7 Popular misconceptions about healthy lifestyle

 

Seven popular misconceptions about healthy lifestyle

 

1. Drinking enough water, getting adequate sleep and positive thinking prevent serious diseases

 

This is incorrect as many other factors can affect your health and wellbeing and deserve attention. They include:

·         diet                                                       smoking

·         lack of exercise                                                  stress

·         level of sun exposure                            alcohol                                    

 

2. Eating 2-3 serves of fruits and 4-5 serves of vegetables daily is required for maintaining good health

 

This is partly correct, but you need to consider what proportion raw and minimally processed fruits and vegetables constitute in your daily ration. This is an important parameter which is often overlooked.

3. Moderate exercise of 3-3.5 hours per week is sufficient for a healthy lifestyle

 

This recommendation can be misguiding as frequency, duration, intensity and other aspects of exercise programs are important for achieving your goals.

 

4. Diet is the best way to achieve and maintain healthy weight

Restrictive diets usually fail to reach this goal. This might be a temporary solution but as soon as you get off the diet you gain your weight back.

 

5. Sun avoidance and regular application of sunscreen are necessary for health

 

This needs additional clarification. Excessive sun exposure is risky and should definitely be avoided. However modern research indicates that sufficient sun exposure during appropriate times of the day without applying sunscreen is required for the biosynthesis of vitamin D which is mandatory for disease prevention and maintaining good health.

 

6. Eating a wide variety of food is required for good health

 

This is a very vague statement. It is highly important to ensure that your daily ration is balanced to ensure that you are getting the main nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Other factors, however, are involved, such as age, gender, level of physical activity, special physiological conditions such as pregnancy, breastfeeding and other factors.

 

7. You need to make adjustments to your life style only when it is required

This is totally wrong. You probably heard the expression that prevention is better than cure. You need to start introducing appropriate life style modifications as early as possible. This would help in preventing potential health problems. Many health disorders if left untreated could evolve into serious issues.