 You're welcome back. It's still the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa, and we're glad to know you're still there. Most experts agree that the word spa originated in the Belgian town of Spa, which has been famous for its thermal baths with the healing power since antiquity. Alternative theories also think that the word spa is an acronym of the Latin phrase salus pe aquam, which translates as health through water. But today, we're not concerned about the etymology of the word. We're concerned about the expansion of this business and how it impacts on our health if we patronize a typical spa. And we are very glad to have with us on the program Dr. Tobi Ayodelle Kinney, the managing director of Quincy Wellness and Naturopathic Center. She's here with us. Welcome to the program. Thanks for having me. Yeah, naturopathic. Since you're here and our time is very short, let's just go straight to what are the services rendered by typical spa? Because when you call spa, a lot of people just think it's massage, and that's it. Okay, so a spa is not just massage. A massage is part of a spa. So a spa is what you said, you know, a place of wellness, a place of relaxation. That doesn't mean just purely massage. It means facials. It means getting your body pumped. It means going somewhere to come out feeling more refreshed and more energized or more relaxed than how you went in. So that could involve various things. That involves massage. Even within massage, there are different kinds of massages. They're massages for healing. They're massages for stress relief. They're facial stress relief. They're body techniques and different things for weight loss. There's so many different things inside the spa. But the main thing I won't also point out is that 30% of Nigerians do suffer from one form of mental health, illness or death, of which the majority is anxiety and depression, which is also due to stress. And we don't really have a lot of mental health facilities out there. So guess what the spas are doing? The spas are, you know, ad-hoc-ing. As these mental health facilities, for those who go in there and just feel, you know, get some tension of themselves, get some, just feel, you know, when they're going in there, it's like a place of peace, a place of comfort, and they can get some form of therapy in going to a spa. Whether it's just to get your nails done, or to get your face looking better, or to lose weight, or to get your massage, or to whatever it is you are going there for. It's something that people go there for. How popular is spa among Nigerians, would you say? It's growing. So I'll say globally, the industry is about $47.5 billion, and it's expected to grow to about $52. something billion dollars by 2028, and Nigeria is a big country. So we can imagine what's happening to that, those billions of dollars, in terms of just annual revenue, just by the sheer volume of people that we are. Growing up with spas was just like, this place, it goes to get massage and you come out. But now it's burgeoning into what you will see more, even as higher standards and most international spas, that you will go to a lot of spas. Now we have some spas and then we have spas. It's definitely growing in Nigeria. It's growing in there. I would not say, you know, people always say Nigeria, Nigeria, Nigeria. I say no, Lagos is a different place from Nigeria. So we can talk about Lagos, Potakos, Abuja, and the major cities, and let's talk and focus on that and urban areas versus village areas. Villagers don't need spas. The rural setting is a different lifestyle. They don't have the kind of stress that we have and things like that. So I'll say, when I say Nigeria, I'll say let's focus on the urban settings and use that one to gauge what we're talking about. So in terms of the urban settings, the spa industry is burgeoning, is growing. There's medical aesthetics in spa. I'm a Canadian board certified on aesthetic medicine where you can get your Botox fillers, things to like help you look and feel younger to, you know, slow the- It also includes the abracadabra. You go in black and come out white. Now that's the one I don't like. So I see things on social media. I see things on social media and I thank God, first of all, that I was already a fully grown adult, you know, with children and, you know, living my life before Instagram came in because it's unfortunate because now Instagram or religious and social media has played on the fact that you believe what your eyes see. And so people use that to draw people to them. You know, this is this before and this is this after. And unfortunately, 70 percent, and I'll say 99, 70 percent of Africans, but not really 99 percent of African women use bleaching products. So a lot of these spas that are out here are pandering towards, you know, bleaching, you know, spas, bleaching scrubs, whitening, you know, this and all that. And you see things on Instagram or social media and things like that where somebody goes into a bath, you know, with some kind of liquid and then they use a spoon and they're scraping, you know, their skin off and it's not a white person. You know, I'm thinking of the, as a medical professional, I'm thinking of the medical implications of this. This person is losing his or her melanin, is exposing herself to skin cancer, you know, then they can even get daca again eventually. And only God knows what can happen to that person in the future. But at the present in that, you know, in that promoted post, this is this wild thing, and then it's drawing people to the wrong thing. So I do not support that kind of spa. A spa should be a place where you should go to become healthy. The Romans did it. They would go to do their steam baths, the Persians would do their hamam bath. There are a lot of things you can do healthily. So when you go to a spa, your aim is to come out feeling better, looking better, not following the trend of, you know, some liquid chemical solution thingy and, you know, looking, you know, white. And a lot of the spa owners that you see are filtered. And I tell my clients, I say, do you want to look, are you buying a product, are you buying a filter? You know, they don't know that this person who is promoting this product or this spa service does not even look like that. They're using a filter to promote their products. I'm like, are you buying a product or service? Are you buying a filter? Okay, time will not permit us to go so far into this discussion. But let's talk about massage. Before we had this modern day spa where you used to have our traditional massage and they are different. Our traditional massage, press, rub, press, you know. And, you know, if your waist was in a certain way, by the time an African finishes pressing you, you hear crumb and you say yes. Yes, this waist used to be one kind now. But today you have the modern one which is more tender and soft and, you know, all of that and all of that. Does one have an advantage over the other? Okay, so I think it's up to the person. I personally like, they call it, what you're calling is, what you're describing is deep tissue massage or shiatsu massage. They have all these different names. Last, last is using your hands to press very hard on that person and, you know, going deep into the muscles and, you know, not, you know, massaging out the kinks. And we even did it for babies. We do it for babies growing up. Even other cultures do it for their babies to help them to relax and be flexible and things like that. Deep tissue massage is more of a therapeutic massage, meaning that it actually helps to treat sore muscles and, you know, back pain and things like that compared to the, you know, using relaxation and all those types of things. So it depends on what you are looking for. If you have a condition, like any back pain or neck pain, a deep tissue massage will be better for you than say you just want to fall asleep. Okay, well, we've run out of time, but so if you can do in 30 seconds, just talk to Legoscians about why there is need to access a spa, the services of a spa, especially this, our place, this Lagos is crazy. So talk to Legoscians in your parting words. Okay, so I would love to talk to all Legoscians out here. You only have one life to live and as stressful as life is, it's always very important to take time for yourself. Because I always tell people that you say that you love your neighbor as you love yourself. So you need to love yourself. And that involves taking care of yourself from head to toe. It doesn't just mean buying beautiful clothes and beautiful shoes. It also means taking care of yourself from the insides and also on the outside. And that also involves getting things like massages, your facials, pampering yourself in whatever way shape or form and going to a spa, a wellness spa, wellness center, a medical med spa. Those are places you can go to actually actualize that possibility of being healthy, feeling healthy and just pampering yourself and enjoying yourself. Okay, well, you've heard it there from Dr. Tobi Ayodhila Keeni. A lot of people will have this phobia of going to a psychiatric home to access mental health services. But now you have the opportunity to go to a spa and people will just look at you that you went there to get beautiful whether it is in your body or in your mind. So it's a very good thing to have. And I would like to thank Dr. Tobi Ayodhila for coming on the, Ayodhila Keeni for coming on the program. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Okay, we will access the services in your wellness and naturopathic center one day. Okay, so we'll be joined by Mudashiro Shitu in a short while to take us around the world of sports. Stay with us.