Author: Sameed Chaudhary

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Pakistan. According to a 2019 Global Burden of Disease study, Pakistan’s cardiovascular death rate surpasses the global average, and roughly one in five middle-aged adults in the country has coronary artery disease. That number matters because most of the risk is tied to what we eat every day. The good news is that a typical Pakistani kitchen already contains many of the right ingredients. Daal, sabzi, whole wheat roti, fish, and spices like turmeric and garlic are genuinely heart-protective foods when prepared with care. The problem is usually in the cooking…

Flat feet are more common in Pakistan than most people realise. Whether you’ve noticed your child’s feet lie completely flat when standing, or you’ve been dealing with unexplained heel or knee pain for years, the arch of the foot is often the last place people think to look. Many Pakistanis spend long hours standing on hard marble or tiled floors at home, in offices, and at mosques, especially during Taraweeh prayers in Ramadan. That kind of prolonged, unsupported standing puts steady pressure on the foot’s arch and can make flat feet noticeably more painful over time. A physiotherapist at a…

Elbow pain that flares up when you lift a chai cup, shake hands, or turn a doorknob is one of the more frustrating complaints a Pakistani patient can walk into a clinic with. It looks minor from the outside, but it can make everyday tasks feel impossible. That pain on the outer side of the elbow has a name: tennis elbow, also called lateral epicondylitis. Despite the sporty name, most people who develop this condition have never picked up a racquet. A 2025 study published by the University of Lahore’s Institute of Physical Therapy found a 14% prevalence of tennis…

Struggling to see clearly after stepping out of a brightly lit room, or finding it hard to drive on Lahore’s dimly lit streets at night — these are experiences many Pakistanis quietly dismiss as tiredness. They may actually be early signs of night blindness, a condition that deserves attention rather than guesswork. Night blindness is more common in Pakistan than most people realise. Vitamin A deficiency, which is one of the leading nutritional gaps in South Asia, is a well-documented cause. Research published in PubMed Central found low serum retinol (vitamin A) levels among pregnant women in Karachi, and clinical…

Chai is practically a food group in Pakistan. Most households brew it three to four times a day, and many people genuinely do not think of it as a source of caffeine at all. Yet a strong cup of doodh patti can carry 50 to 70 mg of caffeine, and those cups add up faster than most people realise. Across Pakistan’s urban centres, a new layer has been added on top of the chai habit: energy drinks and instant coffee sachets, especially among students in Lahore and Karachi who pull late-night study sessions. The combination of traditional chai and these…

Mood swings are part of life, but bipolar disorder is something different. It involves extreme shifts between emotional highs and lows that can last days or weeks at a time, disrupting work, relationships, and daily routines in ways that ordinary stress simply does not. In Pakistan, this condition is more common than most people realise. Research published in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (2024) notes that the country has only one psychiatrist for every 360,000 people, and a significant proportion of those living with bipolar disorder never receive a formal diagnosis. Stigma around mental health means many families…

Families in Pakistan often notice something is off before they have words for it. A teenager who used to love biryani now picks at her plate. A university student in Lahore starts skipping sehri during Ramadan even when he is not fasting. A young woman weighs herself three times a day and still insists she is overweight. These are not just phases or fads. They may be early signs of an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that affect how a person thinks, feels, and behaves around food, body weight, and body image. They are not a…

Every household in Pakistan keeps a bowl of chini on the counter. It goes into chai, halwa, kheer, and everything in between. But for the roughly 33 million Pakistanis living with diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation’s 2021 estimates, that bowl is a daily dilemma. The good news is that cutting sugar doesn’t mean cutting sweetness entirely. Several alternatives can satisfy that craving without sending blood glucose levels into a spike. The harder part is knowing which ones actually work and which ones are popular myths dressed up as health food. This guide covers the most practical sugar alternatives…

Gym memberships in Lahore and Karachi can cost anywhere from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 8,000 a month, and that’s before you factor in the commute through traffic. For a lot of people, that barrier alone is enough to shelve the idea of getting fit. A home workout without equipment removes every one of those excuses. Pakistani homes are rarely short of floor space. A 6×6-foot area in a bedroom or on the terrace is genuinely all you need. The challenge isn’t space or money; it’s knowing exactly what to do and how to do it safely as a beginner. This…

Walking is one of those habits that sounds deceptively simple. No gym membership, no equipment, no complicated routine. Yet for millions of Pakistanis sitting at a desk in Karachi or Lahore for eight hours a day, getting even 5,000 steps in can feel like a stretch. The 10,000-steps goal has been on fitness trackers and phone health apps for years, but most people don’t know where it came from or whether it’s actually worth chasing. The science has evolved a lot, and the honest answer is more nuanced than the number suggests. This guide covers what walking 10,000 steps a…