Being health conscious–by minimising alcohol, for instance–dramatically reduces our reasons for worry, but an unhelpful level of perfectionism can make us less carefree than health risk denier.
This piece continues for logged in supporters from any platform. You can retrieve your password using the form below. The story is also on Substack.
Supporter login
Forgot password?
Supporter content
Taking steps to reduce health risks does not mean we need to dedicate every second to being a super-chilled, rippling quasi-Olympian with a top notch social circle. The vast majority of the health benefits we can get from lifestyle come long before this.
Simply paying heed to a handful of achievable lifestyle guidelines has been shown to add a decade or two to our lives, cutting the chance we have health problems in the near future. It is a short list of achievable goals, not a relentless regime.
A typical to-do list might include seven factors: never smoking; drinking little or no alcohol; having a balanced, vegetable-biased diet; do regular moderate exercise; have regular social connection; get adequate sleep; and manage stress.
The trickier ones for many are likely to involve addictive drugs like tobacco and alcohol, which are often woven into our lives. We may need to compromise and acknowledge drinking no alcohol is more achievable than trying to drink just a little. Meanwhile we might struggle to say what is an adequate level of social connection, sleep or stress. But okay is enough, we do not need to look for perfection.
Routinely ticking off many or all of the items on the shortlist will significantly reduce our health risks. That is something to bank, not worry about. Slip-ups are not ideal, but not the end of the world either. Consistently achieving all the items on the list is doable one day.
No health recommendations can ever avert our deaths. But a significant delay is a reasonable expectation for following a few lifestyle recommendations. This is extra time to appreciate being alive which need not involve fine-tuning a health regime. ■