Last week I wrote about the 5 R’s of motivation to deal with alcoholism, this week I’d like to apply them to cigarette smoking. It’s an interesting quirk of history that our part of the world, the West Indies, first became important for producing both rum and tobacco, which are both now conceded to present severe health challenges. As we try to motivate others to quit these two addictive products, we should be aware that the mega corporations that make billions in profits from their sales are spending commensurate sums…
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The 5 R’s of motivation and alcohol abuse
“Alcoholism is a devastating, potentially fatal disease. The primary symptom of having it is telling everyone – including yourself – that you are not an alcoholic.” – Herbert L Gravitz& Julie D Bowden In school, we’re taught that an important aspect of taking a patient’s history is asking about whether they smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. And then we’re expected to quantify the person’s cigarette or alcohol use. How much? How often? When did you first start? And invariably most people try to lowball their usage. It’s only after a…
Read MoreWear Red
“Prevention is better than cure.” – Desiderius Erasmus The first Friday of every February is designated “National Wear Red Day” in the US. Heart disease is actually the number one killer of women in America. Attention has been brought to this since 2003 by wearing red to raise awareness about heart disease. I’m not big on picking up American practices (no Halloween, please!) but I’ll make an exception on this one. There are so many decisions we can all make (not just women) about our lifestyle to reduce our risk…
Read MoreHappy New Year
“Of all sound of all bells… most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.” – Charles Lamb On Friday, we officially kicked off the New Year with music and good food, family and friends. Interestingly, though the “New Year” was celebrated more than 4000 years ago, in Western cultures it was only celebrated from about 400 hundred years ago. For instance, in India, New Year is celebrated in the Hindu month of Chaithra (Mid April) and it’s been observed for more than 5100 years –…
Read MoreGrowing pains
By Anu Dev When my own CSEC results came out in 2011, I’d been vacationing with my family in Suriname. I learnt about it, in what is now the old fashioned way — via the newspapers. This year, the Education Minister broke new ground – she personally streamed the results of the top 52 performers who’d secured 11 or more passes with Grade Ones. My family were avid viewers over in New York, where we were vacationing: my brother Abhimanyu had written 17 subjects at the age of 14 and…
Read MoreBe a Leader
By Anu Dev Last Sunday we celebrated Republic Day – the day we recognise that we govern ourselves, we’re not under the rule of a monarch and I’ve been thinking about leaders and leadership. What Shakespeare said about “greatness”, can be paraphrased for leaders: “Some are born leaders, some achieve leadership and some have leadership thrust upon them.” I’ve encountered a fair number of leaders from all three backgrounds, over the years and this year at Med School I’ve met even more. We have weekly PBL (Problem-Based Learning) sessions where…
Read MoreRepublic Day!
A return to first principles in a Republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example. – Niccolo Machiavelli By Anu Dev Well, Republic Day is on Sunday and it really is an important day. I certainly wasn’t around way back in 1970, to know personally what it must have been like to live in a country still under…
Read MoreEating healthy
By Anu Dev The first Friday of every February is designated “National Wear Red Day” in the U.S. Heart disease is actually the number one killer of women in America. Attention has been brought to this since 2003 by wearing red to raise awareness about heart disease. There are so many decisions we can all make (not just women) about our lifestyle to reduce our risk of developing heart disease. Things like checking your cholesterol levels regularly and getting in a bit of exercise can go a long way in…
Read MoreMovies and nostalgia
By Anu Dev We all have heroes and heroines from movies we saw as children. Some of these movies we can re-watch and they take us back, even just for two hours, to that time when things were so much simpler. Much of the appeal of those movies comes from the nostalgia accompanying our memories of when we first saw them, and what things were liked back then. Movies and songs can be really powerful in the way they evoke certain emotions within us. For me, “The Little Mermaid” and…
Read More“KNOWING” & “DOING”
By Anu Dev “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do” – Leonardo da Vinci Just before returning to Trinidad a little over a week ago, I caught a bug. It felt like the flu: you know – fever, cough, headache, aching muscles and tiredness. So I downed the usual over-the-counter medications and hunkered down to see it through. Lots of liquid and all that. Most of the students hadn’t arrived from the other…
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