A wake-up Call
Just last month a friend of mine collapsed at the end of a daily three-mile run! He was almost gone in a minute! But thanks to the prompt delivery of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by our other friend which sustained him till the arrival of the EMS team. A life was saved.
Apparently, my friend had suffered a cardiac arrest due to clogged coronaries. He had been advised to follow up with a cardiologist, but the advice had not been judiciously followed. Sometimes we overrule timely advice or suggestion because it either offends our ego, or we may be simply lazy and defiant by nature, or we may be too slow to respond. Whatever the reason for ignoring the prophetic words, such scenarios invariably end up in a grim outcome.
You Can Prevent
With the advent of advances in Health Care and a more proactive approach to preventative care, people often go regularly for annual medical check-ups and promptly receive notification of the results on their hand-held devices. The primary doctor will draw your attention to any metrics that are flagged and will suggest some lifestyle changes. Either your Hba1c is high, trending to pre-diabetic levels, or one’s bad cholesterol (LDL) is elevated and needs to focus on lowering it through diet change. I am sure today’s patients are well informed and take health seriously. However, some patients do not take their numbers seriously and subsequent check-ups show the numbers to be a few notches up. Taking the casual stance towards these reports has landed many patients in trouble. and initiates their journey to developing diabetes and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease among others.
Ego Can Let Us Down
From the space news, narratives are available on what caused the space Shuttle Challenger to blow up in 73 seconds after liftoff. Sadly, all the seven astronauts including teacher Christa McAuliffe perished on that fateful day of January 28, 1986. Apparently, the O-rings on the rocket would get harder and break in cold weather, facilitating leakage of fuel gases, leading to explosion! Unfortunately, the weather was colder that morning with a drop to below 53F and thus sealing could not be achieved. The engineers had warned but postponement of launch was overlooked and the expected happened.
Social Media Crisis
There are volumes of analysis and reporting on the harmful impacts of social media on kids and some even equate it to ‘National Crisis’ of Generation Z (born between 1997-2012). If you look around kids and (for that matter adults too) all remain glued to their devices most of the time. This allows limited face to face interaction with friends and one other. Studies show that these sites promote despair, high anxiety, depression with soaring rates of suicide! A village in India’s Maharashtra state has imposed a ‘digital detox’ on a daily basis when at 7pm a siren rings to warn residents to switch off their cell phones and TVs till 8.30 p.m. I wish some of us can ape this village approach in our own lives and homes and take heed from what the gurus are telling us!
This article is to encourage you to be proactive in taking timely action. If you seek advice from someone, just make sure they have the experience and have your interest at heart and understand you and your circumstances well.
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