There are two ways to lead life: one with health, and the other without it. When you live a healthy life, you set goals, prioritize things, go after career ascension, pursue success, go after love, constitute family, and live the day-to-day, facing it with determination. But if you lose your health, or someone who is very important to you loses it, everything for and what once made sense to you, has no meaning at all. All you want to do is restore your health or have someone who is affectionately dear to you, well again.
Have you ever gone through this? I have, more than once, by the way. And it is precisely because of this, that I have understood over the years that having health is the most important thing in life. Leading a healthy life is one of the most central beliefs in my life. It makes no sense to have a life without health. As an example, I have a group of good friends who always tell me that one of life’s purposes is to create wealth. Whenever they say this I reply saying that it´s worthless to create wealth if the cost is the destruction of your own health.
Actually, having a healthy life is not only important for your present life, it is critical to the longevity and quality of life in the many years that are ahead. What I mean is, if you give up a healthy life today, the cost doesn´t come only in the present, it will come over the years. It will come in two very cruel and difficult ways to quantify in the present, whether you are 20 or 40 years old: you´re going to live a shorter life, and what is worse, the number of years you´ll live will be of less quality or no quality whatsoever.
Thinking about this, I’ve written down some suggestions on how you can start having a healthy life today. I know this is just the kickoff and I´ll address some of these topics in more depth in other articles. If you apply them, they can be a great plus in your life.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and, not only, absence of disease and infirmity”. This Organization invests heavily in order to influence governments and organizations, in improving health levels world-wide, but the starting point is you!
Taking care of your health is your responsibility and taking care of yourself helps a lot with your self-esteem and your state of complete well-being. This affects many areas of your life and is very complex. Even having good professionals to help you, none of them are able to look at your life as a whole, as after all, each professional is an expert in one area and, as a matter of fact, only you know yourself completely. It is up to you to choose, recruit and lead competent professionals in the pursuit of a healthy life. Good luck!
Stethoscope (Photo: Hush Naidoo /Unsplash)
The first step is to look for a good doctor, a good dentist, a good psychologist, a good nutritionist, a good physical trainer. Leading a healthy life is very serious and I don´t recommend doing this in the “do it yourself” style, through tips passed by friends or via the internet. Good professionals will be able to help you understand your state of health, put together a specific plan for maintaining your health or healing it, walk you through the process, and guide you to live well throughout your life.
I remember when I looked for an orthopedist because of a paralyzing pain in my back as a result of the effort of hanging my bicycle on the wall after a workout. The pain was so intense that I couldn´t even hold my baby for more than a few seconds.
After imaging and outpatient examinations, the diagnosis was that I had lumps on two intervertebral discs, and that the treatment indicated would mainly be muscular reinforcement. If I did this, the pain would disappear, and the condition would then be reversed. If, however, I did not follow the recommendations, very soon I would be on the way to acquiring disc hernias …. See what a problem I would´ve gotten!
After six months of intense functional training and gym exercises, the pains were gone. I ride a bicycle without any discomfort, and carry my baby up and down, without feeling any cringe in my back. Now tell me, would I be able to get out of that painful state without the help of a good doctor and an effective physical trainer? Only with online tips I wouldn´t get a complete cure, don´t you agree?
If you looked for a good professional after the clinical examination, he probably asked you for a battery of laboratory and / or imaging tests. Make regular visits to your doctor, creating a habit, and get regular checkups. The results of the exams are a starting point for you and your doctor to understand your current state of health and to put together a plan for you to you lead a healthy life.
Besides that, it is precisely during such routine exams, you and your doctor will be able to detect incipient problems that, perhaps, could lead to a future state of precarious health. This happened to a great friend who, through her annual checkup, discovered cancer in the left lung. Since this was discovered very early on, surgery removed it, restoring her health completely. Imagine if she hadn´t done her checkup and would only find out about that cancer two years later?
Woman smoking (Photo: Emma Lopez / Unsplash)
If in the initial tests, together with your doctor, you discover a serious health problem, such as my friend’s cancer, or some chronic illness, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, depression or panic, for example, or if you have any associated condition to habits that destroy your health, such as eating disorders, obesity, alcoholism or if you smoke, the important thing is to treat these issues as a priority. The initial focus should be on first rescuing your health and then establishing a routine of habits so that a healthy life can provide you with well-being for many years.
I can almost bet that you are overweight, have bad eating habits or is unfit. If at least any of these options is true, or even worse, if all three are, my suggestion is that you look for a nutritionist and a physical trainer and undergo an evaluation. If they work together, the result will be better!
A few months ago, I did exactly that. When I arrived at the first appointment they asked me what my purpose was, and I simply said that I wanted to be healthy. Since I was already practicing regular exercises (cycling and swimming) and was not overweight, I thought I would receive instructions to adjust some things, and that would be it.
Not at all! After the evaluation, I found out that I was in a moderate range of coronary risk, due to the excess of fat on the waistline, and that my sports practice was very good for my mental health, but insufficient to make me lose the necessary weight and reduce the coronary risk.
From this evaluation, we set up a specific plan for my profile and, after 11 weeks, less 9 cm of waistline and 9 kg of fat, I left the coronary risk zone. In addition, I have established a new dietary routine and much more adequate training, which has entered my life in a tranquil and perennial way (I will tell you more about it in another article).
Healthy food (Photo: Brooke Lark / Unsplash)
My father-in-law, who is a general surgeon, has always told me that if you choose to make some change in your diet in order to obtain full benefits, you should do so as soon as possible. Don’t wait until you reach 65 to think: “Oh! I´m damned! I need to change my diet. ” Do this at 45 or 25 and improve your quality of life in the present and in the many years that you´ll live, in the so-called senior age. In fact, if you take good care of yourself and if you do not suffer any accidents or sudden illness, chances are that the best part of your life will take place after you reach 50 years of age.
I´ll dig deeper into this in another article, but the most important thing here is to start improving your nutrition now, backed up by a good nutritionist. No need to get out of the junk food completely to the “celibacy” of food, ok? The important thing is to start improving and feeling the benefits in your body. Of everything that I have changed, four things have done me good. Here they are:
Make good choices at the grocery store. What you bring home will be what you and your family will eat. If you reduce or do not bring temptations and junk foods, your health will already be gaining.
Less processed and more natural foods. In addition to doing good, increasing your intake of unprocessed foods is an attitude that will reduce your food expenses.
Learn how to cook. The more you cook, the more control you will have over what you eat. The extra benefit here is that by doing this, whether you are male or female, you will end up staying longer with your family.
Organics. Are delicious! That simple! More expensive too, it’s true, and if that’s a problem, start with food that is most likely to be impregnated with pesticides, such as greens and fruits.
If you think this is easier said than done, you are a normal person! With so much to do on a daily basis, how will you find the time to do physical activity? Not to mention the natural laziness we feel about it…
Getting started and abandoning a sedentary lifestyle is not easy, and my suggestion is for you to do it by starting with something you really like. Remember what you enjoyed practicing when you were a child and teenager? That’s what I’m talking about. In my case, it was a riding a bike, and what was yours?
Slowly and as your conditioning improves, you can increase your frequency and intensity until you get to the point where your body will ask you for more exercise, and from there on everything will be easier.
In addition, you can unite physical activity with leisure. In my case, every Sunday I take my baby to ride my bike with me. It’s a really fun workout and halfway through, we always stop for a picnic in the park.
Sleeping with best friend (Photo: Rafal Jedrzejek / Unsplash)
Sleeping is as crucial as eating or breathing. The problem is that, not always you can do it in the recommended quantity and quality. As I mentioned before, if this is a serious problem, or if you are suffering from insomnia, I suggest you seek your doctor and together develop a plan so that you can have a good sleep. This ranges from sedatives during a particularly stressful life stage to sophisticated treatments and surgeries. The field here is vast and this should be a priority if you want to have a healthy life. Without a good quality of sleep, it´s impossible to be productive, be in a good mood and have health.
Nevertheless, I have a practical tip that works very well for me on a regular basis. Let’s see:
At least one hour before bed:
In general, regarding the book, after a few pages, it falls off my hands. Then I wake up and keep on reading. When it falls off for the second time, I put the book on the headboard, turn off the lamp, and continue to sleep immediately. Sometimes, however, it is my wife who gets the book, puts it away, and turns off the lamp by my side …
There are two types of problems in your life: those which you have some control over them and others in which you have no control at all. For the former, the suggestion is simple, do what you can to try to solve them. For the second, my suggestion is to accept them and, by doing so, suffer less.
I remember when my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was a blow to the family and we were all very sad. We suffered a lot because of that for over nine years. However, after an initial phase, when we did everything we could to find a solution that did not exist, we ended up accepting her condition, and we concentrated on giving her the best comfort possible. That was all we could for her really.
For the rest of my life, I will carry the memory of her last smile to me, in which I felt that she really recognized me. It was a rare moment of lucidity, about two years before she passed away. It was a gift. Be well. Be with God, Grandma …
I have dealt with this theme in another article, “Living on Purpose“, but I´d like to remember that having a purpose in life, being aware of it, and letting it work as a compass that guides your behavior and actions not only increases your longevity but will also allow you to lead a healthy life.
The impact of this is direct on your choices and the quality of your life. The first step is to become aware of your purpose in life. If you´d like to begin a reflection on the matter I suggest the reading of the second article I wrote about it, “How to become aware of your purpose in life“.
This is crucial, especially in the years when you need paid work to support you and your family. If you have ever worked with any activity, with someone (usually the boss), or somewhere where the values were very different from yours, or whose purpose was going against your life purpose, you know from experience that your health suffered greatly from this.
The worst thing is that, in general, such a condition becomes chronic, which slowly degrades both your health and relationships outside the work environment. My suggestion in these situations is to make a planning and change the course of your life, whether within the organization you work for, out of it, or even changing careers.
Reencontrando amigos (Foto: Matheus Ferrero / Unsplash)
If you have gone through phases where there was conflict with people close to you, you know how much it took away the brightness of your life, your sleep and harmed your health. Anyone who has gone through, for example, a separation with small children, knows very well what I am talking about.
On the other hand, having a good relationship with the spouse, family and friends enriches you as a person, improves your well-being and makes your life a heathier, more enjoyable and happier. I have lived in nine different cities and I can easily say that I was happier in those with the best group of friends!
Cover photo credit – Mother and daughter stretching out (Photo: Evgenyatamanenko / iStock)
