Thursday, May 30, 2013

Health: ISN’T PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE?


Mumbai Mirror carried an article on the deteriorating state of health among people who are barely thirty living in Indian cities.

Click Here for the original article in Mumbai Mirror (28.4.2013)

I feel the main reason for this is the lifestyle that is led by people. Please understand that I am just citing examples and not criticising here.

Work hard, party harder

Perfect! But one must also understand the limitations of the body. Sleeping for a minimum of eight hours is a must. Keeping your electronic gadgets at least a few feet away from you, while sleeping, is most important.

When you socialise, it’s not always necessary that you have to guzzle down hard drinks like there is no tomorrow. There are those who say that beer is harmless. In the long run, it most definitely is. Train yourself to enjoy your drink and just have a peg or two if you really must. I understand that drinking gives you a high, but it also wears out your body in a horrible way. Okay, after all this, you do continue to drink day after day – please have at least four to five litres of water every day. I can just hear someone argue that “Arre, already I am drinking so much fluid, why the hell should I add to it with water too?” Do understand that alcohol dehydrates the system. All the more reason for you to drink an extra litre of water every day!

Balanced meals on time

After a late night with a heavy dinner that was consumed at around 2 am, it’s very difficult to face breakfast at 8 or 9 am. Tough luck! You chose to party. If you miss this meal because you got up late or felt like puking, you are abusing your body.

There are those who are so deep into their work that they just don’t have the time to stop for lunch. Why? You understand you need to work hard to have a great career. Then, don’t you understand that you need to feed your body to make it work, especially to the limits that you stretch it? Check out brain foods and eat those more than food that is required for the physique. That might help you if you are sitting in front of your computer most of your waking hours.

Have your dinner by 7 or 8 pm at the most and try to snack lightly if you are out fraternising at night.

Regular Exercise

You hit the gym at least five times a week or go walking, running, jogging or whatever that suits you. This keeps you fit and helps you go that extra mile – literally and figuratively. This keeps your body well conditioned – your muscles, nerves, your blood circulation and your heart. It also ensures you don’t gain that extra fat that is so harmful to your system.

Yoga and meditation

Yeah, I just heard a lot of you groan. Who has the time? Well, if you fall ill and are forced to be hospitalised at the young age of 30 or 40, can you argue with the doctor that your work or social life is suffering? You don’t have a choice but to drop everything and get stuck in bed round the clock. From that perspective, I am sure you are able to understand the value of yoga and meditation. Just 10 minutes of your time for a few Surya Namaskars and another 10 minutes for either Pranayama or Chakra Meditation – every day of the week – can do wonders to prevent sickness from attacking your system.

What these processes do is to strengthen your aura. Any illness first touches one’s aura and takes at least a few months to reach the physical body. If you have a strong aura, it can absolutely stop the disease from ever reaching your physical body. It’s the truth.

Yoga and meditation also help relieve stress which is the main culprit for hypertension and high blood pressure and all kinds of heart disease.

Don’t pop that pill!

Have a cold? Take Action 500 or Crocin or whatever! Stomach upset? There are loads of medicines out there to stop it. Fever? The chemist has a variety to offer! Headache tho hona hi hai - what with lack of sleep and dehydrated bodies! Wake up with a hangover, pop a pill and rush to work without eating or drinking anything.

This is the shortest route to the hospital. To begin with, these pills break down your body’s immune system. Yes, the body is created with its own immune system that works very well.

When you have indigestion, your stomach gets upset. Give it a rest and allow it to spill its guts – literally. Have a lot of fluids and avoid eating heavy food. Having methi seeds, chaas, coconut water and pomegranate juice can do wonders. And have a lot of water! If your stomach upset does not stop within a couple of days, visit your doctor. If you take a tablet to stop your stomach from clearing itself, you are forcing it to find other methods and that’s when you come up with a major sickness.

Fever usually suggests that there is something wrong with your system. Instead of finding out what it is, you try to cure the symptom with pills. The fever goes away but what about the original illness that had caused the fever? That’s still very much there in your body. Keep doing this repeatedly and why are you surprised when you land up in bed?

A common cold happens when your system is heated up. This is your body’s way of cooling down. There is this common saying that a cold remains with you for a week at least – whether you take medicines or not. Try to have hot soup or rasam and treat it with freshly cooked food. Why bother with pills that abuse your body?

Headaches happen mainly due to dehydration. If you have a bottle of water, the headache usually disappears. Sometimes, it is due to stress. Well, yoga and meditation definitely help. Maybe you are just hungry and the body is craving for fuel and that’s why your head is hurting. You need to be observant. You can’t allow your body to remain without food for more than 4-6 hours, unless you are sleeping. Too many fizzy sodas also dehydrate the body and create headaches.

Click Here to read about how to understand your body.

Alternate Cures

To my knowledge, I find that unless it’s an emergency, alternate cures work better than allopathic medicines. More so, when the treatment is prolonged like in the case of diabetes or the heart. Homeopathy  or Ayurveda medicines – after consulting a doctor, of course – don’t have harmful side effects. You can’t beat nature cures.

Click Here to know about the Wonder Seed Methi.

Click Here to know about the value of Lemon & Water.

Click Here to know about how your body is nourished with Water.

In the long run, I am sure you will all agree with me when I say that Prevention is better than Cure as this involves the least wear and tear on this wonderful body that we are born with.

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