THE MIND & BODY BLOG

While we are all closely following how science is growing rapidly and its outreach is expanding exponentially, the proportionate and unprecedented rise in superstition and pathological beliefs within the ecosystem of religion has somehow escaped our notice. Futurist Alvin Toffler, in his book ‘Future Shock’ had forecast a gradual change in human and social behaviour in the form of death of permanence, death of reliability and the demise of bureaucracy. He was recording his observations in the context of nations changing over from a controlled economy to free economy. Is it, therefore, possible what Toffler wrote could finally be coming true? And, if at all it is happening, the transformation of his vision into reality is turning out to be much quicker and larger than one would have imagined. Science is on the verge of producing human clones and robots with human-like intelligence. Developments in stem-cell and genetic research are all set to produce miracle cures making man’s...

Aristotle’s remark on humans, ‘Man is by nature, a social animal’ has remained one of the most remarkable observations about our functioning as a society. However, when social animals tend to behave pathologically or when they go out of bounds and turn rogue, they end up whipping up havoc, a situation which understandably does not augur well with a civilized society, and in effect a nation built on its sound premise. As a neurologist, while analysing the current upheavals in the social milieu of our nation, I tried to make sense of our surroundings and its happenings by presuming our brain is like a jungle, full of life subject to simultaneous growth and decay. The animals, ghosts, demons and sages invariably become a part of the brain’s synaptic network, which comprises of both the green areas and areas full of deadwood. The next question in the line of thought that arises is: Who rules the jungle? Is it the lion, who with his courage, conviction and aura of authority, g...

From movies featuring the casino-hopping swish life of Las Vegas, to high-profile Diwali parties back home, gambling looks all glamorous, stylish and sexy. Some may choose to look the other way, but quite a few of us are more than once tempted to try our luck and test the odds of winning — be it just online poker and rummy, or horse-racing and even real casino-style betting.  The ‘art’ of gambling, or betting on money or other objects, has been popular for entertainment and recreation across cultures for centuries. In India, the Mahabharata lore shows us how popular gambling was among our ancestors. Needless to say, there were repercussions that shaped the narration of the epic as it stands today. As early as the 4th century BC, the Arthashashtra recommended taxation and control of gambling. Even in modern times, some speculative investments like options or futures that fall into the same bracket have been cleverly excluded to be perceived as different from gambling, especia...

A doctor is not simply a practitioner who heals the body. He is as much a healer of the mind of a person who’s tired of an ailment, is tottering on the brink of hopelessness, and has come to him in good faith. A good physician is one who successfully treats a person with his understanding of the science of medicine. A great physician is one who makes the practice of medicine into an art by bringing together his study of the science along with the individual’s own healing capacity and utilises the faith he reposes in him as a catalyst to make the cure complete, and holistic. Life is both science and art. There is a distinct and detailed methodology which is inbuilt and there is a way in which you live. Brain, which is at the centre of our lives and steers it through the entire course of our existence, is also a science and an art. Similarly, the practice of medicine is both science and an art. There are three components to healing. One is the medicine, second is...

Admit it! We all love taking selfies. It’s hard to imagine life without having clicked the perfect moment and having preserved it as a fond memory. With technology advancing almost every day, selfie is a trend that has emerged on the digital scene, taking the world by storm. What, however, started as a fun way to click self-portraits, has taken a new turn with people making incredibly risky attempts to get the best shot in a narcissist urge to draw attention to themselves and feel loved.   Who doesn't like taking selfies? But make sure to stay alive while clicking your next picture-perfect selfie. With a mind-boggling increase in the number of smartphones and selfie sticks, people have become increasingly obsessed with snapping the most spectacular selfie. This fanaticism even pushes them to unimaginable, dangerous places like train tracks, hanging from buildings, bridges and even restricted no-go areas, which has led to a significant rise in the number of selfie related deaths ...

You may be an atheist and may rightfully share a completely differing viewpoint from that of a fatalist on the origin of human life, but what is in agreement is that human body is the most evolved and a marvellous creation of nature. Its crowning jewel, the brain, is the sole regulator of this arcane automatic system often described as a super computer lodged in a safe bony vault with a mind-boggling dynamic database. What we must be aware of is that while some virtues are hardwired, others are learnt through evolution and developed cognitively. Neuroscience has come a long way from a rigid brain of early 20th century to a neuroplastic state capable of remodelling itself. This has paved way for better understanding of the chaos and the dynamics of the brain, and mind with the current capacity of remodelling self for quality health and longevity. The human mind has been an enigma both for the scientists and the philosophers alike. While Descartes believed in dualistic theory of brain...

Mahatma Gandhi saw this coming from a mile. Seems, India is going wrong somewhere, which is why its place has dropped in the Happiness index since 2013. Did you know India ranks lower than even Iraq and Pakistan on the World Happiness Index? India ranks 140th in the happiness quotient as per the latest report released in March this year . As a country, we are perennially on decline having dropped 7 notches from 133 in 2018 out of 156 countries surveyed. We stood at 122 in 2017, and with the latest drop our nation stands below Pakistan (67) China (93) and other immediate neighbours such as Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. Looks like the entire nation, entrepreneurs and innovators have to buckle up their shoes to make the country prosperous and a happy place to live in. So, exactly why is India unhappy, despite the highest economic growth rate? A happiness index is not just statistics. It offers an insight into what’s on the minds of the peopl...