Health matters newsletter: bringing down stress around exams

An inordinate amount of importance is given to exams in the country, placing a massive burden of pressure on students to perform. Photograph used for representational purposes only
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Health Matters

On the anxiety during exam season in India and the need to prioritise mental health; the solving of the mystery case of hair loss in Maharashtra, the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade, and more

(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Zubeda Hamid writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)

It’s examination season in India, and as anyone who has ever been through the board exams here knows, it is a period of high stress and anxiety — both for students and parents. An inordinate amount of importance is given to exams in the country, placing a massive burden of pressure on students to perform, and perform superlatively well. Drive past a school and a sea of anxious faces can be seen; speak to neighbours in the building and the conversation revolves around exams, take a Metro train and every other passenger has a huge tome open on their laps, as they revise.

The strain that this period can place on young minds however, has been an issue that is of growing concern among mental health professionals. While the education system is making an attempt towards flexibility: the National Education Policy had recommended eliminating the ‘high stakes’ aspect of board exams and CBSE has recently mooted a proposal to conduct two board exams a year for class 10, the fact remains that these exams are seen as the cornerstone of future success.

How can this issue be tackled? As Serena Josephine M.writes, experts point to the need for a multi-pronged approach: the mental and physical well-being of students needs to be taken care of, with healthy diets, proper sleep schedules, and a loving atmosphere at home, while parents need to remember to be their children’s allies, and remove their expectations from the equation.

Mental health has always been somewhat neglected in the overall health landscape, but this cannot be the case going forward: the risks are increasing, and the consequences many. Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar highlights one of these huge risks: excessive social media usage and the psychological impacts of this on young minds, pointing out that reduced interpersonal interactions lead to a sense of isolation and the continual pressure to appear ‘happy’ or ‘beautiful’ and the need for validation from peers can all coalesce together in a dangerous mix. A study by NIMHANS, Bengaluru adds weight to this: of 8,542 students from 30 universities in India who were surveyed, 12.3% of the participants reported suicidal ideation in the 12 months before the study period, and 5.2% reported a suicide attempt, reports Afshan Yasmeen, while Athira Elssa Johnson speaks to experts who stress the need for better data to achieve India’s goal of 10% lower suicide mortality by 2030.

In other health-related news this week, remember the mystery case of over 300 people losing their hair in Buldhana district, Maharashtra? R. Prasad reports that the Indian Council of Medical Research found the amount of selenium detected in the blood of affected individuals was about 31 times higher than controls, and the selenium content was also high in wheat samples collected from two ration shops in the locality, meaning the consumption of this wheat could have caused the sudden hair loss. And while we are on the subject of chemicals, Karnataka has banned the use of plastic sheets for steaming idlis; is drafting a drug recall policy to withdraw substandard, spurious medicines from the market and is planning to write to the Centre seeking regulations for tattooing and tattoo studios. A busy week for Karnataka! If you want to know about what tattoos do to the human body, do read Dr. Monisha Madhumita’s explainer on this.

Here’s a round-up of news from outside India: the threat of polio remains real with Pakistan confirming two new poliovirus cases in Sindh, and Punjab; in Uganda, the second Ebola death has raised concern over disease surveillance; and if you thought infectious diseases were an affliction of developing countries, here’s a zinger: the U.S. recorded its first measles death in a decade, and known anti-vaxxer and head of the department of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr, has had to revise his stance on the vaccine. He has called for the deployment of the MMR vaccine, in interviews to U.S. media. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said abrupt disruptions to foreign aid and service delivery threaten the gains achieved in controlling new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths, in tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases: a stark reminder of this is the closure of Hyderabad’s Mitr Clinic, India’s first transgender healthcare centre, following the USAID freeze, reports Siddharth Kumar Singh.

For our tailpiece, here’s this: can African giant pouched rats help solve India’s tuberculosis diagnosis challenges? Intriguing? Read Neelanjana Rai’s piece to find out more.

For when you have time to delve, here’s our list of explainers for the week:

Ramya Kannan, in a fascinating piece, decodes the science and art of ageing and attempts to answer that fundamental question: is it our genes or is it our lifestyle that guarantees longevity?

I write on why India is staring at an obesity challenge; while Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya writes on the hefty cost the country will have to pay for this. Nitika Francis and Kushal Varma J.V. find that data reveals women in South India, Delhi and Punjab have high levels of obesity. 

Dr. C. Aravinda demystifies the complexities involved in disease surveillance in India.

Bindu Shajan Perappadan explains how Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani were included in a WHO traditional medicine module.

Dr. Kalpana Gowrishankar says early diagnosis and affordability of treatment continue to remain hurdles in tackling rare diseases in India.

Somita Pal writes about the rise in the use of medical wearable tech and concurrently, the rise in the burden of non-communicable diseases in the country.

Dr. G. Sengottuvelu offers an overview of emerging technologies in cardiac interventional care.

Shankar Shastry explores current and future trends in protein therapeutics.

Geetha Srimathi speaks to experts on what is lacking in the ‘One Health’ approach in India at present.

R. Sujatha dives into the old yet relevant issue of why there is a shortage of anatomy professors in medical colleges.

Sreedevi Jayachandran busts myths and misconceptions around epilepsy.

This is a stark reminder on the dangers of sepsis to newborns, and an explainer on what sepsis is.

Here’s how you can manage your lifestyle to beat hypertension.

And finally, why India needs a better surveillance programme for encephalitis.

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