Why Are We Compromising Our Healths?

Get the stigma out...

My most vivid school memory till day is pulling out the good old all-nighters. Just to get a grade good enough to be promoted into the next grade. I'd stay up all night, perusing the black and white books, mugging up facts I couldn't relate to and then vomiting them out literally in the exam hall. I'd come home all groggy and weak, with a feeling of nausea and satisfaction running in my body.

Now I did some research and came out with two comparisons to support my logic. The body composition of a normal being is 70% water whereas the body composition of a person who has pulled an all nighter is 70% coffee.

Everytime after an all nighter, I'd take seriously ill and would lay comatose on my bed for endless hours. Whilst this silence, a question kept running in my mind- Why are we compromising our healths for grades that wouldn't matter in the long run? What is the point of staying up all night to learn things that don't make any sense to our interests. But I'd always end up finding an answer to it. We stay up all night because it has been fed into our minds that marks mean everything. You may not have a great personality but a +90 on the report card makes you a great person. It is the stress on ephemeral marks that often leads us to give up on our health, whether it is mentally or physically.

Let us see the number of things a student has to balance:
•Assessment grades
•Extra curricular activities
•Parental pressure
•Social lives
•Academic stress

Dark circles have become way too overrated in today's world. Pulling an all nighter gives a sense of pride and joy. It evokes the meaning of hard work. This isn't the truth. This isn't how it should happen.

We as a nation have created an image of being stuck to books and have made nerds the new trend. So often, we forget that students are the major victims of depression, the biggest threat posed to health. Depression brings on anxiety and cooping up with the two can be painful and emotionally overwhelming for a child. And so I ask you, how many of you have asked or been asked by your parents if you were doing okay ? We need to talk to students about this. We need to tell them that their health is of utmost importance. Studies say that more than 75% of students do not seek any help for their depression and often succumb to it due to massive pressure. Imagine the number of lives we can save after talking to children.

Getting into institutes like AIIMS should only be for studying and not for treatment after the all the trauma. It isn't a defect in the education system, but a flaw in the society. And till this day, I fear that this flaw is now irreparable. The boasting of mothers after getting their children into top colleges is inevitable.

I remember the face of a mother showing off about her child getting into IIT and that child standing completely pale and weak , with an IV pole next to him.

Everytime you'd try to explain people that marks aren't everything, they'll go "But how will you enter good colleges and make a future?" And at that moment I realise, they aren't wrong. Of course you need good grades to enter institutes. And you get them when you love what you're studying. When you do something that interest you.
This stigma needs to be eradicated before it ends up destroying lives and healths.

And after so much whining and cribbing, I do have some solutions to rectify the damage done. Effective counselling in schools for parents could be the key. At the end of the day, it isn't the marks but our healths that have to be stable. Talking out to students and intermittent sessions can help in releasing the pressure. I can write it and give it to you, you may see a happy student who helplessly cries himself to sleep every night. Let us stop ignoring that. It is time we accept that depression is real and students go through that. Stopping random comparisons with other children can do the trick. Every child has his/her potential and we need to respect that no matter what.

The day the students acquire great health , there is nothing stopping them from achieving and full filling their dreams and ambitions.

Because if our health is detrimental, the
marks won't cure it.

Author's Note

Health > Marks
Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

Reviews

[Sofia]

It was such a powerful piece. As a student I've seen many students behaving like a bookworm. One of my classmate (She was topper till recently) studies even after exams😂
I mean like who studies after you've given the exams 😂 Nevertheless, I liked this writing of yours, especially the message which you conveyed :)

[Sonakshi Arora]

Thank you ❤️

[Anjali]

Well said! Amazing write!

[Sonakshi Arora]

Thank you so much ❤️

[Anjali]

You're welcome!