Benefits Of A Healthy Lifestyle

What is a Healthy Lifestyle?

I and many others are promoting the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, but what does that actually mean?

In general, most would agree that a healthy person doesn’t smoke, is at a healthy weight, eats a balanced healthy diet, thinks positively, feels relaxed, exercises regularly, has good relationships, and benefits from a good life balance.

Maybe I should start by trying to look at a few definitions for the word – lifestyle. A definition in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says : ‘A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group’.

In an Encyclopedia of Public Health: Lifestyle is defined as: In public health, “lifestyle” generally means a pattern of individual practices and personal behavioural choices that are related to elevated or reduced health risk’.

The World Health Organisation in 1946 defined health as ‘A complete state of mental, physical and social well-being not merely the absence of disease’.

Wikipedia: defines a lifestyle as the way a person lives. This includes patterns of social relations, consumption, entertainment, and dress. A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual’s attitudes, values or worldview. A healthy lifestyle is generally characterized as a “balanced life” in which one makes “wise choices”.

A final definition of lifestyle is: The aggregation of decisions by individuals which affect their health, and over which they more or less have control.

What is the definition of Healthy Living?

The World Health Organization (WHO), defines Health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not simply just the absence of disease.

The actual definition of Healthy Living is the steps, actions and strategies one puts in place to achieve optimum health.

Healthy Living is about taking responsibility for your decisions and making smart health choices for today and for the future. So healthy living would consist of:

Physical (For The Body)

• Good Nutrition, Eating Right

• Getting Physically Fit, Beneficial Exercise

• Adequate Rest

• Proper Stress Management

Emotional Wellness (For The Mind)

• Self-Supportive Attitudes

• Positive Thoughts and Viewpoints

• Positive Self-Image

You Also Need to Give and Receive

• Forgiveness

• Love and Compassion

• You Need to Laugh and Experience Happiness.

• You Need Joyful Relationships With Yourself and Others.

Spiritual Wellness

• Inner Calmness

• Openness to Your Creativity

• Trust in Your Inner Knowing

And all aspects of one’s self, must work in harmony to achieve wellness, so you need to create a balanced life.

Why is it Important?

Ahealthy lifestyle is a valuable resource for reducing the incidence and impact of health problems, for recovery, for coping with life stressors, and for improving quality of life. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows our lifestyles play a huge part in how healthy we are. From what we eat and drink, to how much exercise we take, and whether we smoke or take drugs, all will affect our health, not only in terms of life expectancy, but how long we can expect to live without experiencing chronic disease.

Conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, joint disease, and mental illness are responsible for a vast number of deaths and disabilities. Currently, we rely almost exclusively on the provision of clinical care by highly trained health professionals as our major strategy to deal with these conditions. Many health problems can be prevented or at least their occurrence postponed by having a healthy lifestyle.

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