Cleric Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was on to something when he wrote the best-selling book “The Power of Positive of Thinking” in 1952. Positive thinkers have longer lifespans, lower rates of depression, reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, greater resistance to colds, and coping mechanisms during stressful periods. Positive thinkers are also inclined to live more healthy lifestyles, exercising more, eating more healthy foods, and not drinking or smoking excessively.
Dancing is another way to socialize, and you don’t have to be a salsa or ballroom dancing pro to enjoy the benefits. As a cardio activity, dancing improves the condition of your heart and lungs; boosts muscular strength, endurance, and motor fitness; provides better weight management; reduces risk of osteoporosis; improves agility, flexibility, and balance; and lifts your confidence. Pick the right dance for you. Warm up and drink plenty of water before you get out on the dance floor, and don’t overdo it.
Most people have heard of “runners’ high.” This high applies not only to runners, but to all people engaged in a physical activity. During exercise, the body releases endorphins, which trigger a positive, happy feeling, just like morphine. Some research suggests that even just 10 minutes of exercise is enough to induce feelings of happiness. People who exercise about 10 minutes a day are more cheerful than those who never exercise. Physical activity can help protect against depression regardless of age and geographical region, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Meditation has been associated for a long time with physiological benefits such as lowering blood pressure and helping to ease migraine headaches. Some studies have found that meditation has certain cognitive benefits as well, such as preventing brain cells from dying, helping people focus, and dealing with stress. Meditation helps reset the happiness point in the brain, rewiring major parts of it.
It’s easy to be lazy as we stay home during the pandemic because we can’t go to the gym and instead spend days and nights binge-watching television series. You can use this time at home to work out and still watch your shows. Work out during commercials and do stretches or jumping jacks. Instead of munching on a snack, do some pushups. If you have to watch your show through the credits crawl, do some sit ups. Exercise while watching replays of great games of the past by running in place.
Technology has become an addiction. A Pew Research study found that 84% of cell phone users say they can’t go one day without their device. It stems from FOMO — the fear of missing out — a psychological condition connected with our need to be connected to our devices. To keep from being ruled by your devices, start your day without going on your phone. Power down your phone for a brief period, say lunch or dinner, and do so on a regular basis. Use tools available on the internet to block distracting websites, and manage your time more wisely.
The importance of stretching increases as we age because as we get older, our muscles get shorter and become less elastic. Doing strength training and cardio activity without doing stretches contracts the muscles and puts you at risk for strains. Stretching improves flexibility, helps reduce the risk of injury, gives you greater range of motion, and also improves your workout.
The elephant, one of the ‘sons of Sahya’, as pachyderms that live in the lower regions of the Western Ghats are called, had his fill early in the day one morning in 2016. As the sun rose high in the forests of Nelliyampathy hills, I waited patiently for him to make a move and he did, at his own pace. I followed quietly as he walked. As the temperature rose and it got warmer, he walked on. I knew where he was headed to. It was the dry season, which meant the stream wouldn’t have much water, not enough for him to get in for a splash. On reaching the stream, he dipped his trunk and gulped the water. With each gulp, water gushed out from the snout. I found that sight of water from the trunk filling his mouth magical. The jet of ‘waterfall’ was a relief and strength for the elephant to carry on.
Although I had been following him regularly for almost a decade in and around this same forest, I had never been able to capture such a dramatic moment until then. Only when he moved did I realise how close I had been to him, and that realisation also brought along the satisfaction of this wonderful picture, which I would not have been able to capture had I been any closer or farther. This photograph was among the finalists for four international competitions, including Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.
Many wildlife photographers, especially those from Kerala, associate wildlife and the open spaces with the colour green. It was my trip to Antarctica in January 2017 that completely changed such ideas and my sense of perspective and my idea of scale. Even in the grasslands, you can only see for a metres around. Here, sans pollution or humidity, it was possible to observe the landscape kilometres away. The predominant colours there are white, black and blue.
Black rocks jutting here and there in the white expanse of land was the only sign of any colour till I chanced upon a sunset and a sunrise somewhere near Wilhelmina Bay. Sunset was at around 11.30 pm and the sun was up within the next half an hour since we were at the pole. So one side of the land was bathed in shades of red, gold, mauve and ochre while the other side was still clothed in the shades of the night. It was a mesmerising sight of the grandeur of our planet, one I will never forget.
The saline lake’s bubblegum pink color likely comes from microorganisms living inside of it.
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