Lifestyle and healthy living


^{Made in Canva.}

I've witnessed many individuals suffering in hospitals, helpless and debilitated. Sadly, a significant number of these cases are a direct result of lifestyle choices or addictions. Last week, I met a young man at the hospital who was about to undergo heart surgery. The doctor's diagnosis was alarming, his condition was a consequence of excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, and drug abuse.

This heartbreaking encounter underscored the devastating consequences of a reckless lifestyle. On the other hand, embracing a healthy lifestyle can be a powerful guarantee of overall well-being. This realization motivates me to participate in this contest organised by @memamun, where I'll delve deeper into the importance of healthy living by responding to the provided questions👇🏾.

What is the most important thing in your daily routine and why?

The most important thing in my daily routine is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle involves my physical health, emotional and mental well-being, nutrition, and the use of mobile devices and social media. Here are some of the reasons why I prioritize this healthy lifestyle on a daily basis:


^{Exercising increases my energy level.}

Talking about physical health, it involves exercising and keeping fit regularly. Regular exercise is very crucial to my health because it increases my energy level, boost my immune system, and prevent unnecessary sickness or diseases.

Emotional and mental well-being is important in my daily routine because it helps to reduce my stress, anxiety and depression. I take good care of my emotional and mental well-being by visiting places that's calm, especially in the evening to take a look at God's wondrous work (nature).


^{My balanced diet (okra soup with crab, periwinkle and fresh crayfish).}

I can't exclude nutrition in my daily routine, because without food, there's no means of survival. I try as much as possible to maintain a balance diet in my everyday meal. After eating, I do take multivitamins to supplement my meal.

When it comes to mobile devices and surfing the internet or social media, I have a limit in all of those things. To show selfcare and maintain a healthy lifestyle daily, I do set my phone display to eye care mode when it's dark to avoid spoiling my sight. I also avoid late night surfing of the internet of chatting on social media.

How do you maintain physical and mental well-being?


^{I exercise 4 days in a week.}

Maintaining physical well-being requires regular exercises. Even with my busy schedule, I do set aside 2 hours to exercise four days in a week, which is Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I do engage in different exercises such as calf raises, running in place, shoulder taps, mountain climber and so on.

Aside from the regular exercise, I maintain my physical well-being by eating balance diet, drinking enough water to stay hydrated, and having adequate sleep. According to the doctors, adequate sleep is scheduled to be 7 - 9 hours. With this hours of sleep, our body will rest well and recharge for another day.

What is your food preference? Do you try to eat healthy food?

My food preference are meals that are balanced and varied. They contains protein, carbohydrates and calcium. Though we're living in a world where we struggle to survive on daily basis due to the present economy, especially here in my country, Nigeria. I try as much as possible to eat healthy food, that's why I always avoid taking in much sugar and eating junkies.

How do you strike a balance when using technology and social media?

Technology and social media can be very addictive if care is not taken. To strike balance when using both, needs discipline and boundaries. Here are the format I use to balance both technology and social media to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

Technology

When using technology or devices like smartphone or laptop, I do set time limit when I'll no longer use those devices anymore till the next day, and I try as much as possible to stick to it.

In my phone, I have an application called My Health. With this application, I track my daily physical activities such as walking, running and sleeping. It notifies me when I've walked enough for the day, and this helps me a lot.

Social Media

I don't let social media affect my healthy lifestyle, that's why I always set my social media use to a specific time of the day.

	Screenshot from my TikTok social media account.

To maintain a healthy lifestyle when I'm using my social media, I do visit different account enlightening the citizens about healthy lifestyle. There's this popular doctor on social media called akprokodoctor with about 2 million followers on TikTok. He gives daily guide on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, even hosting a competition on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle of which I've joined already.

Don't forget the true life experience I highlighted in the beginning of this publication. Had it been that young man pursued a healthy lifestyle he wouldn't have been there in the hospital for heart operation. What I'm trying to say here is that, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can guarantee a healthy living. Pursue a healthy lifestyle, stay committed, stay disciplined, set boundaries and live healthier☺️.

I'd like to invite @rosselena @josepha and @goodybest to participate in this contest.

_{NOTE: All pictures in this publication were captured by @bossj23 using Redmi note13.}