How much rest is required by any indiviual depends upon various factors and vary from person to person.

The best way to find out how much sleep do you need is as follows. Find out 4-5 days when you can spare all your chores if needed like going to office/school/college, buying groceries, doing household chores and stuff like that.
Now go to bed at a fixed time. Say 10 pm. If you are not able to fall asleep don’t just keep tossing in the bed. Read something or may be take a walk. Make sure that you switch off the alarm and everybody around you knows that you are not to be disturbed. Sleep as long as your body requires to. repeat this for 3 days. on fourth day, again go to sleep at the same time. When you wake up the next morning, the amount of sleep that you had is actually the time you need to sleep.

Now, when you don’t sleep for this much time, your body goes into a sleep lag. Say your body needed 8 hours of sleep but you slept just 5 hours, you are in 3 hour sleep lag. When this sleep lag continues, you start feeling lethargic and unenergetic.

Here are some tips to get good rest and avoid sleep lag
1. Go to sleep at fixed time everyday
2. Eat atleast 2 hours before you go to sleep
3. Keep tv, laptop/desktop out of your bedroom
4. Keep your bedroom clutter free.
5. If you work at night, put heavy dark coloured curtains in your room
6. Switch off or put your mobile to silent when you go to sleep.
7. If you are not able to sleep long enought for any reason make sure you make it up in following days or atleast weekend.
8. Sleep as soon as your body demands it
9. Avoid caffiene intake at night
10. If you have difficulty in sleeping for more than one week, consult your doctor.

To start with I would tell what wellness is all about. As the name suggests, wellness means being healthy. When our body is so healthy that we don’t fall sick and don’t have to go to a doc, it means we are moving towards wellness.

Now many of us will think.. How is it possible that we never fall sick. Everybody falls sick and has to go to a doc some day. Right, we do fall sick. However, if you notice around yourself, we have started falling much more frequently, severly and at a much younger age then our ancestors. The reason for the same is our lifestyle.

We don’t eat properly, though the rate of obesity is increasing at a horrifying rate, we are not healthy coz we don’t get the amount of nutrition that our body needs. This leads to a lot of diseases. The major ones are heart diseases, diabetes and mental disorders. Apart from this, there are a number of diseases that we see more frequently around ourselves. We need to change our lifestyle a bit to save ourselves and future generations from this disaster.

To start with, we need to balance the four pillars of health.

First pillar is “Adequate exercise”.

Second is “Rest”

Third is “Positive mental attitude”

And the fourth is “proper nutrition”

Next time we’ll talk about some statistics and these four pillars of health.

So stay tuned!!!!

Thanks a lot to Varun and Kanav for these useful and concise tips.

Do go through these once. they’ll surely make you more aware about protecting yourself from being a victim of the pandemic

 Swine flu in India is spreading like wildfire, taking the toll to six. Officials say there are currently more than 800 cases of the H1N1 flu strain in India. Governments from all around the world are finding ways to combat this deadly disease. So what can you do to protect yourself? Stay calm and practice these effective prevention tips.

1. Wash your hands frequently

Use the antibacterial soaps to cleanse your hands. Wash them often, at least 15 seconds and rinse with running water.

2. Get enough sleep

Try to get 8 hours of good sleep every night to keep your immune system in top flu-fighting shape.

3. Keep hydrated

Drink 8 to10 glasses of water each day to flush toxins from your system and maintain good moisture and mucous production in your sinuses.

4. Boost your immune system

Keeping your body strong, nourished, and ready to fight infection is important in flu prevention. So stick with whole grains, colorful vegetables, and vitamin-rich fruits.

5. Keep informed

The government is taking necessary steps to prevent the pandemic and periodically release guidelines to keep the pandemic away. Please make sure to keep up to date on the information and act in a calm manner.

6. Avoid alcohol

Apart from being a mood depressant, alcohol is an immune suppressant that can actually decrease your resistance to viral infections like swine flu. So stay away from alcoholic drinks so that your immune system may be strong.

7. Be physically active

Moderate exercise can support the immune system by increasing circulation and oxygenating the body. For example brisk walking for 30-40 minutes 3-4 times a week will significantly perk up your immunity.

8. Keep away from sick people

Flu virus spreads when particles dispersed into the air through a cough or sneeze reach someone else’s nose. So if you have to be around someone who is sick, try to stay a few feet away from them and especially, avoid physical contact.

9. Know when to get help

Consult your doctor if you have a cough and fever and follow their instructions, including taking medicine as prescribed.

10. Avoid crowded areas

Try to avoid unnecessary trips outside. Moreover, avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.

11. When you can’t avoid contact

All lab staff are requested to use triple layered face mask while working in lab. Study Coordinators and CRAs are expected to take precautionary measures (like wearing mask etc.) while travelling to sites.

There is no reason to panic and ensure that you exercise general caution to prevent the spread of infection.