The findings also reveal that coffee drinking does not appear to increase the risk of heart disease or cancer, the Daily Mail reported.

In total 42,659 people took part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Germany study, and were followed up for almost nine years on average.

During that time, there were 1,432 cases of type 2 diabetes diagnosed, 394 heart attacks, 310 strokes cases and 1,801 cancer cases.

Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day – caffeinated and decaffeinated – compared with less than one cup was not linked to a higher risk of developing a chronic disease.

A lower risk of 20-30 per cent of developing type 2 diabetes was linked to moderate consumption of both kinds of coffee.

Although caffeine is known to act as a stimulant, it has been unclear how much a driver needs to keep alert during long journeys.

The latest study, carried out by scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, suggests a single cup of caffeinated coffee is all it takes to boost alertness midway through a four-hour motorway drive.

Caffeine acts as a stimulant and is known to combat tiredness during monotonous tasks such as motorway driving.

“This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, four to five cups of coffee per day, is safe and does not increase the risk of a range of chronic disease,” said Dr Euan Paul, executive director of the British Coffee Association.

“It is particularly encouraging to see that coffee consumption may lower the risk of type II diabetes given that around 90 per cent of all adults in the UK with diabetes have type 2 diabetes,” Dr Paul added.

The findings were reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Source: HT Media

“We only found an effect in favor of cold water immersion when it was compared to doing nothing — that is, passive rest after exercise,” researcher Chris Bleakley told WebMD. He adds that research on the safety of the technique is also lacking. The report was published last week in the journal The Cochrane Library.

After trying a new exercise or ramping up the intensity of your routine, delayed onset muscule soreness, known as DOMS, usually peaks between 24 and 48 hours later. Expect stiffness, swelling, reduced strength and soreness, which WebMD cites is likely due to mechanical damage that occurs in the muscle fibers.

Another technique you can try to reduce pain and inflammation is RICE: rest, ice (as in, localized ice packs), compression, and elevation, say experts.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine recently published an analysis of recent studies and found that stretching, however, doesn’t do much to prevent or reduce muscle soreness.

Source: HT Media

* Excessive smoking and / or drinking
* Excessive time in front of the TV or on some device
* Overeating
* Frequent outbursts of anger and aggression, including breaking personal items
* Becoming accident prone (including car accidents) and increased risky behaviour
* Avoiding family and friends, except for a couple of drinking buddies

Solutions
Running: Stress is psychological, but it’s also experienced in the body, especially with men. Running is one of the best ways to beat it. It synergises with the subconscious fight or flight response, and also generates endorphins that lift your mood. When you run, the blocked energy that has locked into your muscles as stress is physically vented in a positive way.

Music: Music therapy is one of the top five relaxation therapies. You can listen to music everywhere.

Adequate sleep: Sleep deprivation is a leading cause of stress. To get enough sleep, manage your time well and learn to prioritise your work.

Personal pleasure: Spare time to do things that give you joy. Take your beloved dog for a run, write poetry, cook a meal, spend time outdoors… doing something you like is very de-stressing.

Community work: Working with like-minded people can work wonders.

Stress in itself is not a bad thing.

It is created when your usual way of thinking hits a mental block. Which means stress is the signal that the time has come to learn a new life skill or improve an area of your mental conditioning or critical thinking. It is actually one of life’s greatest opportunities.

From HT Brunch, February 19
Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch
Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch

Source: HT Media

And half the 1,700 people surveyed for the Department of Health (DoH) said they would think twice about starting a serious relationship with a smoker.

So, people who want to stay one step ahead of the game this Valentine’s Day should put an end to their habit and quit today, says the Department of Health.

Anecdotal reports from dating agencies appear to back this up, it says.

The relationship website eHarmony.co.uk says 81percent of its members state they would not partner with a heavy smoker.

At Match.com 72 percent of male members and 73 percent of female members said they wanted a non-smoking partner and at mysinglefriend.com over 67 percent of respondents said smoking would put them off dating someone.

“Whilst obviously people aren’t permanently a smoker in many cases and some people can see past this – it does clearly influence a person’s decision to date you,” the BBC quoted Sarah Beeny, host of Channel 4’s Property Ladder and founder of mysinglefriend.com, as saying.

“It’s particularly obvious that non-smokers find it harder to live with a smoker, so by giving up you not only increase your dating market, but protect the years you have together when you do settle down,” she stated.

But Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said the DoH research was a waste of taxpayers’ money, adding: “To then use it to denigrate a substantial minority of the population with cheap personal jibes says more about the Department of Health than it does about smokers and their attractiveness to other people.”

Source: HT Media

People who are married or who are in close, healthy relationships tend to be less likely to smoke, are more physically active and are more likely to have a well-developed social structure, she said.

They are also more likely to have lower levels of stress and anxiety in their day-to-day lives.

“There is a theory that people who are in loving relationships may experience neuro-hormonal changes that have positive effects on the body, including the cardiovascular system,” Damp said, explaining that there are certain hormone levels in the body that vary depending on the level of an individual’s stress and anxiety.

“This has not been proven, but the idea is that being in a relationship that is positive may have positive effects on your cardiovascular system over long periods of time,” Damp said.

In fact, studies have shown that relationships that involve conflict or negativity are associated with an increase in risk for coronary artery disease.

Studies also suggest dark chocolates and red wine are good for the heart, as well.

Dark chocolate contains flavonoids, which are antioxidants. Antioxidants have positive effects on many different body systems including the cardiovascular system. The high concentration of cocoa in dark chocolate appears to be what offers the flavonoid benefit.

“Dark chocolate has been shown to be associated with lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar levels and improvement in the way your blood vessels dilate and relax,” Damp said.

Further study is needed to know exactly which type of chocolate and how much of it is the most beneficial, but studies have shown that people who eat chocolate more than once a week have lower risks of heart disease and stroke compare to people who eat it less frequently.

Flavonoids are also present in red wine. Multiple observational studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption, which is one drink a day for women and one to two for men, is associated with lower rates of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks.

However, Damp cautions that there is not enough evidence to encourage people who don’t currently drink to start drinking.

Source: HT Media

Shankar told IANS: “It often happens that after having kids a gap comes in between husband and wife because priorities change. To revive that love, efforts have to be made from both the sides.”

He believes that women make more efforts, adding, “Ninety percent of the women try to revive love in the marriage, while only ten percent men make that effort. This is because men are not expressive. If there is a synergy at the mental level, then marriage is a bliss.”

His views seem to be similar to his new show Kyaa Hua Tera Wada, a story of a married couple with three children and how they try to revive romance in their married life.

Financial issue and parental interference sometimes mar the romance and divorce lawyer Shiksha Kushwaha feels it could be avoided if the spouses spend some quality time together and be honest while accepting the truth.

“Feeling of incompatibility, financial issues, parental interference and extra-marital affairs are some of the prominent issues but all of these can be avoided if the couple take care of a few things.

“Show genuine love and affection towards the other person. Pamper him or her and spend more time together. Also, avoid ego, during fights avoid calling names, and be genuine towards each other,” Kushwaha said.

There is no guarantee that in a love marriage adjustment issues won’t mess up the romance factor.

A young professional, Veta Ratra, who married businessman Sahil after 10 years of courtship, says that post-marriage couples get more time together but waste it in finding faults with each other.

“I was into a relationship for 10 years before I got married. I am married for two-and-a-half-years. Marriage is an institution that both partners have to take care of.

“But when you start living together, you tend to notice even the minutest things and complain about those things, which are irrelevant. But if you are content and satisfied with your achievements, marriage can be the most beautiful thing,” Ratra said.

But there is a solution to every problem, says Samir Parikh, a psychiatrist in Max Healthcare, and suggests that some quality time with each other can work wonders.

“Couples need a regular boost to their love life in terms of spending good, intimate and fun moments together. At the same time, one also needs to appreciate that merely enjoying occasion is not good enough, and they should try and find time for each other in the chores of routine life,” he said.

But at the same time he cautions not to go out of the way to impress partners as it could have an adverse effect.

“One doesn’t need to impress! Do what both of you enjoy doing together. A gesture is an extension of a relationship. Last but not the least, some intimate moments could bring freshness to a monotonous life,” he added.

So this Valentine, rekindle romance with little surprises.

“Love is not lost but shelved back after marriage, hence surprises help in keeping the marriage alive. As one grows, the romance also matures. In the initial years, giving a rose bud might look highly romantic but at a different stage it might look kiddish.

“But the things that remain evergreen are that you know your partner’s interest and become a part of it. Get involved, don’t do things just for the heck of it. Your partner can distinguish real from fake. So, show genuine interest,” said marriage counsellor Vikhyat Singh.

Source: HT Media

The package offers a cellar visit, special wine tasting session and a refreshing and romantic bicycle ride around the vineyards. The guests will also be guided by master winemaker Piero Masi, who would take them through the complete wine making process.

“Our package will take them through our vineyards, our hospitality and extend to them an experience of blending the wine which they can take back as a personalised bottle, thus bestow them with a feeling of being the most special couple of the times,” Tarun Sibal, marketing head at Fratelli Wines, said in a statement.

They would be entreated to a spread of gourmet meals for breakfast and lunch and a grand romantic candlelit dinner on a hill top at Gharwar on the Valentine’s night.

Source: HT Media

AnswerLab, a consumer research company, conducted
the study in one day at a coffee shop in San Francisco, California.

The study asked 39 patrons who identified themselves as interested in dating the opposite sex to take part in the study, the Discovery News reported.

Participants including 18 women and 21 men, looked at dating profiles from Match.com and eHarmony.com on a laptop. The results showed that men spend 65 percent more time looking at photos than women.

Women, on the other hand, spent 50 percent more time than men on actually reading the profiles. The researchers collected data using the Tobii X1 Light Eye Tracker, a new, portable model of eye tracker.

The device works by shining an infrared light at the eye, creating reflections, which are, in turn, recorded by a camera.

Using the recorded pattern of reflections, the program calculates the angle between the cornea and pupil, which is used to calculate the angle of the gaze.

Combining the angle of the gaze and the distance between the eyes and the screen leads to accurate tracking of the eye’s movements.

Although people might not know it, our eyes are constantly moving, making quick adjustments to take in details.

Only the very small, central portion of the eye, called the fovea, is capable of really seeing details.

And as you look at something complicated, like a dating profile, with different text elements, photos and advertisements, your eyes make rapid movements so the fovea can briefly focus on each of the different elements that catch your eye’s attention.

Each tiny focusing event is called a fixation.

Because the eyes make this tiny movement when we study objects or read, the eye-tracking systems is able to figure out what we looked at, precisely, and for how long.

Source: HT Media

In some circumstances, joining forces with others is the best way to achieve a desired result: that’s why lions and hyenas hunt in packs, and why humans cooperate on the playing field, in the laboratory, or in battle.Sometimes, however, decisive individual action is needed to break free of group-think, or to come out ahead of the game.

To a significant extent, our ability to navigate between these two extremes is acquired through learning and experience, but some of these impulses are hardwired too.

Earlier research, for example, on the biological underpinnings of group decision making revealed that a naturally-occurring hormone, oxytocin, promotes the urge to work side-by-side.

At the same time, it was well established that testosterone boosted risk-taking, anti-social behaviour and the kind of aggressiveness that fuels contact sports and trading floors on Wall Street.But whether the alpha male hormone par excellence — also present at much lower levels in females — also makes individuals shun cooperation and become more egocentric was not known.

To find out, Wright and his colleagues carried out a series of tests over two days, spaced a week apart, with 17 pairs of women volunteers who did not know each other.On one of the two days, both volunteers in each pair were given a testosterone supplement, while on the other day they ingested a look-alike placebo.

The researchers chose females because in men an additional dose has the effect of suppressing production of the hormone by the body.

During the experiment, both women in each pairing sat in the same room but in front of separate computer screens.The women were shown the same two images, and asked to pick the one in which a hard-to-discern high-contrast pattern appeared. If their individual choices agreed, the exercise ended there.

But if they diverged, the women were told to consult with each other and reach a joint decision.

Pairs of women who had taken the dummy pill were significantly more successful in coming up with the right answer than those pairs who had been given the hormone, the researchers found.”The higher levels of testosterone were associated with individuals behaving egocentrically and deciding in favour of their own selection over their partner’s,” even when that choice was wrong, Wright said in a statement.

“Too much testosterone can help blind us to other people’s views,” he concluded. “This can be very significant when we are talking about a dominant individual trying to assert his or her opinion in, say, a jury.”

The broader conclusion, he added, is that hormonal levels can disrupt our attempts to work together.

Source: HT Media

Changing weather or temperatures are often blamed for winter’s coughs and sniffles. But in reality, colds, coughs and the flu are infectious diseases
“caught” through transmission from one human to another.

“Mid-February is usually the peak season for infectious diseases, such as the seasonal and H1N1 flu, mononucleosis, colds and coughs,” Newswise quoted Jorge Parada, medical director, infectious disease at Loyola University Health System as saying.

“And don’t rely on obvious signs of illness – such as sneezing or fever as a tip off. People with infectious diseases start shedding the virus before they experience the full effect of the illness.

“Becoming too hot or too cold can cause stress to the body, weaken the defense in fighting off infections and thus make us more vulnerable.

“But a person has to be exposed to a virus or bacteria to catch it,’ Parada said.

Parada feels that winter trends such as staying indoors in crowded arenas such as shopping malls or movie theatres may promote winter colds and flu.

According to him, drinking from the same wine glass or sharing dessert with the same fork may seem romantic, but also may lead to infections.

“Someone can have a cold sore that hasn’t erupted yet and use lip balm which is then shared, and the cold sore virus – otherwise known as herpes – is transmitted,” he said.

Albeit less frequently, shared linens also are transmitters of infections.

“A shared pillowcase, napkin or towel can also actually be a conduit for disease, especially if someone has a sore or cut,” Parada said.

He also spelled a list of do’s and don’ts for safe displays of affection.

The list includes giving and getting a flu shot, not sharing utensils and not kissing or having close body contact if one feels unwell.

“It’s the gift that keeps on giving – you protect yourself, your loved one and you stop the virus from spreading to others.

“If that isn’t sexy, and say ‘I love you’ I don’t know what does.”

“Humans can transmitsome infections through saliva. A glass, fork or napkin can act as a bridge and pass the bug along to another person when that shared object is used by one infected person and then used by another.

“Throwing up and blowing your nose is not fun; no one wants to be ill so being upfront and honest when you feel under the weather will be appreciated.

“Get that flu shot now to increase your odds for romance on Valentine’s Day.

“Having a flu shot is definitely sexy. It beats the flu every time!” he added.

Source: HT Media