Health is Wealth

Good health is one of the most important components of a happy life, but often we do not treasure it until it is gone.

Here are three tips to give you the best possible chances of maintaining good health throughout your life.

Eat well and exercise

Forget the fad diets and wellness crazes. Living a healthy life really boils down to two simple rules—eating well and exercising regularly.

Eat a balanced, mostly plant-based diet made of fresh produce, and limit your intake of processed foods like instant noodles and microwaveable meals. For best results, it is a good idea to make cooking at home a regular habit, as you then have control over what goes into your meal. Make an extra portion at dinnertime and you will have a healthy meal to eat at lunch during the workday, too.

Exercising regularly has never been more important now that so many of us work in jobs that require us to spend long hours seated. Making time to exercise several times a week is a must. Busy people can incorporate exercise into their daily schedule, such as doing yoga or hitting the gym during lunch breaks or riding a bicycle to work.

Quit smoking

Smoking is not only an expensive habit but also increases your risk of a whole host of illnesses, from obvious ones like lung cancer to less likely ones like Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, cataracts and other types of cancers. The health and financial implications of being a smoker are just not worth it.

Smokers would reap lifelong benefits by making a firm commitment to quitting today. There is a variety of self-help resources online, and threads on platforms like Reddit reveal thousands of tips from users who have successfully kicked the habit.

Other than putting in the effort on your part to quit smoking, make it a point to tell all the people around you, especially those you usually spend smoke breaks with, that you are quitting. This creates accountability and also alerts people to the need to avoid offering you cigarettes.

Go for an Annual Health Screening

The earlier a serious illness is detected, the higher your chances of making a full recovery.

So, it is important to go for a health screening at least once a year, and to ensure you are screened appropriately according to your age, gender and medical history.