Enjoying the Indian winter

People of Indian origin or NRIs, who live in far away lands are always keen to visit their motherland & what better time than winters.

People of Indian origin or NRIs, who live in far away lands are always keen to visit their motherland and what better time than winters. However, unlike the general belief that winters are very mild and pleasant in India, slowly but surely, each year it is becoming progressively colder, particularly in Northern India. In addition, the heavy monsoons this year have ensured a chilly winter in most parts of India. Hence, it would be advisable for the welcome visitor to come loaded with winter gear, specially keeping in mind the absence of central heating facilities back home.

To prevent the unsuspecting visitor from being caught unawares, here are a few more useful health tips:

Although the malaria season is over, it is still advisable to start anti-malarial prophylaxis 2 weeks before the tour and continuing till 2 weeks after the tour is over. Two tablets of chloroquine per week is still the drug of choice. However, if someone is visiting eastern states, where resistance to chloroquine is high, one can take mefloquine.

Visitors should make sure they bring adequate skin lotions and moisturizers to prevent skin dryness.

Cold weather conditions can precipitate chest pain, heart attack and paralysis. Patients with hypertension often overshoot their blood pressure. Heart patients therefore need to be particularly vigilant about not exposing themselves to the winter chill. One important point in this regard is not to use cold water. One should be particular about carrying the necessary medications and be regular in taking them.

Winter flu and pneumonia is common in India as in any part of the world. One should be fully immunized for flu (once in a year), pneumonia (one in 5 years) and only once, if above 60 years of age. These vaccines are available anywhere in the world and also in India.

There is no doubt that once you come here, you will be tempted to taste all the numerous mouth-watering delicacies that India is so famous for. However, to ensure a healthy trip and avoid unwanted consequences later, try to restrict your intake and prefer anything which is warm and always try to go for a balanced taste including astringent, pungent and bitter food products.

Don't forget that travelers' diarrhoea in winter is as common as in summer. One should make it a point not to drink anything but boiled or mineral water. In addition, wherever possible, do not consume any food that is not home-cooked, specially something which cannot be had hot. The classic examples are salad and curd, where hygiene cannot be ensured.

To compensate for the over-eating that is bound to occur at such occasions, an extra effort should be made to work off the additional calories. However, do make sure that you are not exposed to the chilly winds.

In order to protect oneself from the chilly winds one should use a monkey cap or use ear muffs, so that chilly wind does not lead to hypothermia. In addition, the timing of daily exercise may be changed to suit the weather and your daily program.

Winter depression is very common, a condition called seasonal effective disorder. In this a person becomes lethargic, starts gaining weight, gets up late in the morning and feels depressed. The treatment is to get enough sun exposure. Every visitor should expose himself or herself to 20-30 minutes of sunlight.

Remember that alcohol consumption is not the treatment to prevent exposure to cold. One should not consume more than 10 grams of alcohol in one hour and not more than 20 gms of alcohol in one day. There should be a gap of two days in a week. One can calculate grams of alcohol by multiplying the amount of alcohol taken with the percentage of alcohol in the drink. The resultant ml of alcohol consumed can be multiplied by 0.8 to know grams of alcohol consumed.

Wish you a safe and healthy visit to India.

(Dr Aggarwal is Sr Consultant in Mool Chand Hospital, Executive Vice Chairman, Heart Care Foundation of India & President, IMA, New Delhi Branch.)