:

Things you can do in a lockdown

Exercise and yoga

This is a perfect time for you to lose weight and get in shape. You are at home. You are getting bored. Use those exercise equipment you bought and then forgot. Or find some good exercise videos on YouTube and start exercising. If you can’t do strenuous exercises, switch on some music and try walking around in your home. Set up your weight-loss goals and use the lockdown days to achieve it. Yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises help reduce stress and keep the blood circulation going. It’s always good to include some form of exercise in your life.

Innovative exercises during lockdown

Don’t have exercise equipment? Well, then create some! Innovate and use the things at your home to exercise. Share your exercising videos on social networks and motivate your friends to stay active too.

Plan your diet

You have postponed your diet plans long enough. Now is the perfect time to start eating healthy. Sit down and plan your diet. Decide what you need to stop or start eating. You may not get all food products during a lockdown. But your plan will help you eat better after the lockdown is over.

Read

If you are a bookworm, you will have no difficulty doing this. If you are not, give books a try. Choose the genre you think you enjoy. Mystery, fantasy, romance, historical, crime — there are plenty of choices. If you have books waiting in your To-Be-Read list, read them. If you don’t have any book at home, download some. There are plenty of free eBooks available for you to enjoy. Download the Kindle app or any other eBooks app on your phone, tab, iPad, and start reading.

Tell stories to your children

Telling stories to kids does not just help pass time. It is an excellent way to strengthen your bond with your kids. Stories help in firing up children’s imagination and can teach them valuable life-lessons too.

Listen to music

If you enjoy music, then this is the perfect time for you to run through your entire collection, dig up the old favorites, and discover new artists.

Dance

Why just listen to music? Dance to it. It will be fun. And dancing can be an interesting exercise, too.

Plan a family dance competition

Make dancing a family activity. You can organize a family dance show or competition. You can make your kids spend some days in practicing before the final dance performance. Children would love it, especially if you promise some reward to the winners.

Sing

If you enjoy singing, use the lockdown days to learn some new songs. And like dancing, you can organize family singing competitions too.

Learn musical instrument

Did you buy a musical instrument with great enthusiasm but then put it to a side and forgot? Pick it up again and start practicing. If you don’t have any book to guide you, use the internet. You’ll find plenty of music lessons online.

Learn to cook

Use lockdown time to improve your culinary skills. Make the best use of the food items you have at home. But be careful and don’t waste anything. Food is precious now.

Make a wishlist

Lockdown might have restricted your shopping fun. But that doesn’t mean you can’t browse the online retailers and line up your wishlist. Window browsing is fun too, isn’t it?

Clean your wardrobes

You don’t have the excuse of being too busy. So, clean your wardrobes now. After all, you need to make space in them for the celebratory shopping you’ve planned for post-lockdown days!

Clean your home

Why stop at just wardrobe cleaning? Your house can do with some sprucing, too. So, get down to it. Clean your kitchen, bathrooms and all your rooms. It will help you use idle hours. You will have a clean home. And it will give you good exercise as well.

Re-decorate

You can’t go out to shop for decorative items. But you can re-arrange the things in your rooms. So, do it. Try giving your home a new look by moving the furniture and other stuff to new positions.

Draw and paint with your kids

Your kids might get bored with drawing and painting alone. But if you join them and challenge them, it can keep them entertained for longer. It will be fun for you too.

Best out of waste activities

Challenge your kids at a best out of waste activity. Encourage them to use their imagination and make something interesting. You can help them, but let their ideas be in lead. Such activities can help you keep children away from phones.

Play funny games

Think up some funny games and play with your family to make everyone laugh. For example, hold a competition of making funny sentences using the given word, or giving an impromptu speech about a funny topic. Or just have a competition of making funny faces. Use your ingenuity to raise some laughter. It will make everyone feel better.

Board games

Have family tournaments of games your kids love. These can be board games, jigsaw puzzles, Lego toys, etc. Make these games more interesting by holding a tournament with various rounds and prizes to the winners.

Fun with neighbors

If you live in an area where houses are close together and balconies face each other, have balcony singing and dancing programs or competitions among the neighbors. All neighbors can participate from their balconies.

Have haircut fun

Give yourself a haircut. Or make it a couple’s activity and give each other a haircut. Enjoy the romance. But do it at your own risk! And be very careful while giving a haircut to your kids. If you mess it up, your children will never forgive you.

Make old clothes new

Dig out your old clothes and make something new out of them. You will find plenty of ideas on YouTube, Pinterest, etc. Check out some cool ideas from Lifehack.

Meditate

If the pandemic and resulting lockdown are making you anxious, try meditating. Sit in a quiet place. Close your eyes and try to focus your attention on your breath. Meditation can help you relax and feel more positive.

Weird sounds

Record the weirdest sounds you can create using stuff at home. Share with friends and family.

Start a blog

If you had been thinking of starting a blog, do it now. Just decide what you want to write about, set up your blog, and start blogging. It will keep you engaged for hours every day.

Write a book

Have you felt a book bubbling in your heart? Use the lockdown days to pour it out. You can use the quiet time to write a fiction or non-fiction book. It will keep you busy. And when you finish your book, the sense of achievement you’ll get will be an experience worth all the hard work.

Start a YouTube channel or a podcast

If writing is not for you, start a YouTube channel or podcast. Share your fun and knowledge with the world.

Drawing with kids

Did you enjoy drawing as a child? Maybe the busy life pulled you away from it. Well, it’s time to revive your hobby. Sit down with paper and pencil and start sketching.

Give yourself a beauty treatment

You can’t go out to a beauty parlor. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give yourself a beauty treatment. So, use the time to give yourself facial, manicure, pedicure, etc. Pamper yourself.

Give yourself a funny makeover

Not interested in beauty treatment? Have fun giving yourself a funny makeover. Use the stuff at home to give yourself a funny look. Then click photos or record videos and share them with family and friends. You can even have a family competition for it!

Quit a bad habit

With the pandemic spreading death around the world, you can see how precious life is. Take care of it. If you have been harming yourself with bad habits like smoking or alcoholism, quit it now.

Clean the junk out of your computer

You have cleaned your home, start some digital cleaning now. Remove the junk from your computer. Organize your files, photos, etc.

Clean the junk out of your phone

Like computers, smartphones also collect plenty of junk. Sit down and remove all those useless files. You might even reset your phone. But backup your valuable data first!

Clean your social media profiles

Take a look at your social media networks too. There might be some photos on it you find embarrassing or disturbing now. Remove them. There might be some connections that you no longer want or recognize. Remove them. Use the lockdown days to take control of your social networks.

Dig out the old family albums

How long has it been since you last looked at your family albums? Dig them out now and enjoy roaming through delicious memories.

Do an online course

This is the perfect opportunity to do an online course and improve your skills. Whether you want to learn a new language or gain some new technical skills, you have free time to do it now.

Build card castles

Of course, you can use the playing cards to play card games. But when you feel bored with playing, try to build a card castle. Click photos of your ‘architectural’ excellence and share them on social media.

Plan a treasure hunt for your kids

A treasure hunt at home can be entertaining for the whole family. Have fun setting it up. Then have more fun watching your family battling with your clues.

Start Gardening  

If you have a garden or potted plants, tend to them. Gardening will also help you relax and feel less anxious.

Capture the sky

With the humans trapped in homes, the air pollution has reduced and the sky can shine clearer now. Click some nice pictures of the sky from your home or garden. You can have even more fun by imaginatively editing them using smartphone apps.

Discover beauty in your home

Click interesting pictures of your plants or objects in your house. Try to discover surprising angles and make ordinary things look extraordinary.

Start Making Plan

Make plans you had been pushing away. You might be thinking of starting a new business. Or you want to renovate your home. Use the lockdown time to complete your plans.

Plan your next vacation

Here’s another plan you can complete while you are confined to your home. Gather all the information you need from the internet and plan out a perfect vacation for yourself and family.

Be social

Observing Social Distancing is important to be safe from the Coronavirus. But you can still stay in touch with your friends and family through your phone. Such social interactions can help you relax and improve your mood too.

Revive old friendships

Get back in touch with old friends you haven’t contacted in ages.

Bond with your family

Spend quality time with your family. When you sit together, be together. Talk, instead of staring at your phone. Enjoy family time.

Spread motivation

With the world under a pandemic attack, we all are feeling anxious and gloomy. At such a time, reading motivational and funny quotes can help in improving your mood. You can browse for them on Pinterest. And if you find something you love, share it with your friends and family. Everyone can benefit from motivation and smiles, especially in these trying times.

Enjoy the quiet time:

Life is a hectic race. Enjoy the quietness of these days. Just sit down comfortably and let your mind wander. But try to keep your thoughts happy and positive.

Do weird googling

Google using the weirdest phrases and see what you stumble upon.

Journal

Write a journal of the lockdown days. Pour out your thoughts and worries. Note down your experience of this extraordinary time. It will help you relax.

Sleep

We don’t realize how much sleep-debt we accumulate in our busy life. Sleep deprivation can lower your immunity and affect your physical and emotional health. So, use the lockdown days to rest yourself. Relax and sleep. Rejuvenate yourself to face the hectic days that will return once the lockdown is lifted. But don’t over-sleep either! Discipline yourself. It is very important to stay happy and healthy in the long lockdown days.

Conclusion:

With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the world, we are living through days that are almost too shocking to believe. At such a time, keeping your mood happy and morale high is important. You cannot step out of your home. But you can still have fun and stay busy in activities that are engaging, entertaining, and can help you stay healthy.

The post How to make best use of your lockdown time appeared first on WellnessHub Nourishing Your Mind, Body, and Soul.

Serious cases of COVID-19 are showing adverse effects on kidneys. So, people who already have impaired kidney functions and need regular haemodialysis are particularly vulnerable. In SARS and MERS-CoV infections, acute kidney injury occurred in 5 to15 percent cases and carried a 60 to 90 percent mortality rate. Early reports of COVID-19 suggested 3 to 9 percent incidence of Acute Kidney Injury. But recent reports show a more alarming picture. A study of 59 COVID-19 patients found that about two-thirds of patients developed a massive protein leak in urine during their hospital stay.

“Unlike other at-risk individuals, these patients do not have the ability to stay at home and not interact with others. Despite being high risk since they must travel to dialysis centers 2-3 times every week. This significantly increases the risk of transmission of infection, to patients themselves, family members, medical staff and facility workers, and all others,” says Prof Vivekanand Jha, Executive Director, George Institute for Global Health India and President of the International Society of Nephrology.

According to a paper entitled “The Novel Coronavirus 2019 epidemic and the Kidneys”, patients dependent on dialysis, and their family members need to strictly follow the precautions to stay safe from COVID-19. For patients on dialysis suspected to have been in contact with COVID-19, treatment should be carried out according to strict protocols. All efforts need to be made to minimize risk to other patients and healthcare personnel.

The directions mentioned in the paper include strategies of managing COVID-19 in patients on dialysis, recommended facility and staff management practices, proper management strategies for such patients, and recommendations for their family members and caregivers. All these recommendations, precautions, and protocols may help in the prevention of COVID-19 in patients with kidney disease, and better management if they catch the infection.

Check out The Novel Coronavirus 2019 epidemic and the Kidneys to know the best preventive measures and management protocol for COVID-19 in people with Kidney disease.

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On December 31, 2019, a new strain of Coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China. It is called SARS-CoV-2 and causes the disease called COVID-19. This new virus strain has quickly spread across the world and has affected almost 100,000 people. It has caused 3,300 fatalities so far. And if its spread is not contained soon, it will result in many more deaths.

So, what can you do to stay safe from Coronavirus?

When it comes to health problems, prevention is always better than cure. Here are the most important Dos and Don’ts you can follow to stay safe from Coronavirus.

Coronavirus Dos and Don’ts

Do follow these:

• Wash hands frequently and well with soap and water. Use alcohol-based sanitizer when you go out.
• Maintain good personal hygiene.
• If you have a cough or cold, you should wear a mask before you step out of your home.
• Maintain good respiratory hygiene. While coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief or disposable tissue. But if you have neither, cover your mouth and nose with the inside of your elbow. If you cover your nose and mouth with your hand, wash or sanitize your hand.
• If you suspect you have COVID-19 disease, consult the doctor immediately and stay confined to your home.
• And if you experience symptoms like cough, difficulty in breathing, or fever during or after travel, consult a doctor immediately. Inform them of your travel history.
• Take sufficient sleep and rest. Avoid stress. Exhaustion, lack of sleep, and stress can make you more vulnerable to infections.
• Eat a healthy diet, take plenty of water and other healthy drinks
• Keep your home clean and well-ventilated.
• Disinfect equipment used while handling animals.
• Wash your hands with soap after touching animals or animal products.
• If you wear a single-use mask, discard it safely after use and wash your hands.

Avoid these:

• Avoid going to crowded places.
• You must avoid touching your nose, eyes, and mouth.
• Stay away from people who have flu symptoms. It’s advisable to keep a distance of at least one meter from such a person.
• Avoid traveling if you have a cough or fever.
• Avoid traveling to countries that are affected by Coronavirus.
• If you wear a safety mask, do not touch it once it is on.
• Avoid going to market places where various animals are kept.
• Avoid contact with sick animals, stray animals, spoiled meat, and waste/fluids in an animal market.

In addition, follow these food safety precautions if you eat meat:

• Don’t eat raw or under-cooked meat.
• Use different chopping boards or other utensils for raw meat and cooked food.
• Wash your hands carefully with soap after handling raw meat.
• Wash your hands between handling raw meat and cooked food.
• Don’t eat animals that were sick.

Basic protective measures against Coronavirus by WHO.

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