We are always taught that “health is wealth” but, in our busy schedules we have just respected wealth and forgotten about health. The busy schedules, junk food, pollution and various other factors have just spoilt our body. Lord Buddha once said, "To keep the body in good health is a duty...otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” He meant that a person is said to be healthy only if he is well physically, emotionally and mentally. The general routines have become so hectic that we merely check how we are treating our body. Through this write-up, we are trying to bring upon the focus of people on healthy living practices by including food, water, daily exercise and importance of massage. Our daily habits truly affect each other for example your exercising shall affect your sleep, then sleep will affect your food, food is directly related with water and then water again relates to exercise and physical activity. It is all inter-dependent. Thus, if one dreams to be healthy then he/she shall have to change all the habits slowly and drastically. With the motive to improve the quality of life one should follow these general steps:
Why is getting adequate sleep so important:
We should understand the fact that we are human beings, our muscles have certain ability to take stress. After some time our body gets tired and we need to rest. Not just for physical health but for mental strains and total body functioning we need to have a sound sleep.
At the time we sleep our body recovers from various things and lots of chemical secretions happen in the body which are saved for further use. You must have seen small kids sleep for long period and infants- they sleep for around more than a day. Actually sleeping helps them grow and build the muscles and bones. The more they relax the better they grow.
In general adults should sleep for around 7-9 hours in order to relieve and relax the muscles and strain to the body, whereas a school-age kid should sleep for at least 10-11 hours as their body has to perform various functions.
How to get adequate sleep:
For getting appropriate amount of sleep, one should fix up the sleeping hours as in 10-6 or 7 am. Before sleeping you should clean your face and body parts as it makes you feel lighter. Get a jug or glass of water for yourself so, that if you feel thirsty at night you should not be disturbed for a long span. Keep the light dims or just make the room dark else you should put on eye-masks. The room should be darkened because even a small amount of light may intervene in between the elements which tell your body to sleep. The most general tip to improve your sleeping habit is to exercise or massage. Massaging your head gently with some oil or just dried up finger-tips shall relax your brain muscle and make you sleep. It is proved scientifically that people who sleep less-eat more than the required calories thus, sleep can be related to your physical activity, massage and then the eating habits also.
How eating habits affect your lifestyle:
Your life is directly proportional to what you eat. To understand it in a better way, what we eat provides us the energy thus; eating junk food full of fatty oils shall just bring carbohydrates and fats with a nominal amount of energy. We need various nutrients which is only possible if we have a balanced diet looking into what we eat and how much do we need. Including high protein and fiber diet can be an added advantage but as we mentioned, balanced diet, this means everything in a balanced amount. The access of anything may make you prone to some disease also; shortage shall work in the same way. Proteins, nutrients and fats all are important in some specific amount. For a healthy body and a working immune system one should consider what they eat. Many people go over dieting to lose weight which is wrong, instead jump onto healthy lifestyle and eating habits this shall provide you the required amount of energy. You may increase physical activity; exercising and you may massage your body gently. This shall generate blood flow and make your tighten muscles a bit smoother to let the fat go off.
Water; house of nutrients and essential minerals:
Water is not just regarded as to satisfy the feeling of thirst but is a source of minerals and nutrients. The water helps to eradicate and wash off all the impurities from the body. Pure water has various essential minerals which convert harmful acids in our body into neutral substance and then removed off through urination. Drinking at least 3-8 liters of water is necessary on daily basis. It stabilizes the body temperature, removes impurities and help to get lots of nutrients. Body fluids are necessary to be maintained, our body is 65% made of water. The fluids in body perform various functions from digestion to absorption and then circulation to transporting nutrients along with the saliva.
Tap water may contain chemicals like chlorine or fluoride so, it is important to check the water source or drink water which is purified.
Significance of Stretching and Exercising:
So as to relieve your muscles from stress or strain and help them to be flexible, exercise and stretching play a significant role in this. Both the physical activities are important to keep your body healthy. They don’t just help the muscles grow, be flexible and relive stress but, also turns your body an ideal one with regards to the development and structure. But, again this depends on what you eat and in what quantity.
One can start with easy stretching and yoga before jumping onto hectic exercising and workout schedules. Our body reflects lot of things about our life-style as well as our attitude towards life. Thus, do not reflect a careless attitude.
Exercising and stretching relaxes your muscles and refreshes them. It rejuvenates and energizes so that our body can function properly for the whole day. Stretching is also important so that, the daily routines and eating habits do not put a bad impact on us. It makes the body flexible and helps blood flow; this increases oxygen content in the blood.
Massaging to keep healthy and fit:
we discussed the relevance of each essential habit that shall improve our lifestyle, massaging is amongst them. Massage is of great relevance; it not just increases blood flow but, provides required heat to the body so that it may work properly. To understand easily more is the blood flow, more oxygen is received by the body and more nutrients are received by the bones. Also, the muscles start becoming flexible and the movement of joints increases. Apart from this massage has a very good impact on our muscular system; it relaxes the muscles after hectic exercise. The muscle tension can be reduced by massaging them gently. In addition, if you are having some stress or pains (specifically headache and sleep disorder), massaging in an accurate way shall relieve the pain and may help you to recover from weakness and tiredness also.
Massaging has proved to be a boon for lymphatic, respiratory, digestive and urinary problems also. It stimulates various sleeping in-active enzymes and helps them to work well.
Massage has proved its value for female reproductive organs. The problems while menstruation can be lessened with the help of gentle massaging. You may use facial massage steps and help your brain relax this shall bring glow as well. Oil massaging your foot shall relax you from the entire tire-some jobs of the day. Rotating and massaging your shoulder, fingers and hand also are very helpful to relieve tension throughout the body.