How can we as
individuals become healthier?
The three
basics are food, sleep and exercise, though the balance depends on age. As we
get older, we tend to need less of all three. Metabolism slows with age, so we
feel less hungry; with age we become less active and therefore need less sleep.
However, all three basics are required at any age if we are to remain
relatively young and healthy throughout our allotted span.
For the purpose of this essay,
let us assume that you are a young man or woman of about eighteen years. You
have an interest in sport as well as in academic work, preparatory to
employment. You look forward to a long, active trouble-free, healthy life. No
doubt you have been inoculated against the common killers such as
typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria etc. Let us also assume that you have been born
with healthy genes and have both a normal resistance to disease and a good
recovery rate. You were not born with any physical defects or handicaps which
require special medical treatment. You have an average to good health record.
You wish to keep your health, even improve it.
Take food. The temptation is to
overeat. Stop when you stop feeling hungry. When this is socially difficult go
without the next meal. What to eat? Try to avoid convenience foods; keep the
intake of carbohydrates, fats and sugar low. Protein builds the body without
thickening the waistline. All this of course assumes that a balanced and varied
diet is available. Nobody could lecture the Ethiopian or the refugee or the
very poor on this subject. When to eat? Three meals a day should be enough for
a young man; one too many for an old man. Eating sweets, chocolates, ice
creams, cakes etc. between meals can undo all your good intentions. Fresh
vegetables, not over-cooked, are excellent. If you can obtain fresh food in
variety, good. Eat according to the rules and forget food! And don't forget,
ladies, that you also need food. Too much slimming can destroy appetite and
lead to the downward spiral of starvation; anorexia.
Sleep is even more crucial than
food. Eight hours per night for the young person, six to seven for the elderly.
A medium to hard bed and circulating fresh air make for the deepest sleep. Most
experts advise going to bed seasonably early, say not much after 11 p.m. The
late-night film or disco should be the exception.
A seasonable amount of exercise
is essential to everybody. Most young people play sport, often team games,
football, basketball etc. and this, plus walking, sunning and cycling keeps the
body in tune and sets up the kind of strength and stamina which pays dividends
in later life in health. It is a mistake to give up activity when we exchange
studentship for employment. All too quickly the body runs to fat.
Some sedentary workers are out of breath after climbing one flight of
stairs. Strenuous exercise in youth, phased down to walking, golf and swimming
in later years, goes a long way to prevent heart and respiratory problems.
Any normally healthy person,
sticking to the above regime, will get healthier and stay that way. Yet, these
are three final points. The first is to try to learn to kill needless anxiety,
and to adopt a positive approach to life. Nobody can predict the future, so day
by day living, albeit with an overall plan, is required. Worry and depression,
i.e. psychological weakness, can be very detrimental to health.
The second is to practice normal
hygiene. Cleanliness, especially in food preparation, is essential. Yet, nobody
can create a totally sterile environment. Most of us have more built-in
resistance to disease, however, than we imagine. Thirdly, smoking and alcohol.
If you have never started, don't. However, and despite the pressure lobbies,
moderation in both has never been finally proved harmful. Field Marshal
Montgomery once boasted to Sir Winston Churchill, 'I neither smoke nor drink,
and I am 100% fit'.
Churchill replied, 'I do bath, and I am 200% fit.' Churchill outlived Monty by many years.