… As long as there’s life, there is stress.
Dr. Ifu Goodwin at the two-day in-depth training organized by LGNA for Council Treasurers Across Lagos State stated that laughter is free and the best solution to manage stress among others.
The general medical practitioner from Federal Medical Centre disclosed this while speaking to the Journalists at the programme held last week at the Collosus, Ikeja Lagos.
He said one must understand what stress is all about to be able to manage stress.” Stress is a pressure we experience from various life demands. And these demands are what we called stressors.”
He further explained the internal and external stressors. Internal stressor include fear, guilt, while external stressor arises from lost of loved ones among others.
Dr. Godwin said, “As long as there’s life there is stress” and stress could be manage through various techniques and the number one among them is Laughter.
He noted that if you are able to laugh stress away, you are one of the smarter person on the surface of the Earth. Laughter’s lower blood pressure, thereby reducing you from the risk of hypertension.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, a natural painkillers. Laughter boost immunity, helps in releasing T-cell the fiber cell in the body.
He said laughter does many things to the body. It helps in reducing stress hormones such as cortisol, dopamine, epinephrine among others.
Doctor Godwin said other ways of managing stress include meditation, such as Yoga. He said meditation is also another good way of management stress. He Implored Nigerians whenever they are stressed up during their normal day activities to take sometime to cool down, meditate and relax thereby releasing stress before going back to work.
“Apart from meditation, Deep breathing also known as Belle breathing or stomach breathing is a way of managing stress breathing while the stomach is moving.”
“Ideally, You breathe with your chest moving. In deep breathing, you breathe deep down, relax and exhale. For you to know that you are doing the deep breathing very well, You put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach and breath deep in well and relax. When you are doing that and your stomach is moving in and out rather than your chest, that’s for you to actually know that you are doing deep breathing very well, Doctor Godwin said.
He added stress could also be release by using Nootropics called memory enhancer such helps one to relax, enhances memory, intelligent and releases one from stress.
” Any activities one does while been stressed up to help one reduces the stress is another form of releasing stress by embarking on intra-personal communication when facing some difficulties or being anxious is described as Relaxation,” Doctor Godwin said.
He advised Nigerians and beyond that As far as there’s life there is stress. He added,” Even a small child undergo developmental stress” urged Nigerians to maintain a regular health check up and be top of the control of their health.
“Take 30 minutes of your daily activities to cool off, get a hobby and do something outside the routine office work.”
Doctor Godwin reemphasized that the smartest way to release stress is through laughter. Adding that the smartest person on the surface of the earth is someone that can laugh stress away. “You don’t need to buy laughter is something that every Nigerians can afford, He said.
He commended LNGA that despite not been health practitioner they were able to invite him to speak on health issues that the seminar participants would have gained from his presentation and if they put the practical things discussed into practice it goes a long way in reducing stress to increase life span which cost nothing. Consequently, He Implored other parastals to follow their footsteps, keyed into LGNA programmes to make Nigeria a better place.
The Oriade Local Council Development Area, Mrs Gbesan described the seminar as educative and exchange of brilliant ideas and applauded the LGNA for the impactful programmes
As a result of the tedious nature of their job, She specifically commended the organization for integrating stress Management in the programme and requested for more of it.