How Can We Take More Control Of Our Health?

Taking control of our health is a great way to improve our mood, increase our life expectancy and strengthen our immune system, preventing coughs, colds and more serious diseases.

 

Life is busy, it can be stressful and although we often know what we should be doing, we feel we don't have enough time to take back control of our health. So instead of preventing those chest infections, or reducing our risk of diabetes, we pop to the doctors for some tablets and go again on our merry way, damaging our health further. Before we know it we're on tablets for blood pressure, stress, diabetes, cholesterol as well as painkillers when needed. These drugs prevent our body from working as it should, as it does the work for us, causing our system to stop functioning properly by itself. This results in us becoming dependent on these lists of medicine.

 

So what can we do? The first step is to realise that our health is the most important thing we have. What good is money if you don't have good health to enjoy it?

 

Take time out for ourselves to maintain and enjoy an active lifestyle. Walking, swimming and yoga all offer a great workout, without putting strain on your body. Exercising for 30 minutes each day improves quality of life by reducing the risk of obesity, and therefore health problems, as well as reducing your risk of dying at a young age.

 

Remaining active also improves the way you look and improves your mood. Happy people are said to live longer, so it's worth doing things that make you happy; exercising does this by releasing endorphins. Being active is also a great stress reliever, and stress is definitely a hazard when it comes to our health.

Managing stress is often easier said than done. When we're balancing various roles in our life: parent, employee, housework and social life, it seems that we are the first thing we neglect. You don't cancel that unnecessary meeting because you don't want to look unwilling or let anyone down. This build up of 'too much to do' causes stress. When we are stressed our bodies produce adrenalin, creating the fight or flight mode. Long term we can then suffer from adrenal fatigue, which weakens our immune system. By managing our stress levels, research has shown that your immune system's natural killer cell activity, is increased. Try regular meditation.

 

Diet also plays an important role on our health. By filling up on nutritious vegetables and enjoying a healthy, balanced diet, your body will be able to work at it's optimum level. When we indulge in unhealthy, sugary foods and unhealthy carbohydrates and alcohol, our body has to work harder to break down the products. A healthy diet provides us with what we need to absorb the correct nutrients and vitamins, and let's not forget to drink plenty of water too.

 

So smile, love, laugh, eat well and don't stress it and good health should be yours.