Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Bola Sogade (00:10):
Hello and welcome to CocoaPods, a podcast
of the Birth Center for NaturalDeliveries Foundation.
My name is Dr Bola Sogade.
I'm a women's health specialist.
On this podcast we talk aboutall the issues relating to
women's health and identify theproblems and talk about ways in
(00:31):
which we can mitigate theproblems.
We have been talking to DrOgugua Osi-Obu.
She is an aging medicinespecialist and a pioneer in
Nigeria.
She lives in the city of Abuja.
I just want to thank you so verymuch for taking the time on a
(00:53):
day that is a public holiday inyour part of the world, just
taking the time off to come andspeak on Coco Pod's podcast, a
podcast that we really believeis impacting women, is changing
lives, is educating.
You know both the patients andthe providers, and you know as
(01:14):
we close.
One more thing is that you knowI want to also encourage the
healthcare providers.
You know, when you see thepatients, to guide them, because
some people they just see thedoctor and they don't even know
what the visit was about.
They don't know theircholesterol level, they don't
(01:35):
know their blood pressure orthey report their blood pressure
as a single number.
You ask what's your bloodpressure?
They say 140, 140.
Okay, okay, there's anothernumber.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (01:46):
So I guess?
Dr Bola Sogade (01:47):
yes, you know.
As we close, I just want you tomake a statement.
Both the young people and theolder people need a kind and
empathetic clinical providerthat is filling the gaps for the
things they don't know thatthey should know about
themselves.
So can you make a closingremark about that please?
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (02:09):
Right.
So, as clinical providers, wemust make the time to talk to
our clients, to our patients,and so our major role really is
to give information.
And in giving information, wemust also give time for
(02:31):
assimilation of the information.
And part of what we even dowhen we examine younger doctors
to become specialists is toactually know about your skills
for communication with yourpatient Really important If your
patient has spent 30 minuteswith you and cannot walk outside
there and say the doctor saidthat I have this, this is the
reason the doctor has given thismedication.
These are some of the sideeffects that can come from this
(02:53):
medication.
You haven't done well for thatpatient.
So we must spend time to makethe patient understand what we
have found to be.
You know the situation for them, why we're running certain
tests and, if the tests are back, make sure you explain the test
results in a way that theyunderstand it and explain
(03:16):
medication or yournon-pharmacological therapies
that you're recommending andwhat side effects to expect from
the medication, so that theydon't go out and they're looking
for another doctor to explainall of this.
I have friends who call me andsay oh, yeah, I saw the doctor
today.
Oh, I said well, what did thedoctor say?
(03:37):
Well, I didn't reallyunderstand it.
So, yes, paula, you're right.
We as care providers must takethat extra time to make sure
that our patients understandthey're on the same page with us
.
Sometimes we assume that theyknow as much as we do not
(04:04):
download the information to themin a format that is simple,
easy to understand and even theycan reproduce.
So one way to ensure thatthey've actually assimilated all
that you've told them is tomake them okay.
So what have I just said?
What have we just decided we'regoing to do?
(04:24):
Okay, so what have I just said?
What have we just decided we'regoing to do?
And you're saying we have bothagreed making them members of
the team decision-making team.
This is what we're deciding onand this is also why you don't
give a recommendation and thepatient is not quite comfortable
or not motivated to do it.
You need to make anotherrecommendation, and you wouldn't
know that unless you'veactually asked for feedback on
(04:47):
okay, we've discussed, say, a, b, c, d.
What do you understand?
What is it we both agree thatwe should be doing for you in
this situation and it takes time, but you have better quality
clientele who are happierleaving you when you take that
extra time to explain things tothem and very likely to bring
(05:11):
more people your way because ofhow you have made them feel that
you're working that journey ofill health with them.
Dr Bola Sogade (05:21):
Now we look at some of the highlights from this
outgoing series.
We gained valuable insightsfrom Dr Ogugua Osiyogu from
Abuja, nigeria, an expert inaging.
We explore the fascinatingjourney of actually growing to
an old age with vitality.
(05:41):
We uncover the secrets behindlongevity like that of the
Icaria's inhabitants.
Icaria is home to a remarkablepopulation who enjoy some of the
longest lifespans in the world.
We explored how lifestylerichness in social connections,
(06:05):
a good, healthy diet, forexample, a Mediterranean diet
regular physical activity and arelaxed approach to life
contribute to remarkable healthand happiness, like of the
Icarians, places where they'resaid to forget how to die
(06:26):
because life expectancy is inthe 90s.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (06:30):
So we're definitely living longer
globally.
We know that the average lifeexpectancy globally is in the
70s.
The regions of the world thatactually have the highest
average life expectancy arecalled the blue zones of the
world Okinawa in Japan, where ifyou're born today in Okinawa,
(06:51):
you're expected to live into the80s.
Places like Ikaria in Greece,where they're said to forget how
to die because their lifeexpectancy is in the 90s.
So generally in this part ofthe world, because of the youth
bold, you find that older peopleare thought to have had their
lives and so make way for theyounger ones.
(07:15):
But as long as you're alive,you have rights Rights to good
health care, rights to anopportunity for lifelong
learning, rights for opportunityfor employment if you have the
desire for it, and these are allthe things that are embedded in
the WHO's decade of healthyaging.
(07:36):
So part of the advocacy that Ido with other stakeholders is,
you know, shining light on thisaging issues to ensure that we
curb what we describe as ageism,which is a prejudice or
discrimination purely based onage.
Oh, you're 85, you've had alife.
We don't need to see you, wedon't need to hear you, we don't
(07:58):
need to make any plans for you.
And this ageism cuts acrosssectors.
It's institutional, it's therein the family.
Even the older personsthemselves have prejudice
against themselves.
They feel oh, you know what,I'm old, you don't need to have
any plans for me, spend moneythat you could spend on me, on
(08:19):
my grandchildren.
So one is to ensure that youdon't take away their autonomy
for decision making.
So when we constantly makedecisions for them, you're
reminding them that, oh, they'reactually getting irrelevant
because they have become old.
We must really listen to them.
(08:42):
Don't always say, oh well, youtold me about this yesterday,
you're repeating it again today.
Just listen.
When you don't have the energyto deal with the concerns that
they're expressing, let someoneelse step in.
So those are the things that wehope to change the mindset
towards aging and towards olderpeople, to ensure that we give
(09:03):
them a platform to continue tolive healthy and contribute to
society.
By the way, so I makeappearances on television and
radio to talk about these agingissues.
Dr Bola Sogade (09:17):
While aging is inevitable, there are steps that
one can take to age gracefullyand maintain a healthy and
vibrant lifestyle.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (09:30):
But I guess, as humans, changing behavior is
difficult.
So there are six pillars thatwe look at for healthy lifestyle
or, if you want to call it,healthy aging.
One of them is ensuring that weeat healthy, mostly plant-based
(09:51):
, very low calories from meat.
Second pillar is adequate,restorative sleep.
Sleep deprivation has beenlinked to things like dementia,
which will give you, even if youdon't die, you'll have very
poor quality life.
We expect that people get sevento eight hours of restful sleep
(10:16):
per night.
The other pillar socialconnection, so meaningful social
connection where you have afeeling of relevance.
You have a lot of joy whenyou're in the midst of these
people, and so you keep lookingforward to being able to engage
with this group, people who havethe same values as you as you
(10:37):
live in life.
The other pillar is being ableto avoid toxins like excessive
alcohol, tobacco, so if youdevelop chymecyte, if you
develop a heart attack or stroke, those conditions could shorten
your life.
The other pillar is being ableto identify conditions early, so
(10:59):
prevention and early detection,and that means we have to get
into the habit of an annualcheck.
But those well checks arereally important to pick up the
numbers.
We talk about people knowingtheir numbers.
So that's another major thing.
As we're aging, we know ournumbers.
And what are these numbers?
(11:19):
Numbers for blood pressure,numbers for blood sugar, numbers
for cholesterol, your body massindex, and when we come to
specifics like the prostatespecific antigen, the PSA for
men, for us to be able to detectprostate cancer early.
And it also, you know, we haveage and gender appropriate
(11:43):
screenings that must be doneColonoscopy, for instance, to
detect colon cancer.
Guidelines are now recommendingthat we start screening from 45
.
And for those who have familymembers who have had colon
cancer, that they startscreening 10 years earlier than
(12:04):
when their loved one or theirsignificant family member
actually was diagnosed withcolon cancer.
There's also a mammogram forwomen, pap smear also for the
women.
So it's important that, aswe're going through life, this
age and gender appropriatescreenings are done so that we
can detect any diseaseconditions early and comply with
(12:26):
interventions.
Again back to the human behavior.
There are times when we tellpeople around here that we've
diagnosed you with high bloodpressure and they don't want to
accept it.
And because they come to noacceptance, they don't follow up
with recommendations, theydon't follow up with clinic
(12:46):
visits, they don't follow upwith treatment and unfortunately
for some, they end up at theemergency room with
complications.
So that acceptance and thediscipline to follow up really
important because then we canmanage those conditions and you
don't have to develop thecomplications that could shorten
(13:08):
your life from them.
Six exercise very important.
Physical activity has beenfound to be maybe the most
important lifestyle attribute.
You know that we must allimbibe across the life course,
so we're all expected to get atleast 150 minutes of quick paced
(13:33):
walk so you don't really haveto, you know, go and spend time
or money in a gym.
Again, this also could be donein a social group, so you're
walking with your group of fouror five or six, whatever, and
this translates to about 30minutes of walking minimum five
times a week.
The other target for physicalactivity is 10,000 steps a day,
(13:59):
and what that means is that wecan't be sitting for a prolonged
period of time.
What I tend to advise myclients to do is after every
hour to make sure they get upand move.
And really, when people cantake ownership, we come to
decision making with the clientand their family members.
(14:22):
We do not impose anything, sowe make them understand why this
is important, have them takeownership.
But I guess also they must bemotivated and that motivation
might require you counselingover and over and over and
having them also get socialsupport, so family support that
(14:45):
is meaningful If one is able tofollow this lifestyle, practices
or habit across a life course,because aging doesn't begin at
60.
We know that it begins frombirth, but actually now newer
evidence is showing us that itbegins from conception.
(15:07):
So the milieu, the environmentin which the fetus grows, it's
very important.
The environment in which thefetus grows is very important.
If the mother is an alcoholic,being battered by, you know, a
husband who engages in domesticviolence, the mother is a
chronic smoker, all of thataffect that environment in which
the fetus grows and such peoplehave been said not to age, as
(15:32):
well as those who grow in anenvironment that is free of all
of those negative conditions.
So it's a life cost approachfor us to actually live long and
healthy, we have to imbibethose attributes.
So children must haveappropriate vaccination.
(15:52):
So children must haveappropriate vaccination.
They must be prevented fromthose, any life diseases that
could shorten their lives.
The adolescents must also haveappropriate education on
prevention of unnecessarypregnancies that can affect, you
know, not just physically butpsychologically.
Not just physically butpsychologically.
(16:14):
And you know, such a young girldoes not grow up free of
psychological burden, because weknow health is not just
physical but it's social, it'spsychological.
So it's a life course approach.
Do you live in an environmentthat is free of violence and the
wars?
We know I mean, if we look atthe world today, there's a lot
of displacement from the wars.
(16:34):
We know I mean, if we look atthe world today, there's a lot
of displacement from the warsand that brings on a lot of
psychological issues, lots ofsocial issues.
People are now dependent on thestate or others for their
livelihood and those are some ofthe things that also affect how
this individual's age goingforward.
Dr Bola Sogade (16:52):
So even before we are born, we are aged.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (16:56):
Sometimes young people feel they're going
to remain young forever and thenthey have the luxury to take
risks.
But those risks can actually bethe reason why you're not
healthy at an older age.
Yes, because on the socialmedia, in fact, that's something
that is risky for older people,because we've seen older people
(17:17):
being defrauded financiallyfrom the social media connection
.
So it's often not so meaningfulto just sit there, because then
you are at risk of being preyedon by some of the cyber crime
fraudsters.
So we need you to be in thespace with other people.
(17:43):
It encourages brain taskingexercises you might be playing
Sudoku.
It encourages so many otherpillars.
It encourages so many otherpillars.
So the social connection istied to so many of the other
lifestyle habits that are reallystrong pillars for healthy
aging.
Part of a big umbrellaphysiological process in aging
(18:09):
is inflammation.
In aging it's inflammation.
So when we look at all of thechronic medical conditions that
we see there's a recurringprocess and that's that there is
excessive inflammation.
So and we do describe aphenomenon called inflammation
(18:30):
aging.
So when you look at olderpeople and look at the level of
inflammatory markers, you havehigher levels in older people
compared to younger people.
So it tells us that with agingwe have a lot of inflammation
(18:53):
going on, and so withinflammation we have also an
accumulation of called senescentcells, or cells that are really
now no more able to replicateto have good function.
So they accumulate and soreduce function where they have
accumulated.
The senolytics senolytics,meaning, they're supposed to
lyse the senescent cells arebeing put forward as possible
(19:19):
intervention to reduce thesesenescent cells that no more
have function, or rather caneven impair function where they
accumulate during the agingprocess.
Where they accumulate duringthe aging process, one or two of
them was actually initiallybeing used for cancer treatment
(19:40):
and now being further researchedas a possible drug to delay
aging.
The other interventions thatare being looked at being able
to increase some kind of geneticreprogramming that can increase
the level of more youthfulcells and reduce the number of
(20:03):
cells that have aged, and you'reable to then rejuvenate younger
cells that can give more, soalmost going back to more useful
function.
So skin would not wrinkle asmuch.
You have cells, you have becomea little stronger as a pump
Joint, degeneration is regressedand people don't have to deal
(20:28):
with aches and pains as they age.
All those age-related chronicdisease conditions diabetes,
hypertension, dyslipidemia,osteoarthritis and all that.
If we imbibe the healthylifestyle across the life course
, we should actually be able toprevent the development of those
(20:49):
conditions.
It's possible for us toactually live without these
conditions as long as we canimbibe the healthy lifestyle
habits.
They pace themselves.
There's no undue stress.
I think that was the last pillarthat I missed out, that we must
pace and get into a place ofmeditation or taking a break.
(21:15):
I know a lot of people justprefer let me just take a pill
to live longer.
Let me take a pill to theattitude we also put forward.
It's all about putting up apositive attitude and that comes
also with certain practices.
So spirituality is anotherpillar that has been linked to
(21:41):
healthy lifestyle, longevity andI guess that helps us to deal
with the stresses of life.
If you can unburden to a higherbeing that you believe in, you
know what I have.
I have these issues, but I knowI can't deal with it now.
You know and you say a prayer,believe that that's going to
(22:04):
help.
It is a way of relieving one ofundue anxiety and and being
able to maintain a stable stateof mental health, because with
increase in age, the losses thatpeople go through, put them at
risk of some anxiety.
(22:26):
Am I going to be next?
My spouse has died, my friendshave died, I don't have the
income that I used to have, somehave even lost offsprings.
All that contributes to a lotof anxiety and some even become
depressed and can go intosuicidal ideation.
(22:47):
But yes, it's promising thatwith ongoing research, we might
actually be able to have peoplelive longer without disability.
And it's all about lifestyle.
Dr Bola Sogade (23:03):
Wow.
We want to thank Dr Ogugua forcoming to CocoaPods podcast.
Thank you so much for your timeand the knowledge you've
imparted to us today.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (23:16):
Thank, you very much, Bola, for having me.
I really enjoyed this.
Hello and welcome to CocoaPods, a podcast
of the Birth Center for NaturalDeliveries Foundation.
My name is Dr Bola Sogade.
I'm a women's health specialist.
On this podcast we talk aboutall the issues relating to
women's health and identify theproblems and talk about ways in
(00:31):
which we can mitigate theproblems.
We have been talking to DrOgugua Osi-Obu.
She is an aging medicinespecialist and a pioneer in
Nigeria.
She lives in the city of Abuja.
I just want to thank you so verymuch for taking the time on a
(00:53):
day that is a public holiday inyour part of the world, just
taking the time off to come andspeak on Coco Pod's podcast, a
podcast that we really believeis impacting women, is changing
lives, is educating.
You know both the patients andthe providers, and you know as
(01:14):
we close.
One more thing is that you knowI want to also encourage the
healthcare providers.
You know, when you see thepatients, to guide them, because
some people they just see thedoctor and they don't even know
what the visit was about.
They don't know theircholesterol level, they don't
(01:35):
know their blood pressure orthey report their blood pressure
as a single number.
You ask what's your bloodpressure?
They say 140, 140.
Okay, okay, there's anothernumber.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (01:46):
So I guess?
Dr Bola Sogade (01:47):
yes, you know.
As we close, I just want you tomake a statement.
Both the young people and theolder people need a kind and
empathetic clinical providerthat is filling the gaps for the
things they don't know thatthey should know about
themselves.
So can you make a closingremark about that please?
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (02:09):
Right.
So, as clinical providers, wemust make the time to talk to
our clients, to our patients,and so our major role really is
to give information.
And in giving information, wemust also give time for
(02:31):
assimilation of the information.
And part of what we even dowhen we examine younger doctors
to become specialists is toactually know about your skills
for communication with yourpatient Really important If your
patient has spent 30 minuteswith you and cannot walk outside
there and say the doctor saidthat I have this, this is the
reason the doctor has given thismedication.
These are some of the sideeffects that can come from this
(02:53):
medication.
You haven't done well for thatpatient.
So we must spend time to makethe patient understand what we
have found to be.
You know the situation for them, why we're running certain
tests and, if the tests are back, make sure you explain the test
results in a way that theyunderstand it and explain
(03:16):
medication or yournon-pharmacological therapies
that you're recommending andwhat side effects to expect from
the medication, so that theydon't go out and they're looking
for another doctor to explainall of this.
I have friends who call me andsay oh, yeah, I saw the doctor
today.
Oh, I said well, what did thedoctor say?
(03:37):
Well, I didn't reallyunderstand it.
So, yes, paula, you're right.
We as care providers must takethat extra time to make sure
that our patients understandthey're on the same page with us
.
Sometimes we assume that theyknow as much as we do not
(04:04):
download the information to themin a format that is simple,
easy to understand and even theycan reproduce.
So one way to ensure thatthey've actually assimilated all
that you've told them is tomake them okay.
So what have I just said?
What have we just decided we'regoing to do?
(04:24):
Okay, so what have I just said?
What have we just decided we'regoing to do?
And you're saying we have bothagreed making them members of
the team decision-making team.
This is what we're deciding onand this is also why you don't
give a recommendation and thepatient is not quite comfortable
or not motivated to do it.
You need to make anotherrecommendation, and you wouldn't
know that unless you'veactually asked for feedback on
(04:47):
okay, we've discussed, say, a, b, c, d.
What do you understand?
What is it we both agree thatwe should be doing for you in
this situation and it takes time, but you have better quality
clientele who are happierleaving you when you take that
extra time to explain things tothem and very likely to bring
(05:11):
more people your way because ofhow you have made them feel that
you're working that journey ofill health with them.
Dr Bola Sogade (05:21):
Now we look at some of the highlights from this
outgoing series.
We gained valuable insightsfrom Dr Ogugua Osiyogu from
Abuja, nigeria, an expert inaging.
We explore the fascinatingjourney of actually growing to
an old age with vitality.
(05:41):
We uncover the secrets behindlongevity like that of the
Icaria's inhabitants.
Icaria is home to a remarkablepopulation who enjoy some of the
longest lifespans in the world.
We explored how lifestylerichness in social connections,
(06:05):
a good, healthy diet, forexample, a Mediterranean diet
regular physical activity and arelaxed approach to life
contribute to remarkable healthand happiness, like of the
Icarians, places where they'resaid to forget how to die
(06:26):
because life expectancy is inthe 90s.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (06:30):
So we're definitely living longer
globally.
We know that the average lifeexpectancy globally is in the
70s.
The regions of the world thatactually have the highest
average life expectancy arecalled the blue zones of the
world Okinawa in Japan, where ifyou're born today in Okinawa,
(06:51):
you're expected to live into the80s.
Places like Ikaria in Greece,where they're said to forget how
to die because their lifeexpectancy is in the 90s.
So generally in this part ofthe world, because of the youth
bold, you find that older peopleare thought to have had their
lives and so make way for theyounger ones.
(07:15):
But as long as you're alive,you have rights Rights to good
health care, rights to anopportunity for lifelong
learning, rights for opportunityfor employment if you have the
desire for it, and these are allthe things that are embedded in
the WHO's decade of healthyaging.
(07:36):
So part of the advocacy that Ido with other stakeholders is,
you know, shining light on thisaging issues to ensure that we
curb what we describe as ageism,which is a prejudice or
discrimination purely based onage.
Oh, you're 85, you've had alife.
We don't need to see you, wedon't need to hear you, we don't
(07:58):
need to make any plans for you.
And this ageism cuts acrosssectors.
It's institutional, it's therein the family.
Even the older personsthemselves have prejudice
against themselves.
They feel oh, you know what,I'm old, you don't need to have
any plans for me, spend moneythat you could spend on me, on
(08:19):
my grandchildren.
So one is to ensure that youdon't take away their autonomy
for decision making.
So when we constantly makedecisions for them, you're
reminding them that, oh, they'reactually getting irrelevant
because they have become old.
We must really listen to them.
(08:42):
Don't always say, oh well, youtold me about this yesterday,
you're repeating it again today.
Just listen.
When you don't have the energyto deal with the concerns that
they're expressing, let someoneelse step in.
So those are the things that wehope to change the mindset
towards aging and towards olderpeople, to ensure that we give
(09:03):
them a platform to continue tolive healthy and contribute to
society.
By the way, so I makeappearances on television and
radio to talk about these agingissues.
Dr Bola Sogade (09:17):
While aging is inevitable, there are steps that
one can take to age gracefullyand maintain a healthy and
vibrant lifestyle.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (09:30):
But I guess, as humans, changing behavior is
difficult.
So there are six pillars thatwe look at for healthy lifestyle
or, if you want to call it,healthy aging.
One of them is ensuring that weeat healthy, mostly plant-based
(09:51):
, very low calories from meat.
Second pillar is adequate,restorative sleep.
Sleep deprivation has beenlinked to things like dementia,
which will give you, even if youdon't die, you'll have very
poor quality life.
We expect that people get sevento eight hours of restful sleep
(10:16):
per night.
The other pillar socialconnection, so meaningful social
connection where you have afeeling of relevance.
You have a lot of joy whenyou're in the midst of these
people, and so you keep lookingforward to being able to engage
with this group, people who havethe same values as you as you
(10:37):
live in life.
The other pillar is being ableto avoid toxins like excessive
alcohol, tobacco, so if youdevelop chymecyte, if you
develop a heart attack or stroke, those conditions could shorten
your life.
The other pillar is being ableto identify conditions early, so
(10:59):
prevention and early detection,and that means we have to get
into the habit of an annualcheck.
But those well checks arereally important to pick up the
numbers.
We talk about people knowingtheir numbers.
So that's another major thing.
As we're aging, we know ournumbers.
And what are these numbers?
(11:19):
Numbers for blood pressure,numbers for blood sugar, numbers
for cholesterol, your body massindex, and when we come to
specifics like the prostatespecific antigen, the PSA for
men, for us to be able to detectprostate cancer early.
And it also, you know, we haveage and gender appropriate
(11:43):
screenings that must be doneColonoscopy, for instance, to
detect colon cancer.
Guidelines are now recommendingthat we start screening from 45
.
And for those who have familymembers who have had colon
cancer, that they startscreening 10 years earlier than
(12:04):
when their loved one or theirsignificant family member
actually was diagnosed withcolon cancer.
There's also a mammogram forwomen, pap smear also for the
women.
So it's important that, aswe're going through life, this
age and gender appropriatescreenings are done so that we
can detect any diseaseconditions early and comply with
(12:26):
interventions.
Again back to the human behavior.
There are times when we tellpeople around here that we've
diagnosed you with high bloodpressure and they don't want to
accept it.
And because they come to noacceptance, they don't follow up
with recommendations, theydon't follow up with clinic
(12:46):
visits, they don't follow upwith treatment and unfortunately
for some, they end up at theemergency room with
complications.
So that acceptance and thediscipline to follow up really
important because then we canmanage those conditions and you
don't have to develop thecomplications that could shorten
(13:08):
your life from them.
Six exercise very important.
Physical activity has beenfound to be maybe the most
important lifestyle attribute.
You know that we must allimbibe across the life course,
so we're all expected to get atleast 150 minutes of quick paced
(13:33):
walk so you don't really haveto, you know, go and spend time
or money in a gym.
Again, this also could be donein a social group, so you're
walking with your group of fouror five or six, whatever, and
this translates to about 30minutes of walking minimum five
times a week.
The other target for physicalactivity is 10,000 steps a day,
(13:59):
and what that means is that wecan't be sitting for a prolonged
period of time.
What I tend to advise myclients to do is after every
hour to make sure they get upand move.
And really, when people cantake ownership, we come to
decision making with the clientand their family members.
(14:22):
We do not impose anything, sowe make them understand why this
is important, have them takeownership.
But I guess also they must bemotivated and that motivation
might require you counselingover and over and over and
having them also get socialsupport, so family support that
(14:45):
is meaningful If one is able tofollow this lifestyle, practices
or habit across a life course,because aging doesn't begin at
60.
We know that it begins frombirth, but actually now newer
evidence is showing us that itbegins from conception.
(15:07):
So the milieu, the environmentin which the fetus grows, it's
very important.
The environment in which thefetus grows is very important.
If the mother is an alcoholic,being battered by, you know, a
husband who engages in domesticviolence, the mother is a
chronic smoker, all of thataffect that environment in which
the fetus grows and such peoplehave been said not to age, as
(15:32):
well as those who grow in anenvironment that is free of all
of those negative conditions.
So it's a life cost approachfor us to actually live long and
healthy, we have to imbibethose attributes.
So children must haveappropriate vaccination.
(15:52):
So children must haveappropriate vaccination.
They must be prevented fromthose, any life diseases that
could shorten their lives.
The adolescents must also haveappropriate education on
prevention of unnecessarypregnancies that can affect, you
know, not just physically butpsychologically.
Not just physically butpsychologically.
(16:14):
And you know, such a young girldoes not grow up free of
psychological burden, because weknow health is not just
physical but it's social, it'spsychological.
So it's a life course approach.
Do you live in an environmentthat is free of violence and the
wars?
We know I mean, if we look atthe world today, there's a lot
of displacement from the wars.
(16:34):
We know I mean, if we look atthe world today, there's a lot
of displacement from the warsand that brings on a lot of
psychological issues, lots ofsocial issues.
People are now dependent on thestate or others for their
livelihood and those are some ofthe things that also affect how
this individual's age goingforward.
Dr Bola Sogade (16:52):
So even before we are born, we are aged.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (16:56):
Sometimes young people feel they're going
to remain young forever and thenthey have the luxury to take
risks.
But those risks can actually bethe reason why you're not
healthy at an older age.
Yes, because on the socialmedia, in fact, that's something
that is risky for older people,because we've seen older people
(17:17):
being defrauded financiallyfrom the social media connection
.
So it's often not so meaningfulto just sit there, because then
you are at risk of being preyedon by some of the cyber crime
fraudsters.
So we need you to be in thespace with other people.
(17:43):
It encourages brain taskingexercises you might be playing
Sudoku.
It encourages so many otherpillars.
It encourages so many otherpillars.
So the social connection istied to so many of the other
lifestyle habits that are reallystrong pillars for healthy
aging.
Part of a big umbrellaphysiological process in aging
(18:09):
is inflammation.
In aging it's inflammation.
So when we look at all of thechronic medical conditions that
we see there's a recurringprocess and that's that there is
excessive inflammation.
So and we do describe aphenomenon called inflammation
(18:30):
aging.
So when you look at olderpeople and look at the level of
inflammatory markers, you havehigher levels in older people
compared to younger people.
So it tells us that with agingwe have a lot of inflammation
(18:53):
going on, and so withinflammation we have also an
accumulation of called senescentcells, or cells that are really
now no more able to replicateto have good function.
So they accumulate and soreduce function where they have
accumulated.
The senolytics senolytics,meaning, they're supposed to
lyse the senescent cells arebeing put forward as possible
(19:19):
intervention to reduce thesesenescent cells that no more
have function, or rather caneven impair function where they
accumulate during the agingprocess.
Where they accumulate duringthe aging process, one or two of
them was actually initiallybeing used for cancer treatment
(19:40):
and now being further researchedas a possible drug to delay
aging.
The other interventions thatare being looked at being able
to increase some kind of geneticreprogramming that can increase
the level of more youthfulcells and reduce the number of
(20:03):
cells that have aged, and you'reable to then rejuvenate younger
cells that can give more, soalmost going back to more useful
function.
So skin would not wrinkle asmuch.
You have cells, you have becomea little stronger as a pump
Joint, degeneration is regressedand people don't have to deal
(20:28):
with aches and pains as they age.
All those age-related chronicdisease conditions diabetes,
hypertension, dyslipidemia,osteoarthritis and all that.
If we imbibe the healthylifestyle across the life course
, we should actually be able toprevent the development of those
(20:49):
conditions.
It's possible for us toactually live without these
conditions as long as we canimbibe the healthy lifestyle
habits.
They pace themselves.
There's no undue stress.
I think that was the last pillarthat I missed out, that we must
pace and get into a place ofmeditation or taking a break.
(21:15):
I know a lot of people justprefer let me just take a pill
to live longer.
Let me take a pill to theattitude we also put forward.
It's all about putting up apositive attitude and that comes
also with certain practices.
So spirituality is anotherpillar that has been linked to
(21:41):
healthy lifestyle, longevity andI guess that helps us to deal
with the stresses of life.
If you can unburden to a higherbeing that you believe in, you
know what I have.
I have these issues, but I knowI can't deal with it now.
You know and you say a prayer,believe that that's going to
(22:04):
help.
It is a way of relieving one ofundue anxiety and and being
able to maintain a stable stateof mental health, because with
increase in age, the losses thatpeople go through, put them at
risk of some anxiety.
(22:26):
Am I going to be next?
My spouse has died, my friendshave died, I don't have the
income that I used to have, somehave even lost offsprings.
All that contributes to a lotof anxiety and some even become
depressed and can go intosuicidal ideation.
(22:47):
But yes, it's promising thatwith ongoing research, we might
actually be able to have peoplelive longer without disability.
And it's all about lifestyle.
Dr Bola Sogade (23:03):
Wow.
We want to thank Dr Ogugua forcoming to CocoaPods podcast.
Thank you so much for your timeand the knowledge you've
imparted to us today.
Dr Osi Ogbu Ogugua (23:16):
Thank, you very much, Bola, for having me.
I really enjoyed this.
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