Heart and other Health Risks of Computer or TV

According to the finding of a recent research which was published just in the second week of January, 2011 at the University College London people who are on computers or watch television for four or more hours a day are 125% more likely to suffer a major heart problem, often leading to death, compared to those who spend two hours or less in front of computer or TV. Excessive sitting in front of computer or TV not only increases risk of heart attack but, according to the same research, it increases as much as by 48% deaths from any cause.

Why?

According to the researchers, inflammation and metabolic problems caused by long periods of inactivity could be to blame for the increased risks — prolonged sitting could cause a 90% reduction in a vital enzyme, lipoprotein lipase, that helps prevent heart disease.

So, how can one avoid such risks?

The most worrisome aspect of this is that even exercise can not make up for the damage caused.

However, we could do the following:

1. We should, of course, reduce, as much as possible our time in front of computer and TV. Those whose job entails working on computers may, perhaps, not do much about it. But those who play games on computer, use social media excessively (and post such inane comments hourly), or are glued to TV, may, certainly, do something about it.
2. Take short breaks for just standing up or walking to the water/coffee machin every 20-30 minutes.
3. Redesign the workplace and home environments so that working on computer, TV watching and other long periods of time during the workday that currently are strictly sedentary may turn into a mixture of sitting, standing and light intensity activity.

4. If possible, and Governments all around the world should consider some such measure, computers and TVs should have appropriate health warnings. This could be done easily as the start up screen could show such warnings/suggestions.

THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!
LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!
BE HAPPY! BE HEALTHY! BE SUCCESSFUL!
TODAY, TOMORROW, FOREVER!

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS--MODEL RESOLUTIONS

People usually make only ten New Year Resolutions! Neither 7 nor 8.

 

Usually these Resolutions contain many common points cutting across age, sex, and nationality.

 

So, what are these 10 top New Year resolutions or 10 best or most popular New Year resolutions?

 

Based on various 10 great New Year Resolutions and my own view-point and philosophy of life and universe, I would recommend these 10 top New Year resolutions regarding the higher values of life:

 

1. RESOLVE TO BE HAPPY!: If we consider deeply the aim of human life is to Be Happy! God created the world, and human beings added many things for people to Be Happy! Even when we go through hardships for some aim that also is a sort of happiness. Nirvana, Moksha, Liberation, are noting but eternal and permanent happiness. This includes such resolutions as enjoying life more, traveling, having more quality time with your family and friends, etc.
2. RESOLVE TO BE HEALTHY!: To enjoy this happiness we must be healthy. Here health is defined in its wider mental, physical, spiritual, and social, etc. context. We cannot Be Happy! without healthy body and mind. In fact, we cannot Be Successful! also without health. This includes all your resolutions like reducing fat, being less stressed, joining a gym, etc.
3. RESOLVE TO BE SUCCESSFUL!: Life is incomplete without realizing your full potential and being successful. However, the definition of success may vary from individual to individual. Whatever your definition is, you must resolve to be successful in life. Success is great tonic for happiness and health. This includes your resolution to earn more money, set up a new business, time management, and organizing oneself.
4. RESOLVE TO EMPOWER OTHERS TO BE HAPPY! BE HEALTHY! AND BE SUCCESSFUL!: No person is an island. One does not live for himself or herself. One cannot be happy without others around being happy. If one is happy, healthy, and successful, it is also because of the family and society at large. It is our moral duty and debt to make others also realize the goals of happiness, health, and success. This includes doing charitable work.
5. RESOLVE TO EMBRACE CHANGE: New Year resolutions are all about change. If you are not ready to change why resolutions? Change yourself, change your environment, if necessary, and change your relationships. Don’t be afraid of change. Change your routines, change your habits, change your working habits (organize workplace and home), if necessary, change your job, your priorities, and the way you have been living. This includes learning something new, being tech savvy (utilizing full potential of computer, internet, social media, emails, mobile phones, etc.)
6. RESOLVE TO BE ADDICTED TO, OBSESSED WITH, POSSESSD BY YOUR TOP PRIORITY RESOLUTION: This is a must for success of New Year Resolutions. Be in touch with them constantly. Write them down, read them often, substitute your morning and bed time prayer and meditation by praying to God for realizing them and meditation on them. Review constantly and revise, if need be. Above all don’t abandon them if forgotten for some time. There are many New Year days in a year (various religions and nations have their own New Year days). Utilize them and festival holidays to review your New Year resolutions.
7. RESOLVE TO DO BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT: The key to success is hard work and working more time than others. However, time is limited and distributed equally to all (so that in a competitive situation all have equal time allotted). Better time management can give us the required edge over others. Organize and better manage time. Generally, one can save much time by limiting or altogether eliminating time spent in reading newspapers, seeing TV, or surfing internet. Organize your work space, computer, etc. Even organize your thoughts.
8. RESOLVE TO SET YOUR PRIORITIES AND ACT ON THEM: Even after making our New Year Resolutions, we fail to implement them because we don’t find time to do them! If I have made writing a novel my top New Year Resolution, I may be so much busy with other things that I may not even start writing!
9. RESOLVE TO PERIODICALLY REVIEW NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS AND CHECK PROGRESS MADE: Our New Year Resolutions may be too ambitious. A few weeks into the year and we will realize what is possible and what not. We may review our resolutions.  Similarly, we must periodically check progress made. In case of total failure, we must remake our resolutions. The more time we resolve, the more there are chances of success.
10. RESOLVE TO BE READY TO ABANDON YOUR WORLDLY AIMS TO HIGHER VALUES AND THINGS IN LIFE: Sacrifice all your resolutions regarding worldly progress to higher things in life. For love forsake everything. For family forsake everything. Our New Year Resolutions should not be unadulterated to selfishness and self-centric life.

 

The second set of New Year Resolutions should be totally different from the first set which deals with the bigger general questions of life. The second set is for personal life and the goals set for it. However, most of the people will ignore to formulate the first set. Therefore, I will include some overlapping goals in the second set so that it in itself is complete without the first set.

 

Here is the second set of goals:

 

1. RESOLVE TO START YOGA OR WALKING/JOGGING IN THE MORNING: Yoga is more than physical exercise. It is for physical, mental and spiritual development and a way of life. With yoga peace of mind, happiness, success, health will follow automatically. Our way of life and dietary habits will change drastically. Morning walking/jogging is the easiest yet very beneficial physical activity and it is generally easy to stick to this routine as in the morning there is hardly any distractions/engagements. One could combine both yoga and morning walking/jogging or set, for example, three days for yoga and three days for walking/jogging. One day rest is recommended. Of course, these activities can be done in the evening also.
2. START SOME OUTDOOR GAME/SPORT: Outdoor games/sports are easy to follow than exercise routine like gym etc. One enjoys games/sports and if part of a partnership/team one is bound to be regular. Any game/sport is good depending on your personal choice. Apart from playing game/sport, be generally active during the day.
3.  EAT BALANCE AND NUTRITIVE DIET: Enjoyment of food is a matter of habit. We enjoy food eating which we have grown up. Variety is also enjoyed. Junk food can be enjoyed only occasionally. One can not, and of course, should not eat junk food regularly. If one becomes health conscious food habits automatically improve.
4.  DEVOTE MAXIMUM TIME AND EFFORT TO YOUR SINGLE OVERARCHING PASSION: This is the main goal and aim of making New Year Resolutions. What do you want to do specially in life apart from eating, drinking, and be merry and working hard and earning money? Is there a writer, painter, or musician within you desperately trying to express him/her? Don’t commit feticide. Resolve here that you will write ten pages of your novel daily or you will write your novel this year.
5.  ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS, PLANS, COMPUTER AND HOUSEHOLD: Disorganization is the thief of time and energy. One wastes lots of energy in finding information and things if one is disorganized and works in haphazard way. Resolve to organize your life and things.
6. TIME MANAGEMENT: Though time is the most precious commodity in the world, most of us do not manage it properly. Are you wasting too much time in activities which are not related to your New Year Resolutions? Is newspaper, TV, or email/internet wasting too much of your time? Are you bogged down with the small issues of life never finding time for bigger and really important issues of your life.
7.  BE ON TOP OF YOUR OFFICE/EMPLOYMENT WORK AND RESPONSIBILITIES AND MAINTAIN GOOD RELATIONS WITH YOUR BOSS AND COLLEAGUES: Generally office does not find a prominent spot in our New Year Resolutions. It is, in most cases, because in most work places just doing what is required is enough. In bureaucratic set up promotions and salary increases are time bound rather than efficiency bound. Office life becomes important only for those working in private sector where efficiency is demanded and rewarded. However, both in public and private sector not being able to cope with one’s work and colleagues creates great tension and may not be good for one’s health and personal goals.
8.  VALUE HAPPINESS, HEALTH, FAMILY AND FRIENDS MORE THAN MONETARY CONSIDERATIONS: New Year Resolutions are generally for success. That is OK. However, don’t make monetary gains the only measure of success. Be after success but at the same time don’t sacrifice your happiness, health, family and friends on the altar of success. A fine balance is to be kept. On the other hand don’t blame your family and friends for your failure or make them scapegoat. Here you should also be willing and ready to help others, especially the needy and poor. The more you are successful, the more you have a responsibility towards them.
9.  WRITE DOWN YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS: A written thing is a commitment. If you write down your resolutions you commit to them. In writing you organize your thoughts and decide your priorities. You can refer to them time and again. Write them in your diary, write them in your Notes in your computer or desktop so that they are instantly available.
10.  MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS OR ADHERENCE PERIODICALLY AND DON’T BE DISCOURAGED: This is very important. Making New Year Resolution is one thing, following them another. Measure your progress and adherence periodically. Revise your resolutions, if needed. Recommit yourself. Don’t be discouraged if you fail. Making New Year Resolutions and trying is better than not making them at all. Don’t develop the mentality of all or nothing. Follow your New Year Resolutions to whatever extent you can.

 

 

WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR!

LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!

BE HAPPY! BE HEALTHY! BE SUCCESSFUL!

TODAY, TOMORROW, FOREVER!

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS--HOW TO MAKE

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS—HOW TO MAKE

I am an avid New Year’s Resolutions writer! In fact, I write them often. May be two or three times in a year! My success rate with them is mixed. I am more or less disciplined and hard working person. So I keep on pushing ahead. But my Resolutions are too ambitious, you may say impractical, to be fulfilled. For example, I may write, ‘during this year I will write 3 novels, three non-fiction books, 50 articles, 50 short stories, and 50 poems!’ At the end of the year, I may not have completed even a single novel, a single non-fiction book, and written only a Few articles, short stories, and poems!

 

My experience with New Year Resolutions has taught me some lessons which I am sharing with you.

Don’t leave New Year Resolutions for the last moment to write! If you do, on the last day of the year you may end up hurriedly writing down something not better than a shopping list. Spend some time and energy in writing them. At the same time, if you fail to write them before the New Year commences, don’t think that now it is too late. Write in the first week of the year or later. It is better writing late than never. In fact, every religion and, therefore, most of the countries, have different New Year days. India alone has more than half a dozen New Year days depending upon which religion you belong to or which calendar you followed!

Before writing the New Year resolutions, think about the bigger questions of life: God, creation, life, death, etc. Is life pre-determined? Is there an after life? What is the aim of life? Is rat race for success good? What is the place of happiness, health, family and friends in our life? You need not be or become a philosopher; but do give these questions some pondering. Before writing about the New Year and future, cast a glance at your past and the old year also. How has your life been? What are your successes and failures? What are your regrets? How was the old year? Did you keep your resolutions? If yes, to what extent? If not, why? Given another chance, how would you plan and live the old year. Have a vision of the future. How would you like to see yourself after one year or thereafter? Base your resolutions on this analysis.

Make new year resolutions a vehicle for change. While we are comfortable with status quo, we want to change our life too. Everybody thinks that he is in a rut. He or she would have been happier in another job, in different circumstances, in new places. But we fear change. Don’t just foolhardily jump into change, but plan for it.

 

Plan for new and exciting things in life. Learn something new—dancing, playing a musical instrument, a new language, tennis, web-designing, or writing poetry. If you have never loved, love. It is an exciting thing. If you are in love, get married. It is intoxicating.

Write down specific goals rather than general. Instead of writing, “I will reduce weight,” specify how many pounds or kilograms you want to reduce within which period and by what means. So write, during the year I will reduce my weight by 30 pounds. I will aim at reducing 10 pounds every quarter (so that I have some extra time towards the year-end). I will regulate my diet (be specific about diet too), will exercise or play some game, go for morning or evening walk, start yoga, and lead an active life.

Break down bigger whole year aims to smaller quarterly and monthly aims. In fact, each week write down the aim for that week also. Of course, also keep a daily to-do list (to be written at the start of the day or one day in advance). Revise the monthly and quarterly targets in the light of progress made and aims abandoned and new aims added. In fact, write down a continually evolving list of to-do for the year. Whatever you want to do in the year, just add to this list and Do when the right time comes.

Supplement the Resolutions list with other lists: Daily Prayer in which you may pray to God for giving you happiness, success, and health, etc. Daily Affirmations, in which you may use the power of affirmations. Daily Do’s in which you may fix your daily routine which may be helpful in fulfilling your Resolutions, Daily Don’ts, things you should not do.

Use positive power! Most of our resolutions fail because they are about negatives rather than positives. We want to reduce weight or quit smoking, or drinking. But all these are negatives. We will surely be defeated fighting against them. Instead, if we decide to start playing tennis, it would be a positive thing. Little by little we will get interested in it. We will get addicted to it. We will not be able to stay at home when it is play time, whether it is at 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. We will have to go when our partner calls us. If we are over-weight, we will jog, eat less and sensibly. If we get fatigued easily, we will quit smoking and drinking. We would like to be at the top of our tennis team! We will reduce weight, quit smoking and drinking easily (because our game of tennis demands it!).

Don’t forget the taken for granted important things in life! When we write our Resolutions we concentrate what we want to achieve in worldly sense. But we fail to mention other important things in life, like: I will be happy, I will love my family, and I will enjoy nature, etc. These unwritten resolutions are more important than the written ones. If we fulfill them and even fail at achieving the written aims, we have still won. If we succeed at both, that is superb! For this, I would suggest, make two lists of New Year resolutions—one for important basics of life (happiness, love, etc.) and another for worldly success (you may like to make one separate one for your job or office life, if required).

 

Don’t forget others! New Year resolutions are not for and about you only. They concern others too. Make resolutions concerning others also. Resolve that you will give more time and love to your family and friends. You will help the unfortunate and poor people. You will give a fraction of your gains back to the society who made your worldly success possible in the first place. These resolutions may be a part of your other (I would say first) list mentioned in last paragraph.

Now write down your resolutions!

 

WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR!

LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!

BE HAPPY! BE HEALTHY! BE SUCCESSFUL!

TODAY, TOMORROW, FOREVER!

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Now, please, also read (coming soon): NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS--MODEL RESOLUTIONS