Quarentine was unexpectedly a great opportunity to enjoy lone time, work on myself and do stuff that makes me happy. Heres a list of things I found interesting to do during quarantine post COVID duty and during lock-down.
- Academics
- Fitness
- Spirituality
- Hobbies and Skills
- Finance
- Books
Academics
- Learning General Surgery
- Learning General Surgery started as a face book group in 2013 and now has grown to be the largest platform in social media for General Surgery, larger than any national or international organisations presence in social media. Their team did a fabulous job of organising virtual academic sessions/case presentations/discussions everyday from the beginning of lockdown. Here you can find lectures by the top faculty from all over India on all topics of General Surgery and specialities, Heres a link to their Facebook and YouTube Chanel –
- Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVpqNpkdJtxqSDw8C2Lw4XA
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/surgeons.in.training/?ref=share
- Research
- Clinical Research is something most of us do due to compulsion or as a university requirement. I was always in search of a reliable platform to learn the science behind clinical statistics. Found a course on coursera titled “understanding clinical research – behind the statistics” really helpful
- https://www.coursera.org
- Publishing research papers
- Quarentine is a great time to consolidate data and work on our publications, I found Medley, a free reference manager by Elsevier which is available on all platforms and can be used for add papers directly from web and generate references / bibliographies.
- https://www.mendeley.com/?interaction_required=true
- Human Microbiome – hottest topic in Medicine with hundreds of papers being published every month. It’s implications on mind, chronic diseases and epigenetics are truly fascinating. I found these books and course helpful in better understanding microbiome.
- The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health by Emeran Mayer
- Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser
- Gut check : exploring your microbiome – an online course on Coursera
Fitness
- Cure.fit – it’s a health and fitness app with great live sessions and affordable personal training options. You can choose from dance fitness, yoga, boxing, strength and conditioning, HRX and Prowl.
Use this link to unlock EXTRA 1 month on your 1st cure.fit live membership purchase! https://www.cure.fit/me/vouchers?cc=GAURASLGRRQ4LGG4&campaign_name=liverefv2
- Nike training club – Free app with on demand and live workouts and fitness plans that you can do anywhere with or without any equipment
Spirituality
Pranayama and meditation not only helped me relax during quarentine but it was also a game changer during COVID duty with a PPE on.
- Isha yoga – it’s internationally acclaimed inner engineering course is free for health care workers
- Art of living – online breath and meditation course is available free for Covid front line workers
- Apps for breathing and meditations – calm and headspace have wonderful guided meditations, sleep sounds and guided breathing techniques, although most of their features are in paid subscriptions, they also have some free content
https://apps.apple.com/in/app/calm-meditation-and-sleep/id571800810
https://apps.apple.com/in/app/headspace-meditation-sleep/id493145008
Hobbies and skills
- Skillshare – great online learning community with classes on creative arts, design, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, technology, and many more subtopics. They have a free trial period of 2 months
I found classes by Ali Abdaal particularly helpful in learning video editing of surgical videos and improving study skills
I edited my father’s (Dr M Ramesh) Laparoscopic Hernia surgery videos after this course. Here’s a link to the videos I edited.
Web designing was something I wanted to learn from a long time, I also discovered WordPress through skillshare courses and created this website just before writing this article.
- Farming – while exploring the web on sustainable farming, I came across Hydroponics and found City greens. They have various online hydroponics courses and also sell hydroponics goods.
Finance
As doctors we are never trained In finance and talking about money is considered a stigma. But, managing our personal finances is something we don’t learn until later in life.
Here are some books I read and YouTube channels I found helpful.
- I will teach you to be rich – Ramit Sethi – new age guide to personal finance, perfect for millennials
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad – by Robert Kiyosaki – personal finance and money psychology classic
Both of these are available as audio books in audible.
- White coat investor – by James M Dahle – written for doctors by a doctor. It’s more relevant for doctors in the US, but definitely has valuable insights on personal finance for all doctors.
- Our rich journey – YouTube channel – channel I’ve been following for content on FIRE movement (Financially independent and retire early)
Books
I consider Kindle paper white as the single best investment I made during post graduation which rekindled and kick started by reading habit. This was a great time to catch up on my reading list and also discover new books.
- Disease delusion by Jeffrey S Bland – it’s an eye opening book on looking into the root cause of chronic disease and gives a hollistic approach to medicine. This book introduced me to functional medicine and inspired me to take up a course in Institute of Functional Medicine.
- Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger – CEO of Disney shares his experience of transforming Disney to one of the most valuable companies and also shares insights on ethics, work culture and management.
- The End of Alzheimer’s by Dr Dale Bredesen – leading neurologist in Alzheimer’s research changes our perspective in understanding Alzheimer’s and presents a ground breaking plan to prevent and reverse cognitive decline. This book will also help you develop grey matter friendly lifestyle and eating habits.
- Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Albert Liebermann and Hector Garcia – book on Japanese philosophy on leading a purposeful and fulfilling life.
- Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever by Dave Asprey – creator of bulletproof coffee and acclaimed biohacker shares all his biohacking experiences and latest science on longevity.
Hope these recommendations help you make the best of quarentine time.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, till we get there let’s burn our own torches and stay strong