Forget About Losing Weight, Focus on Healthy Habits
If your body mass index is above normal, instead of focusing on losing weight, you should be more focused on developing healthy habits. If we would all be more focused on healthy habits, the whole population would be healthier in the long run.
Professor Wittert, an endocrinologist at the University of Adelaide who lead a long-term program on diet and lifestyle factors, said: “People should not focus on weight, people should focus on health. Then you don’t engage in these diets where you restrict your nutrients, and where people get depressed because they regain weight, which is almost an inevitability.”
When we focus on our overall well-being and healthy habits, we are more likely to stick to those lifestyle changes. Even if you have the same weight, but you change four or five things that will improve your health, then you are on the right track.
What are those decisions that we have to make to live a healthier life? The lifestyle choices that will help us lead a healthy life is regular exercise, eating more vegetables and fruits, avoiding or quitting smoking, moderate alcohol intake. When you apply these changes there is a lower risk of developing a heart attack.
Some additional lifestyle choices we all should make are eating at regular times, getting enough sleep, sleeping enough and avoiding stressful situations as much as possible. It’s not all about strict diets and unbelievable exercise regimes.
Energy Drinks Have a Negative Impact on Our Health
A recent study suggests that we should restrict the intake of energy drinks, especially among children and young adults. The study revealed that approximately half of young Canadians who have a history of consuming energy drinks have experienced negative health effects such as nausea, rapid heartbeat and even seizures.
This is not surprising when you realize that the energy drinks contain caffeine and other stimulants such as amino acids, sugars, and vitamins. Although the consumption of energy drinks has increased in the past decade, there is not a lot of research done on this topic. Some studies that have been done recently suggest that energy drinks have a negative impact on our overall health, especially among young people who are more susceptible to these effects of caffeine and other stimulants contained in the energy drinks.
A team of researcher from the University of Waterloo had a nationwide researcher asking more than 2,000 young people from Canada about their prior consumption of energy drinks. Approximately 55% of participants of the research reported that they experience adverse health consequences, 24.70% reported experiencing a fast heartbeat, 24% said that they had difficulty sleeping and 18.30% experienced headache due to consumption of energy drinks.
Other reported health difficulties are vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, chest pain and seizure. Almost 3.10% of participants had to ask for medical help due to health difficulties experienced due to drinking energy drinks.
Effects of Government Shutdown on Health of Americans
You probably heard about the recent government shutdown which happened recently. Many might wonder what this means for the public health especially in a time when the flu is prevalent more than in any other time of the year.
Public hospitals, run by state and local government are directly affected by a shutdown. Thankfully, no one will be turned away at the emergency room due to a government shutdown. However, some federally funded programs and medical facilities are immediately affected.
Fortunately, most of the federal funding for patient care is separated from the budget negotiations caused by the shutdown. This means that Medicare and Medicaid won’t be affected by the shutdown.
From the other side, the Department of Health and Human Services where 50% of public employees were sent home, without pay.
The failure of Republicans and Democrats to find a common ground will result in many programs and studies to be prolonged for months to come. It’s important to stress that only a few days of the government shutdown can have long-term consequences for many institutions and organizations funded by the government.
