Rewinding about 7-8 months back, was the first when an unusual pattern set in. The pattern was of back to back cases of cardiac arrest in the younger population of Kashmir, in the wake of which many hypotheses were propounded. Some of these were pinned on the Corona Virus while others on the substance abuse, and yet others on the unhealthy lifestyle. While riding a bike, while sprinting, or sleeping and then never waking; all of these and many more are the debilitating instances that have been petrifying to the masses.
Right from the onset of a stringent lockdown there has been a threatening upsurge in such incidents of cardiac arrests, particular in the younger population. For past some weeks, 4-6 cases have been reported consistently. While medical authorities have been considering smoking and cold temperature as the primary reasons, however, other factors such as stress, emotional trauma, financial insecurities, unemployment and unhealthy food habits and lifestyle are also unarguably detrimental to the health of an individual that too of younger folks.
The major reason behind attacks is the blockages caused in the arteries linked with the heart, thus obstructing the regular flow of blood, therefore, leading to sudden cardiac arrest. Nonetheless, it has been notably witnessed that all the instances of heart attacks that have been recurring in the younger population are not primarily due to the blockages in the heart, therefore other psychiatric or emotional factors might be more prevalent than we think.
The depressive and anxious environment does tamper with one’s mental health and consequently dumps you in a much worse physical health. It is not at all easy to be constantly pinned to a surrounding where every now and then you are faced with the sights of people succumbing to the ultimate death, cries of a wailing mother left absolutely despondent, security personnels using their own rifle against themselves and shooting themselves to death, the ghouling hopelessness and the perilous life. Bearing witness to numbing experiences of people losing their loved ones does unknowingly leave people in emotional trauma; it makes a person wallow in disturbing thoughts and insecurities affirming to them that life is absolutely ugly.
Isn’t it something that needs to be heeded, that a person with a Ph.D degree keeps sulking around aimlessly with nothing good to do. What mental state would that person be harboring? What kind of stress would shadow the person every night and every day?
Another person in early youth is drowning in substance abuse, yet another one in depression and many in other menaces. What would be the outcome of all of this if not something disastrous. When the security personnels remain detached from their families and loved ones for so long, how would they shake themselves off of the depressive and harrowing thoughts?
It is hard to fathom the effects of ever obnoxious airs that people in Kashmir are living in. We are living in a vulnerable state of being. We are hollowing from within, and we are treading obscure paths, shrouding ourselves with cloaks of darkness.
Muskan Yousuf is Journalism student at National School of Journalism, Bengaluru.