Many people look for ways to improve their health after they receive devastating news of a critical illness. The key to a healthy life is to improve your health before you get sick. Many people already participate in preventive medical procedures. They have tests taken, scans run and blood drawn to make sure they don’t have preliminary problems that could lead to a health crisis later. An annual physical is one of those procedures that helps find problems early. Real prevention starts by making lifestyle changes to help prevent serious conditions from ever occurring.
Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death and illness.
It used to be that cigarette smoking was the reason people passed before their time, but now, it seems the Twinkee and all the other junk foods have taken over that role. Excess weight and poor eating habits can lead to a number of serious conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. It’s not just how much you eat, but what you eat that counts. Learning to eat healthier should be at the top of your list for changes to make immediately.
Healthier eating isn’t dieting.
Dieting doesn’t work. In fact, in some cases it can actually make it more difficult to lose weight. Extremely low calorie diets put your body into starvation mode, conserving calories and making weight loss more difficult. The worse problem with dieting, besides leaving you feeling deprived and hungry, is that diets always end and you go back to your old eating habits. Learning to eat healthier can help you prevent weight gain, insure weight loss and provide all the nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy.
Exercise not only builds strength and endurance, it also builds your immune system.
When you exercise, you stimulate the brain to create powerful antioxidants. If you’ve read much about antioxidants before you know they fight free radicals that can damage cells. This extra disease fighting power boosts your immune system and helps prevent serious conditions, which includes cancer and heart disease, but can also help you stave off minor illnesses too.
You’ll build endurance and strength with regular exercise, but also build flexibility. Flexibility increases your range of motion and adds to your functional fitness so you don’t injure yourself doing simple tasks.
Osteoporosis, thinning of the bones, can be prevented by doing weight bearing exercises on a regular basis. In fact, one study showed it slowed the process better than medications for it.
One study showed that a minute of exercise might increase your life by seven minutes or up to 14 for strenuous workouts. Of course, there’s a limit or everyone would live thousands of years.
Not only does regular exercise extend your life, it improves the quality of the years you gain.