Lagos- the city that never sleeps


For years, Lagos has been tagged the nickname “The City that Never Sleeps,” representing its bustling streets full of honking cars and trucks at all hours and vibrant nightlife making home for night crawlers and fun seekers after the hectic day. Today, this is no longer the case as the life in Lagos meant several meaning to several people who dwells and make their livelihood in the city. To some it’s “No man’s land”, while to others it’s a city with great potential where all dreams are fulfilled. Many left their home town, villages and cities and migrate to Lagos with big dreams and a big heart to achieve great.
Studies have shown that average Lagosian rarely has a good sleep at night. Lagosians get just an average of six hours of sleep each night. There are several causes responsible this lack of sleep. Not surprisingly, the main culprit of lack of sleep in these busy cities is the constant presence of noise
 
 
Noise is simply any disturbing and unwanted sound that interferes with wanted sounds. It can be said to be a loud, irritating and unpleasant sound. As cities like Lagos, Abuja, Portharcourt grow in population and infrastructure as a result of continuous influx of people from other smaller cities seeking greener pastures, so does the level of hazardous environmental noise. Construction sites are common sources of noise pollution impacting the daily lives of millions of people across the country and so does an airplane flying overhead, the roar of a truck, the jamming noise of musical instrument from a concert and night clubs.
Noise affects normal activities such as sleep, conversation, fun, concentration and overall health. To name just a few of the more serious health risks, studies have linked noise to high blood pressure, cognitive impairment, and tinnitus (persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears).
Interrupted sleep resulting in awakenings sleep stage changes is the most commonly discussed complaint of noisy environments. As most of us know, lack of sleep can have an adverse impact on overall quality of life. Without getting the recommended seven to nine hours of restorative, restful sleep (for adults 26-64), many of us face side effects including poor daytime performance, cognitive function deterioration, lack of concentration and, of course, overall feelings of fatigue. 
If your plans don’t call for a move from the busy city any time soon, there are steps you can take today to limit your exposure to the disruptive sounds around you.  We shall discuss this in another post. 

Listen resposibly, Protect your hearing.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
For babies, breastfeeding is still best, even if it doesn't make them smarter (though it might)    There are lots of reasons why doctors encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies. Compared with babies who get formula, babies who are breastfed are less likely to die as a result of infections, sudden infant death syndrome or any other reason. The longer a mother nurses — and the longer she does so exclusively — the bigger the benefits, studies show. Another perceived benefit of breastfeeding is the possibility that it boosts a baby’s brain. A clinical trial involving more than 16,000 infants in Belarus who were randomly assigned to get either special support for breastfeeding (based on a program from the World Health Organization and UNICEF) or a hospital’s usual care found that babies in the first group scored an average of 7.5 points higher on a verbal IQ test and 5.9 points higher on overall IQ. Teachers, apparently, could tell the difference – chi...
Read more
Image
NIGERIANS ARE MOST DEPRESSED IN AFRICA, SAYS WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION   DO YOU KNOW HEARING LOSS CAN LEAD TO DEPRESSION? Google Image Health is one of the most precious things to us, our families and friends. Nigerians were once known for being the happiest people on earth even with the poor standard of living in the country, but now it’s totally a different story. Nigerians are now tagged as the most depressed in Africa. This was the latest position of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the mental health status of Nigerians.   Depression is a common and serious mood disorder. Doctors termed it as a major depressive disorder or clinical depression. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.   Recently in Lagos, a medical doctor was reported to have jumped into the lagoon and another gave a report of a brilliant soldier who shot himself after losing a large amount of ...
Read more
Image
Headache? Google to offer better symptom search results Yellow discharge. Scratchy throat. Sore knee. Millions of searches on Google — in fact 1% of all searches — are to look up symptoms such as these.   Yet, too often, diagnosis by Google isn't all that reliable. Google is rolling out the new feature over the next few days in English in the U.S. to make it easier to get a more accurate list of health conditions that could be causing your symptoms. Ask Google about a symptom, say "headache on the side," it will show you a list of related conditions such as migraine, tension headache or sinusitis. Ask about "headache," and you'll get an overview of the health conditions plus information on how to treat the headache and whether you should see a doctor.
Read more