A type of fever grips this country every four years that has nothing to do with malaria. It starts quietly, with a few billboards and some overly enthusiastic WhatsApp forwards. By the time the campaign trains are in full motion, everybody has an opinion about who should lead Nigeria come 2027. As a health communication professional, I find this season fascinating, not because of the politics itself, but because of what it does to the ordinary Nigerian body and mind. We talk endlessly about manifestos and permanent voter cards. We rarely pause to ask what all this excitement, anxiety and argument is doing to our blood pressure, our sleep and our sanity.
Let me be honest from the start. I am not writing to tell you who to vote for. That is not my business, and frankly, it is above my pay grade. What I want to talk about is something far less glamorous but arguably more urgent. That is the health cost of political seasons in Nigeria and what every one of us can actually do about it. Waiting for government to protect your peace of mind is, if we are being truthful with ourselves, a losing strategy.
Now, consider what happens in the average Nigerian household during election season. There is the constant noise, both literal and digital. Campaign jingles blare from loudspeakers mounted on buses, sometimes as early as seven in the morning. Family WhatsApp groups turn into battlegrounds where siblings, uncles or old schoolmates who have not spoken in a long while suddenly resurface to insult each other over party loyalty. News channels run endless panel discussions where everyone shouts, and nobody listens. All of this constitutes what researchers call chronic low-grade stress. Unlike the dramatic stress of an emergency, it does not announce itself loudly. It creeps in through disturbed sleep, tightened jaws, snapped tempers and that persistent headache you cannot explain.
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Then there is the anxiety that comes from genuine uncertainty. Will fuel prices spike again around election time? Will there be violence in certain states? Will businesses shut down for days because of protests or insecurity? These are not imagined fears. They spring from our past experiences, and it would be dishonest of me to pretend otherwise. However, here is where personal responsibility comes in, and I say this with the greatest respect for how difficult life already is for most Nigerians. You cannot control INEC's logistics. You cannot control what a politician says on television. You certainly cannot control your neighbour's opinions. What you can control is remarkably more than most of us acknowledge.
Start with information consumption. This is where I see the most damage happening daily. There is a difference between staying informed and marinating in outrage from morning until night. You do not need to watch three hours of political commentary before breakfast to be a responsible citizen. Pick your sources. Check them for accuracy. Get what you need; then put the phone down. Doomscrolling through election content at midnight will not make Nigeria better governed. It will absolutely wreck your sleep, and poor sleep is linked to everything from weakened immunity to worsened mood. Ironically, it is also linked to poorer decision-making at the very moment you need clear thinking most.
Then think about your body during this period. Elections in Nigeria have a strange way of disrupting normal routines. Fuel scarcity affects transport, which affects whether you can get to the gym or even walk safely in the evening. Long queues at polling units mean people standing for hours in the sun without water. Political gatherings mean crowded spaces where communicable diseases move freely from person to person. Simple things matter enormously here. Carry water when you are heading out for anything election-related. Eat before you join a queue rather than assuming you will grab something along the way. If you have hypertension or diabetes, do not let the excitement or stress of the season become an excuse to skip your medication. I promise you, your blood pressure does not care who wins the election. It only cares whether you took your tablets.
Mental health deserves particular attention here, and I say this as someone who has watched too many Nigerians treat psychological wellbeing as a luxury. The uncertainty of an election period can genuinely trigger anxiety. Nothing is weak or foreign about acknowledging that. If you notice yourself unable to sleep, constantly irritable or gripped by dread whenever you open your phone, that is your body telling you something important. Talk to someone. Reduce your exposure to inflammatory content. Reconnect with the things that stabilise you. This can be your faith, your family, your football viewing centre banter, or simply switching off the television and reading a novel.
There is also the issue of how we treat one another during this season, and this, too, is a health issue, whether we admit it or not. Political disagreement has fractured friendships and torn families apart in Nigeria before. The emotional fallout from that is real and lasting. You are allowed to have strong political views. You are also allowed to disagree with your sibling or brother-in-law without cutting him off for the next four years. Preserving your relationships through a heated season is, quietly, one of the most protective things you can do for your long-term mental health. Social connection remains one of the strongest predictors of how well people cope with stress.
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None of this means ignoring the bigger picture. Health systems, security and the economy are all shaped by who governs us. I am not suggesting personal responsibility replaces the need for competent leadership. However, between now and 2027, and indeed long after, the daily choices you make about your sleep, your information diet, your medication, your hydration and your relationships will do more for your actual wellbeing than any single election outcome. Politicians will come and go. Promises will be made and broken, as often happens. Your body has to carry you through it all, regardless.
So by all means, get your permanent voter card. Follow the debates. Argue passionately if you must. Just remember to drink your water, take your medication, sleep at a reasonable hour, and step away from the noise when it becomes too much. Nigeria's democracy will survive one more election cycle either way. Whether you come out the other side healthy and whole is, in large part, still up to you.
Ojenagbon, a health communication expert and certified management trainer, lives in Lagos.
