Tag: Health

Healthy habits for young people

Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com

This article is part of a series aimed at helping you navigate life’s opportunities and challenges.

Staying healthy in your 20s is strongly associated with a lower risk for heart disease in middle age, according to research from Northwestern University. That study showed that most people who adopted five healthy habits in their 20s – a lean body mass index, moderate alcohol consumption, no smoking, a healthy diet and regular physical activity – stayed healthy well into middle age.

Weigh yourself often.

Buy a bathroom scale or use one at the gym and weigh yourself regularly. There is nothing more harmful to long-term health than carrying excess pounds, and weight tends to creep up starting in the 20s. It is pretty easy for most people to get rid of three to five pounds and much harder to get rid of 20. If you keep an eye on your weight you can catch it quickly.

Learn to cook.

Learning to cook will save you money and help you to eat healthy. Your focus should be on tasty ways to add variety to your diet and to boost intake of veggies and fruits and other nutrient-rich ingredients. As you experiment with herbs and spices and new cooking techniques, you will find that you can cut down on the unhealthy fats, sugar and salt, as well as the excess calories found in many prepared convenience foods. Your goal should be to develop a nutritious and enjoyable eating pattern that is sustainable and that will help you not only to be well, but also to manage your weight.

Cut back on sugar.

I suggest that young people try to avoid excessive simple sugar by eliminating the most common sources of consumption: 1) sugared soft drinks 2) breakfast cereals with added sugar and 3) adding table sugar to foods. Excessive sugar intake has been linked to obesity and diabetes, both of which contribute to heart disease. Sugar represents “empty calories” with none of the important nutrients needed in a balanced diet. Conversely, the traditional dietary villains, fat, particularly saturated fat, and salt, have undergone re-examination by many thoughtful nutrition experts. In both cases, the available scientific evidence does not clearly show a link to heart disease.

Live an active life.

While many people can’t find time for a scheduled exercise routine, that doesn’t mean you can’t find time to be active. Build physical activity into your daily life. Find a way to get 20 or 30 minutes of activity each day, including riding a bike or briskly walking to work.

​​Eat your veggies.

Nutrition science is complicated and debated endlessly, but the basics are well established: Eat plenty of plant foods, go easy on junk foods, and stay active. The trick is to enjoy your meals, but not to eat too much or too often.

Practice portion control.

My tip would be to not to ban entire food groups but to practice portion control. Portion control doesn’t mean tiny portions of all foods – quite the opposite. It’s okay to eat larger portions of healthy foods like vegetables and fruit. No one got fat from eating carrots or bananas. Choose smaller portions of unhealthy foods such as sweets, alcohol and processed foods. When eating out, let your hand be your guide. A serving of protein like chicken or fish should be the size of your palm. (Think 1-2 palms of protein.) A serving of starch, preferably a whole grain such as brown rice or quinoa should be the size of your fist. Limit high-fat condiments like salad dressing to a few tablespoons – a tablespoon is about the size of your thumb tip.

Adopt a post-party exercise routine.

If you engage in a lot of drinking and snacking, ensure you exercise a lot to offset all those extra calories from Friday to Sunday that come with extra drinking and eating. We found in a study that on Friday through Sunday young adults consumed about 115 more calories than on other days, mainly from fat and alcohol.

I hope you like these tips.

Thank you.

World' fastest vaccination campaign is underway in India

The country’s largest corona vaccination campaign is underway. The Union Health Ministry said that a total of 75 lakh people have been vaccinated in the country till Friday, the 27th day of the vaccination campaign. Out of this, 58.14,976 health workers and 16,90,034 Front line workers are included.

Why vaccination is important?

Vaccines can help limit the spread of antibiotic resistance.

The global increase in disease caused by drug-resistant bacteria, due to overuse and misuse of antibiotics, is a major public health concern. Vaccinating humans and animals is a very effective way to stop them from getting infected and thereby preventing the need for antibiotics.

Making better use of existing vaccines and developing new vaccines are important ways to tackle antibiotic resistance and reduce preventable illness and deaths.

According to the ministry, a total of 1,54,370 sessions of immunization have been completed across the country so far. Immunization campaign is fastest in India. On 11th February, a total of 4.5 lakh people were vaccinated. This includes 1,09,748 health workers and 3,78,148 front line workers.The corona virus is seen to be dying with speed in the corona vaccination campaign, according to the report released by the Union Health Ministry on Friday, 9309 cases were reported in the last 24 hours across the country, this is the third time in February when less than ten thousand cases were reported.

According to the Health Ministry, there were seven days in February when the daily death rate from Corona has been less than 100. There was no death reported from corona in 18 states and union territories of the country in the last 24 hours.

World' fastest vaccination campaign is underway in India

The country’s largest corona vaccination campaign is underway. The Union Health Ministry said that a total of 75 lakh people have been vaccinated in the country till Friday, the 27th day of the vaccination campaign. Out of this, 58.14,976 health workers and 16,90,034 Front line workers are included.

Why vaccination is important?

Vaccines can help limit the spread of antibiotic resistance.

The global increase in disease caused by drug-resistant bacteria, due to overuse and misuse of antibiotics, is a major public health concern. Vaccinating humans and animals is a very effective way to stop them from getting infected and thereby preventing the need for antibiotics.

Making better use of existing vaccines and developing new vaccines are important ways to tackle antibiotic resistance and reduce preventable illness and deaths.

According to the ministry, a total of 1,54,370 sessions of immunization have been completed across the country so far. Immunization campaign is fastest in India. On 11th February, a total of 4.5 lakh people were vaccinated. This includes 1,09,748 health workers and 3,78,148 front line workers.The corona virus is seen to be dying with speed in the corona vaccination campaign, according to the report released by the Union Health Ministry on Friday, 9309 cases were reported in the last 24 hours across the country, this is the third time in February when less than ten thousand cases were reported.

According to the Health Ministry, there were seven days in February when the daily death rate from Corona has been less than 100. There was no death reported from corona in 18 states and union territories of the country in the last 24 hours.

More than 20% of India’s underground water found contaminated with arsenic: IIT Kharagpur

More than 25 crore people of our nation are being forced to drink water contaminated with arsenic.

In a study carried out by IIT Kharagpur using an AI (Artificial Intelligence) based inference model it was found that the poisonous substance arsenic was present in more than 20% of the country’s underground water.

According to the estimates made by a few government and non-government organizations it was found that a large percent of the total population is being affected by the contamination. With the increasing water pollution, we need to take strict measures when it comes to collecting water samples from different regions and studying it for more chemical contamination.

According to the Assistant Professor Abhijit Mukherjee of IIT Kharagpur, it was reported that these high arsenic zones are present mostly along the Indus Ganga-Brahmaputra river basin and in the peninsular areas.

Health Effects- According to the World Health Organization, arsenic is highly toxic in inorganic form. Prolonged exposure to consuming contaminated water can cause cancer, skin lesions and other diseases when it reaches the body. It has also been associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Early childhood exposure has been linked to negative impacts on cognitive development and increased deaths in young adults.

Sources of Exposure-

Arsenic is a natural component of the earth’s crust and is widely distributed throughout the environment in the air, water and land. People are exposed to high levels of inorganic arsenic through drinking contaminated water, using contaminated water in food preparation and irrigation of food crops, industrial processes, eating contaminated food.

Dietary Sources– Seafood, Poultry and dairy products contain arsenic although the amount is very low in comparison and arsenic is present in its less toxic organic form.

Industrial Processes– Arsenic is used widely in industries as an alloying agent, in processing of glass, pigments, paper, wood etc., and also in a limited extent in making pesticides and pharmaceuticals.

Smoking tobacco– Tobacco plants can take up arsenic naturally present in soil so people who smoke tobacco are exposed to natural inorganic arsenic.

Prevention and control–

  • Substituting high arsenic sources such as groundwater, with low arsenic sources such as rain water and treated surface water.
  • Install arsenic removal systems and ensure the appropriate disposal of the removed arsenic. Technologies for removal of arsenic include oxidation, coagulation-precipitation, absorption, ion exchange, and membrane techniques. The most important action in affected communities is the prevention of further exposure to arsenic of a safe water supply.
  • Discriminate between high-arsenic and low-arsenic levels and paint tube wells or hand pumps with different colours.

Arsenic is one of WHO’s 10 chemicals of major public health concerns. WHO’s work to reduce arsenic exposure includes setting guideline values, reviewing evidence, and providing risk management recommendations.

Educating others about the dangers and necessities of this problem is crucial and community engagement is important for ensuring successful interventions. There is a need for community members to understand the risks of high arsenic exposure and the sources of arsenic exposure, including the intake of arsenic by crops (e.g. rice) from irrigation water and the intake of arsenic into food from cooking water.

HEALTH MINISTRY WAVES GREEN FLAG TO COVID 19 VACCINES IN INDIA

It’s been almost a year since the first case of COVID 19 was reported in the country. Around one crore people have effectively recovered from the pandemic while almost one and a half lakh lost their lives to it. The government has taken diverse measures to bring the pandemic under control but the high contagiousness of the virus made it hard for them to repress its spread. Countries and organizations around the globe were actively engaged in developing COVID 19 vaccines since its inception in China. Russia was the first country to successfully conduct the trials and roll out the vaccine for its public.

India on its way to mass vaccinating the country has approved two different vaccines; COVISHILED, a variant of AZD1222 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca manufactured by Serum Institute of India and  COVAXIN, manufactured by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), making them India’s first vaccines against the pandemic. Drug Control General of India (DCGI) VG Somani has granted permission for the restricted use of the vaccines and has confirmed the effectiveness of the vaccines on their trial runs. He said that “We’ll never approve anything if there is slightest of safety concern. The vaccines are 110 per cent safe” and also added that the COVISHIELD was found to have an efficiency rate of 70.42 per cent.  The Subject Expert Committee (SEC)  has reviewed Bharat Biotech’s data on “safety and immunogenicity” and gave permission for “restricted use in an emergency situation in the public interest” and has also recommended an accelerated approval of the request to Bharat Biotech International for phase-III trials of COVAXIN. The approval was given after India conducted a dry run across its states and union territories on Saturday as part of rehearsing the massive vaccination drive.

The Government is planning to vaccinate one crore healthcare workers belonging to both the private and public service sector as the initial step of the vaccination process. A digital platform named CoWIN has been introduced by the government, which will serve as a centralised system to record all details about the people to be vaccinated and helps in scaling and processing the vaccination drive. The second round of the vaccination drive will see the frontline and municipal workers of state and central service departments getting vaccinated. Using the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and Legislative assembly elections, people above 50 years of age will be identified and will form the third round of vaccination drive. People belonging to the geographical areas where the COVID infection is highly prevalent and people from high populated areas will also be vaccinated. The introduction of the COVID vaccines will be an added armour in India’s fight against the pandemic and the first step in bringing the country and its people back to normal life.

What are type of emotions?

Till today, I myself was confused as to what is a motivational subsystem and what is an emotional subsystem and if my blog posts conflated the two and created confusions, I apologize. I have now come to believe that emotions are the reading by our mind of how our body is doing. This needs some unpacking.

The somatic marker theory of Damasio, and others, is inline with this formulation that there are brain areas that keep track of how the body is doing and if the body is say geared to flee a predator- then a corresponding feeling of fear may be felt by the mind. Feelings are conscious emotions and the subject of this post. The eight basic emotions to recap are Interest, Fear, Lust/ Wonder, Disgust, Love, Anger , Joy and Sadness. The emotions may even be conceptualizes as indicators of bodily needs: eg. Disgust signifying the need of the body to close off / get away from source of disgust.

Motivations, or the basic fundamental drives, on the other hand are drives that help us cope with problems in living: These are to SURVIVE , REPRODUCE, TAKE-CARE-OF-YOUNG-ONES and to THRIVE. All the steps are essential to pass on our genes to the next generation- if say we don’t take care of our young ones then our genes do not live on. So evolution has built in these four basic drives in us. These drives are action-focused: they are intentional and *about* the world; they are mechanisms via which we get our needs met. They are primed action tendencies that tilt us to act one way or the other, out in the world.

Most of us when we think about motivation think of Maslow’s needs. They are conceptualizes at a higher level- the level I am taking about is the most fundamental, the most basic. Panksepp has talked about that level, but he wrongly called such neuroscientist as affective subsystems, while they should be called drives/ motivational systems to reduce confusion.

Lets unpack this a bit. SURVIVE system in an ideal world should be about finding food and nutrition to grow and maintain ones’ bodily composition. Of course we don’t live in an ideal world, so predators loom large and survival also becomes about avoiding them. However the underlying drive/ need is the same to preserve, maintain and grow ones body. Some people have focused on maintaining bodily integrity or avoiding dangers/ predators as having primary significance and thus focused more on FEAR ; I however think that’s mistake. The drive is primarily about finding nutrients for self and because in the search for food, you are likely to come across predators, secondarily about avoiding them once you encounter them.

Thus the primary neurocircuit for SURVIVAL is the SEEKING system: it is primary in the sense that it is the default program of the self when it comes to survival. It primarily enabled foraging behavior, but since then has been coopted for finding knowledge (learning) etc too and is marked by curiosity, exploration, learning, pattern finding, meaning making etc.

While searching for food (either hunting or gathering) you are likely to come in contact with a predator; at that time only the FEAR/predator avoidance system kicks in and focuses actions and body for that specific task. At least that is the purpose for which this system evolved.

The primary neurocircuit for REPRODUCTION is LUST/Seducing system. When one is in the grip of this circuit/drive one flirts, seduces, and tries to mate with conspecific.

While trying to copulate with as many con-specifics as possible, a danger of getting infected with STD looms large. My hunch is that DISGUST evolved as a means to avoid STD’s/ be picky and selective while choosing.

The primary neurocircuit for TAKE-CARE-OF-LOVED-ONES is CARE. It evolved so that parents can take care of their children, but sine then has been coopted for taking care of all vulnerable entities.

The secondary neurocircuit comes into play because of cuckolding. While one wants to take care of ones genuine offsprings, one doesn’t want to be cuckolded and displays aggression towards the weakling which in not of self. This is the RAGE circuit.

The primary neurociruit for THRIVING is PLAY. It evolved so that we can form social bonds/ rise up the hierarchy by building coalitions and alliances.

While playing and rising up the social ladder, there is a risk of aggression by the alpha male or the risk of losing existing ties and suffering losses. This manifests as the PANIC/ separation distress system.

How do the (eight basic) emotions and the (eight basic) motivations interact? It might be tempting to assume that each motivational circuit is associated with one emotion/ feeling; however that would be a mistake. We first need to understand that emotions come in pairs (interest-fear, wonder-disgust, love-anger and joy-sadness) ; we also need to appreciate that the motivational circuits form opponent processes such that if FEAR is activated, SEEKING is suppressed etc. with that background lets forge ahead.

Feelings modulate motivations/drives. They either initiate and sustain the corresponding motivational circuit or suppress and stop it. Thus they are either inhibitory or excitatory in their effect.

Take SEEKING. If your body is feeling interest (is in a state of interest) it is more likely to explore or activate the SEEKING system. On the other hand if the body is feeling fear, it will suppress the SEEKING system. And how does the body gets into a state of interest/ fear? In the most general case its by cognitive appraisal of outside events/ stimulus. Lets take novelty, say a rat placed in a novel environment. The rat can either see that novel environment as interesting and thus get curious and explore; or it can see the novelty as frightening, get fearful and stop exploring. Thus the cognitive appraisal we make induce emotions that either inhibit or excite the motivational circuits.

Lest take another example: Take PLAY. Feelings of joy will increase likelihood of playing; while being in a sad mood will decrease playful behavior. Or take PANIC: feelings of sadness will tilt the probability of panicking , while being in a joyful mood will buffer against panic.

Or take CARE . Appraising a vulnerable dependent/weakling as in group leads to feelings of love and compassion leading to activation of CARE; appraising the same person as outgroup leads to feelings of anger over why I need to support him/her and lead to suppression of CARE.

Or take LUST. Thinking someone as attractive leads to feelings of wonder about what the person is like and activate flirting/seducing behavior aka LUST. However, thinking of the person as unattractive/ugly leads to feelings of disgust and deactivation of LUST system.

I think by now, it should be clear how the emotions and motivations are connected. In the next post I will be extending this emotions/ motivations linkage forward to personality traits and psychological disorders.

See yaa..

Smile, because??


No matter what life you are living, where you are living, how you are living..
Try to keep that smile on you, not because it make you look good and neither because everybody ask for it..
But, try it as a trick which works on every situation.. Note, that when some one leave you, it’s obvious that you are gonna cry, maybe not infront of them but you will.. at that Moment try this trick or at this moment smile because there are many more about to come or already arrived, who will leave you.

So smile man! Because it is just a trick. That’s it. No more Hopes from smile because it is just a trick. And that’s it.

P.S:- You know a moment where you are throwing your hands and legs at your desired place to get some.. yeah! There’s two possibility of it, either you are gonna get that or your legs are going to feel some pain or probably getting hit by something. And at that particular moment, just smile because it’s a trick and nothing else. The pain is still there, eyes are still wet, invisible tears are still Rolling out, and yet you smile.. what a beautiful scene it will be or it is..
So, remember people, smile Because ___________._______. yeah! You got it.

See yaa..

Don’t let that kid die inside you, please.

I know you must be thinking about abortion or something related to parenting thing, but, no. Don’t get yourself wrong, as we say “Don’t judge a book by its cover” the same applies here, don’t judge a blog by its title. Then why title is there, huh!

Hello fellows, don’t be so rude that I called you a fellow. I called you because you didn’t even tried to think what title is saying about. There’s a kid in every one, in every gender, in every person. Some of them just forgot about it like time forces them to forget. No! Time always take test, but, how to pass it and how to live after passing the test is always on you. You planned to forget that kid for sake of your future. So, did you got that future?? I guess not, then atleast have one thing for life time.

You are also aware of it that keep the child alive will always keep you interesting, creative and more importantly happy. And do you know why I added happy in the last, because that’s true. Happiness comes from the mysterious ways. And a child can only enjoy that other wise you may have seen an adult asking questions from where this happiness arrived.

There’s one more reason why I ask you keep that child alive, it is because I personally think that child represent your whole life. That child remains in you from starting till end of your life. No Matter how hard your life gets or how strong you become, if you couldn’t save that kid inside you. You technically failed in this life.

So, think and start saving that child inside you.

See yaa..



Insomnia Or Insomniac?

Tell me what is it that makes you to say “I’m an Insomniac” or “I have a problem of not sleeping”. For some it can be a problem or a type of disease but, for many of them it is just using a cool word.

Hello pals, today let’s talk about this problem. Frankly, I don’t know if it is a problem or not, because there was time when I too couldn’t sleep in night but yes I was able to sleep in morning. There were time when night was the most enjoyable time in the whole day. And also there was a time when I can’t sleep because of thinking something.

It may be happening because you are tensed or worried about something to happen which you don’t have any control on it. So, what’s the point of this. I’m sure you have also thought about it, but, at last you put your hands down in makeing it right. There’s always a saying ” A healthy sleep is better then an apple a day”.

So, what ever it is that not letting you sleep is kind of wining over you. Let’s just think about it in this way, that what ever problem you are having is your enemy. And what an enemy always want to win, restless mind. So, if you don’t get a sleep for a required amount of time then it’s you who is letting your enemy or problem to win. In some way we can also say that if you are not sleeping because of something, yet you aren’t reaching somewhere in solving it, what if having a decent amount of sleep is the only key to solution. Try it, because I’m sure that trying this will give you less chance of loosing then not trying it.

And now, for those who think using the word Insomniac is cool. No, it is not. Because when you use it several times then your mind start believing it as a real problem. Just like, telling a lie 100 times makes it equal to a truth.

So, learn the difference between them and act wisely. And always remember, not sleeping because of some problem is actually a problem. So, now go and sleep.

See yaa..

First Covid-19 vaccine to be available in India by early 2021, says health ministry

As the world races to develop a potential vaccine against coronavirus (Covid-19), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday said that the first vaccine in India will most likely be available by early 2021.null

The health ministry said the research to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is being “done expeditiously”.

During a media briefing, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “Research to develop a vaccine is being done expeditiously. There ar at least 3 viable such vaccine candidates that are in the phase of clinical trials right now in the country. We’re hopeful that within 1st quarter of 2021 it will be available”, as quoted by ANI.

With a spike of 82,170 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 60-lakh mark on Monday, according to the data provided by health ministry.

The health ministry on Monday also released the 100-year timeline history of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) .

“Today’s a historic day for ICMR. It’s an honour for me to release the 100-year timeline of the history of ICMR within its premises today. The contribution of scientists associated with it is commemorated and serves as an inspiration to upcoming scientists,” Dr Vardhan told media.

Covid-19 vaccine trial begins at Mumbai hospital today

The first dose of Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca will on Saturday be administered to three volunteers at the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai while 10 more volunteers have been selected for the clinical trial.

Another Mumbai hospital BYL Nair will commence the process of clinical trials from Monday.
Volunteers given the vaccine dose at the KEM hospital will be checked regularly and within 29 days a second dose will be given to them.
Here’s everything you need to know about Covid-19 vaccine trial


–All three volunteers who will get the shot today have been screened to rule out any underlying health issues, KEM Hospital officials said. They also underwent RT-PCR and antibody testing. “The three participants have been screened after their consent and they don’t have any comorbidity. As per randomisation, out of every four participants, one will receive placebo (false drug),” said Dr Hemant Deshmukh, Dean, KEM Hospital.


–According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, each of the volunteers has been covered with Rs 1crore life insurance in case of death due to any side effects during the trial. They have also been covered under Rs 50lakh medical insurance if they develop any adverse effect from the vaccine.

–“We will administer the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to the three volunteers on Saturday” Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. He added that 10 more people will be screened on Saturday which will take the number of volunteers to 23. “We will check how they respond after the inoculation and test them for antibodies,” he said.

–After the volunteers are given the shot, they will have to stay at the hospital for two hours to check if they are having any complications,

–The vaccine induces a strong immune response. It provokes a T cell (white blood cells that can attack cells infected with the coronavirus) response within 14 days of the dose, and an antibody response within 28 days.

Dreams and Deeds Foundation

D&D it is a type of organisation which works for every single social cause of society.

As we know in this covid-19 whole world is suffering from financial problems . Migrants don’t have a job to run their life. As time passes, their troubles are increasing.

The government is also doing its best, but can we defeat this epidemic only by trying the government? No !

Many people need help. In the time of this epidemic, the Dreams and Deeds Foundation has emerged. And came forward to help those really need. the foundation take initiative to providing food sanitary pads and all the groceries to the migrants. As well as Foundation started feeding the animals this is one of the biggest and greatest step which is taken by dreams and deeds Foundation .

Providing groceries
Packets of the foundation for distribution
Initiate for feed animals
Plantation to protect the nature
Providing sanitary pads to women

So these are some main social cause on which Foundation is working like plantation to save the nature, feeding animals to protect them, providing sanitary pads to women for their safety in mensuration , providing groceries as well as concentrating on child education.

In this pandemic we really need a hand who can help us . A great work doing by the foundation and we all should appreciate it they celebrate every single day with lots of happiness and love. So let’s help them and do something new towards society.

For more query you can go on the Instagram page of the Dreams and deeds Foundation .

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Importance of talking.

we humans are no super heroes, we are blessed with various things like ability to help people, emotional intelligence, gut feelings so on and so forth

But we can’t read minds- right?

there’s a gap between your and others brain every brain works differently and to bridge that gap you have to be vocal and be clear

Set the expectations make yourself heard loud and clear as worst case scenario if things don’t work out you have your satisfaction that you were vocal and you can end things peacefully.

transparency is the key – be transparent so that the people can in act and interact with you.

If you are an introvert, then for you I will suggest that speaking in mind is never gonna help you but I will always put you in a situation where you find yourself uncomfortable. So, atleast talk little bit and if not then Stop filling gap and also thinking to fill the gap. That way you can lead a good way.

So, tell us why you think it’s important to talk, in comment section down below.

See yaa…

The story of a Stethoscope

Doctor and a stethoscope are synonymous with each other. A stethoscope is doctor’s best buddy. Hung around one’s neck, it gives doctor his identity. It is basically an instrument used to listen sounds made by heart, lungs or intestines and blood flow in veins and arteries. Let’s read how a young doctor’s shyness led to its invention which proved to be path breaking in field of medical diagnosis.

Born in 1781, a young French doctor, Rene Laennec got inspired to become a doctor when his mother passed away due to tuberculosis. He was a learnt man who studied medicine under famous physicians Dupuytren and Joan Nicholas Corvisat.

Corvisat strongly believed in diagnosing a patient by listening to heart sounds. In those days (early 1800s), it was common for a doctor to listen one’s heart beat by pressing his head directly on patient’s chest or back.

In 1816, as a part of his training, Laennec was told to examine a young overweight woman who was having heart problem. Laennec felt shy as well as uncomfortable thinking about using the traditional method. At that moment, he thought of a way. He rolled a quire of paper into a cylinder and placed one end on the chest of the patient and other end to his ear. And much to his surprise, he perceived sounds better than the other traditional method.

Successful in his impromptu experiment, Laennec devised a wooden version. It was 25 cm by 2.5 cm and could be carried around. He named it STETHOSCOPE which was derieved from a greek word sthethos( meaning chest) and scopos (meaning examination). Gradually, its use spread across Europe and US. But unfortunately Laennec died in 1826 at the age of 45 due to the same disease, as of his mother, tuberculosis.

Till date, various refinements have been made to original one. The major changes were brought by a Harward Professor, David Littmann in 1960s. He made a lighter version with better acoustics.

Littmann stethoscope are no doubt, the gold standard and used worldwide by doctors. But Laennec’s invention proved to be major milestone in the history of medical sciences.


Many of us must be unaware about this but have a knowledge always pays of.

See yaa