The importance of wellness
Have you observed the general reawakening towards wellness? People are becoming more conscious of living right and living well. This claim rests on the fact that now more than before, people watch what they eat and drink, how they look and also exercise the body. Suddenly personal fitness has become a huge and popular business. People now eat diet meals, low or free fat diet with reduced calories, take vitamin supplements to enhance nutrition process and engage in exercises in Gyms, Parks and even at road sides. Despite this general awareness on the beauty and gains of wellness, a great number of African, men and women eat sporadically, in excessive quantities and do no exercises. Even when they do, it is not consistent; consume excessive carbohydrates and ignore other nutrients need of the body. Many do no annual general medical check up of the body; thus take life for granted. Yet this reality check is crucial to health.
What’s wellness? Wellness is a term that broadly applies to things one does to stay healthy. Healthiness means soundness of the body. Beyond being healthy, it signifies a way of living that shows love and care for your body and life. Being healthy makes one look better, feel better, be energetic; overall enjoys life and avoid medical bills. It includes series of decisions that must change the way you see yourself, do things and what you want to be. These involve what you eat or avoid eating, drink or not drink; maintain regular exercises, join health promotion or stay well health program. You could achieve these by paying increased attention to diet, exercises and replacing bad habits with good ones.
Our thoughts and feelings: The bible says, ‘as a person think in his heart, so does he live [Proverbs23:7]. Wellness starts within and get outside. It has a lot to do with our thoughts and feelings. Many Church going Christians confess to be children of God but live like defeated foes; profess love and peace but act hate and mean. Some may neither have seen nor experienced love, so offer nothing except hate. Even when they are sound in health they confess sick, feel ill and live likewise. A cheerful heart is good medicine; a life at peace gives life to the body [Prov.14:30a; 17:22a]. Nothing ruins health more than a crushed spirit. A cheerful heart has a continual feast [Prov.15:15b]. We color our lives with the thoughts we think. Sickly thoughts produce sickly body; out of clean heart comes edifying words and healthy body. Impure thoughts breed evil action and could generate nervous illness while pure and loving thoughts build up happy life and healthy body. The good news is we can be transformed by the renewal of our mind [Rom.12:2].
Eating and drinking: A typical African diet may not meet the body’s minimum nutritional need, for basic functions including growth, maintenance and support of tissues and bones. Some of us do not pay adequate attention to what we eat and drink. Some eat haphazardly while others over eat; eat excessive calories of starchy food neglecting other nutrients. We may eat the right quality of food but in wrong quantity. ‘ Too much of anything is a disease.’ If you’re a junk-food junkie, you eat a lot of nutritional empty, over-processed foods. We eat what we like not what is good for our body chemistry. Some of us weigh more than we should because we eat too much of the wrong foods; too much fat and sugar and too few fruits and vegetables. As a result, we feel and walk sluggishly, easily exhausted, suffer shortness of breath, tension, develop obesity and pot belly. The same applies to drinking. Most people drink soda, alcoholic drinks and caffeinated drinks more frequently than they drink water. Others try to cheat nature by working marathon hours without enough sleep and rest. Excessive of these cause sleeplessness, irritability, headache, stomach ache and exhaustion. Water still remains the best liquid for our body. It fills us up, help in digestion and good for our skin.
Exercises: Apostle Paul instructs Timothy, ‘Physical exercise has some value but Spiritual exercise [godliness] has value in all things’ [1 Tim.4:8]. Some folks are reluctant and lazy for exercises. Despite pleas from Health Care Community, the Media and Government, most people don’t exercise until they experience health problem that requires activity in order to recover and sustain wellness. The truth is that exercises are good for our bodies and keep us fit. We can walk, run, jog, skip, swim or play games; join exercise programs and use special designed equipments to help out. Even when some attend organized picnic, they ignore exercises but concentrate on foods, drinks and chats. Exercise not only makes us look and feel better, it also helps to protect against diseases. Qigong can help restore a sense of self empowerment and control over one’s life. Researches submitted reveal that participants are more relaxed, feel less stressed and fatigued and have increased sense of well being.
Habits: Despite the Surgeon General public warnings that cigarette smoking is harmful and dangerous to the body, people still smoke. This as well applies to drink and sex. Smoking is an addiction but the good news is that many have quit and still quitting this bad habit. Illegal drugs taken to help the body just feel well, relax or cope with life’s emotional stress is hazardous to the body. Others abuse prescription drugs by taking over dose. A large percentage of Africans suffer from High Blood, Diabetics and High Cholesterol. Most deaths are attributed to silent killer diseases that could be prevented by avoiding bad habits. Could we be honest with yourselves about our habits?
Cleanliness: Wellness includes neatness and cleanliness. ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness.’ “Whatever was the father of disease, ill diet was the mother.” We should not neglect to keep our bodies and environments clean, germ free and less toxic. Some put on nice looking dresses outside but our insides are dirty; have not taken showers for weeks, underwear’s [singlet, pants and socks] are dirty and sometimes stinky. It makes no sense living in a filthy place but dresses well and smell good to occasions. Personal hygiene is crucial to our health and body; it makes us feel good of who we are.
Religious ties: Writing for Christian Science Sentinel, Dale Matthews MD opines that religious faith is key factor in health and well being. Many doctors and patients have learned this truth from personal experiences that religious faith is good medicine. In recent years, clinical studies have demonstrated that this statement is not simply a matter of faith but rather of science. People who regularly attend worship services enjoy better health than their counterparts with fewer religious ties. These claims could be explained partly by the general healthier lifestyle of religiously involved people. Mart De Haan of Our Daily Bread [RBC Ministries] devotional guide wrote, ‘If you’re over 40 years old, your heart has already beaten more than 1.5 billion times. When your heart stops, it will be too late to change your ways. So I’ve been trying to control my weight, get exercise and watch not only what I eat but also what’s eating me.’ What about you? Wellness improves your health by: lowering your blood pressure, decreasing your risk of stroke and heart attack, improving your sleep, decreasing joint pains, improving gout, reducing your risk of diabetes and improving arthritis and mental health. Even though God desires that we have life and have it to the full; enjoy good health and prosperity but the choice is ours [John10:10; 3John:2]. To know what is good and do not do it is as good as doing wrong. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”
Elder Ogbonnaya, Godswill