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New Delhi:

Offering a very different mantra for handling anxiety, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that while he does feel anxious, he is in a position where he has to control his emotions and one way of doing that is to counter restlessness by going along with one’s mission.

In a podcast with Nikhil Kamath, the co-founder of Zerodha, the Prime Minister cited examples of how he dealt with the 2002 Gujarat elections – which he called the biggest challenge of his life – blasts in the state and the Godhra train burning incident.

“You see, to manage these things, everyone has his own ability and individual style… I hold such a position that I have to control my emotions — the natural tendency that human beings have, I will have to stay detached from all of that. I will have to rise above all that. For example, in 2002, there were elections in Gujarat. It was the biggest challenge of my life… I never watched TV and didn’t check the results,” the PM said.

“At 11:00 am or noon, I heard the beat of drums outside the chief minister’s bungalow. I had told everyone not to inform me till 12 pm. Then our operator sent me a letter saying I was leading with a two-thirds majority. So, I don’t believe that nothing affected me that day, but I had a thought to overpower that feeling. You can say that there was restlessness and anxiety inside me,” he explained. 

Talking about bomb blasts in Gujarat, the Prime Minister, who was the chief minister of the state at the time, said he visited hospitals and the police control room despite his security team asking him not to. 

“There were bombings in five places. You can imagine my situation, being the Chief Minister of the state. So, I said that I wanted to go to the police control room. But my security team refused. They said, ‘Sir, it will be unsafe for you to go’. I said, ‘Whatever happens will happen, I will go’. They were very worried. Finally, I sat in the car. I said that I would go to the hospital first. They said that there were bombings in the hospitals too. I said again, ‘Whatever happens, I will go’. You can say that there was restlessness and anxiety inside me. But my approach was that I would go along with my mission. Maybe I experience that in a different way. I feel a sense of responsibility towards it,” he said. 

Recalling the Godhra train burning, PM Modi said he became an MLA for the first time on February 24, 2002. He went to the Assembly for the first time three days later, on February 27.

“I had been an MLA for only three days. And, suddenly, I came to know about that big incident in Godhra. There was a fire on the train. I came to know, gradually, that people were dead. I was obviously very restless, I was worried. As soon as I came out of the Assembly, I said that I wanted to go to Godhra. So, I told them that we would go to Vadodara and take a helicopter from there. They said that there was no helicopter. I told them to arrange it from somewhere. I guess ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) had one. It was a single-engine helicopter. They said they could not take a  VIP. I said, ‘I am not a VIP. I am a common man. I will go’.”

The PM said there was a big fight and he offered to give in writing that he would take responsibility for whatever happened and he would go on the single-engine helicopter. 

“And I reached Godhra. Now, with that terrible sight… numerous dead bodies… you can imagine… I am also a human being, I also felt things. But I was aware that, being in this post… I have to stay detached from my emotions, my natural tendency as a human being. I have to rise above it all. And I did whatever I could to handle myself,” he recalled.

PM Modi said that when he interacts with students during ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ events, he tells them to treat exams as a routine activity and act accordingly.

Worst-Case Scenarios?

Asked whether his style of thinking was that he would take worst-case scenarios into account, the Prime Minister said, “I have never thought of life or death. This is probably for people who live life in a calculated manner. Perhaps I will not be able to answer this. Because, wherever I am today, I had never planned for that… When I became a chief minister, I was surprised how I became one. So, I had never chosen this path for myself. I have got a responsibility, I am doing it. Doing it well is my objective. But I didn’t start off with this in mind. 

“That is why I don’t know how to calculate. It happens in ordinary life. Perhaps I am an exception. Because my background is such that I can never think like that. My background is such that if I had become a primary school teacher, my mother would have distributed sweets in the locality. She would have said, ‘See, my son has become a teacher’. That is why I never had such aspirations. I never thought, ‘If this doesn’t happen, then what?’ I don’t burden myself with such thoughts,” he added. 

New Delhi:

To help people live healthier and more fulfilled lives, Dr Vivek Hallegere Murthy, 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States shared a ‘parting prescription’ in which he emphasised building a community. The parting prescription addresses a “foundational-and urgent-question” that Dr Murthy has grappled with: What are the root causes of the pain and unhappiness so many are experiencing? The answer, he believes, lies in rebuilding the community.

NEW: Today, I am issuing my Parting Prescription for America: my final reflections as I complete my time as US Surgeon General. It addresses a foundational–and urgent–question I have grappled with: what are the root causes of the pain and unhappiness so many are experiencing? pic.twitter.com/9jPYI6UDex

— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) January 7, 2025

In his prescription, Dr Murthy recalled how his father never felt “empty” until he left his village in India. “It was a remarkable statement from a man who grew up with no running water or electricity, and whose family scarcely had enough money to put food on the table each night. Yet what they lacked in wealth, they made up for in community,” he wrote.

From sharing food to visiting a friend who lost a loved one to simply showing up for others, Dr Murthy’s father learnt the power of community while growing and ensured he practiced it and passed it on to his two children.

“Through their care for patients over the years-which involved everything from house calls to hospital visits to late-night phone conversations when someone fell ill-they reminded us that when we find our purpose in contributing to the lives of others, life isn’t always easy, but it is immensely gratifying,” he wrote, thanking his parents for giving him the formula for fulfilment and well-being.

The three core elements of a community – relationships, service, and purpose – are a triad of fulfilment. While ‘love’ is the one core virtue, he said.

“They (core elements) can also significantly influence health outcomes, including premature mortality, heart disease, depression, and anxiety,” he added.

Together they create an ecosystem for meaning and belonging.

Dr Murthy clarified that we don’t have to be fulfilled by one single community. Most of us need a few different communities to feel whole and these communities can evolve and overlap.

“Half of young people and a third of adults struggle with loneliness; formal and informal service have remained low; and an alarmingly high number of young adults say they have low or no meaning or purpose in their lives,” he wrote on X.

To address this, Dr Murthy suggests rebuilding the community and recentering our lives around relationships, service and purpose. He also recommends rethinking what defines success and a good life and building our lives around that.

“Community is a force for health and fulfillment. It is an antidote to division and despair. We need it more than ever,” he wrote as he signed off.

A Chinese woman, surnamed Dong, has made headlines for winning a unique competition where she abstained from using her mobile phone for eight hours without showing signs of anxiety. Dong, a sales manager at a finance firm, emerged victorious among ten contestants, taking home a prize of 10,000 yuan (approximately Rs 1,16,820), South China Morning Post reported. 

The competition, sponsored by an undisclosed organization in Chongqing, southwestern China, required participants to surrender their electronic devices and adhere to strict rules while spending eight hours on a designated bed. The challenge was designed to highlight the growing dependence on technology and encourage people to embrace mindfulness and digital detox practices.

Contestants were allowed to leave their beds only for brief toilet breaks, limited to five minutes each. A quota was set for the total time spent away from their beds during the eight hours. Meals and drinks were provided, but participants had to consume them in bed. The rules also prohibited contestants from using their mobile phones, falling into a deep sleep, or exhibiting anxiety. To monitor their sleep quality and anxiety levels, contestants wore wrist straps throughout the competition. To pass the time, contestants were allowed to read books or rest with their eyes closed.

Dong reportedly managed this feat with ease, stating that she is accustomed to minimal phone usage in her daily life. She scored an impressive 88.99 out of 100, earning her a 10,000-yuan prize. Dong’s strategy of wearing pyjamas and focusing on relaxation paid off, earning her the nickname “pyjama sister” on social media. Her everyday habits, which include tutoring her child instead of mindlessly browsing her phone, also contributed to her success.

The competition sparked widespread interest on Chinese social media, with many users expressing curiosity and amusement. One user wrote, “I want to join the competition. It seems so interesting and not challenging at all.”

Another commented, “My grandma could win the top prize.”

Heart in your throat. Butterflies in your stomach. Bad gut feeling. These are all phrases many people use to describe fear and anxiety. You have likely felt anxiety inside your chest or stomach, and your brain usually doesn’t hurt when you’re scared. Many cultures tie cowardice and bravery more to the heart or the guts than to the brain.

But science has traditionally seen the brain as the birthplace and processing site of fear and anxiety. Then why and how do you feel these emotions in other parts of your body?

I am a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who researches and treats fear and anxiety. In my book Afraid, I explain how fear works in the brain and the body and what too much anxiety does to the body. Research confirms that while emotions do originate in your brain, it’s your body that carries out the orders.

Also Read | Where the mind is without fear: What is anxiety and how can we beat it? 

Fear and the brain

While your brain evolved to save you from a falling rock or speeding predator, the anxieties of modern life are often a lot more abstract. Fifty-thousand years ago, being rejected by your tribe could mean death, but not doing a great job on a public speech at school or at work doesn’t have the same consequences. Your brain, however, might not know the difference.

There are a few key areas of the brain that are heavily involved in processing fear.

When you perceive something as dangerous, whether it’s a gun pointed at you or a group of people looking unhappily at you, these sensory inputs are first relayed to the amygdala. This small, almond-shaped area of the brain located near your ears detects salience, or the emotional relevance of a situation and how to react to it. When you see something, it determines whether you should eat it, attack it, run away from it or have sex with it.

Threat detection is a vital part of this process, and it has to be fast. Early humans did not have much time to think when a lion was lunging toward them. They had to act quickly. For this reason, the amygdala evolved to bypass brain areas involved in logical thinking and can directly engage physical responses. For example, seeing an angry face on a computer screen can immediately trigger a detectable response from the amygdala without the viewer even being aware of this reaction.

Also Read | Sadness, sleeplessness, stress, and anxiety top mental health concerns shared on Tele MANAS

The hippocampus is near and tightly connected to the amygdala. It’s involved in memorizing what is safe and what is dangerous, especially in relation to the environment – it puts fear in context. For example, seeing an angry lion in the zoo and in the Sahara both trigger a fear response in the amygdala. But the hippocampus steps in and blocks this response when you’re at the zoo because you aren’t in danger.

The prefrontal cortex, located above your eyes, is mostly involved in the cognitive and social aspects of fear processing. For example, you might be scared of a snake until you read a sign that the snake is nonpoisonous or the owner tells you it’s their friendly pet.

Although the prefrontal cortex is usually seen as the part of the brain that regulates emotions, it can also teach you fear based on your social environment. For example, you might feel neutral about a meeting with your boss but immediately feel nervous when a colleague tells you about rumors of layoffs. Many prejudices like racism are rooted in learning fear through tribalism.

Also Read | Mental health awareness month: how to cope in the age of anxiety  

Fear and the rest of the body

If your brain decides that a fear response is justified in a particular situation, it activates a cascade of neuronal and hormonal pathways to prepare you for immediate action. Some of the fight-or-flight response – like heightened attention and threat detection – takes place in the brain. But the body is where most of the action happens.

Several pathways prepare different body systems for intense physical action. The motor cortex of the brain sends rapid signals to your muscles to prepare them for quick and forceful movements. These include muscles in the chest and stomach that help protect vital organs in those areas. That might contribute to a feeling of tightness in your chest and stomach in stressful conditions.

The sympathetic nervous system is the gas pedal that speeds up the systems involved in fight or flight. Sympathetic neurons are spread throughout the body and are especially dense in places like the heart, lungs and intestines. These neurons trigger the adrenal gland to release hormones like adrenaline that travel through the blood to reach those organs and increase the rate at which they undergo the fear response.

Also Read | How anxiety can look different in children

To assure sufficient blood supply to your muscles when they’re in high demand, signals from the sympathetic nervous system increase the rate your heart beats and the force with which it contracts. You feel both increased heart rate and contraction force in your chest, which is why you may connect the feeling of intense emotions to your heart.

In your lungs, signals from the sympathetic nervous system dilate airways and often increase your breathing rate and depth. Sometimes this results in a feeling of shortness of breath.

As digestion is the last priority during a fight-or-flight situation, sympathetic activation slows down your gut and reduces blood flow to your stomach to save oxygen and nutrients for more vital organs like the heart and the brain. These changes to your gastrointestinal system can be perceived as the discomfort linked to fear and anxiety.

It all goes back to the brain

All bodily sensations, including those visceral feelings from your chest and stomach, are relayed back to the brain through the pathways via the spinal cord. Your already anxious and highly alert brain then processes these signals at both conscious and unconscious levels.

The insula is a part of the brain specifically involved in conscious awareness of your emotions, pain and bodily sensations. The prefrontal cortex also engages in self-awareness, especially by labeling and naming these physical sensations, like feeling tightness or pain in your stomach, and attributing cognitive value to them, like “this is fine and will go away” or “this is terrible and I am dying.” These physical sensations can sometimes create a loop of increasing anxiety as they make the brain feel more scared of the situation because of the turmoil it senses in the body.

Although the feelings of fear and anxiety start in your brain, you also feel them in your body because your brain alters your bodily functions. Emotions take place in both your body and your brain, but you become aware of their existence with your brain. As the rapper Eminem recounted in his song “Lose Yourself,” the reason his palms were sweaty, his knees weak and his arms heavy was because his brain was nervous.