We all have been correlating healthcare with hospitals, doctors and medicines, but did we ever think that we actually don’t need all these while we are healthy, but only when we fall sick? So basically the things we are mentally wired to associate with healthcare is essentially a ‘sick-care’. Healthcare should ideally be linked with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, that keeps us safe from falling ill and protects us from developing chronic diseases.
Maintaining a healthy body weight, eating balanced and nutritious food, ensuring regular physical activity and keeping a check on your health through regular health scanning are the fundamentals that should come with your healthcare. Chances are, by maintaining basics of healthcare, you may hardly require medical interventions- or what we should rather call, the sick-care.
Let’s begin with a balanced and healthy diet, one of the most crucial aspects of our health. Proper diet not only helps in maintaining a healthy body weight but also in providing nutrients for energy and growth and essential vitamins and phytonutrients to protect us from developing chronic diseases. There are various studies that indicate imbalances in our food can lead to deficiency diseases or obesity and associated metabolic disorders, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer1.
This is the exact reason why healthcare providers these days emphasise a lot on ensuring good nutrition. In fact, when it comes to long-term solutions for chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, diet has actually taken over the medicines.
Next comes the regular physical activity, according to WHO, physical inactivity can cause various health complications2. Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety.
Next comes the regular physical activity, according to WHO, physical inactivity can cause various health complications2. Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety.