Many people in their mid-years are particularly concerned
about their health. Most will start to dedicate a bit more time for activities
to keep themselves healthy. Different people will do different things to stay
as healthy as possible so that they could enjoy their lives actively as they
move into their later years.
There are many outdoor and indoor activities, exercises, workouts and sports that people can do that may help improve their health. But then, healthy is not just about doing these activities
and doing them frequently.
You see, some people are very passionate about the sports they like … they
run marathons almost every other week. There are those who hike and trek into high mountains every
week and some who travel the world to conquer famous mountains and high base camps
several times a year.
No doubt they are very passionate with what they do but does
it make them more healthy doing it so frequently and so passionately? While they
must be healthy to hike up to the various base camps in the Himalayas … but,
whether hiking to the base camps frequently will make them any healthier,
that is questionable.
My thought is, no … that won’t make them any healthier and
if they keep pushing … on the contrary, it may cause some serious damages. But
that is the price many are willing to pay for their passion … I admire
them for their passions.
It does not mean that when you do some physical activities
regularly and consistently then you will be healthy … no, it takes more than that.
So, what it takes to be healthy?
To stay healthy, there are various
aspects to look at … such as the mental state, physical activities, daily
intakes and habitual postures.
First … the mental state has to stay active. Our minds must
always be thinking, absorbing, processing and analysing. It must be actively remembering
(memories), alerting (conscious) and creating (imagination). How to keep your
mind active? Whether it is writing, reading, thinking, meditating, reciting or playing
various mind games … that is up to the individual.
Our mental state must also be at peace and at ease. Moods
and feelings affected by stress, pressure, worries, fear, angry, misery or
depression have serious effect on our health.
Then the physical activities … this is most common to all. Some
will take up running, some cycling and others will go trekking or hiking. Many works
out at the gym, do aerobics and other exercises. There will be those who chose
indoors sports like badminton, squash, swimming, table tennis or even
basketball and some will learn tai chi, qigong or yoga. Others who like fun
and entertaining will do line dances, folk dances or other form of performing
activities.
All of them have one thing in common … to be active and healthy.
But remember, one may be very passionate about certain activity and may do it too
frequently … that is not necessarily good. Over doing it, especially the more strenuous
activities, is not healthy.
Next is daily intakes … the food that we eat every day. We often
over indulge ourselves with good tasty food and good tasty food is, more often
than not, bad for our health. So, in keeping ourselves healthy, we must be conscious
and aware about our daily consumption … what to eat more, what less … what to
avoid and what to supplement. This is a very important, as the saying goes … “we
are what we consume”.
Last but not least are the habitual postures … you see, many
are unaware that some of our everyday poses or postures like the way we sit,
stand, sleep, squat, bend, lift or carry, walk, twist and turn are not correct
and can adversely affect us in many ways. These bad poses and postures will
cause a lot of damages and harm to our joints, bones and other supporting structure
of our body. To have a healthy body framework, we must learn to correct some of
our postures. If not changed or corrected, these oblivious faulty habits can cause
long term discomfort or even injuries to our support structure as we age into the
later years.
So really … there are a few aspects that we must look at with
regards to good health … stay alert mentally, be active physically, attentive
of the daily intakes and correct the bad habitual postures so that we can enjoy
a healthy lifestyle for as long as we can.
(Hmmm … thought of something off-putting, should I write
it?)
Ahhhhhh, what the heck ... here comes the cold water!
Well … it will come a day where we will die of health related issues
… apart from those in accidents. No matter what we do, the organs will stop functioning and our health will deteriorate. And we will die of health failure … agree?
I mean, I have not heard of anyone who died healthily, have you?
