When your health foundation is rock solid, you have a higher probability of enjoying a good quality of life.
OUR health is akin to a house. True health is three layered, the core of which is spiritual health. The middle layer is mental health and the most exposed surface is physical health.
I am not qualified to dwell on the struggles of spirituality, but certainly, I have had my fair share of dealings with the hurricanes and devastation of the latter two.
The four pillars of true health that needs to be balanced are exercise, lifestyle and habits, things we do not get enough of in our diet (balanced micronutrients), and last but not least, what we stuff ourselves with, which is more often than not, too much of what the body doesn’t need, the consequence of our gastronomic passions.
Exercise
Exercise is an integral component of true health. It is essentially a planned regimen of physical activities devoted to mental and physical well-being.
Washing the car, mopping the floor, and running errands cannot be considered as ideal forms of exercise. These are stressful activities and naturally evoke the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which are not “friendly”.
In contrast, during periods of programmed physical activities, our brain releases a mood elevating substance called endorphin (related to morphine), which gives us the “runner’s high”. Interestingly, the release of this same chemical is triggered by chilli consumption and orgasm. Chillies, hot sex, and exercise have one thing in common: the feel-good factor.
There is no reason to run 30 miles a week. Brisk walking for 30 minutes a day suffices. The benefits of exercise include greater joint mobility, flushing the circulatory system, increase bone strength, and a general feeling of well-being. A typical routine should include muscle-stretching, muscle-toning, and aerobics. Sudden exertive maneuvres without proper warm-up can tear certain structures, as we do get “tender with age”.
Once the good habit is cultivated, exercise becomes addictive.
Lifestyle
Sleep is like a ship docking for maintenance. Even machines need a rest. There is no dispute to the fact that sleep deprivation certainly drains you, mentally and physically.
Scientists are sometimes a curious bunch. Some proposed the concept of sleep debt, like a financial account. If one is short of sleep today, “pay back” the next day. Jim Horne, a foremost sleep researcher, suggests in the journal Sleep that sleep debt is a myth.
An infant needs 18 hours of sleep a day, a teenager should get in eight to10 hours, and an adult and elderly about seven to eight hours a day.
Sleep allows the body to repair itself and regenerate enzymes to get ready for the onslaught of the following day. Sleep deprivation leads to daytime drowsiness, irritability, and certainly the bags and wrinkles would appear earlier.
Stress in life is unavoidable. It affects us all from the cradle to the grave, and comes from all directions – domestic, environmental, occupational, financial, just to name a few. Life would be mundane without stress.
Some experience emotional anguish when the handling mechanisms break down. The backlash of the physiological upheaval leads to mild irritability, psychological impairment, hypertension, stomach ulcers, cardiovascular diseases and compromised immune system.
During acute stress, the body reacts by producing adrenaline and cortisol. These stress hormones quicken the heart rate, heighten anxiety, and pump up the blood pressure, getting the body ready to “fight or flight”. Many people who are constantly stressed succumb easily to repeated infections like the common cold as the immune system is weakened.
Stress, whether real or perceived, is a part of life. To one person, the issue might be a small matter, while to another, it is a matter of life or death. Over the years, I have observed that part of the reason why there’s much unhappiness and poor health is that many of us have become tunnel-visioned and have misplaced our priorities. We seem to see only the problems and are blind to the good things around us.
Wisdom from a great teacher taught me to package and store things of the past – both good and bad – live your life well today, and look forward to a better tomorrow. It is pointless to dwell on the negative experiences, but more fruitful to plant positive thoughts as new seeds of the mind. If we were unhappy yesterday, unhappy today, it is a certainty that unhappiness awaits us tomorrow, unless we change the way we send signals to the brain. Stress is the thread linking a “dys-eased” mind to disease.
Smoking and excessive alcoholic consumption are habits that score no points in the quest for better health. The long list of health consequences extends from lung disease, stomach ulcers, and heart disease right down to cervical cancer.
It is not just nicotine causing the damage but a host of carcinogens that induce free radical onslaught at the cellular level. Women smokers should be aware of the risk of cancer of the cervix being doubled, especially in the presence of the human papillomavirus.
As for alcohol, a glass of wine a day does give you a small amount of antioxidants (resveratrol and proanthocyanidin). I know of some who went on to tilt the glass a little too much, ending in liver disease. The message here is, do not drink if you don’t; and take a small glass of red wine, if you have to.
Food
We eat out of pleasure rather than survival, and the selection of the meal of the day depends on the whims and fancies of our taste buds rather than nourishment of the body. We take in too much of the wrong things and too little of the right.
We are what we eat. Too much of the wrong stuff is the perfect recipe for chronic diseases.
Let’s for a brief moment revisit the purpose of food, which are called macronutrients. Carbohydrates provide the primary source of fuel that drives the body around and in terms of calories, should constitute 50% to 60% of the total energy value in our diet.
Proteins are not readily available as energy but provides the body with raw materials to maintain muscles, organs, skeletal tissues, hormones, cellular components, and enzymes. In terms of calories, it should contribute 15% to 25%.
Dietary fats should contribute 15% to 20% in terms of caloric value.
Unfortunately, it is not so straightforward. Our diet comprises too much saturated fat and transfat, which greatly contribute to heart disease and a myriad of inflammatory disorders. The healthy mediterranean diet is well known for being high in consumption of olive oil, which is monounsaturated fat.
Adults need 20g to 30g of fibre a day. Both forms, soluble and insoluble fibres, are recommended. Whenever we refer to fibre, most people think of constipation. However, the benefits of insoluble fibre include reduction of cholesterol level and reduced absorption of sugar. Insoluble fibre gives bulk to stools and acts like a brush, cleansing the intestines.
Cellular micronutrients
The human cell is the basic unit of life. The mystery of health and disease, life and death, lies here. It is a complex entity with thousands of functions, including many metabolic processes like production of energy, cloning enzymes, repair, detoxification, etc.
To enable these reactions, raw materials and co-factors are needed. Hence human cells need a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals, known as essential nutrients, as they have to be obtained from the diet.
Today, with the high level of stress, toxins, highly processed foods, and convenient fast foods, our nutrient needs are higher. In fact, after World War II, a benchmark standard for essential nutrients was established, known as the RDA (recommended daily allowance). It served to guide our intake of the minimal level of nutrients to prevent deficiency diseases like scurvy, beri-beri, night blindness, etc. The RDA is largely outdated today, except in some poorer countries where nutritional status is still below par.
A much higher level has been established, known as optimal level, which is many times higher than the RDA. This is the level known to retard degenerative disease, reduce oxidative stress, and slow down biological ageing. Antioxidants and phytonutrients are the frontline defence against free radicals and inflammation.
Essential fatty acids like omega 3 and 6 are also needed by our body, but our diet has too much omega 6, which in excess is pro-inflammatory. Food sources rich in omega 3 are cold water fatty fish, flax seed oil, soya, and walnut oil. However, the actual amount of omega 3 fatty acid derived from vegetable sources is minimal.
The four pillars uphold our health. Weakening any one of them is detriment to health. Most people know exactly what the message is. The question is, how much do we understand and more importantly, how much of the script are we willing to follow?
Staying healthy demands more than a little effort, but rest assured, it is well worth it.
