Tengkia Mag
Mel’s health tips
By far, this week has been the week with the most number of problems heard. Problems such as falling ill, getting weird dreams as well as facing severe pressure from school work, are especially prevalent during the final year when everyone has to cope with their Final Year Project and other modules.
I would like to send a gentle reminder to all, that no matter how much work you have piled up, you cannot complete them and do a good job out of it in a poor state of health.
Replies to the letters for the week
The first letter sent to me this week is regarding dreams. The person who sent the letter complained of having dreams almost every night, none of which make sense. The following paragraphs will be rather technical, but they explain how the brain works and is important for maintenance of mental health.
Dreams are actually a way by which the brain purges negative emotions built up over time (Van Winkle, 2000). Chemicals are released into the brain cells whenever a thought passes through the mind, or the brain wishes to perform an action. In essence, when you are feeling unhappy, 'unhappy chemicals' will be released.
Taking a typical final year undergrad's life as an example, when the work starts to pile up, those 'unhappy chemicals' also start to accumulate in the undergrad's brain. Knowing that high workload is an evitable part of a final year undergrad's life, he could only suppress his feelings and try his best to do his work. This suppression of feelings cause the 'unhappy chemicals' to remain inside the undergrad's brain, when under normal circumstances, the brain will remove the chemicals automatically.
As the chemicals build up to a critical level, the brain begins to take measure to purge these chemicals. During the purging process, sypmtoms such as flaring up, having dreams or nightmares, or depression will occur.
--------------------
Sidenote: In case anyone thinks I'm bullshitting, I had to read this journal and write the above topic as part of my GEM term paper.
--------------------
Having explained the way the brain works, the question now is: "How do I stop those symptoms from occuring?" The only way, is to allow the brain to remove the 'unhappy chemicals' before they accmumlate to a critical level. In our context, de-stress. Everyone has their prefered way of de-stressing. It can be playing sports, doing your favourite activity (e.g. shopping, watching movie or listening to music) and even just sharing your problems with your friends. My personal favourite is singing (anyone game for a session of ktv?).
The next time you feel down, remember that you do not have to hold it back. If you need someone to hang out with or just to complain and complain and complain about something, try looking for someone with a MSN nick that goes something like "Tengkia (blah blah crap nonsense rubbish etc.)"
Onto the next letter, we have someone who has been suffering from sore throat for quite some time and does not seem to recover. Given the curent climate conditions (very hot and sometimes rainy days), sore throats, coughs and flu are easily becoming widespread. Even the recent news have been warning people to get flu immunisation before going anywhere else on the northern hemisphere.
The best course of action to take when you are ill, is to see a doctor. However, merely seeing a doctor and taking the prescribed medication doesn't guarantee quick recovery. The following are some tips on what to do and avoid when you have flu:
Whenever I have cough or sore throat, I will always make myself honey dissolved in warm water and squeeze in the juice from a slice of lemon. Soothes the throat and helps to recover more quickly =) Emotions and feelings do affect the state of health and rate of recovery. Do not undermine the importance of mental health when minding physical health.
If you have any queries regarding health issues, please send them to mel@tengkiamag.com.sg and I will do my best to answer them.
By far, this week has been the week with the most number of problems heard. Problems such as falling ill, getting weird dreams as well as facing severe pressure from school work, are especially prevalent during the final year when everyone has to cope with their Final Year Project and other modules.
I would like to send a gentle reminder to all, that no matter how much work you have piled up, you cannot complete them and do a good job out of it in a poor state of health.
Replies to the letters for the week
The first letter sent to me this week is regarding dreams. The person who sent the letter complained of having dreams almost every night, none of which make sense. The following paragraphs will be rather technical, but they explain how the brain works and is important for maintenance of mental health.
Dreams are actually a way by which the brain purges negative emotions built up over time (Van Winkle, 2000). Chemicals are released into the brain cells whenever a thought passes through the mind, or the brain wishes to perform an action. In essence, when you are feeling unhappy, 'unhappy chemicals' will be released.
Taking a typical final year undergrad's life as an example, when the work starts to pile up, those 'unhappy chemicals' also start to accumulate in the undergrad's brain. Knowing that high workload is an evitable part of a final year undergrad's life, he could only suppress his feelings and try his best to do his work. This suppression of feelings cause the 'unhappy chemicals' to remain inside the undergrad's brain, when under normal circumstances, the brain will remove the chemicals automatically.
As the chemicals build up to a critical level, the brain begins to take measure to purge these chemicals. During the purging process, sypmtoms such as flaring up, having dreams or nightmares, or depression will occur.
--------------------
Sidenote: In case anyone thinks I'm bullshitting, I had to read this journal and write the above topic as part of my GEM term paper.
--------------------
Having explained the way the brain works, the question now is: "How do I stop those symptoms from occuring?" The only way, is to allow the brain to remove the 'unhappy chemicals' before they accmumlate to a critical level. In our context, de-stress. Everyone has their prefered way of de-stressing. It can be playing sports, doing your favourite activity (e.g. shopping, watching movie or listening to music) and even just sharing your problems with your friends. My personal favourite is singing (anyone game for a session of ktv?).
The next time you feel down, remember that you do not have to hold it back. If you need someone to hang out with or just to complain and complain and complain about something, try looking for someone with a MSN nick that goes something like "Tengkia (blah blah crap nonsense rubbish etc.)"
Onto the next letter, we have someone who has been suffering from sore throat for quite some time and does not seem to recover. Given the curent climate conditions (very hot and sometimes rainy days), sore throats, coughs and flu are easily becoming widespread. Even the recent news have been warning people to get flu immunisation before going anywhere else on the northern hemisphere.
The best course of action to take when you are ill, is to see a doctor. However, merely seeing a doctor and taking the prescribed medication doesn't guarantee quick recovery. The following are some tips on what to do and avoid when you have flu:
- Sleep early (at 10 pm)
- Drink lots of warm water (7 litres for healthy people, a lot more for those not feeling well)
- Include more fruits (except durians and mangoes) in your diet (avoid eating them chilled)
- Keep warm at all times
- Do not eat anything chilled, oily, fried food
- Avoid chococlates and chocolate based food (including Milo)
- De-stress (see above)
Whenever I have cough or sore throat, I will always make myself honey dissolved in warm water and squeeze in the juice from a slice of lemon. Soothes the throat and helps to recover more quickly =) Emotions and feelings do affect the state of health and rate of recovery. Do not undermine the importance of mental health when minding physical health.
If you have any queries regarding health issues, please send them to mel@tengkiamag.com.sg and I will do my best to answer them.
PS: the above email does not exist
PPS: whoever doesn't read this is not cut to be a lawyer
posted by Tengkia | 3:03 pm
|
Level of response: 1
Level of response: 1
wha super super long blog entry! This should be the longest since u started to blog so far.. so caring and concern for ur 2 good frens who suffered so much by dreams and health.. i muz say u r good..
btw.. i got an advice from someone during the weekend asking mi to listen to soft music half an hour b4 sleep to have better sleep and less dreams... Oops.. did i say dat advice is for mi!... blabbermouth again!
Post a Comment