Health (Photo credit: 401(K) 2012)

Sleep is a big healer but physical exercise is a precondition for good sleep as also for proper movement of limbs. Working 14x7x350 is the worse than slavery. It is unfortunate that we have accepted that routine health problems should be treated with medicine which does nothing but to hide or postpone real problem. Medicine is no healer. It can not accelerate growth in tired tissues/cells. Only right sleep has ability to regenerate tired tissues or cells in the body.

Entertaining distant relative

We recently had a distant relative as visiting guest. Though the visitor was healthy, there were many things which were being ignored. While money is  important but how can we justify it at the cost of health? This another short story is, another example of not having time for ourselves i.e. health.

About the visitor

Martian visitor is a hard-working person and very proud of working so hard. After the spouse died visitor had taken all the responsibilities of the family of three children. Now as a proud owner of a retail shop, with 14 hours work schedule, (6 and half days in a week)  weighs about 220 lbs. fortunately without chronic illness.
Visitor seemed very happy with the achievements. Except the daily routine of one tablet everyday for acidity and few vitamins, the visitor claimed to be healthy. BTW occasional few types of pain killers were not counted.
Climbing 15 stairs was a tough task for the visitor but it was accomplished without any complications.

Life at Mars

Mars has been colonized for a long time. My distant relative had settled at Mars several decades earlier. Life is very rough over there. A non-Martian has to work very hard to move his way up in the society of Mars. This time the Martian had paid a visit to us, after over 4 years. Of course with a few gifts for every one. Shirts, watches, perfume etc. The usual. It appears China is exporting to Mars as well. According to the visiting Martian, we on earth have very sedentary life. We are always wasting our time by being hooked up to Internet, all the time

Martian and their lifestyle.

The spouse of visitor was a genetically diagnosed diabetic mellitus. He died of what is called kidney failure or diabetic nephropathy. He also had similar routine. For 25 years he was working 14x7x365, except for off-season vacation once in several years. Saving money for the family and the dream to open his own shop. Unfortunately he died within few years of buying the shop without an opportunity to see it flourishing. The family is grateful for his efforts. But they learned nothing about health or healthy life style. Children do swim once in a while, but no routine of regular exercise. The visitor has not even thought about it. Ever.

Presumptions and belief about health

The people who are more educated are more ignorant of their health. Now in this  case the visitor owns a pharmacy but the knowledge of ailments and medicines produces another type of ignorance. Idea of health is based on certain presumptions. One presumption is that any physical ailment is just a bad luck. We do not take any responsibility for our  actions or our lifestyle.With rising age such lifestyles cause steeper problems.

We chase ambitions and goals but  lose health. The problem is that persons with large  inheritance or sudden incomes have a certain lifestyle which they can afford by working few hours but common person on the street start chasing such dreams of large house or own business while suffering from health and completely ignoring the side effect of over-work.

Another myth is that a vacation away from home will help. It may help if only it is planned that way. If on vacation every day is filled with activity of 13 hours like visiting places, meeting people, shopping and stuffing baggage and looking for commercial opportunity (even on vacation); then it is only another way to torture the body.

Note: The expression ‘Mars’ may be substituted with any cosmopolitan cold city of any country.

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Stories on losing health to gain wealth.

© Sandeep Bhalla