What Keeps You Healthy?

    Last week, I became sick for the 1st time in over a year, and man it was a doosey.  Fever, cough , congestion, upset stomach, and a throat so sore I seriously considered drinking my green tea through a funnel.  But since the only funnel I found was the one I use for putting oil in my car, I passed on that idea and instead fought through my sickness in my dark cave of a bedroom until I could start to talk again without sounding like Al Pacino.

    Since it's so rare that I do get sick, I started to think about things I do in my everyday life (or at least things I do somewhat consistently) that help keep me healthy.  Now, I am by no means a health care professional, nor am I telling anyone that you must do everything that I am about to list to have any hope of being healthy.  Really, I just thought it would be an interesting discussion so please just take it for what it's worth to you.

   1. Sleep

    I use to overlook this and think that I can easily get by with 5 or so hours of sleep per night.  One may be able to live with minimal sleep, but I feel it's just not a healthy way to treat your body.  I usually average about anywhere between 6-8 hours of actual sleep per night.  I also treat my bedroom as a restful place.  There are no phones, computers, xbox, or TV allowed in my bedroom.  I feel that some people think that lying down, watching TV for 2 hours before bed is sleeping or resting, but it's not.  Try to shut off all electronics an hour before you plan to go sleep, have a cup of tea and read a book until you feel like going to bed.  If what you're reading is not work related, I almost guarantee you will have the most restful sleep you've had in a long time.

   2. Regular Exercise

   This one seems kind of self explanatory if you are a regular reader of my blog.  It's no secret that regular exercise will help fight and prevent obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and I could go on and on.  Interestingly enough, THIS STUDY saw that people who did NOT participated in regular exercise also had a much LOWER perceived quality of life.  Think about it.

   3. Multivitamin

  By taking a quality multivitamin, I'm able to get all the nutrient's and vitamin's I would normally not get from my diet alone.  Admittedly, I will forget to take my multivitamin 3 out of the 7 days of the week, but I think it's better to have than have not.  There are also certain times of year when we may be lacking in certain vitamin's.  Vitamin D we normally synthesize ourselves through the sun's rays, but in winter we get so little sunlight that our body is definitely lacking it.  This is where I can see taking a muti helps out the most.

   4.  I Cook My Own Food

   I'd say that I cook all of my meals for 5 days out of the week.  With that I try my best to get a good variety of lean meat, fruits,and vegetables.  I like to cook for myself because that way I know exactly what I'm eating.  You may think that eating out is easier but if you take the time to plan out your meals, you will be surprised at how easy it can be. 

  5.  I Don't Smoke

  Seriously, why are you doing this?  STOP IT!

  6.  I Always Have Anti-Bacterial Lotion With Me At All Times And I Open All Doors With A Handkerchief.

  Well that's a joke, but have you ever seen people who do this?  I don't have enough time in my day to worry about the chances I will contract Bird Flu .


  For now, those are the big things I can think of that I do to keep myself in fighting shape.  But I would like to know what you think keep YOU healthy!  Please post your opinions and if we get at least 10 comments down, I"ll post the 5 exercises you need to be doing to get your body beach ready!  So you'd better hurry because memorial day is just around the corner.