Leading A Healthy Lifestyle

In the not too distant past, protection from a whole range of serious illnesses and diseases proved to be a formidable task. Advances in medical and psychological knowledge, however, have made it possible for us to have a fighting chance in the disease war. For example, we now know that protection from many serious illnesses and diseases is possible, if we are willing to change some of our day-to-day habits of living.

Lifestyle habits contribute significantly to the onset and development of cardiovascular disease such as hypertension (high blood pressure), a major public health problem in the United States, and one that is especially chronic in certain groups, such as African-descendant Americans. Lifestyle habits are also associated with cancer, a disease that is this nation's second leading cause of death. Certain types of cancer, including lung, colon-rectal, esophageal, and liver, to name a few, are influenced importantly by poor and unhealthy dietary habits. Diabetes, particularly Type II (adult-onset), respiratory diseases, and afflictions such as migraine headaches, are examples of other ailments that correlate highly with poor health care behaviors. Finally, poor lifestyle habits contribute measurably to injuries and deaths due to automobile collisions and other accidents.

As a society, we have come to depend upon the medical community to make us well, yet even with all of our technological advances, medical science can do little to get rid of or reverse the disease process once a person has been afflicted. Managing the disease and/or minimizing the disease discomfort are the ways medical science can be particularly helpful. An effective way to deal with some diseases, however, is to prevent them from occurring, and changing lifestyle habits is often involved.

People who adopt a healthy lifestyle experience greater degrees of overall life satisfaction, positive health, and they live longer. Following, is a non-exhaustive list of factors to consider when developing a more positive, health-enhancing lifestyle.

1. Become aware of those obvious and not-as-immediately obvious situations that trigger stress and avoid, or at least minimize exposure to those situations. Stress has a way of wearing down the body's immune system thereby making people more susceptible to infection and disease. Obvious stress triggers include such things as death, divorce, change in financial status, job tensions, final exams, and the little everyday hassles. The not-as-immediately obvious stress triggers include such things as noise, poor lighting, and crowding.
2. Establish good dietary habits. It is important to eat well-balanced and nutritious meals (e.g., high fiber foods, vegetables, fruits, fish, fowl), and it is essential to moderate your intake of salts, fats, white sugar, caffeine, and alcohol.
3. Establish a pattern of regular cardiovascular exercise, taking proper precautions. Exercise can be fun, it is one of the best ways to keep all of our vital body parts functioning, and it has been shown to contribute significantly to the development of a positive mental attitude.
4. Avoid smoking, as cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of death. Smokers, as opposed to non-smokers, are at a much greater risk of dying from heart disease, respiratory disease, and cancer. Keep in mind that there are no safe cigarettes. Chewing tobacco and using snuff should also be avoided.
5. Learn how to relax. Regular use of any of the relaxation techniques (e.g., autogenic, progressive, meditation, etc.), can be useful as the body responds to each in the same way, and relaxation brings to the body enormous restorative energy. Getting enough sleep is also important.
6. Develop and maintain social supports as satisfying needs for affiliation is important. Feeling "connected" to family, friends, classmates, work colleagues and/or to community, social, political, or religious organizations plays a vital role in the maintenance of one's mental well being.
7. Finally, remind yourself that despite your wishes and desires to lead a wonderfully harmonious and self-actualized existence, conflicts inevitably arise. Expect conflicts to occur, but learn to deal with them in a head-on manner. An unnecessary emotional burden is created when conflicts are allowed to go unaddressed for too long.

Health is not simply the absence of disease, it is the state of optimal physical and mental well being. Taking personal responsibility for your health care by developing positive health behaviors is the most cost-effective way to ensure a longer, healthier, perhaps more fun, and ultimately more productive life.