Dentists & Mental Health

Dental -Mental.....sounds funny. Replace one alphabet and the entire meaning is changed. Have you ever wondered how words are so powerful?

Words create a thought, thought creates an action/feeling and this could really change your destiny. In today's world we all are told to speak well, behave well and present ourselves well. The most important aspect to be gentle with yourself, accept yourself, love yourself and bless yourself is not taught anywhere in any school.

The 2022 World Mental Health Day theme 'Make Mental Health & Well-Being for All a Global Priority' provides us with an opportunity to re-kindle our efforts to make the world a better place.

Mental health is the foundation of a happy life. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental illnesses can affect people of any age, race, religion, or income. It affects how we think, feel, and act in daily functioning. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life.

More than 43 million Americans struggle with mental illnesses. 1 in 5 young people (age 13-18 years) has or will develop a mental illness in their lifetime. Youth depression rates have risen from 5.9% to 8.2% since 2012. Depression symptoms can impact performance in school and interfere with personal relationships.

Common signs of mental health issues include:

• extreme mood swings
• changes in eating habits
• excessive worrying or fear
• problems concentrating and
• avoiding friends or social activities.

Bollywood diva Deepika Padukone was brave enough to share her own struggle with depression. Her message is loud and clear - that we really do need to take care of our mental well being.

Getting a Medical/Dental seat in Government College requires lot of consistent hard work. Competitive exams do bring lot of stress for teenagers and parents. I would like to share 7 simple ways to stay mentally fit. Adopting them in your life style can help you cope up with daily challenges we meet at home or work place.

1. Diet

Our Indian culture has always placed a great importance on the food we eat. Its said - as is the food, so is the mind .So we should carefully choose not only what type of food we should eat, but also how it is cooked as that is also very important.. Blessing the food and thanking for it makes a difference. These small acts change the vibration of food and we feel good.

2. Visible reminders

Gentle reminders to stay healthy, focussed and happy are very useful to kick start your day on the right note. Out of sight, out of mind they say - so keep these reminders in your field of vision daily. For example, I have kept one small momento on a shelf which says:

3. Kindness and Mental Health

Kindness doesn’t just help other people, but it also improves our own physical and mental health. Whether we’re giving, receiving or even just witnessing it, kindness can have a great effect on us! This is because when we experience kindness, a hormone called dopamine is released in our brain which gives us a feeling of elevation – it’s often referred to as ‘Helper’s High’. Kindness can also improve relationships. Our evolutionary ancestors had to cooperate with each other for survival. This means we now have ‘kindness genes’ etched into the human genome. So, when we’re kind to each other, we feel a connection that strengthens our relationships and helps us to create new ones. How great is that! Teaching children about the effects of kindness will empower them to take charge of their own well-being.

4 Yoga

Yoga's physical benefits to the brain and body are known to all of us. Yoga has been shown to lower stress hormones in our bodies while simultaneously increasing beneficial brain chemicals like endorphins and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). These feel-good chemicals help decrease anxiety and improve mood. With its emphasis on breathing practices and medita­tion—both of which help calm and center the mind— it’s hardly surprising that yoga also brings mental benefits, such as reduced anxiety and depression. What may be more surprising is that it actually makes your brain work better. When you lift weights, your muscles get stronger and bigger. When you do yoga, your brain cells develop new connections, and changes occur in brain struc­ture as well as function, resulting in improved cog­nitive skills, such as learning and memory. Yoga strengthens parts of the brain that play a key role in memory, attention, awareness, thought, and language. Think of it as weightlifting for the brain!

Studies using MRI scans and other brain imaging technology have shown that people who regularly did yoga had a thicker cerebral cortex (the area of the brain responsible for information processing) and hippocampus (the area of the brain involved in learn­ing and memory) compared with nonpractitioners. These areas of the brain typically shrink as you age, but the older yoga practitioners showed less shrinkage than those who did not perform yoga. This suggests that yoga may counteract age-related declines in memory and other cognitive skills.

• It builds confidence.
• It makes you more aware of your posture at all times
• It makes you more mindful
• It boosts your strength and endurance
• It helps relieve stress

Do we really need more reasons to make it part of our daily routine? In addition to yoga, I highly recommend Sudarshan Kriya, a breathing technique efffeciently designed to keep us healthy at physical,mental and spiritual level.