Healthy Lifestyle Benefit And How It affect your lifestyle.

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Benefits of a Healthy Lifestyle
We all need to exercise because it is good for us in so many ways. There are different ways of exercising such as jogging, using the treadmill and doing leg ups, sit-ups or push-ups. All these methods give the same benefits. According to (Charles H. Hillman, Kirk I Erickson, Arthur F. Kramer, 2008), physical exercise is a lifestyle factor that increases physical and mental health throughout one’s lifestyle. It is quite important since most developed and developing countries are battling with issues of obesity. 38% of adults aged 18 years and over are overweight with 13% being obese according to World Health Organisation’s statistics of 2014 (WHO,2015). When more people exercise, this statistics will reduce. Another benefit of exercising is that it reduces communicable diseases such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. Exercising is the most difficult, tiring and hard thing to do but the results are eventually worth it.
Eating a healthy diet is another way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet consist of not only eating the right amount of food to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight but also eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportion (Nutrition and Diet, 2012). Maintaining a healthy diet comes with a lot of benefits. The book ‘Food and Healing’ states that: “What I eat determines my health, well-being and quality of life ”(Colbin,2006) echoing the benefits that come with having a healthy diet.

A healthy diet enables one to have access to vitamins and minerals from the fruit and vegetables. These vitamins and minerals boost the immunity and healthy development of a person.
Moreover, a healthy diet is known to protect people from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Achievement of this is through the reduction of sugar and cholesterol consumption we find in processed food.These diseases have a socioeconomic impact in countries. A record 38 million people die each year of these diseases with the majority being from cardiovascular related complications. There is a reduction in manpower that directly affects the economy. These diseases also increase poverty since they increase the cost of health care. This fact is especially true for low-income families. A diet of fruits, vegetables, milk product and fish that are fresh enables one to control the amount of cholesterol and, therefore, become more healthy.
In addition to this, people who take a healthy diet are known to be more happy and confident (Lifestyle, 2013). A wide variety of foods in a balanced diet have an emotional effect due to minerals found in the foods such as serotonin in bananas. These improve the mood in people making them happier. Confidence comes as a result of feeling good about oneself due to being healthy. For people with poor health, the reverse is true. They tend to be prone to depression and feelings of self-loathing which if not addressed may result in even suicide.
According to the report by the United States Department of Agriculture of 2014, more people are choosing healthier foods (United States Department of Agriculture, 2014). The report states that more people have become aware of the importance having a healthy lifestyle, therefore reducing intake of calories by 7.9 % and increasing fibre consumption by 7.5% between 2005 and 2010. This step is an important one among the masses since issues of overweight and obesity have become a serious issue affecting many citizens.
In conclusion, healthy living is an important societal issue because it affects various sectors of the economy. Healthier people are more productive thus contributing to the economy of their countries. Moreover, the government can divert the money spent in treating communicable diseases to other health issues or even other sectors. In my opinion, it is critical for everyone to take up the responsibility to not only exercise regularly but also maintain a healthy diet because the benefits are far reaching. Therefore, it is not too late for anyone to start no matter how far behind you are.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Charles H. Hillman, Kirk I Erickson and Arthur F. Kramer. “Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2008): 58-65.
Colbin, Annemarie. Food and Healing. New York: Ballantine Books, 1986.
“Lifestyle.” April 2013. Shape Magazine. Wednesday, December 2015 <www.shape.com>.
“Nutrition and Diet.” 2012. Gasto Net: An authoritative Resource in Gastroenterology. Wednesday, December 2015 <www.gasrto.net.au>.
The United States Department of Agriculture. January 2014. Wednesday, December 2015 <www.usda.gov>.
“WHO.” January 2015. WHO. Wednesday, December 2015 <www.who.int>.