This can be a time when, at the zenith of our physical and mental health, we can be a bit casual with what supports our well being.
It is easy to think of yourself as “bullet-proof†and that “there’s plenty of time to get healthy…laterâ€. The 20’s can be a time when a healthy physical appearance is important to us yet our practice of healthy medicine is far from ideal.
The bounty of youth is huge. All most people in their 20's need do is avoid obvious poisons, do a bit of physical exercise and look after what goes in your mouth. Mother Nature looks after the rest.
The 20’s can be a time to build life-long habits, strong life-long habits that set the foundation for your health all your days.
Interesting
In spite of overwhelming evidence of trashing your health the only group within most communities that is not reducing smoking cigarettes is the 18 to 24 group. Especially in light of the fact that the 20’s age group is typically cynical and wary of big business pressing their products onto them!
Health Tips
Stop smoking!
It's no secret. If you don’t stop it will kill you. There are many resources from Quitline on the internet. Choose one of them now.
For an age group that understandably has a strong interest in a healthy physical appearance, seeing young people with a cigarette dangling from their mouth conveys quite the opposite don't you think?
Smoking is now banned from many public areas and venues. About time.
If there was one life-long habit that contributed the most to your wellness care it would be to stop smoking.
Be wary of binge drinking
Alcohol is the most widely used recreational drug in Australia. We have a culture of socially accepting the drinking of alcohol, with many Australians drinking after work, at barbeques, on the weekend, and at sporting events amongst other things.
Binge drinking is common at this time. It does not make it a good thing.
Binge Drinking is drinking heavily over a short period of time, or drinking continuously over a number of days or weeks.
Inappropriate use of alcohol has severe short and long term consequences.
The short-term effects may not trouble you too much, some nausea, shaking, vomiting and black-outs. However the risks and situations you expose yourself to when in these states are damaging and maybe even fatal. Things like physical trauma, sexual abuse and motor vehicle trauma are over-represented in the statistics of those who drink to excess.
The long-term effects are not an advertisement for healthy medicine. Damage to liver and brain are common. Obesity, diabetes and tremors can develop. Depression, anger, job loss and relationship breakdown are seen in many cases.
Drink if you want but learn to use it wisely.
Alcohol can be determined by the number of standard drinks you consume. Ten (10) grams of alcohol is a standard drink. A 285ml glass of beer, a 100ml glass of wine or 30ml nip of spirits is about one standard drink.
Some guidelines for those of you who do not want to be a binge-drinker.
- Men should have two alcohol-free days per week. Four standard drinks is enough with an occasional maximum of six.
- Women should have two alcohol-free drinks per day. Two standard drinks is enough with the occasional maximum of four.
- The marketers have you in their sights. They know the biggest abusers are the young who drink the sweet and expensive ‘READY-TO-DRINK†beverages or pre-mixes.
- Ready-to drink beverages have around 1.5 standard drinks by alcohol content per 375ml container. They are often sweet “lolly water†drinks appealing to young and particularly female palates. The 20’s market is well targeted by the main players in the alcohol industry.
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Learn to cook
We live in a world of tasty, cheap, highly promoted and easy to get food. By and large most of is rubbish. High in kilojoules, sugar, salt and fat. Low in fibre, nutrient and factors that contribute to your performance and well-being. It is a slow poison to your body and it has become normal. This is a sad and lazy start to the next 60 years of your life.
Habits for the rest of your adult life can be formed now. It is a time when life has more flexibility and choice of activity. It can be a great time to learn how to plan, purchase and cook the food you want.
Those who learn these skills have a much greater chance of being well and appropriately nourished. You are in more control.
By all means have meals out of your home. Just plan to have most of them where you are in a position to control portion size, ingredients and preparation style.
Learning to cook is a life-long habit worth starting.
Develop life-long exercise habits
What a great age for your physiology! Your heart can pump out huge amounts of blood, your lungs are pliable and capacious, your muscles are strong and flexible, and your joints are lined by healthy cartilage.
They just need stimulation on a regular basis to repay you tenfold with energy, endurance and a healthy physical appearance. This doesn’t need to be endless boring hours at the gym. Regular activity is all you need so the most important thing is you choose something that interests you enough to repeat it.
This may be at a gym where you can do weight training, cardiovascular work, swim or box. It could be a martial arts class, dancing or Pilates. Some people need personal training where you hire a trainer on a one-on-one or small group basis.
Don’t neglect what is being referred to these days as incidental exercise. Incidental exercise is the choices we make about how we conduct our lives in reference to activity levels. Do we drive everywhere door-to-door? Have we made ourselves so busy that time to do physical things become difficult? Have we made choices about where we live that make walking to local facilities impossible?
Incidental exercise means that we have made active decisions about aspects of our lives that allow us to make healthy medicine choices. Don’t live in a location or take a job that requires large amounts of time to travel between. Do leave your car keys on the bench and walk to the shops. Do walk to public transport and get off a few stops early. Do take the stairs instead of the lift.
There is a wonderful contribution to healthy medicine by making the life-long habit changes of embracing the concepts of incidental exercise.