Diwali Health Tips: Healthy Diwali, Safe Diwali

With Diwali, the festival of lights around the corner, which calls for lights, colors, crackers and sweets. It is during this auspicious time that families get together and celebrate. However, Diwali is also inundated with unwanted accidents and health hazards. The festival exposes you to fire, smoke, high doses of artery-clogging fats you consume beyond the permissible limit. Therefore, it is important to keep yourself safe and healthy and not compromise on your health. This doesn't mean that Diwali can't be safe and healthy. Of course, it can be, simply take the danger out of Diwali and not the fun!

Diwali Health Tips

Here are some problems that people face during healthy along with their solutions or alternatives. This Diwali, be safe, healthy and happy! Moreover, by paying attention to the following health tips can party into the New Year with full health, zest and zeal.

1. Eat Healthy

Diwali is a festival of celebrations. And, no celebration is complete without indulging in sweets and snacks. Also, it is the time when you gift your dear ones gifts comprising sweets. Diabetic patients need to take extra precautions during Diwali, as they are surrounded with tons of sweets.

Concern:

1. Gain some extra pounds of weight.
2. Preservatives in sweets increase the odds of: a. Kidney or liver damage b. Asthma c. Cancer.
3. Food Poisoning
4. Dysentery

Solution:

We understand it's hard to stay completely off sweets and not be a part of the celebration. Precautions to be taken when it comes to food and sweets: 1. Consume sweets with low fat or sugar-free contents; or 2. Consume sweets that are prepared using natural sweeteners instead. Since, it's believed that white sugar contains traces of sulfur. (Eg: Use jaggery instead of white sugar) 3. Avoid sweets made of white flour. 4. Don't compromise on the quality of food which you consume or buy from the market. Ensure good quality, standard and hygiene level. 5. Avoid consuming sweets from a local sweet mart as for a lower cost, quality gets compromised and your health may go in for a toss resulting in you getting diagnosed with a number of health ailments like food poisoning, dysentery etc. So stay safe.

2. Keep Yourself Hydrated

Not only do people eat excessively, but also drink excessively, for example, Soft drinks. All these unhealthy drinks create toxins in the body. It is important to flush toxins that are accumulated by eating unhealthy sweets and snacks. The easiest way to flush out these toxins is by drinking water.

Concern:

1. Dehydration
2. Stomach infection
3. Dizziness
4. Increased calorie intake

Solution:

1. Drinking water is the best method to detox your body.
2. Coconut water: another healthy alternative
3. Neutralize the alcohol content with water

3. Limit Booze Intake

Diwali is packed with family and friends meet-ups, card game meet-ups, etc. And, all the parties are not dry, there is a lot of alcohol that goes down! The problem with excessive alcohol intake is that it not only causes dehydration, but also gives you a hang-over.

Concern:

1. Dehydration
2. Hang-over or Dizziness
3. Difficulty walking
4. Blurred Vision
5. Slurred Speech
6. Impaired memory

Solution:

1. Don't drink in excess
2. If you do drink, don't drink and drive. As drunk driving increases the risk of accidents on an auspicious day.

4. Get Proper Sleep

Diwali, or for that matter, any festival disrupts your sleeping pattern. People want to spend lesser and lesser time sleeping and more time partying. Along with sleeping pattern that gets ruined, an eating pattern also goes for a toss as one gets involved binge-eating, consuming excessive alcohol and lack of exercise.

Concern:

1. Weight Gain
2. High Blood Pressure
3. Weakened Immunity
4. Being Drowsy can increase the risk of accidents, eg: Car Accidents
5. Mood Swings
6. Paranoia

Solution:

1. Follow a fixed routine despite all odds
2. Avoid excessive intake of fried food or alcohol.
3. Consume: a. Fresh fruits b. Curd c. Salads, d. Almonds and pistachios.

5. Keep a First Aid Kit Handy

It's highly recommended to keep a first aid kit in a handy place as it can be of great use when an emergency strikes. Eg: A blister/burn while burning a cracker.

6. Keep Earplugs Handy

One should use ear-buds/ear-plugs as the sound of fireworks have the potential to damage eardrums in some people. Also, for some people, old people or people with cardiac problems, listening to a loud noise may shoot up their heart rate

7. Use Anti-Pollution Masks

Unfortunately, burning crackers in Diwali is like adding salt to your food. With excessive crackers being burnt in every state, city and locality, the pollution level shoots up to excessively dangerous level. Patients with chronic lung diseases or asthma should avoid places with heavy cracker pollution. If people do step out of their homes, they should equip themselves by wearing masks to cover their nose and mouth to prevent contracting any disease.

8. Wear the Right Clothes

Diwali, one of the biggest festival of the nation is predominantly a festival of lights and fire. With fire comes danger of being burnt. Therefore, one should avoid wearing loose fitting clothes or clothes of nylon, terrycot and silk fabric as they are highly inflammable.

Conclusion

Obviously, being a monk during Diwali is neither possible nor feasible. Therefore, what needs to be kept in mind is that, do all of the things such as, drinking, eating sweets but do so in moderation. Also, don't forget to NOT BURN CRACKERS! Once Diwali is over, your body needs to go for a detox session, which requires a change not only in diet but also sleep cycles, eating patterns and other lifestyle changes.