The James Bond Shower

 

You may not drive a car like James Bond, or play cards and win in a casino like him, or defeat multiple assailants in unarmed combat, and definitely may not be able to save the world umpteen times like him, but you can still have a shower like him. 

To the ignorant, the ‘James Bond Shower’ or ‘Scottish Shower’ starts by showering with water at a temperature as hot as you can tolerate and then shutting down the hot water so that the water temperature now becomes icy cold and then staying at least 1-3 minutes under this cascading icy cold water.

Although there do not appear to be any strong scientific studies, people claim that this ‘James Bond Shower’ has multiple benefits. Some of the benefits claimed may be due to the hot water shower first leading to increase circulation by dilatation of the blood vessels in the skins and peripheral parts of the body and then the cold water causing these blood vessels to constrict. Some benefits appear to be related just to the cold water shower at the end. So if not the complete ‘James Bond Shower’ routine you can simply try taking a cold shower for the claimed physical and mental benefits.

The claimed health benefits are an improved immune system, improved circulation, better skin and hair, better and faster recovery from exercise, and exertion-induced muscle soreness such as after a tough workout at the gym and relief from muscular pain, and increase life span and longevity.

It is claimed to even promote weight loss as exposure to cold water increases the metabolic activity in the body to produce more body heat to fight the cold temperature and increases the percentage of heat-producing brown fat in the body.

Other benefits claimed are stress relief, better mood, and relief from depression. This is thought to be due to the release of endorphins after the cold shower.  

It is also claimed to lead to an increase in willpower. After all, you do require strong willpower to stand under the cold shower in winter. This increased willpower can lead to an overall improvement in your success level in all facets of your life.

If you feel groggy, listless, and dull on getting up in the morning then the ‘James Bond Shower’ is the perfect prescription to start your day with energy and vigor.  When splashing cold water on the face can wake up an unconscious person, imagine how each part of your body will really wake up when you spray the entire body with cold water. A cold shower on a winter morning can be more effective than a cup of coffee or tea to really wake you up.

If you want to switch over to the ‘James Bond Shower’ or simply to a cold shower, except for the alpha persons, you can slowly build up your tolerance and habit of the cold shower by gradually using colder and colder water over few weeks.

But beware. The ‘James Bond Shower’ or cold shower may not be suitable for everyone, especially for the very young or the very old, persons suffering from some medical ailments such as high or low blood pressure, heart diseases, asthma, and respiratory disorders, weak immune system, thyroid diseases, etc. Be safe and consult your doctor before trying anything.

So next time when you meet your friends and they ask the secret of newfound health and vitality, you may say, ‘Its name is Bond, James Bond.’

— ND

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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to MCI and other Board norms.

Where is the time?

Whenever a doctor advises his/her patient to do some exercise, do some relaxation and meditation, take better care of his/her body, the common excuse we hear is that, ‘I don’t have the time’. 

I received a WhatsApp message a few days back that stated,

‘After this lockdown, if you don’t come out:

With a better body, a new degree or skill,

Then it was never a question of lack of time

But a lack of discipline and will power.’

True?

Although the work of many essential service providers like doctors and other para-medical staff, the Police, the administration, etc., might have increased, many others are indeed having extra spare time on their hands due to the lockdown to contain the coronavirus infection. Even those working from home are saving time in traveling to and from their offices. Out of these, how many have done the things they had justified not doing previously because they did not have the time?

Deep down I knew it to be true, as I had seen this in action right in my post-graduation (MS) days.

Dr. Dev (Fictional Name) was MS Surgery Junior Resident in AIIMS, New Delhi. This is the same AIIMS whose junior residents had challenged Indian Prime Minister Shri Narender Modi Ji to work a single day like them. Under the pressure to complete the Sisyphean task of the ward work to the perfection of the senior resident and consultants, Dr. Dev and his fellow junior residents like Dr. Murari (Fictional Name) struggled to find time to eat even a single full meal in a day.

In contrast, on many nights, the same unit’s final year junior resident, Dr. Robert Gupta (Fictional Name), even before the evening round started had done half the work, finished most of the work within few minutes of completion of the senior resident’s evening round, and then giving a list of the remaining work to be completed to Dr. Dev and Dr. Murari, he will be off to dinner with one of his lady friends.

While Dr. Dev and his fellow junior residents struggled to have a decent meal a day in the hostel mess, Dr. Robert was able to find/create time to take his lady friends to dinner in restaurants. So it was a question of prioritizing, smart work, short cuts, delegation, not running after the impossible target to complete the ward work to perfection and not just lack to time, which Dr. Dev was too stupid to realize at that time.

Wait! You are probably shouting now. A young male under the influence of his male hormones and driven by the passion of love can accomplice impossible tasks. The same cannot be applicable to doing things like exercises and self-improvements.

For that we will have to hear the story of another junior resident, Dr. Biplab Mishra, who joined as a junior resident in the Department of Surgery, AIIMS, New Delhi, around the same time period.

During the residency, the junior residents are posted in different departments of AIIMS, such as CTVS, Neurosurgery, Urology, Orthopaedics, etc. Since the junior resident is seen as a visiting doctor on their rotation postings, some department gives some more free time to the junior residents on rotation as compared to the parent general surgery department. Instead of wasting this relatively free time in just watching movies and TV, Dr. Biplab, when on rotation used the free time to do the basic course of Meditation and Pranayama (Yogic Breathing Exercises) and Sudarshan Kriya® of the Art of Living Foundation.

During the course, the instructor highlighted the importance the doing the yogic exercises daily without a gap of even a single day. If the person misses doing the daily Kriya even for a single day, the cycle gets broken and the beneficial effects on the mind and body get interrupted. A person has to start counting again as day one when he restarts doing this yogic practice once again. Also, the entire breathing exercises, which take around 40 to 45 minutes, have to be completed without any interruption; not even opening the eyes or talking to someone.

Unperturbed, Dr. Biplab resolved that he will do the pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya® daily without any gap. When people learned of his resolution, they thought that it is impossible to find the uninterrupted 40 to 45 minutes daily to do these yogic exercises while working as a junior resident in the Department of Surgery in AIIMS.

With the great determination that there should not be even a gap of a single day, Dr. Biplab Mishra managed to do this Pranayama and yogic exercises daily even when working as a junior resident in AIIMS, New Delhi. Even now, while working as Professor in AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. Biplab takes time out from his busy schedule to practice his daily yoga exercises.

These two example shows without a doubt that it is never lack of time, but your interest, your priority, your time management skills, your dedication and discipline that determine if you do something or not. Don’t justify your laziness and lack of interest by labeling it as a ‘lack of time’.

On a lighter note, when next time I ask you, ‘Have you read my blog?’ and you say, ‘I did not have the time’ ……. 

(Based on allegedly true incidents)

— ND

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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, leg,al and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, leg,al, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to MCI and other Board’s norms.

The Stairs Case

Dr. Dev (Fictional Name) in his school days had read climbing stairs was a very good exercise. So he started taking and stars and avoiding taking the elevator (lift) whenever possible.

When he came to AIIMS, New Delhi as MBBS student it was a golden place to practice the stair climbing. The Pre-Clinical block was three floors high, the Clinical and Para-Clinical block and the OPD block was five floors high and the ward blocks were eight floors high. Also, the connecting passage between these different block was open on the different floor. For example, to go from the fourth-floor Clinical block to the 4th-floor Urology ward, you have to first go to the fifth floor, cross from there to the ward block and then go down back to the fourth floor.

When Dr. Dev, as an MBBS student used to go to the wards postings or classes along with his batch mates, he used to part way with the group near the lift (elevator), take the stairs and meet them once again at the destination floor.

Dev naturally thought that his classmates will appreciate his fitness attempt by taking the stairs, but he was sadly mistaken.

Once he parted way with his classmates near the lift (elevator) to take the stairs, one of his classmates said with a pitiful look on her face, “Dev, have you consulted any psychiatrist for your fear of traveling in the lift?”

It appears that due to his insistence of always taking the stairs and never the elevator, few of Dev’s batchmate have thought that Dr. Dev was suffering from a psychiatric phobia and was morbidly afraid of taking the lift and therefore he used to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

If over behavior is different from others, even if it is for a good reason, people may form a wrong impression of us, if they do not know the underlying reason.

PS: This stair climbing continued till the early part of 3^rd of junior residency in surgery in AIIMS, New Delhi, even though the surgery ward was on the 7^th floor and the Operation Theatre was on the 8^th floor. By mid 3^rd year Dr. Dev got lazy and started using the elevator (lift) and by end of the residency almost became dependent on the elevator.

PS: To get an idea of the stair climbing speed of Dr. Dev at mid residency period read: https://agnipathdoctors.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-surgical-radiological-conference.html

(Based on true incident)

— ND
© Author. All rights reserved. 

If viewing from Mobile, switch to Webpage view to see a list of popular posts and index of topics of previous posts.

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to MCI and other Board’s norm. 

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