Ahmedabad: Mental health is as important as physical health and an important part of being healthy overall, according to experts at an interactive session organised by Cadila Pharmaceuticals on Thursday, the eve before World Health Day.

The interactive session was organized in Cadila Pharmaceuticals’ unit at Bhat in Gandhinagar. Cadila Pharmaceuticals employees in multiple other locations, including Jammu, Dholka, Ankleshwar, Kadi and Hirapur attended the session virtually. The objective of the session was to listen to prominent thought leaders on acceptance, spirituality, and being with Nature to lead a healthy life.

Sharing his thoughts on Spirituality and its impact on health & mind, Rasa Parayana Prabhu of Hare Krishna Movement, said, “We take care of our physical health but not our mental health. Though physical health is a must, we humans are still not satisfied with our body type, colour, and size. Most people are physically and mentally stable but we are not stable spiritually. We take care of our mind and body but not the atma or spirit.”

Mental health expert Dr. Spandan Thaker spoke on mental health and its impact on our general well-being.

“Everyone experiences stress but when we talk about psychiatry, the first thing that comes to our minds is depression. When we get a fever, our body indicates we are sick. In the same way, when we are under stress, the body starts giving us alerts about our mental health,” Dr. Thaker said.

He also urged the participants to follow the Worry, Hurry and Bury concept. He said if anyone is facing any problems, instead of worrying, he should quickly find a way to deal with it and bury it.

Environment specialist and founder of Project Amdavad and Manjalee Matters Ms. Anjali Mehta shared her thoughts on the impact of natural environment on our health.

“Environment plays a very important role in our health. 95% of our health is affected by the air we breathe and 5% by the food we eat. In short, we need clean and fresh air to breathe. A city like Ahmedabad needs a huge green cover and everyone must come together to plant more trees. We must also bring in behavioural changes to start treating our waste as our responsibility,” she said.