‘Stress now impacting badly on ‘ Lankan children’– Sahanaya’ Director
‘Stress now impacting badly on ‘ Lankan children’– Sahanaya’ Director
by Lynn Ockersz
‘Local Year Five schoolchildren are figuring prominently among IT workers, bank officials, accountants, businessman and mercantile executives, as those most vulnerable to stress-induced diseases, such as, high-blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart ailments. These ailments, in turn, make one prone to psychiatric pathology or illnesses of the mind’, Consultant Psychiatrist and Director ‘Sahanaya’, the National Council for Mental Health, Dr. Nirosha Mendis said.
Describing stress as a ‘killer’, he said that more and more Lankans of all ages are coming under ‘huge amounts of stress’ as a result of leading intensely busy and leisure-starved lives. Consequently, ‘the people’s general health is deteriorating rapidly and stress-induced conditions among them are on the rise’, Mendis told this newspaper in an interview. He said that his experience was that people in increasing numbers are seeking medical and psychiatric treatment for relief from these conditions.
Year Five students are no less vulnerable to stress than Ordinary and Advanced Level students and university undergraduates, on account of the worries brought about early in life by the Year Five scholarship examination. However, the anxieties of daily living, stemming mainly from financial and other material difficulties, are taking a heavy toll on the health of the general population and people in increasing numbers are suffering from diseases, such as, cardiac ailments, diabetes and high-blood pressure, it was pointed out.
Stressing the need for the adoption by the people of a balanced life style, which places adequate emphasis on physical exercise and recreational activities, Mendis said that most people had ‘no time, motivation or awareness to exercise’. However, it is crucial to take daily exercises because physical and mental health are symbiotically linked. That is, physical ill-health leads to mental ill-health and vice versa. For example, 50 % of stroke patients suffer from depression. It is also important to take in a balances diet, reducing on the intake of salt, sugar and fat.
Elaborating on stress-related illnesses among young students, the ‘Sahanaya’ Director said that depression among them manifested itself in the form of, for instance, memory lapses, reluctance to attend school and body pains. When these symptoms emerge it is important to seek medical help immediately, rather than postpone the seeking of such assistance. This, Mendis said, is applicable to all psychiatric patients. These ailments, it was stressed, could be cured, if medical help is sought early.
‘Approximately one in four persons would suffer from some form of psychiatric pathology in some point in their lives. It is as common as cancer. We are seeing an increasing number of persons seeking medical help for these illnesses because, partly, people are more aware of these conditions. More people are coming forward for help because they are more aware of these conditions and also because they know there is help. Other demographics are also changing. People are, for instance, living to an older age now and with such advancement in years, brain pathology becomes more common’, Mendis answered in reply to a question whether mental ill-health was currently on the rise.
‘If you take the 65 year group, for example, five percent of such people would have dementia – that is, one progressively loses one’s memory, ability to think clearly, read and write etc. When you go up to the age of 80, that proportion increases to 20 percent. With the advances in medicine, people are living longer and there is a corresponding increase in old age diseases’, he said.
The consumption of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs presents another problem. Persons who consume alcohol heavily daily, suffer from mental health problems. The same is true of smoking and the use cannabis. ‘One way people deal with stress is to start drinking. This may be just a small intake of alcohol daily, but this, over a period of time, could prove toxic’, Mendis pointed out.
‘Since cardiac disease along with diabetes, blood sugar and high- blood pressure, for example, are on the rise in the country, these could predispose the people to psychiatric pathology’, he said, by way of further elaborating on the ‘health of the nation’. For, all such ailments cause brain damage. On the other hand, people who suffer from depression, for instance, could suffer from cardiac disease. The mind and the brain are like the hardware and software of the computer. They interact. This needs to be borne in mind in efforts to manage these health problems, it was pointed out. One problem leads to the other. So, overall health is important.
‘Stress now impacting badly on ‘ Lankan children’– Sahanaya’ Director
by Lynn Ockersz
‘Local Year Five schoolchildren are figuring prominently among IT workers, bank officials, accountants, businessman and mercantile executives, as those most vulnerable to stress-induced diseases, such as, high-blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart ailments. These ailments, in turn, make one prone to psychiatric pathology or illnesses of the mind’, Consultant Psychiatrist and Director ‘Sahanaya’, the National Council for Mental Health, Dr. Nirosha Mendis said.
Describing stress as a ‘killer’, he said that more and more Lankans of all ages are coming under ‘huge amounts of stress’ as a result of leading intensely busy and leisure-starved lives. Consequently, ‘the people’s general health is deteriorating rapidly and stress-induced conditions among them are on the rise’, Mendis told this newspaper in an interview. He said that his experience was that people in increasing numbers are seeking medical and psychiatric treatment for relief from these conditions.
Year Five students are no less vulnerable to stress than Ordinary and Advanced Level students and university undergraduates, on account of the worries brought about early in life by the Year Five scholarship examination. However, the anxieties of daily living, stemming mainly from financial and other material difficulties, are taking a heavy toll on the health of the general population and people in increasing numbers are suffering from diseases, such as, cardiac ailments, diabetes and high-blood pressure, it was pointed out.
Stressing the need for the adoption by the people of a balanced life style, which places adequate emphasis on physical exercise and recreational activities, Mendis said that most people had ‘no time, motivation or awareness to exercise’. However, it is crucial to take daily exercises because physical and mental health are symbiotically linked. That is, physical ill-health leads to mental ill-health and vice versa. For example, 50 % of stroke patients suffer from depression. It is also important to take in a balances diet, reducing on the intake of salt, sugar and fat.
Elaborating on stress-related illnesses among young students, the ‘Sahanaya’ Director said that depression among them manifested itself in the form of, for instance, memory lapses, reluctance to attend school and body pains. When these symptoms emerge it is important to seek medical help immediately, rather than postpone the seeking of such assistance. This, Mendis said, is applicable to all psychiatric patients. These ailments, it was stressed, could be cured, if medical help is sought early.
‘Approximately one in four persons would suffer from some form of psychiatric pathology in some point in their lives. It is as common as cancer. We are seeing an increasing number of persons seeking medical help for these illnesses because, partly, people are more aware of these conditions. More people are coming forward for help because they are more aware of these conditions and also because they know there is help. Other demographics are also changing. People are, for instance, living to an older age now and with such advancement in years, brain pathology becomes more common’, Mendis answered in reply to a question whether mental ill-health was currently on the rise.
‘If you take the 65 year group, for example, five percent of such people would have dementia – that is, one progressively loses one’s memory, ability to think clearly, read and write etc. When you go up to the age of 80, that proportion increases to 20 percent. With the advances in medicine, people are living longer and there is a corresponding increase in old age diseases’, he said.
The consumption of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs presents another problem. Persons who consume alcohol heavily daily, suffer from mental health problems. The same is true of smoking and the use cannabis. ‘One way people deal with stress is to start drinking. This may be just a small intake of alcohol daily, but this, over a period of time, could prove toxic’, Mendis pointed out.
‘Since cardiac disease along with diabetes, blood sugar and high- blood pressure, for example, are on the rise in the country, these could predispose the people to psychiatric pathology’, he said, by way of further elaborating on the ‘health of the nation’. For, all such ailments cause brain damage. On the other hand, people who suffer from depression, for instance, could suffer from cardiac disease. The mind and the brain are like the hardware and software of the computer. They interact. This needs to be borne in mind in efforts to manage these health problems, it was pointed out. One problem leads to the other. So, overall health is important.
