A
healthy lifestyle is important for everyone. When we look after our
physical health, we feel better too — fit, more relaxed and better able
to cope with situation and circumstances. This is especially important
when you want to live long.
There are many ways of being healthy
that feel good as well as do you good. According to the World Health
Oganisation, healthy living means maintaining a healthy lifestyle and
introducing habits that improve your health. It’s about enjoying
yourself without risking your health. It’s what you eat and drink;
sleeping well and managing stress. It’s about practising safe sex,
drinking alcohol responsibly and not abusing drugs. It’s about being
physically active and staying connected with others.
It’s taking responsibility for your
overall health, including having regular check-ups for your eyes and
teeth. It’s about feeling fitter physically, mentally and emotionally.
The benefits of living a healthy life are numerous, but why do many people find it difficult to do?
Healthy living expert on about.com,
Paige Whearner, says most people would rather see a doctor than adopt a
healthy lifestyle due to the overwhelming changes it involves.
She states, “Healthy living requires
lots of change and change also requires tremendous energy. To be
healthy, you have to exercise, which changes your schedule, how you move
your body and even your budget, if you join a gym.
“You have to change how you shop, how
you eat, how you cook and how you spend your time every day. After
wrestling with those changes day after day — some of them completely
foreign to you — you may feel exhausted, frustrated and confused.”
Whearner says one must not give up, as
living a healthy life is the best way to increase one’s chance of having
a quality and long life. To help you start living well today, experts
on livewell.com have broken it into 10 simple steps as follows:
Check your weight: Nearly two in
10 women and four in 10 men are overweight globally. Obesity causes
9,000 premature deaths every year and, on average, reduces life
expectancy by nine years. Use a BMI calculator to find out if you’re a
healthy weight or whether you’re at risk of serious health problems,
such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. If you need
to bring your weight down through diet and exercise, please do so.
Drink less: Most people are
unaware that regularly drinking more alcohol than is advised can lead to
a wide range of long-term health problems, including cancers, strokes,
and heart attacks. For example, men who regularly drink more than three
to four units a day are three times more likely to have a stroke.
Alcohol is not too good for the body; consider the health risks before
you take another bottle.
Eat less salt and fat: Excessive
salt and fat in diet is a major cause of chronic illnesses such as heart
disease, stroke, and diabetes. Too much salt in your food can cause
high blood pressure and make you three times more likely to develop
heart disease or have a stroke.
Exercise regularly: The benefits
of exercise aren’t limited to losing weight. Even if you’re slim, you’ll
still get health benefits from exercising. Even a small amount of
regular activity can lower the risk of developing major chronic diseases
such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes by up to 50
per cent. Regular exercise can cut the risk of premature death by 20-30
per cent.
Eat more fruit and vegetables:
For a healthy and balanced diet, try to eat five portions of fruit and
vegetables a day. Research shows that eating at least 400g of fruit and
vegetables a day can lower your risk of serious health problems such as
heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Keep stress in check: Between
2010 and 2011, around 400,000 people in the UK reported work-related
stress at a level they believed was making them ill. Psychological
problems, including stress, are the underlying reason for one-in-five
visits to the doctor. If left unchecked, stress can lead to further
health problems such as high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression.
Learn to manage stress better with rest and exercise.
Improve your sleep: Nearly everyone has
problems sleeping at some point in their life. Most healthy adults sleep
for an average of seven to nine hours a night. If you’re not getting
enough sleep, it can affect your relationships, your performance at
work, and it can delay recovery from illness.
Quit smoking: The health benefits
of quitting smoking are immediate. After 20 minutes, your blood
pressure and pulse return to normal. After 24 hours, your lungs start to
clear. After three days, you can breathe more easily, and your energy
increases. Keep it up and you’re adding years to your life. Research
shows that people who quit smoking by the age of 30 add 10 years to
their life.
Get a sexual health test: Many
people don’t notice any symptoms when they have a sexually transmitted
infection, such as Chlamydia or gonorrhoea. If left untreated, Chlamydia
can affect a woman’s ability to get pregnant. You can’t tell by looking
at someone whether they’ve got an infection; so it’s important to get a
check-up if you’ve ever had unprotected sex. Getting tested and treated
for STIs is easier than you think, and most infections can be cured.
Check that lump: One in 20 people
in the world would be diagnosed with cancer at some time in their life,
according to the Cancer Care Registry. Cancer usually affects older
people, but it can occur at any age. Detecting most cancers early means
that treatment is more likely to be successful. Sometimes, noticing a
small change, like a lump, changes to a mole, or unexplained weight
loss, can make a big difference to your health. Women should do personal
breast examination more often.
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