Ever noticed how your body feels as you start to age? Remember how you used to party all night, and jump right out of bed the following morning like it’s nothing?
You can’t do that anymore at this age, can you? Yes, I know, all these questions are starting to make you feel old but let’s face the reality that our bodies do feel the wear and tear throughout the years. It follows a natural course and we have to accept that fact. We will grow old as the years pass us by.
Why are we talking about aging? This article will give you the reason to start working on your health and wellness goals as early as possible.
What is health?
The classical definition of health is the absence of disease but being healthy is not limited to the absence of illness alone. Good health surpasses the physical aspect, it needs to include mental and social well-being. The correct definition would be – health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. (1)
What is wellness?
Wellness, on the other hand, is defined as the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. (2) The goal is to have holistic health. This means that health is beyond what we see physically and it requires the active participation of the individual himself/herself.
To help you become more motivated to work on your health and wellness goals, here are five reasons for you!
Time is of the essence
You won’t be forever young! Time is always ticking and starting with the right lifestyle choices could lead you to success. The right habits such as having sufficient sleep, eating right, and having regular exercise could be a key to your future success.
We all know that poor daily habits early in life could lead us to failure such as dropping out of school, poor work productivity, and more. (3) This is why the early formation of health and wellness goals.
Practicing wellness goals would boost your productivity making you less stressed and energetic. This is why people become more successful than those with poor lifestyle choices!
Prevention is better than cure
Why is prevention better than cure? Well, not having the disease at all makes our lives easier rather than continuously seeking treatment. This is one big reason to work on your health and wellness goals.
Chronic diseases are easily modifiable with the right lifestyle choices. To combat chronic diseases, we should plan out our lifestyle choices.
Choosing to be well is a difficult task, hence the need for specific wellness goal-setting. The more common interventions to achieve wellness is to have the right amount of physical activity and the correct diet.
Physical inactivity is one of the more common risk factors of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, stroke, hypertension, dyslipidemia, venous insufficiency, cancer, and coronary heart diseases. (4) Having regular exercise could reduce fat deposition and also strengthens the heart and muscles. It also reduces venous stasis in the lower extremities as it supports the muscle-pumping action of the calf muscles especially in those with venous insufficiency.
Exercises are also tailored to what you would need, you just need the right motivation to work for it!
The correct diet also contributes to the prevention of disease development and progression. Diet plans such as low salt, high potassium diets could decrease the risk of hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and venous insufficiency while diabetes may be prevented by limiting refined sugar and carbohydrate intake. (5)
You could choose specific diet plans such as a vein healthy diet or a diabetic diet when you are more prone to developing venous insufficiency or diabetes, respectively.
Exercise and diet plans are just a few of your wellness goals! There are a variety of choices for you to become healthier and well.
Your health and wellness goals will affect your well-being!
The road to being healthy mostly requires physical work but its effect is not limited to the physical aspect alone, it also has a role in our emotional well-being.
After a day of work, we would often find ourselves too stressed. A drink or two would often relieve us and before we know it, we develop this habit. Instead of being dependent on alcohol for stress relief, working on your health and wellness through regular exercise, the right diet, and sufficient rest and sleep could relieve you without destroying your body.
Exercise enhances our well-being by releasing endorphins or feel-good chemicals and by taking our minds off our worries and anxieties. Regular exercise also provides a confidence boost making us feel better.
Being healthy gives you more energy!
Poor lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking, binge eating, and physical inactivity affect our energy levels. Smoking is addicting. It would often stimulate our body leaving us wide awake at night. This drains out our energy making us less productive. Like cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol also stimulates our body interfering with the quality of sleep.
Having wellness goals could keep you focused on the habits that could increase our energy levels! This prevents us from straying back from our unhealthy lifestyle choices! The transition to being health-conscious may be difficult but once our wellness goals become a routine, one would feel the difference in the energy levels.
The right goals will preserve your youth!
The last reason for you to work on your health and wellness goals is to preserve your youth! Again, we are aging and our skin will be one of the most affected organs. To stay youthful, we need to work for it! The usual right diet, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, and adequate water intake will help you maintain your skin.
Let me tell you a tip! One secret aside from exercise, diet, adequate water intake, and sleep is to bring yourself to a medical spa!
A medical spa or med spa for short is a fusion of a day spa and a medical clinic. Unlike the usual day spa, a medspa is run by a medical doctor. Your usual day spa may give you a good pampering but imagine having a doctor take care of you! I don’t know about you but I do feel safer in the hands of a doctor.
The most popular service offered by a med spa is skincare. Botox injections and spider veins treatment is also available in med spas.
Now that I have given you five reasons to start working on yourself, the ball is on your court! Your decision to turn your life around and become healthier is on you! You just have to be determined and focused.
References:
- Sartorius N. (2006). The meanings of health and its promotion. Croatian medical journal, 47(4), 662–664.
- Global Wellness Institute. (n.d.) What is wellness? Retrieved from https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/what-is-wellness/
- Kohyama J. (2016). Good daily habits during the early stages of life determine success throughout life. Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 9(3), 153–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.slsci.2016.09.002
- Booth, F. W., Roberts, C. K., & Laye, M. J. (2012). Lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases. Comprehensive Physiology, 2(2), 1143–1211. https://doi.org/10.1002/cphy.c110025
- Asif M. (2014). The prevention and control the type-2 diabetes by changing lifestyle and dietary pattern. Journal of education and health promotion, 3, 1. https://doi.org/10.4103/2277-9531.127541
