Health Wealth

What is the difference between conversation and communication? How do you take risks by trusting your intuition? Is 'I am sorry, please forgive me' the best way to express remorse? If you thought therapy was purely for those who are 'mentally sick', 'too sensitive' or 'need to vent', ask yourself this--are those who go to a gym only there because they have arthritis, heart disease or diabetes? Mos...

Headaches are universal, and instantly relatable. They seem trivial and temporary but if left unaddressed, repeated headaches could worsen over time. But how do you prevent them when the causes are so arbitrary? Anything from food to light to sound (who on earth would think winter to be a trigger?) could be the culprit. With patient history being the only source of data, treating headaches are tri...

We all know exercise is good for you, meditation brings inner peace, and good health is fragile. So why doesn't this knowledge automatically translate into results? Simply resolving to be healthy or doing what everyone else around you is doing for their health isn't always enough. How then do we map our path to great health and make it a permanent part of life? In this episode, Saurabh Bothra, co-...

Medical research, drugs, vaccines – everything in healthcare is changing at a rapid pace. And so are our hospitals. We have robotic surgeries, transplants we never thought possible, new cancer treatments, artificial intelligence, precision diagnostics, new preventive care medicine– a lot is happening inside one of healthcare's fastest growing sectors. In this episode Dr Santosh Shetty, executive d...

What does 2024 have in store for our health? Will a machine be taking our vitals and writing out our prescriptions soon? And why on earth doesn't my weight reduce despite annual resolutions for a healthier me? Dr Randeep Guleria needs little introduction. He understands Indian healthcare not just as a former director of AIIMS, and current chairman of internal, respiratory and sleep medicine at Med...

What happens when things don’t go the way you want them to? Your date ghosts you. Your weight isn’t reducing. Your promotion doesn’t come through. The newspapers are filled with war and crime. Your children don’t talk to you. You can’t find original sriracha in any supermarket because of a global shortage. Do these experiences bring stress, worry, fear, unhappiness to your mind? Even though we all...

We all know tobacco is unhealthy. We've read the warnings, seen the images, heard the research on how the leaves damage your body. Yet, most people who pick up a cigarette, vastly underestimate the addictive powers of tobacco. The Global Tobacco Survey in India shows that over half of those who smoke want to quit but cannot. Others, decide there might be healthier, less addictive, ways to bea...

Do you ever just get overwhelmed by the number of statistics printed in daily news and aren’t sure what to believe any longer? Have you ever wanted to be absolutely sure about the side effects of a medicine you are taking or the health impact of your favourite instant ramen? If these are thoughts you have then it is important you too discover the fundamentals of medical research and how to researc...

Chances of conception at a later age are increasingly reducing due to lifestyle choices and environmental toxins which impact the fertility of both men and women. But what if you aren't ready or simply aren't sure if you'd like to experience parenthood in your twenties or early thirties? Can health science freeze our biological clock so that even if we aren't ready to have children today,...

Imagine spending half your life avoiding pizza and cookies believing you are allergic to chocolate and wheat. And then one day you get to hear the trigger for your allergy was something else entirely. For many, this has been the regrettable reality. For years, the worst part about having an allergy was not being entirely sure what triggers it. Am I allergic to pollen, milk, animal fur, pollut...

This week we focus on a virus which 90% of us have in our bodies--the varicella zoster virus. It most popularly causes the disease chicken pox. But once that subsides, the virus continues to live dormant under nerves in our body. It can later resurface as the disease Shingles or Herpes Zoster. About 1 in 4 people develop Shingles. These are usually those who are above 60 or immunocompromised. The...

Isn't it beautiful to see people who can defy the limitations of age? Dancing, trekking, learning and spreading joy till the end of their life. But their family members might not feel the same way--would you let your 70-year-old mother go sky diving? It is natural to worry and feel protective of parents and grandparents. With the rise of nuclear families and huge swathes of distances between...

Taash party with a mask on, winter picnic with a portable air purifier, Christmas with an anti-pollution tree --- how far should you go to make sure you breathe clean air? Even though we largely know the ill-effects of particle matter and toxic gases, it still takes doctors time to convince people to mask. Many respond with--""I don't want to obsess about pollution"". In this episode, we find...

How far would you go to save the life of a loved one? All caregivers have a tremendous responsibility towards the wellbeing of a patient. But in some rare cases, caregivers have to battle against immense odds to find hope and treatment. India has around 450 rare diseases. Data shows that 50% of these diseases happen in children below the age of one and many don't survive. Today is World H...

For most of us, malnutrition is like that really expensive dress you no longer fit into. Sitting at the back of your closet, every so often, you catch a glimpse of it and feel horribly guilty. But then you quickly put it out of your mind and carry on. What can you do about it after all? Except, in the case of poor nutrition, we have a lot more to lose today than just a couple of thousand bucks. Da...

In this episode, we are going to talk about a disease that one can’t help but fear. Cancer. But cancer, for those who can afford the latest treatments, is no longer as hopeless a disease as it would have been a decade or two ago. The pace of cancer research is astounding and is offering cures for cancers one would never have thought to be possible. In this episode, we discuss an emerging treatment...

What happens when we see someone who flaps his hands instead of smiling? What would you think if your new colleague refuses to speak to you? Any behaviour we aren't used to can often seem weird, difficult to understand, even threatening. Those who suffer from Autism, a neurological developmental disorder, often have no choice but to force themselves to adopt typical behaviour, even if it feels str...

Does this ever happen to you? As soon as the temperature starts to drop, visions of ghee oozing out of halwa, undhiyu tumbling out of a pot and chai cheerfully bubbling away start floating around in your head. Then suddenly, an unwelcome voice comes out of nowhere and says, "Is any of this healthy?" Discover the best of what winter has to offer for your wellbeing and do away with myths about fruit...

Every 1 in 5 deaths due to a heart attack in the world happens in India. Research has also shown that Indians have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than Europeans and Americans.  And so it seems almost fantastical that in a country where heart attacks are anything but uncommon a woman experiencing palpitations be met with the reply--"you're being too sensitive". But that is indeed...

The truth behind sexual and reproductive health often remains hidden behind the gates of shame, fear and ignorance. In this episode, we are going to address all that is 'down there' through the lens of science. Facts will help us understand the basic biology of orgasms, and undo popular myths surrounding masturbation, porn addiction and self-care.  To orgasm or not to orgasm? Whatev...

How many times have you felt for a person purely on the basis of the expression in their eyes? Our eyes don't just allow us to see the world. They give depth to social interactions as well. Either that or we spend hours perfecting the gradient of shadow on our lids for no reason !  Eye-ronically though, even though we know its worth, we rarely invest in pre-emptive eye wellbeing. Studies esti...

Here's a frightening thought--- imagine going bankrupt buying medicine and treatment to save your life. But that is exactly what 55 million Indians experience every year (according to data by the World Health Organization). Ironically, this happens in a country which is a leader in manufacturing generic drugs (medicine that is 30 to 80% cheaper than its branded or patented counterparts)....

Siblings can be your protector. They can also help you sneak out at night, get first dibs on all your new gifts, advice you endlessly and take on a great many more roles. But have you ever considered them to also be your early warning system for health risks? In this biology masterclass we learn about the very basics of human DNA, genetic inheritance and mutations that cause diseases. Emotional su...

Let's be honest. We know Vitamin D is important. But who has the time for sun exposure or regular monitoring? Now try re-framing the thought. Vitamin D is important. I don't have the time for sun exposure or to monitor it. What can I do? This change of perspective is needed. It is easy to leave self-care under the incredibly relatable excuse of 'who has the time?'. And easier still to forget the p...

Life is meant to slow down after 60. Isn't it? When you fall very sick you become dependent and overwhelmed. Don't you? Meet Dilshad Master, a cancer survivor, who after battling a painful disease decided to quit her job in television and reinvent herself (and how!). Instead of boardroom politics, she now faces grade 5 rapids, tricky glaciers and torturous mountain trails. But where did she get th...