Dr Jacob Nwachukwu, the Founder of Blood Pressure Control Foundation of Nigeria, on Monday said that working beyond one’s limit to achieve corporate objectives is one of the major causes of untimely deaths.

Nwachukwu said this in Abuja at the opening of a two-day workshop on Executive Stress Management for Management Staff of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), organised by A.I. Global Concept Ltd.

He said that this is because overworking often results in high blood pressure and hypertension, which often trigger sudden death.
Nwachukwu said the changes in life styles in terms of food people were eating also cause high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension and untimely death.

He therefore advised the management staff of TETFUND to avoid stress in their drive to achieve corporate objectives.
“There is general saying that our fathers in olden days did not have hypertension owing to fresh agricultural products they were eating.
“The fact remains that devices to measure it were not there at that time,’’ he said.

Nwachukwu said the foundation’s interaction with patients revealed that many people do not know their blood pressure levels, urging people to do blood test annually for preventive measures.

The Managing Director, A.I. Global Concept Ltd, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, said the workshop was to discuss issues relating to human capacity development in the area of health – such as executive stress management.

“Managing executive stress is a challenge for most corporate organisations.
“Consequently, anxiety and stress management strategies are a very real need for most leaders.

“Nigeria, as a nation, needs to design a comprehensive health care delivery programme that could sustain the good health of its people.
“Such people include members of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary in our three tiers of government as well as in corporate organisations,’’ Abdullahi said.

He further said that these are people who undergo stress in their day to day activities which eventually lead to certain ailments such as hypertension, body pain, gastric or duodenal ulcer, and inability to sleep well and in some cases – heart attack.