Sunny Health

In cities such as Singapore, we are often too busy to have the time to work out. A typical morning can start as early as 5.30am. We wake our kids up, send them to school. After which, we rush down to work gulping down our breakfasts. This is then followed by a hectic schedule of meeting after meeting. We barely even have time to have lunch. Many nights, we spend time in the office, working over our limits just to finish our project. When we finally reach home, we are just happy that we can sleep in our beds. Day after day passes, we can barely have time for ourselves, let alone go to a gym?

Fret not, now you can exercise the comfort of your office space. These exercises take up minimal time and are easy to do:



lick on the pictures for closer look
Five Key Stretches
(do stretches for 15-30 seconds)

1) Neck Stretches - Slowly tilt your head toward your shoulder and hold for ten seconds each side. Keep this one slow and easy, the neck is very easy to injure.

2) Arm Shoulders - Pull your arm across your chest, hook your other arm around it to pull the tension out of your upperback and rear shoulders.

3) Back / Legs - Lean forward at the waist either from the standing position or sitting and bring your chest toward your thighs. Slowly try to straighten your legs - stretching your hamstrings.

4) Thigh Stretch - Sit on left edge of your chair or stand. Grab your left ankle and pull it upward toward your buttocks. Switch sides.

5) Calves Stretch - Stand and lean into your desk with your heels on the floor. Bend your knees slightly to stretch your achilles tendons.

Five Key Exercises

1) Legs - Squats - Stand in front of your chair and repeat sitting down and standing up 10 times three times a day.

2) Shoulder Shrugs - Just pull your shoulders as high as you can and roll them forward ten times and backward ten times throughout the day.

3) Dumbbell Curls - While on the phone, you can grab a dumbbell and do bicep curls for 20 repetitions three times a day. Straighten your arms by your side and bring your hand (dumbbell) to your shoulder. Keep your palms up. Do one at a time if on the phone.

4) Bench Dips - Using your chair or sturdy table, place your hands on the edge of the object and bend your arms to slowly lower yourself about six inches lower than the seat. Raise yourself by straightening your arms. Repeat this three times a day for 10 repetitions.

5) Assisted Push-up - In the office, lean up against your desk and push yourself away from the desk while in a leaning position. Repeat this three times a day for 10 repetitions

Sometimes simply taking in deep breaths and holding your stomach in is a good exercise. It also helps revive you mentally so that you are more alert when you start working.

LONDON : Children who eat sweets every day are more likely to be violent as adults, possibly because they want instant gratification, a British psychological study suggested Thursday.

The research, by researchers at Cardiff University in Wales, took around 17,000 babies born in 1970 and monitored them at age five, 10, and 34 years old to see if there was a correlation.

It found that 69 per cent of those who had been found guilty of offences involving violence reported they had eaten confectionery nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42 per cent of those who were non-violent.

"Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want," lead researcher Simon Moore said.

"Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency," he added in the study, published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

But the study was condemned as "utter nonsense" by the Food and Drink Federation, which represents Britain's food and drink industry.

"Anti-social behaviour stems from deep-rooted social and environmental factors such as poor parenting and a deprived upbringing and is not linked to whether or not you ate sweeties as a kid," said its director of communications Julian Hunt.

"How anyone could leap to such a conclusion is beyond me."
I think the key in this article is that we learn to ration the amount of sweets we give to our children. It’s all about balance. Balance helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
We also learn to train children’s tolerance levels by restricting some of their habits.

In recent years there have been countless researches on the effect of sugar and children, that itself should be a cause for worry.

Healthy dieting should begin when one is a child. If your child is on an unhealthy diet, start weaning him or her on healthier foods. However, this does not mean you should restrict your child completely off unhealthy foods. Try to instil in your child the values of healthy living.

Start off by introducing a large amount of fibre into your child’s diet. Include lots of colours to keep him or her interested.

We all go through great extents to achieve happiness. There are many tips of gaining happiness. But it is difficult to have a formula that works the same for happiness.

Here are a few tips from my personal experience that really turn my frown upside down.

1) Watch a good sitcom, or stand up comedy
With the advancements of technology, we are now able to easily download or watch off the net our favourite shows that will just put a smile on your face

2) Think of solutions
We all worry. In fact, I think it is necessary to worry. When we worry, we are able to be prepared for trouble. However, we should not worry unnecessarily. Hence we should be prepared at all times and think of solutions to our problems rather than just get depressed over issues. There is a solution to everything, if only we are willing to look for it.

3) Exercise
Don’t be a lazy bum! Get off that couch and start moving about. It is a well known fact that exercising helps the human body release endorphins into our bloodstream which will allow us to maintain a positive perspective all day.

4) Eat right
Indulge yourself in a delicious bowl of yoghurt. You could fill it with fruits nuts and even (an added luxury) chocolate! Eat a lot and eat healthy, but remember not to overeat. Knowing that you are treating your stomach, your body right is beneficial. Be adventurous and don’t bore your taste buds. Aim to try a different thing everyday.

5) Aim to make someone’s day.
Whether the motives are altruistic, making someone else’s day right can make really make you feel good about yourself, because you know you’re doing the right thing and playing a part in making the world a better place.


Our attitudes will change when we choose to look at things positively. It is good to be rational and choose to think the right. Even if your day is a sad one, at least you’ll know that you’re treating yourself right. If you don’t treat yourself right, who will?