Weekly Health Horoscope For December 8-14, 2024: Concentrate On Mental And Physical Equilibrium, Zodiacs

Updated Dec 9, 2024 | 03:03 PM IST

SummaryThis week's wellness horoscope provides personalized tips for each zodiac sign, offering guidance on maintaining mental, physical, and emotional health. Focus on balanced nutrition, mindful practices, exercise routines, and self-care rituals to support overall well-being and vitality.
Weekly health horoscope

Weekly health horoscope

Aries

Aries, your continuous good eating habits will probably help you this week since they improve your mood, concentration, and general energy. Following this schedule will help you to keep your mental and physical health in good condition for long. Your positive attitude motivates you to keep active and is a great time to create new habits that maintain your sensation of renewal.

Taurus

Taurus, pay special attention to the signals your body sends this week; neglecting little health concerns might cause more major difficulties. A compromised immune system could disrupt things, hence give physical fitness and overall well-being first priority. Being proactive—that is, eating well and working out consistently—will help you keep on target.

Gemini

Gemini, your health becomes better this week as lifestyle choices include better eating and physical activity help to ease minor ailments. This is the right moment to start a spiritual practice since it will help one to find inner peace and quiet. A balanced body and mind guarantees you will remain energetic and effective.

Cancer

Cancer, your health is still steady as consistent exercise and disciplined habits help to maintain a balanced condition of well-being. Including stress-reducing practices like yoga and meditation improves your energy even more. Emphasize on keeping this balance since it opens the path for a happy and stress-free way of life.

Leo

Leo, thanks to dietary supplements and meditation techniques that maintain your energy levels high, your health is in good state. To prevent lifestyle-related diseases, though, avoid protracted inactivity. Maintaining constant wellness depends on keeping aware of your food patterns and doing moderate physical exercise.

Virgo

Virgo, as you welcome physical and mental fitness, your health is improving. Regular physical exercises and yoga help you reach harmony in your everyday life. Enjoy this time of wellness, but keep strict about following your routines to guarantee long-term advantages.

Libra

Libra, this week your health might call for little changes. If you have minor illnesses, give medication top priority and focus on nutritional balance with regard for proteins and fiber. A great tool to assist you reach a condition of peace and stability is yoga since it can promote mental clarity and relaxation.

Scorpio

Though you can have minor allergic responses, swimming or cycling will help you stay in shape. To calm your senses, relaxation activities are vital; hence, think about include them into your daily schedule to maintain your general health.

Sagittarius

Sagittarius, your health is still good as consistent sports and physical exercise help to increase fitness. Yoga and aromatherapy help you to improve your core strength and relaxation even more. This is a perfect week to concentrate on mental and physical equilibrium.

Capricorn

Staying active with consistent exercise and eating wholesome meals in moderation would help you greatly improve your health if Capricorn. Though overindulgence might have negative consequences, pay close attention to your body's requirements. Your energy will remain constant if you approach wellness holistically.

Aquarius

Aquarius, giving an active lifestyle first priority helps you keep your physical fitness this week. Your general well-being is improved by your happy attitude, hence this is a perfect moment to create reasonable medical objectives. Keep constant in your attempts to get long-lasting advantages.

Pisces

This week Pisces provides advances in your physical and mental health; tiny illnesses and allergies could throw off your balance. Take quick care of these little problems to protect your health. Emphasize on keeping balance between your body and mind for best health.

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30 Second Dementia Test That Can Reveal Early Symptoms - All You Need Is Pen, Paper And A Timer

Updated Jul 7, 2025 | 07:00 PM IST

SummaryDementia is much more common than you may know, a disease that can change everything about a person without many signs or symptoms. However, there is a test that can help early diagnosis.
30 Second Dementia Test That Can Reveal Early Symptoms - All You Need Is Pen, Paper And A Timer

Dementia is not often a big issue for younger generations; it becomes a problem as we start to age. It is a cognitive degenerative condition that affects our memory, behavior as well as the way we think. However, many times the signs and symptoms of the same can show up earlier than usual as well. While dementia may not be a big concern for younger people, early onset dementia could still be an issue. The Alzheimer’s Society explains that young people who are at risk of early on-set dementia have a wide array of symptoms. Another way to identify it is this simple 30 second test.

Simple 30-Second Test for Early Dementia

A quick and easy test, sometimes called the "clock test," is getting attention. It might help spot early signs of dementia. You just need a pen, paper, and a timer, and it takes less than a minute. Dr. Eric Berg DC showed how to do it in a video: you just have to draw a clock showing 10 minutes past 11 o'clock within 30 seconds.

How to Check Your Drawing

After you draw the clock, you can check it yourself using six simple questions:

  • Were any numbers mixed up?
  • Did you write all 12 numbers?
  • Were they spaced out evenly?
  • Were the clock hands pointing the right way?
  • Were the hour and minute hands the correct length?
  • Did you have enough time to finish?

Dr. Berg says this simple test is "one of the most sensitive ways to spot early thinking problems." Some brain doctors even think it's "more accurate than memory tests."

What is Early-Onset Dementia?

Early-onset dementia means someone gets dementia symptoms before they turn 65. Even though dementia is usually seen in older people, it can, though rarely, affect younger people too.

Dr. Berg also talked about other things that might lead to dementia as we get older. He said that eating too much sugar could make the brain shrink, especially the part important for memory. Also, being stressed a lot might increase the chance of having thinking problems like dementia.

The Alzheimer's Society says that at the beginning, the symptoms of early-onset dementia are often mild and not easy to notice. It's also important that younger people with dementia might not lose their memory first, unlike older people. Instead, they might mostly have trouble with:

  • Speaking or understanding language
  • Seeing things
  • Behavioral changes
  • Movement, balance, and coordination

Early-onset dementia is also more likely to be passed down in families. For more information, you can visit the Alzheimer's Society website.

How Dementia Differs in Younger People

Diverse Causes

For younger people, a wider range of different diseases can lead to dementia, making the causes more varied than in older individuals.

Rarer Forms

Younger individuals are much more likely to develop rarer types of dementia, such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which is less common in older patients.

Varied Early Symptoms

Unlike older people, younger individuals with dementia often don't experience memory loss as their first symptom, but rather problems with language, vision, or behavior.

Movement Issues

Additionally, younger people with dementia might first notice difficulties with movement, balance, and coordination, which can be an early indicator of the condition.

Higher Inherited Risk

About one in ten younger people diagnosed with dementia have a form that is inherited, meaning it's passed down through their genes.

Fewer Other Health Problems

Many younger individuals who receive a dementia diagnosis typically don't have other serious or chronic long-term health conditions at that time.

Unique Life Concerns

A younger diagnosis brings specific worries about its impact on family, relationships, finances, and daily life, affecting their ongoing responsibilities and future plans.

Family Risk Worries

They may also be concerned that their children or siblings could have a higher risk of developing dementia due to the inherited nature of their condition.

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Does Venting Really Help? Studies May Suggest Otherwise

Updated Jul 7, 2025 | 04:00 PM IST

SummaryVenting may feel helpful, but a major study shows it often worsens anger. Experts recommend calming activities like deep breathing or yoga to truly reduce physiological arousal and manage emotions effectively.
Does Venting Really Help? Studies May Suggest Otherwise

Credits: Canva

Venting when angry may feel cathartic, but a meta-analysis suggests it might do more harm than good. According to a 2024 study published in Clinical Psychology Review, researchers at Ohio State University analyzed data from 154 studies involving over 10,000 participants and found that venting rarely helps and may, in fact, intensify anger.

“I think it’s really important to bust the myth that if you’re angry you should blow off steam – get it off your chest,” said senior author Brad Bushman, a communication scientist, in a statement. “Venting anger might sound like a good idea, but there’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support catharsis theory.”

To dig deeper, we spoke to Dr Sumalatha Vasudeva, psychologist at Gleneagles BGS Hospital, Kengeri in

Bengaluru, India. She explains, "There’s a strong belief that venting—shouting, hitting objects, or going to a rage room—helps release anger. This idea, often referred to as catharsis, is deeply rooted in early psychological theory and pop culture."

However, she further adds, "While it feels intuitive, aggressive venting can sometimes amplify anger by increasing physiological arousal and reinforcing aggressive neural patterns. You're addressing the response, not the root cause, which makes the behavior more likely to repeat."

Why Venting Doesn’t Work

The popular “pressure cooker” analogy, which compares venting to releasing steam to prevent emotional explosion, may be outdated. According to the study, activities that increase physical arousal—such as yelling, punching pillows, or even exercising—can heighten physiological responses, which may worsen anger rather than reduce it.

"Not all expressions lead to healing. Aggressive venting provides temporary relief but not true emotional release. Real healing involves working with the root cause of the anger—not just letting off steam," explains Dr Vasudeva. She also notes that true healing often comes from somatic awareness, breathwork, mindfulness, or energetic practices like Reiki. These help us soothe, witness, and integrate anger instead of acting it out.

“To reduce anger, it is better to engage in activities that decrease arousal levels,” Bushman explained. “Despite what popular wisdom may suggest, even going for a run is not an effective strategy because it increases arousal levels and ends up being counterproductive.”

The Dangers of Rumination

While expressing emotions is important, the line between healthy reflection and toxic rumination is thin. The study found that what often passes as "venting" becomes repetitive mental replaying of upsetting events, which only deepens the emotional distress. However, it is true that we do feel better after we went, why is that? To this, Dr Vasudeva has an answer, "People often feel better after venting because they believe their emotional needs have been met. But this sense of control is temporary—a surface-level discharge, not a deep emotional resolution."

The idea for the review was also sparked by the growing popularity of rage rooms—commercial spaces where people pay to smash objects as a form of release.

First author Sophie Kjærvik, a communication scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, said, “I wanted to debunk the whole theory of expressing anger as a way of coping with it. We wanted to show that reducing arousal, and actually the physiological aspect of it, is really important.”

What Works Instead: Calm the Body, Calm the Mind

The research draws from the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory, which explains emotions as a mix of physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation. While cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is often used to address the thinking side of anger, this study emphasized the importance of physical calm as well.

The most effective anger-reducing strategies included:

  • Slow-flow yoga
  • Diaphragmatic breathing
  • Mindfulness meditation
  • Progressive muscle relaxation
  • Taking a timeout

“It was really interesting to see that progressive muscle relaxation and just relaxation in general might be as effective as approaches such as mindfulness and meditation,” said Kjærvik.

Even yoga, which can be moderately arousing, proved useful due to its focus on breath control and bodily awareness. Fun-based physical activity like ball sports, which involve play rather than intense exertion, also helped by lowering physiological arousal.

Dr Vasudeva also seconds this and says, "Mindfulness and breathwork activate the parasympathetic nervous system—the 'rest and digest' state—which promotes emotional balance, clarity, and the ability to respond constructively."

Reinforcing Aggression

So why do people feel better after venting? According to Bushman, it’s likely due to a false sense of emotional relief. “Any good feeling we get from venting actually reinforces aggression,” he said. The short-term high may trick people into believing venting works, even as their anger worsens beneath the surface.

The researchers emphasized that effective anger management doesn't require therapy sessions or expensive tools. “You don’t need to necessarily book an appointment with a cognitive behavioral therapist to deal with anger,” Kjærvik said. “You can download an app for free on your phone, or you can find a YouTube video if you need guidance.”

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Heart Attack Rates Have Decreased, But Number Of Chronic Cardiac Diseases Have Risen: Study

Updated Jul 7, 2025 | 01:00 PM IST

SummaryHeart diseases are one of the leading causes of deaths all over the world. However, a new study has revealed some interesting facts, showing the rise and fall in numbers of what we thought to be the biggest heart concern, heart attacks.
Heart Attack Rates Have Decreased, But Number Of Chronic Cardiac Diseases Have Risen: Study

(Credit-Canva)

Heart health or cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of mortality in the world. In 2019, 17.9 million people died due to cardiovascular diseases with 85% of these deaths attributed to heart attacks and strokes. There are many types of cardiovascular diseases, many of which are chronic diseases. While the numbers of death due to heart attacks may seem high, new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association shows these numbers have actually decreased. However, while these numbers went down, chronic diseases have seen a rise.

How Have Heart Disease Deaths Changed Over Time?

To understand how heart disease deaths have changed, researchers looked at national data from 1970 to 2022, focusing on adults aged 25 and older. Heart disease covers many different heart problems. Even though heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. (responsible for 24% of all deaths in 2022), the total number of deaths from heart disease actually went down by 66%.

Deaths from ischemic heart disease (the most common type, caused by blocked arteries) dropped significantly, from 91% to 53% of all heart disease deaths. Deaths from heart attacks (often the first sign of ischemic heart disease) fell by a huge 89%, making up less than a third of all heart disease deaths in 2022. But the study also found a big increase in other heart conditions, which now account for nearly half of all heart disease deaths. The three conditions that rose the most were:

Hypertensive heart disease

Deaths from this condition, caused by long-term high blood pressure, went up by 106%. It now makes up 13% of all heart-related deaths.

Heart failure

Deaths from this condition, where the heart can't pump enough blood over time, rose by 146%. It now accounts for 12% of all heart-related deaths.

Arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats)

Deaths from arrhythmias, where the heart beats too fast, too slow, or unevenly, soared by 450%. They now make up 4% of all heart-related deaths.

One of the study's authors mentioned that while these trends are "quite clear," some changes in how deaths were categorized might have caused small inaccuracies. Also, the study didn't fully consider how other health problems or things like race might have affected the results. For example, some heart problems might have been underestimated if they stemmed from ischemic heart disease.

Despite these minor points, experts agree the study provides "valuable insights" and is a "well-designed, large-scale study" using over 50 years of data.

Why the Shift to Chronic Heart Conditions?

Experts believe the drop in some heart disease deaths is due to better ways to diagnose problems and improved care. This includes new medicines and procedures that help restore blood flow to the heart.

However, many people who survive a heart attack go on to develop other heart conditions like heart failure or arrhythmias. When you combine this with a growing older population and rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, it creates "the perfect storm for chronic cardiac disease." This new "wave of chronic heart disease deaths" mainly affects older adults and those with several health issues.

How to Protect Your Heart?

To keep your heart healthy, focus on a few key areas: know your numbers by tracking your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight, as early detection of issues is vital. Stay active with at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly; even walking can significantly improve heart function. Eat a nutritious diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, following heart-healthy guidelines. Avoid smoking or seek help to quit, as it's a primary cause of heart disease. Finally, manage stress and get enough sleep, as these often-overlooked factors are crucial for reducing your heart risk.

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