ARTICLES IN PRESS | YEAR-2023 | VOLUME-4

Masters’ Athletics has shown a significant and remarkable role for people’s happiness, physically and psychologically. World Masters Athletics (WMA) Championships started in 1975, and two terms of Veterans and Masters were used. Author Konoike was the president of Asia Masters Athletics (AMA) from 1998 to 2013, and established the International Masters Athletics Federation (IMAF) associated with continuing various competition games and research until now. During World competitions in 2000, he emphasized adequate official terms for Masters instead of Veterans. Japan Sports Masters (JSPO) has been established including lots of sports and “Masters” has become a standard common word for sports.

Cognizance of the implication of Covid-19 pandemic on health and well-being resulted in an upsurge in use of several dietary and herbal supplements (DHS) for the prevention and/or prophylaxis against the new disease.
Objectives: To evaluate the pattern of DHS consumption among Nigerians with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Setting: Adolescents, and adults residing in Nigeria.
Participants: Participants with NCD (n = 165) from a larger study (n=645) were recruited from different geo-political zones and various ethnic groups.
Primary and Secondary Outcomes: Prevalence and determinants of the use of different DHS for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in Nigeria, and sources of information for DHS use.
Results: Hypertension was the most prevalent NCD (63.6%) in the study and both breast cancer and anxiety disorder were the least (0.6%). Overall, 75.2% of the respondents had less than 8 hours of sleep daily and almost all did not smoke cigarette at all. The proportion of male and female hypertensives who believed that dietary supplements are necessary during infectious disease outbreak such as Covid-19 was moderately high (55.2%), higher among asthmatics (65.0%), diabetes (68.4%), those with kidney disease (100.0%) and ulcer (83.3%). All or almost all the respondents with hypertension (96.2%), asthma (95.0%), diabetes (100.0%) and kidney disease (100.0%), consumed supplements more during Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The proportion of those who consumed supplements more during the pandemic in Nigeria was higher among male (56.4%) than among the female (43.6%) hypertensives, though the difference was not statistically significant (χ²=2.93, P-value=0.09). Vitamin C was the commonest vitamin taken by respondents with ulcer (83.3%), kidney disease (83.3%), diabetes (57.9%), asthma (50.0%), hypertension (48.6%) and the two respondents with breast cancer (1, 100.0%) and anxiety disorder (1, 100.0%) respectively. Calcium and zinc were the commonest minerals taken by respondents with ulcer (50.0%, 16.7%), diabetes (10.5%, 5.3%), asthma (30.0%, 10.0%) and hypertension (13.3%, 11.4%) respectively. High proportions (83.3%, 80.0%) of those with kidney disease and with asthma consumed DHS to maintain good health. Health workers were the dominant source of information for most on the use of supplements during Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Conclusions: The findings showed widespread use of DHS for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 among persons with NCD. The use of DHS in this study was mainly guided by health workers with a marginal role of social media and Mass media. These findings call for a more robust consolidative tactic towards DHS to ensure its proper and safe use.

Research on the meaning of life has shown that the value and worth of each individual’s life hold significant importance, and this is closely associated with the concept of “eudaimonia” from ancient Greek philosophy. More recently, the Japanese word “ikigai” has gained attention as a similar concept, referring to one’s sense of well-being, reason for living, or purpose in life. Through various studies, it has been discovered that ikigai is closely related to factors such as happiness, anxiety, depression, stress, and employment status. In fact, it has been identified as a key predictor of both psychological well-being and physical health. As such, the research on ikigai has important implications for preventative medicine and positive psychology, as it can help individuals lead more fulfilling, successful, and responsible lives on a daily basis.