It is important to look after your body, to help you to stay well and healthy for as long as you can.
Caring for your body makes sense. You only get one body in this life, and you want it to last as long as possible.
Around the world, there is a growing problem of chronic, lifestyle-related diseases. Diseases such as adult-onset diabetes, some heart conditions, high blood pressure and many forms of cancer are caused by the way that we live our lives and not looking after our bodies. Many of these diseases are associated with being overweight and not taking enough exercise, or by putting the wrong substances into our bodies.
There are of course many diseases which are not lifestyle related but looking after your body will go some way to helping you to live a healthier life, for longer.
It is sometimes hard to know where to start as there is a lot of information available about caring for our bodies and not all of it gives the same message. It is important to know that you don’t have to get everything right. Even doing a bit more exercise or getting a bit more sleep than you do now can help. Being mindful of what you eat doesn’t mean you have to give up your favorite food either, maybe just eat a little less of it.
Here is a simple framework which may help you think about the decisions you make to keep your body healthy.
Always try to ask these 3 questions:
What do I want to do?
Your emotions are very strong and how you feel can sometimes make decisions more difficult.
For example, if you are tired you might want to rest and are less likely to want to exercise.
What is best for me?
By thinking about your current situation whilst carefully considering what is best for your body, you can raise your awareness of your options. Although you are tired, you know that exercise will help give you more energy but maybe you don’t have much time today.
What am I going to do?
By balancing what you want to do with what you think you should do you can make a decision about what you actually do in any given situation.
Maybe today, as you are tired and don’t have much time, you put on your favorite song and dance. This will give you some exercise and make you feel good without taking up too much time.
Remember, you don’t always have to do the right thing. If you really are very tired, maybe it’s best to rest but if you do that too often, there will be consequences. If you do not take enough exercise, you are likely to end up overweight, which can lead to the development of various chronic diseases including diabetes.
It is of course not a problem to give yourself a break from time to time, but don’t let it become a habit, because habits are hard to break.
Let us know what changes you have made using what you have learnt from the BODY module to improve your wellbeing. Share your thoughts by tagging iamtheCODE on social media using the hashtag #wellbeing