Tag Archives: Health

How History Still Weighs Heavy On South Asian Bodies Today

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Walking home from secondary school with my sister many years ago, I spotted a London bus plastered with a depressing advert, solemnly warning of the dangers of diabetes. “What’s the big deal?” I asked rhetorically. “Diabetes for an Asian person is a regular Tuesday.”

Though I was being facetious, I wasn’t wrong. South Asians do seem more susceptible to diabetic conditions. According to Diabetes.co.uk, the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes is reported to be as much as six times higher in South Asians than in Europeans, with a number of factors – mostly linked to lifestyle – believed to be behind this increased risk.

But have we also considered the role history plays here? Is colonialism another overlooked factor that contributes to South Asian bodies? It’s well understood that people can inherit psychological trauma from previous generations but, for many racialised people, there can be physical consequences, too.

Think back to GSCE history. You may have learned the Indian subcontinent was subject to many famines, with some particularly severe ones occurring under British rule. For centuries, up until India gained independence in 1947, starvation plagued the nation, in part a byproduct of colonial times.

The East India Company’s raising of taxes, policy failures (including a “denial of rice”), resources being deployed to the military, and droughts that were met with British inaction, resulted in the deaths of millions. In 1943, West Bengal saw the worst of it all, a famine in which up to three million people died of malnutrition.

Yet, famines in the British era were not due to a lack of food, but due to the inequalities in the distribution of that food, Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen argues, linking this inequality to what he describes as the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the British Empire.

You might wonder what’s all this got to do with South Asians now? Well, not only was the “great famine” in Bengal only 79 years ago (for some, a part of living memory), but when a group of people are exposed to starvation on this scale, it can affect subsequent generations.

Dr Mubin Syed, a 56-year-old radiologist from Ohio who also works in vascular and obesity medicine, recently went viral on TikTok and Instagram for making this crucial link.

As he explains in his video, South Asians have a tendency to generate and store fat and not burn it off, amassing low lean muscle mass. This, he points out, is because South Asians are “starvation-adapted”, due to having to survive at least 31 famines, especially during the 18th and 19th century.

Surviving just one famine doubles the risk of diabetes and obesity in the next generation, even without a famine, according to a study by Brown university. The risk of cardiovascular disease increases 2.7 times for their grandchildren.

Dr Syed, whose research in this area for the past five years led him to these conclusions, tells HuffPost UK: “Exposure to even one famine has a multi-generational effect of causing metabolic disorders including diabetes, hyperglycemia and cardiovascular diseases. Imagine having an exposure to at least 24 major famines in a 50-year period.”

And the problem carries through to the present.

“In the modern era of abundance, it becomes an evolutionary mismatch. Our adaptation to scarce food availability is no longer suitable for our environment of food abundance,” he says.

So, storing nutrients was an evolutionary response to famine, but now, where scarcity is no longer a problem for much of the modern, western world, it creates a conflict, heightening our risk of certain health conditions.

“South Asians have a unique physiology,” Dr Syed explains. “For instance, we have higher body fat percentage and lower lean muscle mass. We have a six times greater risk of developing diabetes, one of the highest rates of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the world, and a four times greater risk to have a heart attack before the age 50. Furthermore, one in three South Asians will die of heart disease before 65.”

While our genes, inherited from our ancestors, can explain some of these predispositions, diet is another contributor – though not in a straightforward way. “It’s a multifactorial perfect storm,” says Dr Syed. :Genetics is one issue, but of course, lifestyle is always important. But, South Asians have to exercise twice as much as Caucasians to get the same health benefits.”

Dr Syed has been researching this area for half a decade

Mubin Syed

Dr Syed has been researching this area for half a decade

It certainly feels like Indians, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis, who once made up India, are still reeling from the effects of colonialism, mentally and physically.

My family are certainly still feeling its effects. Though my parents weren’t around when the Bengal famine took place, their generation is impacted; my dad is diabetic while my mum is prediabetic, and this leaves me in a precarious position, too.

Another concern for the community is a lack of awareness about how our past informs our future. This is why filmmaker Phelan Chatterjee, 26, set out to create a short documentary, Straining The Rice that captures the trauma endured by Bengali people, told through the lens of a grandmother, Nana (not his own).

The London-based producer laments how little people know of the famine and how it affects us today.

He tells HuffPost UK: “I had a lot of conversations with Asian friends and family in the UK. I found very little mention or memorialisation of the catastrophe, despite the enormous number of people who died, and its effects today.

“The sheer number of lives lost, the brutal way in which they perished and the helplessness of those demanding change at the time. It’s difficult to come to terms with the fact that it’s not a part of our national conversation in any meaningful way.”

Phelan's film Straining the Rice includes testimony from Nana, who experienced the famine as a child.

Phelan Chatterjee

Phelan’s film Straining the Rice includes testimony from Nana, who experienced the famine as a child.

Chatterjee questions those who say the famine was simply an environmental consequence, and asks why there’s no accountability for why such conditions were created.

“The protagonist of the film, an elderly Bengali woman says the famine sparked a great deal of protest against the colonial government of the day,” he says.

“This suggests there had always been a keen awareness of the links between policy choices and the famine. But frequently, I’ve experienced famines and similar events to be thought of as beyond human control.

“I wonder what a reappraisal of those policies might bring, and how that could inform the way we understand contemporary famines, global inequality – including health inequality – and climate change.”

Straining the Rice focuses on a family discussion of the Bengal famine

Phelan Chatterjee

Straining the Rice focuses on a family discussion of the Bengal famine

If schools, for instance, taught students about these historical atrocities and their contemporary implications on us mentally and physically, we might have a better understanding of how to navigate our lives now. Healthcare research and responses might even cater better to our bodies, as a result.

But, despite the risks and impact of inequalities on South Asians today, Dr Syed says it doesn’t mean ill health is inevitable for us.

“It’s not a doom and gloom scenario,” he says. “The risks are avoidable, we just have to pay closer attention to diet, exercise/fitness, sleep, stress and other substances.” This means how much alcohol and tobacco we consume, says Dr Syed, and for South Asians who enjoy it, consumption of betel nut or supari.

Nana remembers how beggars would ask for the starchy rice water

Phelan Chatterjee

Nana remembers how beggars would ask for the starchy rice water

“Even our dental health,” he adds. “The key thing is awareness, getting regular check-ups, including lipid profiles, is critical. Do not assume you are healthy, as normal height/weight BMIs are misleading for South Asians.”

Many South Asians in the West who are told “colonialism was a long time ago” and not to “dwell on the past” will struggle with all these conflicting messages. We certainly can’t nor should forget a history that still continues to impact us. And there are many who still remember the harshness of colonial times.

For those who came before us, as well as ourselves, it’s imperative we keep educated and informed of our past and how plays a crucial role in our future.

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Why Do Some People Get Covid But Others In The House Don’t?

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When I caught COVID right before Christmas — a breakthrough infection I got despite being vaccinated, boosted and wearing a medical-grade mask just about everywhere I went — I resigned myself to the fact that my kids would get it, too. We live in a tiny New York City apartment, after all. And my younger child is too young to be vaccinated.

But we tested them frequently throughout my quarantine, and after 10 days I hadn’t spread it to either of my kids or my husband. This has caused some people in my life to question whether I really had COVID-19 after all. (I’m going to believe the, like, seven at-home rapid tests that told me I did.)

But it’s also made me wonder a lot about the mysteries of COVID spread within households and how that has changed because of omicron. Many people fighting infections are also dealing with the same phenomenon.

Here’s what experts have to say about household COVID spread right now:

Omicron is more likely to spread within households than previous variants

Estimates suggest the initial omicron variant is up to four times more transmissible than previous COVID variants — and the newest omicron subvariant (BA.2) may be even more contagious than that. That seems to track within households as well. In early December, British health officials estimated that the risk of spreading omicron within a household was three times higher than with the delta variant.

With all of the variants, households pose a big risk just because of how much time you’re spending around those people.

“There are a lot of high-touch surfaces that might not get cleaned frequently. You might interact directly with saliva more frequently, especially if you have little kids. You’re probably not masking at home, so sitting next to each other on the couch you could easily get a spray of the bigger droplets in your face,” explained Alex Huffman, an aerosol scientist with the University of Denver.

“But, most importantly, your exposure to inhaled virus is likely much higher at home,” Huffman said. A lot of that has to do with ventilation.

“Many apartments and houses have pretty low air-exchange rates, so the air doesn’t get refreshed very often, and air that an infected person breathes out can build up to fairly high concentrations,” he said.

That said, household spread is not inevitable

One of the many reasons why health experts really hate the idea of just “getting omicron over with” ― aside from the fact that even “mild” COVID can feel really bad and that long-haul symptoms are a real risk ― is that it is by no means inevitable that you’ll get infected just because someone else in your family or home is sick.

“It’s very difficult to compare one study against the next. In general, early on in COVID, it was roughly found that between 10 to 20% of household exposures would end up with COVID, and that was pre-vaccine,” said Dr. Richard Martinello, an associate professor of infectious diseases and pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. Other studies have put the secondary attack rate (i.e., the spread of the disease within a household or dwelling) a bit higher — more like 25% or 30%.

With omicron, those rates are likely higher. But again, it is by no means inevitable. Martinello pointed to a recent study from Denmark — which has not yet been subject to peer review — that suggests that with BA.2, a little over 40% of household contacts became infected themselves. With BA.1 (the initial omicron strain), it was more like 30%.

Basic prevention makes a big difference

There are a lot of factors that determine how likely household spread is, which is one issue that makes precise estimates of that type of transmission so challenging.

For one, some people shed more of the virus than others. People who are immunocompromised, for example, tend to have more severe, long-lasting infections. That means they’re likely to shed the virus for a longer period of time. Then there are other elements, like whether everyone in your home is vaccinated. The fact that my unvaccinated preschooler never got COVID when I had it makes me question whether he had an asymptomatic infection at some prior point that we never knew about that gave him some level of immunity, but I have no evidence of that. Also, antibody tests can be unreliable.

No matter your family or household’s specific circumstances, prevention can make a big difference in stopping the spread at home. To the extent it is possible, you should still isolate within your own home. (I fully admit that I gave up on this quest when I was sick myself because it was Christmas and also because there are only so many places you can hide from a zealous 3-year-old in an 800-square-foot home.)

“If the sick person can’t be fully isolated, I would suggest keeping as much distance as possible; wearing high-quality, tight-fitting masks (i.e., N95s); opening windows when you can; adding a couple portable air filters (like commercial HEPA filters or DIY Corsi-Rosenthal boxes); and limiting the time you spend in shared areas together,” Huffman said.

And be strategic about the time you spend together, he added.

“If possible, make sure you eat and drink in separate areas where the air can be ventilated or filtered more quickly,” he said, because any time the masks come off, the risk is highest.

Experts are still learning about COVID-19. The information in this story is what was known or available as of publication, but guidance can change as scientists discover more about the virus. Please check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the most updated recommendations.

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NHS Start4Life Slammed For Advising Breastfeeding As A ‘Weight Loss Hack’

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The NHS has been telling new mums to breastfeed in order to lose weight and get back into shape after giving birth. Yes, really.

On its Start4Life website – a programme that supposedly supports pregnant women and new mums – the health service told women about ‘seven things you might not expect when your baby’s born’.

Number seven on the list was the fact that you might look pregnant for a while after giving birth.

“It can take six weeks for your womb to go back to the size it was, and even longer to lose any extra weight,” the site said. “Breastfeeding is a great way to get your body back, as it burns around 300 calories a day, and helps your womb to shrink more quickly. Also try to eat healthily and take gentle exercise.”

The advice sparked outrage online after it was shared by London-based writer Maggy Van Eijk, who has a three-year-old daughter and is 38 weeks pregnant with a baby boy.

“Toxic AF from the NHS’s week by week pregnancy guide,” she tweeted ”[Breastfeeding] is not a weight loss tool. Your body never went anywhere – you don’t need to get it ‘back’, it’s just changing, evolving and growing and it will keep doing so until you’re deceased.”

HuffPost UK contacted the Department of Health and Social Care about the criticism and the wording on the NHS site has now been changed.

Still, it’s worth asking how something like this made it onto the NHS website in the first place.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Van Eijk says she’s found most of the week-by-week guide helpful during pregnancy, but it was “such a shock” to see Start4Life include breastfeeding as a “weight loss hack”.

“It was such outdated language, really steeped in diet culture which new mums especially really don’t need,” she says. “I did breastfeed with my first but it was hard work and I pumped at first because I was so adamant to keep trying. The pumping and feeding became an obsession.

“Instead of letting go and opting for formula I filled my fridge and freezer with milk. Basically equating the amount I could produce with how good of a mother I was being. It wasn’t healthy and there are so many other signifiers of good parenting we should be showing new mums. Not how you feed your baby and especially not what your body looks like.”

Other women share her view, with many on Twitter pointing out that this “tip” only added to the shame some women feel if they can’t breastfeed.

Start4Life was initially a Public Health England initiative, which now falls under the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Start4Life content is published on the NHS website, with NHS-branded leaflets also given to pregnant women.

HuffPost UK contacted each of the bodies, as well as the Department of Health and Social Care, for response to the criticism.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The Start4Life website provides guidance and advice for new and expectant families.

“Our insight has shown that some women find this information helpful, however, we keep the wording of public health initiatives under review, and in response to some of the feedback received we have updated the website today.”

The Start4Life advice now reads: “It can take six weeks for your womb to go back to the size it was. Breastfeeding can speed this process up as it makes your womb contract. Find out more about your body after the birth on the NHS website.”

Still, the response from women is clear: new parents are already under enough pressure to be “perfect mums” and “snap back into shape” after giving birth. The language used by a publicly-funded initiative really does matter.

Keeping a tiny human alive is a huge achievement – it doesn’t matter what size you are or how many packets of biscuits you consume in the process.

Update: This article has been updated to reflect that the Start4Life website has amended its advice.

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Boris Has Scrapped Plan B But Scientists Think It’s An Awful Idea

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Boris Johnson, fresh off the controversy of party gate, is scrapping Plan B measures in what looks like a bid to please those against Covid restrictions.

The prime minister has signalled the end of work from home guidance, Covid passes and mandatory face masks in public places in England.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Johnson said people were no longer advised to work from home when the Plan B list of rules are ditched on Thursday, January 26, nor will Covid passes be mandatory any longer.

The legal requirement for people with coronavirus to self-isolate will also be allowed to lapse when regulations expire on March 24 – and that date could be brought forward.

When it comes to face masks, the government will no longer make people wear them anywhere from next Thursday, and they will be scrapped in secondary school classrooms in England even sooner, from this Thursday, with school communal areas to follow.

The announcement is seen as the latest move in what has been dubbed Operation Red Meat – a policy splurge by No10 in a bid to win back the support of mutinous Tory MPs and the public after their May 20 party was revealed.

But, leading scientists are unequivocally against the Prime Minister’s plans to lift restrictions.

Professor Francois Balloux, a professor and director at UCL Genetics Institute, said that while Omicron might be receding in the UK, it doesn’t mean that we won’t face future waves that could debilitate the NHS.

“Healthcare remains under severe stress and the transition into a long-term, lower number of daily cases needs to be managed carefully,” he said.

“An overly fast return to pre-pandemic behaviour could lead to viral flares, which could cause considerable problems for the NHS, and may risk further delaying the return to ‘post-pandemic normal’.

Prof Balloux said that we should be aiming to avoid contact rates shooting up immediately, but rather increasing slowly towards their pre-pandemic level over the spring.

This could be achieveable through “entirely non-coercive measures, as the population will likely remain largely careful over the coming months”, he said, adding that precautions such as remote working should still be encouraged.

“Work from home, for those whose job permit it, is often considered to be an acceptable restriction, and it is highly effective at reducing viral transmission.”

Even if we leave pandemic status, an endemic is not without its dangers either, points out Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor from the University of Leeds.

“It is striking that the government are so adept at moving to reduce restrictions early when they have repeatedly failed to act in a timely fashion to prevent now five consecutive waves of SARS-CoV2 resulting in profound human and economic cost,” Dr Griffin said.

“There is a mistaken notion that the virus is somehow evolving to become less virulent, more transmissible, and this is being inaccurately lauded as endemicity by various parties.

“Endemic, sadly, does not mean benign, as sufferers of Malaria, TB, HIV, and Lassa fever might tell you. Variola (smallpox) and polio were endemic prior to eradication efforts.”

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor from Warwick Medical School, said: “Removing Plan B measures in the face of extremely high levels of infection is a risk. With over 94,000 cases reported yesterday, talk of an end to the pandemic is premature. Infections are raging across Europe and other parts of the world, reinforcing the need to take a cautious approach to easing restrictions.

Prof Young added: “Perhaps it would have been wiser to wait for another couple of weeks before removing the advice to work from home and the face coverings mandate.

“There’s no guarantee that infection levels will continue to fall and the NHS remains under extreme pressure. It’s important that we learn from previous experience.”

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Eating Raw in 2021 (Recap)

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Happy New Year! 🥳

Since I ate mostly raw for 2021 – so many salads! – I can go back to eating more cooked food today.

Oddly I feel less motivated to do that than I expected. I fell into some very simple eating habits centered around fruit and salads, and that worked well for me. I’m sure I ate more greens this year than in any previous year. I got really good at making salads that I like.

There are a lot of foods that I haven’t eaten since 2020, such as pizza. I look forward to trying them again, but that feels more like intellectual curiosity than any sort of craving. I feel like my cravings for certain foods went down a lot. I got used to eating fairly simple meals this year, and now that feels pretty normal to me.

I like that eating raw makes my taste buds more sensitive, so everything tastes better than ever. I’d say that enjoy my meals more now than I did at the start of 2021.

I ended the year about 2 pounds less than I started. I gained some weight in the beginning from being a bit too piggish with high-fat foods, but then I toned that down and wove in 2 fasting days per month, and the extra weight came off easily.

This was a strange year due to COVID too, but it’s been one of my best motivationally and emotionally. One thing I like about eating lots of raw food is that it makes me feel happier and more motivated. I also experienced a different flow of inspirations throughout the year than usual.

I think the biggest change I experienced this year was taking some back-burner ideas, moving them to the forefront, and getting them done. These projects turned out better than I expected. One idea was to flow from the Amplify course launch right into the Conscious Growth Club opening. Another was decluttering and organizing my garage and finally processing old computers going back 20 years. Another was doing our first-ever online workshop. Another was my home theater upgrade project.

Eating raw helps me tap into under-expressed parts of me, like I can hear those parts more loudly and clearly, and I feel more inclined to trust them. Instead of talking myself out of so many ideas, I find myself getting into the flow of inspired action with more ease and less friction. So even though I spent a lot of time at home this year other than a trip to Philadelphia, it wasn’t a lazy year at all. I took a lot of action.

I feel like eating this way creates an ever-spinning energy turbine within me that fires me up with endless motivational energy. It’s really easy to get into the flow of action and stay there, as if my enthusiasm circuitry gets triggered more easily. This has been a great year in terms of momentum. It’s also been nicely balanced between work and personal projects.

The downside is that I sometimes take so much action in new directions that I have a lot of loose ends to fully close, like bits and pieces of projects that need to be tidied up. That isn’t so bad though since the ability to capture new opportunities faster is worth it. I also feel that I’ve been pacing myself pretty well.

Our Next Course – Guild

For this first quarter of 2022, we’re going to launch and develop the new Guild course, which is about building an aligned social circle. That with be our 5th major course.

A lot of people in my audience struggle with misaligned social circles, such as friends and family that don’t support their goals. I used to be in a similar situation, including being the only person I knew who was into self-development. Everyone else around me was skeptical or sarcastic about it. If I talked about any kind of growth-oriented goals, I could mainly expect eye rolls and discouraging commentary from the people who knew me. So I mostly kept quiet about these pursuits till I fixed that social alignment issue.

It will be very rewarding to guide people through the reframes and actions needed to meaningfully upgrade this part of life. Life is very different when the people closest to you are all supportive of your goals, and receiving daily encouragement becomes your normal, everyday reality. I found that a key to this is to practice compersion towards others as well. Compersion is the opposite of envy – it means feeling good about other people’s gains and successes. This really helps to get past neediness and to attract more alignment.

If you’re an ambitious person, it’s especially important to upgrade your social circle to include more ambitious people, including people who keep you on your toes and challenge you to think bigger. I find that something inside me begins to dwindle when I don’t engage with high-ambition people enough. It’s so crucial to have people in your life who spike your motivation when you connect with them.

If you have some insights to share about your current social circle and how it affects you, I’d love it if you’d drop me a message via my contact form and tell me more about your situation, so I can ponder how I might be of service to you. I’d love to know what aspects aren’t working for you yet and if you have some clarity on what kinds of improvements you’d love to see in this area of life. We’re still in the formative stages of developing the course, and we’re going to co-create the lessons as we go with those who enroll. For previous courses, entire lessons were created because one person asked for help with a specific issue.

YouTubing

I also intend to get more into video in 2022. Inside CGC we’re forming a YouTubers mastermind group for members who want to upgrade their video skills and build up their YouTube channels. This has been getting some enthusiastic interest since a number of members feel the time is right for them to invest in this direction too.

I have about 55 videos on my YouTube channel, but that averages out to less than 5 per year since I did my first videos in 2009. I’ve dabbled with YouTube but haven’t invested a whole lot in it. I’d like to explore doing more with it in 2022, and I’ve already been making some upgrades and doing some prep in that direction. I’m very comfortable on camera, especially from doing so many Zoom calls and live events, but I’d like to explore how I can express more creativity through editing and other improvements too. Plus that will give me a chance to give my new MacBook Pro to the test – I’ve been loving it so far.

If getting into video is a match for you too, you might want to join us in CGC this year. We open for new members to join during just one week per year, which is always the last week of April. So mark your calendar around April 25th to check in with us then.

This is also a great time to set some goals and intentions for the upcoming year. I especially encourage you to think about your life in terms of relationships – like your relationship with your work, your relationship with your body, your relationship with your social circle, etc. Then think about what kinds of upgrades you’d like to invite in these relationships, focusing on what you want to experience internally. For instance, this year I intend to make the experience of video creation more fun, expressive, original, playful, and social.

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The COVID Omicron Surge (and Why I Got Vaccinated)

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The current COVID surge is bigger than ever by a lot, particularly in Europe and North America. The daily infections rate blew previous records away yesterday in many places.

Here are some telling graphs showing daily new cases in some countries. Note how quickly the latest spike has shot up.

United Kingdom

France

Spain

Italy

Canada

USA

COVID is especially rampant in New York and Florida right now. The current surge makes New York’s previous surges look like little speed bumps. Those two states combined added more than 114K new cases yesterday, both hitting all-time records.

New York

Florida

Nevada

My home state of Nevada is starting to surge again as well.

California

Here’s neighboring California, which has a similar pattern to Nevada, except they have almost 40M people while Nevada has about 3M.

So in many places, there’s more contagious COVID out there right now than ever, and it’s still increasing rapidly.

Vaccination

Rachelle and I got our first vaccine shots on April 10 and May 8 (basically as soon as we could), and we got the booster on December 22. All three were the Moderna version.

The first shot was the easiest. I only had a little bit of arm soreness.

The second shot was the worst, with each of us being knocked out energy-wise for about 24 hours, except that Rachelle was laid up for the first day while my worst day was the second day. Within 48 hours though, we both felt fine.

We also had some fatigue from the booster shot, but it was milder than after the second shot.

As far as we know, neither of us has gotten COVID, but a lot of people we know have gotten it, including some CGCers. Some have had pretty mild cases while others had a really rough time. Some friends have lost family members to COVID.

Why I Got Vaccinated

I like to make decisions based on looking at the objective and the subjective sides. Normally I find the most clarity on the subjective side, so I’ll share a little about how I made this decision.

The objective arguments for and against vaccination are already pretty well presented by society, so I’m sure you’ve encountered an abundance of that by now. I’m not going to rehash those arguments here, partly because I don’t find that side the most interesting to consider.

What I did consider was which of the objective stories I found to represent the most interesting invitation to explore. Since I don’t have the means to personally prove or disprove anything about vaccination – it’s not like I have a bio lab in my garage – I could frame it as a question of whom to trust. But that type of framing is still too objective and not particularly helpful. I could spend weeks investigating and still not have a clear winner. It would be exhausting to try to make every meaningful decision that way.

A better subjective framing is to consider which story invitation looks most interesting or appealing. Which potential storyline do I want to personally participate in? Where do I want to take my story next?

One story aspect that appealed to me was regarding vaccination as a form of biological education. I’d be giving my body a taste of what’s coming up, so it can prepare itself. I was curious to see what the vaccine would feel like and how my body would respond to it. I liked the idea of pre-teaching my body something about the virus. I’d rather be biologically more prepared than less prepared. I like to explore, and vaccination seemed like an interesting way to let my body explore how it wants to relate to the virus.

By contrast I found the potential unvaccinated story lines to be unappealing. I probably would have gone that route in my 20s since it would have appealed to my rebellious side back then. I’d have gladly pushed back against society’s demands. Today I feel that that the rebel part of my story has run its course, so I don’t consider that to be interesting story today. I find that kind of story pathway too boring, predictable, and cliché. These days I prefer invitation into more refined and interesting storylines. I don’t have the same story tastes that I did when I was younger.

One reason I choose vaccination is that it quickly moves me through potentially boring parts of the story, so I can focus more attention on the interesting bits. By getting vaccinated I put the vaccination question to rest quickly. There’s nothing more to decide about it since I’ve already done it. I don’t have to waste any energy on fussing over whether or not to do it. This frees up mental and emotional resources that I can invest elsewhere.

Then I can look deeper into the big picture storyline that’s playing out in the world. The simulation is making a big, disruptive move here. Why? What’s the invitation in this shift? These are questions I find fascinating and very worthy of consideration. I’ve made numerous shifts in my life by pondering them, and I’ve been seeing a great deal of cooperative flow from reality in response.

One way I like to assess how well my story is doing is by how much life seems to be cooperating with my decisions. If I’m out of sync with life, my progress gets bogged down, and it feels like I’m swimming against the current. I felt that if I went the unvaccinated route, I’d be swimming against the tide. Reality was dropping plenty of hints that this would be an invitation into a very resistance-filled story path, and we’re seeing that play out today, such as with vaccine mandates. I looked at that branch of storylines and thought, “Blech! No thanks!”

On an objective level, the world seems like it’s been going kittywampus. But I have a deep and abiding trust in the flow of life since that’s the most permanent relationship I can invest in. I know that the objective story is just the surface, and there are much deeper happenings beneath that layer. The subjective layer of life has been unfolding in some really fascinating ways lately. I love where the story flow is going there. I’m glad that I didn’t choose to thrash around with the surface story in this case. I found much juicer invitations beneath that layer.

For example, since Rachelle and I have been spending a lot of time at home, we’ve invested more social time in Conscious Growth Club. There have been CGC Zoom activities pretty much every day this month, including playing games online, watching movies, and doing various activities together.

This week we’ve just begun putting together a mastermind group of members who want to invest in building up their YouTube channels for 2022 and beyond. That aligns nicely with many members’ lifestyle and business goals.

There’s a lot of interesting story playing out socially within CGC, and it feels like we’re getting better at coordinating our growth experiences, like our stories are synchronizing more than usual.

I feel like the COVID situation has been a gift. It blocked some avenues but presented an invitation to go deeper in different directions. In order to properly invest in these other storylines, I felt it was wise to speed through the vaccination chapter, so I could get to the good parts of the story sooner.

Subjective Decisions

I find that when I give a lot of thought to the subjective aspect of life, pondering the meaning and story aspects of key decisions, the overall flow of life is so much better, and I find beauty even in chaos.

When you get hung up trying to make decisions by weighing objective factors, I recommend flipping over to the subjective side. Consider that you’re living in a simulation and that your relationship with the simulation is the most important relationship of all because it’s your #1 most enduring relationship. Hence you’ve got to do your best to keep that relationship strong and healthy no matter what happens objectively.

What binds the objective and subjective viewpoints together is the lens of story. A story has objective events, and it also includes the inner experience of the characters. So a great shortcut to making good decisions is to consider how your decisions will affect the story flow of your life.

How will your decisions affect events? How will your decisions affect your inner experience? How will your decisions affect your overall relationship with life?

I felt that if I remained unvaccinated, it would likely cause issues in my relationship with life, like it would restrict the flow. I think I made the right call there since the flow has been excellent.

If you’re in the flow too, keep doing what you’re doing because it’s obviously working for you. But if you feel that life has become stunted or restricted, that’s an invitation to reconsider how you’ve been making decisions. Look especially at which decisions have been straining your relationship with reality, and set the intention to put that relationship first in your life and to keep moving towards greater harmony and meaningful story. Lean towards invitations to trust life even more.

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So, Should You Cancel Your New Year’s Eve Party?

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Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, says that having no restrictions for Christmas means we’ll be paying for it later.

“This is a very risky approach and is very likely to result in the need for more stringent restrictions in the near future,” he says.

“Given the extraordinarily and inexorable rapid spread of the omicron variant, it’s never been more important for people to take individual responsibility to protect themselves, their families and friends.”

He adds that it may take individual initiative to curb the spread of Covid (which, unfortunately might mean cancelling any New Year party you may have had planned).

Professor Young adds: “While we are hopeful that vaccines will do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping omicron under control, other interventions are also required to prevent case numbers rising and the NHS becoming overwhelmed. Limiting the size of gatherings, avoiding crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, wearing a face covering and frequent use of lateral flow tests are all protective measures that we can take to limit the spread of this variant.”

If we aren’t being responsible with our Covid measures, and if the government aren’t more stern, then consequence will be severe, he adds.

“If the omicron variant continues to spread at the current rate, it is inevitable that more restrictions will be necessary in England. Waiting for case numbers and hospitalisations to increase is likely to be too late to suppress the spread of the omicron variant and will subject the NHS to unprecedented pressure.”

Prof. Young believes we need to “buy time” to ensure the booster jabs have taken effect and” not let Omicron continue to spread unfettered”.

“A short circuit break now would have prevented more people from getting infected and from having to isolate which is now impacting many essential services,” he says. “Have we learnt nothing from our previous experiences with coronavirus? Dither and delay will only mean more harsh measures later while we run the very real risk of many folk getting sick and massive disruption due to staff absences.”

So whatever your New Year plans, celebrate safely.

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This Picture Of A Black Foetus Went Viral. We Spoke To The Illustrator

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During medical training, in health textbooks, in posters or at the doctor’s office, we often see health conditions or body parts represented with white figures.

Many of these images seem outdated or inaccessible to large parts of the population. Now, one medical student has taken matters into his own hands.

Chidiebere Sunday Ibe, 25, from Ebonyi State, Nigeria, began illustrating Black patients, children and babies. Recently, his drawing of a Black foetus and mother has gone viral on Twitter and TikTok, amassing hundreds of thousand views and likes.

The image has clearly struct a real chord with people, especially those not accustomed to seeing their skin tones reflected in standard medical imagery.

The aspiring neurosurgeon wanted to show people what certain conditions look like for Black people – and also normalise the diversity of our bodies.

For some people, it was the first time they’d seen a Black foetus and many called for more representation like this.

When we spoke to Ibe about his illustrations, he told HuffPost UK: “This image was created like every other image, I never expected it to be viral. The whole purpose was to keep talking about what I’m passionate about – equity in healthcare – and also to show the beauty of Black people.

“I feel great seeing it going viral, I never expected it and it feels good that the message is out and it will challenge current systems.”

Ibe points out that we need to see more images like this, and more people behind the scenes creating them.

“We don’t only need more representation like this, we need more people willing to create representation like this, this would help make such images more accepted,” he says.

Chidiebere Ibe is an aspiring neurosurgeon.

Chidiebere Ibe

Chidiebere Ibe is an aspiring neurosurgeon.

For Black people working in healthcare, seeing Ibe’s images has meant a lot – it’s not often they see their race reflected in the industry. Rebekah Agboola, a 27-year old nurse from London, says the picture made her do a double-take.

“The image was shocking,” she tells HuffPost UK. “I’ve never seen a Black baby in an image like this before – it makes you take a second look. It shouldn’t be shocking as it’s a simple medical illustration. However, having started my journey into this world as a sixth form student looking at medical images, I didn’t commonly see illustrations of Black and brown people unless it was something to do with skin conditions and even then it was rare.”

Agboola says such illustrations go beyond representation to having a positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing.

“I think that it is important to make sure that there is more representation because it will greatly improve the treatment of our patients,” she says.

In August 2020, as part of Black Ballad’s weeklong takeover of HuffPost UK, Black women spoke out about the discrimination, microaggressions and substandard care they received during pregnancy, shining fresh light on the findings of a major motherhood survey, also conducted by Black Ballad.

“Routinely, Black and other minority patients do not receive the same care due to initial symptom presentation and if it is made clearer that our symptoms can sometimes look different and that clinicians need to give their examinations more thought we can help reduce this issue,” Agboola says.

“This picture shocked me but I was so glad to see it and want to see more.”

Rebekah, a nurse, has never seen an image like this before

Rebekah Agboola

Rebekah, a nurse, has never seen an image like this before

Since the release of Ibe’s pics, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM0, has also said it will be amping up efforts to diversify.

Jane Bekoe, the RCM lead on its Race Matters programme, told us: “Positive representation of race is important in all aspects of our lives and society, because the world should reflect accurately all the people living in it. This applies just as much to portrayals of Black and minority ethnic people within healthcare, so illustrations such as this are a positive and necessary step forward towards real equality for us all.”

The RCM is working to ensure changes happens, Bekoe added, following its first celebration of Black History and Culture Month this year. In January 2022, it will hold a webinar on decolonising the midwifery curriculum, which will be led by the RCM’s student midwife forum.

Here’s hoping things do actually change.

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Scientists Have Found The Two Most Effective Covid Booster Jabs

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The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the most effective Covid booster jabs. a new study has found, but all boosters could help fight the Omicron variant.

Newly published research from the ongoing CovBoost study into vaccines, shows that six different vaccines are safe and effective as booster doses for people who have already had two doses of AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech.

The latest CovBoost trial, published in the Lancet, involved 2,878 people aged 30 or over who received a booster 10 to 12 weeks after their initial two jabs.

The six vaccines tested as a third doses were AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Janssen (made by Johnson and Johnson) and CureVac (which has ceased production).

“All of the vaccines in our study do show a statistically significant boost,” says Professor Saul Faust, trial lead and director of the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

He stressed that while the boost delivered by the two mRNA vaccines – Pfizer and Moderna – was “very high”, Novavax, Janssen and AstraZeneca also delivered “very effective boosts”.

Although the newly emerged Omicron variant was not tested in the study, the study showed that booster vaccines are working well against existing variants.

Asked specifically about Omicron, Prof Faust said: “Our hope as scientists is that protection against hospitalisation and death will remain intact.”

filadendron via Getty Images

“It’s really encouraging that a wide range of vaccines, using different technologies, show benefits as a third dose to either AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech,” said Prof Faust. “That gives confidence and flexibility in developing booster programmes here in the UK and globally, with other factors like supply chain and logistics also in play.

Additionally, researchers think that T cell immunity, which was studied alongside antibodies in the research, could play a big role in fighting off the new variant.

“Even though we don’t properly understand its relation to long-term immunity, the T cell data is showing us that it does seem to be broader against all the variant strains, which gives us hope that a variant strain of the virus might be able to be handled, certainly for hospitalisation and death if not prevention of infection, by the current vaccines,” Prof Faust said.

When looking at antibody levels in the trial, people who had received two doses of AstraZeneca initially had booster responses that were between 1.8 times higher to 32.3 times higher depending on the booster vaccine used. After two doses of Pfizer, the range was 1.3 times higher to 11.5 times higher.

There were 13 different groups testing the boosters or acting as controls, with controls given a meningitis vaccine. Immunity was then assessed after 28 days, with experts saying that more data will be published in the future on the immunity results three months and one year after receiving boosters.

Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, commented: “This is a fantastic study and it’s great to finally see the data that was no doubt pivotal in deciding the UK’s vaccine booster approach.

“The data clearly shows that all boosters provided a lift to at least one aspect of your Covid immunity, and that side effects were, on the whole, mild.”

He added: “The data also shows that an mRNA booster – such as Moderna or Pfizer – provided the best overall boost, irrespective of whether your first doses were mRNA or (AstraZeneca). The fact that the mRNA vaccine boosts gave a marked increase in both antibodies and T cells is great news, especially now, when our attention has been grabbed by the emergence of the Omicron variant.”

Samples from the study have now been passed to the UK Health Security Agency to look at how well the Omicron variant can be neutralised by vaccines.

More data will be published early next year looking at whether a longer period between second and third doses improves the response.

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5 Myths Debunked About How The Covid Vaccine Affects Pregnancy And Fertility

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There is no pattern from any reports so far which suggest any of the vaccines used in the UK, or reactions to them, increase the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said.

It said the numbers of reports of miscarriages and stillbirth are “low in relation to the number of pregnant women who have received Covid-19 vaccines to date and how commonly these events occur in the UK outside of the pandemic”.

Myth 2: The jab will affect your fertility

There is no evidence to indicate the Covid-19 vaccine will affect fertility or the ability to have children, according to the UK’s medical regulator.

The rigorous evaluation completed to date did not show a link between changes to menstrual periods and related symptoms and Covid-19 vaccines.

The number of reports of menstrual disorders and vaginal bleeding is low in relation to both the number of people who have received vaccines to date and how common menstrual disorders are generally.

The menstrual changes reported are mostly transient in nature. There is no evidence to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines will affect fertility and the ability to have children.

Myth 3: The vaccine will affect birth outcomes

There is no evidence that having the coronavirus vaccine when pregnant is altering birth outcomes, a UK study concluded.

The research – which was the first from the UK focusing on safety outcomes for pregnant women – found similar birth outcomes for those who have had a Covid-19 vaccine and those who have not. Similar studies have been conducted abroad.

There were no statistically significant differences in the data, with no increase in stillbirths or premature births, no abnormalities with development and no evidence of babies being smaller or bigger, the research team at St George’s, University of London said.

Thousands of pregnant women in England have been vaccinated against coronavirus, with no safety concerns reported.

Myth 4: The vaccine is riskier than Covid

Some parents-to-be are worried about what the vaccine will mean for their unborn child. However, several studies have shown that the vaccine is safe for pregnant mums and their babies, especially as the vaccine does not include a live strain of the virus.

In fact, if mums choose not to get vaccinated but catch Covid, this is more likely to affect the baby.

Pregnant women who do get symptomatic Covid-19, particularly in the third trimester, are two to three times more likely to give birth to their baby prematurely, according to data from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System. Premature birth remains the leading cause of death, illness and disability in babies.

Myth 5: There are too many ‘mixed messages’ about the vaccine

Over half of pregnant women (58%) have declined the Covid-19 vaccination, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). The groups blame “mixed messages” about the vaccine and pregnancy earlier in the pandemic.

However, both the NHS and CDC (US Centres for Disease Control), plus the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), all recommend vaccinations for pregnant people.

Earlier in the pandemic, when the vaccine was newer and research only emerging, healthcare officials did warn against vaccinations for expectant mums. However, we now know far more about the virus and the vaccines, and earlier on in the year, healthcare officials said it was safe for this cohort to get the jab and actively encouraged them to do so.

So, there are plenty of reasons to go for the jab. If you have any other concerns about the jab while pregnant or trying for a baby, chat to your doctor or midwife.

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