OBESITY: CAUSES AND POSSIBLE WAYS OUT

OBESITY: CAUSES AND POSSIBLE WAYS OUT

CAUSES OF OBESITY

You may be obesed if you;

Ø Spend most of your day sitting (either watching TV or in a vehicle or at a desk), in other words if you are not moving.

Ø Seldom walk more than 90 meters daily.

Ø Have a job that keeps you inactive.

Ø Do not take between 20 and 30 minutes to exercise once a week.

Ø Are taking too much of carbohydrate, junk food and even alcohol.

POSSIBLE WAYS OUT

To lose weight, some of these tips can be tried out;

Ø Beware of calories in what you are eating.

Ø Avoid temptation to eat just any food.

Ø Have a snack or appetizer before eating a meal. This will take the edge off your appetite and may induce you to eat less.

Ø Don’t eat everything put in front of you.

Ø Listen to your body’s signal which says “I’m full, I don’t need any more”.

Ø Stop eating before you feel full.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO POST-POLIO SYNDROME

WAYS OUT OF PPS

• Researchers suggest that the old,overworked motor neuron becomes so exhausted that some of its nerves endings die,leaving many muscle fibres orphaned once again.To slow this process,a polio survivor needs to reduce the demand in the affected muscles.Assistive devices such as canes,braces,crutches,wheelchairs and scooters can be used to reduce too much demand on these muscle.
• Moderate exercise and muscle stretching may also be required depending on one's condition.Swimming or warm-water pool therapies are excellent means of enhancing cardiovascular function without straining the muscles.it is advisable for the patient to cooperate with the doctor or physiotherapist in any exercise programme.
• Survivors may also be experiencing decrease in stamina or even a debilitating fatigue.Loss of stamina may also result from the stress of constant pain or of dealing with a returning disability.Therefore,rest during the may be helpful to recover from fatigue.
• Pains may be lessened with te use of analgesic or anti-inflammatory types of medication.
• it is also important to keep the affected muscles warm by wearing extra clothing.Avoiding exposure to cold weather helps.
• Breathing problems are common especially among those with a history of BULBAR polio{a form of polio that affects the spinal cord in the upper neck and thereby weakens the breathing muscles}.this type of polio has landed some patients in an iron lung.therefore,a ventilator may be used to assist weakened lung muscles.
  

A DISEASE CALLED POST- POLIO SYNDROME

POST-POLIO SYNDROME

Post-polio syndrome can be described as series of symptoms and sings experienced by survivors of poliomyelitis.Poliomyelitis is a debilitating childhood disease.it is a highly infectious disease caused by virus that enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestines. Afterward,these viruses invade the nervous system,and therefore quickly cause total paralysis.As the virus passes along to the brain and spinal cord,symptoms like fatigue,headache,vomitting,stiffness in the neck,pain in the limbs are experienced by the sufferer.Many of the nerves stop functioning,resulting in paralysis of some of the muscles in the arms an limbs.
Here comes the body's recuperative powers which are amazing.Nerves that were not affected by the virus send out new "sprouts",to reconnect the muscle cells that were not orphaned when their previous nerves died.A single motor neuron in the spinal cord may also grow terminal axon sprouts,which may connect to many more muscle cell than it did originally,thus greatly increasing the neuron capacity.a motor neuron that previously stimulated 1,000 muscle cells might eventually reconnect to between 5,000 to 10,000 cells.So,it is possible for the sufferer to be able to walk again through this amazing recuperative powers of the body.
However,research has shown that over a period of time of 15 to 40 years,these neural-muscle units may begin to show signs of fatigue because of being overworked.therefore,POST-POLIO SYNDROME{PPS} is a condition that causes symptoms to reappear in individuals who had earlier recovered from poliomyelitis many years back.many sufferers experience muscle weakness,fatigue,joint and muscle pain,cold intolerance,and breathing problems.According to World Health Organisation,there are over 20 million polio survivors worldwide.Current evidence further shows that 25-30% of them are affected by PPS.