How to DIY Health

1 December 2009

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It is not a given that you must get ill as you get older. It is not a given that rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes have to keep rising. Above all else it is not the case that you need to be a "victim" of disease, especially given that 70% of the diseases in Australia are related to lifestyle. Disease is not random.

Your health is directly influenced by how you live your life. The decisions and choices you make about what you put into your body, how active you are, how much rest and relaxation you get and how you deal with stress impact on your health, vitality and wellbeing.

Air and breathing

This seems obvious – the need to breathe. The body can only last a few minutes without air, yet many people breathe in a very shallow way. Good health is enhanced by slow deep breathing. There are also health benefits to guided relaxation, mediation, yoga or other pursuits where there is focus on the breath rather than it being just on auto pilot.

Water

The body is made up of 70% water and needs constant turnover. To illustrate why the water in the body needs to turn over and move, think about a stagnant pool and a flowing river. A stagnant pond will struggle to sustain life because it has virtually no energy about it. However, a river that is flowing will sustain life and has a tremendous energy about it.

Fuels

Keep it simple. Eat mainly foods that till recently were growing somewhere or moving around. Eat foods which if not eaten this week would have to be thrown out next week. Eat food that your ancestors from 100 years ago would recognise as food.

Movement

Our bodies are not designed to be sedentary. Lack of physical activity is a major contributor to premature ageing. It has been generally accepted that as people age that they will lose muscle mass, flexibility and fitness. However this is not a given. It comes about because of lack of activity, rather than the passage of time. Have a regular activity regime that includes cardiovascular (e.g. running, swimming), resistance (use of weights) and stretching exercises.

Sleep

We spend more time asleep than any other thing we do. It is more important than food ranking only behind air and water in the body's order of needs. Yet we don't treat it with respect and may "borrow" time from sleep and forget to repay the debt. The vast majority of adults need 8 hours per night. If you need 8 and get 7 then by the end of one week you are a whole night in arrears.

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