Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe mental disorder that impacts the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions and perceives their reality. It is not a common disease and is prevalent in less than 1% of the US adult population. But, schizophrenia is also one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions prevalent today. These misconceptions can affect public perception and the quality of life for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is important to understand that a person's altered perception of reality and functional impairment already hinder their daily life and the stigma attached to it compounds the existing psychological stress.

Here are some of the most common stigmas associated with the disorder and also the reality behind it

One of the most common myths is that patients with schizophrenia are violent or dangerous. In reality, the majority of people living with this condition are not violent. In fact, they are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. Research has shown that only 10% of those with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders exhibit violent behaviour. While symptoms like hallucinations or delusions can lead to unusual actions, they do not inherently lead to aggression.

Another common misconception is that schizophrenia involves multiple personalities. Schizophrenia primarily affects a person's perception of reality, leading to symptoms like hallucinations and delusions. However, it does not involve the experience of multiple, distinct identities, as seen in dissociative identity disorder (DID). Thus, a schizophrenic might deal with mood instability or disorganized thinking, but his or her core personality remains singular.

Schizophrenia can present significant challenges, such as difficulty maintaining steady relationships or managing commitments. However, just like with any chronic illness—mental or physical—these difficulties do not define a person's reliability. With proper support, many individuals with schizophrenia manage their condition effectively, hold jobs, and maintain relationships.

Schizophrenics often exhibit social withdrawal and isolation. These symptoms may lead others to perceive individuals with schizophrenia as antisocial or uninterested in relationships. In reality, the desire for connection remains strong for most people with schizophrenia. The symptoms of the disorder, as well as the stigma they face, can make social interactions more challenging. Therefore, it becomes pivotal for families and friends to help individuals build meaningful relationships and improve their quality of life.

Besides the stigma that comes from people in society, there are some things that also come from within. This internal stigma occurs when individuals with schizophrenia internalize negative beliefs about their condition, such as believing they are violent or incapable of achieving success. This type of stigma can be just as harmful as external discrimination, leading to isolation and missed opportunities.

What Do We Know About Schizophrenia?

Schizotypal Personality Disorder (STPD) is a mental health disorder that is characterized by significant discomfort in close relationships and social situations. It is classified into two types.

Insipid schizotypal: This disorder leads to an exaggerated passive-detached pattern, incorporating schizoid, depressive, and dependent features. It leads to a sense of nonbeing and strangeness; sluggish, overtly drab, and inexpressive; indifferent, insensitive, and internally bland; obscure or tangential thoughts.

Timorous Schizotypal: When diagnosed with this disorder individuals experience an exaggerated active-detached pattern, including avoidant and negativistic features. Some common personality traits of the disorder include wariness, apprehensiveness, and suspicious behaviour; guardedness and shrinking away; alienation from oneself and others; and frequently blocking or disqualifying one's own thought

In an age dominated by screens and digital overload, our eyes are under constant strain—leading to issues like dry eyes, blurry vision, and fatigue. But could simple exercises, rooted in ancient yogic practices, offer relief? Eye yoga, a technique that involves controlled eye movements and relaxation methods, is gaining popularity as a natural way to improve focus, reduce tension, and potentially support better vision.

Best 10 Yoga Eye Exercises

Here are 10 simple but effective eye exercises through yoga:

1. Palming

Rub your hands together until they feel warm, then place them over your closed eyes. This simple exercise helps relax your eye muscles.

2. Blinking

Close and open your eyes quickly for about 10 seconds. This refreshes the eyes and improves moisture levels.

3. Up and Down Eye Movement

Move your eyes up and down slowly without moving your head. This exercise helps in improving flexibility.

4. Side-to-Side Movement

Shift your gaze from the left to the right, without moving your neck. It strengthens the eye muscles responsible for horizontal movement.

5. Diagonals

Move your eyes in diagonal directions—starting from the top left to bottom right, then top right to bottom left.

6. Circular Eye Movements

Roll your eyes in a clockwise and then counter clockwise motion. This exercise helps in enhancing the flexibility of the eye muscles.

7. Focus Shifting

Hold a finger close to your nose, then move it away while focusing on the finger. This improves focus and coordination.

8. Zooming

Focus on your thumb held at arm's length. Slowly move it closer to your face and back again. This strengthens your focus ability.

9. Figure 8

Imagine an infinity symbol in front of you. Trace it with your eyes for about a minute. This exercise improves flexibility and muscle strength.

10. Near and Far Focus

Alternate your gaze between a close object and a far-away object. This improves your eyes' ability to shift focus between varying distances.

Important Tips for Eye Health

Apart from practising these eye exercises to improve vision, it’s essential to follow these additional tips to maintain good eye health:

Maintain a balanced diet rich in vitamins A, C, and E, which are essential for eye health.

Take regular breaks during screen time using the 20-20-20 rule: look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.

Stay hydrated to prevent dry eyes.

Wear UV-protective sunglasses when outdoors to shield your eyes from harmful rays.

Ensure proper lighting while working to avoid straining your eyes in dim light.

Get regular eye check-ups to monitor your eye health and prevent potential problems.

Being extremely short or tall poses countless challenges. From finding suitable clothes and furniture to coping with potential health complications, the impact goes far beyond appearances. For most people, their height remains relatively constant throughout adulthood. But what if someone experienced life both as a dwarf and a giant? That’s exactly what happened to Adam Ranier, the only documented case in history of such a transformation.

Early Years: Living with Dwarfism

Adam Ranier was born in 1899 in Graz, Austria. His parents were of average height, but by his teenage years, it was clear Adam was not growing like other children. By 15, he stood at just 4 feet 6 inches. Curiously, his hands and feet were disproportionately large—he wore a size 10 shoe.

At 18, Adam attempted to enlist in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I. He was rejected for being too short—the minimum required height was 4 feet 10 inches. He tried again at 19 but still didn't meet the height criteria.

By the age of 21, Adam was still significantly below average height and extremely thin. It seemed he was destined to remain a dwarf for life. Then, something extraordinary happened.

A Mysterious Growth Spurt

Soon after turning 21, Adam began to grow rapidly. His shoe size increased dramatically—by age 23, he wore a size 20. Over the next decade, he grew at an astonishing rate. By 1930, he stood at 7 feet 1 inch tall.

Alarmed, doctors A. Mandl and F. Windholz examined Adam and diagnosed him with acromegaly, a condition caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland that leads to excessive growth hormone production. They recommended surgery to remove the tumor, a risky procedure in the pre-antibiotic era.

In December 1930, Dr. Oscar Hirsch successfully removed the tumor. Although Adam’s growth slowed, it didn’t stop entirely. By 1950, he measured 7 feet 8 inches tall.

Medical Challenges and Resilience

Acromegaly brings numerous complications—heart issues, arthritis, vision problems, and distinct facial changes. By age 25, Adam had hearing loss, and by 30, a severe spinal curvature developed. Despite these challenges, Adam remained functional and kind, according to those who knew him.

He spent his later years in Rottenmann, a quiet Austrian town. After World War II, he moved into a care home but retained his independence.

The End of an Extraordinary Life

In February 1950, Adam suffered a perforated intestine and died shortly after surgery, at the age of 51. Much of what we know about his life comes from Dr. Hirsch’s 1961 report.

Adam Ranier’s story remains one of the rarest medical phenomena. At 20, he was a dwarf; by 30, a giant. While dwarfism is typically caused by a genetic mutation like achondroplasia, and acromegaly by a pituitary tumor, the odds of one person experiencing both are almost incalculable.

Yet Adam did. He stands as the only recorded individual in history to have lived both extremes—a true medical marvel.

The COVID-19 pandemic might have faded from the news headlines, but for most scientists and international health officials, the debate is not yet through. One of the key questions still keeps cropping up in 2025: How much time do COVID-19 vaccines actually confer immunity, and should we expect to need regular booster doses like the flu?

New evidence indicates the immunity we gain from COVID-19 vaccines—particularly the mRNA varieties—may not be as long-lasting as we had envisioned. Why? Because a so-called long-lived plasma cell has proven to be surprisingly evasive.

Vaccines like the tetanus shot offer robust protection for up to a decade. That’s because they trigger the formation of long-lived plasma cells in the bone marrow—cells that "remember" the pathogen and generate antibodies rapidly if you’re exposed again.

Conversely, COVID-19 vaccines, even though they have been successful in lowering severe disease and hospitalization, appear to come up short in reaching this gold standard of immune memory. A recently published study in Nature Medicine (September 2024) by Dr. F. Eun-Hyung Lee of Emory University explains why protection wanes months after vaccination, even in individuals who received multiple doses and have had prior infections.

The Emory research included 19 healthy adults between the ages of 20 and 65 who had been given two to five doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. Their bone marrow samples were studied by researchers up to 33 months after the first vaccination using a method known as flow cytometry to identify and examine various forms of antibody-making cells.

What they found was revealing: while the bone marrow had an abundance of short-lived antibody-secreting cells specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the long-lived plasma cells—those responsible for sustained immunity—were nearly absent. Even in individuals who had recently recovered from COVID-19 or received updated booster shots, these long-lived immune defenders remained scarce.

Conversely, the same bone marrow samples had a strong presence of long-lived plasma cells for tetanus and influenza—vaccines with longer-lasting protection. The disparity could be one reason why breakthrough infections still appear relatively soon after COVID-19 vaccination.

How Effective Is The COVID Vaccine?

The Emory results accompany a wider meta-analysis appearing in JAMA Network Open (May 2024), which compared 40 worldwide studies to determine real-world vaccine effectiveness over time. The analysis spanned different waves, such as Delta and Omicron.

Effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 was approximately 53% one month following full vaccination.

The highest effectiveness was reported by Moderna's vaccine at 62%, followed by Sinovac's lowest at 32%.

Six months after that, effectiveness fell to 14%, and at nine months, it fell another step to only 9%.

Booster shots restored protection to 60% for a brief time, but that too fell to 13% in nine months.

Those are the numbers that make it plain: both primary series and booster shots provide temporary barriers, but their protection wanes—particularly with the newer, more immune-evading variants of the virus, such as Omicron.

Should You Get a Booster Shot?

The answer is complicated. If you're in a vulnerable group—older people, those with compromised immune systems, or frontline healthcare workers—then yes, booster shots are still a critical line of defense against severe illness and hospitalization. But even for the general population, boosters provide added protection for a limited but important time frame.

What is also important is that which strain the booster aims against. Similar to the flu vaccine, efficacy greatly relies on how closely the vaccine and the prevailing strain align. The FDA is currently collaborating with researchers to define the predominant strain for the next COVID-19 vaccine season—potentially marking the beginning of an annual, strain-specific booster approach.

The holy grail for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine scientists today is how to trigger long-lived plasma cells. Dr. Lee's research implies that existing mRNA platforms might not be the ideal vehicle for it—at least, not yet. But research is exploring new delivery modes, different schedules, and even combination vaccines that could eventually solve the secret to durable COVID-19 immunity.

"Long-lived plasma cells are the secret to enduring protection," according to Dr. Lee. "What our findings indicate is that the existing mRNA vaccines fail to produce them well for COVID-19. More studies are necessary to alter that."

Ways to Build Immunity Naturally

Boosting your immune system naturally can make your body fight off infections and diseases more efficiently. These are easy, evidence-based methods to support immune health:

• Consume a well-balanced diet with leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, berries, garlic, and turmeric.
• Drink lots of water and herbal teas to stay hydrated.
• Exercise frequently with a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day.
• Sleep well (7–8 hours) to enable your body to repair and recharge.
• Reduce stress through meditation, yoga, or conscious breathing.
• Avoid alcohol and smoking, which can compromise immunity.