A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, December 29, 2018
The simple tips to improve your health

Building self-awareness, through things like meditation, can boost our mental and physical wellbeing
If you are contemplating a new year's health kick, you could be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed.
Do yoga, run, lift weights, cut the carbs, or the fat (depending on the
particular diet that's in vogue), ditch the booze, reduce your stress.
It is easy to feel like your life needs to be overhauled in order to be a healthy, happy human being.
But what if you were to make only one change?
We asked experts what single thing they would recommend people should do
to improve their health, assuming they are an adult who is otherwise
healthy and not a smoker.
Focus on the mind

It is easy to only think about our physical health.
But according to Dr Nadine Sammy, associate lecturer for sport and
exercise sciences at the University of Exeter, we should also be
focusing on improving our minds by building self-awareness.
You might think of this as something that prevents us from embarrassing
ourselves, but, according to Dr Sammy, it is much more than this.
Self-awareness is the ability to recognise and understand your moods,
emotions and drives, and building it can play a crucial role in
improving mental and physical wellbeing over time.
"By understanding your feelings, motivations and behaviours in more
depth, you can begin to act more consciously in order to make better
choices for yourself," she says.
"For instance, what is your motivation to exercise? When are you most -
and when are you least - likely to stick to your exercise routine and
why?"
There are many ways to do this, she says, including journaling,
meditating, practicing mindfulness or simply making time for
self-reflection after certain activities or at the end of the day.
"Better understanding ourselves allows us to play to our strengths and
build on our weaknesses, thereby spurring us on to be our best self,"
she adds.
Adopt a dog

There are particular health benefits in adopting a dog, says Dr Rhys Thatcher
A gym membership, a pilates class, or a morning run - just some of the
things that might come to mind when we think of becoming physically more
active.
But though going to the gym works for some of us, many will quit after a
month or two, says Dr Rhys Thatcher, a reader in exercise physiology at
Aberystwyth University.
Instead, he recommends finding ways to routinely incorporate exercise into our daily lives.
There are plenty of ways to do this, from avoiding the lifts at work to
parking on the far side of a supermarket car park when you are doing the
shopping.
But there are particular benefits to adopting a dog, he says.
If you make sure to walk it for at least 30 minutes twice a day, you
will be boosting your activity while also getting the emotional benefits
of dog adoption.
"This way you get to spend time outside, you get to exercise, you get a
loyal companion and at the same time you get to improve the life of
another living thing, all of which have been shown to improve physical
and mental health," says Dr Thatcher.
Get your 30 a week

Experts say diversity of plant-based foods is also important
We have all heard about getting our five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
But according to Dr Megan Rossi, a research fellow at King's College
London's department of nutritional sciences, it is not only quantity we
should be striving for, but also diversity.
We should aim for at least 30 different plant-based foods per week, she says.
That is because plant-based diversity is thought to have a key role in good gut health.
The bacteria in our gut - collectively known as the microbiome - have a profound role in our health.
Allergies, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson's, and even
depression have all been linked to the bacteria in our gut.
One way we can get more plant-based diversity in our diets easily is by
being a little savvier about some of the foods we purchase, says Dr
Rossi.
"Instead of just buying chickpeas go for the four-bean mix. Instead of buying one type of seed buy the four-seed mix," she says.
Smile more often

Do not spend so much time focusing on arbitrary matters, do something that makes you smile instead
After the excesses of the holiday season, many of us will be planning to
lose a couple of stone or setting a target for how many times we go to
the gym each week.
But the problem with "arbitrary" goals like these is that they are often
difficult to achieve and failing to reach them can be demoralising,
says Dr James Gill.
Instead, he recommends focusing first on trying to be happier.
"There are lists of specific things that you can do to actively make
your life healthier, but if you are not enjoying your life you probably
won't stick to any difficult or challenging changes for the coming
year," says Dr Gill, a locum GP and researcher at Warwick Medical
School.
But how do you go about becoming happier?
Dr Gill recommends making one change in your life that will make you
smile more often. At the same time, identify one thing that makes you
unhappy and try to do something to improve it.
"Get those two in the bag, and you'll be ready to look to other things
to really give your health a boost further into the year."
And finally, get enough sleep
It may seem obvious, but we should all aim to get enough sleep (seven to nine hours a night for most healthy adults).
Even being mildly deprived of it (five hours a night) can affect a range
of cognitive functions, including decision making, says Dr Gavin
Buckingham, senior lecturer in sport and health sciences at the
University of Exeter.
There are lots of things we can do to get a better night's sleep, from
avoiding caffeine too close to bed to having a consistent bedtime.
But Dr Buckingham's top tip is to stop using electronic devices like
phones and laptops well before bedtime or at least put on a filter that
blocks the blue light in them.