Ask Dr Miriam

QYou keep banging on about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, but I’m just wondering if it’s as good for you as it’s cracked up to be. I personally think it is and I’m not alone, so much so that there’s going to be a new branch of care called Lifestyle Medicine.

If you want confirmation of how important a healthy lifestyle is I can do no better than quote you a recent study of more than 300,000 men and women aged between 40

Aand 73 years old, followed for four years.

The study looked at the effect of a healthy lifestyle on stroke according to four factors. These were no smoking, healthy diet, healthy weight (BMI less than 30) and some regular physical exercise. The researchers were trying to find out if this healthy lifestyle could protect people who already had a high risk of stroke. It did. This information goes a long way to convince me and I hope it convinces you too.