The Year of Yes, New Moon Intention: Like peonies we unfold, layer upon layer of beauty and grace.
Episode 21 will come soon. I’m listening to my innate wisdom today, finally. My mind’s been scattered, my chronic neck pain’s been flaring, & I’ve been fighting off a viral illness... with openness of mind and being, what is my body trying to tell me? I must heed the heart and take rest.
Superorganisms are not funny, though the band Superorganism (poster above) surely is a good time.
The spread of deadly drug-resistant infections (“superbugs” / "superorganisms") is growing exponentially globally, and it is posing a huge threat. Avoiding taking antibiotics except when absolutely necessary is a big step that you can take to help combat this major problem.
Working in an urgent care facility a while back, I was privy to the rampant use of antibiotics to treat infections that are usually not bacterial or don’t necessarily require antibiotics, i.e. bronchitis, many sore throats, colds, flus, sinusitis, ear infections, pink eye …
Patients were requesting them at breakneck speed, and urgent care physicians, eager to please, rarely said no. On the other end of the spectrum, all of my time at Columbia University Medical Center / New York-Presbyterian Hospital has been hopeful, where fostering “antibiotic stewardship” is the norm - a set of coordinated strategies to improve the use of antimicrobial medications with the goal of enhancing patient health outcomes and reducing resistance to antibiotics (and preventing superfluous health care spending).
When you use antibiotics unnecessarily, in addition to promoting bacterial infections that can’t be treated in the future for both you but also millions of others, you are also completely altering your microbiome, both in your gut and otherwise. That is, you’re killing off good bacteria in your intestines that are necessary for all sorts of important functions as well as in other parts of your body (ahem, think about such distressing things as yeast infections).
I have seen some horrific infections in the hospital in my day, and still commonly do when I'm working on the hospital wards. These are infections where patients may be required to stay in healthcare facilities for months at a time. Physicians like me have to don impervious spacesuit-like gowns, hoping to avoid being colonized by scary bacteria such as resistant Staph aureus, Enterococcus, and C. diff. Then there are things like resistant strains of gonorrhea... enough said.
So the next time you’re sick, if you and your physician or health care provider decide together that you require antibiotics, make sure you’re taking them for a very specific reason. Educate yourself. Ask questions. Check out the CDC's website to find some great patient information to learn more about the basics.
And, if you’d like to go more in depth, take a look at this great New York Times article, this Telegraph UK article, and this interesting Consumer Reports article.
Not to fear monger, but this is no joke...
The Year of Yes is a weekly photo-and-word installment by Dr. Shah written with the purpose of evoking hope, resilience, and a gentle movement toward healthy change in all of us.
This past weekend, I decided to go on a “digital detox.” But as many of us often do in life, I decided to go forth with this intention without much planning. So, it’s not surprising that I ran up against a lot of interesting hurdles.
For one, what does it really mean to digitally detox? In its purest form, it means going 100% device-free – completely switching off all smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers for a specific length of time. For others, it could mean allowing for phone calls and text messages from family and friends, but staying off devices most of the time, the internet, social media and the like.
I had a difficult time going fully device-free. I realized the book that I’m trying to finish (and finally had time to read!) is on an app on my iPad. I also always talk to my parents and brother on the weekend, and I didn’t warn them that I’d be unavailable (lest they thought I fell of the face of the Earth). A few friends also wanted to meet up for dinner, I hadn’t planned on what I’d do about connecting with them. Finally, I didn’t set up an email auto-reply for a few pending time-sensitive work issues.
That being said, I intentionally stayed off my devices and the internet for a good percentage of the weekend. I was able to notice when I had an impulse to grab my phone to check on something - it was most certainly a practice in mindfulness. My time felt more spacious, and yet more deliberate.
I spent hours chilling with my honey, cooking, taking photos (with my digital SLR, doh!), having good conversation + laughing, dreaming about surfing this summer, and just being quiet. I also had the bandwidth to work on a few projects that have been awaiting my attention (read: have been procrastinating on), which was amazing. And, in the end, my head did feel clearer, rested, and recharged.
I am going to try for a true digital detox soon, this time with the necessary pre-planning. I am hoping to make it at least 24 hours, but hopefully for more, perhaps 48 or 72 hours. I'd also like to practice the semi-digital detox I did this weekend, mindfulness of devices if you will, more often, which requires less planning. If you’d like to learn more, read this great article about digital detoxes and some of the neuroscience behind it, or this interesting piece from the New York Times.
So, all in all, I only dipped my toe in the digital detox pond this weekend, but next time I'm going to jump into the lake. To be continued...
Hope you have a great week! 💚
