No matter how far modern technology and science have gotten today, there is still no fountain of youth or a magic pill to help us live longer than expected. Poor health life choices can cut years from your life without you even realizing it.
Even if we aren’t going to be able to live until the age of 90, don’t we all want to be as comfortable as possible while aging? Problems like arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, and incontinence are miserable conditions that severely decrease the quality of life. As we age, we should look forward to living in tranquility without having our health issues dominate our lives.
Taking care of ourselves now will have a prolonged effect on the rest of our lives. Thinking long term about the benefits and consequences of our decisions can help us make the right decisions.
Here are a few quick tips to help you get started:
1. Spend less time sitting
Studies have emerged that even sitting down for a prolonged time is as harmful to you as smoking. It is common knowledge that a sedentary lifestyle is the root of many health problems but how can regular sitting be bad? There is no one answer because sitting can pose several health risks such as back pain, depression, kidney failure, weight gain, diabetes, and the list goes on and on.
What can you do: For every one hour of sitting, stand up and move around for a few minutes. Let your blood flow and stretch your limbs out. Try and get about a half-hour or more of exercise a day.
2. Phase soda out of your health
This goes without saying but everything that is too delicious to be true is most likely bad for you. The biggest and most obvious reason why it’s bad is that it causes weight gain. Other reasons include an increased risk of heart attack, destroying the enamel of your teeth, and the phosphorus in cola can shorten our life spans.
If that isn’t enough to get you to put the soda can down, then think about this: Coca-cola is a multi-faceted household tool just like vinegar and baking powder. It can be used to clean tile grout, rust, strip paint from metal furniture, and clean toilets. Do you really want to ingest something that is strong enough to clean rust or clean a toilet?
3. Ease up on the salt
High sodium in a diet is linked to high blood pressure. Hypertension damages your arteries and can damage your brain and kidneys. High blood pressure is also like opening the door wide open for stroke.
The typical American diet consists of far more sodium than our bodies need per day. The CDC reports that 1500 mg of sodium per day is the recommended amount so it’s important that you watch what you eat. Even if you try to go healthy during a quick lunch break and decide to order a salad instead of a burger you may want to do some research beforehand.
The burgers at McDonald’s hover around 1000 mg of sodium while the salads are on average around 700 mg. Salt is everywhere and especially used generously in fast food.
Watch what you eat and don’t feel like you have to completely cut all salt out from your diet. Believe it or not, the human body needs a bit of salt to function so it’s okay to sprinkle some on your eggs in the morning.
Those are three easy changes that can drastically improve your life now and for years to come. Being sick causes a lot of stress, time, money, and pain. At the end of the day, the decisions lie solely with you but if you had the chance to decrease your risk of health ailments and disease when you’re older, wouldn’t you take it?
