Many people say that they don’t need health checkup, because they are feeling perfectly healthy. In reality, many diseases develop without noticeable symptoms. Cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes may arise when we least expect them. It is also important to negate some common misconceptions about healthy living:
- I exercise every day, so I have a healthy heart: It is true that physical exercise is essential to maintain our health, but it doesn’t fully guarantee healthy body. In fact, physical exercise is only one of the components in making sure that we are healthy. It is important to know that even professional athletes could have cardiovascular diseases, if they have genetics risks or high cholesterol diet. We often hear physically active people who simply dropped dead, although they look very healthy.
- Depression and anxiety are normal: We should be aware that anxiety and even mild depressions could be normal, but only if they are few and far between. We should be aware that we may have problematic mental conditions if we often lose sleep or lay awake worried about something. If this happens on a regular basis, we could eventually feel run down and tired. Medical conditions could appear on people who experience lengthy episodes of depressions. If we start to experience these symptoms, we should immediately treat the root problem by attending therapies and working with psychologists.
- I’m a long time smoker, stopping now won’t make a difference: Many people think that their body have been so loaded with tar and nicotine; that stopping right now won’t matter. However, we should be aware that stopping smoking could mean a difference between life and death. Smoking could cause various damages to our organs. Many disorders and diseases are caused by smoking, not only first hand smoking, but also second hand smoking. People who finally could stop smoking, could experience gradual health improvements. Unfortunately, kicking this habit can be among the most difficult, because people could really be addicted by constant exposure to nicotine and other chemicals in tobacco. It means we should stop smoking right now for our loved ones.
- I’m a hardworking person and this won’t affect our health: Our bodies are like machines. Constant usages and lack of maintenance could cause malfunctions start to appear. Health is often associated with life balance. Other than working, we should also have time to relax and spend quality time with our energy. In some cases, it is actually healthy to sleep 10 hours during Sunday, if we have worked really hard the previous week. We could use the remaining waking hours for physical activities and any relaxing things that may calm our mind. Burn out isn’t only non-productive, it could also be detrimental to our health. As an example, it could be both physically rejuvenating and mentally relaxing to try to perfect our golf swing during Sunday afternoon. If we are busy individuals, we should take steps to make sure that we stay healthy.