The Nation Newspaper

Tag: health

  • Health benefits of pears

    Health benefits of pears that may make you want to eat them more often:

    •Immune system booster

    Having a strong immune system is essential in fighting off disease and illness. Pears help to boost the immune system because they contain antioxidants such as vitamin C and copper which fight off free radicals and disease in the body.

    •Osteoporosis prevention

    Preventing and treating osteoporosis is a major concern for many people. Many doctors are now recommending that people who are concerned with protecting the health of their bones maintain a balanced ph and high calcium intake from dietary sources. Fruits and vegetables help to maintain a healthy pH level and pears are a good source of boron, which researchers believe may help the body to retain calcium.

    •Increased energy levels

    When you eat a pear, your body absorbs glucose, which is converted into energy. Eating a pear can be a great pick-me-up if you feel sluggish in the afternoon.

    •Digestive health

    Pears contain a lot of fiber, which is essential for a healthy digestive system. Fiber helps to keep food moving efficiently through the colon. One medium sized pear contains about 20-25% of the daily recommended intake of fiber. A good percentage of the fiber in pears is insoluble, which may help to reduce the occurrence of colon polyps.

    •Cancer prevention

    One way to prevent cancer is by eating fresh fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidants. Pears contain vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant which is an important part of your body’s cancer fighting arsenal. The fiber content in pears is very effective at promoting colon health which will reduce your chances of developing colon cancer.

    •Healthy pregnancy

    In order to avoid birth defects, it is important for a pregnant women to consume enough folic acid. Pears contain 10-20 mcg (about 5% of the RDA) of the natural form of folic acid, folate, and they should be included in a healthy prenatal diet.

    •Less Allergenic

    Pears are considered by some people to be a hypoallergenic food, which is why they are often recommended to people who suffer from food allergies and weaning babies. However, they are not completely hypoallergenic, as some people do have allergic reactions to pears, particularly those people who are allergic to Alder or Birch pollen.

    •Good for Weaning

    Many doctors recommend pears for babies when they are weaning and being introduced to baby food. This is because pears are a low acid fruit that are unlikely to cause digestion problems in little bellies and because pear allergy is relatively rare.

    Removing the skin and heating the pears before pureeing them can make them even easier to digest. Pears are very high in fiber so it’s important not to overdo it or to give pear puree to babies with diarrhea. If you do include the nutrient-rich skins in your baby’s food be sure that they are pureed enough that the pieces do not pose a choking hazard.

     

  • Pediatrics and child health; in focus:Children of the street and children on the street

    Perhaps as a result the tormenting whiplash of world economies, the world population of street children is on the increase. The situation is worse in some developing countries where religion and culture are structured in such a way as to celebrate early marriage, polygamy and polyandry ,and where majority of people impugn any suggestions about family planning. In fact, it is well documented that in some parts of Nigeria, certain tribes have completely shunned all aspects of medical advice, especially advice dwelling on the unpredictable dangers of any woman having children in excess of five ,and into old age. In these tribes there is strong support and encouragement for elaborate celebrations of parity , during which chieftaincy titles are bestowed on women who have had up to ten children and even more.

    When children decide to leave the protection of parents and guardian to become street children, they are often unaware of the dangers they face, and may be persistently encouraged by peer groups, either from the school or neighborhood. On the other hand ignorance, confused religious background and lack of education all orchestrate to blind such children to the understanding that freedom, no matter how sweet, comes with a huge price. At times some children simply walk out from homes without any one bothering to do any thing, Parents, guardian and the children themselves are ill prepared for the medical consequences associated with life as street children, and the realization comes too late, perhaps in adulthood that concerning infectious diseases, once contracted, the child either succumbs within a short while or spends the rest of his life as a burden, sometimes endangering the lives of others. Children of today are very different from those of the recent past, and of course we don’t know what pattern of behavior to expect of children of tomorrow, but we can predict adult behavioral patterns from what is seen in today’s children. Children in the rural areas in the past were less mobile and more God fearing, but with the emergence of the internet, many of them are now face booking and the difference between street children in rural settings and those in cities has narrowed. Two major issues worthy of consideration are extreme poverty and hunger, recognized in goal six of the MDGS. Long term solutions to majority of the social problems facing us today can be found by honestly and conscientiously looking at how we came to have a high proprtion of street children comparable to India. In doing so let us not forget that recently Nigeria was rated top as the worst place on earth to be born. Whatever the indices, the basic and elementary prescription of good Christianity should moderate our thinking. Given that it is difficult to monitor every born child from infancy through adolescence to adulthood, the question remains whether as parents, uncles, aunties, guardian, school heads, teachers, governments and churches, we have done what is humanly possible to keep children in good health with regards to their physical, social, mental and educational well being. The social aspect has to do with religion and we also need to examine how well we have obeyed the religious injunction-” love one another, do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

    As a child, occasions meant much to me especially those that involved educational activities. Unlike what obtains today, children were kept very busy. there were quiz contests(schools challenge), and I recall with nostalgia, the musical voice of Mr. Allison Mesango, of the then Bendel state quiz Board, announcing the schools and names of participating students to herald the commencement of contests.

    There were literary and debating societies and we were challenged to recite off hand certain portions of such juicy novel s as “The merchant of Venice”, “Macbeth” “The Lion and the Jewel”, “Weep not Child”, “The Concubine”, Things fall apart” “No longer at ease” and very many others… What ever new book came out in any of the sciences we had to quickly read up so we could be in stronger academic balance to debate. Children’s days were celebrated with some forms of academic activities; children were placed in groups to take part in role plays, drama sketches, recitation etc according to performance .Every one was fulfilled. On one of those occasions, I was taken to the Local Government Head quarters to take part in an essay competition as part of the events to celebrate Children’s day, and to be best of my knowledge the topic “juvenile delinquency, a threat to National progress” was announced at the venue, when we had all sat down. Though I did not know to a great extent what it was all about ,I was in familiar terrain, and found the whole exercise very interesting. I was happy when later I was called out in the assembly after morning devotion to receive a price; it was a novel, an allegorical poem cum prose written by kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian. It was an experimental novel and to this day it remains the most awe inspiring piece of work I have been blessed to receive. In class three then and with all the pressure of adolescence, my best book was the wonderful “common prayer book”; a real treasure, and one that made it more comfortable for me then to more effectively blend with Church Choir sessions under the unforgettable supervision and mentorship of Emmanuel Ohireimen Orhewere. I very quickly added my book price “this earth my brother” to the Common prayer book and for a very long period struggled to meaning out of it.

    Though I was later to win other much cherished novels including the ones written by wole Soyinka, Elechi Amadi, Vincent Ike and a very beautiful one by Onaiwu Osahon, I recall that the novel- This Earth my brother helped me, as a child to think in terms of deductions, innuendos ,and the abstract . Together with my common prayer book and the Holy Bible I had enough tangible tools for brain exercise. That way I was in a better position to appreciate psychic conflicts, internal and external, and to decide for my self which ways of life were safer , purposeful or rewarding; which ones were capable of improving my felling of self worth or eroding it altogether. Today children face crises of enormous dimensions, less than 10% can actually be held responsible for their problems as deviants, un teachables, delinquents and miscreants; for another 60%, the blame rests on parents who brought them into the world in large numbers and yet with no plans whatsoever to take adequate responsibility for their care , not to forget the very corrupt societies that formulate policies with no plans to honestly implement them

    As the pools of street children continues to enlarge, there is no limit to the dangers they face, the dangers they constitute to society and the magnitude of the medical and social burden the society will continue to carry .

    Who are street children?

    Street children are boys or girls who have found and made certain places within and outside their homes, regular means of livelihood and habitation. They do so with or without supervision and protection from known adults. Street here includes, structures like motor vehicles in motor parks or auto mechanic workshop, such places as Railway stations, uncompleted buildings, under over head bridges ,inside cartons on roadsides, school premises and even benches around wooden shops of security guards .There are several classes of street children but the two commonly used ones are; children of the street and children on the street.

    Children of the street. Street children of this category spend most of their time daily and habitually on the street, often living in situations so fluid that they can be only some few yards away from the home of a known family member and yet difficult to trace because they be spending nights in one street while in the day time they are busy in another street. These children usually have no moral awareness and family support is either absent or grossly inadequate. They are entirely on their own. Children of the street can be further divided on account of age into senior and junior categories with the senior providing direction, protection and in some cases medical attention by way of bringing out money to buy drugs from medicine shops or taking the ill to herbal centers . Senior street children may own properties to attract younger ones, and may in some cases as seen in the “Area boys organizations organize themselves into some kind of hierarchical system . This may be of benefit to those involved but could encourage the formation of street gangs

     

    To be continued

  • FCT gets community-based health insurance committee

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has established a technical committee on community-based health insurance scheme in order to ensure affordable access to healthcare services in rural communities in the territory.

    There are currently 861 communities in the six area councils of the FCT.

    Minister of State for the FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, who inaugurated the committee in Abuja, said the scheme aimed at protecting the rural poor from the burden of paying for healthcare directly from their pockets.

    “The FCT Community-based Health Insurance Scheme aims at providing access to healthcare services for the rural poor. Each rural beneficiary becomes a CBHIS subscriber the moment he or she signs up to the programme by paying a token for rural health insurance scheme.

    “Families do not have to divert money that is supposed to be used for food and education to treat illnesses. They do not have to sell their household assets to pay for healthcare services for their family members,” said Akinjide, who was represented by the Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Healthcare Development Board, Dr. Rilwan Mohammed.

    The minister reiterated the commitment of the FCT Administration to create an enabling environment, develop a policy and legal framework, strengthen institutional arrangements and provide regular and sustained financial support through increased target coverage of health.

    She further explained that the technical committee was expected to come up with an institutional framework for the Community-based Health Insurance Scheme in the FCT.

    The committee, which is chaired by the FCT Minister of State, has as members the Emir of Jiwa, His Royal Highness (Dr.) Idris Musa; Director of Economic Planning, Research and Statistics, Alhaji Ari Isa Mohammed; Secretary of FCT Primary Healthcare Development Board, Dr. Rilwan Mohammed and Director of Primary Healthcare in Area Council Services Secretariat, Dr. Sani Muhammed.

    Other members are Special Assistant to the Permanent Secretary, Mr. David Gende; Dr. Hope Iloeaja of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS); Dr. Hamza Aliyu of NHIS, and Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar of the Millennium Development Goals.

    The Director of the FCT Area Council Health Insurance Scheme serves as Secretary to the committee.

  • ‘I want to improve public health’

    ‘I want to improve public health’

    Charles Akhimien, (24), who just finished from Medicine and Surgery at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), has won the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Blogging Competition. The environment and public health blogger was the only African in the contest. Akhimien, who is billed to attend the Mongolia conference on the environment next month, spoke to OSATO EDOKPAYI (500-Level Crop Science) on his expectations.

     

    What is conscious consumption programme all about?

    Conscious consumption is a social movement, which centres on the understanding that what we consume as food has some impacts on ourselves, our communities and our world at large. The campaign covers not just choosing what kind of food to buy and where to buy it, but also how to use what we buy and dispose the waste. We want people to be aware of what, when, where and how to consume some foods.

    What drives your passion for the environment?

    I have, since my childhood days, been concerned about the environment. As a people, we don’t get to be conscious of the environment we live in because we are facing numerous socio-economic problems including mass poverty, corruption and insecurity. However, over the years, I have realised that even though we have our unique problems, environmental problems are global; so we cannot afford to be isolated. My work on climate change in medical school led me to find out that food waste, for instance, contributes one-third of the greenhouse emissions responsible for climate change. That is why I made the move. I derive my passion from making our environment a better place.

    What is the UNEP blogging competition about?

    It is a contest for green bloggers, that is, the environmental bloggers, to write inspiring stories on this year’s theme for the World Environment Day, which is Think, Eat, Save. The task is to create awareness and call for actions to reduce food waste and loss across the food supply chain. My blog entry is titled The power of social media in ensuring conscious consumption and explores the opportunity of interaction platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to communicate our goals. The social network site, I believe, can be used to educate people regarding their consumptive patterns and to monitor their progress daily.

    What do you look forward to in Mongolia?

    Mongolia is among the most vulnerable nations in the world to global warming. The country is facing enormous challenges including growing pressure on food security and water supplies as a result of the impacts of climate change. Yet its government is determined to meet these challenges and seize the opportunities of a less-polluting and more-sustainable future. I look forward to seeing how Mongolia is using renewable energy technology and harnessing its solar power potential, particularly in the sparsely populated Gobi region.

    How do you intend to reach out to people, who are not on the social media?

    I have the plan to take the message of conscious consumption to rural communities through public health outreaches. I know the task won’t be easy because of our lack of environmental consciousness in Africa, but it is great that awareness is already on the social media. We can build on the that and promote public health projects that would help us impact our environment positively. I know there are several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on the environment but as I have won the competition, I will be a poster boy and a rallying point for them all. I will collaborate with the NGOs to rescue our environment from degradation.

    What are the challenges you are facing in the campaign?

    The major challenge is the people’s cynicism since there are many challenges facing us as a country. But if we can work together to reframe peoples’ thoughts on the environment and educate them on the consequence of climate change, we can overcome that.

    How would you use the experience from the competition in your future endeavours?

    This competition has provided me with a unique platform to share my perspectives with a global audience and I will explore that. There are several subspecialties in medicine. Public health is particularly fantastic because one gets to prevent diseases. We can do this by improving our interaction with the environment, especially our behaviour and lifestyles as these are critical to our health. I want to use this platform to inspire and educate people to make our environment safer, cleaner and healthier.

     

  • Stress and health (3)

    The Boston Marathon of 2013 will go down in history for many reasons. For the first time in history, a city was locked down and its inhabitants were ordered to shelter-in-place for a whole work-day, a few days after the double bombing that shocked over 26,000 runners going the 26.2 miles and also shocked the rest of the world. In the pursuit and gun battles between law enforcement and the two suspects, a 26 years old suspect was gunned down and as well and a 26 years old police man. When I look at these numbers and discard coincidence, I cannot help thinking that the numbers are ominous. Besides, how comes a whole city, a mighty city, is held under siege by just a nineteen year old, a youth, with the full capacity of the ordinary law enforcement plus extraordinary war squads and machinery (tanks and all) in the streets after him. Surely, there are events in the course of history that seem to have such a strong supernatural component (good or evil) that no human effort (intelligence, security, military might, etc.,) could avert such. Are we in our times ready for such surprises, unexpected stressors, or “travails.” Last week, I was not ready for such a stress.

    I had planned my trip to Boston a long time back and I was to travel to that city on Wednesday for a scientific conference. Therefore, it was with shock that I saw the Monday Boston Marathon bombings on TV while I was still in Lagos. I travelled with the “everything under control” impression of Wednesday, to arrive in Boston on Thursday and wanted to have a full day’s rest and enjoyment before the conference. My day of rest became a day of fast as I was caught in the “shelter-in-place” which meant that you stay and lock yourself in where you are and you do not open the door for anyone who is not in uniform. There was also the “lock-down” which means the city was not workingand absolutely no public transportation was available for you. The vending machine in the building I was in did not have proper food and I got tired of the synthetic bites it provided. The stomach pangs converted my day into a day of prayers too as I joined the city in praying the suspect at large would be caught that day. There was no way my fast should continue till the next day or that the conference should be cancelled, so I joined the city in prayer. In the absence of food, I was savouring the American expressions that I had never heard before: “lock down”, “shelter-in-place” until I heard the best one: “we garim!” They got him and everybody was relieved.

    The world change on 9/11. We started a new era of mental health. In the days that followed, ordinary people could no longer live and go about life innocently or naively. Depending on who you are, you can no longer trust your neighbour. Anybody and everybody became an informant, a suspect, a spy, an enemy, or some other key player in the new status-quo. Our brains and minds work differently now.

    How aware are we individually or socially of this tension and how prepared are we for the unpredictable stressors that are so bent on showing up in the midst of society every now and then? At the social level, we see Americans with emergency response and excellent communication services. In many other countries, such a double bombing of a crowd would have left dozens of people dead from excessive bleeding and inadequate emergency response.

    We do well to learn tips about first aid and emergency response, for ourselves and so as to be useful to our companions or possible victims. We need to be prepared for mental stability so that we do not become part of the problem and add to the problem and rather we can be supportive to other people.

    The technological and scientific advancement of our times, on the flip side of its goodness, has created the new dangerous individual, powerful and able to vent “justice” at will. It has created a new war or tension of good versus evil within us as individual human beings and amongst us within society. It is easy to respond to any and every stressor beyond control because of the availability of power. Indeed, the bus driver that picked me up from the airport in Boston was talking about the recent events and to my surprise, her conclusion was (thinking of protection): “we have to become our own gods.” I thought this would be a greater problem. However, the need for spiritual development and wholesome balance and connectivity with our origin and end and the purpose of life is a challenge for today’s world if we want to preserve freedom and sanity within society.

     

    Dr. ’Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA. For any comments or questions on this column, please Email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 07028338910

  • Health Forever among Nigeria’s fastest 50 growing firms

    Otunba Olajuwon Okubena, representing Health Forever Products Limited, has been invited to this year’s AllWorld Summit at Harvard, where AllWorld entrepreneurs and partners will spend three days from June 24 to 27.

    The company and other organisations will test their competitive spirits in the AllWorld Adventure race, build partnerships with AllWorld winners, and spend time with Professor Michael Porter, who developed “Shared Value” strategy.

    They will also participate in discussions with Harvard faculty members, investors, and corporate leaders from across the world as well as national and international VIPs.

    The speakers include Tarun Khanna, the author of Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution and Grand Circle Travel Chairman, Alan Lewis, who grew his business 20 per cent a year for 20 years, to name a few.

    The attendees will on June 27 spend some time in New York city with the staff, fund managers and high net worth clients of Credit Suisse.

    As an AllWorld winner, Enterprise Ireland has also invited about 15 entrepreneurs to meet top agriculture, health and technology entrepreneurs in Ireland. The event is scheduled for June 21 and 22.

    Health Forever would be represented by Otunba Okubena.

    Last month, AllWorld Network and the Tony Elumelu Foundation announced the Nigeria 50 winners. Health Forever was among the winners.

    AllWorld systematically identifies private growth companies and ranks the fastest growing for the Arabia 500, Africa 500, Asia 500, Eurasia 500, Latin America 500 and Nigeria 50.

    Being on an AllWorld ranking puts companies on the world map, drawing the market to them – what we call Visibility Economics. Ranked companies “go public”, attracting new investors, customers, joint venture partners and talents so they continue to grow and get to scale.

    On March 21, Nigeria 50 winners were recognised at the Nigeria 50 awards and summit in Lagos.

    The event featured a panel of discussants with Tony Elumelu and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and a Gala Awards Event attended by winners, business and government leaders including the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga.

    Health Forever was represented by Otunba Okubena, Mrs Bisola Banjoko Okubena, Mr Abimbola Okubena, Ms Ololade Okubena, Dr David Abia-Okon and Mr Lanre Falade.

    Representing over 10 industries and growing at an average of 100 per cent a year, the Nigeria 50 are at the leading edge of a new form of competitiveness. By being on the Nigeria 50, winners gain access to a global network of entrepreneurial peers and world famous academics and investors.

    The company’s product, Jobelyn, is an extract from West African sorghum, which may provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory effects and immune benefits. It also offers food colour and nutriacosmetic potential, according to new data in peer-reviewed journal publications.

    Health Forever Product Limited in the past 15 years developed the popular Sorghum bicolor dietary supplement branded as Jobelyn from a traditional folk medicine that has been in use for centuries to treat diverse ailments, such as, anaemia, diabetes, arthritis, sickle cell anaemia, cardiovascular problems, and others.

    Based on scientific investigations and tests performed by NIS Laboratories (USA), Dover Sciences (USA), and Health Forever Products, it has been proven that the unique properties of the West African sorghum go beyond a simple content of antioxidant polyphenols and water-soluble pro-inflammatory glucans.

    The complexity is illustrated by the presence of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds in both the aqueous and ethanol-based extracts, and the presence of immune modulating compounds with selectively different biological effects in the aqueous versus ethanol-based extracts.

    The Chief Operating Officer (COO), Health Forever Products, Ademola Okubena, in an interview, said the supplement was positioned for the anti-oxidant market. This is because it was confirmed through peer-review publication that it was four times more powerful than the current American champion, i.e. Acai berry. It is also confirmed to possess strong anti-inflammatory and immune boosting support.

    He said the ingredient is sourced locally in Nigeria from the company’s plantation. “Nigeria is a major sorghum producing country in the world, with a capacity to produce sufficient sorghum sheaths to meet world demand,” he added.

    According to Okubena, Jobelyn is the most popular dietary supplement in the Nigerian market for over a decade and it is being prescribed by orthodox medical practitioners to treat anaemia, sickle cell anaemia and other diverse ailments. “The lack of awareness about the potential of sorghum, particularly in the American market where it is only used for animal nutrition, contributed to the slow growth on the internet market and with adequate scientific backing and orientation, the awareness should launch the product significantly in the immediate future.”

    According to the data published in the Journal of Food Science last year, the researchers from the Soil and Crop Science Department at Texas A and M University indicated that the sorghum contains high levels of the polyphenol antioxidant, 3-deoxy-anthocyanidin, which may offer an intense red colour for food and beverage formulators, adding that the pigment content is resistant to pH changes and bisulfate, while many other natural colourants, such as anthocyanin, do not tolerate these changes.

    Okubena said the ingredient could also be used as a nutricosmetic product. This followed the report of a study from Brunswick Laboratory, corroborating that the ingredient has collagenase inhibition which is 15-fold that of Vitamin C, eight-fold potency of Idebenone and 30-fold potency of ferrulic acid. The elastase inhibition is 22-fold potency of Vitamin C; eight-fold potency of ferrulic acid and one-and-a half-fold potency of quercetin.

  • Senate to pass Health Bill

    THE Senate will soon pass the National Health Bill (NHB), Health Committee chair Ifeanyi Okowa, said at the weekend.

    Okowa spoke when his committee visited the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ebute-Metta, Lagos. He said the bill, when passed, would take care of its financial aspect.

    The Senator also praised the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and the FMC, Lagos, for maintaining a high level of cleanliness.

    He said FMC’s Medical Director, Mrs Yewande Jinadu, had talked about the small space that housed the 190-bed hospital, “but now that we are here to inspect the hospital, we are marvelled at how neat the hospital is in view of the large number of patients it has to attend to. We had same experience with the University of Benin, Edo State. We challenge other hospitals to take a cue. Patients don’t feel as if they are in prison as we see in some hospitals’’.

    “This hospital is taking care of its environment and the need of its patients not to come down with other diseases while receiving treatments. This is in line with the Committee’s resolve to advocate for more funds for health sector and infrastructural development, to stem the tide of medical tourism, which by our last calculation has reached over N80 billion, which should not be.

    ‘’We need more tertiary hospitals in Lagos State to reduce the high burden, demand on facilities like FMC, Ebutte Metta.”

     

  • Stress and health (2)

    Stress and health (2)

    This Monday, I had a long day with enough work for me to just come home and rest. My coming home meant my coming to darkness because of lack of electricity, a stressor. When power came on, the TV came on with news of the Boston Marathon bombing in the USA. For me, it was a shock but unlike that for those at the scene. More than 140 people were wounded, some maimed, and two died. I considered that if a hundred people are wounded or maimed physically, perhaps, watching from their television, hundreds of thousands or persons would be “wounded or maimed” mentally and millions of persons would be “wounded or maimed” spiritually. The next day, as I was considering penning more of the topic: Stress and Health, I thought to myself, “Evil is the greatest of stressors”. Evil indeed is with us, in us, around us and has a way of popping up every now and then, in small presence and in great presence and is a source of much stress within us and outside of us. Indeed, Jewish and Christian wisdom tells us to do good and avoid evil through King David and the apostles Peter and Paul (Psalm 37: 27; 1Peter 3; 11; Romans 12: 9) and I wonder if I would ever perfect this principle in this life. Indeed, I do not know any Christian who believes in it. Other faiths and ideologies may teach the same but we human beings in general do not believe in it. Stress affects our physical, mental, and spiritual health and wellbeing, and if we recognize any evil as a great stressor we do well to avoid it, if we can.

    However blatant evil is not what we routinely deal with. For many of us routinely, the expected stressors are those factors that cause physical stress is on our bodies through exhaustion, lack of food or unhealthy eating, lack of sleep or unhealthy sleeping, exposure to hazards, and unhealthy posture or conditioning. Motivational speakers and counsellors are forever teaching us about time management, planning, and the habits of busy and successful people. Indeed, sometimes we cannot avoid extra work or long hours of work and all the time we need to know our own capacities and how these events affect us and how to manage ourselves well.

    One important biologic implication is psychosomatics. The extra activities of our mentality, translated into extra activities of our nerves and in turn translated into extra activities of our body organs can have deleterious effects or cause pains arising from an affected body organs. A major nerve that controls many body organs is the vagus nerve. In fact its name is from the same root as the word vagabond; it goes everywhere in the abdomen.

    Stress-induced hyper-stimulation of the nerve makes the stomach to secret more acid. For people who have weak stomach protective lining this acid becomes corrosive to the stomach wall causing ulcer. If you need to work extra hard and for long periods or if you find yourself skipping meals, it is helpful to keep some snack around: nuts, biscuits, bites. Snacking on such will give any acid in your stomach something to digest instead of your own stomach wall.If you do not protect your stomach from acid stress and also fail to sleep well to allow your body to undergo healing and recovery, you may set the stage for chronic ulcer. Some ulcers can turn into cancer.

    Getting carried away with work can make us skip meals. Lack of nutrition can affect us in many ways. For example, we become weak in our body defences and this can make us prone to catch infectious diseases. Some of these diseases may be chronic diseases sticking to the victim long after the job is done. One weeks’ unmanaged stress of hard work can result in years of chronic infection. For women under stress and menstruating, skipping meals can precipitate anaemia and pathologic weakness because of lack of blood.

    Some works take a toll on certain parts of our bodies. Eye strain, back ache, neck pain, and stiffness, are often results of long ours in the same posture and doing the same thing. Taking breaks or breaking the stress is useful to limit such stress. Resting one’s eye, getting up and standing for a few seconds every now and then, for example, can break the posture stressors. The essential factor is breaking the stress instead of letting it be continuous.

    Psychosomatics include effects of continual stressors on vital organs such as the heart and blood vessels. In the cardiovascular system, this can lead to build up of blood pressure. To avoid such build-up, breaking the stressor by taking breaks is also important. A few minutes’ relaxation or fun every few hours may be helpful.

    Therefore one important aspect of preventing damage to our health through physical stressors, is to recognize the stressors and to break up their influence instead of letting them be continuous.

     

    Dr. ’Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA. For any comments or questions on this column, please Email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 07028338910

     

  • Church provides health centre for Yelwan-Zuba community

    Church provides health centre for Yelwan-Zuba community

    RESIDENTS of the rusty settlement of Yelwan Zuba, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will not forget the gesture any time soon.

    Foursquare Gospel Church provided a befitting healthcare centre for the community.

    The settlement is located about 13 kilometers off Zuba/Suleja Expressway. It is about 30 minutes drive on a rusty, untarred road from the other side of the College of Education.

    At a point, the road is almost cut into two. The only visible presence of government was in the ETF primary school buildings. No presence of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and so the people rely heavily on generators.

    Besides, the communities also lack healthcare facilities and had to travel over 13 kilometers to be able to access modern health facilities.

    Their challenges came to an end as the church in Kubwa brought a smile to the residents’ faces by providing a fully equipped health centre for the area.

    The facility is to provide primary healthcare services for the 10 communities in the settlement.

    The project started about 10 years ago as a medical mission and did not continue until 2010. The foundation of the health centre and the community church was laid in 2011. The two structures were completed in November 2012 at the cost of about N4m.

    The church has also employed the service of a medical doctor and a nurse who will be on hand weekly, while a resident midwife and a nurse have also been engaged to run the centre.

    Commissioning the centre, the District Overseer, Rev.  Isaac Komolafe said the centre is part of the church’s contribution to the development and wellbeing of the society.

    He also noted that the issue of development and provision of services should not be left to the government alone, stressing that government cannot do it alone, hence the need for the church to come in here as part of its medical evangelism.

    He also added that the church is following the footsteps of Jesus Christ who went about doing good.

    The pastor further assured members of the Yelwan-Zuba communities that with the presence of the church in the area, light and development will follow suit.

    On the medical team to man the health centre, the pastor said they are all missionary medical personnel. So they are not going to do the work because of the money but as missionaries who have agreed to stay among the people.

    The Community Chief, Zaki Abdulahi Musa who was filled with joy commended the church and assured the people of his support.

    Abdulahi who had to abandon his other engagement to be part of the ceremony assured the church of his support, saying since the health centre is for the good of the people, he and the community would do everything possible to support the medical team.

    He adviced the medical team to go about their duties in a professional way.

    Some of the villagers who commented on the establishment of the centre were full of praises for the church.

    They noted that the gesture will in so many ways reduce the suffering of the people who otherwise would have continued to travel for kilometers to get medical atttention.

    They also noted that there were occasions when the community lost its members as a result of the long walk to get medical attention in other communities.

    Mallam Abubakar, assistant Imam of the community, said the community has a lot of problems in the past.

    Citing the pains the people went through, he said if women were to give birth or there was an emergency, it took a lot of time to get to the nearest health centre.

    “For the church to have the mind of doing such a thing here, we thank them and we pray that God will bless and reward them.

    “This health centre will reduce the suffering and pains of the people.”

     

  • Stress and health

    Stress and health

    Top executives facing deadlines and targets to deliver a job or project are often heard dropping phrases such as: “I only slept three hours last night”; “I am under stress”; “There is a lot of pressure on me”. I quite understand this situation as I have been there every now and then for various reasons. In fact, everybody gets to that point for various reasons. The mother with several young kids will sometimes lose sleep and have piled up house work. The trader trying to net in some opportune profit from a seasonal sale will lose some sleep and work to exhaustion. The student anxious to pass a difficult examination can throw himself or herself into a state of stress. Politicians in an elections season need miracles to stay in good mental and physical health. When life moments hit us: a birth, a death, an accident, an illness, a loss, or a catastrophe in the family, the members of the family may end up in stress.

    Last week end, I found myself home alone and with some urgent work to deliver from my laptop. There was no electricity. The generator was dead and I had neither the interest nor the time and money to involve myself with a generator mechanic again. I decided to rush the work on the 2h battery life remaining on my laptop. It might have been alright if I did not have a bright idea to cook some chicken for lunch at the same time. Should I not have set the timer on my cell phone to remind me to check the cooking? As I was in the bedroom tucked into the work I was doing, the smell of smoke jolted my memory. I ran to the kitchen. I got rid of the smoke and then studied the chicken.The chicken was cremated. Hard and black, it neither felt nor looked palatable. Surely not destined for my stomach, I offered it a place in the trash. I proceeded to Plan B to cook and not cremate another lunch, considering the economic loss of a cremated chicken and the effect of smoke on my lungs. The laptop battery died in its own time.

    We never know what kind of stress, what effect of stress, what consequences of stress, we are scuttling into when we take up extraordinary, excessive, or overwhelming tasks.

    There are different kinds of stress. Stress affects our physical, mental, and spiritual health and wellbeing, respectively or altogether. When everything is affected, the effect is akin to being overtaken by a demon. One has lost control.

    Physical stress is on our bodies through exhaustion, lack of food or unhealthy eating, lack of sleep or unhealthy sleeping, exposure to hazards, and unhealthy posture or conditioning. Mental stress is on our minds through existence of threat; fear of failure;apprehension of punishment, penalty, or discredit; deadlines unprepared for, inability to cope, etc. Spiritual stress involves temptations to shut cuts, cheating, quick fixes, or desire for magic bullets, and such attitudes that leave our consciences troubled and in turmoil.

    Tension headache, muscle spasm and body aches, irritability and aggressiveness, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, and malnutrition are the common health problems that stress precipitates. We will look at these in relation to stress and consider how to avoid such stress-related health problems.

    When we get ourselves stressed up, it does not only affect us as individuals, it runs over relationships and our environments, especially the family. The members of the family may become the shock absorbers. It is therefore important to know how to manage oneself when under stress and how to manage other people who we are involved with and who are under stress. We will also look at possible consequences of stress in our environments, especially within the family.