Healthy lifestyle

HEALHTY LIFESTYLE

HOW TO STAY FIT AND WEALHTY

The World Health Organisation in 1946 defined health as ‘A complete state of mental, physical and social well-being not merely the absence of disease’. Wikipedia defines a lifestyle as the way a person lives. This includes patterns of social relations, consumption, entertainment, and dress. A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual’s attitudes, values or worldview. A healthy lifestyle is generally characterized as a “balanced life” in which one makes “wise choices”. A final definition of lifestyle is: The aggregation of decisions by individuals which affect their health, and over which they more or less have control.

Scientists say that in the future people will live longer. With healthier lifestyles and better medical care the average person will live to 90 or 100 instead of 70 and 75 like today. When the human genome is decoded, we'll probably live up to 150. Incurable diseases will be cured and "bad" genes replaced. But that's tomorrow. And today, we continue to stuff ourselves with fast food — chips and pizzas, hamburgers and hot dogs. We are always in a hurry. We have no time to enjoy a home-cooked dinner with family and friends. We want to eat now and we want to eat fast. What is tasty is not always healthy. Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, cola spoils our teeth and coffee shortens our lives.

If we eat too much, and besides a lot of unhealthy food so we'll become obese, and obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses. But the world today is getting fatter and fatter. America is the world's leader in obesity, but Europe is quickly catching up.

Lack of exercise is another serious problem. We spend hours in front of our computers and TV-sets. Few of us do morning exercises. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport. Research shows, however, that young people who don't take enough exercise often suffer from heart attacks. Physical inactivity is a primary cause of most chronic diseases.

It's common knowledge that smoking and drinking can shorten our lives dramatically. Cigarette-smoking, for example, kills about 3 million people every year. Many of them die from lung cancer. Some aren't even smokers. They are people who live or work with heavy smokers. Yet many young people smoke and drink. Why? One answer is that tobacco and drinks companies invest enormous sums of money in advertising their products. For them cigarettes and alcoholic drinks mean money. For us they mean disease and even death. We all know that the healthier we are, the better we feel. The better we feel, the longer we live. So why not take care of ourselves?

To become a healthier person, you should follow some rules: Get a lot of sleep. Sleep is food for the brain and the rest for our muscles. If you sleep little, you will look bad, feel bad and work poorly. Teens need about 9 hours of sleep every night. Moreover we should avoid getting nervous or worried for no reason.

Eat healthy food. Healthy eating habits are very important for our health. A balanced diet should include different kinds of products, such as Dairy products : milk, cheese, cottage cheese, sour-cream Meat: pork, mutton, lamb, poultry, beef Frui t: peaches, pineapples, oranges, bananas Vegetables: beetroots, cauliflower, peаs, pepper, cabbage, leek, onions Grains : bread, wheat, corn, buckwheat You should try to eat more homemade food and less junk food or fast food. People, who eat fast food, can become overweight. Fast food has a lot of additives, flavorings and preservatives.

Keeping fit and going in for sports is also important for our health. Lack of exercise in our life is a serious problem. In big cities people spend hours sitting in front of computers, TV-sets and other gadgets. So , do exercises. To be healthy and fit a person should exercise more. It’s possible to lose weight and become fitter just doing regular exercises. You can jog every morning or do stretching exercises in the evening. We certainly don’t have to be professional sportsmen, but we should visit fitness clubs, go jogging, walk much, swim, go cycling or roller-skating or just dance. Doctors say that regular moderate physical activity is necessary for our body because it protects us from strokes and heart diseases, flue and obesity.

Say no to addictions. There are two types of addiction – substance addiction and behavioral addiction. People can become addicted to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sniffing glue or petrol. They can also be addicted to gambling or playing computer games.

Healthy living is within your reach, start today!