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Showing posts with the label Social isolation

Obesity epidemic of India

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Obesity in India is on the rise. It has reached enormous proportions. As I sit and count at airports, the number of women who look obviously overweight and obese, the figures I get is 8 out of 10. And this is around same in children of all sexes and around 6 in 10 men show clearcut overweight and obesity that is obvious even to naked eye. Anthropometric measurements might reveal more of them.  What are the likely causes? I have a theory that starts analysing these cases right from the 2000s or previous century. Junk food eating and sedantry lifestyle had already given an upward push to obesity in last century. And this also gave rise to diabetes mellitus in both men and women. Hence, such mothers also had diabetes in pregnancy. Some who did not have diabetes otherwise had gestational diabetes. From 2000 to 2026 prevalence of gestational diabetes has risen in india. It has even spread to rural areas and recent national data gives a figure of 22.4% which is almost 1 in 4 pregnant mot...

Social isolation, loneliness, and its effect on the human brain!

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Humans are by nature gregarious and like to mix, socialize, talk, and belong. But the Covid-19 pandemic created the need for social isolation and social distancing. And hell broke loose for many. Disorders of mentation increased and the consultation with psychotherapists and suicide help lines increased drastically. What exactly happens to a person in isolation? Experiments of self-isolation In the past, many scientists tried to study the impact of prolonged isolation on human brain. In 1964, Josie Laures and Antoine Senni isolated in two caves located in French Alps for months. 126 days passed by but Antoine taught that only 2 months have elapsed. In 1972, Michel Siffre repeated this stunt. Michel revealed: “Physically it was not tiring, but mentally it was hell,”  An experiment of isolation on graduate students of McGill University showed that the students jad hallucinations with restlessness and had mental deterioration in cognition. It was also extreme in one person who felt th...