Green tea and health benefits

Many of us know that green tea is good for health. However, many of us may not be actually be aware the specific health benefits. Our assumption, we presume, may not be misplaced. Hence, in this article we shall highlight tentative benefits of drinking green tea. So, here it goes:

a) Improve brain function:

Green tea does more than just keep you alert. It may also help boost brain function. The key active ingredient is caffeine, which is a known stimulant. It doesn’t contain as much as coffee, but enough to produce a response without causing the jittery effects associated with taking in too much caffeine. Caffeine affects the brain by blocking an inhibitory neurotransmitter called adenosine. This way, it increases the firing of neurons and the concentration of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine

b) Increase fat burning

If you look at the ingredients list for any fat burning supplement, chances are, green tea will be on there. This is because, according to research, green tea can increase fat burning and boost metabolic rate. In one study involving 10 healthy men, taking green tea extract increased the number of calories burned by 4%.

Caffeine may also improve physical performance by mobilizing fatty acids from fat tissue and making them available for use as energy.

c) Lowering risk of cancer

Cancer is caused by uncontrolled growth of cells. It’s one of the world’s leading causes of death. Research has shown that oxidative damage can lead to chronic inflammation, which can lead to chronic diseases, including cancers. Antioxidants can help protect against oxidative damage, Green tea is an excellent source of powerful antioxidants.

Research has linked green tea compounds with a reduced risk of cancer, including the following studies:

· Breast cancer. A comprehensive review of observational studies found that women who drank the most green tea had an approximately 20–30% lower risk of developing breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in women

· Prostate cancer. One study observed that men drinking green tea had a lower risk of advanced prostate cancer.

· Colorectal cancer. An analysis of 29 studies showed that those drinking green tea were around 42% less likely to develop colorectal cancer.

Many observational studies indicate that green tea drinkers are less likely to develop several types of cancer, but more high quality research is needed to confirm these effects. To get the most health benefits, avoid adding milk to your tea. Some studies suggest it can reduce the antioxidant value in some teas.

d) Protect brain from aging

Not only can green tea improve brain function in the short term, it may also protect your brain as you age. Alzheimer’s disease is a common neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia in older adults. Parkinson’s diseases another common neurodegenerative disease and involves the death of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. Several studies show that the catechin compounds in green tea can have various protective effects on neurons in test tubes and animal models, possibly lowering the risk of dementia.

e) Prevents Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes involves having elevated blood sugar levels, which may be caused by insulin resistance inability to produce insulin. Studies show that green tea may improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugar levels. One study in Japanese individuals found that those who drank the most green tea had an approximately 42% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

f)Live longer

Given that some compounds in green tea may help protect against cancer and heart disease, it makes sense that it could help you live longer. In one study, researchers studied 40,530 Japanese adults over 11 years. Those who drank the most green tea — 5 or more cups per day — were significantly less likely to die during the study period:

· Death of all causes: 23% lower in women, 12% lower in men

· Death from heart disease: 31% lower in women, 22% lower in men

· Death from stroke: 42% lower in women, 35% lower in men

Another study involving 14,001 older Japanese individuals found that those who drank the most green tea were 76% less likely to die during the 6-year study period.

(Source: Kris Gunnars in https://www.healthline.com)

10 habits for healthy aging

Recently we came across an interesting article on “10 habits for senior citizens to promote healthy aging”. Being relevant to the kind of services Porosh renders, we felt the insights shall be useful not only for our members but also the wider senior citizen community. Thus, the article written by Holly Klameris offered below.

With progressive aging, our body undergoes a lot of changes. These changes can be positive, like gaining experience, becoming wiser, an increase in maturity level, etc. However, aging has its disadvantages as well. These disadvantages are just not lines on the face or graying of hair; it is majorly associated with our mental and physical wellbeing.

Aging is something that we cannot control. But, how we do age, that is in our hands. Believe it or not, things become much easier for senior citizens when they are healthy. On the other hand, for someone who is facing medical problems like heart issues, bone, and joint-related issues, diabetes, some type of dementia, or other brain-related issues, life becomes much more difficult. These individuals need lots of care and attention. You can either take care of yourself or can even use professional help. Numerous memory care facilities and senior assisted living facilities are available for the people who are in the golden age of their lives.

We all want to remain fit and healthy as were grow older. Here are healthy habits that might help you in healthy aging.

1. Exercise

If you want to remain physically and mentally fit during the golden era of your life, be active, and exercise regularly. Regular exercise, along with a healthy and nutritious diet, forms the key to age healthily and happily. Regular exercise helps in preventing numerous diseases like heart diseases, arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, depression, etc.

2. Social connectivity

Old age is the best time to cultivate your relations. The feeling of loneliness and depression are quite common among older people. Many older people face isolation during their old age because of reasons such as medical issues, retirement, or death of the spouse.

To avoid such situations, you need to maintain contact with your family, friends, and relatives. Meet your children or loved ones regularly. In addition to this, you can join some club or groups. This way, you will get a chance to meet new people and make new friends.

3. Healthy eating

Another easy and yet difficult way to enjoy healthy aging is by keeping control over your taste buds. What we eat has a direct effect on our health. Try to avoid eating junk food, fried food, processed food, sweets, etc.

Eating whole-grain foods, fresh fruits, and vegetables will keep you healthy and fit in old age. Remember, the nutritional requirement varies from person to person. Hence, it is advisable to consult your doctor to know about your dietary haves and have nots.

4. Sleep

Peaceful sleep is essential for our body. It is during this time that our body and mind relax –refreshes and prepares for the next day. 7-8 hours of quality sleep is essential for the proper functioning of our body. Lack of quality sleep may result in memory issues, irritability, depression, and increased fall risk.

Insomnia is quite common among our seniors. You can avoid it by following simple bed-time habits.

Keep your sleeping room dark. Switch off all the lights, T.V., mobile device, and laptop.

Avoid having alcohol and caffeine-rich drinks in the evening or before your sleep-time.Try not to sleep for more than 20 min during the daytime.

5. Health care

Make your health your priority. Our health depends a lot on our social factors, environmental factors, our actions, and our genes. Sometimes, we are the best judge of how our body responds to these factors. For example, what effect the change of season has on our body or if spicy food suits our body or not.

Hence, if making a few changes in your lifestyle can help you in improving your health, then try to adopt those changes. Also, be regular with your monthly, quarterly, or annual body check-up. If you are facing any health issues, contact your doctor immediately. Most importantly, be honest with your doctor about your health and ask questions.

6. Prevention practice

You might not believe it, but many old-age related health issues are preventable. This includes accidents, falls, depression, frailty, etc.

You can prevent illness by adopting simple healthy habits like:

· Washing hands after using the restroom.

· Washing hands before and after having meals.

· Take the flu vaccine regularly.

7. Stress Management

With growing age, the ability of our body to deal with stress tends to decrease. Stress affects the body at all levels i.e., mental, physical as well as emotional. Prolonged stress in elderly adults can result in depression. Studies have shown that stress might result in fatigue, memory loss, hypertension, and heart-related issues. In addition to this, stress even reduces our body’s immunity.

We might not be able to avoid stress completely. However, we can learn ways to deal with stress. For example, listening to music or exercise helps in reducing stress. In addition to this, yoga, meditation, talking to someone, and breathing exercises have also been found to be very effective in reducing stress.

8. Challenge cognitive ability

With age, our cognitive abilities like executive functioning, paying attention, memory, etc. declines. This can be overcome by performing certain brain exercises that can challenge our cognitive abilities. This can be done by learning new things like a language, musical instrument, reading a book or even taking dance lessons, etc. Similarly, playing brain games like Sudoku, Chess, etc. can also be very helpful in keeping our brain active.

9. Regular check-ups

Regular health-check-ups, including general body check-up, dental check-ups, and vision check-up is very important to live a healthy life during old age. With age, focusing on near-by objects or reading small letters becomes difficult. A regular check-up would be very helpful in taking care of any eyes-related disorder.

10. Preventing fall

Another major disadvantage of aging is that our tendency to fall increases. However, it can be prevented by making the home clutter-free and removing things that might cause hindrance in walking like a rug. Keeping night lights on can also help prevent a fall during the night. Another simple thing that can help in avoiding falls is keeping the bathroom and kitchen floor dry.

We hope our readers have found the piece informative and useful. But as we know, it will be beneficial only when we start practicing.

(Inputs taken from www.landmarkseniorliving.com)

No Income Tax Return filing for senior citizens above 75 years

The recently concluded budget announcement has brought cheers to the senior citizens. The same day (i.e. February 1st) ‘The Economic Times’ published a lengthy article delineating the finer points which we felt shall be of great help to our readers as well. So, we are reproducing the same for your benefit.

“Budget 2021 proposes to exempt senior citizens who are 75 years or above and have only pension and interest income in a financial year, from filing income tax returns. As per the Budget 2021 proposals, they will not be required to file income tax returns (ITR) anymore. The bank paying income to them will deduct the necessary tax from their bank account.

As per the explanatory memorandum, such benefit will be available only if the following conditions are satisfied:

1) The senior citizen is resident in India and of the age of 75 or more during the previous year;

2) He has pension income and no other income. However, in addition to such pension income he may have also have interest income from the same bank in which he is receiving his pension income;

3) This bank is a specified bank. The Government will be notifying a few banks, which are banking company, to be the specified bank; and

4) He shall be required to furnish a declaration to the specified bank. The declaration shall be containing such particulars, in such form and verified in such manner, as may be prescribed.

Once the declaration is furnished, the specified bank would be required to compute the income of such senior citizen after giving effect to the deduction allowable under Chapter VI-A and rebate allowable under section 87A of the Act, for the relevant assessment year and deduct income tax on the basis of rates in force. Once this is done, there will not be any requirement of furnishing return of income by such senior citizen for this assessment year. This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2021.

This has come after Budget 2018 had announced several tax law changes to provide more tax benefits to senior citizens. These include tax benefits such as introduction of a new section 80TTB in the Income Tax Act, 1961, deduction for medical expenditure in case of no health insurance coverage etc.

Shalini Jain, Tax Partner – People Advisory Services, EY India says, "In view to ease the compliance burden for our elderly, the government has done away with the requirement of filing tax returns for senior citizens of age 75 years or above subject to satisfaction of conditions." Under section 80TTB, seniors can claim up to Rs 50,000 interest income received from banks and post offices as a deduction from their income thereby making this type of interest income for senior citizens effectively tax exempt up to Rs 50,000.

Earlier, senior citizens were entitled to similar tax-exemption for interest income from bank and post office savings accounts but only up to Rs 10,000 under section 80TTA. The Rs 50,000 deduction was the biggest tax relief announced in Budget 2018 for most senior citizens as they earn most of their income through interest from bank FDs and post office schemes. TDS limit for bank fixed deposit interest was also hiked simultaneously for senior citizens. Along with that, Budget 2018 increased the limit on health insurance premiums paid that can be claimed as a deduction from income from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 for senior citizens. Additionally, if a senior citizen does not have a medical insurance policy and has incurred medical expenditure during the financial year, then also he/she can claim deduction of up to Rs 50,000 for such expenses under section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

Earlier, a deduction for medical expenditure up to Rs 30,000 was allowed for super senior citizens aged 80 years and above if they were not covered by any medical insurance policy. For senior citizens suffering from certain critical illnesses, as specified in Rule 11DD of the income tax rules, that are covered under section 80DDB of the Act, deduction limit was raised to Rs 1 lakh for all senior citizens, from the earlier Rs 60,000 (in case of senior citizens) and Rs 80,000 (in case of very senior citizens).

The government has also extended the deadline by which seniors can invest in Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) to March 31, 2023. The maximum amount The maximum amount that can now be invested in the scheme is Rs 15 lakh from the previous limit of Rs 7.5 lakh as announced in Budget 2018.”