Should it be a feast of glory or a mist full story: thought a lot before placing the fingers over my keyboard. World have witnessed the efficiency of conquerors against ill health since century but the expectations from these qualified volunteers of society are escalating exponentially day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute rather second by second. Very commonly we ask our students across the table to define health. They chant very nicely: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity that leads to a socially and economically productive life. Where is this Mental well being or where is this social well being? Many words will come into the best minds of the world. The word cloud will centre round depression spoking into violence in workplace, defamation, examinations, webinars, patients, diagnosis, family, students, job responsibility, EMI, savings, form 16, ITR, NMC, publication, promotion and now onwards the new addition is NEXT. Oh I forgot. Happy Doctors Day. What next??
From the last decades record it is quite evident that putting a stethoscope at your neck makes the nape prone to any amount of strangulation sometimes attributed by your system, sometimes by lack of proper communication, sometimes by failure to meet expectations from a GOD like imagery and sometimes even coincidentally. Depression is quite prevalent across all age groups these days but among medical professional it has become an alarming issue since last few years. Many literature are available to support the increasing toll taken by self harm on medical professionals as well as medical undergraduates. Depression in mind and deprivation of sleep are the two sides of the same coin. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), defines Insomnia as dissatisfaction with sleep quantity or quality, associated with the symptoms of difficulty in initiating sleep, maintaining sleep and early morning awakening with inability to return to sleep. Among university students, medical students have a higher prevalence rate of insomnia. A study was conducted in India to find the prevalence of insomnia among law and medical students. It was found that among medical students the prevalence of insomnia was much higher than the law students. [1] In a study conducted on medical students in Bangalore the prevalence of insomnia was found to be 39.4%. [2] In another study conducted among medical students in Delhi it was found to be 30.3%. [3]
This world is full of risk factors and we are the healers and dealers here. There are ways to remain far aloof from all of these but that won’t serve the purpose keeping which in mind one makes a dream of becoming a server of the mankind. There is darkness, there is light. We have to pave onto these and create our own way keeping the obstacles aside. Amid this mist of cons there are pros of glory in the market, trains, buses, in your neighborhood when they say: “Hello doc, good morning. Happy Doctors Day.”
References:
- Palatty PL, Fernandes E, Suresh S, Baliga MS. Comparison of sleep pattern between medical and law students. Sleep Hypn 2011;13:1–2
- Jose R, Gore CA, Plathottam JJ, Priyanka MS, Nikitha HK. Depression and Insomnia among Medical Students in Bengaluru, India. Int J Prevent Public Health Sci. 2016; 2(1):22-24.
- Sachdeva S, Talwar R, Verma P, Kapoor R, Sachdeva S. Prevalence of anxiety and insomnia among the medical students: A cross sectional study at a tertiary care hospital. Int J Basic Appl Med Sci 2015;5:45-50.
