HEALTH

Start by working out how to find balance in your life, says Inga Louisa Stevens

If good health is your plan for 2018, the key lies in finding balance.

The holiday season is over and, for most of us, our thoughts have turned towards the day-to-day activities that we call life. Early morning commutes to the office, school runs, after-school activities, paying bills, clearing out our cupboards, you name it, it is on the list of things to get done. Getting yourself motivated to tackle the tasks ahead may feel a little overwhelming, especially as many of us may have overindulged with food, drink and late nights over the festive season. You feel like you have let yourself go or you simply just don’t ‘feel right’. This is your body’s way of telling you that it’s time to think about your health – listen to it!

Setting yourself realistic health and well-being goals for the New Year is the first step towards a healthier and happier you in 2018. From physical health to mental and social well-being, these are all important aspects to consider when managing your general health. Wellness involves balance in all aspects of life and is unique to each individual. Prevention is the best cure so taking charge of your own health by making small changes will serve you well in the future. Form those good habits from now and get a head start.

As you reflect on your personal goals for 2018, an important question to ask might be ‘How can I achieve more balance in my life’, says Dr Lanalle Dunn, founder of The Chiron Clinic in Dubai. ‘This question creates awareness about different aspects of life such as personal, professional, financial or spiritual and helps as a starting point to determine which area needs more attention.’

Resolutions like ‘lose five kilos’, ‘quit smoking’, or ‘make more money’ are made at the start of every year, but many are broken because resolutions rarely address overall well-being. ‘Various factors influence our sense of overall well-being which can be measured by feelings of fulfilment, harmony, energy,

gratitude, and peace. Well-being is a personal state of better health and happiness that requires patience and motivation; setting smaller goals can be the stepping stone for achieving bigger goals,’ Dr Lanalle explains.

Dr Ali Al Tuckmachy, a medical doctor and clinical lead in medical education at King’s College Hospital London, shares some suggestions on how to set realistic goals:

• Be realistic: Your ultimate fitness goal could be to be fit enough to participate in a competition on a set date or to do 10 laps of the pool. Whatever the case, make this goal realistic. Remember that most of us will never be world-famous athletes or supermodels. Think about what is achievable for you. Write down your goals.

• Be specific: Don’t make your ultimate goal a general statement like: ‘I want to lose weight’. Make it measurable – exactly how many kilograms do you want to lose?

• Choose a goal that is meaningful and important to you, not to anybody else. For example, if your partner wants you to lose weight, but you’re happy as you are, you may find it difficult to commit to your exercise routine in the long term.

‘Don’t defeat your efforts before you even start to work on accomplishing your desired goals. Set yourself up for success rather than failure by applying these tips and start achieving what you want to achieve,’ he explains. ‘Get active and consult a family medicine consultant. Remember, health is not the absence of disease, but is a state of well-being.’

YOUR PHYSICAL HEALTH

A great way to get started on the road to optimal physical health is to get a health MOT. Assess your current health status by running blood tests, checking your blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol and discuss any other health issues that you may be concerned about or at risk of, based on your family history. Once you know your starting point, it is easier to make adjustments to your lifestyle through a combination of both diet and exercise. ‘The key to a good diet is eating a well-balanced variety of foods including greater intake of fruit, vegetables, fish, and foods with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats – aim to consume at least five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day, whilst cutting down on foods high in cholesterol, animal fat and salt,’ says Dr Ali Razzak, consultant in family medicine at King’s College Hospital London, Jumeirah Medical Centre. ‘Avoid faddish crash diets – this is about forming good habits, we’re in this for the long haul.’

The benefits of regular exercise cannot be emphasised enough. The British Heart Foundation recommends that you should aim to be active every day and build up to a total of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week. ‘Traditional activities like swimming, exercise classes or playing a sport all count. Physical activity also includes everyday things you may already be doing – like walking, gardening and climbing stairs,’ adds Dr Razzak.

For smokers, he also recommends aiming to stop all forms of tobacco smoking, including shisha – a one-hour shisha session is equivalent to smoking 60 cigarettes.

Similarly, getting at least seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night is an important element of achieving physical well-being. ‘Not sleeping enough can reduce and undo the benefits of dieting or losing weight, because when you are sleep-deprived, your body suffers from metabolic fatigue, and its ability to properly use insulin becomes disrupted,’ says Dr Mohammad Al Hadad, head of the bariatric and metabolic surgery department at Healthpoint in Abu Dhabi.