The 3 most essential things for an individual’s well-being are physical health, quality food, and mental health. If one is physically fit, automatically, their mental health will also improve. Physical health will have a major influence on your mental health. These days due to the pace of our personal and work life one needs to take more care of their physical prosperity than usual. For that one needs to aware of the basic health education.

What is basic health education and how to incorporate it into our lives?

Basic health education means awareness of basic health issues and the care needed. One needs to be aware of the healthy habits, care needed for their health and the general awareness of what caused that particular disease. With the basic health education, one can prevent serious diseases from happening. Over half of the diseases occur due to the lack of a healthy lifestyle. Every organization like Government, schools, hospitals etc that have the scope of bringing awareness of health issues should come forward and act accordingly. It’s difficult to incorporate anything in a grown individual’s life so it’s better to start teaching our children right from the first day of the school. That’s the best way to impart wisdom to them. Schools should teach the basic health education to kids at least 5 mins a day. I have seen even some of the most educated persons do not follow basic manners like covering their mouth while coughing or sneezing. Manners like this have to be taught to children at schools. Teaching kids basic health education will help them grow into a responsible individual.

Let us see some common health issues and the care needed.

1. RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS

Respiratory issues are the most affected one all over the world. This is a vast subject but we can see basic points as the topic here is basic health education. Most of the respiratory diseases occur due to droplet infection from person to person. Hospitals are flooded with these viral respiratory troubles like swine flu, T.B etc…

• Care:

These infections can be prevented with some basic awareness.

1. Cover your mouth while coughing/sneezing with a cloth or your hands but cloth is better. If you use a cloth your hands won’t be infected with germs.
2. Wash your hands frequently. While you’re traveling/outside use sanitizer.
3. Don’t share common towels etc..
4. Regular exercise. This will help you improve the immunity power. One can also increase the immunity power by regular intake of some foods like basil etc…
5. A good diet containing vitamin A and C.
6. Maintain a considerable distance from others. This will prevent the droplets to travel when you cough/sneeze.

2. CARDIOVASCULAR PROBLEMS

Coronary artery diseases/heart attacks and hypertension are the most critical diseases here. These diseases can be prevented if you can make slight changes in your lifestyle like…

1. Exercising every day
2. Avoiding oily foods
3. Decreasing the intake of salt
4. Avoiding smoke
5. Your diet should contain lots of fruits and veggies.
6. One should maintain normal BMI (body mass index) i.e between 18 to 25.

• Foods to be avoided:

1. Goat Meat
2. Deep fried food

• Good food:

1. Fish. It’s good for the heart.
2. Red wine also. Red wine contains a lot of antioxidants. If one takes 30 to 40ml for a day it’ll be good for the heart.

3. GASTRIC TROUBLES

Gastric problems are also the common complained issues of peptic ulcers, gastritis, indigestion, non-ulcer dyspepsia, jaundice, diarrhea etc..

• Care:

1. These can be prevented with frequent hand washes. It is a must-to-do before eating.
2. Never overeat. Always eat 5% less than your capacity.
3. Eat food timely. Irregular food habits should be kept at bay.
4. Avoid spicy foods.

4. RENAL PROBLEMS

Renal means related to kidneys. The most common issue here is kidney stones.

1. Take plenty of water every day.
2. Avoid spinach, cabbage, cauliflower.
3. Avoid painkillers without consulting the doctor.

5. THE NEUROLOGICAL ISSUES

The most neurological disease is brain strokes and that can be prevented by controlling BP, diabetes, cholesterol and regularly exercising.

6. ENDOCRINE PROBLEMS

Diabetes is the most common one here. Regular screening is essential if one has diabetes. Physical exercises and diet control are important to control diabetes. Avoid excessive intake of sugar and oil.

Next one here is thyroid. A diet containing iodine will prevent thyroid disorders.

7. HAEMATOLOGY

This means blood disorders. Common among them is Anemia. It occurs due to the deficiency of hemoglobin. The deficiency might be due to lack of iron, vitamin B12, folic acid. So, this can be easily prevented if you take diet containing iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid.

• Food:

1. Green leafy vegetables like spinach, amaranthus, coriander etc..
2. Vitamin B12 is available only in non-vegetarian foods.

8. INFECTIONS:

Infections are caused by bacteria, viruses, fungal etc… Some of them are malaria, typhoid, dengue, chikan guinea, respiratory tract infections like flu and cold. These are all communicable diseases and flu is a contagious disease.

• Care:

1. Use mosquito repellants. Wear fully covered clothes while you’re at bushy places to prevent mosquito bites.
2. To prevent food poisonings/enteric fever drink hygienic water.
3. Frequent hand washes, covering mouth while coughing or sneezing is very important to prevent germs from traveling.

Also, check out how to stay fit and healthy

9. OSTEOARTHRITIS

It means eroding of joints. The most commonly affected joint is the knee. It’s mostly seen in women above 40 yrs. It can be prevented by taking calcium supplements, vitamin D supplements and maintaining correct posture. Also, weight has to be in control. If the weight is too much knee joints will be pressurized.

10. OBESITY

Obese people are prone to develop BP, diabetes, heart attacks, brain strokes, cancer, obstructive sleep apnoea, Osteoarthritis etc. Obesity is the major reason behind many serious diseases. One has to take care of their weight to avoid all these diseases.

11. EYES

Most commonly affected is night blindness. That is mainly due to the deficiency of vitamin A. If you take a diet rich in vitamin A you can prevent it. You can take vitamin supplements as well. Avoid too much usage of TV, mobile, and computers as they make your eyes dry. Even when you’re watching Tv or using computer maintain a considerable distance between you and the screen. Don’t be too close to the screen. Close your eyes for 30 secs every 1 hour.

Coming to conjunctivitis, it’s a contagious disease. Wear goggles while you’re interacting with others and frequently wash your hands.

• Food rich in vitamin A:

1. Papaya
2. Mango
3. Carrot.

12. CANCER

Simply, avoid smoking. Stop chewing pan, gutka. Sometimes even too much exposure to the sun may cause skin cancer. Use sunscreen lotions to avoid it. And for the prevention of colonic cancer take 30 grams of fiber per day.

Conclusion:

Basic health education has to be taught in every school. Healthy habits should be taught to children right from their first day at school. It shouldn’t be taught for hours but for 5 mins every day. Just like Japan schools have clean up time, China schools have sleep time, every school in every country should have some time for basic health education before the actual class begins.

Remember that adage, “Prevention is better than cure”.

Love,

Nikki.

Also, if you haven’t read our earlier post on Yoga, read and learn how to do Yoga for a healthy and peaceful lifestyle. And we are pretty sure you might enjoy one of our reads on 5 home decor inspirations.

You can also get updates on this blog through our Facebook page, Nikki’s talk! Give it a thumbs up.