Why you should prioritise your health over the wealth
Every year, an estimated 14.2 million people between the ages of 30 and 69 worldwide die from lifestyle related diseases, majority of which are caused by work-related pressures.
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Although some of these victims were often retirees, majority of them were always active employees, whose work schedules did not allow them the luxury of time and comfort to exercise, have fun and rest.
With tight schedules, deadlines and targets to meet at the work side, most workers and business executives in and outside the country give less attention to their diet or exercise regularly.
The result has been a firm growth in lifestyle-related diseases, which are now competing with infectious diseases as the number one cause of premature deaths among people in this age bracket.
Although the phenomenal rise in deaths among this category of people is intense in developed countries, a medical practitioner and motivational speaker, Dr William Okyere-Frimpong, said the situation was not too different in Ghana, where deaths among the middle-age working class are becoming rampant of late.
Sharing his thoughts on the relationship between wealth and health on the weekly talk show, Springboard, Your Virtual University, on JOY FM, he told the host, Rev. Albert Ocran, that although it was always good to prioritise one's health over wealth, most young people in the country did the reverse in their early ages.
Health awareness
Globally, people place premium on their life and wellbeing. As a result, almost everybody would always want to stay alive and active and would, therefore, invest into their health whenever sickness strikes.
Sadly, however, Dr Okyere-Frimpong, who also oversees the Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) Hospital in Accra, said most people rather put more attention into making wealth, to the detriment of their health.
"One of my consultants said it looks like in our part of the world, we spend our health to get wealth and later on when we have the wealth, we spend the wealth on our health. So, its like you are back to the same point."
He mentioned intense pressure resulting from too much sitting or standing, frequent exposure to computer screens, and working in dusty environment as some of the instances that could cause work-related sickness.
These difficulties, he said could result in impaired vision, cancer and obesity, among others, which have been on the increase in recent years.
"All of those are the impacts of where we work or how we work. Some have to sit closer to screens and monitors or having to work in an environment that is very noisy. Even if you look at how we are constructing our roads; in very dusty environment. These things can lead to respiratory diseases," he added.
Although most people are now taking interest in their health, Dr Okyere-Frimpong said not many people are keen on knowing their health status and the kind of sicknesses they were suffering.
"It is only a recent phenomenon that people come to the consulting room having read about their conditions. Initially you found that people came and they were only interested in 'give me the drugs and let me go.' Increasingly however, there is now that generation that is seeking knowledge about their health but on the whole, the knowledge seeking habits are not there," he added.
He, therefore, called on all to take an interest in their health to be able to know how to manage it.
Nutrition transition
Generally, dieting has become an important part of health in recent times. With many deadlines starring, most people normally skip their food or eat quick fixes, which normally would not be balanced.
Although such a habit gives more time for people to work, it drains the body of the much needed nutrients, which then translates into a weaker immune system.
A dietician, Dr Sophia Ametefe, who called into the programme, explained that such habits should not be encouraged
"Our diets are actually chained and turned around for bad. There is what we call the nutrition transition, where we have seen that currently, we have shifted away from our formal eating habits, when we were taking in tubers, legumes, fruits and vegetables to now eat more of sugars, fatty foods and oily foodstuffs. We have even reduced our fruits and vegetable intake and we are now taking more of refined products," she said.
This trend, she said was worrying, given that it translated into the lifestyle-related diseases that are currently on the rise.
Closely related to that, she said was the recent craze among people to eat outside as against home-prepared food.
"Because of the media hype, a lot of people fancy consuming food from restaurants and various joints because they think it look attractive and tastes palatable. In actual fact, however, we are buying a lot of diseases in our hand and if we don't take care, we will really put ourselves in a lot of trouble and generations to come," she explained.
The dos
Explaining further what people could do to reduce the likelihood of getting lifestyle related diseases, Dr Ametefe said breakfast, lunch and dinner should be on time and should not be skipped.
"A lot of people complain that they don’t do these. They are either combining breakfast and lunch to become brunch and they eat a late supper or they are not even able to eat any," she added.
While it is important to always eat the wife's food, the dietician said people who get home late should not use that as excuse to eat heavy food at odd hours.
Instead, she said such heavy foods could be warmed for them to take as breakfast or lunch the following day.
"It is very important to eat your wife's food but you need to also put in caution; you are the bread winner, are you going to be shortening your lifespan at the expense of eating that food in the evening when you could have it for lunch or breakfast the following day. When you do that you will still be eating your wife's food and she probably won't be mad at you," she said.
Dr Ametefe said the nature of one's work should also be taken into consideration.
For those who virtually sit through, she said it was good for them to avoid heavy foods, which mostly translate into weight with its attendant consequences.
She also warned that people who failed to prioritise their health now but were more interested in generating wealth risk retiring as sick people, where they will the use their retirement money and time running after health facilities for treatments.
