If you get the inflection of an "alright" right then you can tell whether the NRI speaking to you is a product of a Gujarati family from Idi Amin's Kenya or she is an immigrant with roots in Saurashtra. What one speaks shows where one comes from. However some chirps are more ominous as can be seen from the following -harmless-in-after-thought- communication. But at the time it transpired, it shocked me.
18 September 2012
17 September 2012
Doc Get Me Some Sleep!
One of the principal reasons a person goes to a doctor is that the ailment he is suffering from does not permit good sleep. Such a patient asked me one day, " Doc what is that I can do during the day so that I can sleep well at night?" I appreciated the fact that he hadn't asked for a sleeping pill. Also, the question struck me as being at once practical as well as profound.
Coincidentally, the next day I received an email from WebMD with a link to a slide show on how to sleep well. It is here.
However the question kept on reverberating in my mind and I thought that there has to be something even more to getting good sleep. I started with some hands on research and found that some measures indeed helped getting better sleep.
A unique and yet paradoxical finding was that there is some evidence that altruism (helping someone without expecting anything in return) helps in getting good sleep. On one hand the understanding is that you help without expecting anything and yet here you are expecting peace of mind and good sleep! Putting it another way, I thought wouldn't an altruistic act a day be a good thing irrespective of its benefit to the doer?
Another interesting finding was reading the scriptures in the original script (alright, with the translation thrown in as well) as the last thing during the day. Try it and you may find that there is no better sedative.
It is said that Dr S. Radhakrishnan, the second president of India, during his tenure as India's ambassador to the erstwhile USSR, walked out politely from a state function citing his routine of retiring to bed at 10 pm daily.
Maintaining a regular schedule turns out to be important- yes that important!
Then there are foods that can help or harm your sleep just as there are jobs that can wreck your sleep.These links are worth a look.
Perhaps, just as important as these factors happen to be for a good sleep there is also the even more important factor of what you happen to have done during the day that affects your conscience. If your heart is heavy as you hit the bed, it is unlikely that you would sleep well. This does not require any double blind studies, only blind practice.
Coincidentally, the next day I received an email from WebMD with a link to a slide show on how to sleep well. It is here.
However the question kept on reverberating in my mind and I thought that there has to be something even more to getting good sleep. I started with some hands on research and found that some measures indeed helped getting better sleep.
A unique and yet paradoxical finding was that there is some evidence that altruism (helping someone without expecting anything in return) helps in getting good sleep. On one hand the understanding is that you help without expecting anything and yet here you are expecting peace of mind and good sleep! Putting it another way, I thought wouldn't an altruistic act a day be a good thing irrespective of its benefit to the doer?
Another interesting finding was reading the scriptures in the original script (alright, with the translation thrown in as well) as the last thing during the day. Try it and you may find that there is no better sedative.
It is said that Dr S. Radhakrishnan, the second president of India, during his tenure as India's ambassador to the erstwhile USSR, walked out politely from a state function citing his routine of retiring to bed at 10 pm daily.
Maintaining a regular schedule turns out to be important- yes that important!
Then there are foods that can help or harm your sleep just as there are jobs that can wreck your sleep.These links are worth a look.
Perhaps, just as important as these factors happen to be for a good sleep there is also the even more important factor of what you happen to have done during the day that affects your conscience. If your heart is heavy as you hit the bed, it is unlikely that you would sleep well. This does not require any double blind studies, only blind practice.
01 September 2012
The Fat Farce.
Jealousy, I had always been confident, was other peoples' domain. It would have remained that way but for a chance meeting between a friend and myself.