Diet and lifestyle are important at any age, but as adults grow older, these two factors are among the most important in determining health and quality of life. Maintaining a healthy, well balanced diet can lead to good health, high energy, and longevity. Equally as important is life style which includes exercise, access to proper health care, not smoking, significant relationships, reduced stress, and spirituality.
When considering diet after the age of 50, research supports the common wisdom of eating a well balanced diet low in fat and high in fresh fruits and vegetables. Maintaining or achieving a healthy weight is especially important at this age and can contribute to a longer life. Maintaining a healthy body weight, eating low fat foods, participating in regular exercise, avoiding tobacco, and consuming alcohol in moderation are all crucial to heart health.
In addition to eating a healthy diet, avoiding tobacco products is essential to good health. Similarly, drinking more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women has been found to increase the occurrence of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
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Some people may think of exercise as something to do only when they need to lose a few pounds. But regular physical activity should be a permanent part of every man’s lifestyle. The health benefits you gain won’t last unless you exercise regularly. Here are some easy ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily routine:
- Make time for exercise every day. Get up half an hour earlier in the morning to work out. Better yet, watch television half an hour less each day and spend the time exercising.
- Work exercise into your usual routine. Stop using the elevator at work; take the stairs instead. Park a few blocks away from work or from the store and walk the extra distance.
Take the dog for a nightly walk. Push the baby in a stroller or pull your children in a wagon or on a sled for half an hour every day.
- Exercise with a friend or family member. Working out with someone is a good strategy because you can motivate each other.
- Exercise while doing other things. Lift hand weights while you are talking on the phone. Do some sit-ups or leg lifts or ride a stationary bicycle while you are watching television.
- Break up your exercise time. Exercise for three 10-minute periods throughout the day instead of one long session. The exercise benefits will remain the same.
- Draw up an exercise contract. Write down weekly fitness goals and sign the contract.
Then have a friend or family member witness it.
Don’t forget to warm up before exercising and to cool down afterward. And remember, you are making a change for the long term. Once exercise becomes a permanent part of your daily routine, it will cease being an effort and you will feel better and look better.
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Drinking regular pure water is very important for our body. Adequate drinking water is important factor to maintaining your health. This is the easiest way to incorporate into your lifestyle. With drinking a lots of pure water give opportunity to your body to avoid a major source of potential toxicity. Actually many toxins are difficult to avoid, but with simple way, drink adequate pure water, you can get good health and reducing toxins from your body.
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Drinking alcoholic beverages is an accepted social activity. Consumed in moderate amounts, alcohol relaxes you, stimulates your appetite, and produces mild euphoria. It also loosens inhibitions, making you feel more friendly and outgoing. While moderate drinking is not detrimental to your health, excessive drinking or binge drinking can eventually lead to alcoholism and other serious health problems.
Excessive drinking alcohol carries many health risks, including cancer of the liver, mouth, throat, and esophagus. Excessive alcohol consumption also increases your chances of having an accident, makes you more prone to violence, and makes you more apt to engage in risky behaviors such as illicit drug use or unsafe sex.
Alcohol affects every organ in your body, even in moderate amounts, but over consumption takes its most serious toll on the liver, heart, and brain. When you drink alcohol, some of the alcohol is absorbed in your stomach, but most enters the small intestine, where it passes into the bloodstream, which carries it throughout your body. As alcohol enters your brain, it numbs nerve cells, slowing down their ability to send messages to your body. If you continue to drink, the nerve centers in the brain may lose control over speech, vision, balance, and judgment, and you may have a blackout.
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The risk of developing lung cancer is 10 times greater for cigarette smokers than for nonsmokers. Decades of study in many countries have shown a direct link between smoking and lung cancer. Since cigar and pipe smokers do not inhale as much tobacco smoke, they have a slightly lower risk of lung cancer, but the risk is still significantly higher than it is for nonsmokers. Tar and nicotine, as well as smoke, play a role in the development of lung cancer. The risks for lung cancer increase proportionately with the number of cigarettes smoked, the length of time the person has smoked, the age at which the person started smoking, and the amount of smoke inhaled.
Other types of cancer caused by cigarette smoking include cancers of the throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, and mouth. Pipe and cigar smokers also have an increased risk for cancers of the lip and mouth. Since some of the tars in tobacco are swallowed, there is also an increased risk of stomach cancer. Respiratory diseases associated with smoking include chronic bronchitis, sinusitis, and emphysema. Each year in the United States, these diseases account for tens of thousands of deaths from respiratory failure. Cigarette smoking slows
down the action of the cilia, tiny hairlike projections that line the airways and help clean the lungs. When the cilia are immobilized, dust and dirt particles are able to invade the lungs and cause inflammation. As a result, cigarette smokers also have more chronic coughs, phlegm production, wheezing, and other respiratory symptoms. People with allergies and asthma are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of cigarette smoke.
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