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Unhealthy T&T People in this country just do not get the concept of healthy living, so says wellness doctor Dr Geoffrey Frankson. He said that Trinbagonians are unhealthy and do not understand that taking care of their body is just as important as maintaining a car or house. He pointed to the alarming local figures which show that T&T tops the scales when it comes to lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cancer, stroke, stress and hypertension. “We have one of the highest death rate in the complication from diabetes in the Western Hemisphere. A lot of people have diabetes and don’t even know it. In most cases it is entirely preventable,’’ Frankson said. Frankson, who is one of the founders of the country’s premier wellness centre, The Wellness Centre, in St James, said “people don’t realise that health is healthy living.” “Most people wait and see what it happens, people must recognise life of course of healthy living and not a lottery.” In T&T one in every three adults has high blood pressure, one in five has diabetes and 75 per cent of adults will have heart disease. “A third of the population will have cancer and half the population over 40 is usually over overweight. We are an unhealthy nation,” Frankson said grimly. The worried doctor pointed out that heart bypass surgery in people with high cholesterol can cost up to $120,000 but if they “had invested a little time and money living healthier the savings in the long run is tremendous. People mush choose a better quality of life.” Wellness is not about preventing disease “it is about living life to the fullest, enjoying a high quality of life and to do that you have to start now, not when something happens.” Medical systems can only patch up a problem they cannot cure your unhealthy lifestyle, Frankson explained. Job Stress and Hypertension Thousands of Trinidadians have high blood pressure. And in 95 per cent of these cases, the cause is unknown. Studies over the last few decades provide strong evidence that job strain is an important—and often overlooked—risk factor for heart disease. While estimates of the proportion of heart disease due to job strain vary greatly between studies, it is reasonable to conclude that as much as 23 per cent of heart disease could be prevented—saving thousands of lives, according to the American Heart Association. If we reduced the level of job strain in jobs with the worst strain levels can be avoided. Over the last 15 years, a new model of job strain has highlighted two key workplace conditions that increase hypertension: high psychological demands combined with little control in meeting those demands. People with high job demand describe themselves as “working very fast,’’ “working very hard,’’ and not having “enough time to get the job done,’’ said Dr Frankson. People with little work place control describe themselves as lacking the ability and or authority to make decisions or impact their job. High demands, low control, and little social support have been shown to lead workers toward passivity and learned helplessness—and hypertension. Similarly, reasonable demands, increased control, and availability of social support lead to increased activity, self- esteem, motivation to learn, and sense of accomplishment. The issue of job stress is of utmost importance to the public health community and working people in general. While the economic costs of job stress (absenteeism, lost of productivity) are difficult to estimate. Most importantly, there is the potential for prevention of most illness and death due to stress and hypertension The body responds to the stress in three stages, the first reaction to stress is the body’s signal to respond, a complex interaction of the brain, nervous system, and endocrine glands take places. The hormones secreted by these glands increase heartbeat, blood flow, and respiration. And the second stage is the resistance where the body tries to adapt to stress and return to its normal state, if stress continues stage three sets in. If stress continues while the body is in the exhaustion stage, the body’s defence system is worn down, physical and mental illness can develop. While the skin reaction to the stress, cause neurodermatitis that produces the symptoms of eczema, and it can disappear just as fast if tension is relieved. Some scientists think that stress may play role in the development of cancer. You will ask how ? According to the American Cancer Association, they think that when stress occurs it can cause the release of cortisol hormone.One of the effects of this hormone is reducing the level of the immunity system and this give the chance to the cell that grow in wrong way to grow up and form many cells like it and thus will lead to tumour or cancer. One of the effects of noise is hypertension, this may also result from stress. Hypertension means high blood pressure, if the high blood pressure continues for a long time the heart weakens. This results in hypertensive heart disease, it may also result in strokes, heart failure, kidney failure, and coronary heart diseases, which huge numbers of our population suffer from, said Frankson. There are no real symptoms of hypertension. Doctors are not certain whether high blood pressure causes hardening of arteries or whether the arteries hardening bring high blood pressure. Hypertension damages the blood vessels and keeps the heart under continous strain. High-pressured living is one of the chief factors contributing to heart diseases and heart attacks. Sure you can see the dangers of stress and hypertension on all body systems, so all people should try hard to avoid any worriesome situations. Frankson said: “Most illness comes from an unhealthy lifestyle. Invest in you body and you will reap the rewards in the old age.’’
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