I have another relatively uncontroversial topic to talk about: your health. Staying healthy throughout your lifespan is critically important. As they say, “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” Why is this true?
Think about all the things in your daily life that depend on your body functioning well. Simple movement is dependent on it, as is sleeping well and remaining functional as time passes (which it does for all of us, regardless of your current age). When you’re physically sick with a virus or bacteria, it’s hard to eat, sleep, work, learn, or handle daily life. If you’re injured for some reason, you may have issues with mobility, sleep, work, etc. Chronic diseases and their treatments can also limit your daily health or set you up to get sick more easily.
The one thing about health is when it’s good, we too often take it for granted. Like life itself, it seems infinite…until it isn’t. Have you ever injured one of your toes, only then to realize how much of daily life depends on being able to stand and walk around? If a single toe injury can take us down, what do you think more serious injuries or illnesses have the capacity to do?
I constantly think about my health—for me, it’s a byproduct of living with and managing a chronic disease 24/7 for over 56 years. I always assumed I would not live a long life and possibly be unable to do many of the things I wanted to, such as have children and keep my vision. For instance, I suffered through two years of limited sight due to retinal hemorrhages (blood leaking internally into the center space of my eyes that blocked my vision) in my early 20s due to proliferative diabetic retinopathy. I likely precipitated its onset by first not having a blood glucose meter or effective means of managing my diabetes for the first 18 years of my disease (which was admittedly not my fault) and then quickly getting into near optimal glucose management after getting my first glucose meter in the mid-1980s. There weren’t great treatments for retinopathy back then other than obliterating peripheral areas of my retina (the area in the back of my eyes), which my ophthalmology team did with a series of eye laser surgeries operations (15 in all between my two eyes over two years). As a consequence, I have been able to retain my central vision to this day, almost 40 years later, but have really poor peripheral and night vision.
My health has been on my mind even more than usual lately because I recently had an accident while biking. A reckless cyclist t-boned me on my left side after crossing over the legal bike path I was riding on. I never saw him coming. Would peripheral vision have helped me see him and swerve out of the way before I got body slammed off my bike and onto the asphalt? Possibly? I’ll never know. I appreciate having my central vision, but sometimes I miss the full vision of my earlier (healthier) years. Luckily, I did not hit my head when I got knocked off my bike or break any bones, but it would have been easy to have done either or both.
Others I know are also facing their own health issues that I narrowly avoided with my accident. Both a close family member and a neighbor of mine are currently dealing with head injuries as the result of falls. Both spent time in ICUs; one is still there fighting to recover from a brain bleed and subsequently craniotomy (skull bone flap surgically placed to release blood from the brain). It’s easy to lose your good health, mobility, and even life in the blink of an eye by injuring your brain or spinal cord.
Okay, enough with the doom and gloom. I’m here to tell you how to best keep your health as good as and for as long as possible. While accidents aren’t always preventable, there are so many things you do have control over that you can manage. Here is my short list of recommendations:
LIFESTYLE: Start with your lifestyle. What are you doing to stay healthy? Make a list of all your good health habits and your bad ones so you can consider where to make changes.
DAILY MOVEMENT: Consider doing more physical movement on a daily basis (including activity breaks throughout the day). Don’t sit for long periods of time without doing some movement to break it up.
EXERCISE: Undertake some planned exercise daily. That includes something aerobic (like brisk walking), resistance training (at least 2-3 days per week), flexibility training (stretch often), and balance exercises (to help prevent falls).
DIET/NUTRITION: Take a look at your diet and at least make small changes to improve it. Can you add in one non-meat day per week? Can you eat more and a wider variety of unprocessed foods, such as fresh and frozen produce and whole grains? Can you limit how much “junk” food you eat and substitute in some healthier options? Simply cutting back on sugary drinks and foods can help a lot.
GUT MICROBIOME: The latest research suggests that many chronic diseases start in the gut, so focus on eating more fiber and plant-based (unprocessed) foods and exercising more to improve the health of your gut bacteria.
SLEEP: Try to get more and better quality sleep. None of us handles the stress of daily life as well when we are physically or mentally tired.
STRESS: Do what you can to lower your stress levels. You may need to cut back on how much you’re doing in a given day—if you have that option—and take some downtime for yourself. Even just a few minutes of relaxation time or deep breathing can help. Or get a pet that makes you smile or feel less stressed when you interact.
ALCOHOL/DRUGS: While alcohol and certain recreational drugs (depending on where you live) may be legal, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re good for your health in all circumstances and in all quantities. Recent studies suggest that any intake of alcohol may not be that good for you, and it’s certainly harmful in excess. The same goes for non-medical pot use and other recreational drugs.
SMOKING: That said, smoking and vaping are both hazardous to your long-term health. Consider cutting back or cutting them out entirely. Smoke from marijuana is also bad for your lungs and also possibly for your long-term health.
DISEASE MANAGEMENT: If you have a chronic disease or illness, advocate for yourself and get the best medical care that you can. Learn all you can about your condition. Be open to trying new treatments and using new technologies that might help you manage it more effectively.
ACCIDENT AND FALLS PREVENTION: Do what you can to avoid accidents and wear a helmet when biking or riding a motorcycle. Remove trip hazards around your house and get your vision checked regularly. Breaking a hip can be the beginning of the end for older individuals. Head injuries from accidents or falls are the worst. If they don’t kill you, they can debilitate you for the rest of your life.
HEALTH SCREENINGS: Age well by actually doing regular screening and treatments for preventable diseases (like colorectal cancer) and detecting them early. In this case, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.
AGING: In order to age well, you have to work at it (see above list). Most of what we attribute to aging is actually preventable diseases, such as heart disease and cancer.
That’s it for now. Good luck with getting yourself in better health. It’s more than worth the effort to get it and keep it as long as you can or improve it whenever possible.
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