Health Wealth

Skin can bring us pain and pleasure, belonging and persecution. A pimple is embarrassing for a young teen but a love bite is terribly exciting. Skin keeps us cool and protects our blood, but it is also home to various fungi and bacteria. We paint, pierce, and associate so many emotions with this one organ. But looking after skin has gone from becoming a simple soap-water operation to a complex maz...

How much damage can one cancelled entrance examination do to a student's well-being? And if we have ensured that our children attend schools with personalised education, interactive academic tools, and bottom-up teaching approaches, will the damage be any less? India has one of the highest student suicide and depression rates in the world. The solution to reducing it lies not just in the education...

Do you ever feel doubtful as to whether you needed to do all those scans and blood reports (or worse, a double-balloon colonoscopy) just to find out that there is nothing wrong with you? Are you one of those people who has already googled ‘side effects’ of the medicines on your prescription even before you’ve left the hospital? While there is no large-scale study available to measure public faith...

It is difficult to imagine a world where a prick from a rose bush or a cut from the pages of a beloved book could result in eventual death. Those above the age of 96 might still be able to do so, having been born before the discovery of penicillin, the world’s first antibiotic to treat bacterial infections. At the time, it seemed humans had won against these microscopic pathogens that could surviv...

Wouldn’t it be lovely if our bodies could evolve to a state where lying on the couch, watching House of Dragons, and eating peanut butter bonbons would be all the energy expenditure needed to stay healthy? But till evolution finally catches up with our 2024 lifestyle, our bodies remain designed for at least 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise. Unfortunately, most of us cannot meet the bare m...

Growing up with a sexual or gender identity that is different from the world around you is an experience that is hard to put into words. From a very young age, many in the queer community face intense bullying, restrictions, confusion and rejection. The fear of being forced to attend barbaric pseudoscientific conversion therapies like electrotherapy or forced sex by one's own birth family is...

Water is essential for our health. But doctors say air conditioning and round-the-clock intake of liquids other than water (coffee, tea, monster shakes, soda) have reduced our instinct for thirst. So even though our bodies might need more water in the summer months, we often fail to realise it. In this episode, health influencer and nutritionist Nupuur Patil helps us understand the importance of h...

Have you ever wondered how a medicine is tested before it reaches your pill box? And are the words 'phase 2 trials' enough to inspire blind confidence in modern-day vaccines? In this episode, we discover the importance and purpose of clinical research and trials with Dr Sanish Davis, president of the Indian Society for Clinical Research. Having worked on both sides of the fence--in academics and t...

Hunger is one of the most difficult urges to ignore. It is the biological equivalent of an Instagram stalker, always lurking in the background of our lives. But lifestyle changes and overly processed food have morphed modern-day hunger into a complicated maze of cravings and binges, driving us to eat much more than we need to. In this episode, Dr Jasjeet Wasir, director of endocrinology and diabet...

There is no stopping fake news. And given recent advances in artificial intelligence software, spotting fake news is also becoming increasingly difficult. Last month, a deep fake video of noted cardiologist Dr Naresh Trehan advised viewers to take a particular medicine and was viewed by thousands. The consequences of believing fake news on health are far greater than falling for morphed images of...

Does it ever feel like everything--from sunlight to bacon--is out to increase your chances of getting cancer? In light of the recent allegations that even the most popular brand of sambar masala contains a carcinogenic ingredient, this episode is a guide on how to realistically adopt a cancer-free life. As a senior medical oncologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi, Dr Manish Singhal is n...

Is a natural birth better than a C-section? Does ghee help pregnant mothers? And what happens if someone doesn't breastfeed? Maternal health is a complex and wide-ranging network of physical, emotional and social parameters, many of which are overlooked or misunderstood. In this episode, we hear straight from the gynaecologist's office about the actual health issues that Indian mothers face. Dr Pr...

Emotional illness is not limited to the female gender. Indeed, the latest NCRB data points out that nearly thrice the number of men commit suicides as compared to women. In this episode, Dr Srikanth Srinivasan, psychiatrist and the Chief Medical Director of Niyama Digital Healthcare, helps us navigate the complex and much-misunderstood world of male mental health. Discover the physiological realit...

Strokes are the third most common cause of death and the sixth common cause of disability in India. What is even more alarming is an increase in young, healthy individuals getting sudden strokes. Even though strokes are preventable and, to some extent, treatable, experts say a deadly combination of misinformation and apathy keeps patients from taking symptoms seriously. In this episode, Dr Arun Ga...

This is the age of confused feelings and perceptions over how are bodies look and are meant to look. This is also the age when Rs 40,000 can fetch you a new nose. Affordable plastic surgery has become a surgeon's worst nightmare today. How do they pick between perfection and reality; profit and morality? What do they say to a teen who fantasises about lips just like Suhana Khan? For Dr Amit Gupta,...

Snacking should be a comfort, as smooth as silken tofu. Unfortunately, to be a conscious-snack-shopper today you have to look at a packet label, decipher terms like E992 or high fructose corn syrup, and then pray to the diet gods you haven't still somehow missed out on hidden sugars, fats and unhealthy starches. This episode is the ultimate guide to simple, practical healthy snacking. Priyasha Sal...

When did sleep become a luxury? Studies show that Indians, particularly Indian children, get some of the least and poorest quality sleep in the world. The reasons for this include increased screen time, erratic sleep timings, stress, disturbed gut health and poor awareness on how to fall asleep. In this episode, pediatric sleep expert and author Himani Dalmia, explains how sleep impacts growth and...

The Tuberculosis bacteria doesn't care if you are rich or poor. Living in ignorance or in denial of the fact that TB is no longer  a poor person's disease can only delay diagnosis and life-saving timely treatment. Even though India has committed to eliminating tuberculosis by next year, we still have one of the highest burdens of the disease in the world. In this episode, public health specia...

Some children draw pictures of mountains with gushing streams and colourful rainbows. Some, draw their families and friends. Some will outline activities which bring them joy in crayon—cricket, cooking, candy crush. And then some, will pick up a blank sheet and pencil to create an image of an armed soldier. What determines how a young child internalises the world around them? And in a world increa...

We often believe healthy food to be boring, we think cooking at home is time consuming, we pay high prices for food that doesn’t taste great and then sit with the guilt of added weight, we read all this internet news on what to eat, what not to eat and that just adds to the growing gap between us and what is on our plate. But it does not have to be this way at all. In this episode, Michelin star c...

Fibromyalgia, a condition where patients experience intense physical pain, fatigue, even memory loss, is hardly talked about. But reports estimate nearly 10 million Indians suffer from it, a huge majority being women. The biggest risk factor for this disease to manifest is emotional stress. Most patients who have this condition are undiagnosed due to poor awareness that bodily pain can indeed exis...

According to the ICMR National Cancer Registry Programme, around 1 in 9 Indians are expected to face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. In women, breast tumors are the leading cause of cancer and we had about 192,000 new breast cancer cases in 2022. In this episode we discover new insights on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer from noted medical oncologist Dr Neil Iyengar at t...

In 2021, India lost 153,000 lives to around 413,000 road crashes. If you break this down, it would mean we had 1113 road crashes and 420 deaths every day, which is about 47 crashes and 18 deaths every hour. In 2022, the number went up, not down. Even though steps are being taken to reduce accidents themselves, emergency care remains an erratic, and some times entirely unavailable, resource to vict...

Have you ever just wanted to vent? To let lose all your raw unfiltered emotional truths? Therapists are a great option but what if you don't have the time to make appointments or the money to foot the bill? In this candid conversation with Jaya Sengupta, journalist and non-violent communication practitioner, we learn all about the role of an empathy buddy; a stranger who can help you feel seen, he...

Why do you need to prevent diabetes with so many excellent drugs in the market? What's the worst that uncontrolled blood sugar could do to you? And what on earth is insulin? Learn about the fundamentals of blood sugar control and what poor management can do to your health from Dr Ritesh Gupta, director at Fortis CDOC Hospital for Diabetes and Endocrinology. Most importantly disco...