“Coffee is a regular beverage for many people. But there is much concern if drinking too much will affect the body,” says Kritsada. “Too much caffeine can cause headache, dizziness, palpitations, insomnia, restlessness and diarrhoea. And if one experiences chest pain, one must see a doctor as muscle twitching or twitching may be caused by caffeine poisoning.

Kritsada said a number of patients who come to consult about ageing want to continue drinking coffee. “Actually it is not a taboo at all because coffee is a part of the anti-ageing programme,” he said.

Enumerating the benefits of coffee, Kritsada said: “The caffeine in coffee stimulates the body and wakes up the brain, because there are other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine, which stimulate the brain.”

He said caffeine helps burn fat because this black drink helps to increase the metabolic rate of our body by 3 to 11 per cent, according to research by Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands. A study published in the American Journal Clinical Nutrition states that coffee can increase fat burning by 10 per cent in obese people, while in general people who have lean bodies it can burn up to 29 per cent. However, long-term use of coffee may reduce the results of the burning.

Among the other benefits Kritsada outlined were:

➤ It increases exercise potential. Caffeine stimulates the nervous system to signal to the lump of fat cells to break down fat. In addition, it also increases the adrenaline levels circulating in the blood, making the body ready to go into muscle-ready mode, causing caffeine to increase exercise power by 11-12 per cent on average, according to a study in the journal International Journal Sport Nutrition Exercise Metabolism.

➤ Coffee has vitamins and minerals. One cup of coffee reportedly contains vitamins B2, B3, B5 and the minerals manganese and potassium.

➤ Caffeine may help reduce diabetes risk, especially Type 2 diabetes. Many studies show that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of diabetes by 23-50 per cent. Researchers from the Faculty of Public Health of the University of Oklahoma concluded that three glasses of coffee per day can reduce the risk by 67 per cent.

➤ Caffeine protects us from Alzheimer’s disease that is common in humans aged 65 years and above, although it also depends on eating and exercising. According to a study by the University of Lisbon Neurology, caffeine consumption is associated with a significantly reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Another important work from Portugal, published in the journal Alzheimer’s disease, also studied “Caffeine intake and dementia: systemic review and meta-analysis”.

➤ It is reported that people who drink four cups of coffee a day may reduce the risk of cirrhosis from alcohol. A study by the Medical Research Department Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Programme revealed that this property is derived from substances in coffee. A study by the Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Milan-Bicocca, found that coffee may suspend the occurrence of cirrhosis from alcohol and not from alcohol which does not include other caffeine beverages.

Dr Kritsada said drinking coffee has some health benefits that should be known, whether it affects the brain, fat, metabolism, diabetes or weight loss. But not everyone needs to drink coffee on a regular basis to reap its benefits as they can be obtained by eating other foods, too.

Coffee has a formidable grip on the daily lives of Koreans, but tea is slowly and quietly gaining traction.

Social media-savvy hipsters wait for weeks for a tea ceremony experience. Teahouses that claim to sell not just a cuppa, but a lifestyle, are emerging as trendy hot spots.

Some see in it as a counteraction to the Starbucks-driven explosion of coffee culture here. Others speak of a refreshing return to the country’s own sipping traditions.

“I think we’ve grown too accustomed to quickly grabbing a latte on the go and quenching our thirst on hot summer days with iced coffee drinks. But tea is a new thing,” Min Yu-ri, 42, said, adding she was in the process of switching from coffee to tea.

Making tea drinking feel new, despite its thousand-year history here, are a breed of teahouses that source premium leaves, create unique blends and present them with a new concept.

Tea-based cocktails and cold fare are on the offer, while some shops match tea with yoga and books.

“Tea is more of a lifestyle. One that is slow, simple and healthy,” said Ryu Gyeonghyeong, general manager of tea bar Altdif.

We have been supporting Clean of England since 2006, when we started formulating fun, world-class products to give every girl the best bang for her beauty budget,” the firm said, adding: “Soap & Glory asked our fans what new fragrance they would love – they spoke and we listened!”

Soap & Glory’s “new range of body stuffs is enriched with natural ingredients such as coconut and green-tea extract to leave your skin feeling smooth and smelling ‘glory-ous’”, the company added.

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Dr Tanatip, Medically, we call it a cerebrovascular disease, while people generally call it paralysis or hemiparesis and it can affect the face or legs. Sometimes, patients are bed-ridden. This disease is among the top killers in Thailand.

Statistics shows that there are an annual 400,000 fatalities in Thailand with cancer being the No 1 killer accounting for about 70,000 deaths, followed by cardiovascular and then cerebrovascular diseases, each accounting for about 35,000 deaths. Together, the number of deaths is about 70,000.

Then, road accidents lead to another 20,000-plus deaths.

All these factors account for nearly half of the total fatalities annually. In fact, both heart attack and then brain attack are caused by blood vessel problems. Both diseases have a high fatality rate. If you survived these two diseases, then there could still be challenges since your capacity could have been reduced from say 100 per cent to 70, 60 or 50 per cent. That means the quality of life will be affected, causing concerns among medical professionals as well as family members and relatives.

Who are among the high risk groups? Generally speaking, senior citizens with diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol etc are among the risky groups. Risk factors are similar to those of heart or renal diseases. However, we’ve started to see younger stroke patients as young as 45. Lack of exercise is another factor.

Please talk about F.A.S.T. This is a method to observe those who may have suffered from the cerebrovascular disease. The first F represents face or facial drooping. Some people will have facial drooping or facial numbness. A represents arm as they may have arm weakness or leg weakness or both. Then, S stands for speech as people suffering from stroke may have difficulty to talk as the disease affects a part of the brain that controls speech.

T stands for time. Worldwide, we have been campaigning for a fast track to treat stroke patients. The golden period for patients to get medication to address the blood clotting problem is within 4-5 hours. The sooner is the better. It will enhance the effectiveness of treating stroke patients. If the patient is  treated within the first 4-5 hours of suffering from the disease, the outcome can be as high as a 70 or 80  or even 100 per cent recovery.

Can you talk about caring for stroke patients?  Yes, that depends whether it’s ischemic stroke which is due to the lack of blood flow or it’s hemorrhagic which is due to bleeding , both of which resulting in parts of the brain not working properly.

In the former case, patients can be treated with injection of medicine to address the blood clotting problem. Regarding the hemorrhagic case, it’s more challenging, as patients may need a brain surgery. The acute care period is the first 4-5 days after treatment.

Afterwards, it is the rehabilitation process for a better recovery. Patients need physical therapy to regain their muscle strength after suffering from stroke since our muscles will lose strength if they are not used for two weeks or longer. Once the brain recovers, the patient can then return to use their arms and legs.

What is Jin Well Being’s service for patients needing rehabilitation? In fact, we’re planning to open a new hospital especially for this patient group as well as those with chronic illnesses (inside Jin Well Being County) to provide long-term care. The planned Thonburi Burana Hospital will have no surgery room as it is designed to mainly provide rehabilitation care and related services so patients may return to a normal lifestyle as soon as possible.

In addition, Jin Well Being has residential units with a friendly environment allowing the patients’ loved ones and relatives to visit with ease and comfort. Altogether, here is a place like your  home and a hospital, especially for patients who need long-term care. They don’t need to go to a big hospital with all state-of-the-art facilities since their medical condition is no longer critical. The big hospital is also very expensive, costing more than 10,000 per day. However, these patients cannot stay at home either, due to the need for professional healthcare.

We provide all medical and nursing services while family members and relatives can come here as often as they like and there is no restriction on visiting hours. We also have a lot of walking space with gardens and trees as well as fitness and other facilities.

More importantly, the patients will live in a community of those who have similar challenges so they will make friends and give one another moral support. Those who have seen improvements from the rehab process can also help cheer up newcomers. This is a very important and useful feature of staying here to recover and return to a normal lifestyle.

What’s your advice on stroke prevention in the first place, especially for younger age groups from 40-45 years onwards?

Generally speaking, you have to manage your diet and avoid being overweight, exercise regularly at least 3-4 days a week. If you have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, it is necessary to put it under control either by changing your lifestyle or medication. You may try to lose weight and do more exercises to manage these risk factors.

In the event that you have had a stroke and survived with a reduced physical capacity of, say, 60 or 70 per cent, you can still live another 20 or 30 years. Just don’t lose your will power.

Last but not least, what is the cerebral aneurysm? Is it related to stroke? Regarding cerebral aneurysm, there are many causes and in some cases the causes are unknown. An analogy is like a water hose for gardening (blood vessels in the brain) is somehow swollen, doctors may do a surgical clipping to isolate an aneurysm.

There are cases that such an operation is performed before bleeding, that’s an effective treatment. In other cases, it may be too late, patients may not survive or may suffer paralysis. After all, prevention is always better.

We thank Thonburi Healthcare Group and Jin Well Being for the venue. Please contact them for further information on the long-term care service.

For children, it can help improve their physical health. This science also benefits adults and professional sports persons as well as senior citizens in terms of revitalizing their lifestyles. They just need appropriate exercises that fit their age and other conditions.

For those who have chronic illnesses, it is also useful. For example, a person’s physical capacity may have dropped from 100 to 80-90 (per cent) due to old age, sport scientists can design a programme to help prevent more illnesses or even reverse the course by improving the patient’s physical performance to, say, 91-92 (per cent). That’s rehabilitation. Next, we will show you the state-of-the-art fitness facilities and equipment at Jin Well Being County of Thonburi Healthcare Group. The facilities have sport scientists working regularly to advice you, covering all age groups from adults to senior citizens or those with chronic illnesses. We will go over there and have a look.

Now I am at Jin Well Being’s fitness centre (in Bangkok’s Rangsit area), with two sport scientists, Khun Bas and Khun Bank, who can give professional advice to the general public as well as sportsmen and senior citizens.

First of all, please talk about the various modes of physical exercise, duration, intensity, and frequency. Generally speaking, we exercise for the strength of body  muscles and for cardiovascular or heart fitness. For muscle strength, we focus on weight training, body weight or cross fit sessions for the benefits of body mass and muscles.

Another is the aerobic or cardio exercise to strengthen the heart and cardio-vascular system. Generally, we should exercise 3-5 days or a total of 150 minutes per week to stay healthy. Each session may vary from 30 minutes to an hour to achieve the total of 150 minutes per week.

Mainly, there are two major types of exercise, one for muscle strength and the other for cardio strength. Right here, what’s the benefit of this machine?

This machine is good for the aerobic exercise or the cardio or heart fitness.

For the general public, what’s your advice on a suitable exercise programme? Basically, there are no special precautions (unless you have some medical conditions). For senior citizens, we need to check if they have chronic diseases and other conditions so that we can recommend a suitable exercise programme covering the appropriate mode, duration and intensity.

Generally, we will go for light and medium exercises for senior citizens such as Tai chi (Chinese-styled exercise)  or an aerobic exercise in the swimming pool. For cardio-exercises on a machine, the intensity is important so they should stay within Zone 2 or Zone 3, meaning their heart rate should range from 120 to 140 per minute. We can also calculate based on age like the formula mentioned by Dr Tanatip.

So we start with the maximum heart rate of 220 per minute, then minus by your age. If you are 50, that’s 170, then we aim to achieve 80 per cent of the max heart rate or about 150 per minute in this case. The machine has sensors to measure the heart while you work out.

If we aim for muscle strength, what’s your advice? First, if you’re already familiar with physical exercise, you can continue as you did before, but if you are a newcomer you need to have a physical therapist or a trainer to guide you. For those with heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure, what is your advice?

They will have to consult their physicians before starting an exercise programme.

Afterwards, the doctors will forward cases to sport scientists to help design an suitable exercise programme. We also need to do some tests before we start. For the rehabilitation purpose, we focus on helping senior citizens keep a good physical balance while preventing or minimizing joint and muscle problems. In some cases, we need to do a cardio exercise to strengthen the heart or prevent heart problem or improve the blood pressure.

For senior citizens with a loss of some bone and body mass, we may need some light weight training session.

There were celebrities and “fitness influencers” in the crowd that turned out last Sunday for “Wine Surfset”, at which Surfset Thailand gym trainers demonstrated how workouts might be more enjoyable over a glass of Australia’s Jacob’s Creek wine.

The sweat session at Siri House on Bangkok’s Soi Somkid took the “beer and yoga” fad one step further with exercises done on a surfboard and delectable wine at hand.

Jacob’s Creek has a new “Bring Your Australian” promotion based on Aussie pastimes such as surfing, giving people a chance to “hang ten” without having to trek to the beach.

And the “total-body surfing workout” forms the basis for techniques used at Surfset Thailand gyms.

After Sunday’s workout, guests were invited to join in an Aqua Zumba class, which is a high-energy aquatic exercise set to music.

The wines being sipped included mellow Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir, dry and fresh Le Petit Rosé and sweet Sparkling Moscato Rosé, which has a light hint of Moscato grapes, berries and lychees.

The brand has seen a 300-per-cent year on year growth by emphasising the product’s distinction and positioning itself as true oral-care expert, according to a Wednesday release. Now it is launching new marketing activities, along with the Curaprox mobile application as a new touch point loaded with privileges to better serve health conscious consumers who looks for the best there is.

Ekasit Noncie, the managing director of Curaden (Thailand) Ltd, said the brand’s rise is due to Curaden envisioning a healthier world. “A world in which passionate dental professionals, clued-up consumers, and attractive, effective and safe products work hand in hand for the healthier individual.”

Curaprox operates under the Curaden AG umbrella, which was founded in 1954 in Switzerland. And Curprox has adopted this vision since 1972, in a stylish way. The company has been focusing on sharing personal care insights and promoting dentist-patient relationship in 75 countries around the world, including the past in the past two years in Thailand through an official distributor. Curaden AG has now moved forward with a joint venture deal that gives birth to Curaden (Thailand) Limited.

The main strategy is to market products by supporting consumers with facts as well as working with dentists, healthcare facilities and educational institutions nationwide. For 2020-2021, the emphasis will be on communicating the brand by fostering first-hand product experience. Those people who earnestly live their lives with quality can truly appreciate the product and its philosophy, said the release.

In retail, no direct competitor has yet existed in this market territory, but the company is adding more sales channels online that will match the lifestyle of affluent customers with special privileges and more personalised information.

The brand’s major emphasis is the toothbrush category, which comes in more than eight options differentiated by treatments, such as toothbrushes for braces, toothbrushes for primary teeth, toothbrushes for mixed dentition and toothbrushes for use after surgery or radiation treatment.

“The premium oral-care market in Thailand as a whole seems to be increasing continuously in value at least 15 per cent a year due to various contributing factors,” Ekasit said. “Advances in medical research and technology as well as manufacturing processes, increasing lifestyle-based sales channels and changing consumer behaviours prompt better responses to product innovation. Many brands are adding a wider range to their product line-up, and consumers can expect to see more products being marketed to them. So Curaprox moves forward with marketing to meet customers’ post-purchasing needs, facilitates an exchange of oral-care information and adds another convenient sales channel to our arsenal.”

Many people spend 8-10 hours in front of computer screens, resulting in stiff muscles and body aching, especially on their shoulders, neck and upper arm. We have good solutions to tackle this problem. With me today are Dr Thanathip and Archan Surasak, who is a physical therapist. 

Dr Thanathip Originally, the so-called office syndrome meant people working long hours at office with writing instruments. About 20-30 years ago, we started to use desktop computers so our sitting posture is just like this. This position is not natural as we are not built to sit for a long time in this style. For Bangkok motorists, there is also another problematic sitting posture when you are caught in traffic jams for hours. You may spend two hours daily in this position, hurting your back, neck and shoulders. 

Archan Surasak, what is your recommendation? I would like to say that a decade ago we might talk about this problem purely as an office syndrome, but today it’s different everyone has a mobile phone using it anywhere in the office or while they are commuting on the Skytrin train etc. In public places, we can see many people are busy with their personal device. Their posture while using these gadgets is not healthy and when they sit they tend to slip and lie down on the chair, with the head also bowing down while using one or both hands touching or swiping on the touch screens. I can show such a posture. It’s like this. This causes neck and shoulder aching and pains. Many sufferers have sought treatment. Sometimes, they have not got proper help. This has nothing to do with kamma. It’s just the consequence of sitting improperly. 

My advice is you have to agree the problem is caused by your own behavior. You should change your style. For those working 8-10 hours at a desk, I suggest you take frequent breaks. My advice is to get up more often, maybe not every hour, as that might affect productivity, but you should make sure you get up one plus one in the morning as well as in the afternoon. This means you routinely get up and leave the desk twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. Altogether, you should take four breaks per day. 

Another point is that you should test if you already have the tight neck and shoulder or back problem. The screening method is simple. We can do this together. Just stand up and raise both arms to the fullest extent. Make sure you can touch both ears comfortably without moving the head. Let’s me check Khun Nop. If you cannot do it with ease that means muscles around the shoulders and neck are tight. That’s a warning sign. One more time, we are going to show you how to test the condition of your neck, shoulder and back. 

At a close look, I can see that  Khun Nop could not fully touch both ears without moving the head. There’s a gap and that’s the problem caused by muscle tightness. To do a proper test, you need to raise the arms and keep you head straightforward. Once you have muscle tightness, I would suggest that you do some brief exercise to stretch. You can do this following workout in the office next to your desk or even inside the rest room if it’s convenient. This workout takes just a few minutes and no sweating. This is aimed at loosening the muscles around the shoulders. It’s preventive and I can show you how to do it. Most people are familiar with this simple exercise when they’re in school. You have both hands touch your shoulders and then make forward and backward circles. 

Just close your eyes and imagine to use the tip of your elbows just like a big pencil to make the biggest-possible circles around your shoulders. You should do it slowly with both arms. You will feel a movement of your shoulder muscles. Move your arms forwards three times and then backwards another three times by drawing the biggest possible circles. 

Previously, I didn’t do it properly. Now I could feel a big difference. It seems to have stretched my lower back, neck and shoulder all at the same time. It’s simple and very useful. You don’t have to do it a hundred of times. Just a few times when it is convenient and do it as often as possible. Maybe 10 or 20 times or less as long as it’s convenient. One more thing when you return to your desk, make sure you sit straight even though you may slip a bit later on. By getting up more often you have the chance to be aware of your sitting position and can make a correction. Combing with a brief exercise, that’s a perfect way to take care of yourself without having to pay for anything. 

Dr Thanathip and Archan Surasak, Have talked about the office and mobile syndrome as virtually everyone now uses smartphones and many users tend to have the posture problem when using these devices for an extended period. If they are sitting they are likely to gradually slip on the chair and almost lie down. What’s the issue here? Physically, our spine is shaped like the S alphabet. When you are not sitting straight up on the chair for a long time, your spine is affected and it may deform and become like the C shape, not S anymore. In this case, you risk having a deformed spine. That’s bad and unnatural. One solution is to test yourself by raising both arms to the fullest extent over your head and if you cannot touch the ears without moving the head, then you need to stretch regularly to prevent damaging the spine and reduce aching. 

Some people could not raise their arms over the head so that’s the problem. Archan Surasak, you have other suggestions? I think we also need to be inspired to be healthy. If you want good health, it’s not on sale, you have to work out yourself. This will improve the quality of life. So stretching regularly is vital. Our body is like the car’s engine. It needs to run idle regularly to be in good shape. If you don’t start your car regularly, the battery and other moving parts will be soon in trouble. 

For human beings, we need to have a lot of physical movements to stay healthy as a sedentary lifestyle is bad for your health. For people who use mobile phones many hours a day, they risk having the damaged spine due to sitting improperly. The spine shape shifts from S to C shape as explained earlier. 

This has affected not only adults, but also children as young as 8 years old. In the older days, I only had patients in advanced age. Now, younger people and kids are also sufferers. Maybe, some kids are addicted to mobile computer games and we have pictures to show in these cases. In one case, a kid’s spine is reshaped like the C alphabet due to long hours on digital devices from smartphones to tablets etc. There was no proper parental guidance when kids use these devices. 

It seems the office syndrome has shifted over the past decades to be the smartphone syndrome and now  the digital device syndrome to cover tablets, notebooks and other devices. Now, the new styled offices are called co-working space, which is designed to accommodate the new generation of workers with additional space for physical workouts and other activities. That’s helpful. Don’t be shy and become the trendsetters. With multiple and new-styled furniture and even standing desks, that’s good. So people can exercise inside their offices.