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The three basics are food, sleep and exercise, though the balance depends
on age. As we get older, we tend to need less of all three. Metabolism slows with
age, so we feel less hungry; with age we become less active and therefore need
less sleep. However, all three basics are required at any age if we are to
remain relatively young and healthy throughout our allotted span.
For the
purpose of this essay, let us assume that you are a young man or woman of about
eighteen years. You have an interest in sport as well as in academic work,
preparatory to employment. You look forward to a long, active trouble-free,
healthy life. No doubt you have been inoculated against the common killers such as typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria etc. Let us also assume that you have been born with
healthy genes and have both a normal resistance to disease and a good recovery rate. You were not born
with any physical defects or handicaps which require special medical treatment. You have an average
to good health record. You wish to keep your health, even improve it.
Take food. The temptation is to overeat. Stop when you stop feeling hungry. When this is socially
difficult go without the next meal. What to eat? Try to avoid convenience foods; keep the intake of
carbohydrates, fats and sugar low. Protein builds the body without thickening the waistline. All this of
course assumes that a balanced and varied diet is available. Nobody could lecture the Ethiopian or the
refugee or the very poor on this subject. When to eat? Three meals a day should be enough for a young
man; one too many for an old man. Eating sweets, chocolates, ice creams, cakes etc between meals can
undo all your good intentions. Fresh vegetables, not over-cooked, are excellent. If you can obtain fresh
food in variety, good. Eat according to the rules, and forget food! And don't forget, ladies, that you
also need food. Too much slimming can destroy appetite and lead to the downward spiral of starvation;
anorexia.
Sleep is even more crucial than food. Eight hours per night for the young person, six to seven for
the elderly. A medium to hard bed and circulating fresh air make for the deepest sleep. Most experts
advise going to bed seasonably early, say not much after 11 p.m. The late-night film or disco should
be the exception.
A seasonable amount of exercise is essential to everybody. Most young people play sport, often team
games, football, basketball etc and this, plus walking, sunning and cycling keeps the body in tune and
sets up the kind of strength and stamina which pays dividends in later life in health. It is a mistake
to give up activity when we exchange studentship for employment. All too quickly the body
runs to
fat. Some sedentary workers are out of breath after climbing one flight of stairs. Strenuous exercise in
youth, phased down to walking, golf and swimming in later years, goes a long way to prevent heart
and respiratory problems.
Any normally healthy person, sticking to the above regime, will get healthier and stay that way. Yet,
these are three final points.
The first is to try to learn to kill needless anxiety, and to adopt a positive approach to life. Nobody
can predict the future, so day by day living, albeit with an overall plan, is required. Worry and depression, i.e. psychological weakness, can be very detrimental to health.
The second is to practice normal hygiene. Cleanliness, especially in food preparation, is essential.
Yet, nobody can create a totally sterile environment. Most of us have more built-in resistance to disease,
however, than we imagine.
Thirdly, smoking and alcohol. If you have never started, don't. However, and despite the pressure
lobbies, moderation in both has never been finally proved harmful. Field Marshal Montgomery once
boasted to Sir Winston Churchill, 'I neither smoke nor drink, and I am 100% fit'.
Churchill replied,
'I do bath, and I am 200% fit.'
Churchill outlived Monty by many years. |
