Latest news with #meditation
UAE Moments
a day ago
- Entertainment
- UAE Moments
♈ Aries Daily Horoscope for July 23, 2025
Big Aries energy meets big decisions. Are you ready to choose your next adventure? Today's vibe is bold, fiery, and full of potential—just the way you like it. The universe is handing you the mic, but what you say next could set the tone for the rest of your month. Choose your words (and your battles) wisely. Career: Your ambition is peaking — great for brainstorming or pitching, not so great for paperwork or waiting on approvals. Don't get discouraged if things don't move at your speed. Stay focused on the long game and avoid picking battles that aren't worth it. Love: You're radiating intensity — which can either charm or overwhelm. If single, let your energy invite rather than overpower. In a relationship? Avoid jumping to conclusions. A little softness can go a long way today. Body: Your body is craving movement — but don't overdo it. A quick workout or dance break might help burn off that restlessness. If you've been ignoring little aches, it's time to show your body some respect. Mental Health: Your mind's in go-mode, which can lead to overthinking or impulse decisions. Hit pause before reacting — especially in emotional convos. Meditation, deep breaths, or even screaming into a pillow (we won't judge) could help.
Medscape
2 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
More Than a Number: Sleep Quality Next Target for CV Health
From the Dalai Lama's claim that it is the 'best meditation' to Benjamin Franklin's insistence that it makes a person 'healthy, wealthy, and wise,' a good night's sleep has long been touted as the secret to a healthy life. And the American Heart Association (AHA) agrees. In 2022, the AHA added sleep duration to Life's Simple 8, their checklist for optimal heart health. This was on the basis of strong evidence from epidemiologic studies linking sleep duration to poor cardiometabolic outcomes, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and stroke. But emerging research suggests that it's time for cardiologists to consider more than just sleep duration. 'Lack of sleep has been long known to be associated with coronary heart disease,' said Martha Gulati, MD, the director of Preventive Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, in Los Angeles. Gulati emphasized that achieving adequate sleep (between 7 and 9 hours) has also been associated with healthy traits, such as better blood pressure, better cholesterol control, and healthy weight. Martha Gulati, MD However, the number of hours a person sleeps each night just scratches the surface she said. Research has shown that consistency and preferred timing of sleep, known as sleep chronotype, are important as well. In a 2023 UK-based study, middle-aged adults who considered themselves night owls — the evening sleep chronotype — had signs of potentially detrimental cardiac remodeling on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging compared with morning folks. And the damage may start early. In a recent study in adolescents, shorter sleep duration was associated with adverse markers of left ventricular wall remodeling and liver fat accumulation suggesting a cumulative effect on health, according to the authors. The MESA Sleep Ancillary study found that people with greater irregularity in sleep patterns — such as falling asleep at different times each night — had a higher coronary artery calcium burden than those with more regular sleep patterns. Because sleep is associated with a range of cardiometabolic diseases, Julie Marcus, MD, a cardiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, said addressing poor sleep has become an important but underappreciated aspect of maintaining a healthy heart. Julie Marcus, MD She added that patients also need to be aware that poor sleep can affect their health and what the various components of healthy sleep are. 'Beyond saying do you snore [or] stop breathing at night and do you sleep between 7 and 9 hours, there's so much more to sleep that is important,' Marcus said. Expanding the Definition of Sleep Health Early this year, the AHA published an updated scientific statement that addresses multidimensional sleep health. This includes duration, timing, regularity, sleep-related daytime functioning, satisfaction, continuity — the ability to initiate and maintain sleep — and sleep architecture, or the amount and timing of the various sleep stages. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, a sleep health researcher and lead author of the AHA statement, explained that it was developed to promote the breadth of new research. 'We want to let people know that sleep is more than just how long you sleep at night,' said St-Onge, who is the director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep and Circadian Research at Columbia University, New York City. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD For example, she explained excessive daytime sleepiness has been associated with cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality. Similarly, sleep disturbances have been linked to hypertension, arterial stiffness, and coronary heart disease. Understanding Poor Sleep's Mechanism of Action St-Onge emphasized that new research has also increased understanding around the associations between poor sleep and worsening cardiometabolic outcomes. Her research has shown that sleep restriction increases oxidative stress in the lining of the arteries that could lead to endothelial dysfunction. Short sleep also impairs the body's ability to counteract this oxidative stress. 'We see immune suppression from poor sleep duration and poor sleep quality,' St-Onge said. In addition, we have found links between sleep regularity and eating patterns, St-Onge noted. Gulati believes that the AHA statement represents an opportunity to raise awareness among patients, cardiologists, and clinical researchers about the importance of better understanding these causal effects of poor multidimensional sleep health. 'I think it is also a call to action to improve the assessment of sleep, particularly in research so we can rigorously assess these components,' Gulati said. 'We need to know what interventions can improve components of sleep as well, and their effect on cardiovascular health. Those knowledge gaps need to be closed.' Talking About Sleep Health Those knowledge gaps are why the statement did not offer guidance for clinical approaches, but St-Onge emphasized the importance of educating and discussing this topic with patients now. She recommended asking an open-ended question: 'How's your sleep?' 'That opens up a conversation for people to express exactly what's bothering them with their sleep.' For example, she said, 'It may be they get plenty of hours of sleep, but they lie there awake for way too long, or they're having a hard time falling asleep, or they get a lot of sleep, but they still wake up not feeling refreshed during the day.' Starting the conversation — and documenting it in clinical notes — will be the first step to helping patients with poor sleep health, she said. Marcus agreed that cardiologists should make time to discuss sleep health with patients, even though it can be more complicated than addressing cholesterol or blood pressure because 'sleep is not a number.' Still, she said that understanding a patient's poor sleep health can also provide physicians with new modifiable risk factors for improving their cardiovascular health. 'Sleep is the next target,' Marcus said. 'We know it impacts health, and it's just a matter of how do we screen for it.' Gulati reported financial relationships with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Merck & Co., New Amsterdam, and Zoll.
UAE Moments
3 days ago
- Health
- UAE Moments
Your Health Horoscope for July 21, 2025
Each zodiac sign is linked to a part of our body and can reveal valuable information about how celestial forces influence our well-being. Discover your daily health horoscope based on your zodiac sign. Aries Health Horoscope Be kind to yourself and try not to push yourself too hard. It is important you focus on your health. Ensuring you are getting enough nutrients and vitamins, engaging in meditation to help you relax, and focusing on positive emotions are important. Don't let negativity affect you. When you think positive, positive things will come to you. Taurus Health Horoscope This is an important time for your health and at this time, positive thinking and finding joy in the little things should be your priority. When you focus on your feelings and direct them toward positivity, your health will improve in multiple ways. Don't let negative thinking consume you. The more you practice positive thinking, the more you will reach your health goals. Gemini Health Horoscope This lunar energy can bring enthusiasm and excitement so keeping a balance within is important at this time. Your health goals can benefit by gut-health foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi and miso. Meditation is highly recommended and can help you stay balanced and also help with your sleeping pattern. Cancer Health Horoscope Under this lunar energy, the desire to get things progressing is strong for you. Are you including enough vitamins and nutrients in your diet? This is a great day for exploring new health foods. Checking out healthy recipes online and including them in your diet is a good idea. Be creative. There are lots of options available to you. Leo Health Horoscope Powerful energy fills the air and there may be a few intense moments for you. Keeping your inner balance is important at this time. Meditation and being among nature are great ways for you to relax. When you focus on how you feel, your health takes a turn for the better. Make this a priority for yourself and find happiness in the smallest things. Virgo Health Horoscope It is easy to forget the importance of health when you are always on the go but it is essential to pay attention to this. When you are mindful of the way you feel, it is a good indicator of the way your health is. Staying positive is essential to good health. Take time to list all the things you feel happy and grateful for. Then focus on this list and you will feel much more positive on the inside. Libra Health Horoscope This is a powerful time for reconsidering your health practices. What improvements can you add to your daily routine? Practicing new techniques to help you toward your health goals enables you to implement creative energy into them. This brings new motivation. Make a list of things you can do during the day to boost positive thinking during your day. Scorpio Health Horoscope Today brings the chance to understand your health goals at a deeper level. Including new and healthy foods in your diet such as kale, butternut squash, black beans and walnuts are especially beneficial for you. Meditation is highly recommended and will help you to balance from within and bring greater clarity to you. Read More: Your Zodiac: SCORPIO (Oct 24-Nov 22) Sagittarius Health Horoscope It's an excellent time for greater clarity. This lunar energy brings new realization and understanding to your health goals. Focusing on the positives is important for you at this time. Think about what makes you feel good. When you put focus on your feelings and direct them toward a place of positive energy, your health improves and clarity begins. Capricorn Health Horoscope This is a good day to go through your daily routine and identify where improvements can be made. Are you getting enough sleep? Are there disturbances in this area interfering with your rest time? These are good questions to ask yourself. Take time today to go through this and be open to new suggestions that appear. Aquarius Health Horoscope This is a day to go over your health goals and acknowledge where you feel you may be experiencing a sense of lack. Today is a new day and you can always continue from where you left off. Positive thinking is everything. Including kale, spinach, green beans, black beans and squash into your diet helps you to stay nutritionally satisfied. Probiotic foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi are highly beneficial. Pisces Health Horoscope Today's lunar energy brings powerful realization in regard to your health goals. Spending time in nature is especially powerful for you today and can lead to powerful release. Take time to engage in meditation as this helps you to balance from within and brings greater clarity to you, especially regarding any questions you have at this time.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
How Long You May Need To Walk Outside To See A Boost In Your Mental Health
There's a reason why the sounds of nature — chirping birds, flowing streams, falling rain — are often sound options for white noise machines and meditation apps: They're calming. A new small study published in Molecular Psychiatry further underscores this. The study found that a one-hour nature walk reduces stress when compared to a one-hour walk in a bustling city environment. The study followed 63 people who were randomly assigned a nature walk or an urban walk. The nature walk took place in a forest in Berlin and the urban walk took place on a busy street in the city. Participants were instructed not to check their phones or stop in stores while on their walk. They were given a bagged lunch and a phone with a 30-minute timer that instructed them to turn around. Before the walk, participants filled out a questionnaire and then underwent an fMRI scan that measured two tasks. The first task measured brain activity during a 'fearful faces task,' in which participants were shown 15 female and 15 male faces that either had a neutral or scared expression. The second task measured was brain activity during an 'Montreal Imaging Stress Task,' which is designed to create a level of stress in participants. During the task, participants had a set amount of time to solve challenging arithmetic problems. After the walk, participants filled out another questionnaire and underwent another fMRI scan that measured the same tasks they conducted before their walk. The results showed that nature significantly improved people's stress levels. The study found that those who took part in the 60-minute nature walk experienced lower stress levels following their time outside. 'The results of our study show that after only [a] one-hour walk in nature, activity in brain regions involved in stress processing decreases,' Sonja Sudimac, the lead author of the study, told Medical News Today. Particularly, the researchers found the brain's amygdala activity (which is responsible for our stress and fear response) decreased in those who were in the nature walk group. This decrease was not seen in people who completed the city walk. According to the study, urban environments can negatively impact one's mental health, leading to increased rates of anxiety, depression and mood disorders. (Just think about the stress that comes with frequently honking horns, running to catch a bus or dealing with long lines just to get some groceries.) In fact, other studies show that mental health can suffer in urban areas because of the crowded nature of cities and, in general, the increased amount of stressors throughout the environment. It's worth noting that the study had a few limitations: All participants were from a similar background and the study could not control who participants saw on their walk. So, for example, if someone on a walk in the forest saw someone relaxing on their day off, it could have further decreased the stress response in the participant. This study also only focused on the benefits of a one-hour-long nature walk — it's unclear if the same positive results would occur in a shorter amount of time. But, Sudimac told Medical News Today that there is evidence that levels of the stress hormone cortisol decrease after a 15-minute nature walk, which would make a version of this study that looked at shorter walks interesting. Plus, outside of this study, there is extensive research on the positive effects of the outdoors, so it's not hard to conclude that even a few minutes outside is better than nothing. Beyond decreased stress, nature has other benefits. Dr. Tamanna Singh, co-director of the sports cardiology center at Cleveland Clinic, previously told HuffPost that walking in nature has additional mental health benefits, too. 'Many of us just don't get enough of nature, and a walk is a fantastic way to focus on taking in air, walking on mother earth, listening to the leaves rustling, the birds chirping, essentially 'forest bathing,'' she said. Forest bathing has a number of benefits, she pointed out: It can help improve mindfulness, can be meditative and can improve your breathing. Spending time outside has also been shown to improve your sleep, increase your creativity and boost your immune function. Whether you live in a city or a rural area, try to prioritize nature walks. The results are clear: Spending time in nature is good for your mental health. But don't be discouraged if you live in a city. It's important to note that the study's nature walk took place in an urban forest within the city of Berlin. So, even just a walk through your local park or nature reserve can help you achieve a sense of calm. The key is getting around green space ― and dedicating 60 minutes to moving your body and soaking up the outdoors. The headline and subheadline of this story have been updated to better reflect the study. Related... This Type Of Walking May Drastically Improve Your Heart Function How Much You Need To Walk Every Day To Cut Your Risk Of Heart Disease Should We All Be Squatting More?
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
One Is the Loneliest Number. But It's Great for Grok.
This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a hermetically-unsealed revelation of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. The story goes that a young Buddhist monk left his home and family to practice the rigors of meditation and the privations of faith up in the mountains. One day, a visitor asked the hermit how his quest for enlightenment was coming along. The meditation and fasting were all going well, he said. But he suffered from one chronic ache: loneliness.
