Healthy Living, Part Two

Remember your Mom? "Eat your breakfast; eat your veggies; go to sleep early; get some exercise; don't eat so much junk." Well, guess what; she was right. Every one of those old dicta, familiar to most of us, has a significant effect on wellness. Let's take a look at those, and a few others to see what we know about their relation to health.

Breakfast

For many years, people in public health knew that breakfast was an important part of healthy living. In fact, it was known that people who regularly ate breakfast actually tended to live longer than those who didn't. Was this relation a specious correlation owing to the fact that people with regular habits tended to have a generally healthier lifestyle? No, it's not; now, we know that breakfast has a significant effect in its own right. Regularly eating breakfast is, in fact, an important health habit, in and of itself. Why? Probably because of the setting of the sugar regulation and overall metabolism for the day. Not eating breakfast has a deleterious effect on metabolic processes. The body tends to burn fewer calories because the metabolism slows down and this, in turn, predisposes to weight gain. Most people who don't eat breakfast don't actually take in many, or any, fewer calories for the whole day, but they do burn them less efficiently. If you're trying to lose weight by skipping meals, breakfast is not the one to skip. Make it oatmeal - but that's another story.

Diet

We are not what we eat, but what we eat has a significant effect on what we are. There are such things, of course, as healthy and unhealthy diets. Let's start with Mom's Vegetables. Yes, it's really a good idea to eat them. They supply a welter of nutrients in a form that has little downside. Vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, sure, you can take these in a pill, but fiber/bulk takes more than a pill and these are necessary for good digestion. Moreover, they tend to supply some needed calories (you really do need some) without having high simple sugars or 'bad' fats. Fruits have similar benefits, although they tend to be higher in sugars, of course, a little of which is OK, unless you're diabetic.

Red meats? Well, that's a mixed bag. They are high in needed nutrients but it is hard to avoid an abundance of saturated fats that predispose toward heart and blood vessel problems. Some people are more sensitive than others to this problem, but an abundance of saturated fat isn't much good for most folks. Nevertheless, it is important to have some supply of complete protein and red meat is a good source of this. So, however, is fish, eggs, and dairy products, all of which have some benefits and some problems depending on the individual. Some fish contain enough contaminants to be worrisome, many adults don't handle dairy products well, and there are specific allergies to some foods, also. This aspect of the diet really needs to be tailored to the individual, but as a general rule, a diet high in fish (particularly certain kinds) and low in red meat is a relatively healthy diet. It is also possible to get complete amino acids, and, therefore proteins, with a mixture of some vegetables, particularly legumes, but it is hard and the addition of eggs and fish is a very good guarantee. Incidentally, in most people, the cholesterol in eggs isn't as bad as it has been thought to be. Moreover, there are eggs that are specifically bred to be low in cholesterol, anyway.

Food supplements are debatable. Some are demonstrably good for you (see article on Omega 3 oils) and it is probably a good idea to take a good multi-vitamin/mineral supplement daily because the nutrition value of our foods has steadily dropped for many years and eating well is less of a guarantee of full nutrition than it used to be.

Foodstuffs are not the only comestibles we ingest. Some of what we take in is done as much for the pharmacologic effect as for the taste or nutrition. For example, many of us drink coffee or tea as much for the effect of the caffeine as for the taste. (OK, technically, the substance in tea is not exactly the same as the caffeine in coffee; it is a different xanthine that is closely related, but for this purpose, it is close enough.) Is caffeine good or bad for you? This debate has been ongoing for as long as we have been drinking the substances. The effects are really quite complex and there is no absolutely clear and simple answer. On balance, however, in the absence of a few conditions that make caffeine a bad drug to use, moderate intake of both coffee and tea are probably more good for you than bad. This is particularly true of tea, and especially of green tea, which is laden with anti-oxidents that have presumed beneficial effects. The rest of the story is far too complicated to address here, but moderate use of caffeine containing drinks is unlikely to be harmful and can, arguably, provide some beneficial effects.

So how about alcohol? Surely any intake of alcohol is bad for the health, right? Well, no, even that is far more complicated than it seems. Alcohol in excessive amounts has so many deleterious health effects that the list would exceed the allowable space, but what is an excessive amount? The easiest answer to that is to say that anything more than the alcohol contained in two beers or two four ounce glasses of unfortified wine is too much. Does that mean that two beers is an allowable amount or a beneficial amount, and, if beneficial, what are the benefits? This is a criminally oversimplified statement, but yes, the amount of alcohol found in two drinks, per day, has an arguable beneficial effect on the lipid balance in the body, releasing more of the 'good' fats than the bad. This has a protective effect on the heart and arteries, at least some protective effect. It is interesting to note that drinking less than the two beers does not have the same beneficial effect. It is related to the nearly the exact amount. Too little is not good; too much is potentially disastrous. If you are going to drink excessively, even part of the time, it is better to not drink at all.

Sleep

Most Americans do not get enough sleep. It is conventional wisdom that seven or eight hours is plenty of sleep for anyone, that more does not do any good. Conventional wisdom, though, is simply wrong. It is true that most people will feel OK if that is the amount of sleep they get, and not even feel particularly sleep deprived. However, they would feel better, work better, and probably live longer if they got nine. The body does good healthy things when it is asleep. Studies have repeatedly shown that people who get good sleep for nine hours feel better and get more done than people who get eight. Einstein insisted on ten hours every night and still had plenty of time to work very effectively, with time left over for quite an active social life. (That's another story, though.) How much is optimal for each person varies with the person, but, for the most part, people think more clearly, work more effectively and efficiently, and feel more alert on nine hours than on eight. Nine hours seems to be a pretty good target number.

There is, however, good sleep and better sleep. Many sleep inducing substances interfere with the natural processes of sleep and attenuate its benefits. Alcohol, for example, will help you get to sleep, but it interferes with the normal sleep cycle so that the sleep may not be as restful and can even be broken through the night, with periods of wakefulness (not to mention your bladder). Many sleeping pills interfere with dream sleep, which is a beneficial part of the sleep cycle. There are some newer prescription sleep aids (and one non prescription - melatonin) that promote a normal and restful sleep pattern. A regular rhythm that is, a regular pattern of sleep is best. The best way to establish a good pattern for yourself is to get up at the same time every day and go to sleep when you normally feel sleepy. It is far easier to establish a good sleep pattern this way than it is to try to force yourself to sleep at the same time every night.

Exercise

Most Americans are far too sedentary. Regular exercise, or a high general level of physical activity, has numerous health benefits. For one thing, if your activity level is high enough on a regular basis, your appetite will be governed by what your body needs. If your sedentary ways keep you from being sufficiently active, factors other than body need will govern appetite and it is likely to lead to obesity with the many hazardous health effects of being significantly overweight. Regular exercise alone, enough to produce good cardiovascular health may not add a long period to your expected lifespan (except when it controls a potential weight problem) but it will definitely improve the quality of life by improving the 'wellness' of the body. Exercise is, also, one of the best antidepressants known, usually better than pills.

In addition to the exercise factor, regular periods of enjoyable and relaxing activities are beneficial to overall health. In other words, if you like to play sports or walk with friends better than going to the gym, by all means do these things. Regular relaxation, fun, and enjoyable activities are also a part of a healthy existence.

Keeping your mind active as well as your body is also important for slowing the ravages of aging. Reading, doing puzzles (if this is enjoyable for you), playing chess, or competitive bridge all have demonstrably beneficial effects on keeping your mind and
memory sharp.

Sun

One thing Grandma probably didn't have right was exposure to the sun. "Oh, you look so pale, go out and get some sun," was a common plaint in my youth. Well, it is true that daylight exposure is a good, and often necessary factor in health in some ways, (mood, vitamin D) the dangerous aspects of sun exposure were not well know only a few years ago. The apparent age of the skin is a nearly direct effect of the total exposure to the sun and skin cancers are many times more likely in people who have high sun exposure than people who have little. Yes, a relative absence of daylight can be associated with depression, but direct sun exposure has severe health risks. Indirect daylight, with protected or covered skin is the answer. Tanning, either through natural rays of the sun or tanning beds, is a very bad idea. Some types of ultraviolet light are more dangerous than others, but the exposure to high intensity tanning rays is dangerous even if the tanning bed is advertised as safe. Use makeup or the 'sunless' tanning lotions or dyes, if you must be darker. Don't get a "healthy tan." There is no such thing. If you must be exposed to the sun for moderate to long periods of time, use a 50 or more rated SPF sun lotion or 'cover up'.

Now, except for maybe a few details such as the possible benefits of a couple of beers a day, or the serious dangers of sunlight, isn't this pretty much what your mother or grandmother used to nag you to do? Eat right; sleep right ("Go to bed, now! You have to get up early."); don't drink too much; breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and get your exercise still ring in my ears. I wish I had listened.