Fake it to make it

We all aspire to be successful, be happy always, or project confidence and put our best foot forwards…each one of us wants to be a person of sterling qualities. But, this is not always so. Not everybody is successful, our definitions of happiness vary and confidence often takes a long time to develop. So, if I am none of the above, then how can I be what I am not?

There is saying “Fake it till you make it”, it suggests that by imitating confidence, competence, and an optimistic mindset, a person can realize those qualities in their real life. It is similar in meaning to the idiom “act as if” (Wikipedia).

Here are some ways how you can do it:

·  If you want to feel happy, practice faking a smile. Hold a pen in your mouth and force a smile. This is what happy people do.

·  Adopt power postures, even when you don't feel so confident. Compared to a low-power pose (sitting hunched over with arms and legs crossed), a high-power pose (expansive posture) has been shown to be associated with increase in testosterone and decrease in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Testosterone is related to dominance and confidence.

·  Join a laughter club.

·  Dress the part. How you dress will affect how others see you. Clothes make a strong visual statement about your self-image.

·  Model yourself after a person who is successful. Mimic their actions.

Faking it does not mean that you should be insincere. Behaving like the person you want to become is an effective way to positively change your life.

“Fake till you become it. Do it enough until you actually become it and internalize.” 

Whatever you do, practice it over a period of time (japa), till it is deeply etched in your consciousness.

“As one thinks, so he becomes”. The human mind is very powerful and has unlimited potential. It can influence behavior. Repeated actions change to habits, which ultimately shape your personality.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

President Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania   (CMAAO)

Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Immediate Past National President IMA

Think before you prescribe - Add another anti-HT drug, instead of increasing dose of the initial anti-HT drug

Most patients with hypertension require combination antihypertensive therapy to control their BP. Monotherapy has been the usual practice followed by step wise titration of the dose of the first drug prescribed to its maximum, before adding another drug or switching to another drug, if the target BP is still not achieved.

A meta-analysis of 42 trials involving 11,000 participants published in Am J Med. 2009;122:290-300 which compared the effects of combining drugs with doubling dose showed that the extra BP reduction from combining drugs from two different classes is approximately 5 times greater than doubling the dose of one drug. Low dose combination therapy also has the advantage of reducing the adverse effects in comparison to maximum dose of monotherapy.

JNC 8 recommends three strategies to physicians: To start one drug, titrate to maximum dose, and then add a second drug (A) or start one drug, then add a second drug before achieving maximum dose of first (B) or begin two drugs at same time, as separate pills or combination pill - Initial combination therapy is recommended if BP is greater than 20/10mm Hg above goal (C) (JAMA. 2014;311:507-20).

The 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines also recommend starting treatment with two first line antihypertensive drugs from different classes when the average systolic BP is 20 mmHg over target and/or the diastolic BP is 10 mm over target in patients with stage 2 hypertension (J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018;71:e127-e248).

Both ACC/AHA guidelines and JNC 8 have recommended against using ACEI and ARB and/or renin inhibitor together in the same patient as it is potentially harmful.

So, if you are not able to reach the desired BP goal or if you need to lower the BP by many units to reach the goal BP, rather than increasing the dose of the initial drug to achieve the target, add another drug of a different class. You may achieve the desired goal BP this way.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

Vice President CMAAO

Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Immediate Past National President IMA

Meditation is a journey

1.    From sickness to wellness

2.    From particle towards wave particle duality

3.    From wave particle duality to wave

4.    From manifest to unmanifest

5.    From disturbed state of consciousness to undisturbed state of consciousness

6.    From sympathetic to parasympathetic mode

7.    From exercise to yoga

8.    From sahasrara (crown) chakra to muladhara (root) chakra and back

9.    Towards a thoughtless state

10. Towards union of mind with the body

11. Towards union of purusha with prakriti

12. Towards achieving silence

13. Experiencing higher state of consciousness

14. Experiencing restful alertness

15. Experiencing ‘para’ state of language

16. Experiencing ritam bhara pragya

17. Experiencing the unmanifest

18. Experiencing losing track of time

19. Experiencing moksha

20. Experiencing inner happiness

21. Experiencing ecstasy

22. Of concentration on the object of concentration and giving preference to the object of communication on thoughts

23. Achieving turiya state of consciousness

24. Getting benefits in 20 minutes equivalent to 7 hours of deep sleep

25. Mobilizing mass effects

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

Vice President CMAAO

Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Immediate Past National President IMA