Read the text to learn more about what you can do to have a healthy life. Do you think you already have a healthy lifestyle?

Dorota Giżyńska Health Is Wealth

We tend to live longer thanks to advancesadvances [advance]advances in medical research. However, as in the proverb “health is not valued until sickness comeshealth is not valued until sickness comeshealth is not valued until sickness comes”, millions of  people die of diseases which could have been prevented. According to the WHO findingsfindings [finding]findings, out of 55 million people who died in 2011, two thirds were victims of non‑communicable diseasesnon‑communicable diseases [non‑communicable disease] non‑communicable diseases. In comparison, in 2000, the number was 60%. That’s why preventive healthcarepreventive healthcarepreventive healthcare is gaining so much importance in counteractingcounteracting [counteract]counteracting the rise of preventable diseasespreventable diseases [preventable disease]preventable diseases and, as a result, contributing to fewer deaths.

“Prevention is better than cureprevention is better than curePrevention is better than cure” says an old proverb from around the 1500s. Preventive health care, also known as prophylaxisprophylaxisprophylaxis, is a set of measures takenmeasures taken [take measures]measures taken to prevent diseases rather than treat them. Its main idea is to try and avoid the occurrenceoccurrenceoccurrence of a disease before it’s too serious to be treated and it becomes life‑threateninglife‑threatening life‑threatening. It’s not only aimed at preventing you from getting chronically illchronically illchronically ill, but also at saving you from future expenses of medical treatment. That’s why it’s important that preventive healthcare is introduced well ahead of time and good habits are developed.

It will probably never be possible to manage and control all the health problems that people suffer from but, by taking preventivepreventivepreventive measures, you can eliminate or reduce some risk factorsrisk factors [risk factor]risk factors. It doesn’t mean that you have to change your life drastically, but it may involve small changes and developing healthy habitsdeveloping healthy habits [develop healthy habits]developing healthy habits. In fact, preventive healthcare includes different measures taken on different levels. It starts with parents who can protect their babies by providing them with immunisationimmunisationimmunisation against diseases. The next level is regular screeningsscreenings [screening]screenings and testing to identify genetic disorders or predispositionspredispositions [predisposition]predispositions based on, among all, blood tests. Last but not least are regular check‑upscheck‑ups [check‑up]check‑ups even if you’re not feeling sick, and leading a healthy and well‑balancedwell‑balancedwell‑balanced lifestyle.

Preventive healthcare also includes proper health promotionhealth promotionhealth promotion and education. It should start as early as kindergarten. Children should learn about good dietary habitsdietary habitsdietary habits and elements of nutritious dietnutritious dietnutritious diet. Older children and teenagers should have a chance to take part in talks and discussions about strategies that they can employ in their everyday lives, such as avoiding unhealthy substance abuseabuse (noun)abuse, such as tobacco products, alcohol, energy drinks or designer drugs.designer drugs [designer drug]designer drugs. Regular exercise not only helps you to build up muscles and enduranceenduranceendurance, but also prevents obesityobesityobesity which is the main cause of hypertensionhypertensionhypertension, cardiovascular diseasescardiovascular diseases [cardiovascular disease]cardiovascular diseases or diabetesdiabetesdiabetes.

Adopting a healthy lifestyleadopting a healthy lifestyle [adopt a healthy lifestyle]Adopting a healthy lifestyle is not just a matter of fashion, but a conscious decisionconscious decisionconscious decision to take responsibility fortake responsibility fortake responsibility for your own life. The sooner you realise it and take action, the healthier you will be. Maybe you’re not thinking about it now, because you’re young, but “health is wealthhealth is wealthhealth is wealth” in a number of ways. When you’re healthy you have the energy to do things and you enjoy life, and your life can be richer. You also don’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on medical care, which can ruin you financially in the long run. Think about it!

1 Źródło: Dorota Giżyńska , licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.