Road to Good Health

‘Give lift to your heart, use stairs and not lift’ …says a bright yellow poster adorned on the wall just outside the elevator as we enter our office in the morning. I often find employees in their 20’s and 30’s lovingly admire creatives on this poster while they wait for the elevator to descend. Perhaps ‘your’ heart’ in this poster literally means ‘your’ heart and the message is for others and not the reader. It is natural that our health seems valuable to us only after we lose it.
The most unfortunate fallout of the unprecedented economic progress that world has witnessed in the past decade is the radical change in the life styles of most employees. The project dates, deadlines, work sheets, number of billable hours take the lead in running the biological clock. Time being the most precious commodity; the employees are working more, exercising less, eating wrong and taking stress thus grossly affecting their overall health. Studies show that almost 1 billion people worldwide suffer from high blood pressure and more than half a billion will harbor this silent killer by 2025. High blood pressure is a leading cause of stroke and kidney failure. Hyper tension and heart diseases are no longer privileged domains of people in their 50s. These can strike even as young as twenties and thirties. Right diet and adequate exercise are instrumental in keeping one fit and healthy. Ironically as per the reports, the bird flu killed only 2000 people worldwide but it created a panic that even the hard core non - vegetarians turned vegetarians overnight.
The age old proverb “you should visit a doctor only when you fall sick” is passé in modern day environment. “Visit your doctor regularly so that you don’t fall sick” is the modified proverb. Good health means more than treating illnesses when they occur. It also means achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, getting optimal nutrition, exercising and staying fit to prevent disease.
Getting started is always the hardest part. It is entirely your choice as what you want to do – exercise, swim, jog, yoga or simply walk but do something as good health like most good things in life is irreversible.