Final Essay -- Benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle

The final essay--- here I go!

ok , so here's an essay about something most people on modern society take for granted, and that is leading a healthy lifestyle.

Title: BENEFITS OF LEADING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

OUTLINE

1.- Benefits of following a good diet
A) Helps you maintain your weight
B) Meets your nutritional needs

2.- Benefits of sleeping well

A) Sleep helps repair your body
B) Helps you improve your memory
C) Reduces stress

3.- Benefits of exercising
A) Exercise improves your mood
b) Combats chronic diseases
C) Helps you sleep better

BENEFITS OF LEADING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

By Andrea Moreno

People should always look after themselves, so we worry about crime and insecurity, accidents, natural disasters and many other things, but what we don’t realize is that sometime we can be our own worst enemy. Our lives could be so much easier if we lead a healthy lifestyle. There are countless benefits in many areas, so, what are these benefits?

First of all we can establish that a healthy lifestyle consists of following a good diet, sleeping well and exercising, among others; for one thing there is following a good diet , this helps you maintain your weight as eating well is crucial if you are to maintain a suitable weight. Eating the wrong food, or simply over-eating, will lead to weight gain, and all the problems associated with it. Most people who lose weight with fad diets gain it right back again when they go back to their normal eating patterns. With a healthy diet that you maintain for life, you will lose that weight once and maintain it long term. In addition following a good diet helps you meet your nutritional needs; for instance your daily food intake should include some amounts of grain, fruit, vegetables, dairy and protein, you should consider that there are vitamins and minerals in healthy foods which can boost your immune system and shield you from many common illnesses. In some cases, by eating a healthy diet you can actually reduce the risks that are often linked with such serious diseases as cancer and diabetes. On the whole, once you implement a healthy diet, you will be surprised at how fast you will start to feel the benefits and this how they will continue to reward you for the rest of your life.

Furthermore, there is another aspect of healthy living that should be considered along with it´s benefits, and that is one we usually take for granted, sleeping well; for the most part we all consider sleep as a good thing to do , but we don’t really know how this activity benefits us; for one sleeping helps you repair your body, while we are asleep our body produces extra molecules that help mend the body so that the damage we suffer during the day from things such as stress , pollutants, sun exposure and so on, is repaired while we are off to dreamland. In addition, sleep helps to improve our memory; namely, when people do not have enough sleep, they cannot concentrate well the next day and have problems forming memories, researchers believe that during sleep, neurons can shut down and repair any damage done during the day. So without these repairs, the neurons may not function correctly causing us to feel drowsy and unable to concentrate enough to retain information in our brain. Likewise having good sleeping habits results in reducing our levels of stress, for instance, a good night's sleep can lower blood pressure and the elevated levels of stress hormones which are a natural result of today's fast paced lifestyle, there are physical effects of stress on your body, and an increase in the aging and degeneration of organs, cells and other body parts. By reducing high levels of stress, sleep helps to reverse these effects and encourages a state of relaxation. Pretty amazing thing this sleep isn't it? And it's something most of us take for granted.

Last but not least, another important aspect of a healthy lifestyle is exercising, and this is something we all know and have been told ever since we were children! , but as time goes by people change, habits change. In no way are kids today even close to practicing the amount of physical activity that children practiced 30 years ago, and this is really a regrettable thing since there are many benefits to exercising; just to name a few we have how exercise helps improving your mood, due to the chemicals it releases in the brain called endorphins, it gives you an overall feeling of well-being, This is the same chemical that being in love or eating chocolate induces! You'll also look better and feel better when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. It is believed that regular physical activity can even help prevent depression. Moreover, sleeping well can aid when battling chronic diseases such as heart diseases, osteoporosis, or even diabetes and cancer. Likewise exercising can even help you sleep better, if you have trouble sleeping you should try exercising a few hours before going to bed, you´ll be tired enough from the workout so you won’t turn in your bed all night long unable to sleep; just make sure you don’t do it immediately before going to bed otherwise it may have the opposite effect and get you all hyped up! With so many great reasons to exercise, there's nothing more to say, except: "Get moving!"

In any case the good news is you don't have to train like an Olympic athlete, eat like a nutritionist or sleep all day long to enjoy the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The secret is in repeating a chosen healthy pattern as a part of your daily or weekly activities. After all a healthy lifestyle is a way of life.