Wellness has been around since ancient times, but now with the boom in digital information, many misconceptions about wellness have spread. Wellness, this word is especially popular among middle-aged and elderly people.
However, there are various ways to maintain health nowadays, and some of them are not only useless, but can also lead to the "end" of our health. Today, we're going to talk about some of the health misconceptions that sound like a good health regimen, but actually deceive everyone.
Reminder: These health regimens recommended by many people, or health hazards, should be paid attention to in time
1. Eat a light diet with less salt and oil
The first reaction of many middle-aged and elderly people in life when they hear this sentence is to strictly limit their oil and salt intake, and only eating vegetarian is a light diet, but they don't know that doing this will cause great damage to their physical health. This is because excessive dietary restrictions may not give us the desired health benefits. Malnutrition can also be a health threat for a group, especially for middle-aged and older people with more specific nutritional needs.
We have to provide our body with carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and other nutrients, and insufficient intake of any of these ingredients may cause losses to our body. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022), daily carbohydrates should account for 50%-65% of the total intake. It is suggested that people can consume various grains and potatoes and other carbohydrates in their daily life to diversify the sources of carbohydrates.
Whereas, protein can be obtained both from soy products and from meat. Moderate intake of healthy meat can better promote muscle growth and prevent iron deficiency anemia. If you're concerned about weight gain, you can also supplement with milk, eggs, and other ingredients. Fruits and vegetables should be eaten in large quantities like staple foods to help people stay in shape, take care of gut health, and slow down cellular aging while being antioxidant.
2. Exercise less
Some older people believe that as they age and their health deteriorates, they should try to avoid exercising so as not to increase the burden on their bodies. However, this concept is incorrect. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that moderate exercise for the elderly is beneficial to health, and appropriate exercise is also conducive to blood circulation, enhancing immunity, and improving cardiovascular and lung function. This can not only prevent chronic diseases common in the elderly, but also improve mood, enhance physical strength, and promote physical recovery.
Therefore, the elderly should pay attention to moderate exercise in the process of health preservation, choose the appropriate exercise method according to their own conditions, such as walking, and also pay attention to the moderate amount of exercise to avoid physical injury caused by strenuous exercise.
3. Don't sleep with your head facing east and your feet facing west
But in fact, we can sleep on whichever side we want. Good sleep quality, adequate sleep time and regularity are the keys to maintaining good health. There is also a saying that we should sleep along the Earth's magnetic field, with our heads facing north, so that we can fall asleep faster and be more beneficial to our bodies.
However, in reality, the direction of the magnetic field lines can be changed, and the relationship between the two has not been settled until now. It's hard to say that this problem affects our sleep. So we sleep as we normally would, as long as we sleep well. Instead of dwelling on this, it is better to adjust our sleeping position and develop good bedtime habits.
4. Eight glasses of water a day
Water is the source of life, and many people say that drinking eight glasses of water a day is more beneficial for health. In fact, we should also be aware that while drinking plenty of water is good for our body, our daily water intake also needs to be very reasonable. If we drink too much water, it may increase the burden on the kidneys to metabolize water, which can lead to hyponatremia and adversely affect our physical health, and the healthy way to drink water is to drink about 2000 ml of water a day.
5. Don't eat after lunch
The habit of skipping lunch is a long-term lifestyle that many middle-aged and elderly people adhere to, but what many people don't know is that this lifestyle can easily cause great harm to our physical health. If you want to keep your body healthy and improve your organ function, you need to maintain a healthy and regular diet.
Three meals a day must be eaten regularly and quantitatively so that we can have enough energy to support the body's normal life activities. If a person skips dinner and does not eat any food for a long time after lunch, this can easily lead to a drop in blood sugar and noticeable hunger, which not only affects sleep but also harms the health of the digestive system.
In conclusion, while it is a good thing to stay healthy, we can't just listen to rumors. It is best to practice health under professional guidance so that our incorrect regimen methods do more and more harm to the body, thus going against our initial desire for good health.