IMPORTANCE OF BREASTFEEDING

 Importance of breastfeeding for your baby

• Breast milk is a complete food for your baby. 
• It is a living fluid, constantly changing according to your baby’s needs, and 
• Packed full of nutrients and antibodies to boost your baby’s immune system.

Importance of breastfeeding for you

• Breastfeeding may assist the bonding and attachment between mothers and babies.
• Breastfeeding promotes faster maternal recovery from childbirth, and women who have breastfed have reduced risks of breast and ovarian cancers later in life.
• May assist mothers to lose weight after baby’s birth.

Importance of breastfeeding for the family

• Breastfeeding is free, safe, convenient and environmentally friendly. No preparation required, ready anytime, anywhere.
• Risks of not breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding can help protect your baby against illness and diseases.
• Breastfeed babies have a lower risk of asthma, obesity, diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or cot death).

Importance of early uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact after birth for all babies

• Holding close after birth keeps babies warm and calm. Promotes bonding.
• Babies can hear their mother's heartbeat.
• Baby's heart and breathing is normalised.
• Necessary procedures and checks should wait until after the first feed.

How to recognise when baby is ready to attach to the breast for the first feed

• When a baby has skin-to-skin contact after birth there are nine observable newborn stages, happening in a specific order, that are instinctive for the baby. 
• Within each of these stages, there are a variety of actions the baby may demonstrate.
• These stages are the birth cry, relaxation, awakening, activity, rest, crawling, familiarization, sucking and final stage is sleep.
• No other food or drink to around the first 6 months

 WHO, UNICEF RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Early initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth.
• Exclusive breastfeeding to around 6 months of age.
• Exclusively breastfed babies do not require additional fluids up to 6 months of age.
• Continue breastfeeding until 12 months of age and beyond, while introducing complementary (solid) foods at around 6 months of age. 
• First foods need to include iron-rich foods
• Getting breastfeeding off to a good start
• Breastfeeding problems are most often caused by baby not attaching well; ask for help when you are starting out.
• Positioning involves holding your baby close to you (chest to chest). Lying completely on you, with the baby's chin to the breast, with a wide open mouth.
• Effective attachment is recognized by no significant nipple pain.
• Babies are fed according to their needs in response to feeding cues / signs, as long and as often as baby requires.

Importance of rooming in

• Keeping your baby in the room with you, with beside you, day and night means: 
• You can cuddle your baby whenever you want
• Get to know your baby before you go home. 
• Breastfeed when your baby shows feeding signs.

Signs of baby is getting enough milk

• Anywhere from 8 to 12 feeds per 24 hours can be normal.
• The first week is different to any other time.
• 5 to 6 wet diapers each day after the first 5 days.
• Most breastfed babies will poo at least 3 to 4 times a day by the end of the first week, and poo will be yellow and runny.

“It Is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace,”

World Mental Health Day, observed annually on October 10th, is a significant global event aimed at raising awareness about mental health issues and mobilizing efforts to improve mental health care. This year’s theme, “It Is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace,” emphasizes the critical role of mental well-being in professional settings1.

Here are some meaningful blog topics for World Mental Health Day 2024:

“Prioritizing Mental Health at Work: Strategies for Employers and Employees”

• Discuss practical steps that workplaces can take to create a supportive environment for mental health.
• Highlight employee assistance programs, flexible work arrangements, and stress management initiatives.

“Breaking the Stigma: Personal Stories of Overcoming Mental Health Challenges”

• Share real-life experiences from individuals who have faced mental health issues and found resilience.
• Encourage open conversations and reduce stigma.

“Nature and Mental Health: The Healing Power of the Outdoors”

• Explore how spending time in nature positively impacts mental well-being.
• Discuss outdoor activities, mindfulness in natural settings, and ecotherapy.

“Mindfulness Practices for Stress Reduction”

• Provide practical mindfulness techniques that readers can incorporate into their daily routines.
• Highlight meditation, deep breathing exercises, and grounding techniques.

“Supporting Loved Ones: How to Be There for Someone Struggling with Mental Health”

• Offer guidance for friends and family members on providing emotional support.
• Discuss active listening, empathy, and encouraging professional help.

“Self-Care Strategies: Nurturing Your Mental Health”

• Share self-care tips, such as getting adequate sleep, maintaining social connections, and practicing gratitude.
• Emphasize the importance of self-compassion.

“Creative Outlets: Art, Music, and Writing for Mental Well-Being”

• Explore the therapeutic benefits of creative expression.
• Feature personal stories or showcase artwork/music created by individuals as part of their healing journey.

Remember to approach these topics with empathy, accuracy, and a positive tone. World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to engage, educate, and promote mental well-being for all.

Why isometric exercises are so good for everyone.

 

Exercise is great for improving heart health. But the thought of hitting the gym or going for a jog might put some people off from doing it. And, if you have a heart condition already, such dynamic exercises may not be safe to do.

The good news is, you don't necessarily need to do a vigorous workout to see heart benefits. You can even improve your heart health by holding still and trying really hard not to move.

Isometric training, as this is called, is becoming increasingly popular as a way of reducing blood pressure and hypertension, and improving strength and muscle stability.

Normally, to build strength and force, our muscles need to change length throughout a movement. Squats and bicep curls are good examples of exercises that cause the muscle to change length throughout the movement.

But isometric training involves simply contracting your muscles, which generates force without needing to move your joints. The harder a muscle is contracted, the more forceful it becomes (and the more forceful a muscle is, the more powerfully we can perform a movement).

If you add weight to an isometric exercise, it causes the muscle to contract even harder. A wall sit and a plank are examples of isometric contractions.

Isometric exercises are associated with a high degree of "neural recruitment", because of the need to maintain the contraction. This means these exercises are good at engaging specialized neurons in our brain and spinal cord, which play an important role in all the movements we do—both voluntary and involuntary. The greater this level of neural activation, the more muscle fibers are recruited—and the more force generated. As a result, this can lead to strength gains.

Isometric exercises have long been of interest to strength and power athletes as a means of preparing their muscles to generate high forces by activating them. But research also shows isometric exercises are beneficial for other areas of our health—including reducing hypertension and promoting better blood flow.

There are a couple reasons why isometric exercises are so good for the heart.

When a muscle is contracted, it expands its size. This causes it to compress the blood vessels supplying this muscle, reducing blood flow and raising the blood pressure in our arteries—a mechanism known as the "pressor reflex".

Then, once the contraction is relaxed, a sudden surge of blood flows into the blood vessels and muscle. This influx of blood brings more oxygen and (crucially) nitric oxide into the blood vessels—causing them to widen. This in turn reduces blood pressure. Over time, this action will reduce stiffness of the arteries, which may lower blood pressure.

When blood flow is reduced during an isometric movement, it also reduces the amount of available oxygen that cells need to function. This triggers the release of metabolites, such as hydrogen ions and lactate, which stimulate the sympathetic nervous system—which controls our "fight of flight" response. In the short term, this leads to an increase in blood pressure.

But when an isometric exercise is done repeatedly over many weeks, there's a reduction in sympathetic nervous system activity. This means blood pressure is lowered and there's less strain on the cardiovascular system—which makes these exercises good for the heart.

Isometric exercises may be even more beneficial for heart health than other types of cardiovascular exercise. A study which compared the benefits of isometric exercise versus high-intensity interval training found isometrics led to significantly greater reductions in resting blood pressure over the study period of between two and 12 weeks.

How to use isometric exercise

If you want to use isometric training to reduce blood pressure, it's recommended that you should do any isometric contraction for two minutes at around 30-50% of your maximum effort. This is enough to trigger physiological improvements.

You can start by doing this four times a day, three-to-five times per week—focusing on the same exercise. As you progress, you can start to vary the exercises you do, add weights to the exercise, or add in more than one isometric exercise.

Some good isometric exercises to begin with include a static squat, a wall sit or a plank. Even during these small bouts of exercise, your heart rate, breathing and arterial pressure will all increase—the same responses that occur during more conventional whole-body exercises, such as cycling and running.

The beneficial improvements in blood pressure start to manifest around 4-10 weeks after starting isometric training—though this depends on a person's health and fitness levels when starting out.

Isometric training appears to be a simple, low-intensity mode of exercise that offers big benefits for cardiovascular health—all while requiring little time commitment compared with other workouts.