Hajra Naz
Almost everyone recognizes the importance of good health for the sake of family and self. People aspire to live healthy lives and are even willing to make adjustments to their lifestyles for better health and fitness. This is the reason the adoption of a healthy lifestyle has become an important dimension in ensuring that you continue to enjoy a good quality of life as you age.
What is a healthy lifestyle?
Before setting any plan for yourself, you need to understand what is a healthy lifestyle. It is basically a way of living that lowers the risk of being seriously ill. It is true that not all diseases are preventable but a healthy lifestyle lowers the risk of death from diseases that can be prevented. It helps you to avoid getting any heart diseases or lung cancer that cause large proportions of deaths among individuals. A healthy lifestyle is surely not just about avoiding diseases but it is also about an individual’s physical, mental, and social well-being. Once you adopt a healthy lifestyle, it provides a more positive role model for other people and encourages them to change their lives as well. For a healthy lifestyle, you need to have
- Healthy diet: a healthy diet includes the intake of healthy food such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, omega-3 fatty acids, and nuts. It makes you avoid processed food, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, sodas, and increased amount of sodium.
- Physical activity: for an active life, you need to engage in 30 minutes of physical activity every day. You can add different kinds of physical activity such as aerobics, jogging, yoga, or a simple walk in the park.
- Healthy body weight: you need to have a healthy body weight for a healthy body. Your normal body mass index (BMI) should be between 18.5 and 24.9
- No smoking: Smoking cannot be linked to a healthy lifestyle in any way; therefore, you should never smoke.
- Alcoholism: intake of alcohol should be avoided for a healthier life.
What difference does a healthy lifestyle make?
According to experts, people who live a healthy lifestyle, enjoy significantly healthier and longer lives as compared to those who don’t live healthy lives. Studies found out that people, who don’t have the healthy habits that have been listed above, are likely to die prematurely from diseases like cancer or cardiovascular diseases.
The investigators of the study also calculated the life expectancy by how many of these five habits individuals had. It was revealed that people, who had just one single habit, and matter which one it was, extended their life expectancy. This indicates that with more healthy habits a person will have a longer life he or she will have. It was also found that every year, over half of the deaths premature deaths that happen, are the result of unhealthy lifestyle factors including poor diet, inactivity, obesity, excessive alcohol intake, smoking, and longer hours of sitting.
The actual problem:
The actual issue that most people fail to understand is that they prefer taking medicines instead of changing their lifestyles. they consider treatments as easier as compared to doing a walk or exercise for lowering weight, taking stress relief medicines instead of going into nature, and staying indoors instead of going to the parks or open places. According to experts, the best way to make people adopt a healthy lifestyle is awareness on a larger scale. Such policies should be adopted that compel people to adopt a healthy lifestyle just like they are bound to abide by the rules of motorcycle helmets or seat belt legislation. Companies that are responsible for making unhealthy food should be banned for risking the lives of human beings.
Short-term and long-term benefits:
A healthy lifestyle has both short-term and long-term benefits. In the long term, adopting a healthy lifestyle can make you feel and look your best. It gives you more energy and helps to maintain a healthy weight. In the long run, a healthy lifestyle such as eating a balanced diet, doing regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight can add years to your life. It saves you from getting serious diseases such as diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases.
The best way to make a lifestyle change is to start making small changes in your daily life. You must start eating healthier food, get regular exercise, and avoid excessive sugar from your diet. Improving your lifestyle will have a great impact on your mental and physical well-being.
