Hello and welcome to another edition of the Lounge Wellness roundup! Every Saturday, we bring you our pick of the wellness stories we have published over the past week, lest you’ve missed any of them.
This week is all about the mind--its power, fragility and the immense impact it has on your health choices and feelings of well-being. From exploring the benefits of dance therapy to helping your break your obsession with the weighing scale and understanding how the ongoing heatwave can fry your brains, literally, we've got you covered.
Read on to know more.
Can heat waves impact your mental health?
The extreme heatwave that is sweeping across the country has already thrown millions of lives out of gear. However, there isn't just a physical health side to this; it also has a severe impact on your mental health. As Anmol Arora points out, adverse weather events like increased temperatures due to the effects of climate change can lead to feelings of irritability and anger, among other things. “The effects of heatwaves—when the maximum temperature of a station reaches 40 °C in the plains and 30 °C for hilly regions, or when it is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius above the normal—can now be felt across states,” writes Arora, adding that apart from the impact of such high temperatures on physical health like exhaustion, heatstroke, lethargy, and dehydration, different studies have now recognised the effects of heatwaves and extreme heat on mental health. He then speaks to various experts to further understand this phenomenon.
Why you must repair your relationship with the weighing scale
Are you the sort of person who is constantly stressing about your body weight? You shouldn’t worry so much, says our expert, Jen Thomas. She goes on to talk about her personal relationship with the scale and why she has stopped weighing herself before delving into the pros and cons of weighing scales. “I have tuned in with each client to notice if accountability measures such as weighing or tracking will cause distress, obsessive behaviours, or disorderly eating. If it arises, I adjust our approach by focusing on deeper, physical cues instead of external ones,” she writes, adding that constantly focusing on your size or weight can directly impact your mental and emotional health.
On International Dance Day, April 29, Divya Naik talks to dance and movement therapists to find out more about this practice that “helps address trauma, both directly and indirectly.” According to Naik, dance movement therapy plays out similarly to a regular therapy process. The difference is that dance movement therapists watch your micro-expressions, read body language, and perhaps are a little more suggestive. As Anshuma Kshetrapal of the Indian Association of Dance Movement Therapy tells her. "We use movement, art and other mediums of expression to help us express our feelings around traumatic events, express what has happened to us, and our life experiences through different modalities. The reason we may choose a particular modality is to tap into the unconscious part of the mind."
