Sunny Health

It’s doubly hazy days ahead in Singapore as the Chinese burn offerings in public in light of the Hungry Ghost Festival, and forest fires blaze away in Indonesia.

Having been neighbours to countries that experience huge forest fires at least once a year, most of us are all too familiar with the effects of haze and the precautions we should take to protect ourselves from the haze. These topics have been discussed in this blog here and here.

Ramadan, the fasting month for our Muslim friends has concluded recently. With holiday moods still in swing and delicious festive goodies being sold everywhere, it is hard to not have a desire to fill oneself up with as much delicacies as possible, especially considering how delicious Malay cuisine is. I've always had great admiration for my Muslim friends to fast. In a food paradise like Singapore, restricting one's diet is a practice that calls for sheer determination.

In Indonesia where the country is largely populated with Muslims, however, the festive spirit seems to have been dampened by visits to the doctor. There have been reports of spikes in clinic visits for binge eating and over-indulging in heavy foods.

Over-eating once in a while is hardly anything to shout out. It happens with the occasional gathering, party and holiday when you just have no excuse (or don't want to have an excuse) to eat only in moderation. But when you're binging after a lull period for your digestive system, it can be extremely harmful.

During a long period of dieting, or if you've always had a habit of eating light foods, your body will adjust to suit your needs. Metabolism slows down to conserve energy, and it will continue to do so for a period of time after that unless you change your lifestyle, to which your metabolism will be altered appropriately.

But the changes to your lifestyle must be applied gradually, or you would not be able to adjust adequately, thus prompting problems to occur. Take exercise for example. If you haven't been exercising regularly, but suddenly go on a 10km marathon, your body will not be able to take it. You may develop breathing difficulties, you may develop cramps, and you may just faint from exertion.

Similarly, if you exert your stomach, problems will occur. Consuming huge levels of food, especially unhealthy, savoury, fatty dishes, can cause sudden increases in blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels. These can lead to weight gain, indigestion, bowel problems and heart burn. For those with illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes, over-eating multiplies the toll these illnesses already have on your body.

No doubt, one shouldn't be a spoilsport and reject delicacies when the occasion calls for it. But practise moderation, eat only as much as you can eat without feeling sick, exercise off the fats, and down the guilty pleasures with hot Chinese tea or green tea. which promote digestion and detoxification. Only then can you truly enjoy the festivities for a prolonged period of time.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ramadan-fast-indonesians-eat-vengeance-151638205.html

Indulging in dreamy fantasies about your favourite celebrity, spending your limited pocket money on CDs and fan merchandise, having an unquenchable thirst for every single titbit of knowledge about your idol, buying presents for your idol, secretly following him/her on the streets or on Twitter… these probably sound familiar as most of us have gone through, or are currently going through such a phase in our lives.

Admiring and idolising people with talent and/or looks are part and parcel of human nature, and most of the regular things that fans do are good, clean fun. But as celebrities get more up-close and personal with their fans through social media, fan meets and more live performances, the divide between idols and their fans has narrowed, prompting some to put a toe out of line, or, make that an entire leg.

Installing CCTVs in the vicinity of their idols’ residence, hiring drivers to tailgate their idols’ cars to the extent of causing severe road accidents, selling their bodies to hire said drivers when it gets too expensive, sending menstruation blood to their idols (yuck!)… these are just some of the crazy antics a new breed of fans in Korea called Sasaeng do to get closer to their idols. Unfortunately, the fad has reached the shores of Singapore, where the K-wave is virtually irresistable. While not as extreme yet, a local accident involving a seven-car pile up near Changi Airport had been the result of ardent Singaporean fans stalking a Korean celebrity.

Before you laugh these off as cases of the cray cray, think again. These are real problems stemming from intense obsession, and could happen to the average person. Consider the stalking of an ex on social media platforms or following them around (which sometimes ends in a brutal murder), non-stop gaming, intensive clubbing and binge drinking all night long, catching every football match on TV at unearthly hours, compulsively collecting items…

Such acts of obsession towards something you enjoy, also known as Obsessive Hobby Disorder, are unhealthy in the following ways:

- Physically toiling, especially when you are missing proper meals and rest
-  Time consuming, disrupting normal life by preventing you from performing well at work and school or even missing them entirely
- Ruins your social life and relationships
- Frequent lack of money, which may prompt one to resort to crimes
- Long term negative impacts on your mental wellbeing – in event that you are forced to give up the hobby i.e. idol leaves the entertainment industry for good or gets married, a void will develop and if it is unable to be filled up, one may succumb to it through drastic acts, such as suicides. 

In serious cases, especially when one is in denial of their obsession, he/she will have to undergo treatment with a psychiatrist. But, in less severe cases when you are aware that you're perhaps investing too much time, effort and money on your interest, or someone tells you your obsession is scary for the umpteenth time, you can keep your interest in check before it gets overboard.

Ways to Overcome Obsession

1.  If you find yourself stalking someone on various social media platforms, remove those accounts to eliminate those constant updates and reminders of that person. Do something more productive like reading or learning a new skill. Being addicted to social media was never healthy to begin with.

2. Join a new community group and get to know new people and talk about new things. By trying out something new, you obtain a new focus, and your mind will be preoccupied with trying to retain those new skills.

3. Distract yourself with more interests. Love one K-pop band? Why not spread the love and check out a few others? As your interest is spread out across a few areas, your obsession in one particular area of interest will thin.

4. Hide pictures or anything you have that reminds you of the person. Without the physical object in front of you, you will be less inclined to keep your mind on said person.

5. List down the good points and bad points of the person. Don’t focus solely on the good points. Nobody is perfect. If you realize that person is not as godly as he or she seems, you will feel less inclined to worship him/her.

6. If the person you are obsessed about is a celebrity, forget about a happily-ever-after. Unless you’re like Katie Holmes who’s able to make a name for yourself in the entertainment industry (and by the way, that didn’t end well in marriage), it’s time to face up to reality before you get hurt.

These days, with more people succumbing to a lifestyle that results in loneliness and emptiness, such problems can become more common.  If you notice your friend, or yourself displaying signs of Obsessive Hobby Disorder, don’t hesitate to consult a psychiatrist.

Sources: 
http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/blogs/singapore-showbiz/sasaeng-groupies-gone-wild-part-1-k-fans-141105992.html 
http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/blogs/singapore-showbiz/sasaeng-stalkers-part-1-sasaeng-singapore-084138184.html http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/blogs/singapore-showbiz/sasaeng-stalkers-part-3-one-fan-korean-sasaeng-092622496.html


Yes, perfect eyesight has always been a requirement for work that requires great precision, agility and intense physical activity. In the past, only candidates with perfect peepers could be pilots in Singapore. Soldiers serving National Service would not be considered for Pes A if they were bespectacled. And as you might have seen in almost every sporting event, the number of sportsmen and sportswomen who wear glasses are almost always nil.

But times and lifestyles have changed, and many Singaporeans are wearing glasses from a young age. Jobs that used to require perfect eyesight have now relaxed their criteria. More optical services are providing contact lenses that make the need to wear glasses more bearable.

Nevertheless, the inconvenience of not having clear vision is here to stay. Maintaining contact lenses for safe use is a hassle, not to mention that contact lenses could still get in the way of intensive activity, especially for sports fanatics who indulge in vigorous exercise. Most contact lenses are not suitable for swimming and any sort of sport that requires direct contact with water. Your game is gone once perspiration gets into your eye and you have to extract your contact lens.

Lasik came as a solution for those who find poor eyesight a burden to many aspects of their life.
Having the perfect eyesight is no longer an unattainable task. The advancement in today’s medical technology has allowed many people to forgo spectacles and contact lenses with the introduction of Lasik.

However, Lasik surgery is not suitable for everybody who has eyesight problems. It is only able to correct certain problems such as Myopia, Hyperopia, Astigmatism and Presbyopia. When you go for a pre-Lasik consultation, your doctor will conduct an examination and advise you on your suitability to undergo Lasik.

How is Lasik Surgery carried out?
The doctor will first remove a part of your cornea with a special blade or laser to create a flap. This will enable the laser beam to gain access to deeper parts of the eye. The laser will then flatten some parts of the tissue in the eye, depending on how much correction it needs.

An animation of this procedure can be seen here.

Risks of Lasik Surgery
Like all surgical procedures, Lasik surgery also has risks. As Lasik depends mostly on laser to do all the cutting, there may be a chance of the tissue in the eye being undercut or overcut. When the tissue is being undercut, the vision is not fully corrected, but this can be easily solved by undergoing the same procedure again. Overcorrection is harder to fix as it is caused by removing too much tissue from the eye.

Glare, halos and double vision can result from Lasik. Although this side effect can be easily treated by medical eye drops that contain corticosteroid, you may also need to undergo a second surgery. Your vision at night or in dim light can also be greatly reduced.

As the surgical procedure for Lasik involves cutting a flap at the cornea, during the healing process, the flap may be infected that will result in complications, having too much tears and swelling.

Lasik will result in a reduction in tears production for the first six months after your surgery. This might affect your vision, but eye drops can be used to lubricate the eyes. However, if you experience severely dry eyes, you can consider going under the knife again to put in special plugs into your tear ducts to prevent your tears from being drained away.

You will also need to avoid strong light in the first six months after surgery, because your eyes are particularly sensitive at this point of time.

Preparing for surgery

1. Remove all eye makeup. You should stop wearing eye make up the day before and the day of the surgery. This will ensure that there are no traces of make up on the eye that could cause infection.

2. Stop wearing contact lenses. You will be instructed by your doctor to stop wearing contact lenses a few weeks before your surgery. Contact lenses can change the shape of your cornea, resulting in inaccurate measurements for the surgery that can result in a poor outcome.

3. Lasik is a day surgery and you would not have to be warded. Have someone pick you up after the surgery. The medicine used during the surgery may have certain side effects after the surgery and your vision might also be blurred.

If you wish to consider Lasik surgery, do remember to consider all the side effects and make sure you are able to spare time and resources to counter them. If you’re a sports person, be prepared to sacrifice your favourite outdoor activities for a few months as you’re encouraged to avoid bright sunlight to facilitate faster healing. If you’re banking on Lasik to make your life easier, you might have to think twice about it as post-surgery complications may pose even more inconveniences.

Of course, one might argue that such inconveniences are only temporary. After all, as all athletes can attest, there’s no sweet without sweat.

"If you learn from a loss you have not lost. "

With the London Olympics in full gear, this is the spirit many of the Olympians and their supporters are probably abiding by, or persuading themselves to abide by in the name of good sportsmanship.

This is a good principle to bear in mind for many kinds of losses, but when it comes to hair? Most likely not. Hair loss is a very hairy issue (no pun intended). Once a person starts losing hair, he/she's in danger of balding unless something effective is done about the problem before it gets out of hand.

Hair loss is often associated with men. Looking at the myriad of hair loss advertisements out there, majority of them have men endorsing the products. But ladies, don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Women too, suffer from hair loss problems.

For men, hair loss is more obvious, as it usually begins from the crown of the head. Women suffer from receding hair lines at the temples of the head and thinning of hair at the crown area. As such, for those who are not very conscious about your appearance, it may take you awhile to notice that you're losing hair.


Causes of Female hair loss

There are 100,000 hair follicles on our head and if we lose more than 100 strands of hair a day, it is considered a hair loss problem.

It is probably too tedious to count the number of strands of hair you lose everyday. But there are some simple ways to tell whether you are suffering from hair loss.

Are you noticing a lot of hair on your pillow, or on the floor around the place you often sit? Are you getting a lot of loose hair on your hands or the bathroom floor even though you're just shampooing your hair gently? If the answer is 'yes' to any of these, it's time you start giving better care to your hair.


1. Hereditary – If your grandma has it; your mum has it; your aunt has it, most probably you will develop hair loss as well.  This may be a problem of female-pattern baldness.

2. Hormonal factors – When there is an imbalance of hormones in your body, this may lead to temporary hair loss. Pregnancy, discontinuation of birth control pills and the onset of menopause can lead to temporary hair loss.
3. Medication – Certain types of medicine for illnesses such as Cancer, Depression, High Blood Pressure and Heart Problems can lead to hair loss.

4. Medical Conditions – Scalp infections, thyroid problems and other skin diseases can result in hair loss.

5. Other Factors – Constantly tugging your hair, tying your hair into a tight ponytail or bun, and stress.


Prevention

Oily hair is a bane. Keep that conditioner away from your scalp!

Shampoos cleanse the scalp and remove any dirt or oil that clogs up the hair follicles. Your hair follicles work the same way as the pores on your skin; if they get clogged, bacteria grows. The difference is that on the scalp, a pimple may not appear, instead, your hair will fall out. If you have to use a conditioner, use it only on the ends of the hair. Conditioners contain oil to soften the hair, but will make your scalp oilier. Conditioners are meant to feed your hair with moisture, and should not be used on the scalp.

Wash your hair daily. Ignore the old wives' tales.

Stories telling you that washing hair once a week is healthy are myths. Washing your hair everyday after you get home from the day's activities ensures that all the dirt accumulated during the day on your scalp is removed. This allows your hair follicles to breathe and new hair to grow.

Keep your tools clean.

Always wash your comb or hair brush before and after each use. This will prevent you from putting more dirt or bacteria onto your scalp.

Treatment

Treating hair loss is not an overnight matter. In fact, hair loss can takes months to recover. Typically, doctors will prescribe oral medication, medicated shampoo and medicine to be applied on the scalp.

If you prefer more natural methods, try reputable hair restoration specialists like Beijing 101 and Yun Nam. Although they they use alternative remedies, they do conduct a scientific scalp analysis and prescribe treatments based off it.

Undoubtedly, some hair loss problems cannot be solved in the short term if you are on long term medication or cancer treatment. However, if your hair loss is not attributed to such issues, there is hope to regain hair growth early. Do consult your doctor or a hair specialist once you notice your hair loss problem. The longer you put it off, the longer it takes for you to regain your thick crown of hair.

References:
http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/healthyliving/SkinBeauty/Pages/Getting-to-the-Root-of-Female-Hair-Loss.aspx
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/06/female-hair-loss-causes-treatment
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/hair_loss_women.shtml
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hair-loss/ds00278/dsection=causes