A new study led by an Indian origin scientist has revealed that smokers who quit by around age 40 can erase most of the risk of an early death.

While smokers who never stop lose about a decade of life expectancy, those who quit between ages 35 and 44 gained back nine of those years, according to the study.

The benefits of quitting smoking extend deep into middle age.

The study published online in the New England Journal of Medicine found that smokers who quit between 45 and 54 gained back six otherwise lost years, and those who quit between 55 and 64 gained four years, Washington post reported.

Moreover, quitting young, before age 35, erased the entire decade of lost life expectancy, the study revealed.

But Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist at the Center for Global Health Research in Toronto, who led the study, said younger smokers should not be mistaken into thinking they can smoke until 40 and then stop without consequences because she added that the risks of lung cancer and other respiratory diseases linger for years after stubbing the last butt.

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Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have for the first time found a link between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration in older adults.

They have found that the slow brain waves generated during the deep, restorative sleep we typically experience in youth play a key role in transporting memories from the hippocampus – which provides short-term storage for memories – to the prefrontal cortex’s longer term “hard drive.”

However, in older adults, memories may be getting stuck in the hippocampus due to the poor quality of deep ‘slow wave’ sleep, and are then overwritten by new memories, the findings suggested.

Their discovery opens the door to boosting the quality of sleep in elderly people to improve memory.

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Yoga, the 5,000-year-old Indian practice, has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.

The review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems.

Benefits of the exercise were found for all mental health illnesses included in the review, except for eating disorders and cognition problems as the evidence for these was conflicting or lacking.

Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center, US, and author of the study, explained that the emerging scientific evidence in support of yoga on psychiatric disorders is “highly promising” and showed that yoga may not only help to improve symptoms, but also may have an ancillary role in the prevention of stress-related mental illnesses.

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Dr Gowthaman, Medical Director, Dr Gowthaman’s Ayurveda Panchakarma Center, Chennai, answers readers’ questions on Ayurveda. Get your doubts cleared and see them featured on our FAQ page every Tuesday.

This week’s answers:

Hello Dr. Gowthaman,
I read your article regarding Bael in sify health ( http://health.sify.com/the-magical-benefits-of-wood-apple/ )
Can you please guide .
1 ) Which part of Bael is used for thyroid problems
2 ) Is it used for Hypo or Hyper Thyroid ?
Thanks
Regards
Praveen Pillay

Hi Praveen Pillay,

Bael leaves are good for Thyroid problems, More than Bael leaves Drumstick leaves soup 100 ml a day for 90 days can normalize the thyroid functions. Herbal remedies usually improves and normalizes the functions of Thyroid. More than this herbs, Remythro capsules 2 tablets – twice daily two times a day also helps.

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