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By Shobha Shukla
We
all aspire to be healthy and at times go to great lengths to ward off
sickness. The fight against disease begins early on in life with
responsible parents ensuring that their kids are administered all
available vaccinations ((although there is a small lobby that is against
this important preventive measure); as much as possible; they feed them
nutritious diet (facing stiff competition from fast food chain
offerings) and there is a growing consciousness about the benefits of
physical exercise too (despite the allure of the idiot box and the
computer).
As
one grows in years the list of do’s and don’ts also grows longer—do not
smoke/drink, do not overeat, do not starve, do not be a couch potato,
do lead a regulated life, do eat a healthy diet, do exercise daily, do
protect yourself from mosquitoes, do wash hands frequently, do stay away
from pollution, and so on and on. And all this with the sole aim to
avoid contracting airborne, waterborne, foodborne and life style borne
diseases and have a healthy body.
But is this enough? What about mind borne diseases?
The
WHO also recognizes that mental health is an integral and essential
component of health: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
Health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or
her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work
productively and is able to make a positive contribution to the
community.
To
lead a healthy life, we must be healthy, not only in body, but also in
mind and spirit—a fact that we often tend to forget or completely
overlook. How many of us as parents and teachers consciously and
relentlessly nurture a healthy mind and spirit in our children? We make
great efforts (at times even ridiculous and foul ones) to send them to
good (read expensive) schools to increase their intelligence quotient
with the sole aim of outperforming their peers in their studies, to get a
highly paid job. But we care two hoots about their emotional quotient.
We goad them ruthlessly to be successful in life, but we fail to tell
them how to cope with failure, and to accept a NO gracefully. We rarely
strive to teach our girls and boys (and also ourselves) equality,
tolerance, compassion and respect for other people’s needs and rights.
The
results are obvious for everyone to see. We find an ever-growing breed
of aggressive and emotionally weak youth who must have at all costs what
they set their eyes upon—even if it involves indulging in petty or
serious crimes. They are ready to kill and/or commit suicide at the
slightest pretext.
We
indeed are a nation of mentally sick people. Else why are female
fetuses aborted; adult daughters and sons killed in the name of
protecting family honour; innocent women and girls (as young as 5-6
years old) raped brutally; and human rights of the not so powerful
trampled upon everyday?
This
is more so in case of men, and as social constructs fan the flames of
patriarchy, it manifests itself in horrific ways. We have physically
healthy, yet perverted, men stalking the streets and lurking in homes,
debasing women and girls and committing gruesome violence against them;
high ranking officials in government and private enterprises involved in
atrocious acts of corruption; religious heads reveling in stoking fires
of communal hatred.
The
rising crime rate, rampant corruption, increasing incidences of
violence against women, communal intolerance and hatred, moral policing,
are all signs that our country’s mind is far from healthy. And it is
not always poverty or illiteracy that drives one to these aberrations
that seem to be becoming more of a norm. A lot of those indulging in
nefarious deeds are economically well off, professionally qualified and
come from the so- called ‘good homes/families’.
So,
on this World Health Day, even as scientists strive harder to combat
existing diseases and we make new resolutions to nurture our physical
health (the WHO theme for World Health Day 2015 is about food safety
with the slogan ‘From farm to plate, make food safe’), let us provide
safe and nutritious food for our thoughts too, so that we are able to
not only cleanse our body of harmful toxins but also our mind of
perverted ideas that prevent us from behaving and acting humanely.
And as Dr Charles Glassman says—“Remove anger, regret, resentment, guilt, blame and worry from your diet. Then watch your health and life improve.”