Mumbai: With the second wave of Covid causing havoc in the country, our social media news feeds are either flooded with news about deaths or health-related articles. And, in such a situation it becomes important to separate fact from fake.
Through a video message, Piyush Somani of ESDS Software Solution Pvt. Ltd. shed light on a nasal spray developed in Canada after an intensive research. One of the major contains of the nasal spray, called Sanotize, is nitric oxide. During a trial, the spray was used on 100 Covid positive patients, who recovered within five days without a need for hospitalisation. While it might take time for such a spray to reach Indian markets, Somani in video doled out tips to boost nitric oxide in the body through natural ways.
He says, “One can eat a number of leafy vegetables like spinach, fenugreek, kale, lettuce, cabbage or arugula, moringa, curry leaves, and more, which are rich in nitric oxide. Besides leafy vegetables, there are nuts like walnut, which is loaded with nitric oxide. One can soak walnuts in the night, and consume them the next day in the morning. Besides nuts, fruits like grapes, oranges, lemon, java plum (which is our Indian Jamun), strawberries are also a rich source of nitric oxide. Then there’s cacao powder, which is easily available in the market and also on e-commerce platforms. You can have cacao tea once or twice a day, or dark chocolate drink, which can help boost nitric oxide in the body.”
Moving ahead, Somani says besides leafy vegetable, fruits and nuts mentioned above, there more ways through which one can increase nitric oxide in our respiratory system. Speaking about the importance of pranayamas he says, “Omkar pranayama includes humming. One can do a Google search to learn more about ‘How to boost nitric oxide by humming’ or ‘does humming boost nitric oxide in the body’ and you will immediately see thousands of results. In Omkar pranayama, you have to take a deep breath, fill up your lung with air and then slowly exhale — chant ‘Om’ while you exhale. Half of your breathing capacity should be used for Om and the other half for humming. Those who are unable to chant Om for some reasons can only do the humming part. Just take a deep breath and chant ‘MMMMM’. You don’t need to sit in a particular way to do humming—you can be sitting or standing and do humming.
“The humming sound you make in Bhramari pranayama produces nitric oxide in your respiratory system and expels all kinds of viruses and bacteria. One can easily learn Bhramari pranayama through various videos available on YouTube. But to summarise it: Put your thumbs inside your ears, then press the earlobe inside, place your fingers on the nose and eyes, take a deep breath and chant ‘MMMMM’. Do this for 40-50 seconds. Take a deep breath again and continue according to your capacity. Do not fret if you are unable to do it for more than 10 to 15 seconds. With practice you will be able to increase it once your lung capacity goes up. You will then be able to hold and hum for a longer time,” Somani enlightens.
Sharing another easier and interesting way of carrying out this activity, Somani says one can sing. “You do not have to sing loudly; you can just hum the tune anytime throughout the day. Singing also helps increase nitric oxide in the body,” Somani concludes.
