00:00This is High Blood Pressure Awareness Month and today we are asking the tough questions.
00:08Why are more Nigerian youth battling hypertension? What role do lifestyle,
00:14environment and access to care play? Stay with us as we speak with Nurse Oluwayemi Banjoko,
00:21who's the Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Lagos Medical Center.
00:25She sheds light into the factors putting our young generation at risk.
00:35First of all, for clarity, hypertension is seen to be or is known to be a persistent
00:46raise in blood pressure. So among our youths, recently we've seen that
00:55it's been a bit on the high incidence on the rise and things we could see as part of what
01:02would have led to such things at the lifestyle that the youths have been involved in, in the aspect of
01:13their feeding, their movement, you know, as in when we talk about feeding, we talk about
01:21the use of processed foods among the youths. Of course, we see them as they're not so, they're
01:31restless, they don't want to sit down and make their own meals. So they're involved in having
01:36take-out foods that, you know, have lots of salts, seasonings and all that which could lead to
01:45increase in their blood pressure. So we see all these things as part of the things that led to
01:51the rise in blood pressure among these youths. Though we could say that some of it, some of them have
01:59and hereditary factors that runs in their family so they could be prone to it. Other factors which are
02:07lack of enough activities, movement of the body. You see them on social media, you see them with their
02:15phones, they sit down for quite a long time, they are spending more time, you know, on the computer,
02:23play games. So all these activities restrict them from easy movements. So it results into
02:33raising blood pressure. And all these meals that look into canned meals, salt food,
02:44freezing drinks, all this contributes to raised in blood pressure. Stress is part of the stressors,
02:54the part of the conditions that could make an individual to have a blood pressure. Because
03:00when the body is under stress, there are some hormones that are being released. And that hormones
03:06results into, you know, thinning of the blood, the lumen, you know, constricting the lumen,
03:15thereby making the blood flow to be reduced or to be in force.
03:25Looking at not having easy access, of course, we see youths as, we don't see them so much like that
03:34in the hospital. And the majority of them will not see hospital, in quotes, as the first line of
03:42place where they want to go to. They want to look into the internet and go and get their medication
03:47themselves. So there is reduced attendance of them, except for, you know, environments where
03:57they have, they are in school, like the university session, where their students are in school and
04:04they have a medical center or a medical access to outside that you naturally don't find them
04:13in the normal hospital where they can work in themselves. So when they don't have this
04:19easy access, they don't have the knowledge of what they need to know about themselves.
04:24But instead, you see them, even when they come into the hospital, they will tell you what they
04:28have read on the internet. They will tell you what their friends have told them, you know. So that
04:33is, you know, bringing them a restriction, a kind of slowdown or a kind of delay, precisely,
04:42in coming in to assess medical care, which reduce their detection of that hypertension on time.
04:54So BMI is the body mass index, as you have said it, and is measured with your weight and your
05:00height doubled. And it is in a range whereby when you see that the BMI is higher than 25, you see that
05:14that person is at risk. And then we see that we have more males, you know, having this kind of,
05:24having the hypertension more than the female. And it is mostly seen more in us Africans, you know,
05:31than in other people. So all this contributes to this blood pressure issue. And then body mass index
05:38and abdominal fat, they work in hand in hand. When there is a large abdominal fat, as in, you know,
05:47obesity, and the abdomen is quite large, there are pressures, there are disturbances to the vital
05:54organs and to the heart. So there is, you know, there's, there's not enough space. So the heart is
06:00working with force, kind of, so there is a kind of, um, pressure for the heart to be able to walk freely,
06:10because the abdominal fat or the obesity is disturbing the, the heart and other vital organs,
06:16the kidneys as well. So the BMI of every adult must be within range, you know, at least
06:26below 25 or 25. When it's getting above that, you see that that person is at risk of having
06:35a high blood pressure or a raised in blood pressure. Sometimes it is not everyone that
06:40have a raise in blood pressure that can be categorized as having high blood pressure.
06:45If condition had led to that raise in blood pressure, by the time the condition is reduced or
06:52removed, the blood pressure may come back to normal. But if persistently the BP continues to get raised
06:59over a period of a month or two weeks consistent, then the individual can be worked on. And if it
07:06doesn't go down, then you realize that such people, you can tell them that, okay, this person is having a
07:11blood pressure. Let me say like, um, like 45% awareness because, um, they're not, they're not, um, tailoring
07:31to that line as in looking into their health, not necessarily blood pressure alone, but our youths
07:39in relation to their awareness about their health is still not enough. But how can we help in this
07:50manner? With the university system, we ensure that as a moving, they go through a series of investigations
08:02to determine any kind of conditions to determine any kind of condition they may have. And blood pressure
08:08is part of it. Hypertension is part of, you know, all those checks that they do for them. So,
08:14most, um, um, university sets of go through that. And I think the, um, it is extended to secondary school
08:22children as well. When they are trying to move from the, um, primary level to the secondary level,
08:29they go through some of these, um, tests to determine or, you know, detect any form of, um,
08:36condition that child may have. So I think on that aspect, a little of awareness is coming in in that,
08:44but I think more should be done on jingles, on flyers, on radio talks, you know, especially
08:55stations or radio programs that we know in quotes are attractive to youths and, you know, social media,
09:03you know, write-ups and all that for them to be constantly reminded about things in relation to
09:11blood pressure because one, he does not give signs. He does not have like specific or permanent
09:19symptoms. And for it to not give symptoms in these youths, it will have gone, you know,
09:26something serious. Some will tell you it does not run in my family. So I don't need to check
09:32or they will tell you I'm not yet 40. I don't need to check my blood pressure. We see blood pressure,
09:37raise blood pressure in as little as age 10, sometimes age 14. That means I'm not yet 40.
09:46I'm not old. Do you get all it doesn't run in my family. I don't need to check my blood. Everybody
09:53depending, no matter the age, as long as the person has gone off a teenager, is now a young youth,
10:01they should check their blood pressure on regular basis. Okay. I don't have time. You can have it
10:06once in two weeks for the young adults. And once you notice there is a raise or a chain, please
10:13ensure that you visit the hospital or you visit the nearest place to take care of their health.
10:24Let's start with the home, with the family. These days you see families, everybody, nobody,
10:30you know, many families will tell you just eat and ensure that you eat. It has, you know, you know,
10:40that's that's idea of having a good meal is being swapped off probably because of the economy. But I want
10:52to say that we can have good meals, even with little money. All we need to ensure is it is well prepared
11:03and you have all the colors. When you want to see a good meal, when we look at colors, you have the green,
11:09which is your vegetable. You have the red, which is your tomatoes or your little of your egg or your meat
11:15or whatever. You have them in little proportion on a meal plate. Families, we should ensure that our children,
11:25even ourselves, eat good meal. Avoid instant pastas like that. Avoid excessive use of salt.
11:38We should do away with them. Table salts. For, you know, after meals and they'll tell you the salt,
11:44and pam pam pam, they put it inside the meal. We should ensure that as we are taking care of the
11:51elderly or the older ones, maybe the daddy and the mommy in the house, the children to have fraction
11:56into these meals and ensure that a good meal does not have to be very expensive. It could be our small
12:04little money and then you can have your good, well-prepared meal. I want to encourage parents
12:12to ensure that their children make their meals even while in school. If they are able to prepare
12:19their meals, they monitor the amount of salt they want to put inside. They can make use of natural
12:26ingredients like using crayfish, use ginger, use garlic instead of the usual seasoning and all that
12:35that they have. You know, so if you make your food yourself and you want to cut down on the salt,
12:40of course you can do it. But when you are buying it outside, you don't have control over it.
12:45Yes, I think I've said it before. Don't wait until you have a symptom. Go for checkups. Check your blood
13:03pressure, no matter your age. Blood pressure does not have specific age that it affects. Avoid self-medication.
13:11I read it on the internet or it works for my friend and I'm using it. Go and see your doctor to find out
13:18is this good for me. Let them check you and then you can have your own. Hypertension among young
13:24Nigerians is no longer rare. It is real, rising and urgent. From schools to families, we all have a role
13:33to play. The conversation doesn't end yet. Let us act, educate and push for change.
13:40I'm Fatima Rachael for Guardian TV.
13:47Thank you so much for watching.
13:49I'm Fatima Rachael for Guardian TV.
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