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7 Smart Ways to Age Well

Published

3 months ago

July 7, 2017

One of the most inevitable things in life is the fact that we must all grow old. However, it is an open secret that some people age better than others.
We often come across individuals in their sixties and seventies who appear to have found a way to defy or slow down the ageing process. This is often a result of specific and disciplined lifestyle choices which you can also adopt today.
The following tips from the Research and Development Unit of Yudala, Nigeria’s fastest growing e-commerce outfit, will help you age better.

Exercise
Exercise has always been seen as one of the means to promote a healthy lifestyle. But that is not all. Regular exercise has also been identified as one of the major reasons why some people not only live longer but also thrive in later life.
Indeed, you can slow down the aging process with as little as 15 minutes a day of moderate physical activity.
According to research from Harvard Health, while you can’t completely stop aging, staying active can slow down the destructive processes that lead to disease and immobility, which diminish your quality of life.
In other words, regular exercise may be able to offset disease-causing cellular damage and slow the ageing process.

Keep the brain active
In addition to physical activity, keeping your brain active can go a long way to slow down mental decline often associated with ageing.
Various studies show that engaging in mentally-stimulating activities on a regular basis can slow or even reverse the age-related mental deterioration.
Examples of some simple mentally engaging activities you can try your hands are include eating your food with the other hand, listening to an unfamiliar kind of music, learning to play a new musical instrument, sport, skill or dance pattern; researching an unfamiliar subject, playing the crossword puzzle in a newspaper, adding new words to your vocabulary, counting backwards from one million, etc.
The interesting bit is that it is never too late to start these activities as older adults and septuagenarians too have been known to show some remarkable improvements upon adoption of these habits.

Get some sunshine
Due to upgrades in social status, many adults often go for days on end without soaking up some sunshine.
It is common these days for many to move from air-conditioned homes into air-conditioned vehicles and to air-conditioned offices, with the cycle repeated at close of work for weeks.
Despite the comfort such a lifestyle seemingly holds, there are detrimental effects which worsen the process of ageing.
Apart from helping maintain the immune system, Vitamin D regulates cellular growth, promotes calcium absorption and helps the body fight cancer, diabetes and bone diseases – ailments that show up more often as one gets older.
While the medically recommended daily dose of Vitamin D can be admittedly sourced from a number of foods including eggs and fatty fish, among others; spending a few minutes in the sun especially in the hours before 10am can do a lot of good.
According to the World Health Organization, getting anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of sunlight on your arms, hands, and face two to three times a week is enough to enjoy the vitamin D-boosting benefits of sun.
Adding a little sunshine to your life by getting outside more can relieve anxiety and reduce depression, thereby helping you cope better with ageing.

Watch your diet (and the quantity)
Diet and nutrition are important factors which determine how well your body ages. Latest studies indicate that a low-glycemic diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein is best suited to this purpose.
Furthermore, research from Harvard Medical School identify the Mediterranean diet: a modern nutritional recommendation based on the dietary patterns of Greece, Southern Italy, France and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s as a good choice.
The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, low consumption of non-fish meat products and cutting back on salt.
In addition to helping the body age better, research indicates that Omega-3 fatty acids-rich foods including flaxseed oil, fish oil, chia seeds, walnuts, fish roe (eggs), fatty fish, seafood, soybeans, and spinach produce essential oils which makes the skin look younger.
Closely related to the foregoing, it is important to cut down on overeating as this has been linked to various ailments which ultimately lead to a shorter life span.

Build and maintain social relationships
Social relationships have a direct link to helping individuals live and age better. Several studies have established that people who build and maintain stronger personal relationships live longer than those with poor relationships.
According to a study published in a medical journal PLos Medicine, persons with strong social ties were shown to have a 50 percent higher chance of living longer than those with poor or insufficient relationships.
In addition, the Harvard Ageing Study indicates that close relationships have a greater impact on quality of life than money, fame, Intelligence Quotient or social class.
The study also shows that relationships have the capacity to delay mental and physical decline in addition to being strong predictors of long and happy lives.
One more reason for you to start working on your social relationships today: individuals with poor relationships often suffer from chronic health conditions such as depression, insomnia, dementia, cardiovascular disease and diminished immune response, among others.

Get enough sleep
The benefits of proper, restful sleep cannot be over-emphasized. Research shows that during sleep, your body releases a growth hormone that helps restore collagen and elastin, the essential building blocks of young, healthy skin.
Owing to the daily hassles of making ends meet in our increasingly fast-paced society, many often treat sleep as a luxury.
If you fall into this category, then you are robbing your body of a very important regenerative factor which helps slow down the wear and tear associated with ageing.
Apart from adversely affecting the brain’s functions and speeding up the ageing process, studies show that insufficient sleep also predisposes you to a higher risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
To enjoy the benefits of sleep and its direct impact in helping you age better, it is advised that sleep should span seven to nine hours each night.
Furthermore, short naps of up to 15 minutes in the course of the day can help improve memory and aid the body recover from the effects of a poor night’s sleep.

Stay positive
A positive attitude goes a long way in serving as an anti-ageing factor. Individuals with a positive outlook on life and what the future holds have been known to cope better with the inevitable onset of ageing, thereby prolonging their longevity.
This optimism also helps significantly when health problems set in, with a positive-minded outlook often making the difference between life and death for such individuals.
Considerable research has also shown how optimism and a positive outlook affects overall health and longevity.
According to Harvard Health, an optimistic outlook early in life can predict better health and a lower rate of death during follow-up periods of 15 to 40 years.
Measuring optimism You are what you think you are when it comes to aging.
Seniors who think of age as a means to wisdom and overall satisfaction are more than 40 percent more likely to recover from a disability than those who see aging as synonymous with helplessness or uselessness, according to The Journal of the American Medical Association.

News

EU–Nigeria Forum to Explore Investment Opportunities in ICT, Agribusiness

Published

3 days ago

September 22, 2017

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(L-r): Ibi Ikpoki, economic officer, EU Delegate; Filippo Amato, trade counselor and head of Trade and Economic section, EU Delegate to Nigeria & ECOWAS; Juan Juse Otamendi, economic and commercial counselor, Embassy of Spain at the EU Nigeria Business Forum pre-event press briefing in Lagos.

The European Union-Nigeria Business Forum will expose attendees to investment opportunities in the information and communication technology (ICT) and agricultural sectors in Nigeria.

During a press conference in Lagos to announce the forthcoming 6th edition of its Forum, scheduled to hold from 5th – 6th of October 2017 at Eko Hotel and Suites, the Group revealed the theme as “Youth as an Engine of Broad-Based Economic Transformation”.

Under the theme, the Forum will beam light on possibilities in the fields, essentially, the role of youths in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Agribusiness, which are key sectors to support the growth and diversification of the Nigeria economy.

The Forum will also have specific sessions designed to address agribusiness and developing value chains as well as gender equality and economic empowerment of women as a key factor to sustainable development.

The forum will be a platform for business leaders and policy makers from the European Union (EU) and Nigeria to explore business openings and how to increase investment , with a view to create more jobs, Particularly in the ICT sector and agriculture.

This 6th EU-Nigeria Business Forum aims to identify the key role of youth in Digital Economy and the potentials of ICT in cross cutting themes with experiences shared from the EU.

To strengthen EU and Nigeria’s business relations through identification of opportunities in the agribusiness space in creating jobs, boosting exports and addressing local food security problems.

This year’s Forum is also aimed to identify the opportunities in addressing local infrastructure challenges and establishing an EU-Nigeria dialogue.

The EU-Nigeria Business Forum will also establish a more enabling environment for the fulfillment of women’s right and to achieve real and tangible improvements in gender equality.

They also seek to identify aspirations of young people, youth organizations and networks in view of the upcoming Africa-EU summit.

Filippo Amato, head of trade and economic section, European Union delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said that “EU-Nigeria trade remains strong, standing at 19.9 billion Euros in 2016, In spite of the significant effect of recession on Nigeria’s trade.

“EU remains the top destination for oil and non-oil exports from Nigeria”, Amato said. European Union-Nigeria Business Forum believes that the success of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) launched by Nigeria in February 2017 depends on active private sector participation, and calls for effective confidence building to attract investors.

They also opined that creating jobs that will stimulate the economy and providing sustainable employment, particularly for young people, is crucial both for the present and future of Nigeria.

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IBM, MTN Deploy IoT Technology to Save Africa’s Rhinos

Published

4 days ago

September 20, 2017

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Ahead of World Rhino Day 2017 this week, IBM; MTN, a leading African telecommunications provider; Wageningen University (WU) in the Netherlands and Prodapt, on Tuesday announced they are harnessing IBM Internet of Things (IoT) technology as part of the MTN Connected Wildlife Solution.

The solution will help predict threats and combat the poaching of endangered rhinos at Welgevonden Game Reserve in South Africa, with the intent to expand the solution to other reserves in future.

Today South Africa is home to more than 70 percent of the world’s remaining rhino population. Conservationists are battling to protect the dwindling number of these iconic animals that are being killed for their highly-prized horns*.

Over the past decade, more than 7,000 rhinos were killed across the African continent and in 2016, 1,054 were reported killed in South Africa alone.

“One of our primary objectives is to protect wildlife, especially endangered species. We were looking for a solution that would help us better understand possible threats and weed out those coming from poachers so we can react ahead of time and prevent harm to animals,” said Bradley Schroder, chief executive officer of Welgevonden Game Reserve. “This project will be a profound breakthrough in the creation of connected wildlife solutions, a wildlife management concept that aims to harness IoT technology to better manage and protect wildlife and other assets.”

This new predictive capability stems from research performed by Wageningen University. Ranked the best university in the Netherlands for 12 straight years, the university features an animal sciences group focused on research and education related to the health and welfare of animals and people.

According to research conducted on Welgevonden Game Reserve, prey-animals in the wild react in different ways, depending on the type of threat they encounter and the perceived danger from predators such as lion and leopard or the presence of people in the vicinity.

This research has been combined with MTN’s Connected Wildlife Solution which leverages IBM’s IoT technology and the university’s predictive analytics, to create an innovative solution that gives game reserves a powerful new tool in the fight to save endangered species.

Protecting the rhinos begins with fitting collars containing custom sensors onto prey-animals including zebra, wildebeest, eland and impala, which will transmit data about their behavior to the IoT platform.

The data collected from the LoRa sensors is communicated via the LoRa WAN Network Server (LRSC – Long Range Signal & Control) and backhauled over the MTN 3G/4G network.

Through the platform, the solution collects animal location information, movement, direction and average speed of travel, along with other data.

The data is used by Wageningen University to create approximately 20 rule-based patterns based on the animals’ response to threats. As a result, animals such as zebra will act as sentinels with their response patterns becoming an early warning system to protect the rhinos.

The predictive nature of this solution takes away the reliance on game reserve teams to be in the right place at the right time, or to respond to events, such as the distant sound of gunfire; and the teams can take proactive action that keeps rhinos safe.

“Over the years, we have seen that animal tracking technology has been used reactively in game reserves. Welgevonden needed a more proactive solution to take the fight to protect the rhinos further. With the solution designed for Welgevonden, MTN, along with our partners, can better predict and anticipate potential poaching activity. This allows the ranger to take pre-emptive action before any threat happens,” said Mariana Kruger, general manager at MTN Business.

Welgevonden Game Reserve was chosen for its specialist wildlife management expertise, its well-known research and development capabilities as well as its excellent reputation in rhino protection. “Welgevonden is one of the best managed game reserves in the world and we need such skills to ensure the success of a project of this nature,” said Prof Herbert Prins of Wageningen University.

“The Internet of Things is changing the way we live and work, and we are finding new applications for IBM’s IoT technologies in businesses across the spectrum. Now we’re helping curb rhino poaching and preserve endangered species on the African continent.” says Hamilton Ratshefola, country general manager for IBM South Africa. “IBM’s IoT solutions enable businesses to solve industry specific problems and transform their companies and industries.”

MTN is an emerging innovator in the Internet of Things, with hundreds of clients across 22 countries. MTN is building an ecosystem of vertical partners and an ecosystem of over 3 million active M2M connections. Together these connected devices, sensors and systems provide insight whilst solving real business challenges around the continent.

IBM’s IoT technology features powerful cognitive computing capabilities that don’t merely gather and predict but truly understand the patterns and relationships in the massive amounts of data being collected by the sensors in field.

Today, IBM is an established leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) with more than 6,000 client engagements in 170 countries, a growing ecosystem of over 1,400 partners and more 750 IoT patents which together help to draw actionable insight from billions of connected devices, sensors and systems around the world.

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Zinox Continues ‘Future Visions’ Project with GTX Notebook, Kids Legacy Tab Launch

Published

5 days ago

September 19, 2017

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(L-r): Chukwuemeka Agbata, media entrepreneur and founder CFA Tech; Mrs. Ailsa Griffiths, head teacher, St. Saviour’s School; Adebayo Adesina, zonal head of Commercial Banking Division - Island Zone and Deputy General Manager, Access Bank Plc; Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group; Mrs. Bisi Olaleye, ICT Correspondent, The Sun Newspapers, and Mr. Kyle, general manager of Western African Region, Shenzhen Kstar Science & Technology Co. Ltd, along with pupils from invited schools displaying the new Kids Legacy

Zinox Technologies Ltd., Nigerian leading original equipment manufacturing (OEM) in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) space, has officially launched the GTX Notebook and Kids Legacy Tab.

The latest tech products under Zinox’s ‘Future Visions’ roadmap were unveiled at a well-attended event in Lagos on Tuesday September 19th, 2017 hosted simultaneously at the company’s branches in Port Harcourt, Abuja and Ghana via telepresence.

The event, which held at the corporate headquarters of the company in Gbagada, Lagos, had in attendance teachers and students from over 10 schools in Lagos, while students from schools in other locations such as Port Harcourt, Abuja and Ghana also participated in the launch through the telepresence technology deployed.

Further spicing up the event was the band of Southfield Academy which thrilled attendees by playing in tune to the rendition of the national anthem.

Also in attendance were Chief Executives and representatives of partners, dealers and stakeholders in the ICT sector including Jumia, Konga, SLOT, Yudala, Fine Brothers, Digital Direct, Micro Station Communication, SPAR Nigeria, Callus Miller and the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), among others.

Designed in partnership with foreign tech firms – Intel Corp., Ashour Corporation, Tecsync Technology Co. Ltd. and Microsoft; the Kids Legacy Tab and ultra-slim GTX Notebooks are cutting-edge devices from Zinox, both of which have been widely embraced by users and recording huge sales in the market.

Speaking at the event, Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group, disclosed that the products were the outcome of painstaking research targeted at meeting the future needs of a dynamic consumer base, as captured in the company’s Future Visions roadmap.

“The two products being launched today are revolutionary products. They took years to develop and fine-tune and are part of the most recent creations in the Zinox Future Visions. The Zinox Future Visions mandate is to anticipate where the world is headed and be ready with the right products and solutions.

“It is an ambitious project underpinned by research and development that will see the various companies in the Zinox Group diversify into new business areas with products in critical emerging sectors including Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Healthy Living, Core ICT, Internet of Things, Medicine, FMCG, Entertainment and Education, among others.

“Today, technology has become the currency of the 21st Century. We are already in the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, as it is described – a period that will be dominated by new and emerging technologies, some of which are already here with us. Examples are driverless cars, Big Data and drones, among others. As a continent, Africa must prepare for this future or stand the risk of being disrupted. This is what the Zinox Future Visions is all about and we are determined to lead in this race to equip the continent for the future that is already upon us,” he said.

Built to meet the computing needs of a dynamic audience, the ultra-slim GTX Notebook is a powerful tool.

GTX Notebook
Available in two models, GTX 100 and GTX 200; the device runs on Intel Cherry Trail OS with 1.9GHz computing power and a durable 10,000mAh battery which offers users up to 10 hours’ average use.

Boasting a 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage expandable to 120GB, the 14-inch GTX weighs a paltry 1.5kg thus making it a light-weight companion for work, travel and leisure.

The Kids Legacy Tab, on the other hand, is a device which parents and care-givers will find fitting to introduce their children to technology and new vistas of learning. The device is designed as a critical foundational tool targeted at children from the ages of 3 – 13.

Kids Legacy Tab
In addition to a device manager to enable parents monitor content, the tablet is pre-loaded with over 50 educational and fun games and rated as knowledge luxury platform for kids.

Available in red, blue and fuchsia colours, the Wi-Fi enabled Kids Legacy Tab assures 1.2GHz computing power and extended use with a 2500mAh battery.

Both products will complement the new 8-inch Zpad and will see an expansion of the scope of offerings in Zinox’s mobile devices products suite.

The Zpad which offers high speed voice and data services has been widely accepted in the market, a factor that is expected to weigh in favour of the new devices being rolled out.

The new products with global certifications are designed in the company’s long-standing tradition of durability and equipped with surge protectors in consideration of the peculiar power challenges on the continent.

The GTX Notebook and Kids Legacy Tab which have already gone on sale in Africa, Europe and the Middle East are available nationwide at all major online and offline retail stores, with one-year manufacturer’s warranty.