The choices we make regarding the way we live can improve or diminish our health. The way we decide to live our life is called a lifestyle. There are different types of lifestyles. Our focus will be on “Healthy Lifestyle.” According to WHO, a healthy lifestyle is a way of living that helps you enjoy more aspects of your life. It goes on to say, “Health is not just about avoiding a disease or illness. It is about physical, mental, and social well-being too. To express what WHO is saying the best way we can; To get the best comfort out of life irrespective of age, certain habits are meant to be avoided and embraced, certain food, that are meant to be eaten in the right amount and some that are not meant to be eaten due to age, certain risk factors, and terminal dangers associated. A lot of illness and death has been as a result of keeping an unhealthy lifestyle. According to WHO, 60% of related factors to individual health and quality of life are correlated to lifestyle.

Healthy lifestyle for this article will be divide into two categories; habit and diet.

Habit

Something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it–Cambridge English Dictionary. According to the definition, this is a course of action particular to you that comes naturally. Like everything, habits can be learned and unlearned. Certain habits are not healthy and as such can downgrade your health:

Smoking

Excessive alcohol consumption

Lack of exercise

Over eating (gluttony)

Sleep deprivation

Little or no water intake

Poor posture.

Smoking: Tobacco is bad to the health. There is no little or much of cigarette/tobacco intake that endangers the body. Smoking this substance has the potential ability to affect the whole body system and not just your lungs. This lead to various complications around the body that are immediate or progressive. These effects can be; lung cancer high cholesterol, infertility, erectile dysfunction, cervical cancer, heart attacks, bronchitis, early menopause, anxiety and irritability, poor vision and more. The solution here is to develop a habit of not smoking.

Excessive alcohol consumption: Over indulging alcohol is a hazard to your health. This habit can affect the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, and weaken the immune system. Alcohol intake is also a risk factor for certain cancers such as esophageal, liver, breast, colorectal, head and neck cancer to form. The recommended daily intake on an average for men is 2 drinks and 1 drink for women.

Lack of exercise: Some might term it as a lack of physical activity but while both means being active, exercise is more practical as it helps to improve muscle strength, promptly send nutrients and oxygen to tissues, helps heart and lungs work properly. This will make your body more active to undertake daily tasks efficiently. As the benefits are quite many for exercise so are the hazards more dangerous for lack of exercise. Lack of exercise gives rise to heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer affecting the bladder, breast, colon, uterus, lungs, etc.

Over eating (gluttony): Gluttony is one of the overlooked habits in Africa. We tend to eat more than the body can digest per 6 hours. The effects of gluttony can lead to obesity, impair brain function, make you drowsy and nauseous, and causes discomfort. Gluttony can also make regular exercise ineffective. The right amount of food to eat per meal differs from people to people based on their activity and goals. You can consult with our doctor or a nutritionist to know the right amount for you.

Sleep deprivation: The recommended time for sleep per day is 8 hours. Sleep is important for the body to take a break and regenerate. When the body is deprived of sleep, it becomes an issue for the body keeping up with task and activity for the next day. In as much exercise helps the body get the most out-of-body motor functions, sleeps helps to reduce wear and tear. Some health problems associated with sleep deprivation are; high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, depression, impaired brain function and lower sex drive.

Little or no water intake: The effect of not drinking enough water is constipation, abdominal pain and cramps, dull skin, fatigue, and kidney diseases. One way of knowing if the body us dehydrated is by checking the colour of urine. The concentrated the urine is the more dehydrated the body is. For the body to maintain efficient function it is recommended that on an average a man should consume 3.7 litres and a woman 2.7 litres per day.

Poor posture: Also known as postural dysfunction is when our spine is positioned in an unnatural position while we sit, stand, sleep, and eat. A lot of factors contribute to poor posture. Factors such as; work demands, unawareness of correct postures, decreased fitness, etc. The effects of poor posture can be long lasting and permanent in such that physiotherapy treatment might be the only treatment needed to correct the effect. Poor posture will increase the amount of pain a person will feel while a stance is assumed for a long time. This will also affect the ability to carry out certain efficiently over time. The earlier we notice bad postures and correct the better we eliminate the future adverse effect. Age has a way of telling how well we maintained a healthy posture in the past. As you grow older, the complications (like arthritis) increase. Effects of posture are; back pain, poor sleep, disrupted digestion, neck pain, improper digestion. You can book a consultation with our doctor or physiotherapist for more information and treatment plan.

Diet

Food and drink regularly provided or consumed–Merriam-Webster dictionary. Food is a substance that contains the nutrients needed to nourish the body and replenish body energy. Food is generally divided into 7 classes; protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water. All food items do not contain the 7 classes of food and so to get the 7 classes at most involved in your meal per sitting, food items will have to be combined appropriately to form what is termed a balanced diet. Food items that make up a balanced diet will differ per person, need and time of day. The body must get all the right nutrient at a time. Absence or presence of one or more class over the other can lead to deficiency in certain nutrients in the body leading to serious health issues such as; diabetes, problems associated with the eye, cardiovascular diseases. The absence or presence of one or more class over the other leads to getting little or much of certain nutrients which is termed malnutrition. In as much a good diet plan differs from person to person, a healthy plan will include the following as recommended by WHO.

Yes, these days it's very difficult to stick to a healthy lifestyle.
There are a lot of temptations around, very little time and a lot of work, it's hard for people to combine such a life and a healthy diet.
There is a lot of stress in everybody's life now and you need to keep yourself under control all the time and be toned up.
It can be very difficult to control.