Need for more Psychiatrists, Winter & Immune System, 2020 YouTube Trends, 2020 Employer & Employee
Welcome to Sridhar’s newsletter number # 24. Appreciate you being here, so we can connect weekly on interesting topics. Add your email id here to get this directly to your inbox (https://sridhargarikipati.substack.com).
This weekly newsletter is mostly about the article, books, videos etc. I read or watch or my views on different topics which revolves around my head during the week. Now, let us dive into this week’s reads.
1. Mental health workers and individuals seeking treatment
This week I attended one Zoom session on Mental Health done for Indian audiences. We talked only once about mental health in this newsletter ( Click Here ), but it is a topic which I follow in my weekly readings for sure. So, when this webinar came up, I quickly added to my Calendar to join in as this is done by an Indian psychologist and audience are Indians. We all know that in India mental health is not taken seriously, but since last few years we have seen a change for sure and my curiosity to join was to hear more from Audience Q & A session as this time of year where almost any part of the world you are in, we are at least 8 or 9 months into Covid-19. One thing came out from session is very clear that anxiety, depression, and mood disorders are given a thought and people are talking openly about their situations and asking for help. As when I heard in that webinar, one person said as he has lost job, he has been spending time alone in a city and crying often and there was another person who mentioned in ask, clearly for a serious help. I Urge everyone who needs some help, do reach out. Talk to your parents, siblings, friends, please share to at least one person instead of keeping to yourself.
Almost 250+ joined that one-hour call, it made me search for such a big population of India, how many psychiatrists or other physicians can check mental health problems are available. It is really shocking that India has 0.75 Psychiatrists per 100,000 populations, while the desirable number is anything above 3 Psychiatrists per 100,000.
I would say Government health ministry aside, People should know this number and understand the must need for our country to have desirable number of doctors available. Forgot anyone else coming up and resolving this problem for us. Any family who is planning for their kids’ education, they must look beyond Engineering and MBBS, we should plan our generation of kids to consider bachelors and masters in this area which not just our country needs some help, it will be need for every human on this earth. This Pandemic has proven us very clearly, how much impact it can do. future generation should be better preparing for this.
Florent Groberg said the best words on mental health, “Demons in our head are toughest of enemies“
Numbers study was from below article,
2. Winter is Here, This year strength up your Immune System more
This year it is very important that we all revisit our health basics and know more to improve our immune system than ever. A healthy lifestyle is must in defense of Immune system and many basic things which every adult knows, but misses badly, like Unhealthy eating habits, sleep deprivation, not even walking mere 5k steps forgot about 10K steps per day.
Treat this #2 of our newsletter to remind every reader this week to get back to basics.
On Food, I must share one of my own newsletter which not sure because of the title I named it got the clicks on post or podcast got downloaded many times.
Hey Baby, Take Care, Links below for the post and podcast.
Few basics for major vitamins and foods, Source Google baba :-) and my earlier research. I did this search some 3 years ago and I made a details of food which we eat normally and added them to my Notes app. So, every time I go for my Grocery shopping, I Make sure that I am picking from my saved list every time without a miss. The list has been very helpful for me. I recommend you as well to prepare one such list on your phone, which you access every time you visit for grocery shopping. So, you have a routine of picking healthy foods.
Vitamin C: Citrus fruits, tomatoes and tomato juice, and potatoes are major contributors of vitamin C to the American diet. Other good food sources include red and green peppers, kiwifruit, broccoli, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, and cantaloupe.
Vitamin E: found in plant-based oils, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. Wheat germ oil, Almonds, Peanuts, peanut butter, Beet greens, collard greens, spinach, Pumpkin, Red bell pepper.
Vitamin A: liver, fish, and fortified cereals; the top sources of provitamin A include carrots, broccoli, cantaloupe, and squash.
Vitamin D: The Star, Vitamin D is the only nutrient your body produces when exposed to sunlight. many of us do not get enough and list is very small out there for this guy. Salmon, Cod liver oil, Egg Yolks, Mushrooms, and fortified foods where Vitamin D is added like Cow’s milk, Soy Milk, Pea Milk, Orange Juice, Oatmeal etc.
Sleep - It shows on your body, so you know it better than anyone else. so, sleep well. I do recommend Why we Sleep book, give it a try if your library has it or try trial version for free of Audible, it will give you in depth information on this topic and why this generation really needs sleep and its awareness.
Engaging Exercise
Exercise is our best investment towards mental and physical health. Let me explain why I am saying engaging exercise not just exercise here. Say if you are just walking on treadmill or regular pathway known to your senses fully, than it will leave open space for mind to overthink about other than exercise while exercising itself. So, choose your exercise to make sure you are engaged in it while doing it. May be do a High Intensity run with 2 minutes interval break, take a different route for a walk or hike uphill which is new to you, Being engaged in it will allow your mind to relax and focus on exercising.
Stressed? not on you, it is Covid-19. This post and podcast of mine talks about Stress which is must read if you are new reader here.
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/59875/private/8e93f3cb-e06a-4936-accd-e180f1107552.rss
#2 of this week as I said is basics, so not much new from me here, But I am sharing one of the article which is a good read on this topic which my wife shared with me this week and reminded me to share my notes in this weeks post.
3. 2020 YouTube Trends is out
End of the year, Google Search and YouTube trends for sure brings up great insights into future. This is one report which I look out or I just look at these weekly trends as well for my newsletter, so I do not live up in my small world and peek out what is happening in the world. Coming back to YouTube trends for year end, it brought many insights. Normally this talks about entertainment, music, business, politics etc. in prior years, but this year as many of us are at home due Pandemic the search results are way different then prior years and giving great insights. Few highlights from it,
This year, they have seen rise of new youtubers in form of older adults, virtual creators, and Indigenous language rappers. Specially baby boomer generation coming out as Youtuber creators and as a viewers in the world. As this generation getting into retirement or few already retired are going to bring big transformational change with online presence. In the recent findings it was found that lot of products and services are being boomed up to serve this generation and in 2021 it is seen as big business opportunity.
Online Streaming, yes these were on rise all this year. Many of YouTube Creators have used the platform to connect with their fans and few have run more than 3 hours of streaming as well. Zoom video meetings have also played major role for such creators. Will this trend going to change the Live Concerts or shows? Many creators who have Visa restrictions to perform in other countries, now have seen boom with Technology and got ways to generate revenue sitting at their home studios or some performing with laptop and headset just.
Online learning videos were clicked this year. Any videos which are like beginner like tutorials, how to start a garden, Learning new technical skills etc. At one end Udemy has also seen great hikes in tutors and students, but the sale part got in very basic tutorials as well with price tag there which is a turn off. YouTube has picked this cream very well, as every basic tutorials or in some cases even advanced tutorials are published here. If you have game on for video learning, then your options are abundant here, you really must spend great time to get the right person video to kick start learning.
Dig Deep here, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/2020-youtube-trends/
4. 2020 Year for Employer and Employee
I read one of recent survey which said,
while 80% of executives think they are supporting the physical and emotional health of their workforce, only 46% of employees actually agree.
Year 2020 was for sure different for all of us. As we worked remote from our homes the jobs which allowed has blurred the lines between home and work more. Work-Life balance really need a new definition for what everyone of us has gone in last 8-9 months. End of June 2020 CDC did an article on Mental Health ( Link Here ), one of the results from there is “All Work No Play culture “ . Employees have put more and more hours into work, Stress levels are so high that its impacting many of people mental health and some are not even aware of impact as go in this high tide. Just look at your work group, People have not taken vacation in last 8 months, nor taken few days off. I have known people who are doing this either with too much of work on their plate, Yes, I have a friend who mentioned that their team is adding more work to their week, starting their calls early as 8 AM EST as no travelling involved or lot of meetings scheduled for 4.30 PM EST which bleeds beyond the 5PM EST official work schedule. Or Few are working more due to Job security concerns or isolation at home allowing them to do this. Whatever the reason is, one’s mental health is at stake here.
Other hand, Employers have shown greater importance this year for workplace safety, yes, it is for benefit of workers only so it can be safe for them to come to work, but I would say way less is done for Employee wellness. Few organizations are stepping up and giving online sessions and access to medical professionals, Yoga etc. or few extending the remote work till May 2021 and thereafter planning to give options to remote work 3 days in a week and rest 2 days to be at onsite. Or they are few who only focused on enabling their workforce to enable business is going as usual, but no one talk to their employee wellbeing, as for them its business as usual.
There is no surprise why Employers are saying they are doing more, but Employees are hardly agreeing 50%. We will talk more about this in podcast episode of this post.
That is all for this week. See you again.
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