THE '22 TIMES

Stress is something we can all relate to because at a certain point in time we have all had to deal with some amount of it. It is usually a transient overwhelming feeling of incapability in busy life periods but can easily become a chronic condition if left unresolved. It is so prevalent in our lives and so it becomes important for us to develop ways of dealing with it. Not dealing with stress properly whether it be by avoidance, drinking or smoking will eventually manifest as illnesses. It can increase the chance of hypertension, gastrointestinal issues and can also worsen conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, for those with children, chronic stress can put your children at risk of developing Asthma. Excessive stress can even cause premature death. This article will suggest some healthy and straightforward coping mechanisms. One method of coping with stress is known as the problem-focused coping approach or in other words is to actively alter the stres...

Mood disorders are a category of illnesses that describe a serious change in mood. Though many different subtypes are recognized, three major states of mood disorders exist: depressive, manic, and bipolar. Bipolar disorder previously referred to as manic depression is a multifactorial illness with uncertain aetiology. It is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs like depression and mania. The cycling between both depressed and manic moods is what characterises bipolar mood disorder. Epidemiology Epidemiological studies have suggested a lifetime prevalence of around 1% for bipolar type I in the general population. A large cross-sectional survey of 11 countries found the overall lifetime prevalence of bipolar spectrum disorders was 2.4%, with a prevalence of 0.6% for bipolar type I and 0.4% for bipolar type II. There are several types of bipolar and related disorders including cyclothymic disorder but the two types of bipo...

Feeling sad or anxious at certain times is a normal part of life. However when these feelings persist for more than two weeks, disrupting an individual’s relationships and daily routine, they could be considered as symptoms of depression (Pietrangelo et al., 2017). According to the World Health Organisation, about 300 million people around the world have depression (WHO, 2018). It is also estimated that 15% of the adult population will experience depression at some point in their life (Morin, 2019). These statistics therefore make depression one of the most common problems faced by populations worldwide. There are a lot of negative effects that depression has on the health of individuals. Research has documented many of these deleterious effects and this article will highlight a few of them. One major long term effect of depression is suicide. In the US, suicide is ranked as the 10th leading cause of death and the second cause of death among people ages 15-24 (Morin, 2019)....

Stress can be said to be any physical, mental or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension (Whiteman, 2018). Stress is experienced in our everyday life and it is the body’s own way of adjusting to sudden changes in its demand. Stress could be from a stimulus in the environment, like meeting deadlines, expectations after a job done or may   be internal such as   from an illness   or due to a medical procedure. Whichever way, the body’s reactions remain the same irrespective of the stimulus. These reactions originate so as to alert the person of a possible danger and to mobilize the body’s response to the threat. Chronic exposure to the stress and subsequent reactions produced as a result become unhealthy for the individual. During stressful situations, the hypothalamus in the brain causes the pituitary to release adrenocorticotropic hormone. This hormone causes the release of cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal glands. Corti...

There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds. - Laurell K. Hamilton, Mistral's Kiss That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful. - Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation Are you happy? You wake up, survive the morning traffic, begrudgingly get to work, achieve things at work, gain more responsibility but are you any happier? You get yelled at by your boss, struggle to meet deadlines, you work harder, gain even more responsibility, get paid even more all while counting down the seconds till the clock strikes 5, dreading the struggle of the impending traffic on the commute home, you are annoyed, you want to vent out your frustrations but the local culture reveres the emotionless and stoic man, so you put up a brave front, unbeknownst to anyone that it is just a façade, a feeble attempt at masking the massive emotional bleed within you. Are you happy? Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common...

Diabetes Mellitus or Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism leading to an increase in blood glucose levels.  This increased sugar levels can eventually lead to many complications such as Diabetic Neuropathy, Retinopathy and Nephropathy which affects the nerves, eyes and kidneys respectively. Diabetes may also precipitate many other diseases and co-morbidities including thyroid disease and some forms of cancer (Diabetes, UK, 2019). Diabetes can affect people of all ages and different races. Diabetes can be classified into primary diabetes, gestational diabetes and secondary diabetes. Primary diabetes includes the well-known Type I and Type II diabetes as well as Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood (LADA) and Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY). Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and secondary causes of diabetes include pancreatic insufficiency (Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus, 2004). Type I diabetes, MODY and LADA are genetically inhe...

Human behaviour, much of which is influenced by social, cultural, economic, and political factors, is clearly related to health, including the risk for infectious diseases like malaria. There are many reasons why particular behaviours exist and they often are tied to considerable benefits in areas quite distinct from health. The principal reason for which people do not accept new kinds of health behaviour is that the behaviour being advocated is inconvenient, produces unwanted side-effects, or does not give visible results (MacCormack, 1984). Thus, it is not always the case that “these people do not know any better," but rather that their native logic and rationality make sense within the realities and limitations of their local circumstances. Poverty creates preconditions to malaria, in that the means to acquire protection such as treated bed nets, repellants and insecticides from mosquitoes are hindered. It is well established in the world that morbidity and mortality ...

Human beings are a uniquely varied specie. No two persons are remotely the same — not even homozygote twins. Genetic makeup and the environment in which each man finds himself, predominantly goes a long way to shape one’s physique, personality, and interactions with other and the environment. Thus it comes as no surprise that we all respond to stressful life events in varied ways. Cohen et al. (1995) define stress as a process in which environmental demands strain an organism’s adaptive capacity resulting in both psychological demands as well as biological changes that could place it at risk for illness. Being not a respecter of persons, stress affects all people — man or woman, young or old, rich or poor. Stress is an ever-present fact of life that we must all deal with. Life in and of itself is full of stress. It comes in all shapes, sizes and conundrums; to the extent that even o ne’s own thoughts can cause predominant discomfort and strain, making the body more susceptib...