Increased
use of social media in rural India is making villagers sick. Out of every
six social media addicts, one person is likely to develop health problems,
including depression, anxiety and antisocial behaviour, says a study.
The study
was conducted by King Geroge’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow and Uttar
Pradesh Health Strengthening Project (UPHSP) on 12,000 people between the age
group of 13 and 75 in four districts of Uttar Pradesh. The study revealed that
90% of them suffer from severe mental health issues. The aim of the survey was
to study stress level, a person’s ability to cope with it, depression and
social media addiction.
Dr PK
Dalal, head of psychiatry department in KGMU, talked about how inadequate sleep
is associated with radiations from mobile screens. He said: “Radiations from
mobile screens affect the flow of melatonin, a hormone which controls a human’s
body clock. Melatonin regulates sleep, but due to radiations coming from mobile
screens, which alters melatonin flow, people tend to stay awake late at night. When
a person does not get enough sleep, he is likely to catch other diseases.”
It was
revealed in the study that anaemia, breathlessness, and heart attack cases in
villages have gone up over the years. On the other hand, diseases like hyper
tension, obesity, diabetes, kidney and intestine-related diseases are common in
cities.
Dr Dalal
advised that a person should take six-eight hours of sleep. Inadequate sleep
increases cravings for junk food and sweets, making people obese. “It increases
the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. Inadequate sleep also damages
cells in the human body,” said Dr Dalal.
The
study revealed that every fifth person has been suffering from various health
issues for a long time now. Most of them suffer either from high blood pressure
or anaemia. The stress of studies was common among teenagers.
According
to a report published by Kantar IMRB in 2018, of the 130 crore people in India,
56 crore were internet users, out of which 31.5 crore were from cities while the
rest — 25.1 crore — were from villages. In 2018, there was an increase of 35%
internet consumers from villages.
Dr Sujit
Kar, a psychiatrist in KGMU, said: “Earlier, people would talk to each other in
their spare time. They would play their favourite games, they would walk
outside. These were common among villagers. But nowadays people don’t play
games, physical activities have reduced. A person not involved in physical
activities is likely to gain weight, and will get hit by diabetes, high blood
pressure and insomnia.”
There
are 30 crore Facebook users in India, according to the recent data of Facebook, nearly 20 crore are WhatsApp users, which are on the rise. People are so
addicted to social media that they don’t even take enough sleep and food.
“Social
media websites have become an important part of people’s lives. People become
restless if they get disconnected with social media, even for a little while,”
explained Dr Dalal.
“Many
researches have revealed that 70% of diseases affecting a human body are associated
with mental health problems. And mental health gets affected when a person is
under stress. When you will be stress-free, your body will also support you.
So, if you remain healthy mentally, you will be healthy physically,” concluded
Dr Dalal.
