Be Proactive With Your Health and Lose the Bad Habits

By Donna Kostiew

I had a moment of boredom today, so I went online and did the link, to link, to link and somehow ended up clicking on an article about 40 things that happen to us when we turn 40. This article was meant to be humorous … and a lot of it was with comments such as: comfort becomes the number one factor when shopping for shoes, you scatter seeds on food, your kids’ social lives are livelier than yours.

But the majority of references were actually silly comments about health, which after thinking about it, maybe aren’t so silly after all: you start buying all kinds of ointments for aches and pains, you make an ‘oof’ noise when getting up, you no longer like to stand at pubs, you can’t get away with eating anything you like anymore. To me, this only drives home the point that these aches and pains after age 40 have become accepted in our society, but it doesn’t have to be like that!

By adopting a proactive stance to health with the following suggestions, we can rewrite that article to read “Things That Happen to Us When We Turn 75,” because 40 is still too young to be hurting!

What Are You Eating?

A healthy diet doesn’t need to be super complicated in order to get results, we just need to listen to what our mothers, trainers, and high school health teachers have told us over and over again. Eat a variety of foods (fruits, veggies, lean proteins … anything that has grown or lived outdoors is a great rule to follow). Stay away, or limit, the sugary sodas and drinks. Drink water. Then drink some more water. Display healthy foods in prominent, easy-to-access locations in your kitchen and keep the unhealthy snacks hidden in the pantry or left behind on the grocery shelves.

How Are You Moving?

Are you engaging in some form of exercise during your week, or are you going from a desk job to your couch every day? Humans were made to move, so if you are at the gym most days of the week, or just taking an extra flight of stairs every morning, you are definitely making strides to achieving a better score on your yearly health report card.

Does an Apple a Day Really Keep the Doctor Away?

One of the most important steps in being proactive with your health is by maintaining a schedule to see your doctors regularly. Make sure you go in for your yearly physicals, see your dentist every six months, and consider adding chiropractic care to your routine (because it’s not just for pain relief; it also improves your immune system and helps your body fend off illness and disease).

It’s time to take back control of your health and become an active participant in the way you feel every day.

To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in The Woodlands, Tex.