Dr. Deepak Sharma

Repeated occurrence of sleeping problems is a hidden mental health problem! #sleepmedicine #soundsleep

Insomnia or simply difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep has become a common complaint in today's fast paced life. But do you know that sleeping difficulties persisting beyond 2 weeks or more are warning sign of deteriorating mental health?

So, if you or any of your loved ones is battling with symptoms like difficulty falling asleep (needing 1 hour or more), repeated awakening with subsequent difficulties falling asleep and early morning awakening (waking up 2 hours or earlier than scheduled time with subsequent inability to go back to bed. Then now is the time to seek the help of a psychiatrist!

#shunstigma #isupportmentalhealth

Stress, the new buzzword, has become an inevitable part of our lives. Take any of today’s diseases, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cancer, sleep disorders, indigestion, infertility, depression, memory loss, migraines, etc. All of them have a common contributing factor stress.

Ayurveda believes that health is the result of balance maintained between the three elements or doshas, vata, pitta, and kapha. An imbalance between these 3 components is the main cause of ill health. Different diseases have one of these as predominant factor. Stress disrupts the balance and so contributes to various diseases. Managing stress is one of the keys to maintaining good health and thereby avoiding a lot of lifestyle related disorders.

Read on to know and understand some of the simple but effective ways of maintaining stress.

1. Yoga Asanas: While yoga, in general, is believed to calm the mind and reduce stress, shava asana (corpse pose) sarvanga asana (Shoulder stand), hala asana (plough pose), simha asana (lion pose) and shalabhasana (locust pose) are greatly beneficial in reducing stress.
2. Take a break: A break to break away from the mundane routine helps. Try doing nothing for a short while and see how this practice calms the nervous system and provides a clear state of mind.
3. Mind your mind: Stress is often caused by fear of what might happen. Changing attitude to a positive one can go a long way in reducing overall stress.
4. Analyse your stressors: If you can change it, go ahead and change it. If you cannot, change the way you react to it or simply ignore it. It is definitely not possible to have control over all things in life. Learning this helps greatly in managing stress.
5. Meditation: Using Om, take deep breaths and focus on air moving through the lungs and the body. This can be done anywhere and leaves you with a calm mind and body. Pranayama also increases the flow of oxygen to all parts of the body and relaxes you completely.
6. Hand it down: The ends of the finger have pressure points which act as energy channels for the body. The padding at the end of the thumb and the middle portion of the index finger are linked to the brain and can be stimulated to manage stress. Most yoga asanas use this hand posture.
7. Warm baths: Add some ginger juice and baking soda to the bucket of hot water. This improves circulation and helps you in feeling light, with elevated mood.
8. Herbal teas: These are, simply put, magical. Substances like chamomile, tulsi, basil, jasmine, Brahms, cardamom, etc. provide a soothing effect on the mind and body. The aroma and taste of these leave you feeling elated, with the stress disappearing with their vapours.