The usual practice nowadays is for the members of the working class to place too much emphasis on their careers, professions, positions, and riches. This is usually done without looking back or making recourse to their health. At the end of the day, many successful people either die prematurely or live the rest of their lives in sickness. This is why it is necessary to strike a balance between health and work for a worthy life. This piece of vital information came up during a discourse of experienced panelists, which I monitored on FUNAAB 89.5FM live interactive programme, Boiling Point.
This time around, the focus was on fitness, physical exercise and oral hygiene and health with the charge on Nigerians to change their behavioural attitude towards exercising by engaging in sporting activities through conscious decisions to make their physical wellness better. The wellness experts disclosed that physical activities constitute an integral part of other activities that deal with the social, mental, physical, and emotions of an individual, which also goes through to the spiritual in terms of the general wellness of man. They stated further that it is very difficult for people to assume that they are physically-well without doing any kind of exercise, which had to do with general body fitness, stressing that many people look well even though, they may be suffering from cardiovascular problems.
Coach Funke Apeleyin from the Directorate of Sports, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, said there are many people, who are not mentally sound, but those sporting activities can help to correct their disorders. She pointed out that exercise is meant to strengthen, energise, make an individual fit to be able to do things that they ordinarily cannot do before, stressing that sports are for all ages. Coach Apelehin said that when waste is extracted from the body system, then the body is normal, to carry out activities so easily without getting tired or becoming exhausted, stressing that fitness had nothing to do with size, but rather, the ability to carry the human body.
Also, Coach Lawrence Odunbo from the same office, said people need to engage in a high rate of metabolic activities and prioritise sports as part of their daily activities. He said there are problems in the environment that hinder people from getting everything they want, stressing that it had to be a conscious decision that must be made. He equally disclosed that featuring on Boiling Point was an opportunity for them to sensitise the people that erroneously feel that exercise is not good for them. Coach Odunbo noted that in the Western world, people do not need to be told before they do the needful, adding that as busy that an individual’s schedule could be, he/she can still do something or find a simple sport to do. They called on the people to exercise their body on a daily basis, even it is not more than between 10 to 15 minutes, to re-awaken their body tissues to be in the proper form and shape. The duo stressed that presently, there are available equipment at the University Sports Centre that people can use to embark on early morning exercise before proceeding to their respective offices.
Similarly, the Chairperson, Nigerian Dental Association (NDA), Ogun State Chapter, Dr. Funmilola Anifowose, stated that most people neglect their mouth while focusing more on their body, adding that when we take care of our oral health, it would invariably take care of the body system. She maintained that when we say a mouth is healthy, it simply means that it is free from sickness and diseases that might prevent anyone from talking, eating, smiling, and well-being. Dr. Anifowose said oral health is an integral part of the general body system, contributing to the improvement of the overall wellbeing and that oral health could be related to cardiovascular diseases. She disclosed that dentists can see if a patient has diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and cancer in their mouths and can also see if patients have retroviral diseases in their mouth that are related to systemic health.
Dr. Adigun Aliu, another NDA official, and dentist from the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta said oral health is the gateway to the body system, adding that they were using this year’s World Oral Health Day to create awareness on how people should improve on their oral health. He said oral health is the part that many people neglect, but which they are supposed to give priority to, adding that people can improve their oral health by brushing their teeth twice daily using the appropriate technique, toothpaste, and by reducing the intake of refined carbohydrates. Therefore, the summary of what the experts are saying is that it is key to earn a living, but career men and women should never neglect their health. This entails determination, discipline, and doggedness for the perfect blend of sound health and job and this is invariably, what makes a big difference in living the kind of productive, meaningful, and impactful life that they deserve.
