When a man cheats on his wife!

Written by Yetunde Arebi
~Vanguard Nigeria. Sunday, January 15, 2017.

Please, close your eyes for a minute. Now, imagine that something terrible just happened to you, such as an accident or illness, rendering you incapable of being in charge of your life. You have become so incapacitated, you can no longer run your own show. You can no longer bark out orders at your family and loved ones.

You are no longer that fire spitting boss at the office that everyone dreaded to cross path with. No longer are you that loud laughing, back pumping buddy to your friends and colleagues. Your beer guzzling and cigarette puffing addiction which you loved to call enjoyment can no longer be fed. Yes, imagine that you are now totally dependent on some other persons to help you get by.

You need someone to take care of your personal private needs, particularly toilet needs. Simple tasks such as bathing, brushing your teeth, eating, sitting, getting into your own bed, talking, laughing, and even taking your own medication have become the duty of some others. All you can do now is stare at the ceiling and into space as you lay in your bed like a zombie. What do you think would happen to you should you suddenly become a vegetable? Who do you think ought to be responsible for your care?

This was exactly what happened to Steve, a 59 year old business man when he suddenly suffered a severe stroke two years ago. According to Angelica, his wife of about 25 years, it all happened so suddenly late one night." Because we did not share a room, I did not realise that anything had happened to him until I woke up at about 5.30am to use the bathroom and heard a muffled sound coming from his room.

It was a strange sound, so I decided to check on him. Then, I saw him, lay out straight and staring at the ceiling, foaming from his mouth. I rushed out of our apartment and alerted the neighbours to help us get him to the hospital and called his siblings and some close family members too. Informing them of the development.

This was very important so no one would accuse me of keeping his condition a secret from them until something irreversible happened. As you are aware, a woman is usually held responsible for any condition or death of her husband in this part of the world, even if the cause of his death is public knowledge.

At the hospital, we were informed that he had suffered a full stroke which had affected his brain severely. He lost virtually all his senses, movement, coordination, speech, feeling (touch), he just lay there, with his eyes open without seeing anything or acknowledging anything. The family coughed out a fortune to save his life and God granted him favour. He survived but became a vegetable. The man I once knew is gone and may never return to that body".

Beware of poisons in the cooking pot!

Written by Sola Ogundipe
~Vanguard Nigeria. Monday, January 2, 2017.

Part of living healthier is eating healthier. Consumption of fruits, vegetables, seeds and beans are all essential parts of a well-balanced and healthy diet, but beware that your food id either edible or poisonous and detrimental to health.

While most of us don't think about the way we consume everyday foods, there are reasons behind why we are trained to eat only certain parts of their anatomy. Even during food processing, there are several procedures that strip foods of their poisons to make them human-friendly.

People infected with food-borne organisms may be symptom-free or may have symptoms ranging from mild intestinal discomfort to severe dehydration and bloody diarrhoea. Depending on the type of infection, people can even die as a result of food poisoning.

More than 250 different diseases can cause food poisoning. Some of the most common diseases are infections caused by bacteria, such as Campylobacter,Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, botulism and norovirus. Here are some foods to be wary of this year.

Clams

Avoid eating Red or Blood Clams, regardless if they're a delicacy. Known to cause hepatitis A & E, typhoid and dysentery, these red clams have been banned in many countries, but could be encountered as sushi. You can be assured of its safety - as long as you have proof that they were safely cultivated! Illegal imports of clams are common in most Chinatown settlements, so be forewarned!


Elderberries

Elderberries, delightful as marmalade, wine and pancake syrup, have a dark secret hidden in its branches: cyanide. While it is a beautiful plant, don't be fooled! This plant, often used in medicinal syrups, sodas and liquors can cause a severely upset stomach if consumed incorrectly. The flowers are the part of the plant used to make all things elderberry. The stems and various other parts of the plant, when consumed, can cause severe stomach issues. Take caution when drinking herbal teas made of elderberry leaves, and don't even think about eating the unripe fruits and flowers that contain a toxic alkaloid.

Happiness is key to good health

Written by Dr. Sylvester Ikhisemojie

~Punch Nigeria. Sunday, November 6, 2016.

Dr. Sylvester Ikhisemojie

When people set out in life, they have dreams of living in fantastic houses and driving around town in fast cars and around the world on epic journeys to romantic corners of the earth. Such dreams meet a spectacular shipwreck during the reality of adult life. For the few people who realise such dreams, they soon find out that the associated material possessions do not bring them either happiness or good health.

The key things which have been found to guarantee good health are relationships garnered from community associations, family connections and marital harmony. People who are unhappy and are denied good community bonds tend to be isolated individuals with steadily declining brain function and memory problems. They have a harder time trying to properly control their cholesterol levels during middle age and generally have a more difficult emotional status to control than people who are in happy relations with their neighbours and their communities. In the same way, people who are in toxic marital relationships tend to develop deep personality problems and an instinctive distrust of people around them. Family feuds belong in this category with premature aging, heart disease and chronic sadness completing the toxic combination. Add alcoholism to all these factors and you will have put together a dangerous brew that will guarantee premature death.

The clear message from the foregoing is that good social connections to family, friends and community make happier people and more satisfied individuals than those who are not as well connected. The brains of the poorly socially connected folks deteriorate earlier and faster than among people in the other group. 

Properly integrated individuals live longer and have a healthier muscle bulk and cardiovascular status than those who tend to be unhappy most of the time. This is true even if they are stupendously wealthy. The people with toxic family relationships have a poorer control of their cholesterol levels than those who do not have similar entanglements. Loneliness kills, as we discussed on this page about a year ago. People who are more disconnected from others are more likely to die prematurely than are those who engage well with people around them. You can be lonely in a crowd or in a marriage and thus be unable to mentally engage with the people around you. Close personal relationships that are warm and happy provide emotional stability to those who engage in such relationships. This helps reduce the level of anxiety and conflict than in those individuals who are aloof and distant.

Signs your feet might be giving you

~The Sun Nigeria. Thursday, October 27, 2016.

When your feet ache after a long day, you might just put the blame on your shoes. After all, many people say their shoes hurt. But sometimes, the pain may not come from our shoes, not even from the sky-high heels some women put on, all in the name of fashion.Pain or any other condition of our feet that's is not due to our type of foot wear may arise from different health issues.

Do not ignore your feet, take time to note every new detail.What you observe can give you a clue to your state of health. Here's signs your feet might be giving you:

Swollen Feet: This is common and usually not cause for a major concern particularly if one has been standing/sitting too long, embarked on a long journey or is pregnant. On the contrary, feet that stay swollen can be a sign of a serious medical condition. The cause may be poor circulation, high blood pressure, toxic overload, hormonal issues, water retention, a problem with the lymphatic system, or a blood clot. Heart, liver, kidney disorder or under active thyroid can also cause swelling.

Cold feet:The most obvious cause of cold feet is the surrounding environment. When the temperature gets colder, people routinely experience problems with cold extremities. However, there are several different medical problems that can cause cold feet as well.Many cardiovascular concerns, diabetes, poor blood flow, circulatory problem, high blood pressure, heart disease, hypothyroidism, anemia maycause cold feet.No matter the underlying cause, cold feet can be uncomfortable, not just to you but also your partner. For instance, it can make your partner shriek when your toes touch his or her so-warm legs.

Burning Feet:Unlike cold feet, this is the sensation that your feet are painfully hot. Often times, I hear people say, they feel pins and needles in their feet. That's the sensation with burning feet. The sensation may be described as similar to an electric shock which could make walking uncomfortable for the sufferers. Burning of the feet may also be accompanied by numbness. And just like the needle and pin sensation, numbness in the feet can cause problem in walking. In this case, there may be a balance problem, as the sufferer may not really feel the feet moving or touching the floor. Often, burning sensations in the feet is due to some kind of damage or dysfunction in the nervous system. The problem is sometimes associated with diabetes, HIV/AIDS, chronic alcohol abuse and exposure to certain toxins.It can also be caused by a vitamin B deficiency, athlete's foot, chronic kidney disease, poor circulation in the legs and feet or hypothyroidism.

Foot sores:That will not heal are a major warning sign for diabetes. Diabetes can impair sensation in the feet, circulation, and normal wound healing, so even aninsect bite could become a troublesome wound. Those sores also are prone to infection. Slow-healing of sores also can be caused by poor circulation from conditions such as peripheral artery disease.

Foot cramps:Are contractions of the muscles of the feet. Cramps are usually brief, but they can be severe and painful.During an episode, one will definitely feel the muscle contracting rapidly and violently. The person may even be able to see it.Overwork and muscle fatigue are common causes. Other causes include poor circulation, dehydration, imbalances of minerals – potassium, magnesium, calcium, or vitamin D levels in the body. The changing hormone levels of pregnancy, thyroid disorders and the use of certain medications may all play a role.

Scientists find HIV-AIDs full cure

~Vanguard Nigeria. Monday, October 3, 2016

A British man with HIV undergoing a pioneering treatment to cure him of the disease has shown "remarkable" progress, doctors have told a newspaper.

Scientists treating the 44-year-old patient are now hopeful of a breakthrough in what has been described as "one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV".

Results showed the man's most recent blood test showed no detectable HIV was present.

Results showed the man's most recent blood test showed no detectable HIV was present.

The man, who has remained anonymous, is the first of 50 people to complete a trial using the two-stage attack on the deadly virus.

The research is being carried out by a collaboration of five of Britain's top universities organised by the National Health Service.

Mark Samuels, managing director of the National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure, told the Sunday Times: "This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV. We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV.

"This is a huge challenge and it's still early days but the progress has been remarkable."

The trial patient told the newspaper that recent blood tests showed no detectable HIV virus was present, although it was too early to confirm that the treatment had worked.

The new therapy aims to overcome a major barrier to clearing the virus from a sufferer's body that has challenged researchers for decades.

Current methods using antiretroviral therapies (Art) fall short of ridding patients of HIV, as the virus can hide out of the drugs' reach in the immune system's T-cells.

By sheltering in dormant T-cells the virus can later take over its host and use it to produce thousands of copies of itself, should Art no longer work.

The research by Oxford and Cambridge universities, Imperial College London, University College London, and King's College London, is testing a "kick and kill" technique to first expose, then destroy the virus.

First a vaccine helps the body find infected T-cells. This is then followed by a course of the drug Vorinostat that awakens the dormant T-cells, which then begin producing HIV proteins that act as a homing beacon to the immune system.

Imperial College London consultant physician Professor Sarah Fidler said the treatment worked in the laboratory and there was "good evidence" it will work in patients.

However she added: "We must stress we are still a long way from any actual therapy."

Today's Health Matters: Things you must do to prevent heart disease

Topics:

Things you must do to prevent heart disease
Natural remedies for executive stress, metabolic syndrome
Correcting irregular menstruation
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Things you must do to prevent heart disease
Written by Kofo Ogunyankin, Consultant Cardiologist
~Punch Nigeria. Thursday, September 29, 2016.

Kofo Ogunyankin

The World Heart Federation designates every September 29 as the World Heart Day to raise awareness worldwide about heart diseases. This is with a focus on preventing or reducing cardiovascular deaths and stroke.

Current statistics show that heart diseases are responsible for about 17.1 million deaths worldwide every year. This is more than the cumulative global death rate due to cancer, HIV/AIDS and malaria fever.

In Nigeria, there is a significant lack of awareness of the burden imposed on the society by heart diseases and stroke, partly due to a lack of systematic data collection and our pre-occupation with fighting malaria and other communicable diseases.

The theme for the 2016 WHD is 'Power your Life'. This is broken down in to the following actionable components:

Fuel your heart

The food we eat and the calories in our drinks provide the fuel for our body. Overeating is a big problem worldwide and Nigerians are not spared from the obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, most people who are overweight are in denial of the role they have personally played through their eating and drinking habits.


When confronted about weight gain, the common excuses that the average Nigerian often gives include "I have heavy bones", "I eat less food than a child", "I eat only once a day" and so on. There is no doubt that there are genetically determined reasons for differences between individuals in how much weight that is gained from a given calorie intake.

However, if each person determines to eat only what is needed to live and no more, weight loss will occur. As the saying goes, you should 'eat to live and not live to eat'. I advise my patients to think of whatever they consume (food or drink) as a bank deposit and their weight as the monthly account balance.

Eating well is not complicated. The basic tenet is for each individual to make an effort to control what they eat. This might mean taking your lunch to work if the only choices available at work are not heart-friendly.

Inability to sleep at night can be managed

Written by Oladapo Ashiru, Professor of Anatomy/Consultant Reproductive Endocrinologist
~The Punch Nigeria. Wednesday, September 28, 2016.

Oladapo Ashiru

If you are one of these women aged 40 and over who find it difficult to sleep, know that you are not alone. Many women wake up every night between 12 midnight and 4 am and start prowling around the house. In frustration, you may begin pacing the house, cleaning the kitchen floor, surfing the Internet or watching CNN or movies on late night TV.

Getting a good night's sleep becomes more and more difficult as we age, but women in menopause find it particularly difficult to get such. In many cases this inability to sleep is due to too much estrogen in your system, which is not balanced by progesterone.

Before menopause, estrogen is the dominant hormone for about the first two weeks in the menstrual cycle and progesterone is dominant in the last two weeks of the cycle. When menopause occurs naturally these two hormones should continue to balance each other, but if you are a woman leading a stressful lifestyle during menopause, you may find that your production of progesterone is suppressed and or converted to stress hormones and you will have a dominance of estrogen in your system leading to sleeplessness and other unpleasant menopausal symptoms.

Using a little progesterone cream made from natural bio identical plant sources may help you to easily solve this problem. The right way to use progesterone cream or oil is to use about 1/8 to ¼ of a teaspoon daily for three weeks out of the month, with a week off each month to maintain sensitivity of the progesterone receptors.

Natural progesterone cream made from bio-identical plant sources is not the same as the synthetic hormone progestin, which is made from animal sources.

I know of some women who have not slept for longer than four hours since they started menopause. When they were given some progesterone cream they reported that they were able to sleep for eight hours. This was a major turning point in their recovery from a long list of menopausal and health problems.

How to prevent blindness

Written by Tessy Umunakwe 
~Nigerian Tribune. Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Have you ever made a conscious effort to close your eyes for one minute? If yes, it is almost certain you didn’t wait for a minute before you opened them. Reason? The few seconds you had your eyes closed would have appeared as a long while, hence the belief that it was already a minute. If you find it hard to close your eyes for one minute at a stretch, then imagine how you will feel if you have to close them for, say, 30 minutes, one hour, three hours, an entire day, a whole week or even a lifetime.

Research has consistently proved that sight is the most valued of all the senses. Findings show that two thirds (68 per cent) of people value eyesight above other senses.he

Nonetheless, more than a third (36 per cent) of these people admit having eye problem for over a month- and in some cases (13 per cent) years- before seeking help, even after noticing that their eyesight is deteriorating.

Over 53 per cent said in a survey that they sometimes struggle to see what is on TV and a further 50 per cent struggle to read books.

But how soon should one visit an eye care provider after noticing certain abnormalities? According to Dr Camillus Asumu, the founder of Sight Foundation, Ibadan, there’s the need for people to visit the eye care provider every six months, even when there are no symptoms suggesting any problem. He said: “It is imperative to visit the eye doctor every six months for thorough examination of the eyes because certain eye diseases do not present any symptoms until it is too late for remedy and this should start. This goes to suggest that one must visit the eye clinic as soon as one notices any eye problem.”

Speaking further, the ophthalmologist disclosed that “the two most common eye defects are cataract and glaucoma. But unlike cataract, glaucoma can occur at any age- and it usually does not start with symptoms.”

Cataract, on the other hand, he said, is mostly age-related. While there are other forms of cataract which are not linked to age like the traumatic cataract (which occurs when a hard object hits the eye) and drug-related cataract, the medical expert asserted that advancement in age is a major factor in degenerating eyesight.

Why sugar could be eight times more addictive than cocaine!

~Vanguard Nigeria. Sunday, September 18, 2016.

DOES the thought of living life sugar-free fill you with horror? If so, you may unknowingly be addicted. In fact, sugar is believed to be eight times more addictive than cocaine. Some people are more sensitive than others, but the more sugar you eat, the more likely it has taken hold of your addictive pathways and is driving you to eat – and drink – far too much.

When sugar hits the bloodstream, it stimulates release of a brain chemical called dopamine, which makes you feel good. The feeling is usually short-lived. By the time you're licking the chocolate off your fingertips or picking the last crumbs of biscuit from the plate, your dopamine levels will probably have fallen, taking you into a mini-withdrawal. This can trigger cravings for more sugar, urging you, against your better judgement, to pick up another biscuit or break off another square of chocolate so your brain can have another hit of dopamine. Before long, the biological signals that would normally control hunger and satiety (fullness) are swiftly being overwhelmed by this dopamine stimulation, to the point where your body (and brain) starts listening only to sugar's cues and ignores the fact that you have already eaten far more than you need.

If you have even the mildest addiction to sugar, there is every chance that your 'off' switch no longer works properly in response to eating, either. That's why one biscuit or scoop of ice-cream never seems like enough, even after a huge meal. The more sugar you eat, the more your tolerance adapts, so you end up needing more and more sugar to get the same boost – drug addicts and alcoholics experience the same cycle.

QUIZ: ARE YOU A SUGAR ADDICT?

ANSWER honestly yes or no to the following questions …

*CAN YOU eat sweet, starchy or fatty foods until you are over- full?

*DO YOU feel hungry even after eating a full meal

*CAN YOU eat large quantities of sweets or stodgy foods even when you're not feeling particularly hungry?

HEPATITIS B: The silent killer.

Written by Dr Ojum Ekeoma Ogwo.
~The SUN Nigeria. Sunday, September 18, 2016.



Hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver from any source. Hepatitis commonly results from a virus. We have 5 types of viral hepatitis – viz;

1) Hepatitis A – infective hepatitis.

2) Hepatitis B – serum hepatitis.

3) Hepatitis C – associated with alcoholic liver disease.

4) Hepatitis D – associated with drug addiction.

5) Hepatitis E – occurs mostly in under-developed countries.


Here we are concerned with only Hepatitis B, which is the deadliest.

What is hepatitis B?

Hepatitis B or serum hepatitis, is a 42 nanometre DNA virus, also called “Australian antigen, as a surface antigen, designated as (HBsAg). Spread by blood, secretions and sexual inter course.

High risk groups are the 5 Hs- Homosexual, haemophiliac, hospital worker, heroin addict and haemodialysis patients.

What are the symptoms of hepatitis B?

i) Loss of appetite.

ii) Tiredness.

iii) Diarrhoea and vomiting.

iv) Jaundice (yellow skin or eyes).

Hepatitis B can also lead to;

i) Liver damage (cirrhosis).

ii Cancer of the liver. And,

iii) Death.

Hazards of consuming aloe vera

Written by Oladapo Ashiru

Professor of Anatomy/Consultant Reproductive Endocrinologist,

~Punch Nigeria. Wednesday, September 14, 2016.

Written by Oladapo Ashiru

Aloe vera is a succulent cactus plant species of the genus aloe, belonging to the family Liliaceae. It is widely known as "the Miracle plant" for its various medical, cosmetic and nutraceutical purposes. Aloe vera gel is a slick substance that is extracted from the interior of the aloe vera leaf, while latex refers to the yellow part which lies beneath the leaf skin. It grows in wild tropical climates around the world and it is cultivated for agricultural and medicinal use.

Aloe vera is a thick, short-stemmed plant that stores water in its leaves.

It is widely used in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries, and has an estimated annual market value of $13 billion globally .Aloe vera is well recognised by its thick, pointed and fleshy green leaves, which can grow to about 12-19 inches (30-50 cm) in length.

Each leaf is full of a slimy tissue that stores water, which makes the leaves thick. This slimy, water-filled tissue is the "gel" we associate with aloe vera products.

The gel contains most of the bioactive compounds in the plant, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants.

Bottom line: Aloe vera is a popular medicinal plant that is used in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. Its leaves are full of a gel-like substance that contains numerous beneficial compounds.

Aloe vera is a good product for external use. If consumed orally over a long time, it has far-reaching medical consequences.

Benefits of external use of aloe vera

Applying aloe vera gel is considered safe. It has been employed for use on the skin because of its healing properties.

• It can be used on burns, skin abrasions, psoriasis and bug bites. Medical attention should be sought for severe burns, wounds, or frostbite. It can also be used in Human Papiloma Virus infection and for wound healing in people who are not allergic or sensitive to aloe.

Detoxification: Simple ways to detoxify the body

Topics:

• Simple ways to detoxify the body
• How do you know you need to detoxify?

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Simple ways to detoxify the body
~Punch Nigeria. Wednesday, September 7, 2016. 


Detoxification is a necessary process to promote full body health; this is especially true if you are not the healthiest eater. The process removes harmful or toxic substances from your body, leading to better health and a great starting place for a new healthy lifestyle. If you experience any of the following, it is the likely time for a detox.

If you chronically feel stressed out, it may be a sign that your body needs a detox. Your body is trying to tell you something is wrong.
Detoxification helps to improve our overall health and vitality. It increase our energy levels, improves digestion, and reduces weight and the risk of many chronic disease.
Generally, detoxification leaves you renewed, rejuvenated, even as it can prolong your life.
Here are some simple ways you can reduce the amount of toxins in your system.


Wipe your feet
Your shoes can play a vital role in detoxifying your home. Pesticides and lead-contaminated dust, not to mention annoying pollen during allergy season, tend to settle on the ground and stick to footwear. Wiping your feet on an abrasive, high quality doormat before walking inside can keep toxins from invading your space. Better yet, make a habit of taking off your shoes at the door.

Food preparation
Food containing protein and carbohydrate are good, however do not boil or microwave them too much, overcooking may destroy the toxin-fighting compounds. When you eat boiled egg, the soft-boiled egg is better because when the egg is over boiled, it denatures the protein and therefore removes the nutritional value.

Eat properly
The way we eat can bring about toxins into the intestinal system. Most of the time, we swallow our food instead of chewing until it is in a semi-liquefied or paste form. This will lead to the stomach expelling semi-solid food into the intestines. These will create obstruction that causes fermentation and putrefaction. The result will be potbelly, intoxification, erectile dysfunction, bad breath, flatulence, infertility and more.

High cholesterol is dangerous, prevent it!

Written by Rotimi Adesanya

~Punch Nigeria. Wednesday, August 17, 2016.

Web for more health tips: www.doctoradesanya.blogspot. com

During the last festive period, a woman in her middle age developed partial stroke and was admitted in the hospital. She recovered fully but the family felt that the problem might not be stroke since the woman's blood pressure had never been high and her blood sugar level had always been within the normal range, meaning she was not hypertensive or diabetic.

Her blood sample, which was sent to the lab for investigations, showed elevated blood cholesterol, a condition called hypercholesterolemia. It was later found that high cholesterol was responsible for the first stroke she suffered.

Hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol, occurs when there is too much cholesterol in the body. Cholesterol is a soft, waxy, fat-like substance that is a natural component of all the cells in the body. The body makes all the cholesterol it needs. However, added cholesterol, which comes from the foods eaten, may cause harm.

High cholesterol raises the risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. When there is too much cholesterol circulating in the blood, it can create sticky deposits (called plaque) along the artery walls. Plaque can eventually narrow or block the flow of blood to the brain, heart, and other organs. Blood cells that get caught on the plaque form clots, which can break loose and completely block blood flow through an artery, causing heart attack or stroke.

While heredity may be a factor for some people, the main culprits are lack of exercise and diets high in saturated fat. High cholesterol can be prevented, sometimes with lifestyle changes (diet and exercise) alone. If these do not work, your doctor may recommend medications to lower your cholesterol levels.

Signs and symptoms

In the early stages, there are usually no symptoms of high cholesterol. The only way to tell if the cholesterol is high is through a blood test.

Five reasons you should sleep naked

~Punch Nigeria. Sunday, August 14, 2016.

It encourages greater intimacy

Apart from making sleeping next to a loved oneexciting, our naked body releases oxytocin, often referred to as the "love hormone."

A 2009 study published by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, says"Oxytocin reduces bloodpressure, cortisol levels and helps to reduce stress.

Thishormone does not only help relationship, but also your health!

It can keep you cool

One way to be cool during sleep is to abandon cloths.

It may help relieve insomnia

According to Dr. Cameron Van den Heuvel of University of South Australia's Centre for Sleep Research, regulating sleep temperature may bring some relief to sufferers of insomnia.

"Studies of sleep onset insomniacs show that they consistently have a warmer core body temperature immediately before initiating sleep, when compared with normal healthy adults. This results in a state of heightened arousal that prevents them from falling asleep when they go to bed, probably because they have to wait for their bodies to lose the heat that's keeping them awake. We're only talking about a half to one degree but that small temperature change can result in significant differences in arousal between insomniacs and people without sleeping problems."

The implication is that sleeping naked relieves insomia.

It can help relieve stress

Sleeping naked can relieve stress because itlowers cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone commonly referred to as the "stress hormone," and when levels are chronically spiked, health problems can arise, such as a propensity towards high blood pressure, weight gain, and a compromised immune system.

It can make you look and feel young

During sleep a variety of growth hormones, as well as anti-aging hormones such as melatonin, are released. These hormones serve to keep us looking and feeling young. To encourage the optimal release of these growth hormones, we need to get those seven to eight hours of sleep.

35 per cent decline in sperm count: Infertile men everywhere!

Written by Chioma Obinna

~Vanguard Nigeria. Sunday, July 31, 2016

Mention "Infertility" and cold shivers run down peoples' spines. Infertility threatens the love, peace and joy in a home. Many homes are faced with the agony of childlessness and infertility is fast becoming a plague. The desire of every couple is to become parents within the first or second year of marriage. While many couples have this dream fulfilled, quite a number of others do not; no matter how hard they try. When pregnancy is not achieved at a point, mistrust sets in. Most of the time, the woman bears the bulk of the blame.

Such was the case of Obigaeri and her childhood friend, Emeka, who later became her husband. "The moment I noticed my mother in-law's frequent visits, I became suspicious," Emeka said.Emeka and Obigaeri were close enough friends right from childhood that what started like child's play blossomed into real life marriage.

Six years into the marriage, there was no sign of pregnancy not even a miscarriage. Tongues started wagging. Love in the home suddenly grew sour. Like the usual practice in Africa, the woman is blamed. Obiagaeri became a laughing stock before her husband's family.

No one saw any good in her anymore. Obiagaeri's world came crashing down. Month after month, she continued to wallow in self pity, hoping for a miracle. One day she ran into an old school mate, and they got talking. She narrated her story, and her school mate counselled and encouraged her to insist that her husband also go for a medical check up. But like the typical Nigerian woman, Obiageri was afraid to confront her husband.

While praying to God to open her womb, Obiageri had been to two in-vitro fertility, IVF, centres where she was given a clean bill of health. Six months later, when she could no longer bear the harassments by family members, she finally opened up:"I told my husband that it was time for him to also check himself". But the response she received from Emeka shocked her. "Why should you involve me in that?", he queried. His reaction was typical of African men.

5 things that will happen to you if you quit alcohol

Written by Adeniyi Ogunfowoke
Adeniyi Ogunfowoke is a travel/tech writer at Jumia Travel
~Vanguard Nigeria. Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Nigerians love their alcohol. It is an important part of our daily lives. This is why after work or during weekends, you see them at a hotel's lounge chatting away with friends while downing bottles of alcoholic beverages. For those who don't take alcohol, they find it difficult to blend in socially. This is because it will be awkward for them to down non-alcoholic drinks amidst bottles of branded alcoholic drink.

Hence, it will be difficult for many to stop drinking alcohol. For those finding it difficult to stop, Jumia Travel, points you to five things that may happen to your body when you stop drinking alcohol. At least if you cannot stop, you can take a break from drinking alcohol even if it's for a couple of weeks.

You will lose weight

Alcohol-beer, wine, and cocktail drinks have a significant amount of calories. These calories have next to nothing effect on the body. If you cut down drinking alcohol, you will begin to lose weight effortlessly without necessarily making any lifestyle changes.

You will sleep better

Booze can make you sleep but not possible for you to sleep soundly. Hence, avoid drinking alcohol before going to bed so that you can get quality sleep for you to perform 100% the following day.


You will stop overeating

According to research, a big driver of eating too much is alcohol because it heightens your senses. As a result, you may eat beyond what your stomach can accommodate.

You will save money

No matter the cost price of alcohol, Nigerians will always buy. Crates of different alcoholic drinks are always available in parties, clubs, and homes. If you want to save a good amount of money, cut your alcoholic intake. If you can, you can calculate the amount you spend on alcoholic every weekend.

You will be healthier

Alcohol increases your blood pressure, can damage the heart muscle and potentially plays an important role in different stages of cancer. Abstaining from alcoholic will make you healthy.

Common poisons in the home

Written by Dr. Sylvester Ikhisemojie

~Punch Nigeria. Sunday, July 17, 2016

One of the problems encountered as a result of our increasing urbanisation is the spectre of storing various types of materials at home for several different purposes. One of these is to keep the home free of pests and the other is to maintain a minimum level of health in a stressful environment. Sometimes we keep these harmful substances at home because they are needed as raw materials in making items that have positive use in the home. This may be useful because of the need to diversify personal sources of income or to save money by making the product by yourself at home rather than buying it in a shop or market. Many of these goods may be articles used in making soap or making perfumes or straightforward trade. Here is a brief description of some of those compounds and what to do about them once they have been consumed or are suspected to have been consumed.

Poisons, such as the ones discussed below, would be harmful to people of all age groups. However, the key difference why we shall place more emphasis on the effects on children than on adults is because while children are likely to have consumed the substances in error, adults are more likely to have taken such compounds deliberately, as mostly is the case in suicide attempts. 

Children, especially toddlers, are so prone to accidental consumption of the various compounds mentioned that it is important for all parents and care givers to be aware of the dangers. As a result, people must have the presence of mind to keep all these substances safely away, far from the easy reach of children and stored in secure containers that are child and tamper-proof. These measures will keep most children out of harm's way except for the most obstinate ones. Here, as in other topics we have previously discussed on this page, prevention is better than cure and much easier to bring about if you try her enough.

Medicine: Confession – I am an agent of darkness

~Nigerian Tribune. Thursday, July 7, 2016

My name is Glaucoma. I am a child of the universe. I don’t really know my birthday, but every second Thursday of March, I am celebrated all over the world. I am told this is to make everybody aware of my presence and the devastation I could cause.

People really need to be aware of me because I am very dangerous. It isn’t my fault and I cannot do anything to stop it. I wish I could because I know what grief I have caused a lot of people.

People seldom give their secrets away. Even doctors, as much as they have tried, know very little about me. They’re working hard at it and soon they will find my innermost secrets. But I feel for you and I am sorry for the numerous cases of blindness and visual impairment that I have caused. I would like to help you, if you would allow me, by letting you into some of my secrets because I don’t want you to go blind.

I am an agent of darkness; a silent thief of vision. If I enter into anyone’s eyes, I gradually replace light with perpetual darkness. I cause no pain or discomfort so my landlord is completely unaware of my presence in his eyes until I have done a great deal of damage. I steal your vision even before you know you have provided me a place of abode in your eyes!

Take the case of Ojuri, a 35-year-old man. He was slapped by his neighbour. His lawyer asked him to bring a medical report so that he could sue for assault. He went to see his ophthalmologist who revealed my presence. It was found, to his dismay that I had become entrenched inside his eyes.

Bad breath, an indication of internal disease

Written by Oladapo Ashiru
Professor of Anatomy/Consultant Reproductive Endocrinologist
Phone: 234-8023195521
~Punch, Nigeria. Thursday, July 7, 2016

Oladapo Ashiru

One of the common conditions found worldwide affecting individuals is halitosis also known as bad breath. It is a social nuisance and indicates clear and imminent danger. Fold your two hands into a cup and breathe into it to smell if there is bad odour. If there is, then there is a problem.

If you look at your tongue in the mirror and it has a thick, whitish coating, this also confirms it. The sad part is that colleagues, friends and relations are usually embarrassed to tell the person concerned that they have such problems.

They are just not able to go that far thinking that such comments can hurt the person. In such situations, they will hope that one day, the individual will find out one way or the other.

This condition has been linked to problems with the teeth, gums or throat. However, halitosis has been strongly associated with the body's ability to eliminate waste. Health experts have identified that improper and poorly functioning digestive system can cause mouth odour, which often results from accumulation of toxins in the kidneys or liver.


Chemical toxins that have built up within the body slow down the immune system and alter the natural course of elimination. Detoxification is the core treatment for halitosis. This is a great way to get your breath back on track and have a healthy body.

For the purpose of clarity, the fact as revealed through Modern Mayr Medicine is that when we eat food without proper chewing, for example such African food like pounded yam, and Eba, we call 'swallow', they are swallowed without proper chewing as if when they get to the stomach they will be further ground.

‘We are seeing more men with bad, weak or abnormal sperms’ - World Health Organisation (WHO)

~Vanguard, Nigeria. Sunday, June 26, 2016

Sperm counts have dropped over the years. What is regarded as normal sperm count is going down, even the World Health Organisation, WHO is aware of this. We are seeing more men who are having bad sperms, weak sperms and abnormal sperms, and there is a real need to explore a suitable intervention to meet the growing proportion of men that need help in this direction.

Initially normal sperm count was 40 million per ml. Then it reduced to 20 million per ml, now it is 10 million per ml and still going down. Over the last 10 years, we have seen a 30 percent decline in the sperm parameters of men who presented at Nordica Fertility Clinic, Lagos. That's an average of 3.3 percent every year and it is as severe all over the world.

A man can father a child up till age of 70 and for those who are fertile they remain fertile but everybody's sperm count reduces eventually and there are other reasons especially environmental factors.


The cells of men divide more than cells of women. That is why we reproduce into older age and people are saying that may actually be where the problem is from because with the division can come mistakes and probably that is why sperm count is getting worse by the day.

But as bad as things appear, there is hope. The first step of any successful treatment is the proper diagnosis of the male infertility cause.