Academics have said the increase in brain diseases is as a result of prevalent environmental challenges. This was the consensus at the sixth biennial International Conference of the Institute of Neuroscience and Biomedical Research(INBR), at Babcock University, Ogun State. They said the brain health is being endangered by unhealthy dietary, stress and dirty surroundings which have made both the youths victims of brain diseases.

 A Neurosurgeon, Prof Iheanyichukwu Okoro who is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Babcock University, said unfit lifestyle is dangerous to the brain.  “We tend to eat all kinds of food that are unhealthy and it has become the lifestyle of our young people. These foods have high fat content which block the vessels of the brain, and this results to stroke. We have high incidence of young people stroking out. “The radiation from the phones we use and also the telecoms masks are parts of the causes. The brain has a lot of electricity in it. When you have your phones around it, it tends to affect the electrical activity of the brain. If you do not exercise caution in the use of this gadget, you can develop brain problems. Some people are so addicted to phones that they cannot even put it off for even five minutes. It is affecting our health. Know how to use your phones. Do not get them to close to your heads even while you are making or receiving calls. He continued: “Let us not be deceived that too much intake of water cleanses the system. It does not help so much as it is widely spread, but the intake of good dieting and multivitamins to detoxify our system”. Former Councillor, of International Society for Neurologist(ISN), Prof Polycarp Nwoha explained that toxins emanating from dirty environments affect the health of the brain, adding that “A research we conducted some time ago showed that the rat we used for our experiment to check the harmful effect of the radiation from telecom mask was badly affected. It showed that it is dangerous to our body and our environment. Even on the things we eat like the vegetables we consume, we do not see them but they are there and when they manifest, you wonder why you are having neurodegenerative disease. “I also want to emphasise on the birth rate. You see someone with up to eight children and when it is time to train them it becomes a source of worry to them. This affects the brain of the mother and the child because the child is being malnourished; also the mother is likely to suffer from stroke out of stress and worries. Likewise, people are so worried about many things in our society and this is accentuated by the fact that we are in a depressed economy” He added.