Health and Fitness Part 4

Health is a dynamic process. It keeps on changing as we change our lifestyle, our eating habits, our sleeping routine, our thoughts, etc. Each day we should work towards maximizing our level of health and wellness to lead long, full, and healthy lives. Our defined aim should be planning our day in a manner that maintains balance of our physical and mental usage. We can make a huge difference in our lives by staying fit and healthy.

Among the most crucial reasons for decline in health today is the lack of proper amount of vitamins and minerals. Improper intake of vegetables, fruits and dairy products leads to absence of minerals and vitamins in our body. Lack of minerals and vitamins lead to all kinds of diseases as nutrients are essentially required to build and repair the blood, tissues, muscles and bones.

Good health not only means a state of absence of diseases in the body but a complete physical, mental, social as well as spiritual wellbeing of an individual.

Being healthy means having a healthy brain, flexible movements of body, more energetic, happy moods, peace and patience, etc. Fitness does not only mean your physical wellbeing, it is a combination of physical and mental health of a person.

Stress, anxiety, mood fluctuations also represent unhealthy traits of a person. Health refers to the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of a person.

Every generation should take care of their health and fitness. Since childhood, it is easy to focus on this aspect of life as dietary habits of childhood are difficult to change afterwards. For this we should refrain from overfeeding the children. Some important tips of good eating habits that one should follow are:

1. Making breakfast the heaviest and dinner the lightest meal of the day.
2. Eat your salad before you eat the meal.
3. Don’t starve yourself and overeat subsequently.
4. Fast food and canned food are costly both for your pocket and your heart.
5. Yellow, orange and green vegetables and fruits add life to your heart.
6. As your age advances, control your eating and exercise more.

In children, the requirement of sleep is high, around 12-14 hours and a normal adult requires 7-8 hours of sound sleep daily.

Maintaining healthy and fit regime requires simple efforts, a few of which are listed below:

1. Regular routine of exercise is highly beneficial for our health; it helps us in controlling weight, helps in boosting the immune system, and directly increases our stamina and energy levels. Basic metabolic rate increases if a person exercises.
2.  Though these days sparing time for exercise has become difficult for people as this is not being taken on priority, in order to still maintain the balance, each individual should walk or use cycle instead of driving at reasonable distance, use stairs instead of elevators or escalators, walk while on call and compensate the available time with the benefits of exercising.
3. Yoga is another activity that lays great emphasis on both mental and physical wellbeing of humans. Yoga is an effective method for improving health and acts as a preventive measure against diseases. It reduces stress, anxiety, depression, etc which are the core natural and mental factors that disturb health. Yoga and meditation increase energy, give freshness and infuse confidence in a person.
4. Eating balanced nutritional diet also directly benefits one’s lifestyle. Having appropriate diet does not lead to fat; it leads to a healthy self. Eating fruits and vegetables help people to maintain adequate levels of calorie, reduce the risk of disease, maintain the balance of essential minerals and vitamins, etc.
5. Hygiene and sanitation are also major factors that affect the health of a person. Sitting at a place that is not properly clean can instantly make a person unwell and lead to various diseases. Good personal hygiene is one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves and others from many illnesses.

Health and fitness is determined by what we eat, how we live our lives, our choice of leisure pursuits and what we do to keep ourselves physically fit. Keeping fit is about how we choose to live our lives as individuals and the levels of fitness we aspire to. Maintain your health and fitness to keep your body look and feel good, but also maintain a level of physical fitness which will enable you to manage and enjoy your daily lifestyle.

Conclusion: The way towards Healthy and Active wellbeing is to focus on making the healthy choice at any given moment, rather than postponing the things that are must to be done in the long term.