“Health is not valued till sickness comes.”Thomas Fuller

Gym training, whether cardio or weight training is not enough to keep us healthy. There are areas of the body which escapes the exercise impact.  Let’s see.

Eyes:

The National Eye Institute recommends some ways to keep eyes fit.

• Have a comprehensive dilated eye exam.

Many common eye diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, and age-related macular degeneration often have no warning signs. A dilated eye exam is the only way to detect these diseases in their early stages.

• Eat right to protect your sight.

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, particularly dark leafy greens such as spinach, kale, or collard greens is important for keeping your eyes healthy, too.

• Wear protective eyewear.

Wear protective eyewear when playing sports or doing activities around the home. Protective eyewear includes safety glasses and goggles, safety shields, and eye guards specially designed to provide the correct protection for a certain activity.

• Quit smoking or never start.

Research has linked smoking to an increased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, cataract, and optic nerve damage, all of which can lead to blindness.

• Be cool and wear your shades.

Sunglasses are a great fashion accessory, but their most important job is to protect your eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

• Give your eyes a rest.

If you spend a lot of time at the computer or focusing on any one thing, you sometimes forget to blink and your eyes can get fatigued. Try the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look away about 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds. This can help reduce eyestrain.

• Clean your hands and your contact lenses properly.

To avoid the risk of infection, always wash your hands thoroughly before putting in or taking out your contact lenses. Make sure to disinfect contact lenses as instructed and replace them as appropriate.

Arizona Retinal Specialists also recommend keeping Computer monitors positioned about an arm’s length away from the eyes and 20 degrees below eye level. This keeps your eyes from getting strained. Likewise, make sure that you have sufficient, but the diffused lighting in your room. Focused and too bright lights may result in glare, and this can put too much stress on the eyes.

Some daily eye exercises are also recommended for the healthy eyes.

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Teeth:

Oral Health Foundation recommends;

• Visit the dentist regularly, as often as they recommend

For starters, prevention is always better than cure. Regular visits to the dentist can identify problems developing early, and more importantly, set you on a path to rectify them.

• Take diet into consideration

One of the Foundation’s key messages is ‘cut down how often you have sugary foods and drinks’. The more often your child has sugary or acidic foods or drinks, the more likely they are to have decay. It is also worth remembering that some processed baby foods contain quite a lot of sugar. Try checking the list of ingredients – the higher up the list sugar is, the more there is in the product. Sometimes, these are shown as fructose, glucose, lactose, or sucrose.

• Brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day using a fluoride toothpaste

It’s important to brush your teeth first thing in the morning and just before you go to bed for two minutes using a fluoride toothpaste. Why? During the night the flow of saliva, which is the mouth’s cleaning system, slows down. This leaves the mouth more at risk to decay; therefore brushing acts as a preventive measure.

• Indulge in Interdental cleaning

As brushing alone only cleans around two-thirds of the mouth, it is important to use Interdental brushes or floss to clean away any food debris caught between the teeth. It can help to reduce the risk of gum disease.

• Remember the one hour rule

It takes an average of 40 minutes for the mouth to neutralize the acid caused by eating or drinking sugar. Therefore, it is best to wait at least one hour after eating before brushing teeth. Eating or drinking weakens the enamel on the teeth, meaning if you brush too soon it cause tiny particles of the enamel to be brushed away.

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Ears:

NHS recommends following measures for ear health and to avoid hearing loss.

• Avoid loud noises

The best way to avoid noise-induced hearing loss is to keep away from the loud noise as much as you can. Generally, a noise is probably loud enough to damage your hearing if you have to raise your voice to talk to other people or you can’t hear what people nearby are saying

• Take care when listening to music

Listening to loud music through earphones and headphones is one of the biggest dangers to your hearing.

1. To help avoid damaging your hearing:
2. use noise-canceling earphones or headphones – don’t just turn the volume up to cover up outside noise
3. turn the volume up just enough so you can hear your music comfortably, but no higher
4. don’t listen to music at more than 60% of the maximum volume – some devices have settings you can use to limit the volume automatically
5. don’t use earphones or headphones for more than an hour at a time – take a break for at least 5 minutes every hour

• Protect your hearing during loud events and activities

1. To protect your hearing during loud activities and events (such as at nightclubs, gigs or sports events):
2. move away from sources of loud noises (such as loudspeakers)
3. try to take a break from the noise every 15 minutes

• Get your hearing tested

Get a hearing test as soon as possible if you’re worried you might be losing your hearing. The earlier hearing loss is picked up, the earlier something can be done about it.

Cleveland Clinics also recommends

• Clean your ears with extra care. Wipe the outer ear with a washcloth or tissue. Do not put anything into your ear smaller than your elbow. Do not use Q-tips, bobby pins or sharp pointed objects to clean your ears.
• Earwax is the ear’s mechanism for self-cleaning. If you have a build-up of wax that is blocking your hearing, see your doctor to have it removed.

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So, take care of these organs which escape Gym training.

The final one is STRESS, which is the mother of many diseases. This requires the whole new post.

Until that time, take care and keep your body fit.

“I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you.” Joyce Meyer