Hope James
Nigeria has been ranked the 4th country in the world with the lowest life expectancy of 55.75 years. This stat is not far from the gradual decline of living standards over the years.
However, from having a life expectancy of 46.38 years in the year 2000, Nigerians have experienced a slow but steady rise in the period they are expected to live.
Unfortunately, there are a number of factors that fritters away the chances of aging properly. One health challenge identified is coronary heart disease, a leading cause of low life expectancy in the country.
Coronary heart disease, which can also be referred to as Coronary artery disease is a common heart condition where the major blood vessels that supply blood to the heart struggle to send enough blood, oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle, which in turn, can cause a heart attack.
Also, biological and lifestyle factors like diabetes, hypertension among a few other extreme but silent killers have been identified as causes of sudden death.
In its morph, are unhealthy lifestyles like gradual and continuous intake of psycho-active substances including alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, cocaine, caffeine, excess salt or refined sugar. All these in its build up can be disastrous to one’s health.
A cardiologist, Dr Abolaji of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, disclosed that sudden death pose the greatest risk to having a long life span.
According to him, lack of exercise, sitting at a spot for a long time and eating heavily and late, are risk factors for health conditions like diabetes and obesity, which can heighten the chances of an heart attack.
He therefore suggests sleeping for an average of 6 hours and cultivating a healthy eating habit.
On the other hand, a fitness instructor who identifies as Proxy says exercise should be a lifestyle and not a one off activity.
He explains that gradual and intentional exercising like skipping, jumping, brisk walking can be very good for Cardio health.
Proxy also advised on healthy diet to provide an equilibrium for the success anticipated or made through frequent exercises.
According to him, it is not advisable to eat anything solid after 6pm. This is because, the body stops digestion of food and the process of metabolism after that hour and stores your food as fat or waste.
While there might be suggestive outcomes for the life expectancy scale in Nigeria, there are some countries in the world that are known for their high life expectancy ratios.
Some good examples are Hong-Kong, Japan, China and Switzerland where folks had overtime practiced and maintained drinking lots of herbal teas, doing daily exercises while combining it with martial arts.
In Japan, intentional and passionate living has driven the life expectancy number to 84.5, as citizens combine that success with a balanced diet and body toxins removing activities.
Nigerians can borrow a leaf from these countries by eating more of fresh foods and less of junks, exercising regularly, having regular medical checkups and maintaining healthy relationships with people around us, we will be able to live more healthy lives.
The government should also make drugs affordable to reduce self medication and over-the-counter prescriptions. Perhaps, when and if we put all these in place, Nigeria can one day, be on the world map as one of the healthiest Nations in the world.
