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Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Myth, monsoon & machines: The Techno-Vedic road to India's sci-fi breakthrough
18 Days, imagined a decade ago as an animated series rooted in comic book storytelling and inspired by mythological epic Mahabharata , was the brainchild of new-age guru Deepak Chopra and his son Gotham Chopra, with investment from Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and creative inputs from film-maker Shekhar Kapur . It never quite took off as it might have, but for readers brought up on the sedate visions of Ramanand Sagar (known for television series Ramayana) and BR Chopra, this version of the Mahabharata— which initially found expression through comic books—was a mind-shattering thrill. It was as if the wheel of samay (time) had suddenly sped up, to collide with the future in furious revolutions. Productivity Tool Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide By Metla Sudha Sekhar View Program Finance Introduction to Technical Analysis & Candlestick Theory By Dinesh Nagpal View Program Finance Financial Literacy i e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By CA Rahul Gupta View Program Digital Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Neil Patel By Neil Patel View Program Finance Technical Analysis Demystified- A Complete Guide to Trading By Kunal Patel View Program Productivity Tool Excel Essentials to Expert: Your Complete Guide By Study at home View Program Artificial Intelligence AI For Business Professionals Batch 2 By Ansh Mehra View Program This 'India of science-fiction dreams' was dreamt up by two creators a while ago. Their influence still lingers like the background radiation left over from the Big Bang. With the teaser for upcoming movie Ramayana amassing millions of views on Youtube and creating a buzz over its humongous budget running into thousands of crores, it is time to revisit India's long search for a more futuristic, sci-fi inspired storytelling. The big question—can sci-fi for the world, created in India, come from time-travelling to our past? BACK TO THE FUTURE The last few years have seen a tsunami of epics reimagined as well as adjacent to mythology—there is Disney + Hotstar's animated Ramayana, Kalki 2898, Brahmastra and the unmade Immortal Ashwatthama. Live Events Long before the movies, there were the comics. Comic book fans of a certain vintage will recall the excitement in India in the late nineties. A new wave of comics and graphic novels was upon us. These were not your father's Indrajal or Chacha Chaudhary. In this febrile environment came a thunderbolt of an announcement. A reinvention of the Mahabharata backed by top-notch talent and deep wallets. The press releases from that era are borderline messianic, with Chopra stating that 'we will forge new mythologies bringing together East and West' while Kapur said 'comic book characters—traditional and digital—are the new cult, the new religion. India's 600 million teenagers are now at the forefront of the creation of these new gods, derived directly from the vast ocean of mythology'. Their goal was to replicate what anime/manga had done for Japan in the American market by getting the Yanks to develop a taste for this fusion Indian sensibility. 18 Days was to be the opener of the new way. The writer who would breathe life into this new universe was industry legend Grant Morrison , known for edgy works such as Doom Patrol and Arkham Asylum. He now wanted to work on a 'huge scale, a cosmic scale'. And the artist was a then little-known Mumbaikar Mukesh Singh. He had won a contest by depicting Superman paying homage to Hanuman, which, back then, spread around the Indian internet at the speed of Orkut. After working with Shekhar Kapur on a series, Singh said he wanted to next work on a 'psychedelic Lord of the Rings with Star Wars technology'. Singh's concept art for Morrison's script is filled with colossal war machines, atomic dreadnoughts, high-energy superweapons and mechanoid dinosaurs, among other wonders. They were so striking that Singh says, 'After Grant received the images, he went back and changed (the script). Morrison would say 'all technology should consider embracing some of this retro-Indian-steam punk aesthetic' and coined the term 'Vedicpunk' to describe Singh's approach. This was the beginning of the rise of this highly influential imaginary that can also be called 'techno-Vedic'. A RADICAL LOOK Morrison wanted a clean break with the past, for making this 'mythic poetic realm', and would say 'we should use familiar historical styles and fashions that we associate with traditional depictions of the Mahabharata and then mutate those traditional influences into a much more shiny, reflective, decorative look'. Singh's art marks a sharp departure from Raja Ravi Varma style, whose blending of European and Tanjore art would become so definitive, for both devotional art as well as Indian comics. Indeed the venerable Amar Chitra Katha, with artists like Ram Waeerkar or Dilip Kadam with their deft brushstrokes and poster-like compositions, had already reached a kind of pinnacle of this style. Singh agrees that Varma brought 'realism into mythology' but there was an 'unspoken dissatisfaction' with the portrayal of these characters. He says this grew out of a milieu of an 'aspirational Indian middle-class' as 'I always felt our gods were too distant, they were kept too distant from us'. This was the India of those yeh dil mange more years, wanting to push boundaries, do what hadn't been done before. Singh wanted to bring the energy of a Neal Adams or Frank Frazetta into what was staid and chaste calendar art. SCIENCE FICTION'S TIME LAG While 18 Days was envisaged as the beginning of a cinematic universe with comics, animation and films, it never quite took off. The concept art however went on to live, right-clicked and saved into eternity. And now scraped for AI to train on, it lives forever like a ghost in a cyberpunk machine. The immediate fallout was a host of derivative mythological comics 'inspired' by this techno-cosmic blend hitting the market in that mini-boom of the 2010s. Though Singh and Morrison didn't set out to do so, it perhaps set in motion a process, which would be described by critic Philip Lutgendorf as the 'colonisation of Indian imagination by a new aesthetic hegemon…(that) …glorifies hyperbolic musculature, militaristic machismo, techno-weaponry capable of unleashing apocalyptic violence, and the angst-ridden, usually male characters who wield it'. But science fiction always asks the what if question. Why hasn't (yet), Indian science fiction taken off as a genre of the masses? The golden age of the pulps in the US that catapulted writers like Asimov and Heinlein was born on the tide of rapid industrialisation, scientific progress, and a side-helping of world war. The heroes were usually jut-jawed engineers or pilots, almost always male, who punched the universe till it all made sense. Similarly, the 90s liberalisation that enabled large disposable incomes, the rise of IT and a huge clade of engineers ought to have done the same, with our own unique twist. One only must look at China, where there is no dearth of spectacular imagery or outsized spectacle. What they have is mega-science fiction, but bearing the imprint of the culture which birthed it. In Cixin Liu's Wandering Earth, for instance, giant machines the size of mountains must push earth out of orbit, out of the blast radius of a sun that is about to explode. It is not a lone hero but a high-powered committee armed with the appropriate powers which problem-solves at a solar level. Perhaps India's reluctance to embrace sci-fi lock, stock and barrel stems from India's complicated relationship with it in the first place. Mind you, it had a promising start. Scientist JC Bose's foray into science fiction in 1896 was sparked by a short-story competition sponsored by a hair oil company; his winning entry Runaway Cyclone involved a nifty plan to save Calcutta from the titular weather phenomenon, with an early rendition of the Butterfly effect. Despite this, in general there is a tendency in India to draw upon images of the past for making meaning in the present. Sociologist S Viswanathan puts it more bluntly, 'One of the strange absences in the Indian imagination is sci-fi. Maybe the fecundity of our myths made the sci-fi imagination unnecessary'. But the mutability of epics such as the Ramayana or Mahabharata, which can be recast in any form, is a killer app. This is echoed by Lutgendorf, who says the 'adhbuta rasa', or sense of wonder, is already evoked through the Puranas . On the other hand, according to literary critic Joan Gordon: 'India's very rich tradition begins not with Mary Shelley or Jules Verne… but perhaps with the Ramayana… It has different definitions and aesthetic principles, a different relationship to fantasy…Its science may be Ayurvedic as well as Newtonian..' A FERTILE CLIMATE What next? Climate change could be the next big thing, insinuating itself overtly or covertly into our fiction. Our linear progress, to become the next Shanghai, the next Dubai will also contain the fear of a chaotic unravelling, of a future filled with tensions. This new age–filled with wars, tsunamis and pandemics—is not going to be for beginners. Perhaps the default reflex to make meaning out of all this will not draw from sci-fi or contemporary literature, but once again retreat to the primal legends—an eternal, inexhaustible well from which India has always drawn upon. It also helps that the Puranas and the epics catalogue descriptions of extreme weather events, and the mechanics of the great dissolution or pralaya is quite entertaining, as it involves mega droughts followed by planet-spanning forest fires, refugee movements between the worlds, and colossal flooding. It ideally lends itself to become integrated into climate-change themed fictions in India, replete with striking and memorable imagery. The Puranas mention how the 'world will look famished' after droughts that last for centuries, and then 'rains will start pouring down in streams as thick as the trunk of an elephant', after mass drownings, the 'seven rays of the Sun which had grown fat by drinking this water would become seven separate Suns…these Suns would burn all the three worlds …Then the earth would look like the back of a tortoise'. The shape of the climate crisis also means that India will be subject to these conditions well before the West. In essence, India will turn into a sub-continent sized laboratory of ideas, of survival strategies as well as cautionary tales. Perhaps it can lead to another fusion, of titanic legends from the beginning of time to mega-science at the end of it. (The author is a Hyderabad-based writer)
CNBC
26-07-2025
- Health
- CNBC
Are 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day too much? It's complicated, experts say: 'It's different for each person'
Two-thirds of Americans drink coffee every single day, according to data collected by the National Coffee Association in 2022, and the debate about how much is too much and whether or not any amount of caffeine is safe persists. But recent research shows that the answer is more complicated than you'd think. A Harvard study, that followed nearly 50,000 women over the course of 30 years and published in June, found that drinking coffee every day may lead to healthy aging in women. One to three cups a day was also linked to heart health benefits and lower mortality rates. But research also shows that high coffee consumption can increase your likelihood of dementia. And a 2022 paper published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found a link between heavy coffee consumption and an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease in people with hypertension. Benefits, drawbacks, and the right amount all depend on your individual lifestyle and overall health. And health experts consistently advise that, like with most things, moderation is key for your daily coffee. Deepak Chopra, author, speaker and proponent of alternative medicine, told CNBC Make It in 2023 that he drinks two to three cups of coffee each day before noon. While that may sound like too much caffeine for the average person, it's actually within a healthy range. "Drinking two to three cups before noon is safe to do," registered dietitian Roxana Ehsani said in an interview with CNBC Make It last year. "As long as they don't greatly surpass 400 milligrams of caffeine." Ehsani's suggestion follows the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation of consuming no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, which can include the caffeine found in teas, energy drinks, sodas and chocolate. Certain people may benefit from consuming much less caffeine than is recommended by the FDA. Caffeine tolerance varies from person to person, with some people feeling anxious or jittery after just one or two cups of coffee. "Within those milligram or cup of coffee recommendations, if you start feeling overly tired and the caffeine is not helping, then you've got to stop [drinking it]," dietitian Jessica Sylvester told NBC News. "If your heart starts beating incredibly fast, you've got to stop. It's different for each person." Pregnant people should consider cutting back on caffeine. And people who have diabetes or cardiovascular disease should be mindful of their sugar intake when having coffee, Nikki Cota, a dietitian at the Mayo Clinic, told NBC News. Expert opinion also varies on if teens should drink coffee, but "avoiding caffeine is the best choice for all kids," according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. But for everyone else, if you're having two to three cups, or more, "be mindful of what you're experiencing," registered dietitian Maddie Pasquariello says. And make sure you're not replacing meals with caffeine. Ehsani recommends drinking water or having a meal before reaching for coffee since caffeine suppresses appetite. And if you notice your sleep is affected when you have a coffee in the afternoon, experts suggest a mornings-only rule for your daily latte or macchiato.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Is your woo-woo lifestyle ruining your relationship?
Can a predilection for the ultra-spiritual or the woo-woo really ruin your relationship? Recent reports allege that this is what it did in the marriage of Manchester United centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, who is divorcing his wife AnneKee Molenaar after only a year of marriage. The Dutch outlet DenD has claimed that Molenaar's penchant for posting 'exaggerated spiri-wiri content' on her Instagram – along with her thoughts on gemstones, crystals and herbal remedies – drove him away. Molenaar's story resonated with me on different levels – I've also gone head first into new-age spirituality, and it's come at the cost of my relationships. More than 20 years ago, I swapped substances for self-help books when I first entered recovery for alcoholism. It was hardly surprising. I needed to fill a huge gap in my life and learn to believe in something greater than myself. It alienated my old friends, who quickly got sick of me talking about Deepak Chopra's views on the soul's journey, but I soon balanced out. Many years later, though, new-age spirituality began to impact my romantic life. It started when I began meditating and visualising my perfect life – which meant holding a vivid snapshot of it in my mind so that it would somehow become imprinted on me. I had to keep my positive vibrations high by maintaining a state of joy, gratitude and expectancy, all in order to trick my brain into thinking I had already achieved my goal. All of this was based on the 'law of attraction', a concept brought to global attention by the self-help book The Secret, and, which claims that one's thoughts and feelings can directly influence external reality. In practice, I ended up living in a bubble and losing connectedness, as it's called in woo-woo land, to my then partner. I remember one particular holiday in Greece. I was trying to get pregnant, so I spent most of the trip working on manifesting grade-A embryos for our next session of IVF. I look back and regret not living in the present with him – this turned out to be our last holiday before he died. But at the time, I felt like I had to do what I had to do. I often felt like unless my partner joined me on the same spiritual page, we would be living two different lives – his was earthbound, while mine was largely in my mind. Instead of appreciating the life I had, I was busy imagining holding a newborn baby. It led to a disconnect from the real world, and a disconnect from my relationship. I was in a perpetual state of what is termed 'toxic positivity', in which I'd constantly seek positive emotions while suppressing negative ones. I had to feel gratitude to help attract what I wanted, despite the cold truth that the reality of infertility was agonising. I'm not writing off manifestation – it definitely can help – but for me, I took it too far. I was convinced that if I tried really hard to stay positive, I could magic a baby. I was – to put it plainly – obsessed. The idea of a 'divine plan' – as if everything that happens is meant to be, therefore you must be tolerant and patient – is fine to believe. But go too far and use spiritual beliefs to help you avoid dealing with pain and trauma and it becomes unhealthy. They call it 'spiritual bypassing'. At one point in my life, I couldn't make any decisions without consulting my psychic medium. I was dependent on her, and at times I felt far closer to her than my then partner. That's because it was my medium who was telling me how he was feeling and thinking, rather than him. Women are much more likely than men to seek to feel good through new age spiritual practices, like aura healing, moon bathing, breathwork retreats, gong baths, psychic mediums, and witchy-woo spells. A third of women describe themselves as spiritual, compared with a fifth of men, according to a YouGov UK Survey conducted in 2021 – with 27 per cent of women believing that crystals have healing properties, compared to 11 per cent of men. And while only 9 per cent of men agree that star signs have a genuine impact on a person's character and their compatibility with other people, one in five women (22 per cent) say this is probably or definitely true. Likewise, 57 per cent of women believe in people emitting positive or negative energies and vibrations, compared to 35 per cent of men. 'Wellness practices can support relationships but only when they deepen self-awareness and relational capacity,' says Elizabeth Earnshaw, a relationship expert and author of 2022's I Want This To Work: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating the Most Difficult Relationship Issues We Face in the Modern Age and this year's Til Stress Do Us Part: How to Heal the #1 Issue in Our Relationships. 'This is not the case when [spiritual practices] become performative, or another form of avoidance. It can become 'emotional bypassing' dressed up in psychological or spiritual language. Or a defence for poor behaviour, such as being unreliable because of 'boundaries', or telling the other person what is wrong with them all of the time because of some spiritual or psychological superiority.' If a partner uses relentless positivity or spiritual rhetoric to shut down hard conversations, it creates distance, not connection Elizabeth Earnshaw, relationship expert Real intimacy requires the ability to talk about what is, Earnshaw says, not just what should be. 'If a partner uses relentless positivity or spiritual rhetoric to shut down hard conversations, it creates distance, not connection,' she explains. However, it can be equally harmful to dismiss a partner's genuine beliefs as 'toxic positivity'. Just because someone likes to focus on gratitude or hope or faith of some sort, doesn't mean they are necessarily wrong. 'It might really be what they believe and what is helpful to them,' she continues. 'The goal shouldn't be to eliminate all positivity, or all negativity. Rather it's to stop being dismissive of others' points of view or ways of managing life.' Amanda White, LPC therapist and founder of America's Therapy for Women Center, says that the craze for posting spiritual content on social media often emphasises individual optimisation over community and relationships. She also believes it can lead people away from genuine connection rather than toward it. 'Self-help and wellness content is an extremely popular topic online because so many people are struggling,' she says. 'I think a lot of times what drives people to do this is trying to make money as an influencer or at the very least get positive reinforcement and attention.' Whether it's posting 'five things you need to do to manifest the life of your dreams', she says, or demonstrating meditating, manifesting, praying, and doing tarot readings, these routines give people some semblance of control over their lives. 'But a lot of what influencers share online is not real,' she continues. 'Consumers forget this and truly believe, for example, they need a 10-step morning and evening routine.' When someone becomes overly focused on perfecting such routines, they might actually spend less quality time with the people they love. 'It can become a socially acceptable way to withdraw from relationships while feeling like you're doing something positive.' Padma Coram, a spiritualist and integrative lifestyle and wellness expert at London's Hale Clinic, who helps clients to align their spiritual practices with real-life wellbeing, says spirituality is often used for escapism. 'People spend huge amounts of money on treatments thinking it's the 'cure-all',' she says. 'When you come to 'spirituality' from a place of desperation, it can become an addiction because it's about filling a hole in the soul. They never reach peace.' It's particularly concerning, she says, when clients have wanted to manifest their dream life – and get into extreme debt. 'They try to match their vibration with the life they want to lead, believing the laws of attraction mean they need to 'fake it to make it.'' They end up living beyond their means – which can create a huge financial strain in a relationship. 'People take it too literally – and stop living in reality.' The truth is that while many of us want to turn our dream life into an abundant reality through woo-woo activities – and embody the goddess or warrior within – it's not always the best course of action. As White says, spiritual content online can make avoidance look like growth, and it can harm relationships. 'Instead of having difficult but necessary conversations, people are told to 'protect their peace'. Instead of processing challenging emotions with support, they're encouraged to simply manifest better thoughts,' she says. 'The message becomes that if you're struggling, you just need to buy the right journal or find the right practice, rather than acknowledging that real growth often happens in relationships with others and is messy.'
Forbes
12-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Deepak Chopra Talks About How Gaming Can Help Mental Health
Dr. Deepak Chopra recently spoke at the 2025 Games for Change festival in New York City and talked ... More about how more intentional game design could foster better mental and emotional health. (Photo by) Gaming can have way more than a pair of health benefits, especially if it can activate your parasympathetic system. That was one of the big takeaways from my recent conversation with author and mind-body medicine pioneer Deepak Chopra, MD, at the 2025 edition of the annual Games for Change or G4C Festival in New York City. He and Poonacha Machaiah, CEO of The Chopra Foundation, had given a keynote at the festival, talking about how intentional game design and AI-driven tools can foster emotional resilience, empathy, and mental wellness within gaming communities. In fact, they themselves have been getting into the game of gaming with the quest game Deepak Chopra: Meditation Oasis. Chopra Warns About Being In Sympathetic Overdrive You could say that Chopra and Machaiah are sympathetic to what's going on in society right now. 'Many people are in sympathetic overdrive with too much adrenaline,' explained Chopra. 'This weakens the immune system.' Sympathetic overdrive means that your sympathetic nervous system is firing way too often and way too much. And that's not a good thing Your sympathetic nervous system is the part of your autonomic nervous system that's designed to help you deal with dangerous or otherwise stressful situation. So, say a tiger or someone trying to give you a fruitcake as a gift is chasing after you. This is where you could benefit from having your 'fight-or-flight' response activated. Such a response can include firing the nerves that enlarge your pupils to help you see better, increase your heart rate and blood pressure to more get blood and oxygen to your muscles, open up your airways to bring more oxygen into your lungs, trigger your liver to release more glucose to provide more energy and rev up your immune to enact repairs when needed. At the same time, your sympathetic nervous system can suppress less urgent functions that may otherwise distract from your fight or flight and consume needed energy. So your sympathetic response may slow your digestion, keep you from urinating and pooping and hold any sexual excitement at bay. After all, you probably don't want to be eating a pizza, pooping and feeling all hot and bothered while for example your boss is yelling at you. Although your sympathetic system can provide kind of important benefits such as, oh, keeping you alive, it shouldn't be activated and firing all the time. That would be like running the fire alarm and sprinkler system in your building constantly. Over time, things like your immune system and various parts of your body can get worn down and out, leading to damage and malfunctions. This is why a therapist won't typically say, 'You really should be worried about everything all the time.' FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The trouble is so many things in our society these days are potentially activating your sympathetic nervous system each and every moment. The constant stream of advertising. The loud noises at the ballpark and at bars. The politicians and other talking heads telling you repeatedly about how such-and-such people are a threat. The constantly chatter on social media. And your smartphone. Your pay-attention-to-me-all-the-time smartphone. All of these may be keeping you in sympathetic overdrive. Who knows then how much sympathetic overdrive may be contributing to many of the mind and body ailments that are pervasive in society these days. I've already written in Forbes about how the U.S. and other countries are steeped in mental health crises. Machaiah quoted the World Health Organization statistic that every 40 seconds someone dies from suicide and emphasized, 'There are not enough therapists to deal with all the mental health issues.' All of this may be contributing further to the rising social divisiveness and physical ailments such as obesity seen in the U.S. and other countries. Chopra Suggests Activating Your Parasympathetic System More You do have a natural counter to your sympathetic nervous system. And that's your parasympathetic nervous system, which is another part of your autonomic nervous system that serves the 'rest and digest' or 'feed and breed' functions. It basically does the opposite of what the sympathetic nervous system does. For example, it can activate the nerves to constrict your pupils to reduce the amount of light entering your eyes, stimulate your mouth to provide more saliva, tighten your airway muscles so that your lungs don't have to work as hard to breath while your rest, lower how fast and hard your heart pumps to conserve energy and release insulin to then decrease your blood sugar levels. Meanwhile, your parasympathetic nervous system can focus more on helping you do fun stuff like digest food, pee and poop. Speaking of fun, let's talk about sex. You can thank your parasympathetic system for the erections that your penis gets or when your vagina gets all naturally lubricated, depending of which you happen to have. 'To deal with sympathetic overdrive, you want to activate the parasympathetic nervous system more,' Chopra emphasized. 'You want to keep people more in a parasympathetic state to optimize the endocrine system.' He mentioned different neurotransmitters and hormones that are integrated with these nervous systems such as acetylcholine, cholecystokinin, somatostatin and one that you may have heard lately, glucagon-like peptide-1 or GLP-1, that regulate all sorts of bodily functions including appetite and hunger. Therefore, when the sympathetic versus parasympathetic balance is off, all sorts of things in your mind and body can be adversely affected. Chopra Emphasizes More Interoceptive Awareness How then do you stay more in a parasympathetic state with all this sympathetic activation stuff around you? Chopra spoke of having 'more mindful awareness' and more 'interoceptive awareness.' Interoceptive awareness is perceiving the sensations from within your body like knowing what your mind and body are doing. For example, you are aware of how you are feeling, what your emotions are at the time, how hungry you may be, what your heart rate is doing, how different parts of your body are functioning and when you need to use the bathroom. While you may typically be aware of when you need to use the bathroom since the consequences of not knowing are, shall we say, obvious, you may not be quite as attuned to the other stuff. Chopra pointed out how interoceptive awareness is one of the eight limbs of yoga that were originally laid out by Pantanjali, the first author of yoga. 'The first two limbs are social and emotional intelligence," Chopra explained. "The third is postures, the fourth breathing, the fifth interoceptive awareness, the sixth focused awareness, the seventh meditation and the eight transcendence.' He added that having interoceptive awareness is important because if you can perceive what's happening inside your mind and body, you will then know how to control your mind and body such as the autonomic nervous system. Yoga is just one example of a mindfulness practice that can help achieve interoceptive awareness. Chopra is well known for spending much of his career developing, teaching, writing about and disseminating such practices. Chopra Sees Gaming As An Opportunity To Counter Sympathetic Overdrive Poonacha Machaiah (L), the CEO of The Chopra Foundation, seen here with Dr. Deepak Chopra on October ... More 8, 2024, mentioned the term 'Metaceuticals,' which describes the use of gaming and the metaverse, such as virtual reality, to help achieve well-being. (Photo by Jed Cullen/for Jugad By Foodhak) Gaming could be a game-changer when it comes to disseminating ways for people to achieve more interoceptive awareness and spend more time in the parasympathetic state. 'You can achieve more mindful awareness through imagination,' said Chopra. 'How to activate the parasympathetic nervous system for more homeostasis and optimize neuroendocrine function can be a focus of gaming.' Machaiah spoke of how people can feel more relaxed when in a 'gaming state,' sort of how athletes can feel more relaxed and in a state of flow while playing a a sport, artists while painting, writers while writing and anyone else while they are doing something that they truly enjoy. Of course, a try-to-shoot-as-many-things-as-possible-while-you-dodge-zombie-MMA-fighters game may not necessarily be the best way to activate your parasympathetic system. Chopra distinguished between games that create stress and games that expand the mind. Both Chopra and Machaiah urged the importance of taking the design of a game and making it more conscious. In other words, it can help for game designers to be more deliberate about creating or adapting games so that they can better help people, which is the big focus of the Games for Change or G4C initiative that Susanna Pollack has been leading since 2015 as its President. I've covered previous G4C festivals such as the one in 2023 and talked to Pollack on a number of occasions about the difference between perception and reality when it comes to gaming and the gaming community. Pollack indicated how gaming has had the rather unfair stereotype amongst those not in the know of being 'a waste of time.' G4C and its annual festivals have been working to change that perception. She's pointed out the many positive aspects of gaming and the gaming community such as how the community is 'more open to sharing than many other communities' and in many cases has come together to help each other and others. So with a need for more mental health interventions, gaming could play a major role. One way gaming may have 'meta' such needs and can do more to meet such needs is through what Machaiah called 'Metaceuticals.' He described this as the use of gaming and the metaverse, such as virtual reality, to help achieve well-being. With VR, you can place yourself in tailored surroundings or even a new world that can allow you to relax and more safely explore your feelings and sensations and in turn better understand and control how you feel. Deepak Chopra: Meditation Oasis Is One Example Of Such A Game Chopra has already worked on a game called Deepak Chopra: Meditation Oasis. In fact, he literally works on the game. His voice is part of the game, including its signature cadence and balance. Machaiah described how this can put the gamer in a more relaxed state. He also covered how they 'used other aspects of acoustic design and changed the lights, colors and flicker rate' to help keep users more 'in a parasympathetic state.' The game has users go through different meditaion quests, each of which may last different durations, typically one minute, three minutes or five minutes. 'There's already been over 100,000 quests completed,' said Machaiah. He pointed to the possibility of such games reaching more people quicker than mental health professionals and mindfulness experts can on there own. Gaming Has Tremendous Potential For Further Positive Change Amir Dossal, the President & CEO of the Global Partnerships Forum who was with the United Nations ... More for 25 years, sees gaming as a way to help address the UN's third sustainable development goal: to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. (Photo by) All of this is just the tip of the virtual iceberg. Amir Dossal, the founder and president of the Global Partnerships Forum who spent 25 years at the United Nations where he previously led the UN Office for Partnerships, is excited about the possibilities. He sees gaming as a way to help address the UN's third sustainable development goal: to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. 'The question is how to bring peace in difficult times,' Dossal said. 'Well, mental health is a precursor.' He went on to say, 'Gaming is the most intimate experience' and talked about how 'games can bring people together to address mental health' as well as the coalitions and working groups that are already trying to do this. 'We've been looking for and working with early adopters who see the value.' Dossal added, 'Gaming is not about a game where the focus is winning or losing. Instead it's about play.' This is a key distinction. Many people out there continue to push the zero-sum game idea that life is about competition and either being a winner or a loser. Or being part of some 'winning group' rather than some other 'losing groups.' That if you don't quickly claim something as yours other people will claim it as theirs. That other people's success is your failure and vice-versa. Well, not being more sympathetic and empathetic to others could leave your sympathetic nervous system further on overdrive. And that may not be a good game to play for you and your health.
The Hindu
01-07-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
The weight of the mind: how psychophysiology holds the key to tackling India's obesity epidemic
More than once, I've found myself half-joking that simply glancing at food seems sufficient to tip the scales. For the longest time, I dismissed this as idle hyperbole—a light-hearted lament echoed by many. Yet emerging scientific insights suggest this might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. According to leading experts in metabolic health and behavioural science, there's growing evidence that supports a physiological basis for this phenomenon—ushering in the field of psychophysiopathology of obesity. Fast forward to 2050, a mere quarter-century away, and India is projected to bear the weight—literally—of an obesity epidemic affecting nearly 450 million citizens. That's a staggering increase of 180 million individuals from 2021, a rise that underscores the gravity of the crisis. Obesity, along with its metabolic cohorts such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders, represents a burgeoning public health emergency that could deeply undermine the nation's socioeconomic fabric. Historically, our communal focus has been narrowly riveted on caloric arithmetic and physical exertion—mantras of 'eat less, move more.' However, despite widespread adoption, these interventions in isolation have proved insufficient. Could it be that the elusive missing link lies not in the external—but within the intimate, dynamic interplay between how we think, how we feel, and how we physiologically respond to our environments? It is in the mind-body nexus that the science of psychophysiology offers a paradigm-shifting perspective—one that reframes obesity not merely as a failure of willpower, but as a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon demanding deeper, multidimensional inquiry. The mind-body link The mind-body connection has long fascinated me, and one I avidly follow the work of Deepak Chopra. In his seminal book, Creating Health, he elucidates on the intricate relationship between the mind and body, positing that this synergy plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including obesity. Notably, Dr. Chopra references groundbreaking experiments that demonstrate the phenomenon of cephalic phase responses, wherein certain individuals exhibit a pronounced metabolic reaction to mere sensory cues associated with food, such as the sight, aroma, and sounds of culinary preparation. This anticipatory response eerily mirrors the physiological changes that occur upon actual food consumption. Furthermore, Dr. Chopra's work reveals that, beyond sensory inputs, even the mere thought of food can trigger a cascade of neuroendocrine events. This cognitive-emotional stimulus activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, culminating in the release of insulin from the pancreas. The resultant surge in insulin levels triggers a profound sensation of hunger, accelerating metabolic processes and facilitating the rapid conversion of nutrients into fat. This complex interplay between cognitive, emotional, and physiological factors underscores the notion that the mind-body connection plays a critical role in modulating metabolic function and, by extension, obesity. Chronic stress could result in emotional or comfort eating at times. In other times, people could be replacing excessive eating or drinking of fizzy drinks to use as a placebo or as a way of managing cravings. For example, I do extensive work with people in addiction recovery. People, especially ones recovering from cocaine or alcohol, always speak about how foods high in cheese/ fat/ sugars or carbohydrates help them manage their cravings for their substance of choice. This results in overeating and obesity, although the management of recovery is on the right track. All these in tandem with recent studies indicate that chronic stress, emotional dysregulation and cognitive patterns disrupt the autonomic nervous system function, through hormonal signalling such as production of insulin or cortisol, often resulting in maladaptive eating behaviours. Obesity as an interplay of multiple factors Psychophysiology is rapidly emerging as a transformative lens through which to understand obesity—not merely as a metabolic imbalance, but as a dynamic interplay of biological, psychological, and social forces. This biopsychosocial model, when integrated with psychophysiological metrics like heart rate variability and neuroendocrine markers, enables researchers to identify nuanced pathways linking mental states to metabolic outcomes. This convergence is not only reshaping obesity science but also paving the way for precision interventions—ranging from cognitive-behavioral therapy to neurofeedback—that target the root causes of weight dysregulation beyond diet and exercise alone. The pernicious consequences of obesity extend far beyond the realm of individual health, precipitating a profound impact on the economic and social fabric of societies. In India alone, the annual healthcare expenditure and productivity losses attributable to obesity are projected to surpass a staggering USD 35 billion, thereby imposing an immense economic burden on the nation. Globally, obesity is estimated to contribute to a colossal 65% of the total economic burden through indirect cost implications, including diminished workforce participation, disability, and premature mortality. This insidious phenomenon perpetuates a vicious cycle of economic stagnation and human suffering. Moreover, the social implications of obesity are equally egregious, exacerbating existing health inequities and disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, particularly those in the lower-income strata. The paucity of access to wholesome nutrition, safe physical activity spaces, and preventive healthcare in these communities perpetuates a cycle of disadvantage, further entrenching unhealthy behaviors. Furthermore, the stigma surrounding obesity precipitates a profound psychological toll, fueling distress, anxiety, and decreased self-esteem, which in turn exacerbates the condition, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of morbidity. The role of identity When tackling obesity through the lens of psychophysiology, a crucial aspect to understand is the role of identity. Similar to the paradigm of addiction recovery, individuals struggling with obesity often encapsulate their self-concept around a fixed identity, such as 'a fat person.' This cognitive schema can perpetuate a self-fulfilling prophecy, where their experiences and behaviours align with their deeply-ingrained beliefs, both consciously and subconsciously. From an evolutionary perspective, the brain strives to maintain cognitive consistency, reinforcing patterns that validate one's self-image. In the context of obesity, individuals often grapple with body image concerns or body dysphoria, which can limit their ability to adopt healthier lifestyles. Research suggests that individuals who perceive themselves as healthy and happy are more likely to engage in health-promoting behaviors. Conversely, those who identify as 'fat' or 'unhealthy' may experience social consequences, such as bullying or social isolation, leading to decreased happiness and further exacerbating their health issues. Emerging research in neurophysiology is exploring the intricate relationship between self-image and metabolic function, seeking to elucidate the correlational dynamics between these complex variables. By understanding the interplay between identity, happiness, and physiological responses, scientists may uncover novel targets for intervention, enabling more effective and sustainable. The need for a paradigm shift in approaching obesity To mitigate the burgeoning obesity epidemic in India, a paradigmatic shift in our approach is warranted, necessitating a synergistic, cross-sectoral response that integrates the trifecta of biological, psychological, and environmental determinants. Policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the public must converge to adopt a psychophysiopathological framework that acknowledges obesity as a complex, multifactorial disorder precipitated by the intricate interplay of genetic, neuroendocrine, and environmental factors. Policymakers must transcend the erstwhile piecemeal approach to nutrition and fitness, instead prioritising the development and implementation of comprehensive programmes that seamlessly integrate mental health, stress management, and behavioral science into national health strategies. Flagship initiatives such as the Fit India Movement and POSHAN Abhiyaan should be augmented to incorporate psychophysiological screening tools, emotional wellness education, and community-based interventions that target the underlying etiological factors contributing to maladaptive eating behaviors. Healthcare professionals require rigorous training in psychobehavioral diagnostics and interventions, encompassing tools such as heart rate variability monitoring, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Multidisciplinary teams comprising endocrinologists, psychologists, nutritionists, and public health experts should collaborate to deliver personalised, evidence-based treatment plans tailored to individual needs, predicated on a nuanced understanding of the biopsychosocial determinants of obesity. The public also has a vital role to play in this endeavor, necessitating empowerment through knowledge about the intricate relationships between stress, emotions, thought patterns, and eating habits, as well as their impact on metabolic health. Schools, workplaces, and digital platforms should promote emotional literacy, mindful eating, and resilience-building practices as integral components of everyday life, thereby fostering a culture of wellness and salutogenesis. India stands at a critical juncture, poised to either succumb to the weight of the obesity epidemic or rise to the challenge by adopting a holistic, psychophysiology-informed approach that acknowledges the complex interplay between biological, psychological, and environmental factors. By doing so, we can pivot from a paradigm of blame and symptom management to one of understanding and root-cause resolution, thereby mitigating the burgeoning health crisis and promoting a culture of wellness and optimal health. (Rashikkha is a multidisciplinary clinician working in the U.K., specialising in the delivery of clinical interventions in forensic settings.
