Depression vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com and Inkscape.org

When young Nigerians feel anxious, they have concerns about their education.

When a young Nigerian feels anxious, there is a difficult work-love-life balance to juggle with.

A young Nigerian may be trying to work while going to school which can be a cause of anxiety.

In the last post, I discussed the most accessible study done in Nigeria concerning anxiety. We also talked about bringing cases early to the hospital as a way to get the best results for anxiety.

In this post, I want to talk about how the study was done and build up the study from there.

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a nice day, I am Ebingo Kigigha, a medical doctor and illustrator. I am the main writer hear in Medic Vibes where we keep the STEMsocial community up to date on mental health topics. The topic for this month is Anxiety.

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Anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that causes the symptoms of restlessness, irrational fear, sweating and tachycardia.

It is important to note that anxiety like depression (sadness) can be a normal response to certain occurrences.

To feel sad for example at the passing away of a loved one is expected just like feeling anxious before an exam or the results of a test or before a stage performance.

The disorder called anxiety rises when even an ordinary day can lead to the symptoms mentioned above.

Anxiety is the 9th leading cause worldwide for YLD or years lived with disability.

The causes of anxiety are multifactorial. Neurochemical imbalances have been implicated as a major cause but it has also been found to be hereditary and environmental factor have been found responsible.

The patient may complain of sweating, feeling like vomiting, a tingling sensation on the hands and difficulty breathing as physical symptoms.

The patient may complain of flashbacks or repeated nightmares as psychological symptoms.

As a last group of symptoms, the patient may have abnormal reactions to the environment.

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The study method

Business illustrations by Storyset

This study was done on National Youth Service Corp members in the North Western state (Kebbi).

The National Youth Service Corp is a program for Nigerian graduates less than 30 years old before joining the workforce. The idea is that they are supposed to travel to other parts of the country to experience life there.

This process is self can cause anxiety by itself, especially with the unsafe environment Nigeria has become.

In the study, the graduates were engaged with a questionnaire over 3 weeks. A possible confounder in the study was that some southerners were used in the study. This might have been cancelled out by the fact that the people who were used in the study were old service members.

The study was done on those who visited the clinic on the Youth searches camp. During that time up to 350 people went to the clinic and 250 agreed to participate in the study.

Attached to the questionnaire was a consent form for permission.

The results of the study were very interesting stay tuned to find out.

Tips

Exercises! we have seen last month how exdrcise can be a powerful tool for depression, we already know about its use in weight control. I am here to let you know that exercise is also a wonderful tool for anxiety. Authors suggest a gradual build up of intensity in exercise.

Hive Stories

@oniemaniego talks about the the Super Typhoon Odette 'Rai that didi a lot of damage to the phillipains. This is the second post I have read about this typhoon. I am plad that the both writers were ov even though it cost a lost damage.

He talks about not getting defeated by anxiety in the post and rebuilding out of the destruction that took place.

Check out the post here.

Questions

• How do you think confounders could have been reduced in the studies besidied using older corp members?
• What would be a helpful tip for a friend who is constantly dealing with anxiety?
• What are the physical symptoms of anxiety?

Conclusion

If you haven't thought about exercising, you should consider it notw. It has so many benefits.

As for the study, like I said, stay tuned!!

References

• The prevalence of anxiety symptoms and associated factors among
  Nigerians newly posted for National Youth Service Corps programme
  in North-Western Nigeria.

• Mayo Clinic

• Business illustrations by Storyset