Sugar Spice and Everything Nice !
Helloo there… meeting you guys after so long. Well I know I have not been a consistent one, but yeah some other things caught up with me and then for some time I was facing a writer’s block and couldn’t find the topic on which I could write.
And then a few days back yours truly caught the latest trending virus (Dengue!) and the usual happened, infection, weakness, medication and recovery. While recovering, I thought why not to write on the topic of Health.
Health is a factor that connects us all. Everybody no matter who they are or what they do wants to remain healthy and fit, and enjoys being disease free. With the advent of medical science and improved diagnostic technology, today we all are able to monitor our health better and take necessary precautions. Good diet and Exercise are necessary to keep our bodies healthy but there is another factor that affects our organs, and that is our mind.
“Mind over matter”, this statement holds true to great extent. I recall from a visit to a doctor some 3 years ago where I casually asked him that does our thought process and thinking affect our bodies? and he replied by giving an example. He stated that many a times medical students when they have to dissect a body for the 1st time, felt nauseating and some of them even fainted. Observe here, that this is happening in bodies that are healthy, and in an instant due to experiencing an event, their bodies react in this manner i.e by fainting or vomiting.
I would also like to share with you all a small experiment mentioned in the book Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles which is as follows: “Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital conducted a study in which they subjected a young doctor to a job interview, which they made even more stressful by forcing him to solve complex math problems for thirty minutes. Afterward, they took a blood sample. What they discovered was that his antibodies had reacted to stress the same way they react to pathogens, activating the proteins that trigger an immune response. The problem is that this response not only neutralizes harmful agents, it also damages healthy cells, leading them to age prematurely”. Leading to age prematurely means early wearing down of the body.
So how to counter it? Stress is one thing that everybody wants to get rid of, but how? Well in my personal opinion, we will have to face stressful situations in our lives, but can learn how to respond to such situations without affecting our mental peace. It sounds simple but is not an easy task. We need to understand ourselves and our nature as to what activities makes us feel good and calm. It is known fact that workout/exercise and meditation reduce stress and improves emotional and mental well-being. Apart from these, There can be other activities which makes us feel better depending on personal interests like painting, singing, playing guitar, sports, writing poetry etc.
These activities not only add to our personalities but provide us with a good defense mechanism against stress. Although watching movies or any TV series might improve your mood at that instant but practicing such activities brings more satisfaction and better body-mind coordination. Along with this, the feeling of practicing any activity on frequent basis and that experience of improving in it boosts self confidence.
If any of you guys reading this has any hack or any interesting ways to deal with stress, do tell me and I would be glad to share it. See you soon!