Sonia Davidson

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22 vs 6.

Each of us creates a way of life that is typical of us. This way of life is called our lifestyle. A lifestyle is a stable, habitual pattern of behaviour that constitutes our day-to-day experience. We behave according to what we believe and value.

Our beliefs, values, attitudes and habits are shaped by those with whom we have lived most closely when growing up and our reactions to life experiences. Our lifestyle, and therefore our health, are ultimately determined by our beliefs, values and attitudes. People who appreciate themselves and see themselves as valuable to their family and to society are most likely to take care of themselves.

As humans, we experience life in all its dimensions: physical (bodily ease and comfort, physical strength, flexibility and endurance), intellectual (expanded knowledge and skills and sharing of these gifts with others), social (the ability to relate well to others, both within and outside the family unit), emotional (feeling positive and enthusiastic about oneself and life), environmental (contributing to and benefiting from one's environment and community), economic (satisfaction with one's earning power), occupational (personal satisfaction and enrichment in one's life through work) and spiritual (peace through discovery of the meaning and purpose in human existence).

We are likely to be healthy and to feel most comfortable, happy, energetic, optimistic and efficient when we are functioning well in all dimensions of our lives. People who are functioning well in all dimensions of life feel it, know it and show it. They are viewed as healthy and the lifestyle that has allowed them to experience health is viewed as a healthy lifestyle.

Little discomfort

Healthy people rarely become ill, and if they do, they recover quickly or experience little discomfort or few lasting effects.

A healthy person demonstrates a balanced relationship with the world around him or her and also with the inner world of thinking and feeling. Such a person is motivated to care for and cherish his or her body and relationships. He or she loves life and wants to remain active and independent throughout it.

Once we recognise that our lifestyle is a threat to our health, we can change it. Any current lifestyle may be reformed completely, maintained, or improved upon. Furthermore, we can change it at any age. However, the earlier we adopt a healthy lifestyle, the greater our chances of enjoying an extended period of good health.

Drastic measures

Changing habits may require drastic measures or repetitive action to unlearn previously learned unhealthy habits. Habits are mental postures or tendencies and so must, therefore, be tackled mentally. Take, for example, smoking, sleeping habits and dietary habits. They may have first begun with a casual act but are now sustained by memories formed by repeated action. How are we going to break this pattern? We have to create a new pattern by repeated action until the new action is all we remember.

Alternatively, we can deliberately change the thought patterns associated with the habit. For example, if we decide to think of the benefits of eating vegetables, of seeing them as wholesome, tasty and good for our bodies, over time we will begin to enjoy them and even crave them. It is worth the effort to aspire to and acquire a healthy lifestyle.

Dr. Sonia Davidson, MD, is a general practitioner, advocate of integrative medicine and minister of religious science; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.