MEDS? What is that? Is it a shortcut of Medicine? Which medicine or pills to take daily for a healthy and happy life?
No! MEDS is a simple approach for healthy and happy living coined by Satahaar: whole and mindful. To be honest, it is nothing fancy, complicated or difficult. It is actually a set of very simple, doable and science backed actions that we should follow to live a healthy and joyful life for ourselves and for others.
You have heard the quote ‘ prevention is better than cure’ right? You might also have heard the WHO definition of health. We take inspiration from these two in recommending daily doses of MEDS.
First world M, here indicates mindfulness. Mindfulness has its origins in Eastern contemplative traditions and is frequently linked to the formal practice of mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness, on the other hand, is more than just meditation. It is an “inherently a condition of consciousness” that entails clear awareness of one’s present-moment to moment experience. Simply put, mindfulness is just being present.
The modern world has a plethora of distractions. We check our phones countless times, we keep scrolling our social media and we do not even know what we are looking for. Even when we go to the toilet, we carry our phone and sit in the toilet for half an hour. We need constant stimulation and these devices and technologies that make us accessible are one of the big reasons why we are easily distracted and interrupted every second. Furthermore, the modern culture of multitasking, heavy consumerism, accumulation of possessions, desire for ever-growing wealth etc. are all taking a toll on our mental, physical and social health.
Mindfulness while eating, listening to others, cooking, cleaning, driving, observing, reading, to be honest, mindfulness in everyday mundane activities of life makes our life less stressful, happy and content.
Mindfulness also helps to be more empathetic and observe what is going on around you, and view things holistically. This ultimately helps the whole planetary and social environment.
Thus, we urge you to be mindful in your actions, in your activities. Since, mindfulness promotes better performance, learning and overall health (1) , it should be your daily dose of MEDS.
Another pill of action we should take daily is exercise. There are countless studies and trials demonstrating benefits of regular exercise. A study says that ‘exercise is so effective that it should be considered as a drug’ (2). And yes, there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to exercise but regular moderate exercise is highly beneficial for everyone. For people, whose work demands more physical labor most of the time in a day, may not require much exercise, but for most of us, exercise should be in our top priority. When we think of exercise, we may think of running, jogging, skipping, weight training and so on. Yes, they are also some forms of exercise, however exercise is much more than that. It involves walking, doing household chores, stretching, cycling and walking on stairs too. Although a good combination of cardio and weight training is usually recommended by health professionals, it does not have to be perfect. Start small and take further steps. Do not sit at home in one place, keep moving, keep stretching, walk more, ride your bicycle more, do your household chores as much as you can. Simply be more active in daily life.
“Exercise is so effective that it should be considered as a drug.”
Vina, J., Sanchis‐Gomar, F., Martinez‐Bello, V., & Gomez‐Cabrera, M. C. (2012).
Doing exercise one in a blue moon may not help. Of course it’s better than nothing but to get long term health benefits, it has to be a part of your life. We really need to find a way that makes our exercise enjoyable and long term.
So, are you up for this behavior change?
Another daily pill is diet- a diet or an eating pattern that is balanced, minimally processed and predominantly plant based if not fully. You might be aware of the fact that cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, obesity, and cognitive impairment are among the world’s major causes of death and disability, impacting people in both developed and developing countries. You might be surprised, in diseases such as anxiety and depression, not just medication or counseling help, choices of your food also matters.
Accumulated medical evidence shows that a whole food plant based diet (WFPB) is by far the healthiest diet that supports gut health, brain health, cardiovascular health and protects from diverse diseases. This eating pattern is not just healthy but also environmentally friendly (3) (4) (5) (6) (7).
To summarize, diet is one of the major modifiable risk factors for our health and wellbeing. It is not complicated, it is doable and it is in our hands. Let’s do it together!
Well, last but not the least, sleep and stress management are equally important. These are two areas which do not get attention as they deserve. Do you know stress is one of the top causes of a variety of diseases? Well, yes research estimates that as much as 90 percent of illness and disease is stress related (8).
Today, we’re trying to do too much, too fast. We are constant social media checkers, we have fear of missing out and huge socioeconomic and beauty standards that we want to meet. To be honest, I feel like we are buying problems with our hard earned money. This fast paced life with a dream to be more productive each day has taken a toll on our mental health and thereby causing stress all along. This has negatively impacted our sleep quality and duration while shooting up our stress level.
Short sleep duration, defined as sleeping less than 7 hours per night, has been linked to cognitive performance issues (9). Studies show that short sleep has also been linked to an increased risk of weight gain and a higher BMI (10) (11).
If we look at the growing body of research, there might not be any areas which do not get affected by poor sleep.
Stress is a part of life. At some point or the other, everyone experiences stress and it is not harmful if it’s short lived.
I remember watching a video that randomly appeared on my Facebook feed a few years back. That video showed how stress is just like holding a glass of water with our hands. If you hold it for a while, it’s nothing. However, if you hold for hours and hours, it weakens your hands, it makes you powerless and exhausted.
Many diseases are caused or perpetuated by stress, especially if it is severe and prolonged and it affects virtually every part of our body (12).
Thus, we request each one of you to remember that ‘we are human’. We cannot be perfect. We cannot have endless productivity. So, stressing out and sleeping less is not worth it.
Summary: The bottom line is that everything here is interconnected. To be healthy and fit, we need to follow healthy eating practices, be physically active, be mindful in our actions and in relationships, sleep enough and reduce our stress levels. We do not need to be at the mercy of our genetic make up because we CAN choose to alter them/not trigger thereby having control over our lifestyle.
