When it comes to advice on how to take charge of your health, many people would love to advise you from their own experiences.

Yet when all is said and done, you end up with a lot of conflicting and confusing views out there. One person will say this is good for you and the next friend will say it’s not good for you; they know just the magic cure to end all fatigue, illness, and weight gain.

And we just have to look on the internet and listen to the news to hear just how rapidly the world is increasing in epidemic health conditions such as obesity and diabetes, heart disease, cancer, let alone terrible depression. The world is in a sad state, and unfortunately for many of us, so is our health.

But that doesn’t mean you have to be one of the statistics; it doesn’t mean that you can’t take charge of your health.

We are going to cut through all the hype and give you five important tips how you can really take care of your health without having to conform to some restrictive programs that make you sick just thinking of it!

Real tips for real health

Maybe you have tried the diets, the exercise programs, and the health regimes. But it’s time for you, only you, to tap into the true source of your inner being, to use it to transform your health without any stress or struggle.

Get Enough Sleep.

It might sound like the same old same old but it is so desperately true - get enough sleep!

In general, 8 hours of sleep are needed, although, of course, there could be individual differences. But generally, 8 to 9 hours are recommended so that you can be fully functional during the day.

Epidemiological data does suggest that people who sleep less than 6 hours in a day or more than 10 hours have shorter lifespans.  Insufficient sleep brings on diseases such as heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes. 

Believe it, because, without sleep, all your efforts to be healthy and vibrant will lose all their effectiveness. It’s because sleep is a natural part of life, coming from Biblical times already, meant for the body to restore and repair itself.

Get a good physical check-up.

Regularly having a good health check-up is important so that you can prevent disease and nip it in the bud if it is lurking.

Your trusted doctor will review your history, will check your vital signs and generally get an overall view of your health.

Blood tests will reveal how well your organs are functioning. It also helps you to know yourself, so that you can adjust your diet and lifestyle according to achieve the best health results for yourself.

Understand what your health indicators are about.

When you understand your vital signs, and these will include your heart rate, your blood pressure, respiratory rate, as well as your temperature, and what they all mean to your health specifically. Theycan help you to deal with them and their related health issues accordingly.

You can discuss these with your doctor and have the necessary tests, and when you have the results, you will know what is required to change things for the best.

Keep a good track of all your health records.

When you maintain your own personal health records, it makes it easy when the time comes to share your information with your health doctors. It means your doctor will have the most recent health information on you because you have it all there at your fingertips.

Then between you and him, you can make knowledgeable conclusions around the right medications, your health condition, tests and so on.

Improve your lifestyle.

When you take control of your health by finding out what is the best food to eat, the best exercises you can get involved in, controlling your blood pressure and blood sugar levels, etc., you are taking charge of your life and improving your lifestyle.

Look at these excellent tips to help you in your efforts to improve your health:

Try and focus on eating a variety of fruits, veggies, and lean, low-fat protein sources. At the same time, it is advised that you cut down entirely on added sugars, trans-fats, and sodium.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week, as well as muscle strengthening activities around twice a week.

You don’t have to do the 30 minutes all at once; you can break the time down into shorter periods. But including physical activity that gets you moving is all important and will ensure success.

The facts speak for themselves: You just have to watch a movie such as Super Size Me to figure out just how foods impact the body.

In the movie, you are shown what happens to your body when you eat nothing but fast food for several weeks. Not only is a lot of weight gained, but frightening metabolic changes take place too, putting you at risk for the above-mentioned diseases.

In just a few weeks, all the excessive amounts of saturated and trans-fatty acids in processed foods and sugar, lead to higher blood cholesterol and inflammation.

Not only that, but fast foods fail to offer normal metabolic function and this then also contributes to health changes.

You also need a deep understanding of your body

There is a growing realization in the world that nutritional effects on disease and health can’t be understood without a deep understanding of how nutrients act in the body.

Dieticians, as well as doctors, suggest that it is far better to make healthy eating habits a part of your life rather than following this fad diet or that one.

This is because, frankly, nutrition tips and diets from all the different sources can often be misleading. Keep this good advice below:

• Secret diets aren’t the answer to good health and lasting weight loss. They might promise to help you shake the weight off fast, but in the end, they are hard, often expensive to keep up with, and which could turn out to be unhealthy.
• Good nutrition doesn’t come in bottles of pills. Rather, try and eat a variety of top organic foods because your body benefits from the healthy whole foods. If you do take a pill, let it be one that your doctor prescribes.
• Many diet programs and products, which are in abundance, can confuse a person, especially with all their claims. The people in the ads promote the product because they are getting paid for their endorsements, so they are not going to talk about the side effects, the weight gain or the health problems.

Listen to your heart

It’s no joke that looking after your health is imperative to your wellbeing.

When you take charge of it, listening to your body, watching for signs that all is not right and then taking the right action, you will discover that it pays off because it will make all the difference between prevention and treatment.

Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. -Hippocrates