Vitamin D, mostly known for its role in helping the body absorb calcium and thus contributing towards bone health, has far more to offer. As more studies stream in and shed new light on various health benefits of vitamin D, we now know that vitamin D plays an incredible role in regulating the immune system. And part of this credit goes to vitamin D’s ability to stimulate the production of natural antibiotics in the body.

Doctors routinely prescribe statin drugs to control elevated cholesterol. Some even push these drugs as a preventive medicine to people who are otherwise healthy and don’t have any history of existing heart condition such as heart attack or stroke. While statins effectively lower cholesterol levels in the body, whether this effect translates into reduced risk of heart disease or death is a highly controversial topic.

If the joy of deep, restful sleep has become elusive it is often ‘stress and anxiety’ that give you sleepless nights, which further contributes to your stress. And it is a terrible and vicious cycle that can be hard to break.

Your cardiovascular system needs nutritional support to keep running in excellent condition that includes efficiently responding to the challenges that may impact the health of blood vessels, such as inflammation, calcium deposition and hardening of arteries.

Sound sleep helps the body to kick start the next day with energy and vigour. As we sleep, our body gets into that all-encompassing mending mode – repairing damaged tissues, building bones, secreting growth and repair hormones, storing energy and consolidating memories. What happens if you don’t get enough sleep? Part 1 in this series, titled ‘How Bad Can Insomnia Get’ covers the health risks associated with insomnia in details.

Work pressure or turmoil in personal life can give anyone a sleepless night or two. But what happens when getting a restful night of sleep becomes an everyday struggle?

Immunotherapy is novel approach that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer, a ‘demon’ that clearly remains one of the most dreaded diseases. Our immune system – with its army of specialized cells, chemical substances, tissues and organs – fights and protects our body from a range of disease-causing pathogens. And it CAN even destroy cancer cells.

How would you deal with pain, say from a headache? Chances are you would reach for an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen to get fast relief. Now, this relief may be immediate but it comes at a price. Popping such medicines to manage your everyday pains and aches and even your chronic ones can have long-term negative effects on your body.

November marks the beginning of Vitamin D Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, when sunlight is not strong enough to trigger Vitamin D production in the skin, leading to seriously low levels of the vitamin in the body. Research shows that people living in high latitudes are deficient in the sunshine vitamin, especially in the winter months (October-March).

The term heart failure can be a bit confusing. Most people associate it with a situation where the heart stops beating altogether. Well, heart failure is a condition where the heart is not strong enough to pump blood with required force and as a result blood flows through the body at a slower pace. A weak heart is not able to provide enough oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs that they need to carry out their functions. Having said that, heart failure is still a serious condition that requires timely and effective management; achieved usually through medication and lifestyle modifications