You Don't Have to Sacrifice Your Health to Gain Wealth

You can read this everywhere -- We sacrifice our health to gain wealth and then spend our wealth to gain back our health. Has the statement struck a chord in you?

Some things are simply good for our health and some are not.
Photo Credit: 'Mint' by T.MoE

Why is this discussion important? I had to struggle with this question myself, until the day my wife and I saw two elderly couples -- must be in their 80s -- holding hands as they walked along the city park. My wife said, "How romantic!" I said, "When I'm 80 I wish I could still hold your hands and walk beside you like that!"

We cannot separate our physical health from our emotional health. One affects the other in profound ways.

All these dreams about becoming wealthy are meant to be enjoyed, not to be displayed on the wall while you struggle just to stand up. Get the picture?

You may need to consult with your doctor, or your fitness instructor or your dietitian on the specifics of you health plan. But do you have healthy habits to complement them? If none, it would be like the proverbial one-step- forward-two-steps-backward phenomenon.

There's nothing like going back to the basics:


1. Sleep

How much sleep do you get each night? In most instances, what time do you sleep and what time do you wake up? What is your understanding of what sleep is for?

Because you sleep everyday (I hope so), you must have some assumptions about sleeping -- about what it does to your body and how much time you should spend sleeping. What are these assumptions? Have you checked them out with latest findings?

Check these out:

• Top 10 Sleep Myths, by Mark Stibich Ph.D.
• Top 10 Health Benefits of a Good Night's Sleep, by Mark Stibich Ph.D.

There are sources who may offer a different opinion. That's a good thing. What's most important is, you're updating what you know.


2. Relaxation cycles

In a seminar, the instructor led all of us into a guided close-eyed mental exercise wherein we all felt so refreshed afterwards. I did the same exercise at home with similar results. Have you heard about such exercises?

In that seminar it was called relaxation cycle. Other seminars may call it another name. But in stressful situations, you can use them to literally command your mind and body to relax.

In the middle of a very heated brainstorming for instance, you could go the toilet or restroom and spend 5 minutes on this exercise. You come out refreshed, as if by magic. Someone in your own set of friends may already be using this kind of exercise. Find out.


3. Breathing

We all breath air, about this I'm certain. But there are ways of breathing that exercises your lungs and initiate more efficient circulation of oxygen. You may not believe it, but people pay to attend seminars like this.

My homeopathic doctor was the one who opened my eyes to a different kind of breathing, upon waking up and before sleeping. Marvelous. Someone among your set of friends may be using a breathing exercise that's working well with him. Find out.


3. Water

You are 80% water. Of course you already know that, right? How much water do you drink in a day? During what periods of the day do you drink water?

What we're discussing here is water, pure water. Coffee, off-the-shelf juices and energy drinks are not counted.

You may not believe about the body of knowledge that is now available about something as basic as drinking water. The few that I have come across are the following:

• cold water is bad, warm water is good
• drinking water immediately after eating is bad, drinking 20 minutes later is good
• drinking water an hour before eating is good
• drinking 2-4 glasses of water immediately upon waking up is good

Check them all out. I am not an authority on these matters, though I have my own good observations about those four I just mentioned.


4. Food

Our body circulation system has a pH that is slightly alkaline. I didn't know this til I was around mid-30. Have you come across this information? If so, did you take it seriously?

The implication of that sort of information is that anything acidic that we eat on a consistent basis is bad for our health.

What constitutes acidic? The list includes all processed food and all cooked food. This does not mean you stop eating these things. It only means you need to be more conscious about balancing it with alkaline food -- which includes freshly extracted juice from fruits and vegetables, raw fruits and the like.

There's a whole body of information about that available in the internet. My goal here is just to juggle your mind.

How serious are you about your health?

How serious are you about getting to personally enjoy the wealth that you have accumulated?

Great!

Live a prosperous life!

Related Posts: Emotional Vampires are Real Vampires, Beware!

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