Akeem Lasisi
The stage was set to listen to a lecture on wellness. Everyone was eager to hear from the physiotherapist and medical doctor, whose profile as an international expert, working between the United Kingdom and Nigeria, had really whetted the appetite of all.
But the expert, Dr. Lekan Bello, first had a puzzle in store for everyone. He asked the audience: ‘Are you all well?’ The answer was not swift in coming, despite the fact that everyone looked healthy and did not need any assistance to get themselves to the venue.
Then he reframed the question, “Who is well? Who among us can really say he or she is well here? Let me see your hand up, if you really know that you are well.”
Only one or two hands were bold enough to go up. Even the answer by one of the people was just in the typical Nigerian way: ‘’I am well in Jesus name!’’
But Bello was not prepared to take that kind of response, which he considered cheap and unscientific. According to him, he asked the question to establish the fact that only a few people can honestly say that they were well, in the real sense of wellness, especially in a trouble-ridden country like Nigeria. Then, he launched into the thesis of what constitutes wellness, which, according to him, is more expansive than health, and should be the goal and responsibility of everyone.
It was at the unveiling of VIVO magazine, which focuses on wellness, established by Mrs. Toyosi Toyin-Gbede. The event held on Sunday at Noah’s Ark, GRA, Ikeja Lagos, had in attendance several experts in the health and wellness industry, with many other members of the elite.
Bello, who wondered if anyone could declare that he or she was well when, according to him, Nigeria was not well, said, “A lot of factors have impact on being well. But the fact is that you are responsible for your wellness. It is your choice and it is when we are well that we are able to do all we want, including contributing to the development of the community. Being healthy is not the same as being well. The fact, therefore, is that all of us are not well – including me.”
This declaration, of course, was bound to scare many of Bello’s listeners. But he insisted that wellness does not come through wishful thinking.
He described it (wellness) as a journey and an endless desire. He noted that it was a process that should be geared towards the preventive rather than the curative. He said it was unfortunate that it was the latter – curative – that many people, governments and corporate bodies focused on.
‘’We spend so much on the curative rather than the preventive. We need to teach people how disease will not occur. Interestingly, what to do does not cost so much in this regard. Wellness involves a wholistic approach. It includes the mood, mind and the soul. It has the physical, social, occupational and emotional dimensions.”
Bello advised people who spend too much time sitting down in offices and at homes to stop doing so. According to him, it is a way of slowly killing oneself. Saying wellness was also about behavioral and attitudinal change, he noted that after every 30 minutes or at most an hour, one should stand up and take a walk, saying such exercise meant a lot.
He advised business owners and managers, “Occupational wellness is key to our well-being. We spend an average of eight hours at work. We should inculcate wellness practice at work, then. The executives should focus on workplace wellness. Every one hour, stand up, stretch your legs. Otherwise, you are killing yourself bit by bit by sitting down for hours.”
At the programme attended by the chairman of Vitafoam Plc, Dr. Dele Makanjuola, Toyin-Gbede noted that the principle of wellness indicated that looks could often be deceptive.
She said, “Often, what seems to be a room full of normal people could eventually turn out to be rather contrary to the expected. Hence, we often see a seemingly well person collapse and then he is rushed out by paramedics. Or another seemingly sane person putting up an act of total insanity. A middle-aged corporate executive, possibly under the age of 50, could slump at his desk. A youth or young adult, who seems to have everything going for him, could take his own life and summarise his cause in a tiny suicide note for his loved ones. We can go on and on giving scenarios of the state of imbalance in the lives of many.
“So, where does wellness come into the picture? Is wellness all about healing the sick or curing diseases? Does it really have anything to do with “healthy” people like us?”
She said VIVO was birthed out of her concern for improved wellness of the people.
At the event were Chairman, Vitafoam Nigeria Ltd, Dr Dele Makanjuola; Lead Partner, Noella Solicitors, Mr. Toyin Gbede (the publisher’s husband); Mr. Ola Awosemo, Mr. Lanre Adisa and the publisher of Marketing Edge, Mr. John Ajayi.
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