Ways to improve your health

Ways to improve your health

• Who wants to be sick? Disease is an inconvenience and an expense, to say the least. Not only do you feel bad when you are sick, but you may not be able to work or go to school, earn money or care for your family. Perhaps you will even need someone to take care of you and you will have to pay for expensive medicine and treatment.

• It has been rightly said: "Prevention is better than healing." Some diseases are inevitable. But there are many things you can do to stay healthy or even get sick for as long as possible. Look at five things you can do today to improve your health.

•  1 MAINTAIN GOOD HYGIENE

Items used for good physical and oral hygiene
Washing your hands is, according to the Mayo Clinic, "one of the best ways to prevent you from getting sick and spreading disease". One of the easiest ways to get colds or flu is to rub your nose or your eyes if your hands are infected with germs. Your best defense against such infection is to wash your hands regularly. Good hygiene can also prevent the spread of more serious diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrheal diseases, requiring more than two million children under the age of five each year. Even the spread of the deadly disease Ebola can be limited by the simple habit of washing hands.

There are times when it's especially important to wash your hands to protect your health and that of others. You must wash your hands:

• After using the toilet.
• After changing a child's cloth or helping a child to use the toilet.
• Before and after treating a wound or a cut.
• Before and after visiting a sick person.
• Before you prepare, serve or eat food.
• After you have healed, coughed or cut your nose.
• After touching an animal or an animal's faeces.
• After handling garbage.

And don't assume you were your hands properly. Studies have shown that many people did not wash their hands after using a public toilet or not properly. How should you wash your hands?

Wet your hands in clean, running water and apply soap.

Rub your hands until foam forms and do not forget to clean your nails, your thumbs, the back of your hands and between your fingers.

Rub your hands for at least 20 seconds.

Rinse it in clean, running water.

Dry it with a clean towel or paper towel.

Such measures are simple, but can prevent disease and save lives.

 2 USE CLEAN WATER
A glass of clean water and lemon slices

Getting enough clean water for your family is a daily task in some countries. But access to clean water can become a problem in any part of the world when the usual water supply that is normally safe to drink is polluted due to a flood, a storm, a burst pipe or something else. If water does not come from a safe source or is stored properly, it can cause parasite infection, as well as cholera, life-threatening diarrhea, intestinal fever, hepatitis and other infections. Unsafe drinking water is one of the causes of about 1.7 billion cases of diarrheal diseases a year.

There are many things you can do to stay healthy or even get sick for as long as possible

Cholera is in most cases caused when people ingest water or food contaminated with feces of people who have the disease. What can you do, even immediately after a disaster, to ensure you do not take polluted water?

Ensure that all your drinking water - including the water with which you brush teeth, make ice cream, wash food or dishes - comes from a safe source, such as municipal water that has been sufficiently purified or sealed bottles of water from a company with a good name.

If there is a possibility that your tap water is contaminated, you should cook your water or treat it with the appropriate chemicals before using it.

If you use chemicals such as chlorine or water purification tablets, follow the manufacturer's instructions carefully.

Use good quality water filters, if available and affordable.

If no water purifiers are available, you can use regular bleach. Add two drops of bleach for each liter of water, mix well and allow the water to stand for 30 minutes before using it.

Always keep purified water in clean, covered containers to prevent contamination.

Make sure any object you use to create water from these containers, such as a beaker, is clean.

When handling water containers, make sure your hands are clean and do not put your hands or fingers in the drinking water.

 3 CAUTION WHAT YOU EAT
A variety of healthy foods from different food groups
It is not possible to enjoy good health without proper nutrition, and good nutrition involves a healthy, balanced diet. You may have to notice how much salt, fat and sugar you take, and you should not overeat. Add fruits and vegetables to your diet, and eat a variety of foods. If you read the information on the package, it will help you choose wholegrain products when you buy bread, cereal, pasta or rice. It is richer in nutrients and fiber than refined grain products. For protein, eat small portions of meat and chicken, and try to eat fish a few times a week, if possible. In some countries it is also possible to obtain high-protein foods derived from plants.

If you eat too much sugar and hard fat, you run the risk of being overweight. To reduce this risk, you should rather drink water or soft drinks. Rather eat fruits than desserts that contain lots of sugar. Limit your intake of the type of hard fat found in foods such as sausage, meat, butter, cake, cheese and biscuits. It is better to use healthier oils rather than hard fat when cooking.

Too much salt can cause your blood pressure to become too high. If you have this problem, you should read the information on the packaging of products to ensure that you do not take too much salt. Use herbs and spices rather than salt to flavor your dishes.

What you eat may be just as important as what you eat . So enjoy your food, but don't eat when you're not hungry.

Another thing related to nutrition is the danger of food poisoning. Any food can poison you if it is not properly prepared or stored. One in six Americans suffer from food poisoning every year. Most recover without any lasting negative effects, but some are dead. What can you do to reduce the danger?

Vegetables grow in soil that may have been fertilized with dung, and therefore it must be washed thoroughly before it is prepared.

Wash your hands, cutting edge, kitchen utensils, bowls and work surface with warm, soapy water before preparing each item.

Always clean a surface or board on which there are raw eggs, chicken, meat or fish before putting on other foods. This will prevent one food item from being infected by another.

When cooking food, make sure it reaches the right temperature. Put any perishable items that will not be eaten immediately as soon as possible in the refrigerator.

Dispose of any perishable items left at room temperature for more than two hours or left at an air temperature above 32 degrees Celsius for more than one hour.

 4 STAY ACTIVE

A soccer ball and some soccer tights
Regardless of how old you are, you need regular exercise to stay healthy. Today, many people do not exercise enough. Why is exercise important? To stay active can help you:

Good to sleep.

Maintain your mobility.

Having strong legs and muscles.

Achieve or maintain a healthy weight.

Reduce the risk of getting depression.

Reduce the risk of premature death.

If you do not remain active, you are more likely to:

• Heart disease will suffer.
• Type 2 diabetes will get.
• High blood pressure will develop.
• High cholesterol levels will develop.
• Get a stroke.

The kind of exercise that is right for you depends on your age and health. Therefore, it is advisable to consult a doctor before starting any new exercise program. According to several recommendations, children and adolescents should receive moderate to severe exercise daily for at least 60 minutes. Adults should be given 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of strenuous exercise a week.

Choose something that is fun for you . It can include basketball, tennis, soccer, fast walking, cycling, gardening, logging, swimming, canoeing, jogging or other aerobic exercise. How would you know if an activity is moderate or strenuous exercise? A general guideline is that moderate exercise makes you sweat, but that strenuous exercise makes it difficult for you to have a conversation while doing it.

 5 GET ENOUGH SLEEP
A bedroom that is quiet and relaxing
The amount of sleep you need differs from person to person. Most newborn babies sleep 16 to 18 hours a day, toddlers about 14 hours and preschoolers about 11 or 12 hours. School-going children need at least 10 hours of sleep, adolescents may be 9 or 10 hours and adults 7 to 8 hours.

1. To get the right amount of rest, don't be considered optional. Experts say enough sleep is important:
2. For the growth and development of children and teenagers.
3. To learn and remember new information.
4. Maintaining the right hormone balance that affects your metabolism and weight.
5. For the health of your heart and vascular system.
6. To prevent you from getting sick.
7. Too little sleep is associated with obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes and tragic accidents. It certainly gives us good reason to try and get enough rest .
8. But what can you do if you realize you're getting too little sleep?
9. Try to sleep and get up at the same time every day.
10. Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing and not too hot or too cold.
11. Do not watch TV or use electronic devices while in bed.
12. Make sure your bed is as comfortable as possible.
13. Don't eat a big meal or drink caffeine or alcohol before going to bed.
14. If you have applied all of these tips and still suffer from insomnia or some other sleep disorder — such as feeling extremely drowsy during the day or breathing out while you sleep — it would be wise to consult a health professional.