Lifestyle has a major impact on our health. But not all lifestyle choices are cures or risks. Today, more than ever, we are learning about many lifestyle tips that affect our health. Yet many of them contradict each other.
There were several times ‘experts’ said a specific food or a specific action can be beneficial for the public health. However they were other they speculate the complete opposite. In result people are confused on what to believe.
Even worst, there many professionals that take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge. Hence they sell unreliable and even harmful products promising good health.
On the other hand, even conventional tips are not addressed with authentic scientific knowledge on how they impact our health.
Diet is the first step to a healthier life
Diet is maybe one of the most important life choice that affect your health. On the other hand it is not as easy as most people think. It is not about eating more greens and less meat.
Maybe the ancient Greek knew more as they argue that the secret for a healthy body is balance. Though centuries have come and gone, and society has changed its customs.
Firstly fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides to grow faster. Usually farmers are using toxic and harmful solutions as pesticides. Yet a diet is essential to include green. In this case the best way is to ingest as little as possible and therefore consume them after peeling.
Similarly meat can also be carcinogenic. This can be the result of how to cook it or how it end up on your table. Therefor the safer alternative is to buy meat locally and from a butcher you trust. Furthermore burn meat can cause cancer.
Get moving and never stop
Exercise on a daily basis is as important for our health as a balance diet is. However exercise that is recommended varies due to age, health history and other factors.
At the end of the day how you are exercising it is your choice. For instance French prefer to include exercise in their daily routine. They choose the stairs over the lift or walking over driving. Yet it seems simple enough, it actually works for them.
On other part of the world people choose to visit the gym three times a week. There maybe no wrong choice, as long as you keep moving.
On the other hand choosing to exercise in a way to benefit your mental health as well. Although exercise, according to physiology, makes you feel happier. There other ways to exercise to gain clarity and calmness.
Yoga and meditation are practices that many people choose to become healthier. Yet exercise in nature can also have a vast impact on your health. According to Japanese culture, those who are visiting the forest to hike, they gain mental health.
Lastly there is an exercise that most scientists agree on for having great impact on your health. It is walking. Although it seems to be quite simple, walking is subscribed for many diseases. In addition it is easy to do it and keep doing it, even for third age people.
Body care in the surface
Body case is not only what we consume but also what we apply on our body. There are many conceptions on body creams and medicine through the skin.
It is less know that the skin has many layers that make absorption less possible. Therefore what we apply on the surface, only a small percentage, if any, is absorb by our body.
This is good news in case of chemicals and harmful substances. On the other hand this is also applies for drugs and other medication.
Hence any body care benefits the skin layer alone that it can be important for many disease. An example is high-SPF (sun protection factor) sunscreen protects from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can cause cancer.
Water is the essence of life
Water is the most essential element for any form of life. Human body has approximately 60%. It is the main ingredients of every cell, every organ and every muscle. Without water we can not function as usually.
Therefore it is important to keep our body hydrated all time. But it is more than drinking two litres of water, as doctor recommend.This varies in each one of us. In addition how much water we must intake daily varies from our diet, how much we exercise and our health history.
On one hand if you eat a lot of raw vegetable and fruit, you may be can drink less water. However as you cook them, they lose their water. This is the reason why chefs are recommending them to be a bit raw and no over cooked.
Yet if you are exercising many hours a day, you need to drink much more water. This is because by sweating, you are losing water.
Lifestyle education should be obligatory in schools
Healthy lifestyle should be known to children in the education system. They should be informed in early stage in the choices available to them in order to have health habits afterwards.
But it is never to late. Every person can make better choice for a healthy lifestyle, as long as, he/she educates him/her self. By being informed consumer, we can become healthier.
For example professor Everitt has published a book named ‘Health and Lifestyle: Separating the Truth from the Myth with Statistics‘. The main message is that people should be on their guard against both scare stories about health risks and claims for miracle cures.
Yet the book helps you to learn enough about the scientific method to differentiate between those health claims, warnings and lifestyle recommendations that have some merit and those that are unproven or simply dishonest.
Originally published at www.konstantiaachilleos.com