Outline and Evaluate Reasons People Can Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle Into Old Age

outline and evaluate reasons people can maintain a healthy lifestyle into old age

PM 501 3T SS1
Final essay

Student Name: Li Minhui
Student Number: 1006732
Group: G
Tutor Name: Brain. Nail
Hand in: 2nd Dec, 2010
Word Count:

Nowadays, with people' living condition improving and medical science development the aged people pay more attention to the quality of life, and the young people seem to think deeply about how to achieve a healthy lifestyle into old age. Some people enjoy a happy and healthy old age. Others suffer from serious diseases or dying early. The purpose of this essay is to examine four reasons to explain why people can maintain a healthy lifestyle into old age. By explaining the relationship between good mentality and longevity, the correlation requirement between healthy lifestyle and longer life and sleeping factor for people to maintain a healthy lifestyle into old age, followed by accounting for the medicine element, to demonstrate that while people’s life expectancy and living condition have been improves in the past decade, the above four factors which have impacts on lives longevity indeed should be taken into consideration. The overall purpose is to allow people to develop a deeper understanding of the healthy way to live longer, and enable them to recognize the significance of the right methods to have a healthy life into the old.

It is clear that good mentality can assure us far away from diseases (Deacon, 2004) holds that people who are 'aggressive', 'emotional' or 'constantly anxious' will suffer from many physical problems. For example, the impact of temperament is as a kind of stress. Meanwhile, related research has been reported about stress and its relationship to other kind of health problems, such as heart disease, blood pressure problem (Steptoe, A. et al,2005). Given by learning to relax can help lower people’s blood pressure and be important to health and the achievement of a happy old age. Some studies have shown that relaxing while listening to soothing music can improve 'immune system function' and help with our long-term health(ibid).In other words, 'psychological wellbeing' focuses on the personal potential achievement and living a meaningful life and is concerned with the purpose in life, ‘self-acceptance’ and positive ‘inter-personal’ relations (Ryan, R. et al, 2001). So, people should have a good state of mind, whether succeed or face difficulties, in order to achieve a happy and healthy old age.

As we know, a healthy lifestyle can keep our body health and protect us from disease. A healthy lifestyle mainly includes three aspects: physically active, healthy diet and quit of bad habits such as smoking and drinking. Firstly, physically active can keep good mental health, which will help you to manage stress, anxiety and even depression. It will also help you to achieve and keep an ideal shape and reduce several cardiovascular risks, including high blood pressure (BBC, 2010). Studies have demonstrated that physical activity has its effect through 'lowering the inflammatory response and positively attenuating several risk factors for cardiovascular disease', is associated with reducing the risk of diabetes, 'cardiovascular disease mortality' and improving health (Partridge, L. et al, 2002). Physically active makes people feel more energetic, keep within a healthy weight, improve circulation, lower blood pressure and delay ageing (BBC 2010). Secondly, a healthy diet contributes to a satisfying, healthy body. Several studies have showed that the choices for food might impact on people‘s longevity. A scientific diet can reduce your risk from illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. As we all know, a healthy breakfast can keep people feel energetic and benefit their metabolism (Help Guide, 2010).However incorrect diet and dietary factors have been associated with negative health outcomes including the increasing mortality of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors (Knoops, K. T., et al, 2004). So, it seems like that examining deeply the habits of healthy eating can improve people’s health. Finally, bad habits such as smoking and drinking not only affect people’s life but also may cause a lot of related diseases. Everyone including smokers should notice that smoking is heavily harmful to our health and even sometimes might cause lung cancer, heart disease and many other diseases. Even we drink in moderation, alcohol also damages brain. Too much drinking might cause certain diseases like brain damage, liver problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and even cancer. Several studies have explored that people who are non-smoking and non-drinking obtain a lower risk of health related to a 83% reduction of coronary heart disease and 91% reduction on the risk of developing diabetes (Stampfer, M. J., et al, 2000). To sum up, a healthy way of life allows people to have a happy of high quality life, protect them from trouble like some serious illness. Most of people generally know about the basics of staying in good health including eat well, exercise, but they didn’t pay more attention on the greater influence on over rely on habits like drinking and smoking. As a result, people should learn to love and enjoy their precious life by examining their unhealthy lifestyle.

Another aspect of a healthy life is sleep quality and quantity. Almost one third of human life is spent on sleeping. Enough sleeping allows our body to rest and to restore its energy levels. With age, quantity and quality of sleep also begin to lower and poor sleep quality have detrimental effects on physiological functioning. For example, Lacking of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, risk factors for heart disease and stroke (Knutson, K. L., et al, 2007). People who working as the late shift have a higher risk for breast and colon cancer (ibid). Gaining more quality sleep will make you feel energetic, help you remember things better (NIH Senior Health 2010). Napping during the day is not only an effective and refreshing alternative to caffeine, it can also protect your health and make you more productive, even improves memory, cognitive function and give fine mood (NIH Senior Health 2010). To sum up, sleeping indeed plays an important role in helping the body make repairs. Adequate sleep is essential to good health and quality of life for people in the current society.

Medicine is an indispensable factor for people to have a healthy life and live longer. Drugs play an important role in people’s whole lifetime, which can cure or reduce diseases of the damage. Many new drugs have been developed to a new level to cure serious illness and also for diseases of aging including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. For example, in 2004, the Food and Drug Administration approved a pain drug derived from 'toxin-spitting cone snails' for against the treat from the type of 'severe chronic' pain that often 'accompanies' cancer and other disorders (NIH Senior Health, 2010). So, as a result, medicine indeed helps people get rid of fear some diseases especially fatal disease. We will have a longevity and healthy life through using of medicine, such as the scientific guide for medicine use under the direction of some medical scientists.

To conclude, environmental and behavioural factors as mentioned: psychology, exercises, sleeping and medicine all contribute to the healthy lifestyle into old age. People in the governmental and individual should as a whole to balance the preferences in the daily life and the longevity in the whole lifetime. People might try their best to make the most of use their precious life by the four being suggested methods as above examined. As a result, this might be not only benefit themselves but also favor their countries to set up a more harmonious and steady society in the long run.

Reference
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From:http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/fitness/motivation_why.shtml. Accessed from: 19th Nov, 2010.

Help Guide, (2010). Healthy Eating 2010. From: http://helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm.
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NIH Senior Health, (2010). Sleep and Aging.
From: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/sleepandaging/aboutsleep. Accessed from: 19th Nov, 2010.

Partridge, L. and Gems, D.(March, 2002). Mechanisms of ageing: public or private? Nat Rev Genet2002;3(March (3)):165–75.

Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. ,(2001). On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annu Rev Psychol 2001;52:141–66.

Stampfer, M.J., Hu, F.B., Manson, J.E., Rimm, E.B. and Willett, W.C.,(July, 2000).Primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women through diet and lifestyle. N Engl J Med2000;343 (July (1)):16–22.

Steptoe, A., Wardle, J., Marmot, M.,(May, 2005). Positive affect and health-related neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and inflammatory processes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2005;102(May (18)):6508–12..