A “healthy lifestyle” is an umbrella term that encompasses all aspects of everyday living. While people commonly focus only on exercise and diet, the other small habits have a much larger role to play. Taking to Instagram on April 19, Dr Sanjay Bhojraj, an interventional cardiologist and functional medicine expert with over 20 years of experience, highlighted three ways in which people often miss the mark while attempting to follow a healthy lifestyle.
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1. Not prioritising rest and recovery
When one thinks of health and fitness, they often start pushing themselves physically to get in better shape without making sure that the body gets sufficient time to rest and repair. And it is not just the body that needs to rejuvenate, but also the mind. The increasing stress that modern society puts on an individual directly affects their overall health.
As Dr Bhojraj explained, “Your ‘healthy lifestyle’ isn’t protecting you the way you think it is. I’ve opened arteries on runners, lifters, high performers, ‘clean eaters.’ They track steps, but not sleep. They avoid sugar but live stressed out of their mind. Heart disease doesn’t care about your identity as a ‘healthy person.’ It cares about your biology.”
2. Not focusing on metabolism
People often worry about cholesterol levels without taking into account their metabolism as a whole. According to Dr Bhojraj, this is a major miss as taking only cholesterol into account will not fix metabolic issues, such as inflammation or insulin resistance.
In his words, “(Staying healthy) is not a cholesterol problem for most of you. It’s metabolic. I can tweak your LDL all day, but it doesn’t fix insulin resistance. Or inflammation. Or the fact that your system’s been off for a decade.”
3. Blindly trusting wellness industries
According to the cardiologist, the wellness industry is more focused on selling comfort rather than providing individuals with inputs that will actually help them stay healthy. It is not motivation that one needs, just proper guidance that ensures that they stay on their fitness journey.
“That nightly glass of wine? Not helping your heart. Those weekend warrior workouts? Not undoing a week of being sedentary. Those ‘normal’ bloodwork results? Not as normal as you think,” cautioned Dr Bhojraj, as he pushed for adopting more regular healthy habits.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.
