Professor says state of smarter and healthier is achieved when people feel positive about themselves. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: To help guide the residents of Karachi about how to live a less stressful and more productive life, a public awareness and interactive session, titled 'A Smarter, Healthier You', was held at The Second Floor (T2F) on Friday evening.
According to a professor of neurology at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) and the moderator of the session, Dr Saad Shafqat, the state of 'smarter and healthier' is achieved when one feels positive about herself/himself and has a sense of fulfilment about what he/she does." He said this can be achieved through positive habits pertaining to sleep, diet and exercise.
The chairperson of the department of psychiatry at AKUH, Dr Ayesha Mian, said that the same person does good and evil and we must not label people about it. "However, as a psychiatrist, it makes me creative that every patient is not similar to another and everyone has a different story and issue to tell," she said.
Brain stroke
Responding to a question about how she feels working for patients suffering from brain strokes, Dr Ayesha Kamal, a leading researcher in the field of neurology at AKUH, said that they get thousands of patients visiting their neurological clinic per year. "You have no choice - either [you have to become] resilient or leave the occupation," she said. "It's the resilience of patients to fight the disease that inspires us too."
Dr Kamal explained that it is a treatable disease if the patient reports as early as possible within a few hours of the onset. According to her, awareness is increasing about neurological conditions.
Children's issues
Anxiety, especially that pertaining to exams, is being seen in children in considerably large numbers and it is hard to tell what is causing them, said Dr Mian. She advised students to train themselves about how to cope with stressful moments in life.
According to her, the first six years of the children's lives are 'magical years'. She advised all the parents to spend most of the time with the children during their cognitive development. "Happiness is overrated and people do face happy and sad moments and it's very real and it's okay," she said.
Dr Kamal dismissed the idea that there is any evidence to suggest that obesity has any links to brain size but usually such people have slow brains.
How to be smarter
According to Dr Kamal, gratitude and compassion are universal traits that we need to work on to become smarter beings. Dr Shafqat said that altruistic behaviour, in which a person thinks of doing something for someone else, is the best way possible to become a healthier and smarter person. He advised the audience to keep their minds active and be curious and real towards new things.
Dr Mian said that in order to be healthier and smarter, we need to shift towards a positive outlook about life and situations and not be stressful.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2016.
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