Mindmasterclass dot Com: Health and Medical Blog

Rural women’s health is an infinitely broad topic. Many Indian women have come from circumstances in which women have limited access to healthcare. Traditionally, there has been discrimination towards women in decision-making; access to resources such as food, education and health care; job opportunities; and in child-rearing and parenting. However, women’s health in rural areas affects everything in their environment from their families to their economies and vice versa. A woman’s health, especially among the poor and illiterate, is often neglected not just by her family but by the woman herself. She is taught not to complain and if she does then she is directed either to use condiments in the kitchen or try faith healing.

Man is unique in that he has a distinct cultural environment of his own. This includes all the conditions in which men are born, brought up, live, work, procreate and perish. Culture as an environment is deeply related to the health of humans. It includes patterns of social organizations designed to regulate a particular society; one can understand the behaviour of people belonging to various sections and predict how an individual of a particular section will react in a given situation. With our knowledge of health, the treatment of diseases among ignorant peoples appears to be strange since they frequently follow practices of praying, wearing of amulets or consulting an exorcist who recites certain verbal formula. Hence, we can say that beliefs and cultural practices are predominately playing significant roles in the human health more peculiarly in the health of women.

Many rural people did not know about the services set up for them at sub-centres and PHC by the government because they did not see any evidence of these services being provided for them. As a part of the awareness programmes, the health workers (ANM) have been organizing to several exposure trips at the villages. It was there that the women were informed about the specifics of various services supposed to be made available to them. This encouraged some of them to ask questions and report on the situation in their PHC. They explained that though a nurse did visit their village it was not a daily visit, nor did she go beyond a certain point in the village, and certainly did not take a round of the village. They made a show of doing their duty by providing nominal services.

A variety of factors, including an older population, a limited supply of health care providers, and further distances from health care resources may contribute to special health concerns for people in non-metropolitan areas. Access to health care and social services are critical issues for rural women.

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth of a proposition. Like the related concepts truth, knowledge, and wisdom, there is no precise definition of belief on which scholars agree, but rather numerous theories and continued debate about the nature of belief 1.

The cultural phenomenon of social organization, according to Giger and Davidhizar (2004), includes groups in the social environment that influence cultural development and identification. The family, an important aspect of the social organization phenomenon, strongly influences cultural behavior through a process of socialization or enculturation of children and group members (Giger & Davidhizar; Niska, 1999). These learned cultural behaviors guide individuals through life situations, events and health practices. Understanding family from a cultural perspective is a significant element in providing nursing care to Mexican-Americans since Giger and Davidhizar identify the family as being most values in this culture.

Environmental control is defined by Giger and Davidhizar (2004) as the ability of persons within a particular cultural heritage to plan activities that control their environment as well as their perception of one’s ability to direct factors in the environment. Kuipers’ (1999) discussion of this model, in relation to Mexican-American culture, emphasized the construct of environmental control with a focus on locus-of-control, health beliefs, and folk medicine. Locus-of-control explains the way in which individuals, within their cultural environment, perceive their ability to control what happens to them and to their health. Health may be viewed as being dependent on outside forces or their own actions (Bundek et al., 1993). Beliefs about health and illness, which are components of environmental control, affect health practices, use of health resources, and a person’s response to experiences of both health and illness (Giger & Davidhizer, 2004; Northam, 1996). A third component of environmental control, folk medicine, includes alternative therapies such as using herbs and teas or visiting a cultural folk healer.

Objectives:

1. Exploration of women beliefs on health, risk and their relationship to lifestyles;

2. Elicitation of their views across a range of health-related behaviours and practices, especially puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and child rearing, and assessment of the potential for the positive promotion of women health in these and other areas of her sexual health.

3. Identification of the sources of information and influences on the development of health beliefs amongst women, particularly with respect to common elements in attitudes to risk-taking across a number of health beliefs and practices.

4. To focus on what women themselves know and want to know, including the salience of health, and the relevance of health-related knowledge in their lives

Hypothesis:

1. There is a positive relationship between social beliefs and cultural practices of a given society

2. Positive relationship may be observed among the social beliefs and cultural practices and various other factors such as caste, religion, social and traditional customs in society

3. The explanation for the persistence of belief systems is that people remain committed to them, but for this commitment to last long, the belief system must be validated

Research Design:

A quantitative and qualitative study, building on our previous work in this area, concerning the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of female children and young women to health, risk and lifestyles. A guiding methodological principle underpinning the study was the development of a sensitive research design for rather than on women: a study grounded not simply in what women know or need to know, but also in what they want to know and feel to be important in the context of their everyday lives. The methods enabling these principles to be taken forward are described below.

a) Area of the Study:

The Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh consists of ten districts namely Hyderabad, Ranagareddy, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda, and Khammam. From this region, the village Ramchandrapur in Koheda Mandal of Karimnagar district has been randomly selected as an area of the study.

b) Universe & Sampling:

According to 2001 census, the village Ramchandrapur has an approximate population of 1840 who from nearly 550 families. This village has a primary health centre (PHC), but lacks a major hospital within a range of 35 kms. And this village has been selected as universe for this study.

So for this study, the researcher adopted stratified-proportionate random method of sampling based on caste composition of the villagers and selected the respondents from the families mentioned in the habitation list of Ramchandrapur. This village population data was collected from Supraja Seva Samithi, a voluntary organization, which is working in the region for the last 10 years in the fields of health, education and environmental protection. The list consists of various caste grouping and from which proportionate stratified samples were selected. Then a list of about 181 respondents was prepared for data collection. Therefore, it is obvious that an attempt has been made to present a general picture of community data and on the basis of which, views and attitudes of the respondents were taken into consideration.

C) Tools of Data Collection:

As the research is qualitative and quantitative, non-participant observation and interview schedule was adopted for the collection of primary data. The aspects that will cover in the interview schedule were defined under two parts, one is for socio-economic and cultural status of respondents such as name, sex, age, social status, education, religion, income, nature and type of the house, etc. and the other for socio-cultural beliefs and practice patterns in health and the related treatment of the villagers.

D) Analysis and interpretation of data:

After arranging the collected data through tabulation and classification, they were analyzed and interpreted in the socio-cultural context so as to give a scientific basis to the study. Although statistical methods like frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, t-test, chi-squire and ANOVA have been used in the study, they were applied in a relevant way.

Findings:

Socio-Economic Profile:

During the field work, observed that 22 castes were appeared and most of the respondent belongs to the BC castes like Yadava, Gouda, Munnuru Kapu, Vishwa Brahmin, Mudiraj and a insignificant number of people belongs to services caste like Mangali, Chakali, Mera and so on. A considerable amount of people belongs to SC community i.e. Mala and Madigas. Only a few respondents belong to ST (Erukala) community. Out of the 181 respondents, 55 percent are male and 45 percent female,. This research is carried out with almost all the equal four fold age groups of respondents. Thus, it is noted that age group is scattered in this study. More number of respondents i.e. 91% belongs to Hindu religion and 5% are Muslim. Nearly 4% of the respondents belong to Christianity. It is also proved that common phenomena of religion composition in India.

In this village, a majority of the respondents i.e. 82 (45%) are illiterates. The next more number of respondents have studied up to primary and secondary level i.e. 24 (13%). There are 21 (12%) of the respondents can read and write. A significant number of respondents i.e. 18 (10%) claimed to have studied up to college level while the small number of people who have studied up to professional level, technical level and others stands at 7 (4%), 3 (2%) and 2 (1%) respectively. The findings reveal that more number of the respondents i.e. 55 (30.4%) are labourers and one-fourths of the respondents i.e. 45 (24.9%) are engaging in the farming. On the whole 38(21%) are continuing their caste occupation while 20 (11%) and 17 (9.4%) respondents are doing other occupation and brought up into the service sector respectively. Only a few of the respondents i.e. 6 (3.3%) are carrying out business.

It is also noted that a majority of the respondents i.e. 84.21% are living under the tiled houses and a significant number of the respondents i.e. 15.79% posses R.C.C houses. A substantial number of the BC community respondents i.e. 75% owned the tiled house and rest of them i.e. 14.29% have R.C.C. houses and 8.04% own asbestos roofed houses. Most of the SC respondents i.e. 91.49% are residing under the tiled houses while only 8.51% consist R.C.C. houses. Among the ST respondents, 33.33% have R.C.C., tiled house and thatched house equally. Regarding the income, less than 24% of the respondents earn Rs. 1501 – 2000 per month. Almost equal number i.e. 22.7 and 21.5 % of the respondents earn below Rs. 500 and between Rs. 1001 and 1500 respectively. A significant number of respondents i.e. 20 % obtaining monthly income is in the range of Rs. 501 – 1000 while only 12.7% claimed their income was over Rs. 2000.

This village consist very good fertile lands, There is just below half of the respondents i.e. 84 (46.4%) have not possess any land on their own. There are 35 (19.3%) of the respondents possess land between 1- 2.19 acres. A significant number of respondents i.e. 28 (15.5%) and 20 (11.04%) are having land between 2.20 – 4.39 acres and 5 – 9.39 acres respectively. A considerable number of respondents i.e. 14 (7.7%) are owned land 10 and above acres.

Social Dogmatism on Menstruation

Patriarchal societies have tended to control women by first announcing menarche (the onset of menstrual cycle in a young girl) to the world in an apparently celebratory fashion while thereafter attempting to control the implied fertility and sexual power by monthly rites of pollution, restriction and isolation of the menstruating woman.

The various names for menstruation or ‘periods’ point to its polluting quality. For instance in Telugu, it is called samurta or peddamanshi meaning attaining maturity. Menstrual blood is believed to be polluting. There are varying restrictions put on a girl due to this belief such as not touching people or hanging washed clothes out to dry; not touching certain flowering plants lest they die or not fruit; sleeping on a jute bag or woollen blanket away from others. A woman cannot touch her child during menstruation. If she has to, the child must first be unclothed completely or made to wear silken clothes. Visiting or touching images of gods, temples, religious scriptures is also prohibited. A fear is inculcated in the adolescent that she will sin if she breaks these taboos. Restrictions are also placed on diet. These pollution taboos result in many women getting an enforced rest for at least these three days of the month since they are barred from carrying out their normal activities.

Not only is menstrual blood supposed to be dirty, but evil too. A menstruating girl should not let her shadow fall on a child with measles lest the child turn blind. The used menstrual cloth also possesses an evil quality. If men see the cloth, dry or otherwise, they could go blind. If a cow were to swallow the cloth she would curse the girl with infertility. In villages in A.P., women do not throw their menstrual cloth-they either burn it or bury it.

There seem to be some similarities between Hindus and Muslims regarding the practice of some of these rituals. Among Muslims, the menstruating woman should not touch holy books lest they become impure. Converted Christians follow, although to a lesser degree, the rituals of their original castes. The taboos and rituals clearly devalue. Women’s reproductive powers. The notion of women being polluted and unclean can be ascribed to patriarchal control of women’s reproductive powers. While the woman fulfils a vital social role of giving birth to progeny through her biological reproductive capacity, she is, at the same time, isolated during menstruation.

Cultural Practices of Puberty

Most women do not know about the physiology of menstruation and therefore the first experience of menstruation is filled with fear, shame and disgust. In some areas such as in rural areas of A.P. the girl is sometimes told to dub three or four dots of menstrual blood or mustard oil on the wall and draw a line between the second and third or third and fourth; it is believed that she will finish her menstruation within two and a half or three and a half days in all subsequent periods.

Elaborate rituals are performed in south Indian states-as well as in many parts of north India-at the onset of menstruation. The onset of puberty is traditionally viewed in terms of the girl’s emergent sexuality and prospective motherhood. The pubescent girl is given an elaborate ritual bath, after a massage with turmeric and vermillion. The Mudiraj communities in A.P. isolate the pubescent girl for 21 days within the house, away from the male gaze. The room in which she is secluded is separated with an iron rod and a fire is kept constantly burning during this period. Fire signifies purity and also keeps away daiyyam or witches and evil spirits. The girl is polluted and hence prohibited from touching people and other people are not allowed to touch her. In case of default, a bath is essential for ritual purification.

The Impact of the Food Habits on Women Health:

Although women are more or less marginalized and neglected in relation to the quality and quantity of food, certain occasions in a woman’s life are celebrated with the offering of a variety of nutritious foods specially prepared for her. Almost every community has the practice of feeding a girl on her first menstruation with delicious and nutritive foods, with the time of seclusion for the period ranging between nine to 21 days. In parts of A.P., sweets made of jaggery, groundnuts, sesame, fenugreek, wheat flour and sorgum are given to the girl. Menstruation for the first time in the house of one’s in-laws is also considered very auspicious in all regions of A.P. and is celebrated with gaiety.. The idea seems to be to give the girl ‘rich’, that is, strength-giving foods as well as both ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ foods.

Certain ‘hot’ foods (like jaggery) and ‘cold’ foods (like tamarind and lemons) are taboo as it is believed that the girl will suffer from menstrual pain. ‘Hot’ foods may cause heavy bleeding and ‘cold’ foods may cause severe menstrual pain. Special foods are understood to compensate for the loss of blood, regularise the menstrual cycle and flow, strengthen her reproductive organs and generally contribute to her fertility.

Work Prohibition of Pregnant Women:

It is also observed during the fieldwork that almost all the respondents have revealed that prohibition of work is compulsory while a women pregnancy but this notion is varies to one community to another. The higher social status communities are not allowed to perform the works even domestic works also from the early months to after late months of maternity. Whereas weaker section women perform the daily domestic actives some of them perform field activates but it is only in the early months. They should also take rest in the late months of pregnancy and early months of maternity.

Encourage and Disencourage Food Items During the Pregnancy of Women:

During pregnancy and lactation, many traditional communities across the country restrict a woman’s food intake. It is believed that if a pregnant woman eats too much, the foetus will not have room to move. The abdomen is supposed to contain both the food and the foetus and the latter’s space needs should be given greater priority. Another reason for controlling a pregnant woman’s food consumption is perhaps that excess weight would reduce the productivity of her work in the fields and around the house. A widely prevalent practice all over India is shrimanta. In the seventh month of pregnancy special rituals are performed and different types of sweets are prepared and given to the parents-to-be. The purpose is to give moral support and encouragement to the pregnant woman and celebrate her achievement of having reached near full-term. The sweets are generally made of wheat flour, jaggery, ghee, fenugreek and dry fruits. In the final stages of pregnancy, the pregnant woman is supposed to cat these foods custom every day. This is a good custom because it provides the calories and protein needed for the rapidly growing foetus in the last trimester of pregnancy.

Food Items Encourage % Disencourage %

1. Milk 173 95.5 8 4.4

2. Green leafs 148 81.7 33 18.2

3. Toddy 80 44.1 101 55.8

4. Non-Veg 132 72.9 49 27

5. Papaya — — 181 100

6. Potato 49 27 132 72.9

7. Brinjal 50 27.6 131 72.3

The above table explains the villager’s perceptions on encourage and disencourage food items during the pregnancy of women. The data shows that there are 173 (95.5%) of the respondents have stated that they are encouraging milk and its related food items and only insignificant number of respondents i.e.8 (4.4%) are not encouraging the food items of milk. As many as 148 (81.7%) of them revealed that they are encouraging green leafs and rest of the significant number of respondents i.e. 33 (18.2%) are not interested to give the green leafs to the pregnants. Interestingly the data depicts that more than half of the respondents i.e. 101 (55.8%) have said that they are encouraging toddy and 80 (44.1%) of them are not giving taking toddy. A substantial number of the respondents i.e. 132 (72.9%) have expressed that they are encouraging the consummation of non-vegetarian foods like mutton, chicken and egg. The total number of respondents is practicing the prohibition of papaya consummation during the pregnancy. All most all equal number of respondents i.e. 49 (27%) and 50 (27.6%) have revealed that Potato and Brinjal are encouraged food items and as similar 132 (72.9%) and 131 (72.3%) of them are not encouraging the food items of Potato and Brinjal.

The data regarding Caring of Pregnant Women among the Villagers clarifies the pursuance of the opinion of several communities respondents such as Yadava 14 (7.7%), Gouda 3 (1.7%), Munurukapu 11 (6.1%), Oddera 6 (3.3%), Vishwa Brahmin 5 (2.8%), Mala 25 (13.8%), Madiga 21 (11.6%), Padmashali 7 (3.9%), each 3 (1.7%) of Mangali, Dudekula and Erukala, Kumari 2 (1.1%) and each 1 (0.6%) of Pusala, Mera, Chindi and Dakkali have stated that family and their kins are taking care of their pregnant women. In this category the total numbers of SC and ST communities are appeared because of less financial status and peer group pressure. A majority number of working caste like Yadava, Munnurukapu, Oddera, Padmashali, Dudekula and Kummari are appeared. However, these communities’ people are visiting either government or private hospital for check up their health conditions during early pregnant hood as well as before delivery. One more interesting thing that the caste Mangali itself is traditional birth attendant community in this village so we may consider them in response to this query that they are taking care about pregnant as a traditional birth attendant and as a family. On the whole 3 (1.7 %) of Yadava, 2 (1.1 %) Gouda, 1 (0.6 %) of Munnurukapu and Kummari, 8 (4.4 %) of Chakali, 5 (2.7%) of Dudekula and the total number of Mudiraj 7 (4%) community respondent have expressed that traditional birth attendant are taking care about pregnant of their communities. It is important to note that previous these caste people took care about pregnant but at presently they are seeking the help of traditional birth attendant by reason of saving of time. These kind of villagers always busy in their routine work if they involve in the caring process they should be lost more time in order to money also. The data also describes that all most all the respondents of Deshmukh 3 (1.6%), Vysya 4 (2.2%) and Vaisnava 5 (2.7%) communities have revealed that health workers or ANMs are looking after the pregnant women. It may due to the higher awareness regarding health and personal bias or prejudices of health workers or ANMs who are interested to associate with the higher social status communities.

On account of preferable birthplace; the responses of majority respondents i.e. 112 (62%) is that birth at the traditional birth attendant is more preferable. As many as number of respondent i.e. 36 (20%) have revealed that they prepared birthplace is Government Hospitals and the reaming respondents i.e. 32 (18%) have expressed their perception that Private Hospital are preferable to give the birth. The cluster analysis of data also provides the social status wise explanation that there are 7 (4%) of OC respondents, 19 (10.5%) of BCs and 10 (5.5%) of SCs are interested to go to the government hospitals. There are 10 (5.5%) of OCs and 23 (12.7%) of BCs were interested on Privates hospitals. Among the reaming of categories, the more number of BC respondents i.e. 70 (38.5%), 37 (20.5%) and the total number of ST community respondents i.e. 3 (1.7%) and only few {2(1.1%)} of OC respondent are still interested to give birth under the observation or treatment of traditional birth attendant.

Practices after Delivery:

Women underfed themselves during pregnancy and strove for a small baby to ensure easy delivery. Babies were not to be breast fed on first three days and baby-clothes were not used till a ceremony (purudu/Naming) on 9th day to 21st day. Mothers could not leave the delivery room till that day. To minimize the toilet needs, they severely restricted their intake of fluids and food during first week after delivery. Mothers did not wash hands properly; their clothes and linen were often dirty. Newborn babies, even if sick, were not moved out of home. The usual explanations for the sicknesses in neonates were ‘evil eye’, ‘witch craft’, or ill effects of foods eaten by mother.

The practice of breast-feeding female children for shorter periods of time reflects the strong desire for sons. If women are particularly anxious to have a male child, they may deliberately try to become pregnant again as soon as possible after a female is born. Conversely, women may consciously seek to avoid another pregnancy after the birth of a male child in order to give maximum attention to the new son

Summary and Conclusions:

Due to the orthodoxical and traditional dogma, majority numbers of respondent are not possess proper notion on Women’s health. In addition to supernatural beliefs about what brings on disease, women also have some beliefs about the non-physical causes of ill-health. The most commonly found syndrome was ‘weakness’ which consists of fatigue, body ache, ghabrahat (a generic term used for anxiety, fear, restlessness, trepidation, etc.), pallor, low backache and burning of palms and feet. Thus poverty, illiteracy and social backwardness complete the subordination of women. In reality, therefore, most women carry a tremendous degree of mental anguish and agony due to the improper beliefs and practices.

However, practices existed to over come or to tune with the problems, which may be physical, psychological, cultural and environmental. Subsequently practices are to be strengthen in order to persisting as the beliefs. Once, belief is to be got its own identity; the existence of practice should automatically come by the deeds of the victims or followers. Sometimes belief might be deteriorate due to the business, cost effective and the rationalism should also vanish the irrational beliefs so that we can eventually conclude beliefs exist by the practices which may takes place to over come the problems or to adjust with the nature.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief

2. Giger, J.N., & Davidhizar, R. E. (2004): “Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention” (4th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby publication.

3. Spector, R. E. (2004): “Cultural diversity in health & illness” (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Health publication..

4. Bundek, N. I., Marks, G., & Richardson, J. I. (1993): “Role of health locus of control beliefs in cancer screening of elderly Hispanic women”. Health Psychology, 12(3), 193-1999.

5. Pachter, L. M. (1994) “Culture and clinical care: Folk illness beliefs and behaviors and their implications for health care delivery”. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271(9), 690-694.

6. Roberson, M. H. (1987): “Folk health beliefs of health professional”. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 9(2), 257-263.

7. Treistman, J. (1988): “Health beliefs in socio-cultural perspective”. In G. Caliandro & B. L. Judkins (Ed.), Primary nursing practice (pp. 119-133). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Health:

Psychological resources such as hope, optimism, personal control, sense of meaning, and subjective well-being are known to exercise a protective influence on health. The Greek physician Hippocrates anticipated that positive emotions and health outcomes may be linked through multiple pathways. In the developed and developing countries, health is seen as the most valuable asset for a good quality of life, particularly in later years of life. Good health of the citizen is key facilitator to contribute to society. Smith (1990) said, “In the past, good health meant the absence of disease.” Today the definition of health is high level wellness that goes beyond the absence of disease toward one’s maximum potential which includes mind, body and sprit. High level wellness is the integration of health component, i.e. emotional, physical, social, spiritual and mental.

The common origin of the word health from “hoelth”, an English word meaning safe or sound and whole of body (Dolfman, 1973). There is no one contemporary meaning for the term. A nursing oriented definition of health consistent with the theme that the health is a subjective phenomenon that is operationalizable has been proposed by the Lynn. Lynn, 1990 defined health as a subjective representation of a person’s composite evaluation of somatic sense of self (how one is feeling) and functional ability (how one is doing).As such, health is manifested in the subjective judgment that one is experiencing wellness or illness. These subjective experiences are dynamic and are an outgrowth of person and environment interactions. As long as a person is capable of evaluating how he/she is feeling and doing at some level, the person has health.

The World Health Organization (WHO, 1948) defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Thus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has very clearly indicated that the absence of disease is not enough for health. This, definition emphasizes on positive and negative dimensions of health. Negative health or ill health has a subjective component expressed in the concept of illness and discomforts and an objective component express in concept of disease, injury, handicap or deformity. Positive health has two components: wellbeing and fitness. This state entails an appropriate balance of the physical, mental, social ingredients. Fitness can be considered as the objective physical components, where as, wellbeing can indicate the psychosocial component of positive health.

Lau (1995) found that when young healthy adults were asked to describe in their own words “what being healthy means to you?” their beliefs about health could be understood within the following dimensions:-

Ø     Physiological/Physical- good condition, having energy.

Ø     Pathological-happy, energetic, feels good psychologically.

Ø     Behavioural-eat and sleep properly.

Ø     Future consequence-live longer.

Ø     The absence of, e.g., sickness, disease & symptoms.

Kasl and Cobb (1966) states that health behaviour is any activity undertaken by a person believing himself to be healthy for the purpose of preventing disease or detecting it at an asymptomatic stage. Therefore, positive health can be defined as activities that may prevent disease, detect disease and disability at an early stage, promote and enhance health, or protect from risk of injury. Thus, “positive health can be defined as any activity undertaken by individual with a frequency or intensity that increases health or reduces disease”

As, we all know that the good health is a gift of God, but having good health is not sufficient but to maintain it also equally important. For this reason one should also focus on healthy lifestyle and positive thinking.

ADOPT A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Exercise regularly. Physical activity plays a key role in reducing and preventing the effects of stress. Make time for at least 30 minutes of exercise, three times per week. Nothing beats aerobic exercise for releasing pent-up stress and tension.

Eat a healthy diet. Well-nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so be mindful of what you eat. Start your day right with breakfast, and keep your energy up and your mind clear with balanced, nutritious meals throughout the day.

Reduce caffeine and sugar. The temporary “highs” caffeine and sugar provide often end in with a crash in mood and energy. By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks, chocolate, and sugar snacks in your diet, you’ll feel more relaxed and you’ll sleep better.

Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Self-medicating with alcohol or drugs may provide an easy escape from stress, but the relief is only temporary. Don’t avoid or mask the issue at hand; deal with problems head on and with a clear mind.

Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep fuels your mind, as well as your body. Feeling tired will increase your stress because it may cause you to think irrationally.

The positive aspect of health is reflected in the Arabian proverb, “A man, who is healthy, has an optimistic view and who has an optimistic view, has everything” (Husain, 2005).

POSITIVE THINKING FOR GOOD HEALTH:

Happy people are always focusing on good events and worthy quality of life; they have optimistic view of life. Positive thinking can help people to gain peace of mind, obtain better health and attain an unceasing stream of energy. Positive thinking can have a beneficial effect on people’s health by increasing a person’s intellectual, physical, psychological, and social resources. Positive thinking leads to opportunity, Positive thinking is healthy. By practicing positive thinking one can enhance positive emotions, feeling and positive mental attitude which improve the quality of peoples lives and heal their bodies from illness and stresses.

According to Frederickson (2001) Positive emotions increase people’s physical, cognitive and social resources, which in turn help them cope more effectively with stressful experiences and live healthier.

According to Nudel and Nudel, positive thinking is an effective way to achieve mastery of bio-energy healing. Maintenance of a positive energy level in a healer’s own bio-energy field reduces stress and emotional tension in the healer and in others positive emotions and feelings and a positive mental attitude can improve the quality of people’s lives and heal their bodies of illnesses and stresses.

On the other hand, negative emotions and feelings bring poisonous toxins to the organism. Strong negative emotions such as anger, spite, envy, jealousy, and fear make the endocrine system accumulate poisons in the blood. Anxiety, depression, and doubt can also cause poisoning of the blood. Passive and lengthy negative emotions are even more dangerous for health than for active, sudden and momentary negative emotions. Negative emotions shorten the span of life. Treatment of physical symptoms with positive thoughts and statements was popularized in France a century ago, and it still has the power to overcome unwanted states (stress, tension, and unhappiness). Thoughts and feelings make up reality and add color to it. So, unhappiness brings a gray world and reality. To change a gray world and to overcome the feeling of unhappiness, anxiety, or tension, one needs to refocus the mind on positive, healing thoughts. When people predict that something wrong is going to happen to them, it is more likely to happen because negative thoughts will be reflected in their unconscious. Moreover, the person may develop psychosomatic illnesses (about 70% of all illnesses are psychosomatic, or caused by mental stress). Psychosomatic illnesses worsen when given special attention. Instead of paying direct attention to pain or illness, every time a negative thought occurs, say something like, “It will be better than I think.” When a wish of any desired condition is established in the mind, somehow the unconscious mind leads the wish to realization-not magically, but through mental programming. Besides healing illnesses, positive attitudes help one to withstand troubles and problems, make correct decisions, and overcome obstacles. Do not focus on negative events; try to discover a positive perspective. For example, individuals should understand that they need to read more or think more of others in order to find the ways of perfect communications. Because the thoughts of individuals are either positive or negative, they are reflected in their social or asocial behaviors. People should observe and conceive the world around them, as well as their inner worlds, with positive perceptions. Healers should have “a positive mind state” before they begin practicing bio-energy healing. Healers communicate with other people giving them energy. “Negative” energy cannot bring healing; only damage and it is destructive for both a healer and a healee. Healing energy is “a positive energy” sent by “a positive mind.” Your thoughts are in your control, and they can be very powerful.

Positive thoughts can motivate healthy behaviors, such as eating healthy food and being active. It’s simple really. If you believe you can take 10,000 steps a day, you will be more likely to take an extra walk to meet your goal. If you know you can avoid holiday weight gain, you’ll feel great when you pass the tempting dessert buffet, and fit comfortably in your winter clothes. If you set your mind to do something, you can do it. Positive thinking can also help you achieve and maintain healthy behaviors, such as becoming more physically active or limiting your sugar intake.

Peale (1996) has measured the success of positive-thinkers and found that those who think positively they can lose weight, or increase their physical activity, these people are more successful than people with less faith in themselves. The confidence you have in performing a certain behavior is called self-efficacy; and self-efficacy is a key in successful behavior change.

A “can-do” attitude may be just what it takes to jumpstart a healthier lifestyle. Best of all, your attitude is something you can control. You have the choice to have a positive outlook. Chances are when you choose to think positively, you’ll feel better about yourself and be able to perform better in whatever you do.

HOW TO STAY POSITIVE:

Positive thinkers admit when they feel frustrated or depressed. They don’t ignore it. But they also don’t blame themselves. Instead, they try to understand the negative thoughts and feelings and counter them with more positive ones. So how do you stay positive, maintain momentum and sustain healthy behaviors? Here are few tips given by Peale (1996):-

Ø     Look for a good role model. There is always someone who seems to be doing just what you want to be doing. Maybe they’ve scheduled exercise into their workday and switched from coffee to herbal tea. Learn from a successful friend, family member or colleague. Ask them how they keep healthy and follow in their footsteps.

Ø     Try some positive self-talk and avoid negative-talk. Take a minute to give yourself an ego boost. Repeat some motivational words out loud or to yourself. Negative talk, “I can’t do it,” “I’m fat,” is dangerous for your well-being and healthy goals. Try to avoid the negative self-talk before it harms you. Remind yourself that you deserve happiness and can make positive changes.

Ø     Get support. Tell your friends and family about your healthy habits. It helps to have an encouraging network.

Ø     Reward yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back for your healthy efforts. Take a nice bath, get a massage, and enjoy a new DVD or CD.

Ø     Have a plan. Making a plan to exercise or eat healthy lunches with a friend can mean the difference of sticking with your goals or falling off track. If you’ve planned for an activity, you’ll likely stick with it. You may even find that writing down your goals and steps to achieve them can help you stay on track. Take it day by day or week by week. The process of writing down your personal action plan is a good way to keep you honest and watch your progress or pitfalls.

Positive thinking is mental attitude that enters into the mind through words and images that are conducive to growth, expansion and success. It is mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action, whatever the mind expects, it finds.

The power of positive thinking can change and improve your life. Maintaining positive thinking and attitude will drive you to success, healthy life and happiness. Positive thinking is a habit that is right practice. Positive thinking is something you have to do everyday as often as possible and whenever you can. By practicing positive thinking everyday, you create a state of mind where you are constantly positive- it becomes a state of being positive. By doing this at last you will find an amount of positive energy that will create a positive situation for you everyday. Positive emotions and feelings and a positive mental attitude can improve the quality of people’s lives and heal their bodies of illnesses and help to regain health.

One approach to positive thinking given by Martin (1991) is called the three C’s: Commitment, Control and Challenge.

Commitment: Make a positive commitment to yourself, to learning, work, family, friends, nature, and other worthwhile causes. Praise yourself and others, Always dream of success, Be enthusiastic.

Control: Keep your mind focused on important things. Set goals and priorities for what you think and do. Visualize practicing your actions. Develop a strategy for dealing with problems. Learn to relax. Enjoy successes. Be honest with yourself.

Challenge: Be courageous. Change and improve each day. Do your best and don’t look back. See learning and change as opportunities. Try new things. Consider several options. Meet new people. Ask lots of questions. Keep track of your mental and physical health. Be optimistic.

Martin (1991) has shown that people with these characteristics are winners in good times and survivors in hard times. “……People who begin consciously to modify their inner conversations and assumptions report an almost immediate improvement in their performance. Their energy increases and things seem to go better…”

Commitment, control and challenge help build self-esteem, reduce stress, live healthier and promote positive thinking.

Mental and emotional expectations can influence medical outcomes. The effectiveness of any medical treatment depends in part on how useful you expect it to be. As we know that our feeling of ineffectiveness of recourses lead us to stressful situation, we can overcome this situation by maximizing our efforts and our positive thoughts like “I can do it, even with limited resources” “So what, if I am running short of recourses, I can manage this.” This thinking can only be developed through positive thinking.

Positive affirmations are created through positive thinking to counter negative thoughts. These affirmations neutralize negative thoughts and build your self confidence. Positive affirmations give ways to the opportunities that are always present to some degree in a difficult situation.

Positive thinking help one to withstand troubles and problems, make correct decisions and overcome obstacles, stresses, and remains healthy. People should observe and conceive the world around them, as well as their inner worlds, with positive perceptions.

Spiritual strength promotes positive thinking, positive ideas, positive habits, positive attitudes, and positive efforts. There are qualities that promote wisdom, physical and mental well-being. Positive emotions stimulate the nervous system that protects the heart and reduces blood pressure. A realistic assessment of one’s limitations, the development of autonomy, and an ability to cope effectively with stress enable individuals to boost their positive thinking. The ability to recognize, accept and manage our feelings plays an integral role in our emotional development.

Meaning in life is very important for developing positive thinking. Those who are having meaning in their life are more likely to develop positive thinking. It has been observed that people who have meaning in their lives are keener to reduce stress for healthy life.

To develop positive thinking the person should be open to new ideas, activities and doing new things and new innovations, so that they can be more positive in their thinking.

The positive thinking can be developed by positive self talk, healthy attitudes, following effective fitness programmes (healthy diet), financially sound, hopefulness, new ideas, sense of responsibility etc. we can also develop positive thinking by acquiring new knowledge through stimulating mental activities that allows us to create environment in which useful and productive lives can be enjoyed.

Practicing positive self-talk will improve your outlook. When your state of mind is generally optimistic, you’re able to handle everyday stress in a constructive way. That ability may contribute to the widely observed health benefits of positive thinking. Positive thinking decreased negative stress. As it is very much clear that the people who think positively are more optimistic than the people who don’t.

CONCLUSION:

It is very much clear from the above discussion that the people who think positively enjoy better and healthy life. Positive thoughts can motivate healthy behaviors, such as eating healthy food and being active. Positive thinking is the process of creating thoughts, that creates and focus energy into reality, to bring into creation a positive outcome, which you see as a benefit to yourself or others. This is a powerful gift that we all have but a lot of people are not aware of it.

Thus, we can say positive events are even sweeter when you see them as evidence of more to come, and see yourself as the master of your own fate.  Therefore, we can say those who habitually practice positive thinking tend to experience more success, which can add up to a less stressful and healthier life. The power of positive thinking can change and improve your life. Maintaining positive thinking and attitude will drive you to success, healthy life and happiness.

Getting into medical school is a rigorous procedure that requires many steps. For instance, whereas other graduate school programs require only one personal statement, many medical school applications require that the student write two personal statements: an AMCAS application essay, and a secondary application essay.

How does AMCAS work?

AMCAS is an application processing service that allows you to put together just one application, which is then submitted to all of the medical schools of your choice. One of the pieces of your AMCAS application is your primary personal statement.

Because your AMCAS application essay is submitted to multiple schools at once, it focuses on the applicant, leaving out the school-specific information that many graduate school personal statements include. As a result, many medical schools require prospective students to submit a secondary application essay, which is written with that specific school in mind.

What Does My AMCAS Personal Statement Need to Include?

Most graduate schools require that your personal statement address your interest in that school, as well as answering a range of questions about yourself. When you use AMCAS to apply for medical school, however, you will need to omit the school-specific information in order to create a primary personal statement that can be submitted to all of your chosen schools.

The AMCAS personal statement or primary application essay should always answer two different types of questions:

Why do you want to be a physician? As with any personal statement, this question should not be answered by stating that you have always wanted to be a doctor. Likewise, you should avoid espousing a desire to “help people.” These are clichéd responses that not only fail to convey anything concrete about you, but also have been undoubtedly used by many other applicants. Instead, you should use anecdotes of your personal experiences to show, rather than tell, your interest in the field of medicine.

Why are you qualified to be a physician? Your personal statement also needs to demonstrate the qualities that will make you a dedicated medical student and a skilled physician. For example, you can discuss other interests that you have, describing the qualities that have helped you to excel, and explaining how those qualities will benefit your education and career. Other examples of material for your personal statement include stories from your hospital experiences that demonstrate how you interact with patients, or stories from your laboratory experiences that demonstrate your insight and dedication in a research environment.

How is the Secondary Personal Statement Different?

Some medical schools require a secondary personal statement, in addition to your standard AMCAS application. This application essay is meant to give the school a closer look at each applicant, particularly more individualized information such as why you are interested in that school.

Secondary personal statements usually are focused on answering specific questions. Examples of questions that many medical schools ask include:

Why you want to attend that school – As with a personal statement for any other graduate school, you may be asked to indicate that you are familiar with the specific program. Research the school and take note of any professors whose work you admire. Your essay can also mention factors such as location and other program advantages, but don’t make it sound like your reasoning is based solely on geography or school rating.

Where you envision yourself in ten years – Some medical schools may also ask about your long-term career goals. These admission boards are looking for personal statements that reflect the writer’s ambition and career focus. A student who has not given a lot of thought to their career path is more likely to fail to complete the program, so be sure that you convey your passion and dedication to your chosen career.

The specific clinical experiences that influenced your decision – If you are asked this question, do not interpret it as a request to repeat information given in your AMCAS personal statement. Instead, use it as an example to provide information that you didn’t have space for in your primary application essay, or fill in the gaps that your other anecdotes have left.

What Else Do I Need to Know about Writing a Medical School Personal Statement?

Regardless of whether you are writing a primary (AMCAS) or secondary personal statement, you need to be sure your essay will stand apart from all the rest. For instance, you should be sure to:

Use anecdotes to illustrate your points. Personal stories not only make your personal statement unique and memorable, but also illustrate your qualifications and personality to the admissions board.

Avoid generalizations. Although stating – either in your thesis or your title – that you have always wanted to be a doctor may seem to answer the question concisely, this does not really convey anything about you, either as a student or as a prospective doctor.

Avoid clichés. Almost all the personal statements the admissions board reads will contain at least one cliché – and probably more. By avoiding clichés in your application essay, you will ensure that your writing is not only unique, but also more interesting than the competition.

Be concise. Although it is important to avoid generalizations and add personal detail in your application essay, you also don’t want to bore your readers. Make sure that your writing is as concise as it can be without losing important detail.

Proofread your work. The last thing you want to do is to give the admissions board the impression of a hastily thrown-together personal statement. To avoid typos, grammatical errors, and other problems in your essay, be sure to proofread and revise your work several times before submitting it.

Writing a Winning Medical School Personal Statement

Applying to medical school can be an intimidating process. The stakes are high, the competition is fierce, and the application itself can be quite length and complicated. Writing both an AMCAS application essay and at least one secondary personal statement can be quite an alarming prospect, as well.

However, it is important to remember that writing your personal statements for medical school is not that much different than for other graduate programs: The information is simply broken up into primary and secondary application essays, instead of all being contained in one. With the right information and mindset, writing your medical school personal statement doesn’t have to be difficult at all!

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