Heart Activity

The trick to keeping your heart healthy is moving your body often. Try these exercises, 30 to 60 seconds each, one right after another. Repeat the circuit twice, resting for two to three minutes in between. Do it three times a week, with walking or cycling. The best part – no equipment required.

1. SQUATS

Stand with feet hip width apart. Reach arms up to chest height and bend knees, keeping them aligned over ankles. Move back as if sitting in a chair. When thighs are about 45 degrees  to the floor, return to a standing position.

2. ALTERNATING REVERSE LUNGES

Stand with feet hip width apart. Step right leg back, balancing on the ball of right foot. Lower right knee to the floor. At the same time, bend left leg to 90 degrees. Return to standing and repeat on other side.

3. JUMPING JACKS

Stand with feet almost touching and arms dangling. Jump feet to the sides so they’re wider than hip width apart and raise arms overhead. Return to starting position.

4. PUSH-UPS

Get into a push-up position with legs straight, toes on the floor and hands a little wider than shoulders. With spine straight and abs engaged, bend arms to about 90 degrees, lowering chest towards the floor. Straighten arms.

Apple’s iWatch Slated to Release This October

According to the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei, Apple is gearing up with its first wearable device. Its says that the specs and services for the device are still being finalized.

The device named as iWatch will sport a curved OLED touchscreen with two different screen variants – a 1.3-inch-display geared towards women and a 1.7-inch larger male-aimed device.

They are also planning to produce between 3 – 5 million units a month which is much more than the total global sales of watch-like devices last year.

A later report from Re/Code stated that the device is slated to release this October. It will make use of biometric sensors a new HealthKit features that checks calorie consumption, sleep data, blood oxygen levels and blood glucose levels found in iOS 8, that were revealed at Apple’s WWDC.

Since the iWatch requires a connection to an iPhone, it is believed that the iPhone6 and the wearable device will be unveiled at the same time.

Apple is not alone in the smartwatch market, it has high competitors on its path – Google Android Wear, LG G Watch and the impressive Motorola Moto 360 along with ASUS, HTC and others.

According to the report, Apple is said to be working with Nike to integrate services on future sports-products.

Super-Easy Brain Boosters

Eat : Less Fake Butter

Whether spread on a toast or poured over popcorn, many butter substitutes and flavourings contain diacetyl-based chemicals, which may harm brain cells. Diacetyl promotes the protein clumps in the brain that mark Alzheimer’s disease, according to scientists at the University of Minnesota, USA. Researcher Ashish Vartak, PhD, says that the study is preliminary, but he and his colleagues have started avoiding diacetyl by snacking on unflavoured popcorn. As for popcorn: ordering a non-butter flavour should reduce diacetyl exposure.

Gargle: With Lemonade

A new study finds that sweet liquids boost resolve. A University of Georgia study has found that rinsing the mouth with sugar-sweetened lemonade helped students perform better on tests of willpower. “Researches used to think the sugar had to enter the body to give you the energy for self-control,” said University of Georgia psychology professor Leonard Martin, coauthor of the study. But just holding the sugar in the mouth apparently signals the brain’s motivational centres to pay attention.

Sleep : Seven Hours

Getting too much sleep may be just as toxic to health as sleeping too little. Researches at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA, examined more than 20 years of data from over 15,000 participants in the Nurse’s Health Study and found that regularly sleeping two hours more or less than seven Hours a night was equivalent to two years of brain aging. The cognitive effects were also present when the woman’s sleep habits changed by two hours a night or more as they got older.