By Goodluck Obi
Like every well meaning citizen, I am alarmed by the growing spate of sudden deaths in recent times. We used to think that these deaths, caused by heart failure, or cardiac arrest was peculiar to the rich, and it actually seemed at a point in history that it was a disease of affluent western nations. We now know that simple, routing daily exercise can prevent these deaths.
The perception that heart attack is an executive disease has now changed because of the widely reported cases of sudden deaths that have become a daily feature in the local media . This is a wakeup call for all stakeholders in the health care industry to take proactive action against the world’s deadliest serial killer before it becomes an epidemic.
Lack of exercise, poor dietary habits, damaging life style involving hard drinking , smoking, lack of rest, etc, have been advanced as reasons for the increasing cases of sudden deaths which come by way of otherwise healthy people collapsing suddenly and dying within seconds without prior symptoms of illness.
I operate in the fitness segment of the health industry and my detailed study of this disturbing trend shows clearly that prevention is truly better than cure. This old maximum holds true today more than ever because, of all the possible causes of sudden deaths, fitness related issues are major. This is a universally accepted fact, beyond dispute or controversy.
First, let’s get this clear in the proper context. You can be fit without being healthy. Fitness speaks of being in the right physical condition for an activity, while being healthy depicts a clean bill of health in a given period . This is often confused with what exercise does for you. Exercise tunes up your system and ensures that your heart pumps blood to all parts of your body; boost your intake of oxygen and opens up your veins. Even blocked articles, a major cause of cardiac arrest open up while you exercise.
Exercise burns up your bad cholesterol, and generally eliminates fats and waste from the body. While running or road walk is ideal, the obvious dangers of being hit by reckless drivers or threatened by kidnappers are real safety concerns that tend to discourage physical exercise on the streets nowadays.
Thank God, we now have diverse exercise equipment that are suitable for different physical activities in the exercise regimen. The beauty of exercise equipment is that you can use them in the comfort of your home. Also aerobics instructors are available to guide the elderly who have delicate physical constitution due to old age or degenerative diseases like arthritis, backaches, and other peculiar challenges requiring special equipment.
Those who are physically challenged by stroke, accident or congenital diseases of a special nature, can use purpose built exercise equipment for physiotherapy under the guidance of those trained in human kinetics. I do counsel people to consult the experts if they need special help to deal with a peculiar physical challenge. You will get the right equipment to address your problem if orthodox medicine is not applicable.
There are those who choose to go to native bone-setters or other trado-medical practitioners for help, while I do not condemn such options outright, it is best to apply the latest technology with proven efficiency and international certification, in dealing with special physical challenges. Even in a relatively new field like sports medicines, injured athletes now use exercise equipment like the treadmill to regain.