06 11 2016
WHY ARE WE OUR OWN WORST ENEMY?




There are a lot of habits that can send us to our early graves. These habits are not new to us. These habits have been part of us from time immemorial. Theoretically it has been proven that these habits are harmful to humans but because of pleasure or ignorance, we still practice them on daily basis

During Gov fashola`s regime, he banned smoking of cigarettes in public places, the noise only lasted for some months without no enforcement. I am very sure a lot of us have even forgotten about such law.

Bad habits are regrettable. Habits like smoking, excessive intake of alcohol, self medications are examples of these bad habits.



SMOKING: This is common among adolescents now because of peer pressure. A lot of adults smoke different kinds of substances ranging from nicotine, Cuban ciga, marijuana etc

Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in the world. The bad part is that they can undermine the health of non-smokers in some environment. Smoking is responsible for several diseases such as cancer, respiratory disease and heart disease as well as premature death. Nicotine is very addictive, a lot of smokers find it difficult withdrawing from it.

All tobacco smoke consists of NICOTINE, CARBON MONOXIDE and TAR. Nicotine is not carcinogenic but highly addictive. It reaches the brain within 15 seconds of being inhaled. If cigarettes and other tobacco products had no nicotine, the number of people who smoke everyday would drop drastically, but because we need the taxes from the tobacco companies to run our economy especially during this recession, little could be done to impose stringent laws on them. The carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas; inhaling sufficient amount can lead to coma and death. It decreases muscle and heart function, can cause fatigue, weakness and dizziness (same feeling we experience in traffic because of the emission of carbon monoxide from the exhausts of vehicles). The most dangerous is the TAR. Tar is carcinogenic and has links to different forms of cancers. 70% of tar stays in the lungs. It is responsible for most lung cancers. How it leads to cancer is still unknown.



LACK OF EXERCISE: Laziness is the reason why most people do not do this. But another factor can be TIME. Most people in Lagos stay very far from where they work, they wake up early in the morning to prepare for work without giving room for exercise. That’s why the life expectancy here is low. But remember the job will always be there for someone else without you

Lack of exercise is the leading cause of obesity among adolescents. They are more likely to have a sedentary lifestyle, choosing television, videogames over physical activities. A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk for heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, osteo arthritis and infertility. A study by the university of St Andrews reports that lack of exercise exacerbates the visible signs of aging, making people`s face look older and fatter.



POOR EATING HABIT: This is common in industrialized areas. A lot of us do not take real food, we spend our money mostly to eat junks not because we love to eat them but because of our busy schedules. Some people don’t actually like eating in canteens so they prefer to eat the so called junks and settle for real food till they get home. Good nutrition based on healthy eating is one essential factor that helps us to stay healthy and active. Poor eating habit could be under -or-over eating, not having enough of the healthy foods we need each day or consuming too many types of food and drink. These unhealthy eating habits can affect our nutrient intake as well as fibers and fluid leading to devastating state of health like being obese, tooth decay, depression, eating disorders, high cholesterol, cancers and high blood pressure



SEXUAL INDISCIPLINE: This is very common these days due to civilization and exposure to so many foreign things. Decline in religious awareness has also contributed to this. Indecent dressings is a norm in some religious gathering now, some even practice child marriage, marriages without proper check-up between the bride and groom.

Also a lot of folks practice unsafe sex which can result in being infected with deadly sexually transmitted infections like HEPATITIS, resistant strains of neissera gonorrhea which is common in the UK now CERVICAL CANCERS in women with multiple sexual partners and HIV/AIDS.



SELF –MEDICATION: Self-medication refers to the practice of using prescriptions or over the counter drugs without discussing your symptoms with a medical doctor.

This is a major problem here in Nigeria. Most people do not like to visit the hospitals for reasons best known to them. Some actually could be because of cash constraint, some possibly because they don’t have time but some don’t just like the idea until it gets really serious. There are several dangers attributed to self –medication, the most important being inaccurate diagnosis, and then using inappropriate medications that cause side effects, delaying medical advice, inaccurate dosage that leads to accidental overdose. You can check this link to see why you cant even use some dietary supplements without asking your pharmacisthttp://tbsmedlink.com/blog/2016/10/13/dont-just-pick/
read more with pictures http://tbsmedlink.com/blog/2016/11/06/why-are-we-our-own-worst-enemy/