How your brain could be ill before you even know it

Let’s admit it. Most of us have heard our elders say, “there’s no serenity like old times” when tech and distractions were less prominent and psychological ailments were a cursed rarity. With rapid advancements of times and technology, that cherishment has only remained in memories of the bygone era.

The more we are advancing into digital age, the more our social fabric is getting weaker. One may jump to blame the evolutionary lifestyle or rapidly ‘evolving’ societies where such sentiments exist residually at the bottom of the pyramid.

But noted Indian psychologist Dr Khutbuddin, a subject expert practising Clinical Psychiatry in the United States for over three decades has a different, yet more scientific opinion. According to Dr Khutbuddin, who has handled thousands of cases involving psychiatric problems with people of all ages, “These undesired societal changes and health ailments are all a sport of the brain’s activity.”

He says, “The amount of information we consume everyday has drastically increased with our unabated embrace of social media. Most often, we are feeding our brain with information that is not necessary, especially on social media tools.”

So, what happens when you consume more information that is not primarily relevant? The information continues to pile up in segments and more pressure is exerted on the brain to retain it. It will affect the health of the brain in ways that are hardly noticeable outright. And not just that, the lack of any unwinding activity will eventually hinder the performance of our brain leading to physical, mental and emotional weakness.

At the first instance, the underlying danger might not be obvious outright. The entire destructive process is so subtle and furtive that it is hardly understood or noticed by the affected person. Often, doctors prescribe anxiety medicines to solve the problem in an inadequate and unfathomed attempt.

However, with the passage of time, such people begin to get easily frustrated and are consumed by anger, insomnia and feelings of self-worthlessness. Frequent mood swings, ambiguity of thoughts and depression gradually take over. In some, it may gradually lead to narcissism or develop suicidal tendencies.

The culprit is lack of sleep and frequent over-consumption of information that can alter the supply of adequate blood to the brain and such continued aberrations can result in fatal consequences. Dr Khutbuddin warns, “The stress levels among Indians are higher than even those in American people.

There is almost a 500 per cent increase in stress levels against previous year among Indians and it significantly more than in American youth.” When asked how to solve this, he says, “The brain weights just about 500 grams but consumes one-third of the entire pumped in our entire body. It is constantly active, even when we are asleep. It’s our command and control centre for all our thoughts and actions and it needs to relax and rest periodically.”

In conclusion, the brain is like a super bike. The more you condition it, the higher its performance will be. All it takes is regular sleep, clearing the brain by weeding out unused information (if we only we could, a la Dumbledore in the Harry Potter saga) and a happy and uplifting family time. In the meanwhile, the notoriously famous solution, “Keep Calm (and Enjoy Life)” ought to be the precedent of every agenda for a stress-free healthy life.