Psychology

Health and Healthy lifestyle
Introduction
Health as the World Health Organisation (WHO) constitution (2006) defines it, is the status, condition or position of absolute and entire bodily, psychological and intellectual, and collective happiness and safety, and not the plain nonexistence of an illness or frailty. This goes ahead to say that the satisfaction and gratification of the maximum or uttermost achievable or manageable standards of fitness is one of the elementary, essential and basic rights and privileges of every individual being devoid of division of race, belief, political belief, monetary or societal condition. Lifestyle is the conduct or approach of livelihood that reveal the persons standards principles, morals and elevation. It is the way people conduct their lives, revealing the choices and resolutions and judgments they make. A healthy lifestyle therefore, is leading life in a way that endorses, encourages and upholds physical and psychological and intellectual well being. Health of a person as Lalonde (1974) puts it is determined by several factors e.g. human biology, surroundings, and way of life and health care services. As a result, health is sustained and enhanced throughout the progression and application of health discipline, but as well through the labors and intellectual lifestyle alternatives of the person and society.

Attaining, realizing and sustaining or retaining health is a scheduled progression or practice. In this article we shall look into the successful approach for settling healthy and civilizing ones health. The main reason as to why we are focusing our attention to healthy life styles is because healthy lifestyles habits can help reduce risks of diseases and infections, leading to healthy bodies that enjoy longevity of life that is worth living. A life without avoidable miseries and suffering. A healthy lifestyle is a very simple, affordable and attainable process that is encouraged to every one of us. Much of the load rests with routine work or program and our dietary habits. Daily routine involves activities that uphold and sustain bodily fitness and good psychological health, while dietary habits involves eating well balanced diets, good medication, practicing good personal hygiene and avoiding health exposures which can place one at risk, for example smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol. This also engages the concern for minor disorders, continuing conditions, or a persons own health after release from secondary and tertiary wellbeing care.

Achieving and maintaining health
Among the ways of achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the proper eating of a balanced diet. Grant (2000) defines a balanced diet as a ration that includes all the nutrients in the right amount and sufficient satisfactory quantity of water, to furnish and provide nutrition and vigor for sustaining body cells, tissues along with organs, in addition to sustaining usual and regular growth and development. Eating a well-balanced diet enables one to feel good, develop and sustain body potency and vigor, reside at a healthy body mass, maintain an excellent supply of nutrients within the body, deal with the side effects of cure, lessen the risk of infection, nurse back to health and recuperate quickly. Lack of a well-balanced diet leads to dietary complications like malnourishment, and conditions like heart attack, due to fat deposition on blood vessels, and obesity. Unwarranted use up of alcohol is capable of having a huge negative consequence in someones health. This can lead one to engage in risk behaviors that can compromise their health. Prolonged usage of alcohol can lead to diseases and conditions like addiction that has adverse health effects such as diversion of funds meant for food purchase to drinking and health conditions like liver cirrhosis.

Exercising can be a very helpful tool and approach to realizing and maintaining health. Isaacs and Knickman, (2002) argues that, swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, dancing, walking among other activities can help improve mental alertness and facilitate the proper flow of blood in the body, trims down stress, reinforce the heart along with lungs, augments energy levels, rally round preserving and accomplishing a healthy body mass and perks up ones outlook on life. Coward et.al, (2006) argues that lack of physical exercise can lead to premature death, unremitting diseases along with disability.

Personal protection is another area that should be looked into so as to maintain health. One is supposed to protect themselves from all kinds of dangers and risks by wearing protective garments while working. This includes wearing of helmets while cycling, seat belts while driving, gloves while handling suspicious substances, washing hands with soap and plenty of running water before eating and generally practicing proper personal hygiene. Habits like smoking should be done away with as smoking leads to lung cancer infections among other complications. Stress reduction and management should be employed. This includes balancing ones time properly in work, home as well as playing or recreational activities, getting or obtaining moral support from friends along with the family members, taking an ample time to relax and getting enough sleep. Vail-Smith et.al (2009) in the journal Relationship between Sleep Quality and Health Risk Behaviors in Undergraduate College Students shows how impossible is to achieve and maintain healthy standards without proper sleep. A reduced quantity of sleep hinders, impedes and slows down a persons effectiveness by making them feel indolent, lethargic and inactive.

Regular medical check-ups are also a factor to consider while maintaining and enhancing health. This involves going to see the clinician or the medical practitioner, not only when sick, but also when one assumes that they are in good health. A medical practitioner is in a position to advice the client on how to lower their likelihood for fitness problems founded on their way of life and individual and family histories. They can also advice on what inspection, investigation and injections those are required and when they are required. There are things and risky behaviors that one should shun at all cost so as to maintain their health. Majority of these behaviors are self imposed behaviors for example, alcohol addiction. We had mentioned that this leads to liver cirrhosis. This can also lead to encephalopathy and malnutrition, road accidents and obesity. Promiscuity and sexual looseness can also compromise the health status of an individual. This can lead to transmission and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases that wears out the body and can even lead to death if treatment is not administered.  

Conclusion
Health, being a state of both physical and mental wellbeing of an individual needs to be upheld at all cost. This will consequently give way to healthy lifestyles which should be a culture that is practiced by all regardless of tribal or political affiliations, social status or level of education. Healthy lifestyle therefore, should be a basic right to every living human being. Among the things to enhance ad maintain this healthy lifestyle are eating a well balanced diet, sleeping well for the required number of hours, involving ones self in physical exercises, devising ways and means of handling and managing stress, going for regular medical check-ups when sick and when one assumes they are healthy and avoiding risky behaviors that can end up being a health hazard. Among these behaviors is drug abuse, excessive consumption of alcohol and cigarette smoking. In dietary habits over consumption of food, high-fat intake that leads to obesity, high carbohydrate ingestion which allows dental caries to form, lack of proper and regular exercise, insufficiency recreation and relief from job and additional demands should be avoided. Personal safety should also be observed. Carefree driving and failure to strap on seat-belts leading to accidents and injuries, promiscuity and sexual looseness can lead to sexually transmitted diseases. All this should be avoided and done away with. Ingestion of clean safe water should be a priority. Visiting a medical practitioner should also be a culture as these people will give a guideline and point out towards a direction leading to good health thus healthy lifestyles.