Starting from the understanding that prevention is better than cure, here are a few simple habits that can help you stay healthy for longer.
- Keep moving, ie, keep yourself active. This does not mean running almost beyond what your cardiovascular system can take. Just a 30 minutes “walk” almost every day of the week should be enough.
- Get enough Sleep. Try to get at least 7h of sleep every night. This will help you with your performance, and that sounds sort of obvious to many of us at least, but what is less obvious is that it also has a direct correlation with keeping a healthy immune system.
- Eat well. The human body is like an advanced machine, which is somehow active all the time (even while you sleep), and in the process consumes energy and produces waste.
- Breath enough fresh air.
- Manage and Reduce Stress, particularly chronic stress.
- Plan Regular Check-ups.
Let’s briefly touch on each of the habits mentioned above.
1. Keeping Yourself Active
There has been quite a bit of research done on the health benefits of exercise in general, and particularly on the correlation between intensity of exercise and health effects. In the article “The multifaceted benefits of walking for healthy aging: from Blue Zones to molecular mechanisms“, published on July 2023, the authors point out “numerous health benefits” of physical activity with different degrees of intensity. According to the authors, walking reduces the risk (or severity) of a number of cardiovascular diseases, as well as the risk of type 2 diabetes, dementia, and other medical conditions.
More recently the World Health Organization, in an online publication, stresses that “physical inactivity puts adults at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancers such as breast and colon.”
Another recent study, for a specific segment of the population, also correlates longevity with physical activity, and suggests that people could add extra years to their life by just consistently reaching a certain level of physical activity.
2. Get Enough Sleep
Research on sleep quality and sleep monitoring has been able to associate insufficient sleep (in quality and quantity) with several chronic medical conditions and with increased mortality.
A recent research involving more than 6000 participants, uses data from wearable devices to associate sleep patterns and stages with health outcomes, and explicitly shows a link between certain sleep related variables and medical conditions such as hypertension, obesity, atrial fibrillation, and other.
3. Eat well
The human body is very dynamic, to the point that it is not too far fetched to say we are someone different every day. Metabolic processes continuously occur in our body, and some consume and other release energy and substances. Cells die and new cells replace them, and so there is tissue renewal happening in many areas in our body, for most of our lives. So, the quality of the food we eat, the type of food we eat, and the amount we eat will have an impact on the state of our body, as that, together with what is already in our “storage”, provide the “building blocks” for all the repairing that is constantly happening.
Same as we would not want to use bricks with cracks for any repairing in our own houses, we should care about what we allow inside our bodies. Furthermore, some of the wrong food we consume can cause or accelerate damage in our body.
While we do not have a 100% clear picture of what is good and what is bad, or whether what is good, is really good for everybody or only for certain groups of people, in general research shows that regularly eating well balanced meals, with enough fresh vegetables and fruits, a portion of proteins, some low fat yoghurt, as well as coffee or tea (not more than 4 cups), but not much salt, sugar, fats, or preservatives that we get in a lot of processed food, is likely to be the best receipt for healthy eating.
The above combination is likely to provide enough fiber and general nutrients (aminoacids, minerals, some sugar and fats), anti-oxidants to help prevent oxidative damage at molecular level, as well as the tiny amounts we require of essential chemicals (chemicals our body needs but does not produce) such as vitamins (vitamin A, C, D and other) and certain fatty acids.
A systematic review published in 2017 in the International Journal of Epidemiology, of the link between fruit and vegetable intake and risk of certain diseases and risk of death, concludes there is a strong link, and recommends increase fruit and vegetable intake for the prevention of those diseases.
4. Breath enough fresh air
As with the food we consume, the quality of the air we breath also has a very important impact on our health. The most obvious is the fact that through breathing we obtain the oxygen our cells require, and get rid of the carbon dioxide produced by certain metabolic processes in our body.
But breathing also has implications in several other aspects of our health, from lungs and heart function, to cognitive functions, stress management and even proper functioning of our immune system.
5. Manage and Reduce Stress
Stress is often either a hidden or an underestimated enemy. Many people do not realize the impact it has on their health.
6.Plan Regular Check-ups
Even if we do all we can to stay healthy, there are so many variables that are out of our control, such as genetic factors, germs, radiations, and other, that we do not have the certainty that everything is fine. Everything could just look fine, and yet a dangerous illness could be developing but in its early stages it might not result in symptoms.
Combined effect of the above factors
Several of the habits mentioned above, will also have a positive impact on your intestinal flora and/or immune system, further helping by keeping away harmful germs, keeping your digestive system healthy, and in doing so, contributing additional vitamins and reduced strain to our bodies.
References
- Ungvari, Z., Fazekas-Pongor, V., Csiszar, A. et al. The multifaceted benefits of walking for healthy aging: from Blue Zones to molecular mechanisms. GeroScience 45, 3211–3239 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-023-00873-8.
- World Health Organization (WHO) News release, published 26 June 2024, https://www.who.int/news/item/26-06-2024-nearly-1.8-billion-adults-at-risk-of-disease-from-not-doing-enough-physical-activity
- Veerman, L., et al. (2024). Physical activity and life expectancy: a life-table analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2024/10/07/bjsports-2024-108125
- Zheng, N.S., Annis, J., Master, H. et al. Sleep patterns and risk of chronic disease as measured by long-term monitoring with commercial wearable devices in the All of Us Research Program. Nat Med 30, 2648–2656 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03155-8
- Aune D, Giovannucci E, Boffetta P, Fadnes LT, Keum N, Norat T, Greenwood DC, Riboli E, Vatten LJ, Tonstad S. Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality-a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Int J Epidemiol. 2017 Jun 1;46(3):1029-1056. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyw319. PMID: 28338764; PMCID: PMC5837313.
To be continued… :-).