Double Helical once again organizes National Health Awards

Dear readers,
Thank you for your continuous support and encouragement. With your kind bless Double Helical once again organizes Double Helical National Health Awards 2018 at a glittering ceremony likely to be held in New Delhi on September 2018.
In this concern team Double Helical humbly seeks your support and blessings to make the event a success for the further advancement of this noble profession and welfare of the suffering humanity.
These times we highlight many informative stories. As a cover story Depression which is a common but serious mental illness. Most who experience depression need treatment to get better. The feelings like sadness, hopelessness, guilt, moodiness, angry outbursts, loss of interest in friends, family and favourite activities including sex drive point to the presence of depression. This also affects your thoughts, behaviour and your overall physical health.
During the treatment of depression, it is found that other illnesses may come on before depression, cause it, or be a consequence of it. But depression and other illnesses interact differently in different people. In any case, co-occurring illnesses need to be diagnosed and treated.
The most common behaviour patterns are withdrawing from people, substance abuse, missing work, school or other commitments and attempts to harm yourself. The persons who are under depression may face physical problems like tiredness or lack of energy, unexplained aches and pains, changes in appetite, weight loss and gain, changes in sleep – sleeping too little or too much and sexual problems.
It has been widely documented that women suffer from major depression about twice as often as men. Because the incidence of depressive disorders peaks during women’s reproductive years, it is believed that hormonal risk factors may be to blame.
Women are especially prone to depressive disorders during times when their hormones are in flux, such as around the time of their menstrual period, childbirth, and perimenopause. In addition, a woman’s depression risk declines after she goes through menopause.
It’s estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the general population will experience clinical depression in their lifetime. And the World Health Organization estimates 5 percent of men and 9 percent of women experience depressive disorders in any given year.
The story on Headphones and Hearing Problems written Dr A K Aggarwal reveals that gadgets and technologies were aimed to make life entertaining but not at the cost of one’s own health. Improved technologies have made the mankind get entrapped in the comforts and luxuries, leading to imposition of many side effects on health. Ear phones and headsets are one such technology! Forced, improper or over use of ear phones, headsets, leads, iPods, and Bluetooth can cause impairment or loss or damage to hearing. Their use not only affects the user but the surroundings too. Exposing your ears to prolonged & high intensity of noise more than 85 db can lead to permanent hearing loss which can never be recovered back and permanent damage can occur.
Cochlea is the main sense organ of hearing & has very delicate hair cells which detect sound frequencies. These hair cells can get damage if exposed to prolonged duration of sound intensity of around 85- 125 db like from the noise of aeroplane or missile or gun firing or listening to head phones at very high volumes.
Once these hair cells are damaged they generally do not recover specially if the high intensity exposure is not controlled and patient may experience hearing loss at high intensities , continuous ringing or buzzing sensation called tinnitus , headache , irritation ,lack of sleep , depression and difficulty in routine day to day activities. Then they may require the support of hearing aids & when profound hearing loss occurs where hearing aids also don’t benefit they may require a cochlear implant surgery.
Studies suggest that gaming disorder affects only a small proportion of people who engage in- or video-gaming activities. However, people who partake in gaming should be alert to the amount of time they spend on gaming activities, particularly when it is to the exclusion of other daily activities, as well as to any changes in their physical or psychological health and social functioning that could be attributed to their pattern of gaming behaviour.
The WHO said classifying gaming addiction as a mental health disorder “will result in the increased attention of health professionals to the risks of development of this disorder and, accordingly, to relevant prevention and treatment measures Significant research attention needs to be given to this newly recognized disorder to improve understanding of risk factors to development, appropriate treatment and intervention strategies.

There are many more informative and though-provoking stories, based on intensive research and analysis. So, happy reading to all of you!
Amresh K Tiwary,
Editor-in-Chief