HEALTH AND SAFETY
One critical area that will determine our destiny and destination is our health. Unfortunately, most of us don't plan for our health but believe that what will be will be. How much of our health we can jealously guard will determine the vitality with which we can turn our dreams and aspirations into glorious realities.
Our attitude to our health is like a seed that will plant today and we will sooner or later reap the harvest either in good health and long life or in ill health as we get older
Health a defined by World Health Organization as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity.
This means, because you don't fall sick does not mean you are okay.
You could have underlying diseases that may not yet manifest.
Diseases could also be like a seed that takes time to germinate in our body to become a harvest of symptoms, signs, and complications
Your health is a dynamic condition resulting from your body's constant adjustment and adaptation in response to stress and changes in the environment for the maintenance of your inner body equilibrium called homeostasis.
Health is the ability to adapt and manage physical, mental, and social challenges throughout life.
Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices for a healthy and fulfilling life.
Your priority for the new year is to be both healthy.
This wellness cuts across
1. Emotional wellness which is more of the state of your mind
2. Environmental wellness which is your interaction with your immediate environment
3. Intellectual wellness which is your mental well being
4. Occupational wellness which is best against occupational health hazards
4. Physical wellness which is the state of your body
5. Social wellness which is interaction with family, friends, colleagues, and critics
6. Spiritual wellness which is your relationship with God over time and over time
The major determinants of your health care H.E.A.L.T.H
H stands for Heredity
E stands for Environment
Stands for Accident
L stands for Lifestyle
T stands for Tests
H stands for Help
Heredity is the passing of genes from one generation to the next.
These are what you inherited from your parents and what your children will in turn inherit from you and your spouse.
It is what determines who you are today. There are more than 4000 diseases associated with what you inherit.
Some of the heredity diseases include.
Diabetes - high glucose in the blood
Hypertension - high blood pressure
Cancer
Stroke
Heart disease
Down syndrome
Depression
Obesity
Schizophrenia which is madness
Sickle Cell Anemia - There are Six types of genotype AA, AS, SS, SC, AC, CC
As a youth, it is compulsory to know your genotype.
If you are AS, SS, or SC you can not marry another AS, SS, or SC.
But AA, AC, and CC can marry anyone.
Don't be carried away by love to marry someone with the genotype that will make your children SS.
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
Environment: This encompasses all external factors and conditions that affect people’s lives and health. The impact of the environment involves:
1. Air pollution especially in urban and industrial centers
2. Waste disposal
3. Water
4. Climate change leading to global warming
This is the basis of infectious diseases like malaria, typhoid, etc in most developing countries
Dirty Environment is responsible for the epidemic of diseases in Africa and other third-world countries.
Cleanliness is next to Healthiness
Accidents: These are unfortunate incidents ha unexpectedly and typically result in damage or injury.
It can be,
1. House Accident from falls, electrical faults, fire disasters, gas leaks, etc
2. Road Traffic Accident
3. Industrial Accident from occupational health hazards
Young ones are daily consumed with premature death from self-inflicted accidents.
All of us go about with the original copy of our lives, let's not live our lives as if it's the photocopy of our lives that we go out with.
Lifestyle: is what you do that affects your health and well-being.
A healthy lifestyle is a way of living that lowers the risk of being seriously ill and dying early.
Not all diseases are preventable but a large proportion of death can be avoided.
This lifestyle includes:
1. Eating a balanced diet with more fruits and vegetables
2. Exercises: trekking 30 minutes every day will increase your life span by 10 years
3. Rest and sleep for 6-7 hours every day.
4. Water intake of 3-4 liters daily to prevent kidney problems
5. Alcohol and Drug abuse can lead to liver failure which is worse than kidney failure
6. Tobacco makes smokers die at least 10 years earlier
7. Sex that can predispose to HIV, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Cancers
Medical tests are medical procedures performed to detect, diagnose or monitor diseases process, and susceptibility or to determine a course of treatment.
Medical tests should be regularly and routinely carried out and they include:
a. Full Blood Count
b. Fasting Blood Sugar
c. Blood Pressure
d. Fasting Lipid Profile
e. Body Mass index
f. Electro Cardio Gram
g. Prostrate Specific Antigen
h. Mammography
i. Urine Analysis
j. Electrolyte Urea and Creatinne
k. Liver function test
l. Helicobacter Pylori
m. Occult stool
n. Colonoscopy
o. Chest X-ray
p. Abdominal Scan
q. Seminal Fluid Analysis for male infertility
r. Gene Xpert test for Tuberculosis
s. Hepatitis virus
Medical is what you seek as a stitch in time saves nine.
The earlier you seek medical help the better your health and wellness.
Delivery through operation is not a sin!
Don’t patronize quacks but professionals.
Keep to your medical routines and guidelines.
Be careful of drugs over the internet and from friends without medical advice
Don't abuse or misuse drugs
No one should deceive us with computerized medical tests and help, they are not proven to be true
Safety is a state in which hazards and conditions leading to physical, psychological or material harm are controlled in order to preserve the health and well-being of individuals and the community. It is an essential resource for everyday life, needed by individuals and communities to realise their aspirations.
Attaining an optimum level of safety requires individuals, communities, governments and others to create and maintain the following conditions, whichever setting is considered :
- a climate of social cohesion and peace as well as of equity protecting human rights and freedoms, at the family, local, national or international level;
- the prevention and control of injuries and other consequences or harm caused by accidents;
- the respect of the values and the physical, material and psychological integrity of individuals; and
- the provision of effective preventive, control and rehabilitation measures to ensure the presence of the three previous conditions.
These conditions can be assured by initiatives that focus on the environment (physical, social, technological, political, economic and organizational) and on behaviour.
Conclusion
Adherence to good health and safety practices and compliance with applicable health and safety regulations are a responsibility of all units, departments, staff, and students of the Institution. Responsibility for good health and safety practices falls within the Heads of units, staff, student, laboratory or classroom and proceeds upward through the levels of Management.
Thanks
DR TUNDE JESUSINA
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES
FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC ILARO
