Health Awareness blog

• Reduce stress, learn how to relax
• Control diet and maintain an ideal body weight
• Eat less salt. For suggestion, try to take pepper, herbs and spices for seasoning.
• Reduce sugar in the diet. Add more sugar in your smile.
• Stay away from alcohol! However, if you are an alcoholic, keep within recommended limits. 
• Regular exercise. Be physically active every day. Try walking, cycling, jogging, swimming or any other aerobic exercise. Build up regularly to about 30 minutes, preferably for most days of the week.
• Quit smoking. If it is too hard, try to reduce smoking.
• Occasionally, do self monitoring of blood pressure, blood sugar level and cholesterol level
• Eat more fruits and vegetables.

  Recommended limits for alcohol: 

Men – 21 units per week

Women – 14 units per week

A glass of beer/wine = 1unit

A measure of spirits = 1 ½ unit

It means that no more that 2-3 nits a day with some alcohol free days. (Try to have food with alcohol)

* For muslims, alcohol is ‘haram’ and totally not allowed. We believe that alcohol will cause more harm than good physically and mentally. Alcohol may lead to multi organ damage and will lead to social problems. So, I personally advice all of us to stay away from alcohol. It is always wise to stay sober.

 Body mass index (BMI) classification: 

BMI = weight / (height) ²

Weight in kg and height in meters

Normal range = BMI 20-25

Grade 1 obesity = BMI 25-30

Grade 2 obesity = BMI 30-40

Grade 3 obesity = BMI >40

 Sample menu: Breakfast

High fiber cereal with low fat milk

Whole meal bread or toast

Fruit juice or fresh fruit

Tea or coffee

 Mid morning

Fruit or whole meal bread or scone

Tea, coffee, water or diet drinks

 Lunch

Small serving of cheese, egg, lean meat, poultry or fish

Large serving of raw or cooked vegetables

Whole meal bread or roll

Low fat yoghurt or glass of low fat milk

Fresh fruit

Tea, coffee, water

 Mid afternoon

Fresh fruit

Tea, coffee or diet drinks

 Main meal

Fish, chicken, lean meat or low fat vegetarian alternatives (moderate serving)

Large serving of raw or cooked vegetables

Potato, rice or pasta

A glass of low fat milk

Fresh fruit, cooked fruit, tinned fruit in own juice

Fruit based dessert or low fat milk pudding

Tea or coffee

 Supper

Tea or diet drinks

Whole meal scone/bread

  Reference:

1.      Irish Heart Foundation fact sheet

2.      Malaysian Ministry of Health fact sheet

3.      Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine

Want to quit your job because work environment doesn’t suit you???
Well, do not rush in making your decision. You might be wrong.

A healthy environment at work is needed by every one of us. This is important for us to work effectively. A bad environment at work will cause stress.

I am sure a lot of people realize that a little stress is needed for us to continue working. It is called a positive stress or in a less technical word, it is called “pressure”. We need a little stress to keep us working and increase our productivity. However, just imagine you have so much pressure at work. You might get the stress from the work itself, from your colleagues and less but not least, your BOSS. What will happen to you? Well, most probably you already know that this will give you a negative impact and cause a lot of stress. This will get even more complicated if you have problem at home.

WHAT MIGHT CAUSE STRESS AT WORK???

• Working environment
• Too much pressure
• Changes of rules at work
• Critical and dangerous job
• Your boss doesn’t appreciate you
• Frustration
• Problems with peers
• Just get promoted (increase workload)
• Losing job (this is even worse… you finally have nothing to do)
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE STRESS?

Surprisingly, not everybody knows that he/she is having stress. Some people are alert enough to notice that they are stress and ready to find their way out. However, some people are too much occupied with their work that they do not realize that they are actually need help. This is very dangerous because they might end up having depression or even more serious problem like bipolar affective disorder. Just check yourself up if you have any of these symptoms:

• • You might frequently feel bored, but do not know why
  • Losing or getting too much appetite
  • Smoking
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Nervous
  • Too much worry
  • Tired
  • Easily feel irritated and agitated
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Become aggressive
  • Losing concentration

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HANDLE THIS KIND OF PROBLEMS?

• Take one thing at a time
• Do not forget to breath
• Smile will be a great help
• Being rational and realistic. Think positive about yourself and accept that you might have a weak spot that need to be polished. Do your best and feel good about that.
• Plan your work and work your plan. Arrange your time smartly. Do the first thing first. Do not delay your work and preferably do not bring your work home, unless you are working at home.
• Improve yourself in managing problems. Look at your problem with rational thinking. Solve the problem systematically.
• Be positive about any changes at work. It might happen for a good reason.
• Effective communication at work. Be assertive and not aggressive. Respect your colleagues.
• Improve social support at your workplace. Be friends with your peers at work. Share your problem with them. Listen to each other. Spend some time to help your friend. Show your concern to other people apart of yourself.
• Keep a healthy lifestyle. Learn how to stay calm. Get enough sleep. Do exercise. Get yourself a hobby, (or even a hubby.) Stay sober. Stay away from drug, alcohol and cigarettes. Believe your god and be good to people.

The job might be too good for you to quit. However the price might be too higher for you to pay. I always tell my friends, all you need is a piece of paper. Write the good and bad points on it. Then throw the paper and follow your heart. Your instinct might be right after all..:)