Women naturally have a longer life span than men due to their genetic makeup, Dr Hussaini Munir, a cardiologist with the State House Medical Centre, has said.
Munir said this in a paper entitled; ‘Sudden Death in Athletes’, as part of activities to mark the World Physical Therapy Day in Abuja on Friday.
"Men generally are more exposed to dangers than women, there are more men involved in physical activities than women. So if you follow the statistic, you will discover that men are more in number in terms of dying suddenly during exercise than women.
"Genetically, women have more viral and stress-resistant gene than men, which are resistant to diseases, more resistant to causes of death than men.
"We discover, based on studies that the commonest cause of sudden death is due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; the second one is pulmonary artery heart disease; and all these can easily be seen on simple resting ECG.
"It is not expensive and available in most hospitals and it doesn’t take long and it is non evasive. It does not require any injection or anything.
"Within few seconds the ECG is done and from it a lot of things can be studied and be discovered. Everybody, whether you are a sportsman or whether you are not a sportsman you must subject yourself to an ECG, at least once in a year. ``
The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the day is celebrated on Aug. 8 every year to raise awareness about the crucial contribution the profession makes to keep people well.
The Theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Movement for Health; Fit for the Future’.
Munir said that studies had shown that men were more affected by sudden death than women.
He said that the ‘X ‘gene in women was more resistant to stress and cardiac arrest leading to sudden death than the ‘Y’ gene in men.
Munir, however, advised the public from the age of 12, to do an Electrocardiogram (ECG) at least once a year in order to detect any abnormalities in the heart.
Dr Ogugua Osi-Ogbu, who represented the Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja, said on the sideline of the occasion that routine physical activity helped to increase the life span of an individual.
Osi-Ogbu said that physical activity also helped to limit the risk of non-communicable diseases.
"We know that living a sedentary lifestyle puts you at risk of so many diseases; what we call non-communicable disease like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol.
"So many studies have looked at different groups of people, those who engage in regular routine physical activity and those who do not, and we know that there is a higher prevalence of these non-communicable diseases than those who do not engage in physical activity.
"So, it is really essential that we all routinely participate in physical activity, make every opportunity that comes your way a chance for exercise. So if you need a file from the second floor, don’t use the elevator go up the stairs.
"We talk about knowing your numbers, what is your blood pressure, blood sugar, your body mass index these are all those numbers you must know.
"In addition, if possible how many paces do you take in a day; we talk about taking a 1000 paces in a day. These are measures you can use to check how active you are on a daily basis and we know that routine physical activity translates to better health, better quality of life and eventually longevity.``
She advised physiotherapists to share whatever information learnt from the papers delivered with their colleagues to help to improve the lives of their patients.
Munir said this in a paper entitled; ‘Sudden Death in Athletes’, as part of activities to mark the World Physical Therapy Day in Abuja on Friday.
"Men generally are more exposed to dangers than women, there are more men involved in physical activities than women. So if you follow the statistic, you will discover that men are more in number in terms of dying suddenly during exercise than women.
"Genetically, women have more viral and stress-resistant gene than men, which are resistant to diseases, more resistant to causes of death than men.
"We discover, based on studies that the commonest cause of sudden death is due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; the second one is pulmonary artery heart disease; and all these can easily be seen on simple resting ECG.
"It is not expensive and available in most hospitals and it doesn’t take long and it is non evasive. It does not require any injection or anything.
"Within few seconds the ECG is done and from it a lot of things can be studied and be discovered. Everybody, whether you are a sportsman or whether you are not a sportsman you must subject yourself to an ECG, at least once in a year. ``
The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the day is celebrated on Aug. 8 every year to raise awareness about the crucial contribution the profession makes to keep people well.
The Theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Movement for Health; Fit for the Future’.
Munir said that studies had shown that men were more affected by sudden death than women.
He said that the ‘X ‘gene in women was more resistant to stress and cardiac arrest leading to sudden death than the ‘Y’ gene in men.
Munir, however, advised the public from the age of 12, to do an Electrocardiogram (ECG) at least once a year in order to detect any abnormalities in the heart.
Dr Ogugua Osi-Ogbu, who represented the Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja, said on the sideline of the occasion that routine physical activity helped to increase the life span of an individual.
Osi-Ogbu said that physical activity also helped to limit the risk of non-communicable diseases.
"We know that living a sedentary lifestyle puts you at risk of so many diseases; what we call non-communicable disease like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol.
"So many studies have looked at different groups of people, those who engage in regular routine physical activity and those who do not, and we know that there is a higher prevalence of these non-communicable diseases than those who do not engage in physical activity.
"So, it is really essential that we all routinely participate in physical activity, make every opportunity that comes your way a chance for exercise. So if you need a file from the second floor, don’t use the elevator go up the stairs.
"We talk about knowing your numbers, what is your blood pressure, blood sugar, your body mass index these are all those numbers you must know.
"In addition, if possible how many paces do you take in a day; we talk about taking a 1000 paces in a day. These are measures you can use to check how active you are on a daily basis and we know that routine physical activity translates to better health, better quality of life and eventually longevity.``
She advised physiotherapists to share whatever information learnt from the papers delivered with their colleagues to help to improve the lives of their patients.
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