HAPPINESS IS HEALTH!
Preventing chronic negative thoughts
is the key to a healthy mind. Children
specially need to be allowed more leisure
time. Physical activities like exercise,
sports and dancing are known to release
feel-good hormone endorphin which
benefits the brain. Pursuing hobbies,
activities that make you happy or fulfilled
and content, can keep you motivated
in low phases of life, teaching you to
celebrate little victories. A hearty laugh
works the same way.
Invest time in friends and family. Talking
to and confiding in someone trustworthy
helps you create a support system that you
can summon in times of distress or crises.
Give the children around you their due
time and attention. Cuddling with a pet
and playing with kids generates oxytocin-
the bonding hormone. Above all, sleep
well, for it helps your body and mind
heal itself. Rejuvenate them both time to
time using tools like meditation to keep
serotonin and dopamine balanced.
If circumstances still catch you unaware,
know that help is out there, if not in
your home, at the touch of a button.
Mental health foundations and support
groups are at your disposal if only you
call them for help. Phone helplines and
online counselling portals like “Type a
Thought” and “mystruggles.in” – that
keep your identity anonymous, exist to
resolve your distress. Sometimes simply
talking to friends or family is enough
to help you tide through. If none of
the above helps, tap into professional
psychiatrists. Taking medication to
relieve yourself of sickness is not a
shame. Do you think twice before taking
a pill for cold? You might not even
need medication. Interventions like
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
and Neuro-Linguistic Programming
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Volume 4 | Issue 1 | January-March 2019
(NLP) can help you learn new thinking
patterns, overcoming anxiety and fear.
A LITTLE CHANGE CAN TAKE US FAR
If only we as a community realize that
mental illnesses are not chosen by those
who are ill, like any other ailment, and
fulfil our roles as parents, teachers, and
caregivers, healthy and happy youth is
not a distant dream. If only we would
give children enough time, attention
and affection, they would not grow up
as broken individuals. If only we learn
to ask “How are you?” and really mean
it; if only someone were to ask us “Are
you alright?” at our most terrible times;
if only we accepted the differences
among people; if only no one shamed
the fat teenager; if only we didn’t
burden our children with our ambitions
and expectations (and maybe instead
followed them ourselves), we could save
lakhs of lives. And that would be a life
worth living. Wouldn’t it?
We must remember, childhood and
adolescence are tender, confusing and
ruthless, all at the same time. Young minds
need a sense of belonging, affection and
appreciation to grow up normally with
nurture, cautious prodding and guidance
at every step. This journey translates into
meaning and purpose around which their
entire adult life would revolve. Many
mental illness victims report feeling
unloved, unnoticed, or worse - blamed,
bullied, beaten and shamed as youth. So, if
we want to save more people from mental
disorders, the younger we catch them,
the better.
Nishtha Bhargava is a Senior Research
Fellow at CSIR-IGIB. When not in the
lab, she likes to listen and dance to her
favourite music, read books and dream
about the future. She believes animals,
children and drunk people never lie
and that science has the power to
change the world.