It's Your Health, It's Your Responsibility!

Most of us are familiar with the cliches "If you don't have your health, you don't have anything", or "What good is all the success in the world if you don't have your health?"   Truly, nothing detracts from our quality of life more than a health issue, whether it is something relatively transient like a headache, broken toe or cracked rib, to more chronic conditions such as back pain or diabetes.  Of course, there are illnesses that our best medical resources cannot yet prevent or control, and these are tragic.  But what is also tragic and more widespread is that we have a tremendous amount of control over our health, yet we fail to 'exercise' it. (Pun intended!!)     For some of us, it seems that we feel that both our health and healthcare are some kind of entitlement.  Many people will forego fitness activities or even necessary healthcare, because they "can't find the time" or don't want to incur the expense, especially if their insurance doesn't cover it or they have-- as many of us do -- a very high deductible.  And yet many of these same people will not hesitate to spend money on their hair and nails and hand bags and shoes, or an expensive new car or fancy set of golf clubs.  What good are these things without good health? The new shoes may look great, but the wearer trips and falls due to poor muscle tone and balance.  The expensive clubs sit idle for months at a time because the golfer hurt his back when his weak core muscles went into spasm on a drive off the tee.      This approach to quality of life will not only result in temporary setbacks in our social calendar or golf game, it also will, in the long run, rob us of years of independent living, and ability to do the things WE CHOOSE to do. Specifically, studies show that those who exercise regularly and eat a generally healthful diet maintain a good quality of life that closely tracks their life span; whereas those who do not linger and suffer for years under the care of others.  If we can make a commitment to our health by adding moderate exercise to our daily routine, we can truly enjoy all of the many things we are so fortunate to have -- our family, our friends and that nice set  of golf clubs too. If you can devise your own exercise routine, great.  If not, and you need to spend a little money for guidance and motivation, it is well worth the cost!