Increase your life expectancy.
“Fitness” is a relative term. In this article, fitness does not mean big bulging muscles and small shriveled testicles. It does mean being free of disease and being able to perform all the activities of daily living with relative ease until one passes on the next world or return to dust, depending upon one’s believes.
The United Nations defines health a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (United Nations, 1948 #291).
Good health is the end product of having the right genes, right nutrition, right parenting, right schooling, and the right environment to grow up in. The right time begins from conception to the end of ones life. Many children are born with defects because Mothers did not eat enough because they could not afford enough or because they ate and drank the wrong things. Alcohol, cigerates, ilicit drugs and some preacribed medications are included on this list. So if you are a young female and considering raising a child consider giving up these items to give your child the best chance to grow up healthy.
Many of us are fortunate enough to have inherited all the right genes and have survived all the hazards which our mothers and fathers may have given us in the name of “my right to smoke and drink”. Mothers who smoke give birth to smaller babies. Smaller babies are more prone to many diseases in later life. Mothers who drink excessively give birth to children with fetal alcohol syndrome. If you are born healthy, thank your parents for their contribution to your good health.
Once you are born healthy it is important to start right, at an early age. By starting early, I mean that a child should start school early, my recommendation is preschool at age three. Studies show that children who attended preschool live healthier lives. How this comes about is not clear but it is a proven fact. The association between preschool and health benefits is clear. Some of the associated items are known. Children who attended preschool committed fewer crimes, took less illicit drugs, and had fewer criminal convictions. It may be that preschool education reduced the risk taking behaviors of children and adults. The jury is still out on this contentious issue.
These first three responsibilities are essentially those of one’s parents. In other words your parents may have set you up to have a long and healthy life or a shorter and miserable one. It is possible that in the next generation children will sue their parents to recover the costs of damage they have done to them. However, now the focus of this article shifts to one’s individual responsibility, our responsibility. The first thing we can do to keep your self is to eat right. We need to eat from all food groups and in the right amount. After all, I am sure we have heard the phrase, “you are the product of what you eat”. Many of us take supplemental vitamins etc to make up for our poor eating habits. This is not an adequate substitute. Artificial products, including vitamins are no substitutes for well balanced meals. Aim to eat balanced meals at all times. To date there is clear link between taking supplemental vitamins and longevity. Some vitamins are toxic in large amounts.
All of us need to avoid eating certain foods which have detrimental effects on our bodies. Red meats, beef drippings, coconut oil, palm oil, peanut oil, and eggs contain large amounts of cholesterol. These should be avoided because cholesterol leads to the formation of plaque which narrows and eventually blocks arteries.
The next item that negatively affects health is cigarette smoking. Cigarettes contain thousands of chemicals which are harmful to one’s health but I am only going to talk about the main ones only. Cigarette
Smoking predispose smokers to heart attacks, high blood pressure, pneumonias, lung cancer, peripheral vascular disease. Smoke also negatively affects children and other adults in the home.
No fitness regimen would be complete without exercise. The amount of exercise one does is not related to life expectancy. However, for optimal benefits one needs to exercise four times per week. The exercise regiment must be age and health appropriate. If you are over 40 years old and are contemplating starting an exercise program you should first consult your doctor. When exercising one needs to consider both aerobic and anaerobic components.
Last but not least, remember that the strongest and physically fittest people do not necessarily live the longest. To have a good quality of life and live long to enjoy it one needs to exercise a moderate amount, regularly.
The sooner one starts this sort of life style the sooner will one be able to start improving the quality and quantity of life. Good luck and best wishes. May the good lord bless us all with the courage to change ourselves.
