What is a healthy lifestyle

The term “ healthy lifestyle ” means a whole range of aspects of human life, ranging from certain norms in nutrition to emotional and psychological attitude. Leading a healthy lifestyle means completely redefining your existing eating, physical activity and recreation habits.

To change your habitual lifestyle to a healthy one, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of not only the aspects included into the concept of a healthy lifestyle (HLS), but also factors that have a negative impact on the psychological and emotional state, as well as health.

The relevance of a healthy lifestyle

Technogenic progress, the complication of the social structure, the deterioration of the ecological situation have led to the fact that a modern person is constantly exposed to increased stress, which, first of all, negatively affects his general emotional, psychological and physical health. Awareness of the importance of oneself as an individual, close attention to one’s own well-being and health allows avoiding this harmful influence.

What is included in the concept of a healthy lifestyle?

The interpretation of the concept is quite extensive and is characterized in different ways from different points of view. In the official definition, a healthy lifestyle means a lifestyle aimed at improving overall health and preventing the development of the risk of various kinds of diseases, and in the philosophical and sociological direction – as a global problem, which is an integral part of society.

There are both medico-biological and psychological-pedagogical definitions. They all sound different, but they carry the same semantic load, which boils down to the fact that a healthy lifestyle is primarily aimed at strengthening the body and general health of an individual in society. According to experts in the field of medicine, human health is 50% dependent on lifestyle, and other factors have a much smaller impact. Thus, the impact of the level of the health care system is 10%, the genetic base and the environment – 20%, respectively.

Prerequisites and conditions

Leading a healthy lifestyle presupposes:

1. diversified and full development of all aspects of human life;
2. an increase in the duration of active longevity;
3. participation of a person, regardless of his age, in labor, social, family activities.

The actual topic of a healthy lifestyle has become in the seventies of the last century. This interest is due to the changes that have occurred in the human environment, the increase in life expectancy, the influence of the environmental situation on the body and health.

Modern people in the overwhelming majority lead an inactive lifestyle, have more free time, do not limit themselves in nutrition … However, there is no need to relax emotionally and psychologically. A sharp increase in the speed of life has led to the emergence of numerous stress factors.

All this negatively affects a person. Every year, as doctors note, the number of hereditary diseases only increases. All this led to a logical search for a solution to how to stay phys

ically and spiritually healthy in the realities of the modern world, live not only long, but also remain active.

Compliance with the daily routine

An important step towards a healthy lifestyle is the balance between rest and activity. Many people go to bed after midnight, trying to compensate for the lack of sleep on weekends by getting up well after noon. Such a routine is not the norm.

To normalize your schedule, you need to reconsider the activities that you need to do during the day. Non-urgent tasks can be rescheduled or completed faster without being distracted by others. The approach to time planning should be extremely systematic.

Rationally distributing rest and work is the right way to alternate periods of mental and physical stress with complete relaxation, that is, sleep. For an adult, the daily sleep rate is 7 to 8 hours. This also applies to weekends.

Rational nutrition

Leading a healthy lifestyle is impossible without compliance with certain dietary standards. A correct and healthy diet presupposes a fairly extensive list of recommendations and advice, but there are general principles that can be guided by which you can change your eating habits:

• exclude strong tea, coffee, alcohol from the menu;
• Avoid regular consumption of fast carbs, which include sodas, buns, chips, fast food and similar foods;
• Avoid late dinners and snacks;
• Limit consumption of animal fats;
• significantly reduce animal protein foods and include dietary rabbit and poultry meat in the menu;
• include as many plant foods as possible in the menu;
• switch to fractional meals;
• eat only fresh food;
• drink enough liquid;
• correlate the amount of food with the energy expended.

Products and prepared dishes must be natural, have a high nutritional value – contain all the necessary vitamins, micro- and macroelements. If possible, it is better to consult a dietitian who will select and draw up a menu taking into account all the individual needs of the body.

Active lifestyle

Is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. With the advent of technologies and devices that facilitate human labor and other aspects of life, the need for physical activity has significantly decreased. Outside the home and place of work, a person moves by transport. You no longer even need to go shopping. Food and other goods can be ordered with home delivery.

There are various ways to compensate for lack of physical activity. You need to choose them solely at your own discretion. The main thing is to remember that it is simply impossible to keep the body in good shape without movement. The loads are increased gradually. For those who are just starting to practice healthy lifestyle, it is enough to devote half an hour a day to physical exercises.

You can do:

and in the gym. There are many opportunities for physical activity. You can start practicing with walking and gradually move on to higher loads. If possible, it is better to walk and run in forested areas. Increased attention should be paid to the mobility and flexibility of the spine – the main indicators of youth and body tone.

Addictions are the enemy of a healthy lifestyle

This applies not only to drinking and smoking, but also to addiction to unhealthy foods, which include salty food, soda, various sweets, chips. Without giving them up, it is impossible to lead a full healthy life. This is the first step towards practicing a healthy lifestyle.

Health promotion and disease prevention

Without hardening and strengthening the body, human immunity is reduced. This negatively affects both vitality and leads to an increased risk of morbidity. To strengthen the body will help such drugs as tincture of ginseng or eleutherococcus, which are sold in the pharmacy, home herbal remedies, hardening.

To temper the body, you do not need to immediately resort to dousing and bathing in cold water. You can start with a contrast shower. The difference in water temperature should be small. Hardening contributes to both an increase in the immune status and strengthens the vascular system, raises the general tone and stimulates the nervous autonomic system.

It is necessary to pay increased attention to the nervous system and psychological state. Irritability, nervous tension, intense excitement, constant stress are the main causes of premature aging. Nervousness negatively affects not only physiological processes, but also provokes pathological changes in both cellular and tissue structures. Everybody gets nervous and angry from time to time. The main thing is not to accumulate and not keep negative emotions in oneself, but to “throw out” them.

Body weight plays an important role in strengthening and maintaining health. Weight must always be controlled. Its excess becomes an additional factor contributing to the risk of developing various pathologies, including endocrine, vascular, cardiac.

Clinical full examination for people over 45 years old is a mandatory procedure. It allows early detection of cardiac ischemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and other diseases, ensuring the successful completion of therapy.