The Nation Newspaper

Tag: heart

  • Heart disease prevention

    A new study suggests that adults who have good dental hygiene have lower risk of heart disease

     

    THESE days a lot of people are being diagnosed for heart infection and disease. Unfortunately, by the time they know about their status it is almost too late. It is, therefore, important to make sure you know the signs of a heart attack by asking your doctor questions about heart health. In addition to this, you can also read and learn how to lower your risk of heart disease.

    Having high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol, smoking, and having had a previous heart attack, stroke, or diabetes can increase your chances of having a heart attack. You can therefore lower your risk for heart disease by eating healthy, staying active, being smoke-free, and getting regular check-ups. The good news is that if you seek help quickly, treatment can save your life and prevent permanent damage to your heart muscle. Treatment works best if given within 1 hour of when symptoms begin.

    Common symptoms include: unusually heavy pressure on the chest, like there’s a ton of weight on you, a sharp upper body pain in the neck, back, and jaw. It also includes a severe shortness of breath, Cold sweats (not hot flashes from menopause). The person also experiences unusual or unexplained fatigue (tiredness), unfamiliar dizziness or light-headedness as well as unexplained nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) or vomiting.

    It is also important to know the risk factors that may increase your chances of getting heart disease. So the big question now is what you should look out for to reduce the risk. Some of the things you need to avoid include your alcohol consumption, high blood cholesterol levels, as well as your diet. Apart from all this, it is important to note that it could be heredity or affect people with high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity and those who indulge in tobacco use.

    To understand if you are at risk you need to constantly ask yourself certain questions like, “What is my blood pressure? What does it mean for me and what do I need to do about it? Or what are my cholesterol numbers (including total cholesterol, LDL or “bad” cholesterol, HDL or “good” cholesterol, as well as what is my “body mass index” and waist measurement? Is my BMI in the “normal” range? Do I need to lose weight for my health?

    That is not all. You also need to know your blood sugar level to verify if you are at risk for diabetes. Once this is confirmed, you can then go on to find out the other screening tests for heart disease that is required. It would naturally lead you to what’s called a heart-healthy eating plan. Here you would be thinking of how much physical activity that you need to help protect my heart.

  • I was faithful to him, yet he broke my heart

    A guy I dated for 3 years and was faithful to broke my heart and now I cry all day. I even feel like ending my life just to stop thinking about him and stop being in pain. What should I do?

     

    Yes, I know how you must be feeling. You wouldn’t like to get up from your bed in the morning because you don’t want to face the world without him and your nights are long and filled with tears. You’re probably asking yourself where it all went wrong and may be blaming yourself. Cry some more. I tell you, it will help you cope. Share with friends and allow them to point out the guy’s faults and stupidity. Deliberately talk about his not-so-perfect points and laugh about it. Spend time with people who love you and tell yourself you deserve a better person. Tell yourself that the vacancy he just created is for you to find a man deserving of your love. However, do not go into a new relationship now. Shed all feelings of bitterness and learn not to mention his name after a while. Wait until you have healed before you consider going into a new relationship.

    No, don’t be suicidal because of him. He has taken his love away; he shouldn’t take your life too. Learn to love yourself and be happy. Sit in front of a mirror and apply make-up. Sing new songs and tell yourself that you don’t need a narrow-minded person like him you dumped the good thing that you are. Shine baby. Shine!

  • Kanu’s large heart

    Kanu’s large heart

    • He is an exemplar of the successful giving back to the society

    It is heartwarming that the Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) has decided to take its initiative to another level with its plan to establish a Cardiac Hospital in Nigeria. The hospital is to cost $35million (about N5billion). KHF, a charity organisation, was established by the Nigerian international football star, Nwankwo Kanu, on July 21, 2000, with the primary aim of putting smiles back to the faces of Nigerians and African’s blue children/young adults with various heart defects.

    It has so far handled 452 open heart surgeries since inception, up from 310 in 2008. This number may look small in 12 years, but it is huge when we consider the fact that heart diseases are usually expensive to remedy, especially since most of the surgeries are carried out abroad. But for the foundation’s intervention, many of the beneficiaries would not have survived to see their fifth birthday, just as many would not have been able to live normal lives without the correctional procedures.

    We commend Kanu for this humanitarian initiative, borne out of his personal experience with a heart disease. Shortly after returning from the 1996 Olympics, Kanu had a medical examination which revealed a serious heart defect over which he underwent surgery in November of the same year to replace an aortic valve. In the KHF we have seen in Kanu a practical demonstration of his oft-cited Christian faith in interviews he granted. His religion enjoins its adherents to be their brothers’ keepers; and this is what Kanu has done with his heart foundation. He has proved himself a moral exemplar both on the field of play and outside of it.

    Kanu has made a difference with his talent. Many of his colleagues who have made it big hardly remember the less privileged. Faced with Kanu’s type of medical challenge, they would have deployed their resources only in the interest of self to overcome the adversity; forgetting the less endowed who are going through the same experience. We have examples in our rich jetting out of the country to treat minor health challenges. Incidentally, many of them once occupied public offices through which they could have made a difference on the country’s healthcare system. But in his little way, Kanu, humanised by his own heart condition, is adding value to the society.

    It is particularly noteworthy that despite his educational limitation, Kanu has such qualitative vision. His 13 years experience with his foundation must have informed his decision to establish the Cardiac Hospital in the country. The first two beneficiaries of the foundation’s assistance were operated upon in London in 2000. New partners had to be sought in Israel as a result of exorbitant fees charged by the London hospitals.

    The search for more cost-effective price and the same high quality treatment took the foundation to India. The increase in the number of cases requiring the foundation’s attention, coupled with the attendant high cost made it look inwards by bringing The International Children Heart Foundation (Menphis. USA) to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, in 2003. There is significant progress in this area but it cannot be like the organisation having its own facility.

    Most of our big men (and women) have to emulate this kind of large-heartedness. Instead of spending their money on frivolities like building of night clubs, buying of exotic cars and or private jets; they can find better uses for their wealth. They should emulate Kanu’s type of philanthropy. They should identify with the cardiac hospital. The Federal Government too should lend its support to the initiative. This is the least we can do to encourage Kanu as well as other people who might be inclined to toe the same humanitarian path.

  • Ways to detoxify your heart

    Most toxic toxins start in our hearts. And for true health, healing, and happiness that’s where we need to start.

    The power of emotional healing: Don’t numb it, feel it. This is the hardest and first step. How many different methods do we employ to avoid feeling what we really feel? Drugs and alcohol are the easiest ways to recognise the numbing effect.

    But we can also use food, TV, religion, sports, crafts, or just plain emotional repression. Yes, emotions can be truly painful, but it’s the pain of living, of personal growth, of healing. Let yourself feel what’s in your heart. Truly feel it. Find a safe place and let those feelings wash over you.

    Do the forensics and unpeel the layers. Often, what we first think we are upset about isn’t the true thing that is bothering us. Our emotions come in layers. The first layer might be anger. I am angry! But when you peel away the layers, what might truly be driving that is loneliness, or fear, or hurt. This is where talking with a therapist can really help. Sometimes it really helps to have someone help us dig out from under all those layers we’ve covered our hearts in. As a parent, I often find that when a child is cranky or annoyed, taking time out to sit and talk with them and help them get to the original feeling can be transformative and enlightening for everyone.

    Ask the universe for guidance. Sometimes it can be really hard to get to the source of what is actually causing us pain or anger.

    When that happens, it helps to carve out some quiet time in nature and ask for help. The universe will often speak back through nature, through “synchronicity,” or through bringing you teachers, if you are open to it. Sometimes those teachers come in the form of a book, or a situation and suddenly you realise that yes, the universe does listen! That’s when detoxifying your heart starts to get fun, because it starts to feel like an adventure.

    Replace fear with love. Easier said than done, right? Wrong. It’s easy. Whenever you feel fear, question it and the situation. Ask yourself, what would love feel like in this situation instead of fear? The world is filled with threats and meanness and angry people-but imagine the pain they must be feeling, the hurt in their hearts! It won’t get any better by adding to it. The key here is trying to see the world from the other person’s perspective. I think this gets easier as we age, since we now experience first-hand things our parents might have felt, for example. It’s like exercise, the more you do it, the easier it gets. And just like exercise, you are the ultimate beneficiary.

    Let it out and let it go. This step requires action and the courage to act, but is key to the healing process. Once you have identified what is truly the toxin in your heart, the only way to get rid of it is to let it go. If there is something you need to say to someone. Say it. But say it with love. If there is something you need to do, a change you need to make, Make IT. But make it with love. If there is something you need to express, but don’t have the words, Create it. But create it with love. Your job here is not to hurt someone else (although sometimes that happens), but to have them truly hear what you have to say. That doesn’t mean they will change. In fact, they most certainly won’t. But you will. You will feel better, lighter, happier, cleaner.Detoxified!

    Forgive yourself. Things will never be perfect. You will never be perfect. Other people certainly will never be perfect (especially me!).

     

     

     

     

     

  • How safe is your feminine heart?

    IT didn’t raise any red flag in Mrs. Bunmi Adekeye’s mind when she began noticing how quickly she got tired after doing every little activity. She had no symptoms.

    So when she travelled to the United Kingdom to seek greener pastures and was asked to go for a routine medical check-up as part of the requirements for employment, it was with shock she received the news that she had a life-threatening hole in her heart.

    Too scared to deal with the information, she bought a few drugs and ignored it.

    By the time Bunmi, a mother of three, was brought to the hospital five years later, she was in a wheel chair with irregular heart palpitations, a climbing blood pressure and she couldn’t carry on a conversation without sweating.

    A battery of tests revealed Bunmi had a malfunctioning heart valve, which trapped the blood in her heart and stopped it from flowing. As a result, the large blood vessel that pumps blood from the heart to the rest of the body was beginning to bulge like an overfilled water balloon. Left untreated, the artery might burst and kill her.

    Bunmi, at 39 years of age, had to undergo an open heart surgery, but more importantly, she needed to find a heart donor that would match.

    N9million and six successful surgeries later, she is almost as healthy as she was before her illness, only this time, she would spend a large chunk of her money paying for quarterly medical check-ups each year for the rest of her life.

    Dr. Eunice Alegbe, a medical practitioner at Health Sinai Diagnostic calls Bunmi lucky; “What she went through is actually something that is becoming a regular occurrence. I cannot count the number of times patients come to the hospital at the last minute after they have tried every other means. And when they come, they want us to perform some kind of miracle!

    “Sometimes, they show up at the beginning, you run a check-up and you will not see them again. Next thing you hear is they have passed on. The lady was just fortunate to be in an environment where she could quickly access good medical treatment, if not I do not know what her story would have been.”

    Ignoring the symptoms of an ailment can be unhelpful. Even if a woman needs to pray for a miracle, it would be great if she identifies them and starts praying on time.

  • ‘My dad’s death left a huge hole in my heart’

    ‘My dad’s death left a huge hole in my heart’

    Omorinsola Abaniwonda is the daughter of the late ministerial nominee and chieftain of the Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Al-Mustain Abaniwonda. A graduate of Environmental Management, she returned after a long hiatus in Canada, packed up her university degree and set up her dessert café, Helado Delicia. During an interview with Rita Ohai, she talked about losing her father, her new-found passion .

     

    TAKING a wild leap and making a major career change can be a daunting process. However, when people are able to achieve this successfully, there’s a lot to be thankful for.

    Morinsola Abaniwonda has travelled the world and seen the huge potential in the food-making industry; this fanned the embers of her courage as she joined a competitive market and set up her ice-cream shop.

    In her words: “I love desserts and as I travelled to different parts of the world and visited different ice cream parlours and cafés, I knew I just had to open a dessert restaurant here in Nigeria. Just before I moved back to Nigeria from Canada, I took an intensive six months’ course in dessert and pastry-making. This was very different for me as I do not have a culinary background. However, as the months went by it got easier.”

    Although playing with forks and knives might be a walk in the park for her, it still takes a lot of effort to turn a blind eye to crazy drivers, mean and slothful people.

    One of the things she cannot stand about living in Nigeria is the craziness experienced on Lagos roads, she says, “I can’t stand how impatient Nigerian drivers are. A majority of the people on the road have zero driving skills.”

    Further, she shared, “I do not like it when people do things without the fear of God. As humans, we will all pass on eventually and on the Day of Judgment each and every one of us will be held accountable for our actions. I believe that in all that we do we should always have this at the back of our minds. The world will be better place if we do.

    “Finally, I don’t like laziness. In my opinion, for you to attain success, one has to be very hard working.”

    Certainly not a lazy person herself, Abaniwonda, a lover of African meals, now enjoys cooking. When she gets home from work, Edikan ikong is one of the special dishes she prepares due to the ‘variety of ingredients and its aromatic nature.’

    The death of her father, Chief Al-Mustain Abaniwonda, came as a shock to many. While many believe there was some foul play involved, Morinsola and her family are simply thankful for the good life he lived. However, they still miss his presence.

    “We were so close,” she says. “I miss him every single day. I miss chatting with him. I miss his voice. I miss his kindness and warmth. His death left a huge whole in my heart and every day I pray for him to continue to enjoy eternal rest and for Allah to grant him Al-JannahFirdaus.”

    While his demise shook the family to its core, they have found a way to grow in spite of it all; “Coping, since he passed on, hasn’t been easy but God has been wonderful. We are all doing great. Everyone is excelling in all aspects of their lives. My older sister just got married about a month ago and my younger ones are just about finishing their university education in Canada and the UK.”

    Still speaking on marriage, when asked if she would ever agree to be a second wife, Morinsola expressed: “I will never agree to be a second wife because I am a very possessive person and I don’t want to be an option. I will always want to be the only option.”

    While many shy away from speaking on their rights as women, this lady makes bold to share her stand on the liberation of her gender.

    Listen to her: “I strongly believe that every woman in the world can be empowered if she is given the right resources. In Nigeria today, women still do not have equal rights. Women are required to be lower, weaker, inferior and subordinate for back stage and backbench positions. The Nigerian culture endorses this view often to the detriment of the woman’s overall well-being and state of mind. For Nigeria as a country to really develop, the basic needs of women cannot be ignored.”

    Revealing some of the challenges faced in her industry, Abaniwonda says, “The major difference between culinary industry in Nigeria and Canada is that in Nigeria cooking is viewed as a way of life and not a profession. In the western world it’s viewed as a profession and in a lot of cases even viewed as an art. It is taken a lot more seriously over there. Here in Nigeria we have very few seasoned culinary schools that produce well trained chefs.”

  • ‘Heavy heart but complete understanding’

    ‘Heavy heart but complete understanding’

    POPE Benedict XVI’s abdication announcement at a small event at the Vatican on Monday came as such a surprise that even the cardinals in the room were astonished — a sentiment echoed around the world as church leaders and laity alike grappled with the news.

    “All the cardinals remained shocked and were looking at each other,” Monsignor Oscar Sanchez of Mexico, who was in the room at the time of the announcement, said, according to The Associated Press

    The pope said on Monday that he no longer had the strength to carry out his ministry and would step aside February 28 as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. Speaking in Latin, Benedict, 85, announced his decision during an address at a small gathering of cardinals.

    “I’m as startled as the rest of you and as anxious to find out exactly what’s going on,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, United States (U.S.) said on TODAY.

    “Except for prayer, I don’t know what else to do. I’ll await instruction with everyone else,” he said.

    Like other prominent figures in the church, Dolan said that it was a somber occasion and that the decision only deepened his respect for the pope.

    Dolan, who was appointed to his position in 2009 and elevated to cardinal early last year by Benedict himself, is considered a longshot candidate to succeed the pope. He said that he found himself “kind of somber” upon hearing of the resignation.

    “Boy, I love this pope,” the cardinal said. “The world looks to him with respect and affection,” he added.

  • Unhappy childhood linked to heart risk in later life

    EMOTIONAL behaviour in childhood may be linked with heart disease in middle age, especially in women, research suggests.

    A study found being prone to distress at the age of seven was associated with a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease in later life. Conversely, children who were better at paying attention and staying focused had reduced heart risk when older.

    Study leader Dr Allison Appleton said more research would now be needed to work out the biological mechanism that may underpin the finding.

    “We know that persistent distress can cause dysregulation of the stress response and that is something we want to look at.”

    Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said it was already known that a child’s health could often have a bearing on their future wellbeing.

    But she added that more research was needed before it could be clear that any possible link existed between emotions in childhood and the risk of cardiovascular disease in later life.

    “There are positive steps parents can take to protect their child’s future heart health.

    “What we learn when we’re young can often set the tone for our habits later in life, so teaching children about physical activity and a balanced diet is a great place to start.”

  • A heart to thrive

    A heart to thrive

    Everyone knows that you need more than wings to fly. More than anything else, you need a heart. To make a success of anything, you require more than tools or tutelage. You need a heart to fly, a fire to propel you.

    Only a few years ago, planes were falling off the Nigerian sky at an alarming frequency, plunging people to a most horrific death. It wasn’t that Nigerian pilots could not fly an aircraft. Nor was it that the planes were wingless or not altogether airworthy. The aircraft were crashing simply because there was no heart to ensure safety in the air. Without such a heart, therefore, no one prioritised the installation of obligatory flying aids. Nor was the right orientation in place for ground personnel. The result was the unforgettable catalogue of air tragedies of the Obasanjo years. The moment the right heart came the planes flew began to fly peacefully in the Nigerian air space.

    Hard-nosed football coaches look for this sort of heart in their players especially the strikers. A good pair of legs is not enough. Nor is ball control. Do you have enough push, an insatiable hunger to put the ball behind the opponent’s net? Attackers are rested if this fire is not in their belly.

    We need such fire to successfully tackle every challenge facing this country, including insecurity. These days of Boko Haram bloodletting, we have read that virtually every world power has lent us their security and intelligence services to help tackle terrorism. The other day, we read again that the Jonathan administration appealed to Britain for help in this regard.

    If outsiders help, it is all well and good, considering that no nation is, or can be, an island. But as a people, we need a heart of our own to confront evil. External help is welcome but it may not endure. Beyond the obligation stirred by our common humanity, the West will only help us or anyone if the gesture will benefit its people one way or another. There are interests to protect, new grounds to break and virgin frontiers to explore. Beyond that, you are essentially on your own. We need a heart to survive before the helpers come. We need a heart to survive while they are here. And we definitely need a heart to stay alive after the helpers are gone.

    Such a heart has eluded the Nigerian leadership. In spite of assorted national mantra, slogans and other forms of rhetoric, leadership has perpetually failed the nation and its people. Why? No heart to swing things. No heart to fly.

    A few examples won’t go amiss. Our leadership has consistently expended a lot of energy and cash to project a polished Nigerian brand to the world. We have been urged to dress Nigerian and to love the local fabric. But what effort has been made to revive the abandoned indigenous textile industry that should spin out the fabric?

    The Ministry of Works takes a handsome cut of statutory funds from the federal purse but has failed to build roads or repair damaged ones on which our perish every day.

    Every government has trumpeted its iron-cast resolve to put corruption out of the Nigerian space, but the monster continues to grow in stature nevertheless. It continues to cripple everything we hold dear. Providing electricity, for instance, has since become an unsolvable puzzle essentially because of corruption.

    Some might say we lack most of the things we need to take off. No. We have everything we need. We do not lack resources, whether in human or natural form. If crude oil were for drinking, I believe we have enough of it to serve every family three times a day. But its abundance has ironically not always guaranteed its availability nor stopped us from importing fuel at a huge cost. Our human resources have also been helping to build overseas nations. But we cannot build ours. Why? We lack a heart to convert resources to assets, deployable to the common good.

    Boko Haram has set everyone’s teeth on edge. Last week our prized federal lawmakers were in an uncoordinated marathon race, beginning from their hallowed seats and terminating in the open space outside the legislative chambers where they felt safe. A security officer was later to dismiss the marathon as a needless product of an empty rumour. But you won’t blame the frightened lawmakers any more than you will chide a man who was robbed by someone wielding what he suspected was a toy gun. Who will wait to find out if a Boko Haram threat is a baseless rumour, or that a robber’s weapon is actually not made of iron?

    So bring in the British anti-terror experts, but we must bear in mind that we need much more than them to live peacefully in this country. We need a heart to protect our own, and a new order that puts premium on the human life, even that of a single individual.

     

    First published September 25, 2011

     

  • Help for kid heart patients

    Kanu Heart Foundation, in collaboration with the Society of Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN) has concluded plans to raise fund for kid heart patients who need medical surgery.

    According to the chairperson of SPAN Sarah Boulos, the society is collaborating with the Kanu Heart Foundation in order to save those who are suffering from the ailment. This, she said, would take the form of a theatrical production tagged Star Art Stage and would be entitled: “Take Heart.” She disclosed that this would be premiered at the Ballroom of the Eko Hotel and Suites on Sunday, September 28, 2012.

    Emphasising that, apart from educating the audience on the life-threatening heart condition called “dilated cardiomyopathy,” she said that the production is also aimed at raising funds for Kanu Heart Foundation to help take care of some heart patients. She said: “These funds would go a long way in providing the much- needed medical surgery for a child on the waiting list.”

    In a letter signed by Jo Demmer, the Artistic Director, Star Art Stage Production, Gbenga Yusuf said that “Take Heart” “examines the problems confronting a couple who need to save their child whose survival depends on a heart surgery.”

    In a chat with Newsextra, Boulos stressed that she was moving into this partnership as a result of an incident 12 years ago about a girl who donated her compatible heart to save her friend.

    Boulos who described “art as a silent language that can be universally understood by everyone,” called on artists to learn from the girl by “re-defining their arts to reflect changes in the society.”

    According to Yusuf, over 400 people, including children, youths, and parents are expected to watch the theatrical performance.

    While the briefing lasted, Coordinator, Kanu Heart Foundation, Pastor Onyebuchi Abia, lamented that most Nigerians take the issue of their health with levity, even as he said that they do not feed well and do not go for constant health checks.

    According to him, during their recently held free echo cardio-graphic test, among 150 checks carried out, 50 people were diagnosed with heart problems and other related diseases.