Top Ten Tips to Save Your Life!
Read through this simple checklist and see how many you and your family can tick off.
- Get out of breath for half an hour every day to loose fat and gain
both muscle and energy. Taking regular exercise improves muscle tone
reduces the risk of joint and muscle damage in the long term and has
a dramatic cardioprotective effect.
- Take up a new hobby. A number of research studies have shown that
what we do in our spare time can have a significant effect on our risk
of developing dementia.
- Take a fish oil supplement for joint health, cardiovascular support,
cholesterol lowering, brain function and even more importantly, to keepskin
looking youthful and smooth!
- Have regular health check ups, especially if you are over 40. Ask
your GP to routinely check blood pressure, cholesterol and other important
risk markers.
- Be safe in the sun! Being careful in the sun not only minimises the
risk of skin cancer, but over exposure to sunlight makes the skin tougher
and leathery in old age.
- Eat a wide variety of colourful fruits and vegetables. Red, yellow,orange
and green foods contain antioxidants which quench toxins in the body
and improve our health and make our skin radiant.
- Don't smoke - this is the single most important thing you can do
for your health. Not only does it cause lung cancer and other potentially
fatal respiratory diseases, it also decreases the skin's elasticity,making
it saggy and sallow.
- Reduce your salt intake. Stroke is England's third biggest killer
after cancer and coronary heart disease, and a high salt intake is a
major contributory factor. The Food Standrds Agency recommends that
children and adults consume no more than 6g of salt per day. Remember
to be careful of "hidden salt" found in foods such as bread,
breakfast cereals, soups and ready meals. Researchers from St George's
Hospital estimate that 52,000 lives could be saved every year if people
significantly reduced the salt they consume.
- Follow the government guidelines for alcohol consumption: no more
than 2-3 units per day with at least 2 alcohol free days per week. Most
alcoholic drinks contain calories from sugar which turns to fat in the
body and disrupts blood sugar balance. Alcohol has also been linked
to an increased risk of mouth, pharyngeal and oesophageal cancers and
probably increases the risk of colorectal and breast cancer. Unfortunately
the list doesn't stop there: high blood pressure, gastrointestinal complications,
such as gastritis, ulcers, and liver disease, and the depletion of certain
vitamins and minerals can all be caused by alcohol consumption. Excessive
alcohol consumption can also have detrimental social and psychological
consequences.
- Foods full of salt, sugar or saturated fats are the most damaging to your overall health, so save them for occasional treats!
