The greatest wealth is health. ~Virgil by katerha, on Flickr
As the saying goes, “What’s life without your health?”. Life is about many things, but feeling good and enjoying life are likely the most important aspects. Here are 6 ways to stay healthy and enjoy life:
1. Focus on preventative health care and go for regular check-ups with a primary care physician. Preventative care refers to techniques designed to prevent diseases and injuries, rather than focusing on the treatment of symptoms or the curing of diseases. Regularly scheduled doctor appointments increases the probability that major health problems will be identified early and addressed quickly. Having affordable health insurance rates allows you to visit your doctor as often as necessary for the preventative care that you and your family need and deserve.
2. Manage your stress levels by finding ways to relax your mind and body. There are several relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga, as well as more straight forward methods including regular exercise (see #5) and better sleep habits. Getting enough sleep is extremely important not only for reducing stress, but also for your general health. The body needs its rest in order to function properly and lack of sleep is known to increase stress levels and anxiety. Also, consider psychotherapy as a way to learn new tools to deal with life’s challenges. Bottomline: If you want to enjoy life than managing stress is an essential skill.
3. Create a family budget that allows you to save money toward financial goals, such as financial freedom. In my humble opinion, one of the best feelings on the planet is knowing that you have saved a portion of your hard-earned money and built a nest-egg of cash and investments. Knowing that you have a financial safety-net and that you have the ability to build wealth provides a tremendous confidence boost. In addition, having a financial plan can actually lead to unique opportunities that you never had before. Investment opportunities with attractive risk-reward profiles will tend to come your way more often and you are likely to feel more comfortable taking advantage of these opportunities because you have supplemental risk capital available to “take a chance”.
4. Exercising regularly has numerous physical health and mental benefits. Exercising just 30 minutes threes times per week not only can keep your waist-line under control, but also acts as a mood-stablizer and stress reliever. In addition, exercise has been known to improve body image and increase confidence levels. Exercise is an important element of weight control (see #6).
5. Ensure that you and your family have individual health insurance plans. Health coverage is vital to your family’s well-being ensuring access to health care. Health insurance plans also offer peace of mind during times of medical emergency allowing you to focus on your health care rather than your medical bills. I personally view “not having health insurance” as taking a risk that is low probability and high severity. In other words, it is unlikely that you will be in a medical emergency that requires high cost health care, BUT if an emergency does occur than the costs associated with the emergency will likely be very high. Therefore, I sleep better at night knowing I have solid health insurance coverage.
6. Manage your body weight and focus on keeping your body mass in the acceptable range according to the body mass index (BMI). BMI is an alternative to direct measures of body fat and is used as a screening tool to identify weight problems in adults. A keep aspect of managing your weight is maintaining a healthy and balanced diet, which also means minimizing your alcohol intake. Weight management has several key benefits including increased energy levels and reduced risk for health issues such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
