Expert stresses need to balance physical fitness and mental health

Mysuru: Emphasising the need to keep oneself in a pleasant state of mental wellbeing, while simultaneously ensuring physical fitness, former professor and deputy medical superintendent at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) Dr CR Chandrashekar on Wednesday said, “Balancing physical and mental health is the key to leading a happy and peaceful life. Also, it is only when we strike this balance that we will be able to discharge our duties effectively.”
Dr Chandrashekar, who inaugurated a six-day workshop on ‘Art of Counselling’ organised by the ATME College of Engineering in Mysuru, opined that the startling pace of the transformation sweeping across all domains relating to human life had resulted in stress levels of individuals spiraling upwards. “Yes, technological advancements have most certainly made life more comfortable, but they have also served to increase our stress levels. Both our professional and personal lives have borne the brunt of our excessively strenuous lifestyle. Counselling at the right juncture can help one combat stress; this is particularly effective for college students. Besides helping students excel in academics, counseling will help make them better individuals. In professional colleges, the teachers must don the role of mentors to their students. Unfortunately, faculty members in engineering colleges do not have the adequate knowledge to offer counseling. It is to address this lacuna that the college has organised this six-day workshop,” Dr Chandrashekar said.
The former Nimhans professor also delivered a lecture on ‘Growth and Development of Adolescents, Mental Disorders of Adolescents Including Problems in Academics’.
In the course of the six-day workshop, experts in psychiatry and psychology will hold sessions. While AS Ramachandra will lecture on the emotional problems faced by youngsters, Lalitha Rao will talk about preventing addiction among students. Anand, meanwhile, will deliver a talk on the practice of counseling, while YV Gundu Rao is expected to touch upon life skills in education. The workshop will conclude with another session by Dr Chandrashekar, who will lecture on ‘Relationship: Sexual Issues and Positive Health’.
ATME college principal Basavaraj said that professional knowledge about counseling was a prerequisite for teachers to help their students. “Participating teachers must look at this workshop as a way of adding something to their knowledge that will further help their students,” he said.