Stay healthy

Your health is everything.

I'm sure you've been sick or injured before and knew how that felt. Nothing else really mattered.

For most of us, barring accidents or genetic disorders, our health is largely under our control.

Unhealthy choices and lifestyles lead to unhealthy people. Even as our science and healthcare have become more advanced, people's lifestyles and choices have become increasingly short-sighted and unhealthy, resulting in more health problems — obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, STDs, psychological, developmental and neurological disorders, etc.

You see people today who sit at home all day browsing electronics, eating junk food, drinking/smoking, being completely sedentary/indoors and isolated, or being completely reckless — these people are rarely healthy.

I talked a lot about self-improvement — and your health is a pivotal part of that. Without health, everything else you achieve is meaningless. You won't be able to be productive, or even enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Many people have a misunderstanding of the basic principles of human health, so they have been doing it wrong all along.

While I’m not a healthcare professional (just an engineer with a degree in psychology), here are my thoughts on how to stay healthy.

Like most animals, the human body is designed to perform physical activities, eat natural foods, be out in nature, and socialize.

For thousands of years, up until the last fifty years or so, most people in the world spent most of their day doing physical activity outdoors, whether doing manual labor on a farm or in a factory, hunting or gathering, building things, walking to and from places, or caring for children.

People also ate mostly whole grains, fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meats, and drank mostly water. Processed foods (e.g., smoked and fermented foods, alcohol) and high-calorie foods were rare and were only eaten in emergencies or on special occasions.

Furthermore, people back then had very few stimulating activities - there were few distractions, and they focused primarily on the task at hand, engaging in the real world. People were bored most of the time. At most, they read a few books, played with a toy, or met up with some people in real life.

Now that most physical work has been automated by machines, transportation is mainly done by cars and public transportation, and most jobs require sitting at a desk and staring at a screen all day indoors, people's physical activities have been greatly reduced.

Additionally, with the availability of cheap, convenient and processed foods, from snacks to soft drinks to fast food that is high in fat, sugar and calories, people now eat more of these things than whole foods simply because they are often more readily available and cheaper.

Furthermore, with the proliferation of electronics and social media, as well as pornography and recreational drugs, there are more ways than ever to stay stimulated while being alone and without ever stepping outside. As I mentioned in my mental health blog, this continuous stimulation and instant gratification are damaging to our brains and mental health, and are making people more disconnected and lonely.

People today are also getting less sleep from spending more time on electronics or overworking. As a result, our brains and cognitive systems are not getting the rest they need, and they literally burn out.

Our current state of human life is not natural for the human body which has evolved for millennia.

As a result, most people are not getting enough physical exercise, vitamins, and social life, or have excessive levels of body fat and sugar. We are seeing more people “burning out” and getting anxious and depressed. We are seeing more friendlessness and loneliness. We are seeing more chronic illnesses and mental health issues from this lifestyle.

People today are less healthy because our bodies are not adapted to such a new lifestyle. As our world continues to virtualize with more AI and virtual reality technologies, it will only get worse.

On the other hand, many people neglect their health to “grind” — overworking themselves towards their academic, career, or fitness goals.

Then their bodies break down. They burn out and fall apart mentally and physically.

I’ve had periods in my life when I worked 80+ hour weeks and neglected my health and social life before I got seriously ill and depressed. It didn’t matter even if I was going to the gym consistently. I’ve seen this in many of my family and peers in STEM as well before they adjusted their lifestyles. You probably heard some story of someone working hard their entire lives until their bodies failed, and they ended in early demise without ever getting to enjoy their lives.

Furthermore, fitness does not equate to health. Sure, physically fit people are healthier on average, but taking it to the extreme is not good either. We’ve seen in recent years that lots of professional athletes struggle with mental health. Others are so focused on their physique / physical appearance or a few physiological parameters / fitness standards that they put themselves through extreme measures (steroids/PEDs, dieting, training, etc.) which are damaging to their bodies, resulting in injuries, illnesses, mental health issues, or early death.

Self-improvement is much more than just about your academic, career, and fitness accomplishments. Your body and your health are a big part of it, along with your relationships with other people, and without them, everything else is meaningless.

Being healthy gives you more energy to do what matters — achieving your goals, spending time with your family and friends, helping others, spirituality, continuing to be healthy, and changing the world.

You need to prioritize your health as much, if not more so than your other objectives — It’s the foundation of everything else in life. No job, career, hobby, or person is worth your health — in this capitalistic world, no matter how much work you put in, you can be replaced in an instant. You are the only thing that is guaranteed.

You also need to connect with other people — humans are social animals and cannot survive well alone. Everyone has a role to play in society, and without a society, individuals suffer and perish. It is our biological purpose. Doing all these things for yourself will only make you feel empty after a while. However, if someone is always draining your energy, you should limit your time spent with those people.

A lot of people today are chronically tired, have low energy levels, and are depressed from overworking or overstimulation. Our modern pace of life is faster than ever, and our bodies are not adapted to such. Our brains cannot handle all this information well. Slow down, and give yourself time to rest.

Sure it is exciting, but all those people who lived through lots of ups and downs have put a lot of stress on their bodies. As a result, their bodies break down sooner. On the other hand, the healthiest people I know generally live simple and boring lives, which are relatively stress-free on the body.

Your mental and physical capacity is limited, so you need to control your intake — from work to electronics to physical exercise to food and drugs — anything, when consumed in excess, can be unhealthy. Doing lots of risky things and having constant ups and downs can burn you out quickly.

Your body, just like any machine, is a sophisticated piece of engineering. You need to take good care of it and not push it too much for it to be healthy. It is a delicate balance to maintain — you get what you put in.

Finally, mental health and physical health often go hand in hand — it’s your cognitive system after all. You need to have mental energy to be healthy and productive. You need the energy to be mentally and physically tough, and overcome challenges. Your body needs the energy to stay healthy. Scrolling on your phone all day while skipping sleep does not help that.

In essence, you should prioritize your physical and mental energy on what is important, and don’t indulge in unimportant things that stress your body and consume your mental and physical bandwidth.

Furthermore, I believe we live in a manufactured health crisis, especially in the US where the healthcare system is for-profit. The healthcare system does not serve people’s best interests but rather seeks to maximize profit.

More physical and mental illnesses, especially mild ones, are getting diagnosed, so pharmacies can sell more medication to the average person. Hospitals can perform more treatment and make more money. More expensive and optional treatments are being performed on patients. Insurance and the healthcare system get a bigger cut of everything. Food companies and restaurants also make more money from feeding people addictive and unhealthy junk food.

People are also being misled with bad medical / health advice and fed unhealthy food so they become more unhealthy. Social media influencers constantly change their minds about what is healthy and tell the public. The lack of health education in school, the abundance of conflicting and misleading information online, as well as the shortage of medical staff (caused by industry gatekeeping, e.g. medical schools), don’t help the problem either.

As I’ll discuss in a future blog post, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is a classic example. Governments were paid for by pharmacy companies, and these companies wanted to maximize their profits, so they enforced a rapid rollout of the vaccines to the public without fully considering the health risks. The vaccine has since caused a lot of health issues in the general public, and damaged the reputations of governments, causing more social divide.

Finally, healthcare costs are also artificially inflated for everyone as every organization from the doctor to the clinic to the pharmacy to the hospital to the insurance and Big Pharma want to get a bigger cut of the profits. Many people cannot afford basic treatment or preventive measures until the issues become crippling, which ends up being very expensive or deadly.

Keeping the average person less healthy and less aware means the healthcare system can make more money out of every person.

And the numbers don’t lie — The US has higher rates of obesity, diabetes, heart issues, cancers, birth defects, and mental health / neurological disorders, as well as lower life expectancy compared to the rest of the developed world, while having by far the highest healthcare spending per capita. Many American-produced food products would not be considered safe to consume in many other countries. A lot of American health advice would be considered insane in other countries. Meanwhile, American food and healthcare corporations are making more profit than ever.

Health should be a human right. While universal healthcare has been a debate for decades (and as a Canadian, I’ve seen its benefits and pitfalls), it should never be about trading human lives for profit. But as I always say, you can’t merely wait for the system to change — you can only change yourself.

Most of us need to have a basic awareness of our health. From how your body works to your diet and lifestyle to the supplements you take and different treatment options, don’t blindly listen to governments, healthcare “professionals”, and social media “influencers” — oftentimes, they are out to make the most money out of you, and don’t have your best interest in mind.

You need to do your own research on what is the best option, or seek multiple sources before making a healthcare decision. Don’t just limit yourself to Western medicine — it has a lot of flaws. The human body is not as simple as it is. Look into other forms of medicine, such as Chinese or Indian medicine. Don’t dismiss it just because you were told it’s pseudoscience nonsense.

And don’t blindly do stuff to your body just because everyone else is doing it — popular isn’t always right. The average person (think someone who smokes, drinks, doesn’t exercise, eats junk food, and spends hours on electronics all day) is unhealthy as sh*t. Make healthy choices.

Honestly, it’s not hard to live a healthy life, and it doesn’t require hitting the gym for hours every day, taking 20 different supplements and vitamins, tracking every step and calorie, doing monthly procedures, or sticking to a strict routine and diet like a robot going through the motions.

It’s enough just getting the basics down — getting enough quality sleep (8 hours a night), eating a natural and unprocessed diet, drinking enough water (2L a day), getting some movement (30 minutes a day), spending enough time outdoors and in sunlight (30 minutes a day), breathing clean and fresh air (don’t smoke or vape), basic hygiene, connecting with your loved ones, and getting enough downtime from electronics/screens and work. Doing these things will help you more than any health guru on the planet.

You don’t need to be of a certain BMI or body fat percentage to be healthy — it is a range after all, and everyone is different. Obviously, you should still do your regular health checkups and dental appointments, and monitor your physiological parameters (e.g., blood pressure and sugar levels).

Oftentimes, the best supplements are natural. You don’t need all this expensive medication, vitamins, or supplements to be healthy. Live like how our ancestors lived, plus the modern hygiene stuff — eat natural or unprocessed foods, drink water, sleep, do physical activity and be out in the sun, and chances are, you should be fairly healthy. It’s not that complex.

If you ask long-lived people for their health advice, they usually don’t have much to offer. In fact, most of them just lived simple, low-stress, and happy lives and didn’t do much to their bodies. On the other hand, you see all these celebrities who lived the “high life” but often died young – it’s like lighting a candle, the brighter you burn it, the faster it will burn out.

Your body is a gift from God, and your health is precious. Life is fickle and everything can be taken away from you in an instant. The older you get, the more you’ll realize that having good health is a luxury. Appreciate these gifts, don't take your health for granted, and take care of yourself and your loved ones.

And if you can, show others around you how to be healthy, and support each other to improve their health (like encouraging others to go out, exercise, and eat healthy). In a world dominated by instant gratification at the expense of the future, misinformation, and profit, you should set a good example and be a positive light. If enough people do this, everyone can end up healthier, and the world as a whole becomes more healthy.

Just keep it simple. Staying healthy is not that complicated.