Do you want to live in good health for a long time? Knowledge confirms that it is above all necessary to be reasonable and seek balance, to spare your body, in good understanding with your mind. Good nutrition, physical activity, and good sleep are the keys to longevity.
Eat well: the basis for preserving your health capital
Keeping in shape starts with our food and our digestion. All the microorganisms that inhabit our intestines, weighing around 2 kilos in an adult, have a role we are beginning to identify. We host hundreds of different bacteria, fungi, and viruses in this “organ”.
It is their balance that ensures the organism’s proper functioning, particularly of the immune system. Conversely, if we observe the microbiota in cardio-metabolic, rheumatological or neurological diseases, it appears to be disturbed without controlling the phenomenon yet.
So to live in good health for a long time and have a microbiota capable of fulfilling its role, it seems important to provide it with dietary fibers that pass through the stomach to the intestine: vegetables, fruits and especially dried fruits. It is also good to protect it from inflammation by reducing fast and refined sugars in our diet.
And, good news, the cocoa of dark chocolate, not very sweet, is favorable to the development of good bacteria, to the point of relieving irritable colon.
To live long, you have to move
Living a long healthy life requires physical activity to prevent cardiovascular disease. Do not look for the leading cause of the increase in these diseases globally: the time spent sitting, what is called sedentary lifestyle.
Beyond seven hours a day in a sitting position, the number of cardiovascular diseases increases markedly. And who says sedentary lifestyle, think screens… Since 2006, the average time spent sitting in front of screens has increased by 53%, reaching more than five hours per day among adults!
Reducing the time sitting at the desk is not always possible, but it is recommended to get up every two hours at least. You can also stand up in public transport, or, even better, move around on foot or by bike. And above all, it should not be added by staying more than two hours a day in front of TV or computer screen.
Sleep more to stay in shape
Maintaining one’s health capital requires lifestyle changes that are unfavorable to health, including lack of sleep.
The hours spent sleeping are used to repair our body and to clean our brain cells; they are vital! Obesity, diabetes, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease appear more often in individuals with chronic sleep debt.
To maintain or regain sufficient sleep time (between six and nine hours in most of us), you need to:
- Give in to the urge to sleep, even if it is only 10 p.m.
- Take the opportunity to take a short nap of ten or twenty minutes in the afternoon. Some do it very well on a chair;
- Escape phone and computer screens at least an hour before going to bed;
- Create as much silence and darkness in his room as possible;
- Reveal yourself to the sun for at least a few minutes every day, except in cases of contraindication.
