HEALTH AWARENESS Your health is your wealth so go explore ways to live to your optimum

RESILIENCE, well being and self care are all buzzwords these days and with the stresses and strains of modern life they all are worth paying attention to. ‘Your health is your wealth’ is a phrase many of us grew up with and there is a lot to be said for stepping off the hamster wheel and exploring the abundance of health options available locally.

This can involve a visit to a wellness centre, a chat with an informed owner of a healthy food shop or doing some research, whether that involves buying a book or looking up healthy living options online. Afterall `prevention is better than cure’.

Most of us won’t hesitate to visit a doctor when we are sick but we are often slow to respond to cues from our bodies alerting us to the need to slow down, unwind, or eat more healthily.

By being healthy and through learning to breathe better and be more in tune with yourself you will come to find there are numerous benefits to you and to those around you. This approach can have a knock-on effect to several key parts of your life: from sleep, to energy levels and sexual health.

Remaining at optimum wellness is something we all aspire to. We want to wake up in the morning feeling fit and healthy and ready to take on the day, to have the energy and enthusiasm for work, family and friends, to sleep well and enjoy being alive.

But that is not always the case. Sometimes we feel tired, over-stretched and stressed as we run around juggling jobs, childcare and home responsibilities while also attempting to exercise, socialise and stay in constant communication with the rest of the world.

We owe it to ourselves to be aware of our health, to tune into our bodies, to our minds and our emotions, to eat a healthy diet and stay reasonably fit so that we can continue being well, feeling well and looking well.

Achieving this rosy glow of healthful goodness is not always a simple matter of eating the right foods and taking a brisk walk every day. Sometimes, we need help whether that is nutritionally, in the form of health supplements, to combat the effect of the long Irish winter; the deeper sense of relaxation that comes from a meditation/ mindfulness class or professional massage or the core strengthening and stretching benefits of a pilates/yoga class.

Sometimes, we need to retreat from the world for a few days or even a few hours of dedicated personal time, and there is no better place to achieve this than in a wellness centre offering holistic packages designed for relaxation, restfulness and re-energising.

Some may consider it a luxury but if your health is truly your wealth, you should view it as an investment that will bring lucrative returns.