Introduction
Let us make health our forever priority and commitment, not just a resolution for the year ahead!
Year-end is the time for reflection and realization of what is left behind and hopes and aspirations for what lies ahead. It is also the time to appreciate and celebrate, with gratitude, the people in our lives. Gifts are a way to show this appreciation and are precious, always. This new year, make them timeless, too. A gift that adds more to the lives of your loved ones, one that will make them enjoy and treasure every other gift for a lifetime. The gift of healthy living!
You do not need to spend mindlessly on expensive stuff that ends up stacked in the corner sooner or later. You need not buy into the glitter and shimmer of something tangible that does not add value or bring temporary gratification. Instead, invest in something that makes your loved ones’ lives healthier and yours happier.
Unpleasant as it may sound, diseases like diabetes and/or arthritis have become ‘a come-to-stay for good’ in many families, with one or more members struggling to cope with the symptoms that adversely affect the quality of life. In this fast-paced life, a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits are the primary causes of these diseases responsible for an early onset in young adults. Studies suggest a correlation between diabetes and arthritis, primarily due to both having a lot in common. One occurrence leads to the risk of developing the other and vice-versa. Furthermore, these diseases are no longer the diseases of the older generation; they are a wake-up call for aggressive measures to spread awareness among the masses about preventing, controlling, and managing these diseases. This requires a concerted effort, in form and spirit, from every section of society.
This blog discusses how one can make a difference in enabling the healthy living of their loved ones.
Make Health a Priority
Living a healthy life cannot be a once-in-a-while affair. It takes a continuous and conscious effort towards a routine that incorporates a healthy diet, physical activity and exercise, abstinence from harmful consumption, routine health checkups, and stress management. Make it a priority, never to be compromised with.
Disease management and control of diabetes and arthritis require weight loss, diet control and physical activities. These diseases are progressive and chronic that often adversely affect the overall well-being of an individual, if left unaddressed. Prevention becomes a necessity and advisable to avoid their exacerbation.
Creating an atmosphere of health consciousness through thoughtful considerations goes a long way in spreading awareness of healthy living. Whether cutting on carbs, hitting the gym, taking up sports that help stay fit, quitting unhealthy habits, scheduling mealtime, cutting down on screen time and adding more to physical activities, engaging in mindfulness and meditation practices, encourage your family to prioritize it. Help them go one step at a time and appreciate their efforts towards achieving that goal. Motivate them to stick to it when they slip back to earlier habits.
Acknowledging their little efforts and helping them achieve what they set out for could be done in several ways-
- Planning and adhering to a diet that adds high nutritional value with more protein, healthy fats, whole grains, and leafy vegetables, ensuring sugar level control.
- Helping schedule their exercise regime, incorporating strengthening, flexibility, and/or balance-promoting exercises.
- Being the support system for those trying to quit unhealthy habits without condemning them for those habits.
- Staying positive and encouraging positivity when helping your loved ones cope with difficulty prioritizing their health, especially weight loss.
- Helping them understand and explore ways to be informed and aware of the importance of good health, the various therapies, treatment modalities, and practices that help maintain good health.
- Encouraging and convincing elder relatives to go for regular and annual health checkups. Helping them shed inhibitions, if any, regarding such health checkups.
Gifts to support the well-being of your loved ones
This new year, take a step towards supporting the well-being of those around you with actions that boost their healthy spirits and living.
From fitness tools to health checkup schedules and testing kits to health coverages, add meaning to the gifts that show your love and care. Gifting ideas could be limitless when it comes to ensuring the healthy living of your loved ones.
Physical fitness and activity help keep diseases like diabetes and arthritis under control when managed through proper medical intervention. Encouraging your loved ones to stay fit through loving gestures of useful gifts is priceless.
- Help stay fit and healthy- These gifts could range from a simple pair of sports shoes to a yoga mat, from a foot massager to a foldable treadmill, from a healthy food book to diet guides, to name a few.
- Provide a sense of security- Fitness tools like smartwatches for elders, enabling GPS tracking or fall detection, call and texting, and health and fitness tracking provide a sense of security when away from home.
- Protect against medical emergencies- A prepaid annual routine health checkup registration and schedule and medical coverages for the uninsured are timeless gifts of peace of mind against medical emergencies and treatment.
- Monitor health- Self-diagnostic testing kits are thoughtful gifts for diabetic patients needing routine monitoring and sugar level control. Inculcating health discipline, through timely and routine laboratory health checkups, in consultation with one’s healthcare provider also helps diagnose, monitor, control and manage medical conditions.
Gifts encouraging and enabling our loved ones to enjoy their hobbies are equally priceless. Health is not only about physical well-being but also about one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Gifts that enable one to pursue one’s interests and hobbies have a far-reaching positive effect on the emotional health of an individual. Being supported to pursue one’s interest is a morale boost, ushering in a sense of being cared for. The ideas and the scope for gifts are limitless. Just be observant about the likes and needs of others, and there are endless options to make them feel special and encouraged. What are gifts, after all, for? An expression of love and a gesture to show you care!
Celebrate Health, Celebrate Life!
May this New Year be a gateway to a healthier life for you and your loved ones, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Take advantage of the fun of festive food, celebrations, and the things that make these festivities memorable, but keep things moderate for you and your loved one’s good health and healthy living. Health is the most significant gift, and maintaining and taking care of it is our responsibility, a way to show gratitude for such a timeless gift. Be conscious of your and your loved one’s health, for good health is one of the reasons to celebrate life. Let us make health a priority, our forever commitment, and not just a resolution for the year ahead.
This New Year, Add More To Life for you and your loved ones by enabling healthy living. Gift the timeless joy of good health, a treasure for a healthier life.
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