What causes sickness – long time debated and thought about(pondered) “Non-smoker, non-alcoholic, vegetarian but why this health problem? My neighbor does all these things and he is happy, enjoying life. But I suffer”
What we eat is what we are. What we think is what we are. How we live is what transforms us.
A human ‘s lifestyle, food habits, thoughts, thought related actions …. all these shape us, make us what we are.
I once met a patient in my OPD. Her main problem was severe acidity and weight gain. She ate less yet put on weight. This troubled her. While talking to her generally about what she does every day, she told me, “I can’t sleep without seeing big boss in TV. After that I chatted with my friends through WhatsApp, discuss what happened in the show. So, I get ready to sleep at around 1 am in the morning. I wake up at 9am and have breakfast at 11AM.”
Another one told, I help my husband and kids to get ready for their day, send them to office and school respectively and eat breakfast at around 10 AM. Their dinner would have been at 10 PM, when everybody was at home.
In first case the person was awake when her body is supposed to rest, and stress hormone levels are supposed to be low. Being awake like night birds disturbs our circadian rhythm, where we are supposed to eat early dinner and go to sleep early. “Early to bed and early to rise does really make a man healthy”. Less sleep, irregular food timing, increase the acid secretion in stomach leading to stomach ulcers.
Human body works in a rhythm, meaning regularity in food timings, where breakfast by 8 AM, lunch between 12 Noon to 1 PM, dinner between 6.30 AM to 7.30 PM help to keep our gut and body healthy. Regular sleep at night helps all organs heal and be ready for the next day.
Lack of sleep is what ails our young population. Television and other gadgets make our mind more active, do not allow our body to go into sleep mode, also keeping us wide awake till past midnight.
Tips to keep our body young:
- Go to bed early. Try to be in bed by 9.30 AM
- Get up early – at least by 6 AM
- Develop a routine for food – Breakfast by 8 AM, lunch by 12.30 PM, Dinner by 6.30 PM
- Restrict your screen time to 30 minutes per day (it includes Whatsapp too)
- If you feel lonely or want to chat with a friend, walk to their house to meet them. It takes less time than texting and feels better too.
- Take at least 5000 steps per day. 10,000 is what a cardiologist would recommend. (But we have to start somewhere without too many doubts whether we can do it). Slowly increase it.
- Take 3-4 Litres of water (2 Litres may not be enough in Chennai weather)
- Get exposed to good sunshine as much as possible. You may be a shade darker but several points ahead in good health and vitality which cosmetics can’t give.