Caring for Your Health and Wellness

The best time to start caring for your health and wellness is now, and if you want to get started on leading a new and better lifestyle (good for you!), here are some ways to help you get started:

• Know some alternative fitness regimes. We are living in paradoxical times - though eating highly-processed foods and living sedentary lifestyles result in poor health, we are also living in times where people are more aware of the alternative, holistic ways that promote well being. An example is yoga, which has been around for thousands of years, and is a popular technique worldwide. Yoga and wellness have shown to have positive correlations. Some of the benefits of yoga include better flexibility and better condition of joints and muscles; detoxification (this means the flushing out of harmful toxins from your body, resulting to more energy and delayed ageing); muscle toning; stimulation of the body's vital organs (resulting in higher resistance to disease); better endurance and respiration; and promotion of weight loss. It has also shown to reduce stress levels among yoga practitioners as well as promote inner harmony.
• Massage therapy is another of these alternative fitness regimes. In massage therapy, the therapist will manipulate muscles and tissues using different strokes with varying levels of intensity in order to promote better blood and oxygen circulation, relax the different soft tissues, and relieve pain. Some commonly-used massage therapy techniques include the Swedish massage (which makes use of kneading movements and long strokes), deep tissue massage (which focuses on relieving tight and knotted layers of muscles), and shiatsu massage (which focuses on promoting the flow of qi, which is believed to be the body's vital energy). Some other benefits associated with massage therapy include stress reduction, increased relaxation, stimulation of endorphins, and stimulation of the lymph system (which help aid immunity against disease).
• Know some beneficial medications. It pays to be aware of which medicines and dietary supplements to take to aid your body in performing at maximum potential. One supplement you might consider, for example, is vitamin D, which an average person (meaning someone who stays indoors most of the time) would find hard to acquire. If you're a pre-menopausal woman, you may consider taking iron supplements to replace the iron you lose during your monthly period. Other supplements to consider include various herbal supplements (such as acai berry, which is consistently hailed to be a super food and scientifically-proven to promote general wellness), vitamins A and C, magnesium and calcium. You ask for a recommendation from your doctor regarding supplements you may need.
• Know how to maintain health holistically. It pays to make a commitment to live a healthy lifestyle. You may start by making a few simple adjustments first: take the stairs to your office instead of taking the elevator; allot about three times a week where you would eat only vegetables and fruits; replace chips and sugary snacks with dried nuts and fruits or whole wheat bread; prepare your food through grilling, baking or steaming instead of frying. Read up on other ways you could improve your lifestyle for the healthier, and start small. The health benefits you would reap gradually would encourage you to find even more ways to integrate wellness into your life.
• Have your current health condition checked out. Go to a medical center and get a physical. Some tests you may take include your LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good cholesterol) levels, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, BMI, pap's smear (for women) and resting heart rate. Depending on your age, you may need to take other tests such as (for those over 50) an echocardiogram test, stress test and colonoscopy, and (for those over 60) an annual hearing exam. Consult your doctor about the other tests he would recommend for you. The important thing here is to be aware of how healthy you are currently, to get treated for any ailment that you are diagnosed with, and to construct plans on how to further improve your health conditions.
• Know about wellness communities. Wellness communities are networks of people who have been diagnosed with a condition (commonly, cancer) and who provide much needed support and information to help each other in their battle towards wellness. Wellness communities offer latest information about nutrition, clinical trials, programs and counseling that would ensure the highest possible quality of life for the patient. Studies show that patients who join wellness communities have higher recovery rates and less chances of developing the disease again. If you have been diagnosed with a medical condition and you want to join these wellness communities, you could ask your specialist for a list in your area, or you could research that information via the Internet.

Be encouraged with the fact that wherever you are on the fitness scale, there is always hope to be better. The important thing is to have the drive to live a healthy life, and to get started. Good luck!