DIABETES REVERSAL AND GOOD HEALTH
DIGITAL DETOX
By Dr. Bhagyesh Kulkarni and Smt.Gayatri Kulkarni
Summarised by Arthur G Aranha - 18.9.2023
Day 1 - 11.9.2023
Dr. Bhagyesh Kulkarni, a diabetes reversal specialist gave a call to his Forever Abundance Batch members, as a part of healthy living, to observe 5 days of Digital Detox. Here is the gist of his sessions.
What is Digital Detox and why it is necessary to be observed?
Unlike in the olden days when there was no TV or mobile or computer, in today’s times these gadgets have consumed so much of our time that we think we cannot live without them even for a minute. We have forgotten to speak to each other even in the same house, call up friends and acquaintances, take pleasure in small things of daily life etc.
The onset of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, YouTube to name a few, has completely changed our way of life. Facebook has become a platform to showcase good part of life and even make it look like good part of life. This has opened avenues to show off, long for appreciation, get rid of boredom, wait for likes, stress when receiving less likes or receiving dislikes or adverse comments, friend requests from people whom we do not even know from across the globe. Similar is the case with Instagram. WhatsApp has made writing obsolete, communication in short form, forwarding messages and videos a habit without even considering whether the message is authentic or it is good for any other person. Youtube as a medium contains videos on variety of subjects, which can be either for knowledge upgradation or cluttering the mind.
I for one have forgotten to use the age old landline telephone, although I have one at home. Mobile has become a part of my life.
TV has become smart with channels having variety of content. Desktop is the main medium I use to read news, create content, connect on mail, watch serials, videos or movies etc.
Today I cannot remain without looking at my mobile and social media right from waking up in the morning till going to bed. I am addicted to look at the mobile atleast 105 times a day for Whatsapp and Youtube. Of course, most of it is related to the quiz I post on the groups. I use Facebook and Instagram only once a day just to browse through. I use my desktop for 10 hours a day. It has come to such a pass, that If I don’t look at my mobile or desktop, I feel very uncomfortable. I even carry my mobile to the toilet. I also extensively use my desktop to create content and to watch serials and movies. I use digital media almost 11.1/2 hours a day out of 18 considering 6 hours for sleep in the night. This, I now realise, is the worst that has happened to me.
Why it is necessary to observe Digital Detox?
This complete dependency on digital medium, is what requires digital detox to relieve not only my mind but also my body from the adverse effects of such prolonged use of digital media like relaxed eyes, less strained back and neck, less use of hands on keyboards etc.
How to go about it?
Dr.Bhagyesh Kulkarni has provided a chart to find out score to determine whether you need digital detox or not.
Scoring Pattern / Chart:
| Sr.No. | Description | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I cannot leave my house without mobile. It is a must when leaving the house | 50 |
| 2 | I am compelled to check my phone constantly even though there may not be any message or requirement. | 25 |
| 3 | Using phone on the table while eating or in the toilet | 25 |
| 4 | You feel anxious or depressed after using social media or mobile | 25 |
| 5 | You are obsessed over sending text or receiving text or posting a comment | 10 |
| 6 | You often feel afraid or have a Feeling of Missing Out (FOMO) | 10 |
| TOTAL | 145 |
According to him, if your total score is less than 50, you may not need digital detox. If the score is between 50 to 100, it is controllable i.e., you are not addicted, and if the score is more than 100, you definitely need digital detox. Try it for 5-7 days and then gradually extend it when you have experienced the benefits.
Day 2 - 12.9.2023 - Dr.Bhagyesh Kulkarni
To start the detox process –
| Sr.No. | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | List out 10 tasks not involving any expenditure or digital media which you can perform during the day so that you don’t get the urge to look at your mobile and complete those tasks. |
| 2 | One hour from wake up time or one hour before bed time, keep your mobile away. Try this for 5 days to start with and then continue it over a period of time. |
| 3 | If you are using laptop or desktop, and if the laptop or desktop is having more than 16 icons on the screen, adjust them to reduce to 16. This will de-clutter your desktop/laptop and make it more organised. |
| 4 | Work out the number of hours you spent on :
(a) Web Browsing : (b) Mobile Use : (c) TV : |
I have worked out my use of these gadgets at :
| Sr.No. | Description | No.of hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Web Browsing/desktop | 10 hours |
| 2 | Mobile Use | 1.1/2 hours |
| 3 | TV | Nil |
| Total | 11.1.2 hours |
When you are addicted to use digital medium compulsively, first hormone Dopamine gets activated with expectations of appreciation, euphoria and reward in mind which gets converted to Adrenaline in anticipation of such appreciation, reward or satisfaction and Adrenaline in turn gets converted to stress hormone Cortisol when those expectations of appreciation,reward, happiness or satisfaction do not get fulfilled. This is what leads to increase in stress level leading to higher blood sugar and blood pressure.
DOPAMINE DETOX :
What is Dopamine and what is its relevance to Digital Detox?
Our mind is divided into two parts viz., conscious mind and sub-conscious mind. Conscious mind which carries out logical functions works only to the extent of 10% and the remaining 90% is sub-conscious mind. We also have emotions viz., positive emotions and negative emotions. With about 60,000 thoughts per day, most of them being negative, the happy hormones gets translated to sad hormones.
Dopamine is a feel good neurotransmitter in the brain. It is a feel good hormone which looks for appreciation, euphoria and reward.
It controls blood flow, digestion, executive functions, heart and kidney functions, memory and focus, mood and emotions, motor control, pain processing, pancreatic functions and insulin regulation, pleasure and reward seeking behavior, sleep and stress response.
Basically, this hormone controls many functions in the human body. Hence, it is a very important and relevant hormone. When Dopamine is sufficient in the brain, mood becomes good. It provides alertness, focus, motivation and happy feeling.
According to Dr. Sepah, Dopamine triggers six compulsive behaviors:
| Sr.No. | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| 1 | Emotional eating |
| 2 | Excessive internet usage and gaming |
| 3 | Gambling and shopping |
| 4 | Porn and Masterbation |
| 5 | Thrill and Novelty seeking |
| 6 | Recreational drugs. |
Whenever I do something which gives me happiness, dopamine hormone gets triggered in the brain. This hormone can give me pleasure or stress depending upon the situation. For example, if I post something on Facebook or Instagram, I expect to see many likes and good comments. If the number of likes is more, then I get pleasure where Dopamine is at its best. But if I do not get sufficient likes or get some adverse comments, then dopamine which initially triggered by expectations or satisfaction, turns to Adrenaline because of excitement and then gets converted to Cortisol the stress hormone. Some of the messages/videos that get forwarded through WhatsApp or other digital medium play on our sub-conscious mind for a long time leading to increase in the Cortisol level and resultant stress.
According to an article that appeared in Zee Business on 15.9.2023 the government has decided to take action due to concerns about teenagers being influenced by inappropriate content on Facebook (and getting addicted to the dopamine release by getting more followers). Many of them even buy Facebook Followers for Cheap as many websites sells this vanity service.
Start with 12 hours Digital Detox or fast. Next day onwards, extend the initial digital fasting to 16-18 hours. For this you will have to decide the timing. For example, 12 hours mandatory digital fasting from say 10.00pm to 10.00am or from 8pm to 8am. You need to decide the 12 hour window depending upon your convenience. If for any reason, you need to use the digital media in between like say in the window from 10.00pm to 10.00 am if you have to use mobile for say 3 or 4 hours for productive activities, then after the use, extend the fasting by that many hours.
Start with 12 hours fast and then move on to practice it one day in a week for the next say 6 months.
Then select a complete month for digital detox. Right from 1 day in a month to 28 days in a month. You can decide the month depending upon your exigencies.
Plan your activities :
During the digital detox, clean up your digital media like edit your contact list on the phone by removing the unnecessary ones, take a review of Facebook friends who are not at all active or relevant, review and delete unnecessary mobile apps (taking care to see that do not detele important or necessary apps), review your photo and video gallery (delete unwanted photos and videos), delete unwanted digital garbage, edit your mail to trim it down to only those which are important and relevant. This exercise you can do during the non-detox period.
Even in the non-detox period, do not exceed scrolling content for more than 45 minutes in a day by restricting a single time scrolling to not more than 15 minutes. Take 10 minutes to reply to the messages say 3 times in a day viz, 75 minutes maximum in a day.
Taking into account 12 hours fasting and 1.1/2 hours for scrolling etc. do the following activities in the remaining time:
| Sr.No. | Activities |
|---|---|
| 1 | Do the media cleaning discussed above by keeping the mobile on silent mode. |
| 2 | Watch not more than 3 videos in a day for not more than 20 minutes. |
| 3 | The 12 hour window for digital fasting includes TV, tablets, laptop, desktop and mobile. |
Dr. Bhagyesh Kulkarni’s 13 tips for smooth digital detox :
- 1. Use a traditional alarm clock to determine the timings for the activities. Traditional clock so that you dont have to use digital clock. Setting up the alarm clock helps in timing the various activities.
- 2. Schedule a do-not-disturb option in your mobile phone during the fasting period
- 3. Log out of social media networks like Facebook, Instagram etc. so that their popups can be avoided. But remember to memorise or note down your social media id and password before logging out so that there is no problem in logging in again.
- 4. Turn off the notifications during the fasting period
- 5. Introduce a non-tech (No digital media) bedroom and kitchen rule. If possible, extend it to other members of the family also.
- 6. Put away your phone during meals not only for you but for all the members of the family.
- 7. Change the gap fillers i.e., whatever time you get between two activities, do not use mobile as a gap filler. Do something else.
- 8. Meditate at a given time so that you keep away from digital media during this time unless it is a part of the meditation. Restrict its use only for that purpose.
- 9. Enjoy nature. Go for walks early morning or late evening so that you enjoy greenery and connect to nature.
- 10. Get rid of your Fear Of Missing Out. With sustained digital detox, you will find that you will hardly be missing out on anything significant. It is all in the mind.
- 11. Learn something new. The best option to be more creative like pursue your hobby or passion for creativity. I for one, have started writing funny stories for kids. Although I was reciting stories for my grand children, I never thought it could be a game changer. It has turned out to be.
- 12. Work out. Going to gym, cycling, swimming, playing badminton, golf, cricket or any other sport is a better and fitter option than looking at the digital gadgets which generally give you more headache and stress of FOMO.
- 13. Meet with your friends. With the advent of WhatsApp and other apps, one to one meeting with friends and acquaintances has become a rarity. This is the time to do it. Meet up, read, write, walk and do such activities which keep you occupied.
Do not allow digital medium to take charge of your life. You take charge of the digital medium as to when and how to use it to your advantage. Then you have really done digital detox in a successful way for a healthy life.
How did I do it on 12.9.2023?
From the time I got up at 4.00am I used to look at my mobile within 20 minutes. I avoided looking at the mobile for the entire day on the 1st day i.e., 12th September, 2023 except for 15 minutes informing the groups on WhatsApp that I will be observing digital detox and for making 2 UPI payments online.
-
1. After completing my morning walk and bath, next I prepared manually a 'true or false' quiz for DFF participants of April 2023 residential batch. Otherwise I would have opened my desktop and worked on it.
2. Hitherto I used to look at the newspaper only for the headlines and read the news on my desktop. During detox period, I read the entire Indian Express newspaper after a long time and to my benefit, I got an interesting article published buy V. Kamakoti about parents and students. Half an hour of reading newspaper got me updated on latest news around the world. This I will continue to do every day.
3. Inspired by the talk by Dr. Bhagyesh Kulkarni on digital detox, I started writing a part of this article manually for about an hour (which I completed later).
4. Thereafter went to the bazaar to buy vegetables and groceries.
5. Prepared a salad after coming back from bazaar.
6. Completely avoided using the mobile during meals. Instead we discussed many of the family matters on the table which time otherwise would have been occupied by watching the mobile.
7. Read novel by John Grisham titled “Sooley” for one hour.
8. Took a nap in the afternoon for 20 minutes.
9. Went for shopping in the evening
10. Met some friends whom I have not been above to meet for sometime. Also talked to my ex-boss who is now settled in Trivandrum. He was pleasantly surprised to hear my voice after many years.
11. Went for a walk from 4.30 pm to 5.30pm
12. On the way during the evening walk, paid a visit to sick person in the locality.
13. Did some reading on Diabetes by Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. Benjamin Bikman refreshing the concepts.
14. Dinner at 7.00pm without any gadget.
15. Attended webinars from 8.30 pm and off to bed at 10.00pm.
First day was over without looking at either the mobile, desktop or TV (except for the webinar) and it continued for 16-18 hours till the 5th day.
This I consider as a major achievement and it proved that I can restrain myself from all the clutter through digital media for the whole day. It provided peace of mind, a friendly interaction with the spouse, update on current news, meeting the sick, connect with friends, helping in the kitchen, updating concepts through reading, doing creative work like stories for children, and preparing this document.
Now I have the confidence that I will be able to manage my time without unnecessary dependence upon digital gadgets on a daily basis without any hassle.
Thank you Dr. Bhagyesh Kulkarni for your extraordinary effort in educating me on this important aspect of life and to Smt. Gayatri Kulkarni for educating me on Dopamine hormone.
ARTHUR G ARANHA