Health - 20s is the new 40s
Hypertension, severe mental anxiety,
acidity problems and insomnia medical experts are ringing the alarm bells as
youngsters in their 20s are being diagnosed with ailments that once affected
people well into their 40s
Are you a twenty-something? Are you
a parent of a twenty-some thing? As a parent, are you spending all your time
thinking too far into the future of your child's career and success? As a
youngster, are you too engrossed fidgeting with your phone and residing in the
virtual world, thinking your real life problems also have answers at the
`touch' of a button?
Alas, the answer is NO.
Alas, the answer is NO.
Take the recent case of Sarvshreshth
Gupta, 22, a research analyst with Goldman Sachs, who, unable to deal with
extreme pressure, with no time for himself, allegedly jumped to his death from
a highrise. In a heartbreaking letter, his father Sunil Gupta wrote about the
inability to see how grave his son's problem was when he used to say “it's very
hard to cope“. The desire (or pressure) to achieve too much, in too little time
has far-reaching consequences.
The world over, doctors, psychologists,
therapists, parents, are warning about serious health issues affecting the
young and the restless. These are ailments that 40-year-olds and above had a
few years ago. But these days, a doctor's waiting room is filled with people in
the 20s and they are getting younger! This generation is having heart strokes,
is high on antacids and anti-depressants, suffers from insomnia, hypertension
(HT) and is in very, very poor health.
ALARM BELLS RINGING
Such is the rate of alarm the world
over that medical professionals have started reaching out to youngsters on
Facebook and Twitter -platforms that don't escape their eyes -to launch
de-addiction and rehabilitation plans.
Dr Anjali Hooda Sangwan, consultant
for obesity, metabolic medicine and clinical nutrition cites an example from
what has become routine for her these days. “A 22-year-old guy came to see me
the other day. His issue was weight gain. Further diagnosis disclosed
hypertension, high BMI, acidity and sleep apnea. He was just one of the many 20-year-olds
I see every day with lifestyle maladies.“
We keep hearing how `40s is the new
30s' and `60s is the new 40s'; but healthwise, it doesn't look all that peachy.
Says Dr Prerna Kohli, child psychologist, “Sadly, today's 20year-olds live for
instant gratification. They want perfect lives, abundant money and brilliant
relationships. Virtual reality is the real reality for them. And when this
fails, they sink into a vicious web of frus tration, anxiety and mental and
physical breakdown.“
ANXIOUS MINDS
Research says that sleep dis
turbance -caused mainly due to excessive media use at night -is also an
important risk factor for the devel opment of depression during adolescence and
adulthood.
It is a familiar sight to see a
group of youngsters bent over phones, posting pic tures and commenting, and
waiting for their friends to `like' their work. “Even on a day when I'm not
working, I check my phone at least 3-4 times in 15-minutes for updates. I am
dependent on social media and can't spend 10 minutes alone in a room. The
thought of be ing alone gives me anxiety and sweaty palms!“ says Surbhi Sen,
22, a social media manager. Deepak Kashyap, a counselling psy chologist, says,
“There are a higher number of reported cas es of mood disorders and
psychological distress amongst youngsters. The reason for this is a processed
diet and the lack of physical activity and mental pressure arising out of
extreme expectations and living out of a cellphone.“
FATAL MISTAKES
The physical and mental ailments,
according to experts, arises out of the fact that youngsters these days think
they have had a privi leged upbringing, and hence, they should achieve far
more, in far lesser time than their earlier generation. They are taking loans,
buying cars and other gadgets, leading jetsetting lives. They are also joining
the workforce as early as 18, going for multiple relationships without having
the patience to give enough time to their own feelings. On top of that, they
have very poor coping skills.Add that confusion to bad eating habits, late
night partying or pressure at work and you have a recipe for a huge health
disaster.
For instance, acid reflux in
20-year-olds is high! “There is an increase in youngsters who have just joined
the workforce, coming for gastrointestinal problems. The commonest of which are
acidity and frequent stomach infection,“ informs Manjari Chandra, therapeutic
nutritionist. High aspirations, peer pressure, spending more than earnings, no
time for exercise, partying through the week ... all this puts the body in a
metabolic warfare and further leads to bigger issues like inflated BP levels.
“Young adults in the age bracket of
20-30 years are also reporting in large numbers to hospitals with HT. It's
scary because tradi tionally, HT or increased blood pressure is more of a
degenerative disease and hap pens to older adults as their arteries loose
elasticity. But these days, it's a result of a sedentary lifestyle, lack of
exercise. Primar ily, HT goes unchecked in the 20-25 age bracket, and it can be
fatal,“ adds Chandra.
OVER-ACHIEVERS
The 20s has always been a crucial
age.It's the age where one leaves childhood and teenhood behind and starts to
figure out the big picture. It's a transitional phase, where one comes out of
the cocoon of parents' home and set peer groups to learn to deal with the real
world. “There's too much pressure on young minds and bodies. Emotionally, they
are not able to face reality or deal with obstacles. They are on polar ends
-with nothing in between,“ says Bandana Jhanwar, psychotherapist. On the one
hand, they are always anxious, looking for social approval and trying to prove
self worth, on the other, they are overworking, overexercising, overpartying in
order to live an idolised, virtual life. The problem is that both are in equal
danger. “Today's kids should understand that the quality of life comes from how
well you deal with the negatives. Plan your life out in small plates,“ sums up
Dr Kohli.
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supriya sharma
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TL28jun15
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