Dead lawyers don’t work

A session on health at the 2017 NBA-SBL business law conference emphasised mental and physical health and wellness as prerequisite for successful legal practice

It may initially sound a bit untoward that a business law conference that sought to address the global evolution of legal practice, the future of the profession, innovative trends and the impact of disruptive technology on the practice of law would dedicate a whole session to discussion on health and wellness. You may just wonder: what’s the connection?
Until you hear Olumide Akpata, chairman, Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), organisers of the conference, say that the SBL actually lost a couple of key members in the first half of the year, including Tare Yeri, a member of the 2017 Conference Planning Committee and chairman, Venues and Accommodation Sub-committee. It is only then you realise that lawyers too are human and can fall sick and, in fact, die. As such, they too need lessons on how to take care of their health.
It was against this backdrop, coupled with an alarming rate of lifestyle and stress-related diseases including depression, that the NBA-SBL dedicated a session at this year’s conference to address issues of health and wellness.
As Olubunmi Fayokun, chairman, 2017 Conference Planning Committee, said at a press briefing earlier to announce the conference, the session on health and wellness was necessitated by the fact that amid long hours, heavy workload and the pursuit of client satisfaction, the Nigerian lawyer’s physical and mental health is increasingly at risk. The session was therefore meant for wellness experts to discuss health risks peculiar to the legal profession and mitigating practices for achieving a balance between the demands of the profession and a healthier life.
Themed ‘Dead Lawyers Don’t Work – Embracing a Lifestyle of Health and Wellness’, the session featured Dr Ladi Awosika, chairman, Total Health Trust Limited, as chair, and Dr Maymuna Kadiri, medical director/psychiatrist-in-chief, Pinnacle Medical Services Ltd, Dr Adeyemi Johnson, founder/medical director, First Cardiology Consultants, Sherese Ijewere, nutrition consultant/CEO, Caribbean Health and Nutrition, and Osaro Eghobamien, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founding partner, Perchstone & Graeys, as panellists.
Firing the opening salvo, Dr Johnson informed that 75 percent of patients he sees with stroke or heart attack could have been prevented and jocularly told lawyers not to think that the law protects them from such illnesses.
“Seventy-five percent of heart attack and stroke is preventable. The most common cause of stroke in Nigeria is young men not taking their blood pressure medications because it affects their sex performance. It is number one cause,” he said.
“True, some of these drugs do have side effects. It is important you communicate with your doctor if you have these side effects, there are over a thousand drugs, we’ll find one that works. Because after you have the stroke, the sex you are interested in is not going to happen. So it is critical please, take you medicine,” he added.
Delving into areas he said are not really his specialty, Dr Johnson offered some tips on cancer. He advised women to screen for breast and cervical cancer as regularly as stipulated, and men to also screen for prostate.
“Once you are above the age of 35 for women, go and see your gynaecologist and get those screenings done as regularly as possible; usually they say once a year. It is critical. For parents who have teenage girls, all those children should get this new HPV vaccine, it prevents cervical cancer,” he said.
“For men, prostate cancer is very common in Nigeria. There is a test called PSA, it is important. Once you are above the age of 40, check you PSA every year. Cancer of the colon can be screened for. Once you above the age of 45 in Nigeria, go for this check,” he said.
On her part, Dr Kadiri said the essence of the session was to remind the audience of those little things they take for granted thinking they are not important but which impact on their health every day.
She explained that mental health is as important, if not more important, as physical health to the wellbeing and urged people to stop confusing mental health/illness with madness as there are various issues of mental health.
“Whatever affects the head affects the whole body. It makes no sense to work hard from January to December only to spend all the proceeds of that hard work on a health challenge,” she said. Quoting statistics, she said that one out every four people globally will have a mental illness in their lifetime and that one out of every five Nigerians is currently depressed, which partly explains why suicide is on the increase.
Dr Kadiri pointed out that when there is economic depression, it is often accompanied by an increase in psychological depression. She listed some of the signs of depression to include experimental withdrawals and sleeping disorder, urging the audience to constantly check their mental stability the same way they go to check for high blood pressure, diabetes, and so on.
“In the corporate world today there is a lot of binge drinking among the people sitting down here, which shows that people stress themselves out Monday to Friday and on Saturday and Sunday they drink to stupor because they want to take away the stress. That is a bad coping strategy,” she said.
On sleeping disorders, she said many people are not able to get seven-nine hours sleep which is the recommended amount of sleep every day, adding, however, that people should study their own patterns and know exactly how many hours of sleep per day gets them refreshed as “you are your own sleeping clock”.
She further encouraged car nap and office nap and encouraged law firms to have a room where people can actually go and get a nap during work hours, which was applauded by the audience.
“In recession there is a lot of downsizing, round-sizing, etc and the few people you have as your employees you want to maximise their potentials and boost productivity. So do everything humanly possible to make them productive in the workplace and having a place where they can rest is very essential, just the way some banks are having crèches and all that. It goes beyond going for bi-annual medical checks, it goes beyond the freebies and welfare packages,” she said.
She also encouraged law firms to embrace the employee assistance programme which is designed to have workplace mental health in the work environment.
“That doesn’t mean that you people are mad, it doesn’t mean you people are going to go mad, it simply means protecting your emotional wellbeing for you to be more productive so as to guarantee a return on investment at the end of the year after tax that will make everybody smile home. Just having that one external person out there who if your staff are having challenge they will call, that call is confidential, and it is ethical for that therapist to keep your secrets secret even after your demise. Somebody you can speak with that won’t be judgmental, that won’t criticise you, that will not use your words against you, that will not tell you, ‘You’ve started again, it’s because you are not taking your drugs that you are behaving this way’,” she said.
Shesere Ijewere began on a dramatic note by asking the audience to stand on their feet and do a number of stretches to ascertain their fitness. It was difficult but hilarious. She then went on to speak on the right nutrition for healthy living.
“We all know about healthy eating, but how much attention are we paying to our food, to what goes into our body? Are we being mindful eaters? Are we eating with intentions? Remember we only have one body. Are we keeping to the five-a-day? I think with our stress in Nigeria we really need seven-a-day, and seven-a-day means four fruits, three vegetable or four vegetable, three fruits,” she said.
“Are we really doing that daily? Are we planning ahead? Are we planning our meals? Are we balancing our diet? Are we reading our labels? Make sure you read your ingredients to know what you are putting into your body. Are we balancing out our sugar intake with our water intake, with our exercise? Truly, we have only one body and we need to pay attention to our body. Health is by choice, not by chance,” she added.
In order to demonstrate his fitness to the audience, the only lawyer among the panellists, 50-year-old Osaro Eghobamien did 50 push-ups to the admiration of the audience.
Wrapping up the session, Dr Awosika emphasised the need for healthy eating, exercise, and sound sleep. He also drew attention to certain conditions that come with age, such as menopause in women and andropause in men, conditions which he said “will creep in on us whether we like it or not”. He also harped on the need for awareness.
The two-and-a-half day conference held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, June 18-20, 2017 featured a total of nine sessions with subthemes that include ‘Developing Skills and Capacity: Redefining the Architecture’, ‘The Future of Legal Practice – Are You Ready?’, ‘Creating an Efficient System of Justice Delivery’, ‘Legal Services Procurement – What Do Clients Really Want?’, ‘The Changing Face of the Entertainment Industry – Prospects and Opportunities’, among others.