Pune students check in clinics with insomnia, appetite

As lakhs of students across the city are appearing for their board exams, pediatricians and family doctors too are a busy lot tending to the stress induced problems in these students. City doctors say students come into their clinics with problems such as changes in blood pressure, palpitations, loss of appetite and mainly insomnia.

The problems arise mostly out of fear of competition from peers or living up to parental expectations or a simple case of anxiety, wherein students are prone to anxiousness prior to exams. “The most common problem students reported is insomnia or lack of sleep. Students are having sleepless nights because they are anxious about results and don’t know how to deal with situation. Also there are few cases of rise in blood pressure during exams, but it is mostly functional hypertension that goes away after exams,” said pediatrician Dr Sharad Agharkhedkar.

Pediatricians say while cases of students blanking out are common, stress was leading to even bowel problems and eating habits.

“Besides insomnia, most common is extreme change in eating habits like loss of appetite. Other problems that I have seen in students in last few days are palpitation which refers to racing of heart during anxiety that occurs to abnormal heart rate and sweating and tremors,” said Dr Dilip Sarda.

Pediatrician, Dr Jayant Navrange, said he had seen serious cases last year where students had to miss exams but this year he has seen milder cases like behavioural problems or vomiting and loss of appetite due to stress.

“I have recently seen two HSC students who throw up continuously during exams; this is basically a stress-induced reaction. Most students cope with mild stress but in some students body reacts to stress by falling sick,” said Navrange.