Follow Us on Google
- 60 per cent of strokes caused by stress
By Kehinde Aderemi
For the past ten years, Mr Lawrence Abiola, a 55-year-old building contractor and consultant, has been living a hectic life.
He resides in Ikorodu, Lagos State, and commutes to Victoria Island daily for work.
His day begins at 3:45 am, when he wakes up to catch a vehicle that takes him and other passengers to his office on the island.
This gruelling routine has taken a toll on his health. Weekdays have become a challenge for him because he returns home late at night, exhausted, and can only manage to sleep.
The stress and pressure of his job have become overwhelming. Despite having an understanding boss, the Abeokuta, Ogun State-born engineer feels the need to prioritise his health. After years of struggling to cope, he has decided to make a change.
He plans to leave his 8-to-5 job by December and start a new life where he can manage his time and live a stress-free life.
“I’m not getting younger, and the strength is no longer there for me to be doing this kind of work,” he said.
“There are times when I have to take weeks off to recover from the daily stress. I need to understand my health needs and find a way to address them before it is too late.”
In a similar vein, Madam Rukiyah Awe, a mother of two, told the reporter of the day she almost lost her life to stress in 2023.
The entrepreneur, who runs a shop selling assorted wines in Idumota, Lagos Island, had been pushing herself to the limit. Every day, she would travel from her home in Sango, Ogun State, to Lagos Island to ply her trade.
“I never knew I was putting myself at risk until I got into trouble with migraine headaches that eventually led to hypertension,” she said.
“One day, I passed out and was rushed to the hospital. The doctor’s advice to me changed everything. The advice to me was clear: prioritise your health and take more time to rest.
Mr Abiola and Mrs Awe’s stories mirror part of the dangers of stress as well as the various experiences of many Nigerians that have been having problems with how to manage stress daily.
Stress, according to experts, is a normal part of life’s activities, but when it becomes overwhelming, it can have serious consequences on people’s health.
A medical practitioner, Dr Doyin Adekoye, said stress is in human nature that can be overcome.
According to him, stress is a human phenomenon that has to do with the physiology of every human being.
“Just like we are human beings, most times, you try to exceed your glucose level. You are doing something that consumes excess glucose from your system. Most times, you are tired. Most times, many of us, because of the environment we are living, we try to meet up with our targets in life.
“Many people work extra time, work extra hours to meet their respective targets. Some people, for instance, drivers whose job is to deliver goods from the company’s headquarters in Lagos to their Warehouse in Ibadan or Warri, they work long hours on the road.
“By doing extra hours of working, with lack of sleep and all of that cumulatively, they begin to experience a kind of stress. At times, stress could be psychological or physiological. At times, it’s emotional and people get exhausted so easily.
“Stress can cause high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases,” he stated.
Dr Adekoye explained that too much stress can affect the cardiovascular system, causing stroke and other dangerous diseases.
“Many people, out of every 100 people that have stroke, I can tell you categorically that about 60 per cent of them came as a result of stress.”
He also advised that people should be contented and take time off to relax as one of the ways to overcome stress.
Other News
He emphasised the importance of contentment and taking breaks to reduce stress.
“You do the best you can do and leave the rest to God. As you love everybody, love yourself too. I’m not saying you should be selfish.”
He said regular exercise and physical activity can help reduce stress. He also explained the need for vacation, maintaining that the idea of taking time off to relax and recharge can help alleviate stress.
Dr Adekoye stressed the importance of taking breaks and practising contentment to manage stress effectively.
Dr Jegede Mathew Olaoluwa, an anaesthetist, said stress occurs out of human’s desire to be great in life. Dr Jegede gave an example of a student who he said has to read before passing in an examination.
“A student must read, whether during the day, at night or in the middle of the night before he or she can pass in an examination.
“We have bad stress and good stress. I want this, I want that, but in fulfilling this desire, we have to know our limits, what our capacity can carry. However, some people stress themselves unnecessarily.
“There was a time one of my colleagues in school, who was an okada rider, came to class wearing an element on his head. He forgot to remove the element because he was so tired and fatigued that day.
“Stress is not good for the body. It can lead to untimely death, but people don’t realise this. We can overcome stress by cultivating a good lifestyle, by taking good diet and doing regular exercise,” he stated.
Stress, he said, can also lead to a number of diseases, including psychological problems, blurry vision, hallucination, and blackout.
“Stress can cause fatigue and tiredness. And all these can lead to high blood pressure and diabetes. A person can pass out when the brain is not functioning properly.
“You cannot work to your capacity when you don’t sleep well. Resting is also a better way of avoiding stress. When you sleep, your brain is at rest, and when you wake up, the brain is refreshed,” Dr Jegede said.
A Lagos-based cleric, Pastor Sam Babatope, described stress as a major issue in human nature and existence. He highlighted three major causes of stress and advised on the best way to prevent stress.
One of the three major causes of stress, according to him, are the policies of the government of a country, especially the economic policies being implemented in that country.
“In Nigeria, for instance, the present economic situation as well as the instability in Nigeria’s economy is a source of stress. It is causing stress for many Nigerians.
“The second thing that can cause stress is the presence of social media. With the advent of social media, we are all in a borderless society, where everything is open to the world.
“In the past, nobody knew what was happening in other people’s houses, but in this time and age, it is very easy to know what is happening in your neighbour’s house and the hunger for competition is high.
“Our society has changed, and people begin to compete and compare themselves to others.
“That is another self-induced factor that causes stress in our society. The tendency to compete with others and compare yourself with others remain a big issue. When you start comparing yourself with another person, then you may begin to feel less of yourself.
“Our personal decision is the third thing that can cause stress for us as an individual. Most times, people take decisions based on what is going around them and not based on what is coming from the inside of them.
“As Christians, our belief is that what is ruling us is inside us, and not outside us. The body we are looking at is only a container. What is meant to move the container is the content.
“The best way to manage stress is to make sure that you are running your life on purpose. Your life can never be like any other person’s life. The purpose, the capacity, and the strength that you have are related to what you are called to do.
Asports utility vehicle (SUV), a trailer, or a car is not supposed to carry the same number of passengers that a bus is meant to carry.
“Every one of these vehicles has purposes, they have targets, they have intentions, and they are doing it accordingly. And that also applies to human beings; we are all a product of purpose, and for us to actualise that purpose, we need to work according to that purpose,” the cleric advised.
