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We all get angry, furious and from time to time, we end up unleashing our angry-self at others.  Some of the reasons why we get into conflicts stems from the fact that we are critiques of our own self and we become defensive even when we are wrong. It all starts with a simple misunderstanding, but the end product is a violent outburst over a small issue. Staying at home during this pandemic has come with a silver lining for some of us, but the rest, it is understandably fraught with anxieties of the massively disruptive global crisis. We are grappling with the fear of contracting Covid-19, the worries of income and massive exhaustion from caretaking. These fears put together, stir craziness that is good enough to strain even the healthiest of family to the core. Such a strain changes the dynamics of home. How do you avoid getting into such unhealthy fights and conflicts at home during this pandemic? Here are some of the few things you can do. 1. Establish respectful communication about your health: During the coronavirus pandemic, it is good to note that the virus spreads first within household, with a projected 15% contracting the disease from those they live with. It thus calls for the need of collaboration to keep each other safe and healthy. Reach out and have serious conversations with your family to iron out some of the issues that may be pending in one way or the other. Identify what each one likes or doesn’t like and stay in your lanes to avoid unnecessary confrontation. 2. Take time for yourself – even if it’s just a few minutes: It is entirely impossible to be alone during this crisis. If you want a peace of mind, it is vital to create time for your own self. If you have children, give them a time to watch a movie as you take your own time alone. It is a good move to unwind all the daily stress in a calm environment and this will help avoid burst-ups left right and center in the house. 3. Understand that it is okay to be human: Agree that conflicts are normal human phenomenon and there is no crime having occasional meltdowns or arguments. Instead, you need to understand that at such times, you can build stronger bonds and relationships by setting ground rules to curb the re-occurrence of more explosive conflicts in the future. We are all only human, and we are doing the best we can. So if conflict does arise between you and your loved ones during these times, remember that we all have access to an extraordinary power: forgiveness. 4. Listen carefully to others Listening to issues in a mature manner is one of the best ways to avoid conflict. It is thus important when a conflict arises you take time to listen carefully to others. Define the conflict and frame the right solution to it, find out if the conflict is directed at you or the problem. That way, you will be in a better position to tell how well to solve the problem without causing more pain and anger. Work on a compromise that benefits all the parties and close that case. Create harmony and allow individuals to grow and co-exist in a better environment. 5. Understand that they are kids As parents who are confided in homes at this time, understand that kids are cheeky and cannot control their emotions. To them, physical outbursts are a common thing but as a parent, intervene with love and in a calm way. Teach them as early as you can the importance of a peaceful co-existence. Shower them with praises when they become helpful and co-operative and in that way you are sure to raise a responsible individual. All in all, it is vital to have a peaceful time at home with your family or friends during this pandemic. Check on each other, watch movies together, do some exercise to burn down the extra energy that may get out of hand if not put to good use. Practice giving each other personal space and talking things out when there is a problem at all times.  This way, you will have found the blue print to a happy home and in a great way you will be able to avoid conflicts. Stay safe and protected in your homes during this lockdown! * The author is a consultant in Public Relations and Personality Types. Instagram: @Tipsbyhalahill

With all the chaos around us it feels like everyone is overwhelmed. When I speak to friends and family I sense an increase in anxiety and frustration across the board and it really worries me. Increased stress and anxiety have a great effect on our physical health so we must learn to reduce both as much as possible. The other day I was sitting with my husband and was explaining him how my anxiety has increased because of several changes in my personal life and my worries for the future, he listened and then finally turned to look at me and said, “Reem, you have to live in the present.” What does that mean? I spent a few moments pondering and it hit me. I have to just focus on the present. The past few months have been a rollercoaster for me full of many emotions, including a good amount of anxiety so I am guilty of not living in the present and I decided it had to stop. A famous quote by Buddha says, “the secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” This is exactly what we should be doing, living in the present and living each and every moment with our knowledge and living them sincerely and with conviction. Well, obviously this is much easier said than done, but we must all try. How? I believe it’s all about focus. I feel that the time I take to analyse the past, worry about the future and dwell on issues that takes a lot of my energy. Not only energy, but the low energy reduces the positivity I feel and then I get stuck in a downward spiral of thoughts on top of thoughts on top of more thoughts. Does that happen to you? Regardless of how you answered, I challenge myself and you to try focusing on the present from now on. For me, this means that I will try to be mindful and aware of my thoughts and direct them back to the present if they go off track. Continuously and consistently making yourself aware is already the hard part, now we just have to push ourselves to get our focus on point and use our time and energy to live in the present and live life with conviction. This takes me back to one of my favourite sayings while I was growing up, ‘carpe diem,’ seize the day. We all must learn to take advantage of each and every moment, each and every day. A nice trick to take advantage of everyday is through a ‘focus list.’ A focus list is what I call a task list but that contains everything. I love keeping track of what I need to get done. I used to think I could work it all out in my mind but putting it down on actual paper rather than memorising or putting it in a note in my phone was more successful. My list always contains a mini mind map but instead of bubbles, with bullet points that prioritise what I need to keep in mind and what I need to get done, and in turn, I keep myself accountable each and every day. I have this list on my kitchen counter so I am constantly reminded of the tasks, projects, habits I am trying to change or even notes. Have you heard of people saying affirmations in the morning where they tell themselves things they need to hear; I haven’t learned to do that yet, but I feel that by showing myself what I need to hear works wonders. So this is my strategy, I need to get my mind off my worries, regrets and negative emotions through focusing on things that actually matter and realising the award thereafter. This strategy might not work for you, but you have to find a way to be able to direct and re-direct yourself back to the present and what matters in that day. Again, we are all being quarantined at home for most of the day so maybe we need these constant reminders to refocus on the present and to make the best of now. Think about your personality and your wants and needs, figure out your strategy on how to re-focus and re-direct yourself to get things done and get your mind on the right track. Remember, live each and every moment. *The author is a wellness advocate and influencer @keys2balance.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column on the healing qualities of the sun, and how Vitamin D’s primary role is to help your body absorb calcium and phosphorous from food, and that your immune system also needs vitamin D to work well. I also explained how it’s scientifically proven that sunlight helps build, and strengthen up your immune system, mainly because your white blood cells increase with sun exposure. These are the cells that play a major role in defending the body against infection.  Well, after studying global data from the novel coronavirus pandemic, researchers have now discovered a strong co-relation between severe Vitamin D deficiency and higher mortality rates. Led by Northwestern University, who also have a campus here in Doha, the research team conducted analysis of data from hospitals and clinics across China, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The researchers noted that patients from countries with high Covid-19 mortality rates, such as Italy, Spain and UK, had lower levels of Vitamin D compared to patients in countries that were not as severely affected. “Vitamin D will not prevent a patient from contracting the virus, but it may reduce complications and prevent death in those who are infected,” says Vadim Backman, the biomedical engineer. Now to get a little technical. Science proves that Vitamin D modulates the response of white blood cells, preventing them from releasing too many inflammatory cytokines (these are a large group of proteins, peptides or glycoproteins that are secreted by specific cells of immune system). The Covid-19 virus is known to cause an excess of pro-inflammatory cytokines — hence scientist started research on the possible links between the two.  In Europe, the highest average levels of Vitamin D is found in northern Europe, due to the consumption of cod liver oil and Vitamin D supplements, and possibly less sun avoidance. Scandinavian nations are among the countries with the lowest number of Covid-19 cases and mortality rates per head of population in Europe. Living in a hot climate like Qatar, where the sun shines most days, you would expect our population’s Vitamin D levels to be normal. Research unfortunately suggests that that’s not the case. Insufficient levels are common, and appear more so in elderly, young adults, and children. For Qataris, the nationality tend to be more deficient than other nationality groups as a result of our culture of covering up in traditional wear, such as thobes and abayas — preventing exposure to sunlight. Skin to the sun is the main source of the type of Vitamin D the body requires to work at its optimum. Yes, it’s important that we protect our skin from the sun in terms of too much exposure — this prevents skin ageing and helps it maintain its elasticity and complexion. However, we need Vitamin D levels from the sun, and should include 30 minutes of sun exposure — limbs and face — daily. “It is hard to say which dose is most beneficial for Covid-19,” Backman said. “However, it is clear that Vitamin D deficiency is harmful, and it can be easily addressed with appropriate supplementation. This might be another key to helping protect vulnerable populations, and elderly patients, who have a prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency.” While supplements containing Vitamin C and D and other micronutrients are a safe, effective and low-cost means of helping your immune system fight off Covid-19 and other acute respiratory tract diseases, here in Qatar you could instead be taking advantage of our warmer climate, and immense amount of sunlight, by rewarding our body with the 30-minutes a day it needs to strengthen our immune systems and provide healing to the body.  *The author is an expert in vegan wellbeing and health. Instagram handle: @Ghanim92 

When Covid-19 first hit metro Detroit, hospitals urged sick people to stay away. Now they’re saying come back because the original message, compounded with fears, came with a cost: Heart attack victims died at home. Stroke patients let symptoms go unchecked for too long. Fractures from falls were left untreated and worsened. This, doctors say, is fallout from Covid-19, a virus that has people so scared that they’re letting life-threatening ailments go unchecked. Though exact data is hard to come by, hospitals across metro Detroit say emergency room visits for non-coronavirus symptoms have dropped by 50% since the shelter-in-place order went into effect six weeks ago — a trend they are now desperate to reverse. “We know more people are dying at home,” said Dr Robert Klever, medical director at Detroit Receiving’s Emergency Department, noting the pandemic quickly emptied ERs of “traditional” patients with chest pains, pneumonia and falls. “There were a lot of people who were scared to come in. It was a legitimate fear. … I think the whole medical community was taken aback by this.” According to Klever, before the stay-at-home order took effect, the ER at Detroit Receiving saw an average of 192 patients a day, compared with 102 a day after the quarantine started. That’s almost a 50% drop. Klever also cited ambulance statistics from over the last month, which — based on EMS runs — show that 27 people died at home at this time last year, compared with 147 at-home deaths this year. That’s more than a fivefold increase. “That’s the collateral damage of people who are afraid to come to the emergency department,” said Klever, who is especially concerned about outcomes that he stressed could have been prevented had people come to ER. For example, Klever cited a recent heart attack victim who waited too long to call 911 and died as a result, a death that left the EMS tech shaken up. “He was pretty upset. I told him, ‘you did everything you could do.’ And they really did. They gave him CPR, medication. And he said, ‘After 17 years, I really have a hard time when I talk to a patient and they still pass away,’” recalled Klever, who believes EMS crews and hospital staff will long suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from this pandemic. “The message is this: ‘We’re here to help and we want to help,’” Klever said, noting Detroit Receiving’s ER has been separated into Covid and Covid-free areas. “Nobody said stay at home if you need groceries, if you need medical care. … We want people to come in,” Klever said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen down the line if you don’t get stitches or if you think you’re having a stroke.” May Is National Stroke Awareness Month, and for Dr Aniel Majjhoo, medical director of neurosciences at McLaren Health, this year’s health campaign is especially important as the pandemic, he said, has led to stroke victims avoiding the ER. Some are even sleeping through their symptoms, hoping they’ll go away, but wind up at the hospital anyway — just too late. “They already have damage to the brain from stroke,” said Majjhoo, noting he has seen a significant drop in stroke surgeries over the last six weeks. “It’s happening across the state … we’re all experiencing the same phenomenon. We’re seeing a decrease in emergency procedures being performed.” And it’s not just stroke victims. “Cardiology is dealing with the same. (Patients) are having heart attacks at home, because they are too afraid to come in,” he said, referring to this as “the bystander effect.” According to Majjhoo, McLaren typically performs about 10-15 stroke surgeries a month. Since the Covid-19 outbreak hit Michigan in late March, that number has dropped to four or five surgeries a month, which worries him. He noted that with strokes, time is everything: Every 30-minute delay drops your chances of a better outcome by 12%. In order for clot busters to work, or for surgeries to be successful, it’s crucial for stroke victims to get to the hospital within 3 hours after the first symptoms appear. Some patients are not eligible for treatments if they get to the hospital too late. Symptoms to look for include difficulty speaking, slurred speech, numbness in the face arms or legs and difficulty walking. “If you’re having the signs of a stroke, it’s imperative that you get looked at as soon as possible,” he said, adding heart attack symptoms should also never be overlooked. “If you can’t breathe, or are having chest pains, you need to go to the ER.” According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stroke kills about 140,000 Americans each year, that’s one out of 20 deaths. Someone in the US has a stroke every 40 seconds. Every 4 minutes, someone dies of stroke. And every year, more than 795,000 Americans have a stroke. At Beaumont Health, traditional emergency room visits slowed so much during the pandemic that dozens of ER doctors got a 25% pay cut after their hours were cut last month while paediatricians in the emergency room took unpaid leaves of absences for 60 days. Beaumont, the state’s largest hospital system, said that it saw a 50% drop in adult emergency visits over the last six weeks, and about an 85% decline in paediatric emergency visits over the same time period. “I certainly believe fear is contributing to a significant portion of the volume decreases,” Dr James Ziadeh, chief of emergency medicine at Beaumont Hospital, said in an email. But it’s more than fear, he added, noting the stay-at-home order is likely also leading to fewer medical emergencies. “We also need to remember that because of the stay at home order, less people are out and about and therefore we are seeing less injuries, less automobile accidents, and other infections that are spread by person-to-person contact, especially in paediatrics,” Ziadeh said. But the medical community is concerned about those who aren’t coming in but should be coming to ER, everyone from heart attack and stroke victims to people battling coughs, abdominal pain and injuries from falls. “Many of these medical issues are due to serious conditions such as pneumonia, appendicitis, and even fractures,” Dr Ziadeh said, stressing: “Time is of the essence. … Our emergency centres are safe and we’re really trying to let people know they should not wait to get care if they are not feeling well.” To alleviate patients’ fears about going to the hospital for medical emergencies, Beaumont set up a website this month to help patients better understand what a visit to the hospital will be like and what is being done to protect their safety. (For information, go to www.beaumont.org/safe.) In a typical year, Henry Ford Health Systems sees about 1,400 patients a day at its ERs across its nine hospitals. After the stay-at-home order went into effect, that volume dropped by almost half, according to Dr John Deledda, Henry Ford’s chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and chief medical officer. “There was certain conventional wisdom that if you don’t need to be in an ER, don’t come,” Deledda said, stressing: “We are far past that point. … Anybody who is experiencing any type of health concern or emergency should seek medical attention immediately, regardless of a stay-at-home order.” The public’s fears appear to be waning, if recent ER visits are any indication. Over the past week, Henry Ford has started to see a slight uptick in ER visits, Deledda said. “Covid-19 seems to have gotten to a point where it’s now managed or has plateaued,” said Deledda, who credits this to social distancing, the stay-at-home order and aggressive hand-washing. “The reasons we’ve been able to get on top of this is because we’ve had great adherence to public policy.” However, Deledda realises that people may still be afraid to come to the ER, and he wants to reach them with these two messages. One, if you have any medical emergency threatening limbs or life, get to the ER immediately as every second counts, particularly for stroke and heart attack victims. Secondly, “our facilities are safe environments.” At Henry Ford’s ER, coronavirus patients and non-virus patients are treated in different sections of the ER. At the main hospital in downtown Detroit, which saw one of the state’s first two cases in March, a screening tent has been set up farther away from the ER to split the flow of patients: those with Covid-19 symptoms to one section of the ER, while the non-Covid-19 patients go to another. “We are a safe facility,” Deledda said. “And we are ready and able to care for medical emergencies.” — Detroit Free Press/TNS

Dr Nader Pouratian implanted matchbook-sized devices into the brains of four visually impaired volunteers more than two years ago. Since then, the participants in the neurosurgeon’s pioneering study have visited his UCLA lab each week to let him hone a system that could give them a rudimentary form of vision. Pouratian hoped to expand his experiment next year to include dozens of people around the country, and eventually make the treatment available to the visually impaired everywhere. Then the coronavirus came along. Now seven years of work have ground to a sudden halt. Regular life will resume someday, but Pouratian’s project may not. “Our first concern obviously has to be the well-being of the people we work with,” he said. “But as a scientist, it is hard to just stop cold like this.” Hardly a facet of life remains untouched by the sweeping effort to slow the coronavirus’ spread. Researchers like Pouratian are facing more than lost income and social isolation. The abrupt stoppage of a vast array of exploration and experimentation at universities and other research institutions has left scientists wondering about the discoveries that may never be made, the sick people who will miss the chance at a breakthrough cure and the careers that may never be launched. The longer the emergency measures remain in place, the more scientists stand to lose. Cell lines specially engineered for particular experiments get older every day. Distant stars cycle out of view of even the largest telescopes. Valuable data is lost before it can be collected. When the orders came down to close their laboratories, scientists scrambled to mothball their experiments in ways that would maximise their chances of being revived. Those who need only a computer and an Internet connection to run simulations or crunch complex numbers continued their work from home. Now almost everyone is barred from their labs. Exceptions have been granted to the relatively few scientists who could show they’d lose irreplaceable work if their research couldn’t continue and those running clinical trials that provided critical care to patients. The rest have relied on skeletal staffs to tend to the animals, cells and expensive equipment that were suddenly abandoned. People who were investigating the new coronavirus or possible treatments for Covid-19, the disease it causes, were exempt from the shutdown orders. A hiatus of several weeks isn’t likely to result in irreparable harm, said Randy Katz, vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Berkeley. If the restrictions stay in place for months, however, losses will become increasingly difficult to avoid. For example, mice that have been bred to have a particular genetic condition or disease must begin an experiment at a particular age, giving scientists a narrow window for conducting their experiments. “Animals don’t live forever,” Katz said. California’s stay-at-home order has complicated efforts by Berkeley scientists to measure the state’s snowpack at field stations in the Sierra Nevada, Katz said. State officials rely on that data to determine how much water will be available for drinking and for irrigating crops. “We obviously need to go when there is snow,” Katz said. “If we wait too long, the opportunity is lost.” UC Berkeley astronomer Alex Filippenko figured he was in the clear when he got special dispensation for a last look at several celestial objects, including a group of supernovas that could help scientists determine the current expansion rate of the universe. He settled in at a remote observing room on campus that connected to one of the 10-metre telescopes at the WM Keck Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. But on the first night of his observing run, he got the news: The telescope was shutting down. Filippenko scrambled to reprioritise. He dropped plans to watch another type of supernova that could reveal more about how stars explode and the chemical elements they forge. By the time he’s able to look again, these stellar phenomena will have long since faded away, he said. Caltech geobiologist Victoria Orphan had recently returned from a research cruise with a trove of deep-sea microbes when word came down that nonessential experiments would have to stop. Orphan’s work with extremophiles — organisms that survive under extreme conditions like high pressure or a complete lack of sunlight — could shed light on the origins of life on Earth and the potential for life on other worlds, among other things. And because these microbes live in these extreme environments, they’re not easy to collect. Orphan didn’t want to lose them. Handling the delicate microbes in the oxygen-free conditions they’re used to can be tricky, she said, so one of her grad students wrote out detailed instructions for a lab manager who is still going on campus to take care of the living things left behind. Some of the high-pressure experiments she had in mind were moved to the back burner since they couldn’t be monitored from home, but if the microbes are still hearty when the stay-at-home order ends, she’ll give them a try then, she said. And Saul Villeda, a neuroscientist and stem cell biologist at UC San Francisco, said his “head is still kind of spinning” after he was told in March that all nonessential work would be suspended within about 72 hours. “It was incredibly fast,” he said. Villeda’s research on ageing has turned up compounds in the blood of young mice that may help reverse cognitive decline in older animals. When the shutdown order came, he gathered his team on a video conference to make quick decisions no scientist ever wants to consider: What tissues could they harvest? Which ones could be preserved, and which would have to be discarded? “It was just this overwhelming feeling because you’re not sure how you’re going to make it work,” said Villeda, who managed to freeze his most precious samples.” And then, of course, you make it work.” Researchers running trials on experimental medical treatments have been granted reprieves if participants in their studies are dependent on the treatments. Pouratian’s work at UCLA did not meet this high bar, so it had to shut down. The system to create a type of artificial vision, which he helped a medical technology company develop, requires subjects to wear special glasses with small embedded video cameras that connect wirelessly to the brain implants. The implants then translate the video footage into patterns of stimulation that the brain interprets as flashes of light, allowing the person to discern motion such as whether someone is approaching them or walking away. Much work remains to fully understand how a brain’s visual cortex and the device interact. After being designated a “breakthrough device” by the Food and Drug Administration, the invention had been on an expedited track toward regulatory approval for widespread use. But now everything is on hold, and the company that produced the device is shutting down, an economic casualty of the pandemic. There is confusion about other sources of funding as well. Government agencies and private groups dole out billions of dollars in grant money each year — but it usually has to be spent during a limited period of time and requires researchers to finish projects on a strict schedule. Matthew Fenton, director of the extramural activities division for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said his agency has been fielding urgent questions from anxious researchers who fear their end-of-year reports won’t show enough progress. “We assure them that that is not the case at all,” Fenton said. “We’re there to support them as much as we can to get through this.” Perhaps the most vulnerable researchers are those just starting out in their careers who don’t have a track record of success to fall back on. For newly minted doctorates, advancing up the scientific ranks is a challenge in normal times. Now many fear it will be all but impossible as their laboratory work — and the coveted academic publications that should follow — enters a sort of purgatory it may never escape. Karla Satchell, a microbiologist studying cholera and cancers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said she was particularly concerned for three of the graduate students working in her lab. One of them was set to get his doctorate this summer but can’t complete experiments he needs for his thesis. “It’s really tough on these trainees,” Satchell said. “You sort of get a momentum in graduate school and you keep that momentum going.” To be sure, many scientists whose work is primarily computer-based have been able to continue analysing their data and running simulations as they shelter at home, albeit with more distractions than usual. That’s little consolation for people like Pouratian, who sees a promising breakthrough possibly slip away. His thoughts keep returning to the four volunteers who agreed to have brain surgery for the sake of his experiment. “They did it not only for themselves, but because it might help others down the road,” he said. “And, now, they’re just sitting at home.” — Los Angeles Times/TNS

Are we starting to see the impacts of social isolation on our bodies and minds? First off, it’s important to remember that isolation doesn’t just numb your brain, people start getting lethargic when they don’t have positive inputs into our small worlds. I was okay at the beginning of lockdown, but now I’ll admit it’s kind of taking a toll on me. If you have a very well defined period of time in which you are isolated, people tend to do pretty well up until the halfway point, but when you are in a situation like we are now, when you are not certain how long you will be asked to maintain social distance, it creates anxiety. I was starting to feel restless and kind of achy in my legs. When I went to the hospital I discovered my Vitamin D level had dropped drastically. We usually get most of the Vitamin D we need from the sun. But as we approach week 8 of lockdown, many of us are not spending as much time outdoors as we need to. As well as protecting our bones and teeth, Vitamin D also helps to prevent us from getting sick, something which is vital during a pandemic. Our skin naturally makes Vitamin D when it is exposed to the sun. Some studies suggest avoiding deficiency helps our resilience to common colds and flu, although there is no evidence that Vitamin D boosts the immune system. So this week I would just like to remind you to try and get some Vitamin D via sunlight in the early hours of the morning, even if that means sitting in your garden, your balcony or standing outside of your house. *The author is a consultant and coach. Instagram handle: @miss_shefa,  Website: missshefa.com

With the surfacing of Covid 19, many vocabularies and terms have originated amidst all the chaos and we are still taking a minute to grasp what we should do. I mean, with phrases like quarantine, self-isolation lockdown, and, at the centre of it all ‘social distancing’, it only makes sense if we confuse or alter the meaning of these terms and that is why this article aims at shading light and cutting across social distancing and what it entails. What is social distancing? Does it mean we separate ourselves from the rest of the world and be alone like in an island in the middle of the sea? Does it expect us to connect with others or not? I can’t blame you in case you have been asking yourself these questions, it is a difficult time, and everybody cares about their health and would do anything to stay alive, but alienating yourself from the rest of the world isn’t one of them. What is social and physical distancing? It is so disappointing to hear the cancellation of many global events such as sports, festivals, cruises, and other gatherings that help in strengthening our ties as human beings. However, it is not just a decision that was made to alienate people from one another; instead, after careful health assessments, many health practitioners agreed anonymously that any event of any sort, and get together should be cancelled to reduce the physical contact between people. Cancelling these events ensures that the spread of the coronavirus is under control as the virus is highly contagious. Many people would be infected, and the death rate would be much more of what we see today if such measures were not put in place. Hospitals would be flooded with a lot of patients, and the healthcare department would be under pressure due to the limited resources. The cancellation of such events that are likely to draw masses of people is an example of social distancing, and therefore, we deliberately increase the physical space between one person to the other in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus, that is, what social distancing is all about. The six feet apart rule is a concept derived to enhance social distancing as you reduce your odds of spreading the virus by staying at least six feet from the other person. Other measures that were put in place to enhance social distancing include: 1- Working from home instead of the normal workplace setting. 2- Many learning institutions were closed, and students were encouraged to take online classes. 3- Public places were marked out of bounce, parks, and beaches were closed to limit human interactions. 4- Meetings and other conferences were to be held online on platforms like skype, not in physical locations. No doubt that we are social beings, and isolation is not a thing for all of us. We miss the social gatherings and the boredom in confined rooms away from friends and even family is messing us up. Some people were caught far away from home, and they have to wake up each morning away from their loved ones. Don’t get me wrong; social distancing has nothing to do with our emotions towards each other, I mean, we are just avoiding unnecessary physical interactions and not shutting down our feelings completely. The good news is; technology is there to offer us a hand in all this. Now we see the importance of social media, video calls, and other interactive media. It is like technology was made for such times, and the gaps that cannot be filled due to the restrictions and measures put in place can be filled with various forms of communication. In such times, between the fear, tough economic times, and the loneliness, it is easy to fall into depression. Sharing what we feel, talking to the people we love and interacting with the rest of the world can spare us the worry and the possibility of health breakdown. It is relatively clear that social distancing doesn’t have to bury the emotional aspect. We still can intact and share what we feel and think, only that we can’t do it in the typical face to face manner. Now we know the importance of social distancing: 1. Reduces the risk of the spread of the virus. 2. Reduces the possibility of spreading the virus. 3. Hospitals will have low addition rates due to slow infection rates. In a nutshell, the virus has hit the whole world; it means as humans, we have a thing in common, a common enemy, and if we have never been united, then we have a reason to right now! * The author is a consultant in Public Relations and Personality Types. Instagram: @Tipsbyhalahill

Have you ever heard of drinking lemon water as a morning ritual? Because of my own personal experience of maintaining this daily ritual for years now, I am a strong believer in its benefits and this is why I continuously urge all my readers and supporters to start adding this simple little trick into their schedules; not only in the morning but hopefully all the time. So what are the benefits? Supports and Improves Digestion: Our stomach need to be somewhat acidic to digest our food in the best manner, therefore, lemon water helps support the acidic environment required to metabolise. Let’s not forget to mention the fact that this helps prevent constipation and improves your bowel movements. In general, drinking lemon water helps kickstart your digestive system and get it moving. Not only does it get it moving, it also helps prevent from getting blocked by toxins. It tricks your liver to start to detoxify by producing more bile which helps move food through your body smoothly. Lemons are also considered an alkaline forming food which helps support your health and balances your body’s pH (power of hydrogen). Supports Weight Loss and Control: You don’t have to necessarily replace all your morning drinks with hot water and lemon but think of potentially removing one or all of them as a possibility. Reduce the amount of coffee you have a day by replacing your early morning cup of coffee with it. Possibly reduce the amount of sugar you are injecting into your body with juices or other drinks you might be enjoying. Not only can you drink this in the morning but you can also drink a glass before and/or after meals to consistently support the acidic environment required for your enzymes to work to digest. This in turns lead to better digestion and weight maintenance. Think about it, if you get bored of drinking water, lemon water is the next best thing. Studies have shown how drinking lemon water in a consistent manner supports weight loss and improves sugar levels. Drinking more water (with or without lemon) automatically makes you feel more full and helps support smaller portions besides the major benefit of hydrating your body. Hydration Incorporating a glass of water, regardless of the lemon, supports your hydration levels and the required amount of water per day your body ideally needs to function well. This further supports the idea of creating a routine and applying healthy tricks along your daily routine. Simply having it in the morning once a day can prevent kidney stones too. The citrate found in citric acid in lemons potentially breaks down small stones and makes urine less acidic. Vitamin C Lemons contain Vitamin C and other beneficial nutrients our bodies need to function well, helping your immune system function and protect your health. We all know how Vitamin C fights colds. Did you know that Vitamin C also works wonders for your skin? Antioxidant Properties Lemons contain phytonutrients that have amazing antioxidant components that prevent cell damage and support immunity. Fresh Breath Why not help reduce bad breath by letting the lemon take effect in your mouth as soon as you wake up, after a meal, before you sleep? Lemon is said to stimulate saliva and water in your mouth in order to help prevent dry mouth and bad breath. Mental and Physical Health Supporting and improving your overall health, no matter how or what you are doing, directly has an effect on your mental health. I cannot forget to mention that drinking lemon water in a consistent manner also improves your athletic performance. Lemons are also high in potassium leading better nerve and brain function. Boosts Immunity From all perspectives, lemons and lemon water aid your overall health and have proven to be significant support to your immune system. They also have anti-inflammatory effects that complement your body’s daily functions. So yalla, its Ramadan and it’s the time for that change, try breaking your fast with lemon water and waiting 15 minutes to start your meal?! Trust me, in the long run, you will be very happy! Have a great weekend. * The author is a wellness advocate and influencer @keys2balance.

As most of the world continues to remain in some form of ‘lockdown’ amid the coronavirus pandemic, a person’s health and hygiene has never been more in the spotlight. Every single day, we are hearing about the importance of wearing masks, using disposable gloves correctly, and maintaining a safe social distance from others — but there’s a fundamental message I feel has not been conveyed enough internationally and requires extra emphasis: your health.  Until the vaccine is available, our immune systems will need to adapt to be able to fight off Covid-19. The immune system is the body’s multi-level defence network against potentially harmful bacteria, viruses and other organisms. Basically, a healthy lifestyle not only helps an immune system to be in the best shape possible to tackle pathogens, but it’s helps stop them entering the body in the first place — and this part is very important.  While there are all kinds of claims online, the fact is the only diet that is genuinely full of vitamins and minerals essential for boosting your immune system is a plant based diet. In fact plant-based diet contains 64-times the amount of immunity-boosting antioxidants compared to a diet that includes meat and dairy.  We’re hearing constantly about hand sanitiser and other protection equipment — but these do not form part of our front-line defence, and I call on organisations and officials to further explain the following:  A poor diet is a major cause behind the Covid-19 deaths — this is a fact that a leading cardiologist in the UK has cautioned. Dr Aseem Malhotra, who is a frontline medic and also a professor of evidence based medicine, said that obesity and excess weight were the ‘elephant in the room’ (meaning it’s never spoken about, but should be) and that it needs to be addressed as a major factor behind the deaths from the coronavirus. Countries with typically high obesity rates such as the US and the UK have seen some of the highest death rates from Covid-19 in the world, which are likely to correlate with unhealthy lifestyles — and this is a message we must learn from, even here in Qatar. If you are smoking cigarettes, a potentially deadly ‘habit’ which is incredibly damaging to the human body and brain with, or without a global pandemic — studies already amply show that cigarette smoking weakens the immune system and compromises the function of the lungs. A new study has clearly shown what we already safely assumed: such patients who smoke, vape, or use shisha might have a tougher time resisting an attack of Covid-19. In fact, some medics have questioned whether unexpectedly high numbers of younger people who have become seriously ill with the coronavirus are connected to the smoking or shisha trend.  A group of scientists are now stating that if a country was to adopt a healthier diet and lifestyle, not only would everyone’s front line defence be much stronger, but the population may not need to lockdown next time we have an outbreak. A global pandemic, with a contagious disease that’s spreading without a vaccine available needs action from every single individual. Your own measures can’t stop with just the use of masks and gloves, it must go beyond this, and we need recognition from our health ministries that the majority of our population is in urgent need of diet changes to strengthen immune systems, and cut out all of the rubbish that is causing so many people to be categorically ‘vulnerable’ in this pandemic.  Continue to wash your hands, use protective equipment, and stay home as much as possible — but the key to your own health is in your hands, and it starts with what your diet.  * The author is an expert in vegan wellbeing and health. Instagram handle: @Ghanim92 

Getting up in the wee hours and having pre-dawn meal (Suhoor) and fasting all the day to break (Iftar) it at dusk during Ramadan is a religious obligation performed by Muslims. The holy month, however, also offers an opportunity to the non-Muslims to observe and experience the essence of fasting. The Gulf countries in general and Qatar in particular offer this unique opportunity to millions of non-Muslim and Muslim expatriates as they witness and experience Ramadan and the Arab hospitality. In Qatar, many non-Muslim expatriates fast during Ramadan just to have a first-hand experience of the month. Many others appreciate the generosity shown by people in general during the holy month. Xiomara Henriquez is a professional fitness coach. “I combine my knowledge in health sciences as a biologist and clinical lab scientist with my skills as a certified personal training coach and professional fitness competitor to provide a unique experience to my clients. Xiomara, as a professional, urges people to take control of their health and assists them in setting up goals for them. “I create customised health and fitness plans based on DISC fitness personality assessments and lifestyle. I personally guide clients through their goal setting process to help them develop the skills to take ownership of their health. I believe clients benefit more from gaining the knowledge on how to be a leader in advocating for their well-being.” The fitness trainer has not only been training people but also doing volunteer works for different communities. “While living in Qatar, I have been taking classes in Aerial Fitness for Yama Yoga Studios and training clients at Mondrian Doha. When I am not in the gym, I would spend some time volunteering in the community as a person centred care ambassador for Hamad Medical or helping host workshops with Inspire Me. In 2019, I was chosen to co-host the Doha Women’s Forum. It was an honour to introduce special guests who spoke on gender equity.” Like many other fitness trainers and professionals, Xiomara is also affected by the stay-at-home order triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic. “But now social distancing has changed the way we all have been framing our daily lives.  While I am no longer able to go to the gym, I train at home and offer one-to-one sessions online to my clients. I continue to instruct online for Yama Yoga Studios on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am. I also spend my time continuing to learn Arabic and taking courses online to further my knowledge in fitness and health. I attend online webinars to stay connected with friends and maintain a positive atmosphere.” Xiomara says she has gained a lot by living in Qatar and experiencing Ramadan. She has actually once observed fasting for a whole month.  “As an expatriate, my experience of witnessing Ramadan in Qatar has been educational. In 2018, as a way to connect with those around me, I observed fasting for the entire month. It was a small shared experience that gave me a better insight into what the month means to Muslims and why they fast.  I learned that it is not just a cleaning of the body, but of the mind also. I am grateful for the opportunity and happy to live in a country where I am welcomed to share Ramadan as a non-Muslim.”

In 40 years of smoking, Katie Kennedy has tried four times to quit but always went back to cigarettes. Today, she is summoning a new mental image when a craving comes on: rows of Covid-19 patients hooked to ventilators. Kennedy’s dad also smoked. He was on a ventilator before he died, and seeing how invasive the machine was and watching his discomfort and distress made Kennedy vow not to die like that. “I just decided it’s time to protect my lungs as much as I can,” said Kennedy, 59, who started a cessation class in Sacramento, California, in March. “Covid-19 is quite a motivator.” Early studies suggest that smokers who develop Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, are 14 times more likely to need intensive treatment compared with nonsmokers. Doctors in California are seizing this moment to highlight the connection between Covid-19 and smoking as another reason people should quit. The toll-free California Smokers’ Helpline — 1-800-NO-BUTTS — which offers free cessation advice, is redirecting research money to provide two weeks of free nicotine patches, sent directly to a caller’s home. Calls to the help line in March were down 27.5% compared with the same month last year — which the staff attributes mainly to people being too stressed out to consider quitting. Nonetheless, staffers say some callers are referencing the coronavirus and the upheaval of the state’s stay-at-home order as their inspiration to quit. “I spoke with a gentleman last week who is seriously taking this time to reorganise his life,” said Nallely Espina, a counsellor with the help line. “He’s setting a new routine for himself at home and staying away from his smoker friends, which was one of his main triggers.” A man in his mid-20s was prompted to call after he read a news article about how even young people who smoke could have more severe health complications from the virus, she said. About half her callers are using the time at home to revamp their habits: start yoga, meditation or a healthier diet. The rest seem supremely frazzled, being trapped inside with their families. Espina helped one dad devise new coping strategies. “Going outside and having that cigarette, it’s his time out from the kids,” she said. “So for him, we decided let’s still go outside, but instead of having a cigarette, maybe you spend those minutes doing a few pushups and burpees? And he loved that idea. He went for it.” California public health agencies are incorporating information about the link between smoking and the coronavirus into their social media and public outreach messages, building on a 30-year legacy of aggressive anti-smoking campaigns and policies. The state was the first to ban smoking on airplanes and in restaurants and bars, adding a long list of other public spaces over the years that made smoking logistically difficult and culturally unpopular. As a result, California has the second-lowest smoking rate in the country — 11.3% — after Utah, where only 8.9% of the population smokes and Mormon values are credited with discouraging the habit. While health advocates nudge smokers to quit, some researchers wonder whether California’s low smoking rate will influence how the state fares through the pandemic. “It’s a really great question,” said Ruth Malone, a professor emerita of nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, who has studied tobacco control for 20 years. “Smokers do much worse if they contract the virus, which is not too surprising given that it attacks lung tissue. There also is some new research suggesting that it might even promote transmission because of the particular pathways that it hooks on to.” Proving a correlation would require sophisticated modelling to isolate smoking as a risk factor from the many others that help determine geographic differences in the spread and severity of the virus. Those factors include population density, when the virus was introduced in a community and the timing of mitigation measures, like shelter-at-home orders, which California was the first to institute. Researchers have long known that smoking makes it harder to fight off respiratory infections, because it increases mucus production and paralyses cilia, the hairlike fibres in the respiratory tract and lungs that normally flush out invaders. “If any organism gets down there in the lower airways, whether it’s the coronavirus or another virus, you’ve got the mucus that it can get stuck in, and it can’t get whisked away because the cilia are not working,” said Dr John Swartzberg, professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC-Berkeley. “So those organisms have a perfect home.” Newer science indicates smoking may also increase a person’s chance of contracting the coronavirus, because tobacco increases a certain enzyme receptor in the cells — angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 — where scientists believe the virus attaches and infects it, said Marcos García-Ojeda, an immunologist at UC Merced. Imagine a human cell as a house with doors and windows where the virus can enter, he added. “If you smoke, now you have increased the amount of windows and doors for the virus to come in,” he said. Still, other scientists hypothesise that the virus enters cells through a different receptor — one that nicotine may be able to block. Researchers in France plan to explore whether wearing a nicotine patch may help prevent infection, while acknowledging that smokers who do develop Covid-19 are more likely to experience more severe symptoms. Tobacco-control advocates are calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect more robust data on the connection between smoking and the coronavirus. The development of a reliable and widely available coronavirus antibody test could also help characterise the connection. “Once we start doing very robust antibodies studies, we’ll be able to take a population of people infected and see how many of them are smokers versus nonsmokers. Then you could see what the morbidity in each group is,” said Swartzberg. “That study would be very simple to do.” Figuring out whether low smoking rates contribute to a reduction in overall infections would be harder, requiring more complex models that can control for other potential factors. For example, the smoking rate in New York City, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, is roughly the same as California’s. That could either invalidate the idea that a low smoking rate is protective, experts say, or indicate that smoking is just one of many, many variables that influence the impact of the outbreak. “We went to physical distancing policies and closing nonessential businesses a few days earlier than New York. I think those were a critical few days,” said Dr John Balmes, a pulmonologist and professor of medicine at UCSF. California cities also tend to be less densely populated than Eastern cities, Balmes added. In the meantime, doctors are relying on what they do know to persuade people to try to quit smoking now. “Once you stop smoking or vaping, your lungs, your immune system, they start getting better within minutes,” said Dr Elisa Tong, a physician at UC Davis and project director for the University of California Tobacco Cessation Network. Katie Kennedy of Sacramento has been learning these lessons at her smoking cessation class, which moved to online sessions. Being cooped up at home has presented some challenges for her. “My husband smokes,” Kennedy said. “And that’s probably the biggest trigger.” It was their ritual, to smoke together. The times she has relapsed, it was always with him. Now that they’re stuck at home with each other nonstop, there’s constant temptation. “There is the thought that passes through my brain, ‘Oh, he’s going out for a cigarette. That sounds good,’” she said. “Well, when I get that urge, I know it’s the nicotine talking. So I pop a nicotine lozenge and take a deep breath and try to busy myself with something else.” She said it helps to refocus her mind on why she wanted to quit in the first place.                              — Kaiser Health News

Mallory Pease’s contractions grew stronger as her husband, Mitchell, drove her to Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall, Michigan, to give birth to their second child. It had been a routine pregnancy, but she told her doctor she’d recently developed a sore throat, aches, coughing and shortness of breath — symptoms her provider knew could indicate Covid-19. So, when she arrived at the hospital, she was taken to an isolation area, tested for the coronavirus and given oxygen. She took shallow, panting breaths as she delivered her daughter on March 23 in about five hours. But she could hold little Alivia for only five minutes before the newborn was whisked off to a nursery. Pease, 27, was transferred to a Covid-19 floor, where she was told her test came back positive. By the next morning, she was so ill that her doctors discussed putting her on a ventilator. As she struggled to breathe and worried for her life, her heart ached to hold her newborn. Instead, she held tight to the memory of that brief glimpse. When she finally got to cradle Alivia in her arms four days later, she said, “it was kind of like meeting her all over again.” Across the US, Covid-19 is radically altering medical care, not only for vulnerable elders but also for pregnant women and their babies entering the world. “In the last six weeks, our entire world that was known as being normal has completely turned around,” said Dr Edith Cheng, division chief for maternal fetal medicine at the University of Washington. Hospitals from Seattle to St Louis are recommending separating infected mothers from their newborns for days, and asking the women to forgo the intimacy of skin-to-skin contact, and sometimes breastfeeding, to help prevent their infants from contracting the disease. The actions are based on guidance from medical associations. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had advised separation across the board until updating their guidance on April 4 to consider it case by case. Separation runs counter to most any parent’s birth plan — and to the best research on family-centred care. But experts say it’s important to put protections in place, given the still-evolving understanding of the effects of Covid-19 during pregnancy and childbirth. “Can babies be infected if the mother is infected at birth? The answer is yes, not commonly, but yes,” said Dr Karen Puopolo, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and co-author of the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines on Covid-199 and newborns. It’s not clear how many pregnant women have been infected with Covid-19 across the US. They accounted for just 2% of cases tallied in one early report. With more than 1.1 million confirmed infections in the US as of Friday night, that’s still many thousands of expectant women potentially affected by the deadly respiratory virus. Many pregnant women may be infected and not know it. Of 215 women admitted for delivery at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City from March 22 to April 4, about 15% tested positive for the coronavirus, but the vast majority showed no symptoms upon admission. Scattered reports of infants possibly being sickened by the coronavirus are surfacing nationwide. A 9-month-old baby in Chicago who tested positive for Covid-19 died in March, though further investigation has raised questions about whether the virus was to blame. Last month, a 6-week-old girl who tested positive for the virus died in Connecticut; investigation also continues into her cause of death. Kentucky’s governor recently announced that the state’s new cases included a 10-day-old boy. Very young babies may be at higher risk for serious complications from Covid-19 than other children. Although those 18 and younger make up fewer than 2% of all Covid-19 cases in the US, infants accounted for most of the hospitalisations in paediatric cases, according to the CDC. Of 95 children younger than 1 hospitalised between February 12 and April 2, at least 59 were hospitalised, and five were admitted to the ICU. That information — plus limited data on infections in babies in China — has shifted the thinking of many obstetrics specialists, said Cheng. In recent weeks, several pregnant women infected with Covid-19 have delivered babies at Cheng’s hospital, the UW Medical Center in Seattle. Their newborns were sent to a special section in the neonatal intensive care unit. At other facilities, separation might involve taking the newborn to another room, or letting the mother and baby stay in the same room, but 6 feet apart and often separated by a curtain. They’re kept apart from moms — and sometimes dads, who also may be sick — until the parents have had no symptoms for three days or for a week after their first symptoms, whichever is greater. Given the still-scant data about the effects of Covid-19, some experts question whether separating mothers and newborns is wise or warranted. Disrupting the bonding that occurs in the first days of life could have far-reaching consequences, said Dr Yalda Afshar, an OB-GYN at UCLA Health in Los Angeles. “Being completely data-blind but counselling women on their outcomes and their babies’ outcomes is just wrong,” she said. To fill the data void, Afshar and colleagues at the University of California-San Francisco have created a nationwide pregnancy registry to track the effects of Covid-19 on pregnant women and their newborns. Already, more than 1,000 people have signed up for the study. Silvana Vergara Tobin, 33, who runs an online art gallery in New York City, is among them. Tobin fell ill with Covid-19 in mid-March and is worried about the potential effects on the baby boy she expects to deliver in August. “What really scares me is that I might get it again,” said Tobin, whose symptoms included sinus headaches, body aches and a persistent cough. “Or that the baby didn’t get immunity and he might get it once he’s born.” The registry will track women and their babies from early pregnancy through a year postpartum, trying to answer basic questions. “Do pregnant women with Covid-19 have more severe, less severe or different disease?” Afshar said. “Does it transmit in utero? Does it cause birth defects?” Doctors and patients said it’s frustrating that so much remains unknown. Alaine Gilpin, who lives near Louisville, Kentucky, tested positive for Covid-19 in early April after coughing for a month but showing no other symptoms. She gave birth at Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital on April 11 at 5 1/2 months’ gestation. The baby boy weighed just 1 pound, 9 ounces and needed the aid of a ventilation machine. She now wonders: “Could this be a result of Covid-19?” To protect moms and babies, many hospitals with enough test kits are starting to test all women who show up to give birth. Dr Chemen Neal, an OB-GYN with Indiana University Health, said her colleagues bathe the babies of Covid-19-positive moms just after birth. And like medical professionals elsewhere, they talk to each mom about pumping breast milk for her baby or breastfeeding only after washing her torso and hands and wearing a surgical mask. At some hospitals, Covid-19 births can be especially challenging. At Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis, for example, women with symptoms can’t give birth in the normal labour and delivery area because it’s in a building that also houses severely immunocompromised patients. A triage tent has been set up outside, and moms with known or suspected Covid-19 are routed through the emergency room into a special delivery area. Another challenge is keeping babies safe after they are discharged from the hospital. Ideally, experts recommend infected moms stay 6 feet from their babies while another caretaker provides daily care, but often this is difficult, particularly for women who lack family support. Pease worried about passing the virus to her baby after getting home. Before embracing Alivia at her aunt’s house, and for the next few days, she said, she wore a mask and “washed my hands like crazy.” But over time, Pease’s symptoms have eased and she’s gotten stronger. Though she still gets tired in the evenings, she’s now able to feed, change and care for her newborn. And she said her bond with the baby is strong. “Alivia is good. She’s happy,” Pease said. “She never skipped a beat.”      — Kaiser Health News

Ramadan is no doubt a month of spiritual blessings and self-restraint for Muslims. The holy month, however, is very different this year because of the stay-at-home phenomenon triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic. This year, a majority of employees are asked to work from home and that can be a challenge for some. Pakistani expatriate Malik Nasir Nawaz is a corporate trainer, facilitator and mentor for future executives and professionals. The motivational speaker carries over 25 years of international experience in corporate training. “I have been facilitating corporate sector around the globe by providing practical, interactive trainings, workshops, seminars, on-line trainings and mentoring sessions. I have been coaching, training and mentoring top management and professionals of multinational and blue chip organisations in different parts of the world. I have recently been engaged by noted organisations for different training and learning assignments in Qatar. My expertise includes stress management, leadership skills, accountability vs responsibility, plan and organise work, team building etc.” He believes that over two decades of experience of working from home for research and preparation of training programmes has given him expertise which can be beneficial to share during this difficult time period. “‘Half glass full is much better than seeing half glass empty’ should be the motto to follow during this time. Most of the people may fantasise about working from the comfort of their own home, thinking that they don’t have to face traffic in the morning, no need to properly dress up, more sleeping time without any tension, no fear of boss walking in the office, etc. Pile of laundry that suddenly looks more appealing than your bosses’ to-do list. “But in the true sense it’s more difficult to remain focused on work while at home. After a couple of days stress level starts rising when domestic tasks interrupt deadlines of office work. It gets even more stressful when we have no choice but to get involved daily in family matters specially kids’ day to-days issues. Stress level gets on high peek for those people who are used to socialising at work.” Malik underlines the fact that if life and work patterns are not taken care of, Ramadan can also affect the work productivity. “The fasting individual is inclined towards more worship and kind deeds that can also have an impact on the work. There are, however, some suggestions that I can offer to have maximum productivity while fasting. “I always see Ramadan as month of self-mastery and self-discipline. In my opinion the true spirit of this month is self-examination, self-discovery and an opportunity of self-improvement. As personal hygiene is the call of the day, making ablution (wudu) five times a day helps you remain mentally alert with lot of positive energy. Further, try and control your food intake. As Muslims, we are taught, our stomach needs to have one third of food, one third of water and one third of air. Moderate food intake is not only supportive to our digestive system but also helpful in avoiding laziness and lethargic feelings.” In the efforts to keep up with the official work or to enhance it while at home, the trainer said: “Allocate yourself a dedicated and comfortable spot to work that you can associate with your job. To ward off the stress of being confined to your home, focus on the things you have long pending. Start brushing up your work related skills.  “Read Qur’an and any book which relates to your field of work and review what you have done or achieved before going to bed. Try to have a positive acknowledgement of something you accomplished, learned or are grateful for. It will help escalation of positive approach for the next day and remind you that you remain productive while working from home.” Malik further said: “Avoid spending lot of time on social media, only rely on authentic government information and news channels for reliable information. The fake news and sensationalism will also put you under stress badly affecting your work productivity.”

I’m writing this column at my dining table, wearing my PJs. Besides my husband and two close friends, I haven’t spent time physically with anyone for over a month now. I speak and connect with my family and friends over video chat; I stay abreast of acquaintances lives thanks to their many regular updates on social media. I go out once a week to the supermarket. I know, it’s pretty similar for you and so this has led many of us to wonder about normality: when will things ‘return to normal,’ and what will a ‘new normal’ look like? What does ‘normal’ really mean, anyway? The word ‘normal’ appears straightforward enough. But like many of our words, as soon as we begin thinking about it, it starts to slip through our fingers, like a slippery bar of soap in the bathtub. The definition of ‘normal’ might be hard to define, but its function is pretty clear: normal is safe. Normal is familiar. Normal is comfortable. The new normal, in other words, changes what was wrong but keeps what was right with the old normal. But if the old normal was wrong, then why did we call it normal? Similarly, if the new normal is different from the old one, how can we pretend we’re still dealing with ‘normal’? So we kind of want to go back to where we were, but we also kind of don’t. We want things to be the same, but we also want them to be different. We want to return to normal but we know deep down that our journey won’t be a return so much as a departure. The question, then, is why would we use the word ‘normal’ at all? How can you go in and come out the same? When this is over how can we be the same people that went in? By being inside, something has happened inside of us that won’t allow us to go back to being ‘normal’. I hope for all of us there have been changes, shifts and transformations, re-thinking, -re-evaluating. It’s tempting to wonder when things will return to normal, but the fact is that they won’t – not the old normal anyway. But we can achieve a new kind of normality, even if this new world is so different in fundamental ways. *The author is a consultant and coach. Instagram handle: @miss_shefa,  Website: missshefa.com

For the first time in a long time, there is no certainty in a world that relies on predictability. The system has dismantled its elements and left most of us feeling misplaced. Days flow into one another, making weekends futile, for the exhaustion of usual week doesn’t feel the same without the daily grind of physically moving around. Time isn’t a marker, but a vessel that is useful only if you fill it. The stillness of our environments has puzzled our mind, that now replaces the restlessness that was previously outside. The constant uncertainty being circulated by the media, adds no reassurance to our peace of mind. It is now that I have begun to question the durability of the only certainty I have – that my mind, my emotions, my thoughts, my mental state will either survive or not.The answer to this will question will only be found once I understand my own mindset. To do this, I will ponder further. Is my perspective on the world, my attitude towards discomfort and unpredictability effective for my life? Does my current default mood, that temporary state of mind that I habitually return to, benefit the way I deal with difficulties in my life? Can I improve my mindset to prepare for discomfort, like a wrestler prepares for a fight? What does a resilient mindset look like? The answers to these questions create a mental start point at which I can start looking for the solution to my problem.  While studying Psychology in school, we often came across definitions of words that we today take for granted. Resilience being one of them. A popular definition of this word that I resonate with, is ‘the ability to withstand and rebound from disruptive life challenges. It refers to the ability of a system (or person) to remain intact in spite of adversity, and either to return to the same level of functioning as before the crisis or to surpass this pre-morbid level’ (Walsh, 2003). A resilient mental state is one that answers a firm yes to the question – in the face of adversity, will you be able to keep it together long enough to recover and return to normal? A few years ago, my mindset would have answered an egotistical yes, afraid to seem weak in the eyes of others. Being resilient is a quality we would all like to associate with, yet it isn’t a badge of success we can just hook onto our personal experiences. To really deal with adversity in one’s life, isn’t to just let time help you move past it. It’s to be in control of your mental state at ALL times, even without adversity, and use this efficient mental state to make decisions and choices in your life when adversity does knock on your door.  Admitting to myself over the last few years that my thoughts and actions weren’t resilient was a truth I needed to face. Today, in the face of this difficult period, I have been consciously using my strategies to remain in a mental state that is positive and focused. Once we master the emotional switches in our mind, we can rely on our brain to provide us with predictability in times of adversity, when unpredictability conquers. Imagine always having your mindset to rely on, because you’ve trained your brain to remain predictable in face of difficulty and discomfort; predictable with positive and productive behaviours and thoughts that help you deal with the discomfort, rather than confuse you. When the threat to your security does come, you’ll be ready to fight and not be forced to take flight. If you would like to start preparing, scan the QR Code below or check out the link mentioned in my bio on Instagram and enrol in this free course I have designed to give you some certainty. Some of us won’t make it, but some of us will. Only you can do something to change that.  * The author can be contacted on Instagram @sincerelysanah

The continuous spread of Covid-19 has continued to impact fear in us and has become a nightmare to people living with anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The fear created by Covid-19 is responsible for the daily changes in habits of people living with these disorders. Based on data presented by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, more than 2 million people live with OCD and more than 7 million are affected by an anxiety disorder. Covid-19 has created fear in the lives of many people but the people living with a mental disorder are the most affected because it adds more fear to the already existing. Fear has caused changes in thoughts and emotions of people living with such disorders because they fear to transfer the virus to others even when they do not have it or not showing any symptoms of it. When people suffering from such disorders run out of disinfectants or sanitisers, it creates more panic because they believe that without them, there is a high chance of them getting the virus and spreading it to their loved ones. As the coronavirus continues to spread, a lot of things such as some services, events, and schools are being closed and several people are headed to a financial crisis. Many people are trying to reach out asking for help in different places such as the Crisis Text Line and on other different social media platforms. The most affecting factor that creates fear for people living with anxiety and OCD is the social distancing that is giving them more free time and is creating negative thoughts in their minds. Some of these patients go as far as escaping from mental facilities. According to the Director of the Anxiety Disorder Treatment Center, Reid Wilson, every individual is exposed to a specific kind of fear all over the world. One of his patients suffering from OCD touched his nose with his hand, something that made the patient so worried from the fact that he might transfer the disease to other people including his doctor. This act made him nearly cancel his appointment. Another patient living with an anxiety disorder was worried about her daughter travelling, because she thinks she is exposed to the danger of being affected by the pandemic. Since the basis of anxiety disorders is uncertainty, Covid-19 has created more unending problems for most anxiety foundations in many ways. The pandemic has increased the level of anxiety in patients that have made it difficult for them to cope up with daily activities. For those who have been affected in different ways such as loss of income, work changes, isolation among others are now experiencing difficulty in coping up with the changes. This has mostly affected the anxiety patients who were also recovering from their conditions. The Covid-19 fear has caused the relapse in such patients.   Patients living with anxiety and OCD are living with fear in their daily lives and to some, it is not the fear of the virus, but the fear created by other people. People living without anxiety or OCD are affected by the spread of Covid-19 and their state of panic and hysteria, also increases the fear of people living with such disorders. As the virus continues to spread, people’s lives are changing, the number of infected people is increasing, and the number of deaths is increasing too, and this has caused a lot of panic in people. Those who live with anxiety and OCD disorder think that they are at a higher risk because of their conditions. This combines with other information in media, worsening their condition, and affects their daily activities that are exposing them to more risk of relapsing than ever.  The normal life of people living with anxiety and OCD has become the normal life of everyone as all of them live with the fear of the pandemic. People panic and suddenly everyone needs the sanitiser and disinfectant wipes and if they don’t receive them, they get worried.  All in all, it is important to note that fear, which has been created by the coronavirus pandemic has caused more damage everywhere and it is vital to find remedies for patients with OCD. Now we know how people with OCD feel every single day! * The author is a consultant in Public Relations and Personality Types. Instagram: @Tipsbyhalahill

Ramadan Mubarak! The blessed Holy Month of Ramadan is upon us and there are so many opportunities to take advantage of during this time. With our current situation we are all forced to apply some sort of self-quarantine. I’ve been seeing and hearing of people who are taking advantage of the quarantine to kickstart their new healthy lifestyle, there are some that have improved their lifestyle even more and then you have those who either fell off track or are just getting worse with their lifestyle in general. Now that Ramadan has arrived, it’s a double whammy opportunity; we can seriously take advantage of this quarantine and combine it with some of the basic principles of Ramadan to help improve our health. Let’s talk about Ramadan… Besides the religious component, health is a huge part of the blessed month. Both mental and physical health are tested and treated during this time and it is perfect for starting, restarting or further developing your health and overall lifestyle. Ramadan is about spiritual reflection, self-reflection, increased devotion and worship, self-improvement and more importantly, self-discipline. Muslims are to basically put more effort into their religion and simultaneously develop themselves and their health further. For this article’s purpose, self-discipline is the ability to control your own behaviour. For example, fasting is significantly helpful when it comes to your health and there are numerous benefits, especially when you are able to successfully maintain self-control for an entire month. This form of intermittent fasting does wonders for you health as fasting in itself is an accomplishment. The secret for a person to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle, he or she has to be able to train their mind and in turn, their body. The basics to achieving a healthy and balanced lifestyle are 1- eating right, 2- being physically active and 3- following a balanced routine that encompasses one’s holistic life. That is why Ramadan is the perfect time to restart or refresh you physical and mental health and to even get onto the right path. We as humans have to source the perfect opportunities for self-improvement and take advantage of them and this is the time. Why not find your balance and create your healthy lifestyle while quarantined during Ramadan? Learning to self discipline is challenging, as we all probably know, but overcoming that challenge is when everything starts to gets clearer, easier. The moment we are able to practice self control, is the moment we start to have some kind of control over our own lives and I’m sure many of you out there are in dire need of some sort of feeling of control, so yalla, take control! Ramadan is one of the best times to practice, Muslim or not. Studies show that it takes minimum of 21 days to start or form a new habit. So why not start to maintain a healthy routine of self control in diet, activity and general mindfulness? Stop making the same mistakes and take the occasion to introduce new behaviours or habits such as intermittent fasting, closely watching what you eat, balancing your meals and portions and simply watching your water intake. Try to understand your weaknesses and strengthen yourself. As I have said several times before, you are self-quarantining, it might be a challenge but there are definitely some pros to it. You are home, in your own space, somewhat comfortable and have more time than you are probably used to, therefore, this is the prime time to create and develop a routine, eat better, create your own meals, sleep better, be physically active, self-reflect and think of others. If you have family at home, consider this the perfect chance to be a role-model and show them how it’s done. Always remember that the real secret to your health is self-discipline and once you understand that, only then will you see the benefits and open the doors for so much more. * The author is a wellness advocate and influencer @keys2balance.

As you read this first sentence of this week’s column, take a deep breath. In through the nose. Feel the wave of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide press against the bounds of your ribcage and your lungs. Exhale.  As humans, we significantly underestimate the very concept of breathing, and the power of exercise our lungs do while breathing. Your body breathes on autopilot, but scientific research clearly shows that mindful, conscious breathing — paying attention to your breath and learning how to manipulate it, use it, exercise it — is one of the most effective ways to improve a variety of health factors ranging from the health of lungs, to your mood, or metabolism. We rarely use our lungs to their full ability, instead taking ordinary, relatively shallow breaths without clearing out excess air, and inhaling in fresh air. The lungs have a big job: sending oxygen into the bloodstream to be delivered to every cell in the body. As you inhale, the diaphragm contracts to take in oxygen. However, if you’re not breathing deeply, the lungs eventually may lose some of their elasticity, causing air build-up in the lungs.  With respiratory disease causing the world’s largest pandemic in over a century, it’s never been more important to know how to exercise your breathing. Deep breaths increase the lungs’ capacity to push out excess air, and leave you feeling noticeably different — perhaps lighter, or more ‘awake’ — which is why I especially recommend breathing exercises in the mornings when you need to be alert and active to start the day.  The Wim Hof Method breathing techniques is something I discovered a few years ago and still think about today. It was developed by Wim Hof, who is also known as The Iceman, and he believes you can accomplish incredible things by developing command over your body through use of specific breathing techniques. The technique also helps improve your productivity, performance, and overall well-being. Hof has worked with scientists to gain credibility by proving that his techniques work to bring about health benefits.  Participants in a 2014 study performed breathing techniques such as consciously hyperventilating and retaining the breath, meditated, while walking into ice cold water. Results showed that the sympathetic nervous system and the immune system were controlled by the powerful breathing techniques. To put it simply, these people were able to withstand freezing cold water through the control of their breathing as a result of having a mind focused on inhaling, exhaling, and not allowing the ordinary ‘freaking out’ feeling that anyone would experience in such cold water to take over the body.  Being able to self-heal certain feelings, or during certain experiences, but remaining focused and being consciously aware on how you are breathing and what you are feeling is key.  * The author is an expert in vegan wellbeing and health. Instagram handle: @Ghanim92 

Health fears and economic fallout aside, one of the most difficult parts of the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic is staying socially and physically isolated. The situation is unique when it comes to children. It can be very strange for them that their schools are closed and they have to attend classes online. The psychological effect of social change can be long lasting on impressionable young minds. There has been a great need to address issues related to child psychology. Experts have started raising their voice on how important it is to help children cope with the health crises and associated changes. Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF) under the aegis of Indian embassy has regularly been organising online interactions with community at large to address the issues of economic stress and mental health issues. Recently ICBF held its third session on the topic of Mental Health – Facing Challenges with Positivity. The topic of the session was ‘Balanced Routine for Children’. The guest speaker was Sithara Manoj, a special educator and counseller by profession. With over 11 years of experience in various organisations in Qatar, Sithara has attained various national and international certification in the field of special education and child psychology. She has keen interest in social activities and developing children with various challenges. Talking to Community, after her session, the expert said that because of the current situation the daily routine had been uprooted or disregarded altogether. “The health crisis has created high levels of stress and anxiety for us as well as our kids. Working at home along with children who are out of school is really hard, and parents are truly concerned about trying to balance their responsibilities as working adults with the complete turmoil in their lives.” Regarding to how to help manage stress at home, Sithara said: “Actually there is no magic wand or one-size-fits-all approach to balance everything. But even through all the turbulence, mental health professionals and educators who specialised in psychology insist that, no matter what your situation is, keeping a routine which includes six to eight hours sleep, healthy food, staying hydrated, regular exercise is one of the most essential and effective technique to help manage stress and anxiety during this time.” Elaborating herself on how can parents mitigate stress at home, the special educator said: “It is important to talk with your kids about what is going on and be realistic according to their age and understanding level. It’s natural for kids to ask questions or even be afraid, while parents want to be reassuring. It’s important to listen and hear their concerns and always engage with them. Emphasise a positive approach to the problem. Help them think about what they can do and how they can be safe. For example, you can start a conversation with questions like, what do you think is going on? This can help parents learn what their kids are thinking and how much they understand. Then talk about ways how they can control this situation. “It’s also important to let kids be disappointed or even angry. As a result of numerous cancellations, kids are missing many things. They may be missing their school friends. Acknowledge their disappointment. Then encourage kids to think about what they can do next.” The expert laid stress on staying connected while practicing social distancing. “Parents should talk to their kids about social distancing as a way to prevent the physical spread of the virus, but that doesn’t mean avoiding social contact with others. Reaching out and connecting with family and friends is crucial during periods of stress and anxiety. “The pandemic is an opportunity for parents to challenge themselves and their kids to connect in different ways including video chats, writing letters and drawings. Let kids use social media to stay connected to peers and relatives even if they aren’t usually allowed to do so. Communication can help kids feel less alone and mitigate some of the stress that comes from being away from school and friends.” Sithara laid extra stress on building routine and predictability at home for kids. “Avoid endless, open-ended days while kids are home. Just because they are out of school or away from work doesn’t mean they can’t have a degree of structure. Parents should talk with their kids about creating a schedule at home. Keep it simple. It could be as basic as scheduling blocks of time each day for different activities. Make it visual. Put the schedule on the refrigerator for kids to easily see it throughout the day. Knowing what’s going to happen helps reduce anxiety. Be flexible and anything could change during the day. To create a routine is not to re-create the school day exactly, as it is impossible, but to build a new routine for doing schoolwork at home. In her detailed presentation to the community members, Sithara also touched upon the need for having different home, physical, and family activities to keep kids busy.

As the US begins to consider letting people go back to work and lifting social distancing rules, a new debate over testing is emerging. Researchers are racing to back-fill the gaping holes left by shortfalls in diagnostic tests for currently infected patients, with newly developed tests that can indicate if a person had Covid-19 previously. These tests, which measure antibodies in the blood and are being used in studies across the US and the rest of the world, are crucial to understanding Covid-19 and the virus that causes it. As they’re rolled out, they can tell researchers and government leaders not just how many people are sick but also how many have encountered the virus at all. That, in turn, may at last give a firmer idea of how deadly the virus is and how many people potentially have some level of immunity. “We can’t see the virus. We can track it, its footprints in people. This is our best way to do that,” said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. “We need to use this in conjunction with other means to try to restore some relative normalcy.” Several studies already are underway. So far, early research suggests there are significant numbers of people who contract Covid-19 and don’t show symptoms. But there aren’t nearly enough of them to create widespread “herd immunity” that would build a societywide wall against infection and cause the virus to die out. “We’re not anywhere near herd immunity,” Topol said. “An order of magnitude away, at the least.” The tests search for antibodies — the immune system’s often long-lasting response to an infection — in the blood, instead of testing for the virus itself. The tests are typically conducted with drops of blood from a finger or a draw from a vein. But, like the diagnostic tests that use a nose or throat swab to check currently infected patients, the blood antibody tests are proving to be a complex endeavour hamstrung by many of the same issues, as well as new ones. A Stanford University study published online last Friday prior to peer review concluded that more than twice as many people were infected with Covid-19 than current counts suggest, a number that would indicate it is both more widespread and less deadly than previously understood. This would mean Santa Clara County in California, which has had more than 1,800 positive cases, identified only 1 out of every 50 to 85 people who actually have Covid-19. The study quickly drew criticism from experts. It used Facebook ads to seek volunteers, who experts said may be more likely to have interest in such a test because they had symptoms, compared with a random sample of the population. Some also questioned the accuracy of the test itself. “They assumed really, really high specificity,” Natalie Dean, a University of Florida biostatistician, said, using the term that indicates the rate at which false positives occur. “But the reality is that we don’t really know. They didn’t account for the uncertainty in that.” Dean said weighting the results to better represent demographics of people who did not volunteer for the study also appeared to make it seem like more were infected. “The results change a lot depending on what assumptions you put in,” Dean said. “I think there is value in getting an answer very quickly, even if it’s not exactly right. As long as it kind of gets us in a ballpark.” The authors acknowledged in the paper there are issues with test accuracy, as well as other limitations of the study. “No study, no matter how well done, will be able to give the definitive answer alone,” said John Ioannidis, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Stanford who was involved in the study. “But at last we have data, real data, because until now we have mostly relied on speculation.” In Los Angeles County, a collaborative study between the Department of Public Health and the University of Southern California estimated that about 4.1% of the county’s adult population has antibodies to the virus, or between 2.8% to 5.6% when accounting for potential errors. That estimate, researchers said, is 28 to 55 times higher than the 7,994 confirmed cases at the time of the study. Researchers conducted a rapid antibody test on a representative sample of the county population at six drive-through sites. Both California numbers show a far higher rate of infection than some other, similar efforts. In China, Wuhan’s Zhongnan Hospital, for example, found that among 3,600 of its employees — a group particularly at risk of catching the virus — 2.4% had developed antibodies, doctors there said in a news conference earlier this month. Other, similar studies have produced far different rates, adding to the ongoing debate about the virus’s spread. A much smaller one in the Boston suburb of Chelsea found that of 200 randomly sampled residents where were stopped on the street and asked to give some drops of blood, 64 had antibodies. The study was conducted by physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital. John Iafrate, a pathologist at Harvard University and the study’s principal investigator, said the high numbers may be caused by high levels of community spread in Chelsea’s dense living conditions, as well as socioeconomic challenges. “The good news is most people have mild disease,” he said. “We don’t know at this point what% of these antibody-positive individuals are still carrying virus, but a fair estimate is likely 30-50%.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that 25% of people may be asymptomatic for the disease. The US has confirmed more than 805,000 known cases of Covid-19, but that number is widely thought to be an under-count. Lacking any authoritative study, several ambitious antibody-test efforts have recently begun. The US National Institutes of Health announced it would test 10,000 healthy volunteers for the presence of antibodies. New York, the state hardest-hit by the virus, has approved an antibody test that it is moving quickly to scale up. Several manufacturers have announced tests that could not only assess the disease’s spread but also identify potentially immune people who could go back to work, reopen schools or help prove whether future vaccines are working. Abbott Laboratories has said it will ship 4 million of its new antibody tests this month, with the goal of manufacturing 20 million a month by June. Because of the desire to get more of the tests to market, the US Food and Drug Administration has relaxed the usual assessment criteria for them. But not all of the tests have performed perfectly. The FDA has allowed dozens of tests to come to market without the usual vetting. There is evidence many underperform: The agency issued a warning last week urging awareness that not all such tests have been approved and that health care providers should “be aware of their limitations.” Just four tests have received official emergency authorisation from the agency. “The technology behind antibody tests is fundamentally distinct and generally harder to get right,” Anna Petherick, a public policy expert at the University of Oxford wrote recently in the journal The Lancet. Developing antibody tests requires more knowledge of a specific virus’s structure than a diagnostic test does. To make the tests, researchers produce sections of proteins from the virus that the human immune system responds to. Different tests check for different antibodies, but these antibodies can vary from person to person. And not all of them are the type of antibodies that indicate potential immunity. There also are concerns that the tests could pick up antibodies from other strains of coronavirus that cause different, milder illnesses — like a common cold. And even with the right test, findings can vary significantly from region to region. “Each population at each moment in time is different,” said Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard University epidemiologist who critiqued the Stanford study. “And it’s really hard to compare across populations.” But, said Lipsitch, even imperfect studies add to our knowledge of a virus that until a few months ago was entirely unknown. The picture may be fuzzy, but it is beginning to come into focus. “We have some sense that maybe the prevalence of infection is a lot larger than we thought it was,” he said. “This is now an estimate of how much larger. But that estimate is quite uncertain.”  — Bloomberg News/TNS