-Immune System Connection..(Part 2)

tion at early onset.

As a therapist,what does your work entail and can you describe a basic patient consultation?

I’m a research scientist who investigates how stress, disease, or genedeficiency influence our ability to learn and or remember.Because our interest rest on cognitive behavior therapy, meaning we attempt to have individuals realize that situations don’t give rise to our feelings/behavior, but rather our thoughts concerning the situation influence our feelings/behavior, this is what we address first and foremost before determining a specific therapy plan. This means our first session with client would involve orienting the client to the model of cognitive behavior therapy that makes them aware that this is a partnership that involves transparency and collaboration. We then assess the client’s concerns and finally set initial treatment plan/goals together.

Occupational therapy helps individuals optimise their performances in meaningful activities. For children, what would this comprise of?

Although I’m not an OT, I celebrate their mandate and techniques that I feel all parents must apply daily in their children’s lives. For example a child could benefit from hand exercises to learn how to correctly hold a writing utensil or strengthen their core muscles for correct and comfortable sitting. Little things like these that can be easily taken for granted play a significant role in a child’s cognitive performance because all communication is sent to the brain that in turn sends a message to the rest of the body on how to respond. One of my friends likes to remind me that “you don’t use it, you will lose it”. So OT techniques are great in making us strengthen a lot of neuronal connections which is a win-win.

What are the tools of the trade that you use the most? Favorite gadget or remedy?

I’m a total fan of play, so I always have stress diffusers like fidget toys, stress balls etc that not only help the client to relax, but also stimulates various neurons forming or strengthening neuronal connections while chatting about something unrelated. I don’t go anywhere without the toy box.

Patience, patience, and patience. Then you must add tolerance and acceptance. When I was in primary school, I used to hear my aunt who was a nurse speak of a friend’s daughter who went to study medicine that ‘she has the brain for it, but not the heart’. I didn’t understand that until I chose my career path because I used those words to guide me. People just want to be loved and they want to know that you care. Anyone can earn academic skills, but without a heart for your job, you’re a liability.

What are the major challenges you have faced in your chosen career?

I take the client’s concerns home and pray for them. I sometimes dream about them and solutions. It’s not a bad thing, but it at times occupies my mind a bit more than I find to be normal.

Continues next week…

On a basic level, what skills does your job demand?

Loosing sleep part 1

All living beings are governed by the need for sleep from the beginning of time. Sleep is considered to be critical necessary components to life, if you do not sleep or an animal does not sleep it dies, Yet for many modern day humans sleep has become elusive.

Being exposed to light during the night even at low levels has adverse effects on sleep.

Today lack of sleep affects all age groups .Insomnia is very common.It is estimated that 10 % of adults around the world suffers from insomnia and in a space of 50 years we have lost some one and half hours of sleep per night around the world.

In just 2 generation we have lost 90 minutes of sleep each night, today the average modern person sleeps less that 7 hours a night ,one out of 18 to 35 year olds sleeps less than 6 hours a night. One reason is the omni presence of blue light. It does not just bother us when it is time to sleep, it throws our every day lives out of harmony with planet earth; adolescents fall sleep much later and later ,half of them suffer greatly from sleep deprivation or sleep debt. Today many families can afford electricity which used to be expensive in the past but now it is so much cheaper to the extent that you find cellings covered with in built bulbs that when you switch on you are bathed with blue rich artificial light.

The light and dark is the most important times of our bodies and this periods meant to keep our bodies healthy.

How do you recover sleep that has been lacking for so long? (if its caused by modern artificial light)

You need to know how to switch off at night. Above all it is important to not use a lit screen after 8 pm that’s one of the reasons that has contributed to this epidemic of lack of sleep in our society. Our modern smartphones emit blue light and flood us and we do not notice ,the white light of our smartphones contains pallet of colors ranging from red to violet but blue color dominate, continuous exposure to this kind of light during the night our bodies interpret it as afternoon and our brain does not allow us to sleep.