The ulcer has been a very common disease among Nigerian students. This disturbing disease is most commonly linked to starvation for the fact that we students are believed to always starve. In as much as this is not false, there could be a more general reason behind the tremendous rise in ulcer cases amongst Nigerian students.
Now let's look at what ulcer is all about.
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WHAT IS AN ULCER
An ulcer can simply be referred to as a wound on the lining of one's stomach, intestine, or esophagus.
Does it not sound weird how one can be wounded in such locations? Well, it does to me.
You know, when I was much younger, I believed that this ulcer of a thing is a result of the worms on one's stomach attacking the walls of the stomach due to lack of food in it. That sounds lame,😆 maybe it was for the fact that then, I so much believed ulcers to develop as a result of starvation.
WHAT CAUSES AN ULCER
An ulcer is mostly caused by a bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori). Excessive use of aspirin or anti-inflammatory drugs such as (ibuprofen) is also a very common cause.
Well, it doesn't just end with bacterias and drugs. Many activities of our body are so automatic to the point that they do not need to be triggered into action. An example of such an activity is the release of gastric juice in our stomach.
The Gastric juice is the combination of HCL, lipase, and pepsin which works to inactivate the effect of microorganisms contained mostly in foods. This inactivation is to prevent them from causing infections.
As I said, the release of this gastric juice is periodical and automatic meaning that it occurs when it is supposed to with or without you eating. When one is starving, the gastric juice is still being released in others to perform its normal duty. An excess amount of gastric juice usually leads to acid reflux. This excessive acid in the stomach can affect the lining of the stomach which causes sores otherwise known as ulcers.
The stomach acid is usually brought to a near PH by the mucus which is released by the epithelial lining of the stomach wall. Yet when there is a high concentration of digestive juice which contains conc HCl, the near PH balance tends to be uttered, and that puts the stomach walls at risk of being attacked by the acid.
Also, when there is an increase in the intake of acidic food, it tends to alter the near acid/base balance of the stomach, and that in turn leads to an acid attack on the stomach wall or intestine.
Physiological stress also leads to an increase in the production of HCL by the stomach. Do I also need to tell you what that can cause? Well, that leads to an attack on the stomach or intestinal walls by the increased level of acid which causes sores otherwise known as an ulcer.
PREVENTION
An ulcer cannot be totally prevented because some are caused by bacteria (H.pylori). Nevertheless, the risk of ulcers can be reduced by eating appropriately, reducing the intake of aspirin and anti-inflammatory medicines, acidic foods, and reducing the level at which you physically stress.
CONCLUSION
Ulcer cases have been on the rise amongst Nigerian students and that I believe is major as a result of two things which are starvation and stress. And more on the stress side due to how stressful it is to be a student of a Nigerian university. I still believe that we should olay the part we can in preventing ulcer and that includes eating little at intervals instead of eating more at once.