Vicky Idiagi-Udofia

04/03/2024

Never take obesity lightly as it increases the risk of other severe diseases including Diabetes, Cancers and Heart Diseases.

The occasion of World Obesity Day reminds us all to change our lifestyle practices and food habits in order to stay away from obesity.

Eat healthy! Cut down on junk food!🌮🌯🍔

🌐 www.cmdanigeria.org
🔘 CMDA Nigeria
⚫ Caring for the whole man: spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23)

01/08/2023

Breast milk contains all the right nutrition a baby needs to grow during the 1st 6 months of life!

Stay tuned for more info!

01/08/2023

Welcome to August 2023, dear friends! 🥳 🥳 🥳

26/07/2023

MIDWEEK HEALTH QUOTE 📝
One can easily avoid hepatitis by staying a little bit cautious and following healthy practices.
Stay tuned this week for more Information on HEPATITIS.

To your health! 🥂

© Pretty.Dr.Vickee
📝 July 2023

20/07/2023

STRESSED OUT!
(THE LAST 3 STEPS TO MANAGING STRESS)
“So…” Munachi put the edges of both hands on Dr. Adamu's table in demonstration, “if my negative stressors are more of Important but not Urgent Tasks*¹, you're saying that creating a time schedule to attend to them would help me feel less stressed about them?”
“Exactly,” replied Dr. Adamu.
“But how do I deal with the urgent and important stressors*?”
“Like which and which?”
“Like my heavy workload. And even the heavy Lagos traffic I face everyday?”
“That's where we talk about Step 4 in managing stress:”

STEP 4: CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION about your stressors.
William Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
“Always see the cup🥤 as HALF FULL rather than HALF EMPTY. Putting things in the right perspective helps a lot. For instance, when you're in traffic, see it as an extra 30 minutes or 1 hour to cover a book you've been longing to read, or to listen to an audio program or message that will develop your mind or spirit. See it as an advantage rather than a disadvantage.”
“Okay, how about work? How am I supposed to view my heavy workload in a positive light?”
“You can start by being thankful for having a job at all,” Dr. Adamu replied.
Munachi rolled her eyes.
“It's a law of the universe. Gratitude attracts more blessings into your life. Seek out 10 specific things you're thankful for about your work and be grateful for them every morning. When you practice this for up to 30 days, your workload won't seem as heavy.”
Munachi shrugged. “Okay, I could do that. How about the last 2 steps of stress management?”
STEP 5: REDUCE THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON YOUR BODY
“Chase out stress through stress reversal strategies like deep breathing techniques (in between work activities), prayer, music, meditation, yoga, and so on.
“The final stress management strategy I'll share with you is:
STEP 6: BUILD YOUR RESILIENCE TO STRESS
“You can actually build your mental and physical reserve functional capacity against stress using the 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine.”
“The 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine,“ Munachi repeated meditatively. “Sounds familiar. I think I once saw something about that on your WhatsApp status, right?”
“Yes! During our Lifestyle Medicine Week. Do you remember them?”
“I think so. The pneumonic is….DREAMS, right?”
“Right,” he replied with his thumbs up.
“Okay. I believe the 'D' stands for diet.”
“Yes, and the diet should be WFPB (whole food-plant based).”
“Alright, 'R' should stand for Relationships?”
Dr. Adamu nodded. “Relationships and social connections. Connecting regularly with friends proves very helpful in relieving.”
“ 'E' is easy: Exercise regularly.”
“Good. And 'A'?”
“Mmmm… I'm not sure I can remember what the letter A stands for?”
“Okay, let me help you from here.”
- 'A' stands for Avoidance of psychoactive substances such as alcohol, to***co and street drugs
- 'M' stands for Mental Wellbeing - through relaxing activities and connecting with loved ones.
- 'S' is for sleep, which should be adequate in duration and restorative in quality.
“With slow and consistent practice,” Dr. Adamu concluded, “you can master all 6 stress management strategies:

Learn your body's stress signals

Identify your stressors

Plan and prepare for preventable stressors

Change your perception about your stressors

Reduce the effects of stress on your body

Build your resilience to stress using the 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine (D.R.E.A.M.S.).”

To your health! 🥂

© Pretty.Dr.Vickee
📝 July 2023
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KEY: *1:- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/victoria-oseiwe-udofia-0781448a_stressmanagement-stressrelief-stress-activity-7085244817798049793-aQ1v?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

17/07/2023

💡MONDAY MOTIVATION💡

“If you want to be successful, you have to JUMP!”

So BURY those fears, go near the cliff of your career and JUMP!


It's a new season to rise HIGH ⬆️⬆️⬆️ and SOAR ✈️✈️✈️!

To your success! 🥂

© Pretty.Dr.Vickee
📝 July 2023


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14/07/2023

STRESSED OUT!
(THE 3RD STEP TO MANAGING STRESS)

Munachi thought for a moment. “Doc, I think I have more of negative stressors in my life.”

“Such as....?”

“Mine is a combination of a heavy workload, a poor salary, impossible deadlines and an extremely difficult boss.” She started feeling hopeless as she also thought about her daily school runs. “Doc, will I ever be able to manage stress in my life?” she asked wearily.

“Relax, Munachi,” said Dr. Adamu. “I suggest you get a diary to pen down all these stressors like I explained in Step 2. Negative stressors are either PREVENTABLE or UNPREVENTABLE. After writing them out in your stress diary, the next step to managing stress is to…”

3). PLAN AND PREPARE FOR THE PREVENTABLE STRESSORS
Failure to plan is an express invitation to stress.

Using Stephen Covey's 4 Quadrants of Time Management, you can plan and prepare for preventable stressors. Divide your preventable stressors into 4:

A). URGENT AND IMPORTANT TASKS: will often stress you.
➡ ACTION PLAN: Let these top your list and have a good action plan to execute them. (E.g. work-related activities, accidents and emergencies…)

B). IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT TASKS: Financial, personal, family, and social issues fall under this category.
➡ ACTION PLAN: Have a time schedule to attend to them (E.g. Paying bills/fees, shopping, medical checkups,...).


C). URGENT BUT NOT IMPORTANT: These are pressing needs but they don't have to be done by YOU.
➡ ACTION PLAN: Delegate these to other people (E.g. School runs, some phone calls/emails, some party functions…).

D). NOT URGENT AND NOT IMPORTANT: These are
mostly time wasters.
➡ ACTION PLAN: Eliminate and substitute them. (E.g. Web surfing, meetings of gossip and quarrels….).

This would go a long way in helping you to manage your negative stressors.

Three more stress management steps to go!

Always to your health! 🥂 🤗

© Pretty.Dr.Vickee
📝 July 2023.

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(Adapted from Society of Lifestyle Medicine of Nigeria (SOLONg) 🇳🇬; Seaward, BL (2011) Letting go of Stress).

12/07/2023

STRESSED OUT!
(THE 1st 2 STEPS TO MANAGING STRESS)

“Doctor, I'm just tired!😩” wailed Munachi. “I wake up as early as 4:30am every day to catch the staff bus. By close of work, I feel exhausted. I get home around 9 to 10pm, try to whip up a quick dinner and before I can even close my eyes for a few hours, it's already morning! AS IN.... I always wake up feeling tired! What can I do?”

Her doctor looked her in the eye and said, “Munachi, you are really stressed out. Let me talk to you a bit about how to manage this stress…”
▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️.▪️

70-90% of all visits to the doctor are actually stress-related.

And research tells us that workplace stress has the same negative effects on the heart as smoking or high blood cholesterol.

So what is stress? And is it possible for us to 'eliminate' it?

🎯 2 SIMPLE DEFINITIONS

Dr. Hans Selye (who was popularly known as 'the father of stress') said stress is 'your body’s response to demands placed on it.'
World Health Organization (WHO) defines stress as “a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation”.

By these definitions, we can safely conclude that NOBODY IS IMMUNE TO STRESS. Thus, we need to know how to manage it.
🎯 STEPS TO MANAGING STRESS
There are 6 STEPS to managing stress. Today, we will touch on just two:
👇🏼

1). LEARN YOUR BODY'S STRESS SIGNALS
Stress signals can be
*Physical, or
*Emotional.

➡ PHYSICAL STRESS SIGNALS INCLUDE: palpitations, back pain, recurring headaches/lightheadedness, poor/raised appetite, sweaty palms, fatigue, stomach upset, etc.

➡ SOME EMOTIONAL STRESS SIGNALS: irritability, frustration, anxiety, moodiness, loss of confidence, fear, etc.
2). IDENTIFY YOUR OWN STRESSORS
Write them down in a 'stress diary'. Stressors are usually POSITIVE or NEGATIVE.
▪️POSITIVE STRESSORS:
Include *Birthdays, *Naming ceremony, *Graduation, *Wedding, *Marriage, *Football, *Grocery shopping, etc.
▪️NEGATIVE STRESSORS:
Can be
➡ work-related, or
➡ related to health/family/money, etc.
➡ E.g. OF WORK-RELATED STRESSORS: Heavy workload, Deadlines, Poor salary, Difficult boss, Angry customers, Retirement, etc;
➡ STRESSORS RELATED TO HEALTH/FAMILY/MONEY: Change of house, House rent, School fees, Toxic marriage/Divorce, Unruly/Sick children, ill health, Accidents, Emergencies, Death of a loved ones, etc.
➡ OTHER STRESSORS: Traffic, a Flat Tyre, Arguments, Lateness, etc.
🎯 NOW YOU KNOW
➡ what stress is,
➡ different stress signals, &
➡ how to identify your own stressors.
Do stay tuned to learn the other steps to managing stress.
To your health! 🥂 🤗
© Pretty.Dr.Vickee
📝 July 2023
(Adapted from The Society of Lifestyle Medicine in Nigeria 🇳🇬; World Health Organization (2007) Raising Awareness of Stress at Work in Developing Countries).
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11/07/2023

10/07/2023

💡 3 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS

“I hate setting goals,” Solomon said.

“Why?” asked Saheed.

“Because it's time-consuming for me, and I hardly get to achieve them anyway. So what's the point?”

“Well, perhaps your goals have not been SMART goals. Or you don't focus on ONE specific goal at a time.”

Last week, we saw that focusing on one goal at a time has a profound effect of helping you achieve your goals for the year. On the other hand, if you do not have goals at all, or you don't have them written down 📝, here are 3 simple reasons why you should:

YOU WILL BE LESS DISTRACTED

Like Brian Tracy says in his bestseller, No Excuses! (The Power of Self-discipline), if you have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it, you have a track to run on every single day… more and more of your time is focused in a straight line — from where you are to where you want to go.

YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH MUCH MORE THAN THOSE WHO DO NOT SET GOALS

Timely research has shown that about 3 percent (3%) of adults have written goals and plans, and this 3 percent earn more than all of the other 97 percent put together. Because more of your time is chanelled towards accomplishing your goal(s), you're hardly side-tracked by distractions and tend to hit your target as often as you plan to.

WRITING YOUR GOALS INCREASES THE PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS BY TEN TIMES!

Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, did a study on goal setting with 267 participants. She found that you are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down. This is a very good probability to have working in your favour.

Writing down your goals costs no money — just a little time to put pen to paper. Why not increase your chances of success today by writing down your goals for the week/month/year, and watch your success mechanism gradually change your life for the better?

To your success! 🥂

© Pretty.Dr.Vickee
📝 July 2023

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