Eat Right, Sleep Well & Exercise - 3 Mantras To Be Happy!

As we celebrate the Doctors’ day today, I wish to take this opportunity to hand over the 3 mantras to happiness. We all lead a very stressful life. Many of us have medical issues like hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol issues and so on. What should we do or should we have done rather so that we wouldn’t suffer from these lifestyle diseases?

Eat right:

As the maxim goes, you are what you eat. I would like to stress here that, diet is the single most important factor in our life which determines our longevity and disease pattern. Hence, it is important to eat right. Our diet should have a mix of about 40% complex carbohydrates like oats, whole wheat, brown bread, ragi, semolina and so on. High quality proteins should contribute 30% of our diet. Eggs, chicken, fish, meat, dal and pulses are good examples. Fats especially MUFA and PUFA should make 20% of the diet. Classic examples are sunflower oil, olive oil, rice bran oil. Avoid saturated fats, trans fats, margarine, ghee and butter. Pastry, Khari biscuits, toasts, cookies are rich in unhealthy saturated fats; hence best avoided. We should consume at least 3 servings of fruit daily. This is important because fruits are rich in vitamins, fibre and anti-oxidants.

Sleep well:

A rested mind in a rested body is the best state of happiness. We need to sleep at least 7 to 8 hours daily. The body recharges during the rest and makes it ready for the next day aggressions. With the smartphone entering our bedroom, the sleep pattern has been disturbed. We end up sleeping late while checking Whats App messages and so on. As a result the total sleep duration goes down and we get up in an irritable and sleep deprived state. Such a state is not conducive to healthy work the next day. Avoid checking smartphone apps and messages, reading newspapers just before sleeping and avoid tea/coffee/caffeine in any form post 7pm. This will make sure we sleep on time and get up on time.

Exercise:

This is the last and the most important mantra that can lead to ultimate bliss and happiness. We need to exercise at least 30 min daily for 5 days a week. This can be aerobic exercises like cycling, swimming, jogging, running and so on. Weight lifting for 45 min daily for about 5 days a week is ideal to build a well sculpted and muscular beach body that we all want. Exercising keeps our joints mobile, conditions our heart to strain, releases growth hormone and testosterone which keep you young. Endorphins released in the brain during the exercise make you feel good as though you are on the seventh sky.

I hope readers would take these mantras seriously and implement them religiously all through. This will go a long way in keeping our population happy and reach nirvana! If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can ask a free question.