Living a healthy life seems an unachievable task in today’s stressful lifestyles. Many struggle to ensure a quality of life with busy schedules, increasing healthcare complications, expensive treatments, and dwindling economic situations.
Environmental pollution, contaminated food supplies, and lack of knowledge of health hazards multiply the odds and minimize resilience. As a result, even minor issues progress into chronic ailments.
Since several factors can jeopardize a person’s well-being, a healthy life is more than a balanced diet. Thus one must develop and design a healthy lifestyle that caters to all the needs of the mind and body.
For instance, a balanced diet, regular exercise, quality sleep, sufficient water intake, and protected sun exposure are some essentials of healthy living. In addition, psychological and emotional needs are equally vital as physical ones to stay fit and healthy.
Here Are Six Important Tips For Living A Healthy Life
The following passages explore the ABCs of healthy living and how to prevent healthcare challenges.
1. Go through the necessary medical examinations and screenings
Medical examinations and screenings are an inevitable healthcare expenditure to keep diseases at bay. Screenings, blood tests, and physical examinations improve diagnosis accuracy and help with early-stage prognosis of many health issues.
Staying in touch with healthcare experts with an updated medical record is the only hope to minimize the odds against deadly healthcare ailments like malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) and other terminal illnesses.
MPM is advanced-stage cancer with no cure and potential treatment options for a better life after diagnosis. It is so aggressive that the survival window for patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma hardly spans eight to fourteen months.
It would be best to get routine healthcare checkups. If you have a genetic and hereditary history of malignancies and other healthcare conditions, gauge the risk. Consult a healthcare provider and discuss potential preventive measures to minimize the chances.
2. Control sugar and salt intake
Sugar and salt are not mere taste enhancers or stabilizers like the other spices and seasonings. Excess usage in minute quantity can pave the ground for health issues if you continue such a practice in routine.
Many research studies document proven results for the harmful consequences of excessive use of sugar and salt. Excess use of salt increases blood pressure and multiplies the likelihood of developing heart health problems, renal failure, fibrosis, hypertension, and others.
Sugary foods cause an instant spike in blood glucose levels and disturb the systematic metabolic processes. Higher sugar intake can cause insulin resistance and lead to type-2 diabetes.
Moreover, the odds increase with a sedentary and stressful lifestyle. So keep track of what you eat. A minute amount of salt is enough to ensure the osmosis balance in the body. The same goes for sugar.
Your body can replenish carbohydrate needs from food supplements, so there is no need to add extra added sugar to your diet. Minimize consumption of desserts, ice creams, and bakery items with added sugar once in a while and focus on healthy choices.
3. Maintain a healthy dining routine
A sufficient interval between conservative meals and snacks is crucial to help the body process food and extract nutrients from it properly. Skipping meals or stacking up the stomach disturbs the regular course of digestive, excretory, and other metabolic processes. Skipping meals hampers the symbiotic relationship between insulin and glucose, causing insulin resistance and impairment.
A constant supply of food also keeps blood glucose levels raised. And elevated blood glucose can also disturb insulin functions in the long run. In addition, stacking up your stomach also hinders respiration. Since the abdomen muscles facilitate respiration, where already overstretched muscles cannot expand and contract freely when you inhale and exhale.
Feeling out of breath after a heavy meal is one of the indications of hampered respiratory flow. Thus divide meals into smaller portions and intervals. It is not a thumb rule to stick to a three-time meal schedule. One can try several settings of a healthy dining pattern, such as intermittent fasting.
Studies suggest that minimizing the eating window to eight hours in a twenty-hour cycle allows the body to properly process food and attend to other essential functions.
4. Ensure enough sleep
Enough and quality sleep is the most basic hack to staying healthy. Sleep is a natural mechanism to shield the body from healthcare issues and ensures it functions well. It helps the body restore and recover from wear and tear and resume functions of the wakeful cycle afresh.
Merely cutting down a few hours in routine may not seem drastic change, but such a habit activates a vicious cycle of deterioration at cellular levels.
Weaker immunity, impaired cognitive functions, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal irregularities, insulin resistance, coronary heart diseases, cancer, premature aging, and slow recovery are some of the complications of prolonged sleep deficiency.
At the same time, doubling the amount of sleep another day cannot compensate for the damage of previous sleepless nights. Laying in bed for sufficient hours is not a choice, but it is a vital requirement of your body and mind, similar to food, oxygen, and water.
Sleep duration varies according to your indulgence and age. Underlying health conditions can also affect the quality and span of sleep. But generally, a healthy adult needs at least 8 hours of sleep.
And the sleep-wake-up cycle should stay consistent throughout the week. The gist is to ensure your mind and body are well-rested so you can start the day afresh.
5. Avoid under and overexposure to the sun
Sun exposure is an essential source of energy crucial for all living beings. It helps the mind and body carry out vital functions, such as the metabolism of fats to produce vitamin D. Sun exposure also helps reduce inflammation, improve vision, and regulate emotions.
But too much exposure is also harmful. It causes dehydration and damages sensitive skin cells. And it is also the leading cause of developing skin cancer, as sunlight contains harmful ultraviolet rays that can pierce through the skin and cause damage at the cellular level.
High-intensity UV rays can speed up cell division and cause mutations, increasing the likelihood of malignancy.
Experts recommend that ten to fifteen minutes of exposure to early sunlight is enough to supplement your body’s requirements. But do not forget to use sun protection even if you go for a sunbath in the morning.
6. Look after your emotions
Emotional irregularities like anger, sadness, irritability, confusion, and apprehension do not have a momentary impact on one’s psyche and mood. Prolonged swaying emotions can disturb the normal flow of internal processes, cause hormonal imbalance, and impose harmful side effects on the mind and body.
Studies also validate that emotional irregularities like gloominess, aloofness, and chronic stress lower your resilience against illnesses. Individuals lacking emotional stability are more prone to premature aging, impaired memory, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, and several physical health issues.
Conclusion
Living a healthy life is a simple equation. Fulfill your body’s nutritional needs and adopt healthier habits. In short, know what affects your health and well-being, pay attention to your body’s signs and symptoms, and shield yourself against health issues with preventive measures.
Read Also:
