My problem stemmed from eight hours of office work followed by six hours of research in academic libraries to complete my postgraduate degrees. In addition, two hours of extra time to enter my notes to a desktop computer at home was exacerbating my muscle pain. Fortunately, an angel-like supervisor taught me to drink from a fire hose and achieve more with less effort.

In the 80s and 90s, we had to use tiny microfiche indices and paper journals in academic libraries to acquire knowledge. There were no online journals, no laptops, and no smartphones to capture information easily as we do nowadays. I had to find, read, and cite at least ten scholarly papers daily to complete my literature reviews for master’s and doctorate theses.

Body and mind are inseparable, as I touched on in an article related to emotional regulations leveraging my learning from the interdisciplinary studies of psychoneuroendocrinology. The body’s discomfort directly or indirectly affects our mental health and life satisfaction. For example, balancing hormones and neurotransmitters is critical for our mental health.

When I consulted my family doctors about my muscle pain and discomfort in those days, they usually prescribed potent anti-inflammatory and pain-killing medications. They killed the pain but caused me more suffering in the long term. Fortunately, I discovered alternative physical therapies such as physiotherapy, kinesiology, osteopathy, myotherapy, remedial massage, and acupuncture, improving my mental and emotional health.