Interview with Dr.Suparno Gangopadhyay- Director of Neurorehabilitation at Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata

Dr. Gangopadhyay is the director of neurorehabilitation at the Institute of Neurosciences in Kolkata, India. He obtained his Medical Degree from the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata and went on to explore several fellowships and programs diving into fields such as amputee and pain management, electrophysiology, soft tissue surgery, gait anaylsis, and community rehabilitation.

We interviewed Dr. Gangopadhyay about what he has noticed helped his patients in neurorehabilitation heal faster, and what he wishes younger generations would know about caring for their cognitive health.

The Key Quotes can be found here:

“The initial five years is the most important in a child’s brain development.”

“The bottom line is eduction begins at home. There is no doubt about it. Balance improving your child’s routine to a certain extent. allow the kid to grow normally, but at the same time, give them the nature to help stimulate their brain as well.  Discussion with the kids is very important.”

“Education begins at home, allow the kid to grow normally, but at the same time, give them the nature to help stimulate their brain as well.” 

“There’s neuroplasticity. The more you keep teasing your brain, the better it is for the long run. Allow kids to grow in their own way, but at the same time maintain a routine as well.”

“One thing we need to be very clear on, unless mind and body work in unison, you are not going to have the best outcome.”

“Let kids grow their own way, let them grow normally. But again, a child's brain gets distracted very easily. If a child is playing with a toy and if you give him a lollipop, he’ll forget the toy. So the maximum within balance if you keep improving your child's routine to a certain extent, you can just twig it around.” 

“Music is a very important part because we have a lot of patients, like stroke patients, head injury patients, Parkinson’s patients, you name it. There are lots of studies that says that Ragga music, Indian classical music, helps to bring a patient out of a coma. It’s not that it’ll work individually. It needs to have that full gamut of rehabilitation services. But for a few patients, for chosen patients, Raga music works. 

“It’s not just music, it can be writing, drawing, anything. What I’m trying to say is to stimulate the brain, not over stimulate. That actually will take away the kids’ attention, focus, and your enjoyment from the whole process.” 

“We always say after 40s, do exercises to keep your muscles active. Otherwise, in the long run, when you are 60 or in the 70s, you have a tendency to fall, because your muscle bulk, your muscle strength fades away, it atrophies. The same thing happens to the brain. You have seen dementia patients, like Alzheimer's patient and the doctors advising to do crosswords and sudokus just to keep your brain active.” 

“For neurodegenerative conditions, there are treatments based on two very different genres. One is a pharmacological treatment, one is a non pharmacological treatment. Not all medicines work, because you can’t stop the process of neurodegeneration. You can’t stop the deterioration. You can only delay it through the non-pharmacological approach. The preventative approach. 

“Let me emphasize one thing. As long as it goes, prevention is still better than trying to find a cure. And there’s no doubt about it.” 

“In a way, you do not need to interfere in the child’s activities always. But what you just need to is to guide them through this process. Discussion with the kids is very important.

“What I can tell you as a medical practitioner is that the past is the past. Living in the past is of no use, the same way living in the future is of no use. Enjoy your present moment, but so that you can build a proper future with this foundation. That is something that is very important, because if you lose out on one hour, that’s gone from your life. 

“Do five to ten minutes of mindfulness, even though just listening to your breath, that itself is a fantastic mindfulness. Five to ten minutes of your time.”