There are certain areas of our health we are always thinking about. Weight for instance, seems to constantly be on our minds.
Did I lose enough pounds after that Christmas feast? Am I eating too much? For many people (and I have been guilty of this as well) this isn’t namely a concern about whether we’re healthy. It’s more an interest of whether we feel we look good (or our best at a certain weight.)
While these two concepts may overlap, it’s important to realize they’re not the same thing. For instance you can have a person that may weigh more than someone of their same gender and age solely because they have a slower metabolism.
On the other side, you could have someone weighing less, with a more toned figure which may partially be attributed to their genetics. Who is healthier in this scenario?
Many people would automatically assume the person with a more toned body because of the mindset society has helped instill when it may be the exact opposite in terms of blood pressure, cholesterol and more.
This post addresses the healthy thoughts we should be having towards our bodies to help ensure its welfare and our long-term health and wellness.
Body Health (Not to be Confused with Body Weight)
You may think that if you head to the gym once a day you’ve got things covered, and you certainly are on a great path for your health and wellness. But there is a dramatic difference between being physically fit and physically healthy.
You could actually be doing more harm than good if you exercise too frequently. There are multiple ways that exercising can actually be bad for you if you do it to excess.
Whether it be not consuming enough calories and fainting, using unnatural diet supplements or any other major changes, we should always consult our doctors before shifting our routine and diet in a dramatic way.
Liquid diets and cleanses at one point reached popularity of somewhat epic proportions.
It’s also important to realize how dangerous this an be if you won’t be giving your body what it needs to complete the intense levels of exercise you’re putting it through.
Exercise related problems don’t always present themselves with someone passing out dramatically.
They may instead just start burning muscle instead of fat. Doing this can potentially weaken your body and be a detriment to your current level of physical fitness.
Perhaps you follow celebs on Instagram who seem to be constantly working out which causes you to believe the same behavior is acceptable for you.
There are long term effects to a regimen like this that you’re not aware of the consequences it may have on your own body and running can be a prime example of this.
If you run every day you’re most likely keeping your body in great shape, right? Partially, but running puts immense stress on your joints.
Because of this, many people (myself included) alternate between running, cycling, elliptical and more to give certain areas of our body a rest in between workouts.
Set the Right Diet Mindset
We’re still thinking about the body and this time it’s the diet where we make our mistakes. We’ve already talked about liquid diets but what about so called supplements that are not regulated by the FDA?.
While some are beneficial towards your long-term health, there are others that can be damaging your health and it also depends how you take them.
We should not rely on supplements as our key source of vitamins and minerals, neglecting to care about all else we are eating and drinking.
Eating three balanced meals each day (with healthy snacks throughout,) and incorporating raw fruits and vegetables and plenty of water is a healthier approach.
We also want to avoid cutting things out of our diet completely.
Dairy, meat, salt and even wine are all things people have flirted with cutting out of their diets completely. But measured amounts of each of these can actually benefit our health.
Red wine, for example provides a host of health benefits beyond helping us relax after a particularly trying day at work.
White Teeth, Terrible Oral Health
You can have white teeth and still have terrible oral health. In some instances this can be because people have bleached or whitened their teeth with less than natural types of treatments.
This isn’t going to protect your teeth from damage, it’s may instead just mask the warning signs. One well-known rumor of this particular scenario is with Charlie Sheen.
Disclaimer: I have no idea whether or not these claims are true, and by including them in this post I am in no way promoting them.
While some it has been widely reported that certain celebrities teeth are fake and they have a perfectly white smile on tv, it can be due to bleach and slowly but surely underneath that treatment their teeth rotting.
That’s why we should be cautious about teeth whitening treatments.
Or looking in the mirror and thinking your teeth must be healthy because they are white. Before long you might wake up with a bit of aching and realize you need some sort of dental nightmare an emergency root canal.
Another tip would be to always make sure that you are regularly visiting the dentist. There are plenty of people who avoid heading to the dentist like the plague.
I can understand why because usually, it’s not a nice experience (my own orthodontic experiences are ones I’d rather not recount truthfully.)
It’s important for us to understand dentists have bigger jobs than providing lectures to people about brushing and they are checking your mouth for severe oral health issues. Problems such as gum disease and in rarer cases, oral cancer. The symptoms of which we won’t always notice the signs of.
Lumps And Bumps
Speaking of signs that we don’t understand there’s the issue of different lumps and bumps on the body.
At some point, most of us will find something on our body that wasn’t there before, and it will terrify us to the point of booking a doctor’s appointment. In most cases, these issues are going to be nothing to worry about.
Some symptoms can occur so frequently that you begin to think it’s always going to be nothing. Or, you stop checking to avoid sending yourself into a terrified state.
It’s understandable and yet still an illogical to take this approach. You need to keep checking your body for changes, and in some cases, you do need to head to a doctor.
The rule of thumb is two weeks. If a problem hasn’t magically disappeared in two weeks, head to see your doctor (but please always consult your doctor, again this is not a blog run by a licensed medical professional.)
At worst it will be a false alarm, and that’s pretty much what you want to hear anyway and there’s no need to feel stupid when you’re lying on the table.
Protect The Skin You’re In
We are told every year that exposure to sunlight can cause cancer. Yet every year we head out into the sun without any protection and allow it burn us.
Some people even use tanning beds while others have opted for the safer choice of tanning spray, all to look good. Even going out in normal sunlight could expose you to dangers of cancer?
I’m not talking about the blistering heat of sunlight in Greece here. I mean any sun in September while wandering the streets of even Boston could do extensive damage. Experts actually recommend that you always put sunblock lotion on, no matter the season if you’re out in the sun.
With that in mind you should definitely be protecting your body during the hottest season of the year but most people don’t.
To get the best tan you have to burn, a surprising number of people claim. Tanning is one of the silliest ways to damage your health and it’s also one of the easiest to avoid. Stay sun safe please!
Utilize Technology to Your Advantage
Lastly, let’s think about tech. Do your research online and you’ll find some incredible evidence that tech can be dangerous.
Again, a myth that had not been medically verified, but some say even the laptop that you probably have resting on your knee could make you infertile.
The phone that you press to your head? That it may lead to your getting a brain tumor and the list goes on. There’s massive amounts of research into these possibilities with startling factors presented through studies.
But people don’t stop using the tech (or altering their patterns) nor will they even after becoming aware of the dangers. How can we? Our entire world revolves around tech these days.
At this point you may think, well okay then, what doesn’t won’t my health? I could walk out the door and get hit by a bus tomorrow!
There are a multitude of ways we expose ourselves to health risks every day. That’s why we can’t afford to do things that damage our health and are completely avoidable.
Be well, be conscious of how you treat your body, and consult your doctor as needed on a regular basis.
