Eosinophilic esophagitis is a chronic inflammatory condition of the esophagus, or food pipe. The esophagus is the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach.

Eosinophilic esophagitis causes chronic inflammation in the esophagus, which can make it difficult for a person to eat, drink, or even swallow saliva. A person may also experience related symptoms, such as heartburn, nausea, and malnutrition.

Both adults and children can get eosinophilic esophagitis. In children, the condition can lead to developmental issues, such as stunted growth.

In this article, we provide information on the symptoms and causes of eosinophilic esophagitis. We also outline the dietary and medical treatment options available.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus.

In people with EoE, white blood cells called eosinophils build up within the inner lining of the esophagus. These eosinophils release substances that cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation of the esophagus may lead to symptoms such as difficulty eating or swallowing.

EoE is a rare condition, affecting about 1 in 2,000 people. However, the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology state that the condition is becoming more common, though this may be partly because increased awareness has led to more diagnoses.

EoE can develop in children or adults and in people of all ethnicities. People who develop EoE typically have preexisting allergies, such as:

Experts have suggested that these allergies may trigger EoE in some cases.

The symptoms of EoE may differ from person to person. However, some of the more common symptoms include:

Children who develop EoE may become irritable and refuse to eat or drink. As a result, they may experience developmental problems, such as stunted growth.

Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that is not usually present in the esophagus. In EoE, eosinophils accumulate in this part of the body, causing inflammation of the esophageal tissues.

Scientists have noticed that many people who develop EoE have some type of allergy. As such, the consensus is that a persons immune response to an allergen may cause the accumulation of eosinophils in the esophagus.

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, abnormal immune responses to foods are the leading cause of EoE. However, experts do not yet fully understand the mechanism by which foods trigger EoE.

Other potential allergens that could contribute to EoE include:

According to the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders, specific genes may also play a role in the development of EoE.

To diagnose EoE, a doctor will ask about a persons symptoms and whether they have any allergies.

If the doctor suspects EoE, an upper endoscopy (UE) will be necessary to confirm the diagnosis. A UE involves passing a long, flexible tube called an endoscope down the esophagus. A small camera on the end of the endoscope allows the doctor to look for inflammation.

During the procedure, the doctor may take a small sample of the esophageal tissue for further examination. The presence of eosinophils within the sample would indicate EoE.

A person who receives a diagnosis of EoE may require further medical tests to identify any allergens underlying the condition.

In most cases, a doctor will recommend an elimination diet, which involves removing food triggers from the diet and monitoring the effect on EoE symptoms.

Occasionally, they may use a blood test to detect a type of immune cell called immunoglobulin E (IgE), which a persons immune system releases in response to certain allergens. High levels of IgE indicate that the body is overreacting to an allergen.

A skin prick test is also an option. This test involves using a fine needle to insert a small amount of a suspected allergen beneath the skin. Redness or swelling at the site of the skin prick test suggests an allergic reaction to the substance.

However, blood tests and skin prick tests may not be useful, as they commonly produce false-positive results. Also, as experts believe that EoE may not be IgE-mediated, these tests may have little to no value.

There is currently no cure for EoE. However, a combination of dietary changes and medical treatments may help manage inflammation and alleviate symptoms.

Elimination diets can help a person identify their trigger foods so that they can avoid them in the future. There are different types of elimination diet, which vary in terms of convenience and effectiveness.

A doctor may recommend one of the following three elimination diets:

Empiric elimination diets involve removing all foods that commonly affect EoE. Such foods include:

Food test-directed elimination diets involve eliminating any food that a person has previously shown sensitivity to during a skin prick test.

After eliminating these foods from the diet, a person monitors their symptoms to check for any improvement.

Elemental diets involve using a special formula to supplement or replace the diet. The formula contains a combination of amino acids, which provide nutrition without triggering EoE.

Elemental diets are the most extreme treatment option, and doctors usually only recommend them for children. However, they may be necessary if other approaches are not working.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not yet approved any medications for the treatment of EoE. However, the following treatments may help manage inflammation or alleviate symptoms:

Most people with eosinophilic esophagitis will require ongoing treatment. However, the disorder is unlikely to cause further chronic illness or affect life expectancy.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the esophagus. People who have the condition may experience difficulty eating and drinking, which can lead to complications, such as weight loss and malnutrition.

The exact cause of EoE remains unclear. However, most people who develop the condition have preexisting allergies. Experts generally agree that these allergies may contribute to EoE.

There is no cure for EoE. However, a combination of dietary changes and medical treatments can help reduce inflammation and alleviate symptoms.

Read the rest here:
Eosinophilic esophagitis: Definition, symptoms, and treatment - Medical News Today

A map of planned changes to Liberty StreetCity of CincinnatiIt took roughly seven years to go from suggestions by neighborhood groups to fleshed out plans to wrangling at City Hall to reality, but it's finally here: work began this week on an effort to make Liberty Street safer for pedestrians and once again tie together the northern and southern halves of Over-the-Rhine.

The $7.4 million worth of alterations now underway along Liberty Street touch three neighborhoods and mark the first significant changes to the major OTR thoroughfare since the 1950s, when it was dramatically widened, proponents say.

"We have two different sides of the community," Over-the-Rhine Community Council President Maurice Wagoner said today. "It's difficult to cross Liberty Street and be safe going back to both sides of the neighborhood... It's been very gratifying to bring this neighborhood and make it one, instead of 'north of Liberty and south of Liberty,' again after 60 years."

The changes will include one less lane of traffic; medians; bump-outs at Sycamore, Main, Walnut, Vine, Race and Elm streets and Central Parkway; pedestrian islands; trees; and other features stretching from Sycamore Street to Central Parkway.

That's a busy seam between the two parts of OTR where pedestrians experience significant danger. Other improvements including repaving will stretch from Reading Road in Pendleton to Dalton Avenue in Queensgate. The intersection of Liberty Hill and Liberty Street will also receive a traffic light.

Council member Jeff Pastor lived on Sycamore Street when he was a child, he says.

"I've taken my own life in my hands many times as a kid just trying to cross Liberty," he said. "I watched my grandmother do the same thing. I think much of the job on city council is to fix the scars in our city. Liberty Street is one of those scars and this project will see one of our 52 neighborhoods attached back together."

The road narrowing was among the proposals brought to council in 2013 by representatives of the Over-the-Rhine Brewery District in northern OTR. But it encountered years of political turbulence.

Cincinnati City Council May 1 last year voted 8-1 to approve a road diet for Liberty Street though that plan was a little different from original proposals.

Concerns about on-street parking, access to FC Cincinnati's coming stadium and the cost of moving a major water main that runs underneath Liberty Street all played into a protracted fight around the proposed alterations.

Supporters of narrowing the street say the artery, widened in the late 1950s at the expense of a number of buildings, is a barrier for pedestrian flow between the two sides of OTR.

"There are two schools that sit directly on Liberty Street," Cincinnati City Council member Chris Seelbach said today. "Young kids cross this seven-lane highway every day. We wanted to make it safer. Second, we wanted to try and bridge Over-the-Rhine back together."

But those opposed to narrowing the street pointed out that it connects the neighborhood and the West End to both I-71 and I-75, and that the coming FC Cincinnati soccer stadium is likely to bring more congestion and traffic to the area.

The new compromise plan will reduce Liberty Street to six lanes. That's one more lane than the original five-lane plan drawn up after several years of community input and study, but one less lane than an alternate plan supported by Mayor John Cranley that would have added bump-outs to some sections of the road while keeping it at seven lanes. The seven-lane plan would have preserved parking on both sides of Liberty Street. The so-called five-lane plan would have potentially restricted parking on both sides during peak hours.

The compromise plan will end up reclaiming less right-of-way for future development than the five-lane plan would have 10 feet but also preserves most of the parking on the street, the city says, and won't cause the relocation of a water main that would have cost roughly $800,000.

Council member Seelbach, who long championed the original five-lane plan, called the eventual project underway now an example of how differing sides can come together and get things done.

Work should be done by March 2021, Seelbach says.

Continued here:
Work Finally Begins on Liberty Street Narrowing Project in Over-the-Rhine - Cincinnati CityBeat

I can use the chuckle.

" That is, the same amount of bread will make a a sample of black eaters much fatter than a sample of white or Asian eaters."

Makes sense to me. I don't see a lot of fat white people.

"It probably has nothing to do with choices. Your hormones control your actions and when your diet is out of order its going to mess with your hormones."

That explains...a lot.

I WANT A DAMN PIZZA RIGHT NOW. SERVED TO ME. IN A RESTAURANT.

Jeez, Jenna, you may be on to something.

Look, I post here on occasion. The foolish liberals will whine about my obviously racist views because I cite the NIH or CDC or some other racist organization.Look, if you're going to joust with this crowd, you have to bring something to the table. Y'know, like some sort of citation or youtube video or some seriously grounded and well-researched CNN hot take.

See the article here:
Boston Medical Center ER doc: Most patients at hospital are now positive for coronavirus; minority communities seem to be getting hit harder -...

We can find one revealing answer in the darkest days of the 17th century. In 1629, the British historian Erin Maglaque noted recently, a fearsome plague swept into Italy. In Florence, officials in the local health board tried to cordon off their city, but the disease slipped in anyway.

By August 1630 Florence was burying its dead by the hundreds in broad and deep pits. By the following January, the city had ordered citizens locked in their homes for a 40-day quarantine and then gone about the business of delivering food to the tens of thousands of locked-down households.

The food the Florentine health board had delivered would be exceptionally varied and fine: bread and wine, sausage seasoned with fennel and rosemary, rice and cheese, salads of sweet and bitter herbs. The health board, historian Maglaque tells us, considered the citys enormous outlay for good food a necessary expense. The poor of Florence had been living, city health officials realized, on diets that left them especially vulnerable to infection.

Improving the well-being of the poor, the Florentine health board believed, would be a key to the citys recovery. But this idea of feeding the poor at a high-quality level appalled many of the citys wealthy. They worried, one observer would later write, that the quarantine would give the poor of Florence the opportunity to be lazy and lose the desire to work, having for forty days been provided abundantly for all theirneeds.

Other Italian cities rejected the Florentine health board lead. They refused to provide abundantly for the needs of their poor and paid a price. In Florence, the plague ended with 12 percent of the population dead. In Venice, the death rate ran nearly three times the Florentine rate, in Milan almost four times.

Today, nearly four centuries later, Senator Lindsey Graham and his Republican Senate colleagues are marching right in the footsteps of those 17th-century Italians who found the prospect of anything close to abundance for the poor so scandalous.

This bill pays you more not to work than if you were working, Graham harrumphedbefore the Senate vote on his benefit-cutback amendment to the corona relief legislation.

What connects our affluent today to the wealthy elites of old Italy? The unnerving impact of inequality on the psyches of the privileged. The more wealth the wealthy of any epoch accumulate, the less they value those without wealth.

In deeply unequal societies, those who hold grand private fortunes must sooner or later come to grips with the vast gap that separates them from everyone else. Why do I have so much, becomes the unspoken question, while so many have so little?

The easiest answer: I must deserve my good fortune. I must be worthy. And if I owe my good fortune to my worthiness, then those without fortune must owe their sad circumstances to their unworthiness. They must be dumb or lazy or profligate or worse. These undesirables, this perspective plays out, do not deserve our generosity. Any generosity toward them would only open up, as Lindsey Graham puts it, a Pandoras box.

So assumed the rich of Florence so many generations ago. So assume their counterparts today. Then as now, that amounts to a deadly assumption.

Go here to read the rest:
No Fennel in the Sausage, No $600 for the Jobless - CounterPunch

Shutterstock

Almost nine out of 10 (87%) employees fear for their health because of the Covid-19 outbreak, with many feeling isolated, lonely and finding it difficult to sleep.

According to a survey of 2,008 workers by jobs platform TotalJobs, two-thirds (64%) of the employees now working from home think their wellbeing has been affected by the changes brought about by government restrictions.

More than half (52%) said their sleep had been affected; 54% were less active than before the outbreak; 45% found their new home workspace uncomfortable; and 58% had been eating more than they would normally.

Employees were also worried about their colleagues health and wellbeing. Eighty-six per cent were concerned about co-workers health, which prompted 81% to make more of an effort to reach out to one another.

Almost three-quarters (73%) agreed that they appreciated their colleagues more than they had before the pandemic.

Dr Aaron Balick of the Department for Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex said: Its a paradox that in a time of social distancing people are more aware than ever of their relational needs. In missing our usual workplace banter and support, we are seeking new ways of achieving it, being more conscious about how we reach out to others, and finding out the social pleasures we had in the workplace but were somehow unaware of before.

Working from home can increase worry, stress, and loneliness for many people. Levels of anxiety are increasing with people concerned about their health, job security, and health of their colleagues and loved ones. This means that working from home should be more about work, and become another opportunity to seek and provide comradeship and support during challenging times for all of us.

TotalJobs head of marketing Lynn Cahillane said: Against the backdrop of a constantly changing environment, employers need to remain mindful about the potential unease among their team, and encourage support and awareness, not only for the sake of staffs physical welfare but for any increased mental stress people may be experiencing as a result.

Working from home can increase worry, stress, and loneliness for many people. Levels of anxiety are increasing with people concerned about their health, job security, and health of their colleagues and loved ones, Dr Aaron Balick, University of Essex

Teams should be encouraged to share their worries with line managers, who themselves have an important role to play in ensuring vulnerable employees are supported at this time.

Meanwhile, a separate survey by the Institute for Employment Studies discovered many employees now working from home were struggling with musculoskeletal pain, diet, sleep and their mental health.

More than half (58%) experienced pain in the neck, shoulder (56%) and back (55%), compared to their normal physical condition.

Many were not maintaining a balanced diet and healthy exercise regime; 20% admitted to an increase in alcohol consumption, 33% were eating a less healthy diet, and 60% were exercising less than they would usually acknowledging that they are exercising less.

Sixty-four per cent were losing sleep because of worry, while 50% reported not being happy with their current work-life balance. A third said they frequently felt isolated.

See more here:
Coronavirus: nearly nine in 10 fear for their health - Personnel Today

These are unprecedented times in almost every possible way. One is the complete upheaval of absolutely everything about your daily routines, including the space you live in and how you're able to move around in it each day. Another is the amount you spend within staring distance of a mirror. For people with eating disorders, and even those who have never struggled with disordered eating before, these things can compound into a real challenge in managing mental health when it comes to their bodies.

Its kind of like the perfect storm, whats happening when youre isolated, said Mayo Clinic psychologist Leslie Sim, who specializes in eating disorders and body image issues. There are just millions of variables that make body image preoccupation a lot higher.

Those variables include the fact that theres so much time to fixate on anything you feel stress about right now, including your ever-present flesh vessel. On top of that, so many strategies mental health experts would normally recommend to manage negative feelings about our bodies aren't possible when youre trying to stay in the house, away from people.

Everything around eating or prepping food right now creates additional stressors that we just havent seen in the past, said Dani Gonzales, a staff psychologist and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Southern California. How do I even get to the grocery store safely? How do I sanitize my groceries?

If youve noticed self-isolation is making you feel shittier than usual about your body, experts say youre very much not alone. (Asked if USC students and those she works with in her private practice are struggling with this, Gonzales responded, Absolutely.) But there are still ways you can manage negative feelings about your body, even in our isolated times. Here are some ideas about how to adapt if your usual coping strategies aren't available to you.

(Note that these tips are meant to support, not stand in for, effective mental and physical health care from experts. If you have access to a mental health or eating disorder professional, even in a virtual or video capacity, thats the best way to find help. The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) has a roundup of low-cost and free support options, as well.)

Mid-April can be stressful in a normal year, body-image-wise, especially online. As if the perennial Instagram posts quietly pushing you to sculpt a "beach body" werent enough, how about a little pandemic pressure on top of it?

Instagram, especially and as ever, is full of diet and exercise advice. But those accounts might not belong to qualified health and wellness professionals, and even if they do, you could be watching fitness videos that were recorded long before COVID. Those people might have been in a very different placelike able to leave the houseat the time, so its not a standard you can reasonably hold yourself to. And, OK, say they are qualified professionals. Is watching folks who stay #cut for a living do squats really beneficial for you, right now? Or is it making you feel worse?

With body image, a lot of it comes with social comparison," said Gonzales, who offered an alternative approach to how isolation could impact that thinking. "Having to be more isolated, maybe its not in our face as much, comparing our bodies to others. In other words, It might be a good time to limit or disengage from Instagram and Facebook a little.

Missing your classmates or colleagues at the old lunch table by now? Even the guy whos still talking about the Game of Thrones finale? Thats totally reasonablestudies have shown that people are happier and healthier when we eat meals together.

Research says that loneliness is a strong predictor of disordered eating, Sim said. Feeling disconnected from others can make us focus more on body image.

Youve probably already been using video platforms for work meetings and happy hoursto counter loneliness's potential effects on your body image, add a midday social meal into the mix, too. Eating socially can be an effective way for us to check-in with our bodies, feel connected to others, pair eating with other pleasurable events, like listening and laughing, and help bring routine to our lives during these hectic times, Gonzales said.

Social meals can also provide structure, which so many of us are seeking in this chaotic time. According to Gonzales, one helpful way to eat mindfully, respecting our hunger and fullness cues, is to eat as close to a schedule as possible. When we start to deviate from schedules or skip meals we can run the risk of restricting, binging, or eating in the absence of hunger, she said.

Maybe you schedule a Zoom lunch, where you have a few of your friends and youre all eating together, Gonzales said. That might normalize: We eat at scheduled times.

OK, so the gym is closed. You probably dont have access to the trainers and programs you like in the way you're used to. That sucks. If you crave physical activity and Zoom fitness classes just arent cutting it, try to find new outlets for engaging your body that work for you. Maybe you could try a yoga program? Download Zwift and take virtual bike rides with your buds?

Gonzales and Sim said it can also be helpful to reframe a focus on fitness as what can my body do versus how should my body look. Gonzales framed the thought as asking yourself, How can I experience my body in different ways?

Even a new hobby counts when it comes to bodily appreciationthink about how your body helps you write letters, or move when you take a walk, or even when you do boring stuff like vacuuming or weeding the garden. Gonzales put it like this: Your body is an instrument, more so than an ornament. Try to remember that.

That bit of creativitythe characteristic of resilience and survivalcan be adaptable now. Gonzales said. One of her clients recently shared that pandemic downtime is letting her get creative with her body image while at homebeing more artistic with makeup, styling hair in new ways, putting together outfits, and organizing her closet to directly oppose negative thoughts about her body image and shape.

I would love for people to get the message: Its OK, Gonzales said. Its OK if maybe were not enjoying our bodies, or how were eating, or these times. This isnt forever, even if it may feel like it from day to day.

It comes down to practicing self-compassion. Which, great. But how does one do that? Should we engage with our not-good thoughts? Block them out? The answer is: kind of both. Sim suggested observing your judgemental thoughts, without necessarily listening to them. Its not easy! But think about yourself like youd think about a friend. If they gained or lost some weight, that wouldnt change your opinion of them, right? And if they were feeling bad about themselves, youd build them up, rather than indulging their shame spiral, right?

In this case, you are your friend. Try to be kind, warm, accepting of where youre at. Ask yourself: What does your body need? Is it sleep? Space? Kindness? Water? Let that guide you. Allowing our needs to be met during these times can be so crucial, versus turning to our bodies and making them the enemy, Gonzales added.

For additional support, Gonzales pointed again to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), which, she said, is, based in academic research, but great at connecting with peopleas in: They meet you where youre at and talk to you like a human person, not a textbook. NEDA recognizes that isolation is causing a lot of people a lot of stress when it comes to their bodiesso much so that upon visiting their website, youre greeted by a pop-up linking to a specific COVID-19 resource page developed for those who are struggling.

NEDA assembled a list of virtual support groups and created a COVID-specific forum thats open and monitored 24/7. The organization also launched a new NEDA Connections video series with daily check-ins, activities, and presentations from professionals. NEDA links to @covid19eatingsupport as one helpful Instagram account to follow, which hosts hourly Instagram Live sessions with dietitians, nutritionists, and therapists and other ED specialists.

Between the whole global pandemic, economic collapse, and, ya know, end of the world as we know it, theres enough to worry about already. But you're not vain or selfish for struggling with this. Lots of people, globally, are going through this and trying to manage some of the same preoccupations you are. However you can take steps toward easing up on yourself, even if it takes time and doesn't happen right away: Give yourself, and your body, a break.

Follow Emily Cassel on Twitter.

Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.

Read more:
How to Deal With Feeling Bad About Your Body During Isolation - VICE

The global Coronavirus pandemic has most of us spending a lot of time indoors these days. If youre anything like me, youre probably starting to feel a bit lethargic. Without access to the gym or your favorite running trails, it is easy to get complacent and let go of your workout routine. However, it doesnt have to be that way. Here are some of the best ways you can try to stay fit and healthy right at home.

Coronavirus has struck and that means many aspects of our daily lives have come to a grinding halt. That includes working out at the gym, with facilities around the country closing their doors right

Weve covered the best ways to build out a quick home-gym, and have even talked about apps that help you track your fitness levels, but what about the ever-ubiquitous fitness tracker? With one in five Americans sporting one, theres a good chance you have one strapped on your wrist right now. Between heart rate sensors, step tracking, sleep tracking, Spo2 data, theres more than enough data here to help you keep motivated and stay fit at home. Additionally, did you know that your fitness tracker (well, most fitness trackers) comes with a whole range of guided workouts loaded up out of the box?

One of the first things you enter when setting up your smartwatch is a daily step goal. Serious athletes might scoff at it, but getting 8-10,000 steps in a day is no joke when you are living under home quarantine. Almost every fitness tracker can be set up to alert you if youve been sitting too long. Combined with a realistic step goal, this is a great way to ensure you getsomeactivity spread over the course of the day.

Fitness trackers have come an extremely long way over the years. No longer are they glorified pedometers; most standard fitness trackers nowadays can track your steps taken, distance traveled, how many calories you've burned for

That said, if you are working from home, theres a good chance that you are still spending a lot of time on a desk. This likely wont leave you much time to get all those steps in. Having lived the remote work life for over a decade, I know how hard it can be to maintain some semblance of a routine and activity level when theres little reason to step out of the house. This makes it even more important to take proactive measures to increase movement, activity levels to stay fit while at home.

Enter, guided workouts. I, like many users of fitness trackers, am guilty of jumping straight into my preferred workout mode and setting off. For me, usually, this is a run or the occasional weight training session. Quarantined at home, Ive come to realize that guided workouts can be a very effective means to mix things up or even try out something new, all while getting in a bit of physical activity.

Fitbit might be king of the fitness trackers, but Garmin is untouchable when it comes to fitness watches. Whether you're looking for a running watch, a golf watch, a fitness tracker, or a smartwatch that

Your options will vary depending on your choice of fitness tracker and this function is usually restricted to higher-end trackers equipped with a display. That said, Garmin does a really good job here with the included, on-device workouts on the Garmin Venu and Garmin Vivoactive 4.

My colleague Jimmy reviewed the Garmin Venu last year and found the on-device workouts easy to follow. Be it yoga or pilates or even strength training, these are exercises that can be easily used to stay fit at home. Additionally, having fully animated models ensures that you know exactly what you are doing. A light buzz informs you when it is time to move to the next position which makes sure that things keep moving along at a decent clip.

Over on the Fitbit side of things, you need to look for the Coach app on your Ionic or Versa. Either watch ships with a few basic workouts preloaded on the device to get you started off. The premise is similar to Garmins on-device workouts. Full-motion video helps you get the posture just right and guides you through the motions right on cue. Elsewhere, the included breathing exercise app is a little short on features but works very well if you need to cool down after a workout or to catch a bit of breath in the middle of a busy day.

Charging a premium for advanced health metrics isn't anything new, but it's new to Fitbit. Last year, the San Francisco-based company launched Fitbit Premium, a paid membership service that offers Fitbit diehards detailed insights into

To further sweeten the deal, Fitbit is tossing in 90 days of Fitbit Premium service for free which makes it a no-brainer to try out. The premium service gives you access to more in-depth analytics as well as hundreds of workout videos. While hardcore enthusiasts might find the wider library of workout videos a bit easy, they are perfectly geared towards beginners and intermediate level users looking to get a bit of activity and movement in to stay fit while home.

Im a big fan of the social features of the Fitbit app. The ability to compare daily step count and workouts can be a pretty good motivator if youre the competitive kind.

While were on the topic of social features, Strava definitely deserves a mention. One of the biggest fitness communities out there, it can pull in data from most popular fitness trackers. I prefer to use the Strava app on my Fitbit to sync my workout data across services so that I can keep up with friends who might not be using a Fitbit. Admittedly, Strava works best with outdoor exercises and I would recommend that you follow local guidance and practices in case you are planning to head out for cycling or a run. If youve been longing to get back to your local running group, Strava can go a long way to fill that void.

Whether youre into hiking, biking, photography, or drone piloting getting started and making the right equipment decisions can be a serious investment. But sometimes its hard to know where to get started, especially if

Here in India, stepping out during the lockdown is an absolute no-go and so Ive turned to calisthenics to replace my running schedule alongside weight training. Calisthenics uses a variety of muscles to give you a full-body workout using just your bodyweight. This makes it a nearly perfect workout technique to stay fit while at home.

Now, Im a complete novice to bodyweight exercises so I turned to YouTube in the hope of finding some quality training videos. As it turns out, there is a world of YouTubers giving out quality information on how to get fit with no equipment at all.

My personal favorite is Pamela Reif. Ive been following her ab- and leg-training videos over on YouTube and the results have been fantastic. The channel has something for everyone. From beginner-focussed workouts to more intensive HIIT and upper body exercises, theres enough content here to keep you occupied for days. I thought that I was in pretty good shape, but almost every workout has had me sweating and feeling the burn.

Exercise fads may come and go, but if theres one thing that experts can universally attest to, it is the fact that diet is one of the most important aspects of fitness. As it turns out, sticking to a diet is just as hard in a lockdown than outside one.

Apps are a fantastic way of keeping a tab on what you are taking in. Sitting at home, your body doesnt really need as many calories as it would on a regular day. Using your favorite diet tracking app to keep track of a more sedentary lifestyle is a good idea right now so that it can automatically adjust your daily caloric goals. Weve got a list of fantastic diet tracking and management apps to try out. Personally, I prefer MyFitnessPal for the excellent food database and ease of tracking micro and macronutrients.

Growing up as a stereotypical geeky kid who cared more about computers than sports, I've always struggled with weight issues. For lack of motivation and proper guidance, I found it extremely hard to get into

Listen, I get it. Being stuck indoors is no fun. In fact, if you are prone to getting anxious, this is probably not the best time for you. Meditation and mindfulness can play a big role in easing stress, at least to a degree. Once again, there are apps to help you stay mentally fit while at home.

Headspace is widely considered one of the best mindfulness apps around. It promises to help you better deal with anxiety and to sleep better. In fact, the company is opening up access to a range of services and exercises that should help you find a bit of peace of mind.

Lately, Ive also started dabbling in yoga. Our very own Jimmy Westenberg recommended the Yoga with Adriene YouTube channel and Ive found her exercises and technique to be approachable for a beginner. In fact, the ongoing 30 days of Yoga series is a fantastic way to get started off and acquainted with yoga. Ive been pairing up yoga with calisthenics and better diet management to stay fit and nimble during this extended lockdown.

Sound apps are a surprisingly popular genre of app. Kids and adults both enjoy animal sound apps. Nature sounds and sleep sounds work great for getting deeper, more peaceful sleep for some folks. Thankfully, developers

As a bonus, I would highly recommend trying out apps like Sleepa if youve been having trouble sleep. Ive dealt with insomnia for over a decade and believe me, good sleep is precious. It is understandable to be anxious with all the uncertainty in the world right now, but a good nights sleep can go a long way towards perking you up.

Be it the gentle sound of a babbling brook, or in my case, the constant low drone of an airplane engine, comforting sounds are a good way to help you drift off to sleep. I swear by Sleepa. However, there are dozens of similar apps on the Play Store and they all do roughly the same job. Fitbit Premium also has a variety of ambient soundtracks if youre a subscriber.

What about you? Are you maintaining an exercise schedule to stay fit at home or are you taking the time off to sit back and relax? Wed love to know.

Read the original here:
Stuck at home? Here's how you can keep your body and mind fit. - Android Authority