There is a common saying that health is
wealth.
WHAT IS HEALTH?
The W.H.O defines health as a complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease or infirmity.
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT OUR HEALTH?
Our bodies and eventually our health is affected by:
-What we put into our bodies (in form of food
and drinks, cigarettes, alcohol)
-What we do with our bodies (lifestyle habits
such as not getting adequate rest, poor exercise,
subjecting our bodies to stress).
Because we cannot change some things about ourselves, especially our genetic make-up, it wouldn’t be out of place to say that: “faulty genetics loads the gun, lifestyle, pulls the trigger”.
HOW DO I LIVE HEALTHY?
Living healthy would involve us modifying what we put into our bodies and what we do with our bodies.
It would require a major lifestyle modification and would include the following:
- Eat Breakfast, as it is the most important meal of the day. It feeds your mind and body with nutrients and energy to function.
- Eat Breakfast, as it is the most important meal of the day. It feeds your mind and body with nutrients and energy to function.
- Eat more natural foods, which include fruits and vegetables. Avoid processed foods and drinks.
Ensure moderation in eating and drinking.
- Avoid smoking and drinking
- Use only prescribed medication
- Plan your work so you are not constantly working against deadlines, to beat stress.
- Avoid identifiable stressors.
- Visit your dentist and Doctor regularly.
- treat any underlying disease condition you may have instead of denying that it exists.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF I DON’T LIVE HEALTHY?
An unhealthy lifestyle means more illnesses. It also means more expense to treat those illnesses and more stress on the already stretched healthcare system.
With unhealthy lifestyles, we are more likely to have poor health, thus affecting our work, time spent in recreation with family and friends and then a shorter lifespan.
Disease conditions likely to arise from unhealthy eating habits include: Diabetes, heart diseases including hypertension, obesity, poor mental
health, dementia, depressed immune system which allows for regular infections with common colds or even malaria.
