Stage of Life
When we are young, we feel invincible, energetic, and on top of the world. We rarely think about our health and what we should do better. We can party until 4am, get some sleep, wake up at 6am and go to work, then do it all over again the next day.
As the decades pile on, we become more conscious of our choices and how they affect our health. Bad nutritional choices make us gain weight and feel tired, lack of sleep and overconsumption of alcohol make us feel like death, and lack of physical exercise slowly but surely eats at our health.
So what can we do? Accept that as a normal part of life? Hell no...
It’s the small, easy steps that we take (or don’t take) that ultimately shape our lives. Waking up earlier in the morning to prepare a healthy breakfast is easy to do and easy not to. Exercising for 20 minutes a day is easy to do and easy not to. Reading a bit of self-help or philosophy material every day is easy to do and easy not to. But these choices (and many others) can have a profound positive impact on our overall health and wellbeing.
Eating a healthy breakfast once doesn’t do much, but having one every morning for 20 years? You bet it does. Exercising daily for 20 minutes can be the difference between poor and great health in your 40s and onward. Reading a few pages of self-help material daily doesn’t seem like much, but in a year, that can be an extra 10-12 books read. By making smarter choices early on, you can change the course of your health for the better.
Stages of life & the associated health risks:
In our teens and twenties:
We don’t have to worry about much. Sexually transmitted diseases and health issues due to the overconsumption of alcohol are the most common health risks. What we often don’t understand, is so many of our poor habits and cravings later in life are learned during this period. We may physically get away with the vices for now, but psychologically they will likely catch up with us later in life when the consequences start to sink in.
In our thirties:
We can start experiencing early signs of serious health conditions (mostly caused by bad choices). These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels that can eventually lead to heart problems and the development of type 2 diabetes. Luckily, there is time to change the course and drastically improve our health.
In our forties:
We can start experiencing chronic joint pain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar levels, a higher BMI, and early signs of Osteoporosis. At this stage of our lives, it’s imperative to evaluate our lifestyle and make improvements such as regular exercise, enough sleep, and a better diet. Our metabolism starts to slow and poor lifestyle choices catch up with us pretty quickly.
In our fifties and sixties:
The choices that we’ve made so far are becoming very apparent, and the health risks are much greater. If we have been smoking, drinking too much alcohol, not eating well and not exercising, we are looking at a whole host of health problems: heart disease, diabetes, a high BMI, depression, and more.
It’s imperative to take action and make drastic changes to improve our health and increase our quality and quantity of life.
In our seventies and onward:
The risks of medical conditions such as heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, lung disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Osteoporosis, and chronic pain are even greater. Emotional traumas from losing close people (siblings, spouse, and friends) are also more common.
It’s imperative to maintain a healthy lifestyle and body weight through regular physical activity and healthy eating.
Understand that the habits we form now, for good or for bad, will play a significant role in what our health looks like in the future.
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