Category: Health

History of India & Indian National Movement.

Early times the Indian subcontinent appears to have provided an attractive habitat for human occupation. Toward the south it is effectively sheltered by wide expanses of ocean, which tended to isolate it culturally in ancient times, while to the north it is protected by the massive ranges of the Himalayas, which also sheltered it from the Arctic winds and the air currents of Central Asia. Only in the northwest and northeast is there easier access by land, and it was through those two sectors that most of the early contacts with the outside world took place.

Within the framework of hills and mountains represented by the Indo-Iranian borderlands on the west, the Indo-Myanmar borderlands in the east, and the Himalayas to the north, the subcontinent may in broadest terms be divided into two major divisions: in the north, the basins of the Indus and Ganges (Ganga) rivers (the Indo-Gangetic Plain) and, to the south, the block of Archean rocks that forms the Deccan plateau region. The expansive alluvial plain of the river basins provided the environment and focus for the rise of two great phases of city life: the civilization of the Indus valley, known as the Indus civilization, during the 3rd millennium BCE; and, during the 1st millennium BCE, that of the Ganges. To the south of this zone, and separating it from the peninsula proper, is a belt of hills and forests, running generally from west to east and to this day largely inhabited by tribal people. This belt has played mainly a negative role throughout Indian history in that it remained relatively thinly populated and did not form the focal point of any of the principal regional cultural developments of South Asia. However, it is traversed by various routes linking the more-attractive areas north and south of it. The Narmada (Narbada) River flows through this belt toward the west, mostly along the Vindhya Range, which has long been regarded as the symbolic boundary between northern and southern India.

India’s movement for Independence occurred in stages elicit by the inflexibility of the Britishers and in various instances, their violent responses to non-violent protests. It was understood that the British were controlling the resources of India and the lives of its people, and as far as this control was ended India could not be for Indians.

On 28 December 1885 Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on the premises of Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit School at Bombay. It was presided over by W.C Banerjee and attended by 72 delegates. A.O Hume played an instrumental role in the foundation of INC with an aim to provide Safety Valve to the British Government.
A.O Hume served as the first General Secretary of INC.
The real Aim of Congress is to train the Indian youth in political agitation and to organise or to create public opinion in the country. For this, they use the method of an annual session where they discuss the problem and passed the resolution.
The first or early phase of Indian Nationalism is also termed as Moderate Phase (1885-1905). Moderate leaders were W.C Banerjee, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, R.C Dutt, Ferozeshah Mehta, George Yule, etc.
Moderates have full faith in British Government and adopted the PPP path i.e. Protest, Prayer, and Petition.
Due to disillusionment from Moderates’ methods of work, extremism began to develop within the congress after 1892. The Extremist leaders were Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Aurobindo Ghosh. Instead of the PPP path, they emphasise on self-reliance, constructive work, and swadeshi.
With the announcement of the Partition of Bengal (1905) by Lord Curzon for administrative convenience, Swadeshi and Boycott resolution was passed in 1905.

ONE INDIVIDUAL MAY DIE; BUT THAT IDEA WILL, AFTER HIS DEATH, INCARNATE ITSELF IN A THOUSAND LIVES.

-Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Personal Habits: Over-Apologizing

How would it feel when a person you know apologizes for something which isn’t their fault? If someone dashed into him, he would apologize saying, “ I am sorry, I didn’t see you coming my way.” There is a limit for everything and after a while it feels weird to hear them say sorry for so many things. 

There are so many factors that lead you to apologize for things. It could be how you have been raised or it’s something you have seen your family do, maybe it’s how you see the world. Apologizing is good for finding peace in conflicts or relationships. You say sorry for the mistake you have made so you don’t repeat it again. It reassures a person that you genuinely didn’t expect the outcome that has come and you want to amend your mistake. 

You should not apologize for something you have not done or you have done for something that needed help. When you dash into someone, you apologize because you should have seen him coming, but you shouldn’t apologize for someone who dashed into you when you have been standing quietly. 

A lot of people apologize for the reason of avoiding conflict or because they feel that they made the other person feel bad. It usually is either of them. Sometimes, it’s guilt that drives them. Guilty for joking/pranking, guilty for ignoring them, guilty for not asking them or the feeling of guilt for putting themselves first.

Reasons why you feel like apologizing:

  1. You were taught to put others first: When you were a kid, you saw someone fall down. You rush to their aid and lift them up with your itty-bitty strength, and they thank you for helping them. You are praised by your family and the incident’s talked about at various family gatherings. It gives you the feeling of responsibility and makes you feel that you have to put others first and it should be your priority over anything. Fast forward to now, your friends ask for your help on their project, and you rush. You complete their project but yours gets delayed. Your sir calls you out in front of the class saying that you delay your work because of your laziness and your friend doesn’t stand up. Neither do they tell the sir after nor give you credit. You don’t say anything because your friend was first even if you were called out. You apologize to sir because you couldn’t finish it and not for helping your friend before yourself.

Truth: By putting others first, you don’t gain much but you do lose out on time that you could have used for yourself. If you had taken time to complete yours along with theirs, the work would have been completed quickly and efficiently with time to go over errors.

  1. You were taught to help others without seeing what you need: You always gave your grandpa medicine on time, you helped your mother in cooking, you would take the newspaper to your dad along with his morning tea/coffee, and you were always told to help people. Today, you help someone, no matter how much stress/workload you have. They ask for anything and you help them out. Sometimes, it’s just a text to their crush on how to ask out and you help them, despite the deadline of your project. So you apologize when you can’t help them because you are placing yourself first.

Truth: You need to see what help you need first so you can complete the necessary task at hand. The text can be sent anytime but your deadline can only be given once. You need to help others but you need to see if it is something that actually needs help.

  1. Scolded when you placed more importance on yourself: A lot of children are told to share and to not be selfish. If you have 2 chocolates, give it to your friend because you are a “good boy/girl”. After growing up, whenever you need new shoes or your family needs a new appliance, you choose the second option because it feels like a need but yours feels selfish.

*Appliance is used twice and placed for “Future Use”*

Truth: Sometimes, being selfish is good. You need new shoes and your home has enough appliances. By getting new shoes, you will stop getting the foot ache that you have been facing for the past 2 months. If you get new shoes, then you can work with more focus and more energy. 

  1. Avoiding Conflict: In most cases, when you were a kid, your tantrums would cause your parents to scold you and you would face punishment, or your friends would distance you because you get angry frequently. The last one pushes a child to socializing issues and causes anxiety on how others perceive them for every single action they take. So, they apologize whenever someone raises their voice a little bit, no matter what the conversation is about. They want to avoid the conflict because they don’t want to face what happened earlier and become outcasted.

Truth: You will face conflicts in future, either in relationships or friendships, you need to understand why you should apologize and for what you should stand your ground. Conflicts are what brings people closer to understand the other person better by learning their needs. If you never have a fight, how will you know what the other person actually feels?

  1. Harmed someone in childhood: When a kid unknowingly harms someone, they get scared and cannot move because they don’t know what to do. Their mind goes blank and they freeze because this feeling is new to their system and it’s hard to know what to do next. The kid is then scolded and constantly lectured over and over again to the point the kid feels anxious to touch a person. When they grow, the anxiety grows with them and it constantly pricks them. What if the casual punch hit harder than it should? What should I do if I dash into someone a little too hard? Should I give them a handshake or fist bump? What if I punch them too hard? Let’s go with the handshake so I don’t hit them too hard.

Truth: It’s okay to give a fist bump or handshake or high-five to a person whom you know. You just need to relax your mind. If you want to touch the person but are scared of the force you put into it, then show a sign of initiation. For a handshake, raise your hand out in the form of a handshake, and wait for them to accept it. By showing initiation, you let the other person engage and guide you through the conversation.

Saying sorry is well and good but exceeding it drains you of your self-confidence. You are a person at the end of the day and you need to stop saying sorry for that. You are existing which means that you will make mistakes and you will learn, but saying sorry for things that don’t require an apology then it will just drain you. It’s not going to get fixed overnight because you have taken years to build this habit. It will be fixed if you work on it every time you notice it happening.

Thank you for reading this article. It is something I have faced and I have learnt how to overcome it. Leave a comment on how has overaplogizing affected your life and how have you overcome it or trying to overcome it.

Impact of Social Media on Youth.

Credit- LinkedIn

Social media is an plateform which is build that facilitates the users to create content and sharing of information, ideas, interests and different contents ,through virtual communities and networks technology.

Over the last two decades, social media has gained tremendous growth and fame. Despite the fact that almost everyone in the world is connected to at least one social media platform, youth and teens are the ones who who are using social media and are becoming so socially hampered that they even interfere their lives with social media. According to researchers, they have found that these different social media plateforms have a profound impact on the lives of our youth in society in terms of morality, behavior, and even education.

The use of social media has both negative and positive impacts on our youth today. The positive effects of social media on young people today is keeping up to date with what’s happening around the world and being able to network and stay connected with classmates and friends without physical meetings. For example, people in one city can connect and interact with friends in other cities and neighborhoods, bridging the gap between them. In addition, social media platforms allow young people to create pages and groups based on their profession, beliefs, and other aspects of life, creating more connections and more opportunities in their respective fields. This could even create more employment opportunities for unemployed youth.

According to a BBC News report, social media sites appear to continue to connect and inform more people, but it’s also causing social isolation among youths as it reduces the number of face-to-face interactions between young people, as they usually spend most of their time on these online social platforms. Analysis of many studies by various scientists has shown that social isolation can have a variety of effects on youth’s physical, emotional, mental and psychological estate which can create different problems in them. This, in turn, can lead to depression, anxiety, and many other problems. Also, using short forms and abbreviations can lead to misspellings and misuse of words and tenses. This has a direct impact on the student’s language skills and tends to adversely affect the student as it leads to poor language performance.

Also, young teens under the age of 18 can be exposed to online content that may not be appropriate for their age. Social media often introduce these teens to pornographic content which may be shared on online social groups and this may mislead them . The morals of these teenagers are also manipulated because they are granted access to immoral literature and video. This can harm their phycology of seeing things differently in life.

The social media can be used effectively by youth as long hours on social media can be devoted to productive activities that enable people to grow, earn a living, and be educated, such as using online tutorials and online research materials.
Social media may harm ones creativity and also can reduces the productivity of teens by chatting for long periods on social media sites . This may cause young people to not be independent, and rely on the help from others . Social media also provides a great platform for cyber theft and bullying. This increases the chances of personal information theft and incidents. This poses a lot of risk to young people as their personal information can be stolen because they are stored in places they do not know or where security is unknown or suspicious.

At last, social media opens a communication channel for young people and has many benefits. This includes the development of oneself and opening to wide range of social networks that promote opportunities and cultural abilities. However, it is very important that youth should use different social platforms carefully to avoid being victimized by cybercriminals and using it in limit so that it may not harm their mental and phycology abilities.

How to avoid self doubt?

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Self doubt may be outlined as a state of uncertainty concerning the reality of something. It may well be concerning our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, opinions, decisions, self views or any “truth”. We tend to hold in our minds. We have a sense that we are not stable. However, researchers suggests that self doubt involves questioning on our own self competence. There are many adverse psychological effects of self doubt’s which calls for an immediate measure to counter it. Some of the ways in which one can avoid self doubt are:

  1. Practice Self Compassion: If self doubt is holding you back from taking a leap with your career or in another side of your life, it helps you to recollect that we all are humans. We tend to create mistakes along our path, and it’s ok to do so. Therefore, when we doubt our skills, it’s actually because we don’t wish to form any area for mistakes. However mistakes are the medium for us to learn and grow. We will mitigate self doubt and fear of failure by being kind to ourselves, no matter the result.
  2. Take A Break And Get A Boost Of Optimism: Sometimes the longer we feel stuck in a scenario or feelings, the more stiff it becomes for us to come back out. Just take a flash to relax and shift your focus to something completely different. By doing so, it will enable us to filter out mind and look at things from a n and fresh perspective. If you would need an boost, try create an inventory of things you are grateful for. This will naturally shift your thoughts in a more positive direction.
  3. Try Not To Compare Yourself To Others: They say that comparison is the thief of joy. This saying rings true in many ways. If you are experiencing self-doubt as result of your afraid that you won’t accomplish something at constant level as somebody else, then it is often a paralyzing feeling. Everyone’s journey and concepts of success are different. What we can manage and control and target is our own path and where we want to take it, regardless of where other people are at or what they have done.
  4. Spend Time With Supportive People: The friends and members of the family in our lives who believe in us and everything that we are capable will always be on our side. When you are feeling self doubt, surround yourself with these individuals. They will inform and remind you how talented and resilient you are during times you are not feeling that way about yourself.
  5. Remember You Are The Harshest Critic: Would you doubt a friend who took on a new job or the for the manner they parent their kids the similar manner that you doubt yourself? The solution is probably no. We are going to continuously be the harshest critique for ourselves. It’s a pleasure reminder to treat ourselves with a similar kindness and compassion that we have got for others, rather than being therefore vital on ourselves.
  6. Keep A Journal: Journaling is often not therapeutic exercise to follow. Writing down your thoughts of self doubt or experiences with Imposter Syndrome onto paper can be an honest unharness. You will even understand once you see your issues written down that they may not be as prejudicial as you thought they were. This could facilitate to gradually overcome self-doubt.
  7. Raise Your Self-Awareness: Self awareness is one of the foremost powerful personal development tools in your arsenal. Make use of it by understanding the foundation of your cause for your self doubt. What specific things trigger bouts of self doubt? If it is lack of ability or skill in a section, resolve to try and do something concerning it.
  8. Stop Asking For Validation: Seeking others input and recommendation is useful. However, if you are within the habit of endlessly asking others what they think before making decisions on vital matters, you may be weakening your faith in yourself. For example, if you are functioning on a presentation, setting up an internet site or undertaking a new project, and you continue to change what you have created based on the feedback you receive, you might end up losing your voice and the end product becomes diluted version of you. Take some advice, but at some point make a decision what feels right to you.
  9. Look To The Past And Awash Yourself In The Memories: Be real with yourself and raise yourself this necessary question : How many times after I doubted myself or feared something would happen? Did that negative thing inherit reality when I still took action? The answer on behalf of me and possibly for you too isn’t very often at all. Self doubts are most often simply monsters in your head that your mind could use to keep you from creating changes and to keep you within the comfort zone. If you look to your past experiences and see how well things have gone persistently despite those self doubts, then it become easier to let go to of them or ignore them, to reduce fear of failure and to focus. on probably positive outcome and to take action.
  10. Talk To Someone About It: When you keep your thoughts on the inside, they’ll become distorted, exaggerated, and not very much in line with reality or reasonable expectations. This is abundantly true once it involves thoughts and feelings of self doubt. So allow them to vent out and saying them loud can often help you to hear how exaggerated these thoughts have become. So let them out into the light. Talk to someone close to you like a good friend about yourself doubts. And by talking regarding those doubts with someone that is supportive you’ll get a modification and change in perspective.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

Credit- Forbes

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an phychological disorder that a person can face who has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, war/combat, rape, or death, sexual violence or serious injury.

People with PTSD have intense and annoying thoughts and feelings associated with their experience that last long after the traumatic event is over. One may relive the event through flashbacks and nightmares. They may feel sad, afraid, or angry. And they may feel separated or alienated from others. People with PTSD can avoid situations and people that are reminiscent of traumatic events and have a strong negative reaction to mundane things such as loud noises and accidental contact.

According to reports in context to United States, about 3.6% of people about 5.2 million adults develop PTSD in time of last year , and an estimated 7.8 million Americans will develop Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men. This may be because their are high chances that women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, abuse and rape.

Symptoms:
• Intrusive thought: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated involuntary reminders. A miserable dream; or a flashback of a traumatic event. Flashbacks are so vivid that people feel like they are remembering or seeing the traumatic experience in front of them.
• Avoidance: Avoiding the memory of traumatic events may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects, and situations that can cause disastrous memory. People may try not to remember or think about traumatic events. They may resist talking about what happened and how it makes them feel.
• Mood changes and Behaviour : Negative thoughts and feelings that lead to persistent and distorted beliefs about oneself and others, such as not being able to remember important aspects of traumatic events. Distorted thoughts about the cause or effect of an event can lead to false accusations of yourself or others. Persistent fear, fear, anger, guilt, or shame. There is much less interest in the activities that I enjoyed before. Feeling alienated or alienated from others; or unable to experience positive emotions (lack of happiness or satisfaction).

Treatment:
It is important to note that not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, and not everyone who develops PTSD requires psychiatric treatment. For some people, the symptoms of PTSD disappear over time. Others are better with the help of their support system (family, friends,etc) . However, many people with PTSD need specialized medical treatment to help recover from psychological stress. It is important to remember that trauma which causes the PTSD can lead to serious distress. The sooner a person is treated, the more likely one can recover fast from PTSD.
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals use several effective ( authorized and proven) methods to help people recover from PTSD. Both talk therapy and medical dosage provide effective evidence-based treatment for PTSD.

Destructive Habits: Bias

There are many habits that destroy your mental peace, happiness and mostly you. Some of them are usually with different addictions or because of people but what destroys you as a person depends on how you view things and people around you. Your environment is what shapes you but to be different, you have to do it by yourself. 

The most common habits have become common because we are more focused elsewhere than ourselves. To be a better version of yourself, you need to view your flaws and work on them.

  1. Spotlight Effect: We overestimate how much attention people give to our words and appearance. Imagine you said something but it felt wrong after it came out. In reality, everyone only remembers it for the moment and immediately moves to the next topic. We ponder over it for days, forgetting that others don’t care as much as we do about it.

Example: “The red shoes don’t match the outfit at all! I guess the guys are laughing because of it”

*Red shoes matched the outfit better than you imagined*

Truth: No one cares about you as much as your loved ones do. Everyone is just a temporary traveler in your life and you have to be okay with it. Dress how you want and be how you want to be. 

  1. Status Quo Bias: We prefer for things to be the same; usually change is viewed as a negative aspect of life. If you adopt a new habit that cuts out something from your life, you immediately feel guilty of not being able to manage it, so you quit your new habit for the old one because it feels more comfortable.

Example: “I like to paint, but the classes are on Friday, I won’t be able to party! I can always paint later so let’s party now!”

*Proceeds to miss out on an amazing experience*

Truth: Change is hard. To adapt to a new routine and new place is always difficult and your mind is stuck on the old routine, but only then do you learn more about yourself. You may like to paint now, but when you explore it, you may not want to put the brush down! You need to explore that change for a while to know more about yourself.

  1. Zeigarnik Effect: We focus more on the incomplete tasks than the ones that have been completed. Sometimes, we forget to see that we have accomplished many things on the way, and we focus on the ones that we have not accomplished yet. It pushes you to feel bad that you are not able to do anything. 

Example: “Bro I lost the Table-Tennis Pan-India Semi-finals! I feel so like I can’t do it anymore”

*Came so far by winning championships and tournaments*

Truth: You have to see where you are today. Look behind you and see the different hurdles you had to come across. You didn’t cross them just to go back did you? It does feel bad to not achieve something the first time you try it, but when you achieve it, after toiling for some time, the fruit is incomparable.

  1. Pessimism Bias: We tend to overestimate the possibility of negative outcomes. We always have a small part of your mind that searches for a negative outcome. What you see and ask for, is what you get and have. You will increase the chance of losing the opportunity if all you see is losing it.

Example: “I feel like I will lose this chance to be head of department, there are so many others who are way more qualified.”

*Loses opportunity because it messed with your confidence and screwed your interview*

Truth: What energy you put out, is what you usually get. Sometimes, you lose opportunities, but don’t dwell on the wrong aspects. You may not have the necessary qualifications but the way you portray yourself is what gets you opportunities.

  1. Sunken-Cost Fallacy: We invest more in things that have cost us something, even if we have negative outcomes. We feel that if we invest more, the difference can be recovered with just a little gain.

Example: “My portfolio is down by 25%! I will invest 50% of it so with a 25% gain, I can recover the loss”

*Proceeds to lose more because the stock market is in a bear phase*

  1. Self-serving Bias: Our failures are situational but our success is our hardwork’s result. We view that our failures are determined by external factors and our success is because of us. It is also difficult to ascertain what caused success or failure on the spot so we divide it based on the result.

Example: “I lost the game because the opponent was too strong. I got the best player of the match because I practiced well”

*Opponent won because of your overconfidence in your practice*

“The eyes sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”

~Robertson Davies

Sometimes, we see these habits recurring but we don’t want to change because we feel it will make others dislike us. By changing, you are not making your friends feel bad but giving them a chance to understand that it’s time to improve. It’s time to make yourself the person you always wanted to be. Everyday is a learning step and only then can you improve. These habits of biasing situations have a lot of effect on where you are and where  you want to be.

This post has been inspired by Ankur Warikoo. You can check his post on LinkedIn here!

This was a delight to write about. I hope you have found this article interesting and let me know about your thoughts on this. Keep on smiling!

Misuse of Section 375 .

Credit- iPleaders

Section 375 of the Indian Criminal Code was created to protect women from rape. In Indian criminal law, in section 375 Men are said to commited rape if he :
(a) pierce the penis in some way or force a “rape” on a woman’s vagina, mouth, urethra, or anus.
(b) in some way insert an object or body part other than the penis into the woman’s vagina, urethra, or anus, or have the woman do so to him or others.
(c) manipulate any part of a woman’s body to penetrate or penetrate the woman’s vagina, urethra, anus, or other parts of her body.
(d) place the mouth in the woman’s vagina, anus, urethra.

Under Section 370 , If a person rape woman and do so in any of the following seven situations.
1) Against to their will. 2) Without their consent. 3)With consent and consent for fear of death or injury to them or those they are close to.
4) Consent is given because a man knows he is not her husband and believes that he is another man who is married, or that he is legally married. If so, with her consent
5) If she is under the age of 18, with or without her consent.

Abuse of power
One of the famous sayings used in connection with Section 375 is “Men are guilty until proved innocent, and women are not guilty until proved innocent.”
Laws enacted to empower women and reassure them in patriarchal societies soon turned into swords that killed the dignity of men in society by false accusations, or women misused laws and power made to protect them. The problem that is occurring in our world today is that women use verbal consent to have sexual intercourse and later refuse or refrain from having sexual intercourse or falsely accuse men that they had it without thier consent. In both cases, the man has the responsibility of proof and must prove his innocence.

According to an article published in The Times of India , only one person was convicted in each of the fourth cases of rape, and high probability that anyone who did not proven guilty after a full trial could be innocent. Leads to the high assumption that innocent people have been accused of rape. India’s conviction ratebin rape cases is 32%, which is self-evident from the fact that numerous false reports related to rape have been registered in India.

Being a victim of false rape allegations is as bad as being a victim of rape. You can’t imagine the shock, trauma, ridicule, and humiliation that someone experienced after being falsely accused of rape. Not only the man, but his family and close friends suffer from various consequences, and isolation and ridicule are just a few of them. Their future is shattered, the humiliation and shame that society suffers is enough to shatter it, and no one can think of them living as they used to.

What can be done ?
The creators of Article 375 of the 2013 Act and the Criminal (Amendment) having only one vision in context to the problem, consider only the safety of women and have not developed any means of protecting innocent men in society. Therefore, there is usually a debate about what we can do to protect innocent people from society who are falsely accused. Provision (Section 375) cannot be said to be gender-neutral to remove the slight justice that this section offers, as it acts as a hurdle for women to file genuine rape cases.
Then the question arises. What can you do? In such situations, the legislature and judiciary need to work together to strike the right balance between men and women so that the virtues of justice are provided to them equally.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Photo by Polina Kovaleva on Pexels.com

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?

  • It is a developmental disorder characterized by behavioral and communicational affections.
  • It impacts a person’s ability to navigate social interactions and causes repetitive and restricted behavior.
  • Many children show symptoms of autism by 12months to 18 months of age or earlier.

What causes Autism?

  • Genetic factor:
    • Something happens during fetal development that alters a gene.
    • Child inherits problematic gene/genes from one or both parents
  • Environmental factors: Mothers exposed to high levels of pesticides and air pollution may also be at high risk of having a child with ASD.
  • Brain Development: Children with ASD have more cells in their brain, than they require. Even the connections between the cells are not proper.

These factors by themselves, don’t cause autism. Rather, in combination with genetic factors, they appear to increase risk.

World Autism Day

  • Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, the UN representative from Qatar proposed the idea of recognizing World Autism Day.
  • The UNGA unanimously declared 2nd April as World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of those with autism, so that they can lead full and meaningful lives as an integral part of the society.

Facts about Autism

  • A puzzle ribbon is used as the new symbol for autism.
  • ASD now affects 1 in 68 children.
  • Boys are nearly 4.3 times more likely to be diagnosed with ASD than girls.
  • ASD is more common than childhood cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined.

Success and mental health

Photo by Daniel Reche on Pexels.com

Mental health is a major concern worldwide these days and India is not far behind in sharing this. India is considered as one of the depressed countries in the world during the pandemic by WHO. Currently, the students are stressed, worried and anxious about the uncertainties of the future. One in seven Indians between 15-24 years of age feel depressed and lack interest in doing things. While the impact on children’s lives is incalculable, the economic loss due to mental health conditions between 2012-2030 is estimated to be USD 1.03 trillion in India, according to WHO 2020. This excessive online presence or screen time during the pandemic itself has created mood swings, irritability, social withdrawal, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, difficulty with attention, focus and concentration, and further detachment from family or the real world. Studies have shown that one third of the young people display poor knowledge of mental health problems. Regular fitness exercises like morning walks, yoga, and meditation have proved to be great medicine for curing mental health. Besides this, it is imperative to have a good diet and enough sleep. A person needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night on average , we should also stay connects with our friends and family , do what Piques our interest , be active and the most important we should reduce our screen time. When someone is tired yet still can’t sleep, it’s a symptom that their mental health is unstable. In students low self esteem , irritability, sudden anger, frequent absence, thoughts of suicide, reckless behavior, crying etc. could be some of the symptoms of depression.

As we speak, there is one suicide attempt every 3 seconds and one demise by suicide every 40 seconds by our youth and in most cases the causes are mental health problems.

The major cause of mental health problems in Indian students is seen due to academic pressure and the pressure created my families specially parents which ultimately leads to anxiety, over thinking and depression among students. This academic pressure is also driving kids to suicide.

Social standing is a big and also the main cause of parental pressure. Caring more about how the world perceives them, can render parents ignorant about the true talents of their children. Parents often generalize the definition of success and excellence, depending on how others are doing.

Majority of the Indian parents never try to understand why their children are not able to perform good in their academics or other fields. They never want to sit down with their children and talk about their problems with their children. Instead they prefer to scold or even beat their child which is somehow much more demoralizing and rather acts towards increasing the child’s stress level to a great extend. Kids who feel like they are under constant pressure can experience constant anxiety. Parents think that their only duty is to earn and pay for their children expenses but what they should really do is that they should build their relationship stronger. This means meeting there childs physical as well as emotional needs by taking care of them. They need to constantly instill into their next generation the importance of ‘resilience’ which is the inner strength. But parents are not the only one to blame or to take care of the children but we ourselves should take proper care of our mental health and should not ignore it.

If all these aspects are addressed at an earlier age and stage of a student’s life, it will not only make them emotionally stronger and healthier but also prepare them for future life with more mindfulness, respect, gratitude and strength.

Personal Habits: Exercising

Everyone from India has heard the phrase, “ If you get up by 6 in the morning, everything will set in order.” It is a common phrase made for Millennials and Gen-Z. We hear it so often and tried a few times but it didn’t suit your routine. Did you ever wonder why you weren’t able to adopt it? After reading this, do let me know about your thoughts on this.

Exercising in the Morning

Of course, the most common habit among people. Exercising a few hours after you get up is beneficial to your health. It increases blood flow in you as well as trains your muscles. It increases alertness and also energizes you for the day. It’s common to do cardio in the morning with lifting weights before your first breakfast. This helps in burning fat as well as developing your muscle endurance. But why can’t you do it?

Jogging in the Morning increases blood flow and improves body endurance.

The most common reasons are:

  • Sleeping Late: You may have slept late. Even if you have slept around 11PM, if you need 8 hours of sleep then you will get up at 7AM. Your body needs sufficient sleep to get up or it will keep you tired the entire day. You have to plan your sleep schedule in a way you don’t compromise your sleep.
  • Exhausted: If you had a backbreaking day and you are completely exhausted of your energy, then you may not get up the next day at your set time. If this is your regular routine, you may want to change the time you want to get up.
  • Jam-packed daily routine: If your schedule is full on an everyday basis, you need to start prioritizing your work. It may be tough to change your routine but by doing this, you can improve the amount of time you can give to yourself and your new habits.
  • Feeling awkward where you exercise: Am I doing it well? Is my form right? Is my shirt torn? Am I sweating too much? Am I disturbing someone? Are they looking at how bad I am? Are they judging me? It is okay to feel these when you workout. Everyone goes through this and it’s okay. At the beginning it does feel weird to do a workout but we all started as beginners and we also have made mistakes. The only thing that you can do is ask a friend, family or trainer to help you. They may also point out other mistakes that you may have made which you can correct.
  • You don’t want to: Most of the time when you try to build a habit, there is a feeling that says, “This isn’t worth the trouble we are going through” but sometimes, you just don’t want to. You might want to do it to show others or of the stereotypical “healthy person”. If you think clearly by separating your external ideas/thoughts, you will understand why you want to do it.

How can you tackle these problems?

At first, these hurdles feel the hardest to jump over but unless you jump over them, you cannot reach your goal. There will be hurdles along the way and you are the solution to them. You will become better when you start crossing hurdles. Every hurdle you face is a step that you need to conquer and move forward.

  1. Set a Convenient time: 5 AM may be easy for others but it may be difficult for you. It may not agree with your sleep routine, or with your work routine so you quit. Rather, just change the time. If you get up around 7 AM and have to go to work by 10 AM. Make a slot of 1 hour for your workout and complete your morning routine! If you can’t make a slot of 1 hour, carry it to the evening when you come home. 1 hour before dinner, exercise to your heart’s content! 
  1. Change your workout: If you are the ‘No pain, No Gain’ person, sometimes, you may get too sore from your workout which leads to quitting. Rather than quitting, change your workout a bit. You don’t need to change weight, just change what you do. It is very helpful to have a 10-minute cardio session at the end. Not high intensity but something like walking on a treadmill or yoga, will help you recover efficiently.
  1. Get a workout partner: “Sometimes, the fruit tastes better when it’s shared” Get a partner! A friend who wants to workout or a family member who is bored of being alone in the gym, work together at the gym! When you have someone to look out for you, you get more confident and work better. It will also help in improving your form! If you workout with a partner you are comfortable with, you will be able to focus more on your workout than others.
  1. Take Pictures of yourself: When you take pictures of yourself after you workout, you can see the amount of progress that you are accomplishing over time. This way you get to see how far you have come. Every day that you work is a step forward. You and your partner could record each other’s workout and see where you could improve.
  1. 20% of the work gets you 80% of the way: Some days, you don’t feel like working out, you don’t feel like going to the gym but by showing up and doing 10% of your workout makes you feel happy that you came. Just by showing up and starting your workout sets the wheels in motion. By the time you take off your headset, you are halfway through.
  1. Take cheat days/rest days: When you exercise, it’s important to rest so your muscles recover and become stronger. By not taking rest, you are prone to burning out. If the gym is tiring you out way beyond it should, then you need a rest day. Hitting the gym after your rest day feels better because you will feel stronger and work more.

This article is my personal opinion that I have used when I workout and it has worked well for me. Experiment with your workout routines and I am sure you can find something that works well for you. To become better tomorrow, you have to work today. This way, you will become a better version of yourself. All the Best! 

Tuberculosis: a global emergency

Tuberculosis is a specific infectious disease caused by myobacterium tuberculosis. The pathogen primarily affects lungs and causes pulmonary tuberculosis. It can also affect the intestine, bones, joints, lymph gland, skin and other tissues of the body. Tuberculosis remains a worldwide public health problem. There are 15-20 million cases of infectious tuberculosis in the world. Eight million new victims and 2.9 million deaths are known to occur every year. The disease is credited with killing over one million women and nearly 1,70,000 children every year. WHO has declared TB as a global emergency.

FACTORS CAUSING TUBERCULOSIS:

  1. Agent Factors: Tuberculosis is caused by a facultative intracellular parasite myobacterium tuberculosis. The most common source of infection is the affected human himself whereas the milk of the bovine (affected cattle) is also an active source of spreading the disease. Patients remain infected as long as they remain untreated. Effective antimicrobial treatment reduces infectivity up to 90% within 48hours.
  2. Host factors: Tuberculosis affects people of all age groups. It is more prevalent in males than the females. It is not a hereditary disease but inherited susceptibility is an important risk factor. Man has no inherited immunity against tuberculosis. It is acquired as a result of natural infection or BCG vaccination.
  3. Social factors: Social factors include many non- medical factors such as poor housing, poor quality of life, overcrowding, population explosion, malnutrition, lack of education, etc.

Tuberculosis is transmitted mainly by droplet infection which is generated by sputum positive patients with Pulmonary tuberculosis. In most cases the bacteria affects the lungs. Pulmonary tuberculosis destroys the lung tissue, rupturing blood vessels in the process.

CONTROL OF TUBERCULOSIS:

The control measures consists of two components, namely:

  • Curative component
  • Peventive component

CURATIVE COMPONENTS include case find in and chemotherapy whereas PREVENTIVE COMPONENTS include vaccination. The first step in tuberculosis control is early detection of sputum positive cases followed by chemotherapy.

To tackle this global emergency, the National Tuberculosis Program me was initiated in 1962. The long term goal of the programme is to “reduce the problem of tuberculosis in the community sufficiently and quickly to the level where it ceases to be a public health hazard.”

Despite effective case finding and therapeutic tools and declined mortality, tuberculosis still remains to be a serious communicable disease worldwide.

Heat waves and their management

Photo by Merlin Lightpainting on Pexels.com

Heat wave is a prolonged period of excessive heat often accompanied by excessive humidity. Heat waves occur when there are a number of consecutive days with above average temperature that the body cannot tolerate. This unusual and uncomfortable hot weather can impact on both humans as well as animals health. Heat wave is one of the major disaster for many countries. It develops slowly and kills and injures many animals and people more than any other disaster. Apart from death, everyday more and more people get admitted to hospitals suffering from sunstroke, severe dehydration, vomiting and high fever.

The symptoms heat related illness include sunburn, pale skin, heat cramps, heat stroke, weakness, fainting, nausea, headache, dizziness, rapid pulse and drowsiness. Elderly persons, outdoor workers, children and military are the ones at higher risk of getting affected by the heat wave.

Like human beings, animals also suffer from heat wave. Domestic animals and poultry birds are particularly vulnerable to heat wave. When there is unavailability of enough water or shade for animals a change is seen in their behaviors. Heat waves also damage plants, crops and vegetables. When shearing winds blow and the temperature rises to around 45°C, exotic plants perish. In the grazing field not a single blade of grass is available for the cattle.

During hot summer, water consumption also increases drastically, often causing shortage of drinking water. Lack of water in most of the wells and other water bodies during hot summer seasons has an adverse effect on human beings as well as the animal population. Occurrence of drought conditions and wildfires are often the result of heat waves.

Prevention during heat wave:

  • Control the temperature at home.
  • Avoid direct sunlight while being out of the house/ in the street.
  • Take care of pets and other animals by avoiding direct exposure to sun.
  • Keep the rooms cool by using shade cloth.
  • Limit doing any physical activity at the hottest hour of the day.
  • Drink a lot of water, about 3-4 liters per day.
  • Avoid heavy protein foods like meat, dairy products, etc.

ORGANIZATION LEADS TO HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Image credit : Ebuyer. Com https://images.app.goo.gl/BeK2ghi9m82o18kA9

Life organisation frequently resembles a delicate balancing act. As soon as you switch to grab one goal line, such as money, family obligations, or having fun with family and friends, the next one is rushing at you rapidly. Sadly, some pieces are destined to fall: weeks where rest was not prioritised, eating fast food rather than preparing meals, and slacking with limited chores rather than concentrating on substantial work.

Instead of tossing life’s responsibilities in the hopes that you’ll survive to grasp em all, stick to a plan to keep everything in its position.


1. Discipline – Organise your day and make a to do list of tasks and punctually do everything on its set time. You’ll feel content at the end of the day and not guilty when you’re chilling watching your favorite movie and having that slice of pizza because you know you’ve worked for it.
2. Awareness – Presence of mind increases with managing your time because it ultimately helps you manage your life and when that happens your mind is free of stress which allows you to focus more on the details that one otherwise is ignorant about.

3.Clear Vision – For ones particularly ,confused about their purpose or goal, managing a note of things that you enjoy from the one’s that you enjoy less will allow you to decide with more clarity on the areas that you should focus.

4.Unwavering Focus – When you lead a life of discipline your skill to concentrate enhances hugely and allows you to work with stability. You start to work more minutely on things and your end product is always the best

5.productivity – Enhances the quality of your work and you start to enjoy the work you do, all this because you’ve got time to do thing through your organisational skills.

6.Maintaining a list – keeping track of your daily activities ,writing down things and analysing your thoughts helps to understand your life better. Writing down things for each day and accomplishing them will give you clear headstart to your goals and life in general.


7.Prioritise – Allowing some things to fall into place consciously can help make navigating all of life’s obligations efficient. Get used to saying “no” so that you can spend more time for the things that are essential to you. A crucial technique in your suite for organising your life is prioritisation. The only way to get anything done is to prioritise what is most important. You can direct your intense focus on what matters by eliminating what doesn’t advance your best expectations.

8. value your time –
Time is not something you can control. Time is more valuable than money regardless of the lack of tangible value. Like money, time may be wasted or saved. Time is something you can’t earn back,like money. Choose accordingly to expend it and don’t use it all in one space. If you value time you don’t waste it. Instead use it to your advantage.

Source credit : How to organize your life by Fadeke Adegbuyi https://blog.doist.com/organize-your-life/

https://edupubnews.wordpress.com/2022/07/03/effective-journaling/
More like these – https://edupubnews.wordpress.com/2022/07/02/how-to-win-an-argument/ https://edupubnews.wordpress.com/2022/06/27/hustle-culture-a-trend-or-trending-problem-for-the-youth/

Everything about cancer

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with a potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are over a hundred types of cancer that affect humans. In2015, bout 90.5 million people had cancer. About 14.1million new cases occur every year causing 8.8 million deaths. The not common types of cancer in males are lung cancer, prostrate cancer and stomach cancer whereas in females, the most common types are breast cancer, lungs cancer and cervical cancer. In children, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and brain tumors are most common.

Possible symptoms of cancer include a lump ( a compact mass of a substance without a definite shape), abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, etc. These symptoms may differ according to the type of cancer.

Causes of cancer:

  1. Environmental Factors:
    1. Tobacco: Tobacco in various forms of its usage (smoking, chewing) is the major environmental cause of cancer of lungs, pancreas and kidney.
    2. Alcohol: Excessive intake of alcohol is associated with oesophagal and liver cancer. It is estimated that 3% of all cancer deaths are caused by alcohol.
  2. Dietary factors: These factors are depended on our food consumption. For example, smoked fish is related to stomach cancer, dietary fiber is related to intestinal cancer and high fat is related to breast cancer.
  3. Occupational exposure to chemicals: Exposure to a wide variety of chemicals such as asbestos, arsenic, benzene, chromium, cadmium, etc, through work environment also causes cancer.
  4. Other factors such as unlught, radiation, water pollution and exposure to pesticides are also some causes of cancer.

Prevention of cancer:

  1. Primary prevention:
    1. Control of tobacco and alcohol consumption.
    2. Improving personal hygiene.
    3. Reducing the exposure to radiation.
    4. Protection from occupational exposure to chemicals.
    5. Immunization
    6. Consumption of healthy food
    7. Medical treatment
    8. Education and awareness
  2. Secondary Prevention:
    1. Camcer registration
    2. Early detection of cases
    3. Proper healthcare facility and treatment.

“Freedon from cancer” is now considered as the right of cancer patients.

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Coronoary Heart Disease is defined as “the impairment of heart function due to the inadequate blood flow to the heart.” It causes 25-30% death in industrialized countries. The epidemicity, that is the relative ability to spread from one host to another in a locality, of CHD began at different times in different countries. The countries where the epidemic started early are showing a decline in the number of cases detected but still CHD poses as one of the largest health problems across the globe. CHD was the leading cause of death globally resulting in over 7million deaths. It may affect individuals of any age but becomes more common at progressively at older ages. It is estimated that 60% of the world’s cardiovascular disease occurs in the South Asian subcontinent. Males are at a higher risk of getting affected by CHD than the females.

CHD in India

The pattern of CHD in India is reported as follows:

  • CHD occurs in the population who have attained the age between 51-60 years.
  • Males are affected more than females.
  • Hypertension and diabetes account for about 40% of all the cases.
  • Heavy smoking is also reslonsible for CHD in higher number.

The risk factors that can lead to CHD include smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and stress.

Prevention of CHD:

WHO has recommended the following strategies for the prevention of CHD:

  1. Population strategy:
    1. CHD is primarily a mass disease. The strategy should have a mass approach focusing mainly on the control of underlying risk factors.
    2. Small changes in the risk factor levels can achieve the biggest reduction in mortality.
    3. The population strategy is centered around the areas such as Dietary changes, smoke free society, blood pressure measurement and physical activity.
  2. High risk strategy: By means of simple tests such as blood pressure and serum cholesterol management, it is possible to identify individuals at a special risk.
  3. Secondary prevention: Secondary prevention must be seen s he continuation of primary prevention. The aim of secondary prevention is to prevent the recurrence and progression of CHD.

In a world where health risk factors are present everywhere, we should do our best to avoid falling prey to any kind of health risk.