Ten Ss to Keep the Doctor Away – By Dr. Sepalika Jayamaha
Image Source : online.hbs.edu
Source : Brisbane Sri Lankan Newsletter – Dæhæna – September 2022
Everything changes and as a result ageing is inevitable. Yet, we can slow the ageing process significantly by avoiding things that accelerate ageing. Here are 10 things to avoid in order to slow down ageing and live longer and healthier.
1. Sleeping late or sleeping less than 6 hrs at night. Sleeping more than 9 hours is also detrimental because of lack of physical activity, lethargy, inadequate nutrition and hydration, lack of vitamin D etc.
2. Sunshine- Sunshine is essential for health. The natural source of vitamin D is sunshine. But more than 15 to 20 minutes exposure to sun at one time can harm the skin and cause wrinkles and even skin cancer with very long exposure on a daily basis.
3. Standard American Diet (SAD)- a big portion, too much carbohydrates, processed food and fried food. Very little or no vegetables. This type of diet leads to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and other metabolic and hormonal imbalances. Reduced thyroid and sex hormones are such examples.
4. Sugar- Sugar is the culprit responsible for a number of chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic disorders and some types of cancers. Starchy food such as white bread, white polished rice, pasta, noodles,pizza, cakes and sweets get converted to sugar and therefore understanding the food types is very important to avoid these diseases .
5. Smoking- It ages you faster and kills you slowly. Smoking damages the inner lining of airways and causes airway obstruction. It can also cause lung cancer. Narrowing of blood vessels is another smoking related disease and reduces blood supply to the heart leading to heart attack. Reduction of blood supply to legs limits physical activity due to pain.
6. Spirits and wine -all types of alcoholic drinks increase body weight, reduce cognitive functions, increase the chance of having gallstones and kidney stones They also cause liver disease. Safe dose of alcohol recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence in the UK is zero. The Australian guidelines to reduce harm from alcohol issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) states that healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week or 4 standard drinks on any one day. This is only for healthy adults and not for everyone. One standard drink is any type of alcohol that contains 10grams of pure alcohol. The less you drink the lower your risk of harm from alcohol.
7. Substance abuse- addiction to substances masks root causes of stress and they harm the organs in the body.
8. Sedentary lifestyle and sitting- more hours of sitting than standing and walking increases weight gain and reduces oxygenation to tissues.
9. Stress- Imbalanced and disorganised life is chaotic and leads to stress. Stress management is about paying attention inwards to watch how we live life moment by moment objectively. This is the most valuable life skill one can master in order to live a stress free life.
10. Self centred or self orientation- when we think and do things only concerning ourselves, we have more worries, anxiety, depression than when we let go of self centred attitude and cultivate universal benevolence. This way of living fills us with joy without needing external things to make us happy and healthy and we can live a more fulfilled life with connections with others, nature and the planet we live in.
Dr. Sepalika Jayamaha, MBBS, DA, FFARCS(i), MBA,
FANZCA, DipIBLM, FASLM
Consultant Anaesthetist, Lifestyle Medicine Physician and Life Coach, Authentic-Life Health Assessment and Stress Management.
