Adults in China turn to pacifiers for anxiety, expert warns of risks

India Today

A new trend is emerging in China where adults are using baby pacifiers to cope with stress, anxiety, and ADHD, a phenomenon gaining millions of views on social media. Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty weighs in on the issue, describing it as a fad driven by an 'anxiety-driven market'. He cautions against such 'superficial bandages', advocating for time-tested methods like yoga and meditation to restore the mind-body rhythm.

Transcript

00:00and it's time now for our health story of the day now how do you deal with stress with anxiety even

00:06adhd now different people cope with it in different ways right but some turn to medication others

00:12turn to therapy but in china a rather unusual trend is catching up you see that right those

00:19pictures over there on your screen adults are now using pacifiers yes the same ones that we give it

00:24to babies in order to soothe them now is it really an harmless comfort tool or should you absolutely

00:32stay away from this trend that's what we'll find out with our guests joining us joining us on the

00:39program dr hari shetty is a psychiatrist well-known person in the space to understand how exactly to

00:46read this dr shetty as baffling as this trend sounds there are millions of views on this on social media

00:54and china's version of tiktok there are massive card sales happening anything between a dollar to

01:0170 is what adults are picking it up for and i have so many reasons of why you should not do it but i

01:07want to hear from you first angst-driven market is huge there'll be a million players and these will

01:17be fads that come and go what is very important to understand that anxiety is because of the disturbance

01:25of the rhythm between mind and the body because of internal causes or external causes and china is

01:32using it i'm surprised one of the most ancient civilizations china and india have time tested methods

01:39of handling anxiety tibetan form of meditation buddhist form of meditation yoga and mindfulness practices

01:48originated in china and india and i wish people do not use superficial bandages or troubles inside and

01:58they use systemic practices which have been time tested harvard also says this that anxiety equal to

02:05yoga and that is the best practice yeah but dr shetty a lot of people do this right for example people

02:12chew gums when they want to handle their stress they pace back and forth uh they have journals that they

02:19write there are these external support systems that we all dip into in order to get that support

02:25so pacifier just one of them no so i would say that small exercises

02:32are pacifiers taking deep breaths for one minute between your two news reading shows

02:42micro prana okay just just bending down and keep getting up talking to a friend who's very close to

02:50you cracking a joke is also very very important chewing the gum is again a pad which which starting the

02:56vessel continues it might bring down anxiety temporarily but what is very important is along with the

03:03superficial practice if you have been using i call it mood lifters or mood shifters please understand

03:10that bringing back the rhythm of the mind and the body slowing down coming down makes you more effective

03:18people always say that meditation yoga vipassana will make you a saint it doesn't make you a saint

03:24it makes it effective to deal with the situation around and internally in your mind you have new

03:29explanations of of coping along with that modern forms of counseling also helps you to change your

03:36distorted thinking and helps you to calm down what is important is you might choose a chewing gum some

03:42people say that they stop smoking that is because smoking is about oral fixation and you get a substitute to

03:49suck you feel better i would advise everybody here do not get carried away by a fad use those small

03:56things which are used when in school or in adult life but along that along with that mindful practices

04:03are our interventions which actually changes the entire rhythm of the body i like what you said the real

04:12pacifier is not that little pacifier it's the other things that we do in life that's quite beautiful

04:19and also if i may add here these pacifiers even with kids they are habit forming and very difficult

04:25to let go off if you get on to it it can destroy your oral structure it can destroy your jaw a dentist

04:32will tell you give you 100 reasons for never ever to use a pacifier yet we have adults in china who've

04:38caught on to the trend uh dr shetty if anybody is doing it right now your last quick word

04:44how do you leave it i would say stop the pacifier for a few minutes start doing deep breathing for

04:52a few minutes and slowly win it off and remember one thing sucking without reason as a child leads to

05:01thumb sucking in adulthood so sucking for small reasons with the pacifier might might might make your boss

05:09see you in hiding sucking your own thumb in your office so don't look at the oral cavity as a pacifier

05:18look at the entire system and where the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system is in balance

05:23look at things in the nature those who are connected with with nature their anxiety is much less true

05:30those who play with water uh feel air look at the sky play with mud and look at the stars they are much

05:38calmer than the rest so look at deep interventions not superficial so let's just say uh this trend sucks

05:46and you should not catch on to it at all look at other alternatives pick up the phone talk to your

05:51friend take help if you need if you're feeling anxious take a moment go out try the 20 20 20 rule

05:57for 20 minutes look at something which is 20 feet away and just soak it in for 20 seconds all of that is

06:04what can be done except catch on to another fad like this one thank you so much dr shetty for joining

06:09us and sharing your insights

06:19you

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