health-On The Edge!

“Health is wealth” they say, yet we some times take our body for granted and abuse it. In the Indian tradition body is taught to be a temple and as a path way to a greater dimension. With modernisation and time constraints, our body is just a mode of transport for us to fulfil all our earthly needs. We care hardly about our body internals. Unless there is some trouble we take it for ride with what not. Most of us seem to be proactive with everything but not with our health.

Everybody will have a breaking point and till that we won’t realise the need for staying healthy, but it doesn’t have to be that way. What we eat and how we live defines our quality of life. You can either wait for a breaking point to realise the need to stay healthy or go read this long article about Vittici’s life and how he is putting technology to keep him healthy.
It is quite a long read, but one that is worth the time. I use my iPhone and the health app as well to keep track of my health. Some of the apps I use are different though. I use Myfitnesspal, Garmin connect with a Vivofit, Strava and Sleep cycle Some might say I am obsessed, yeah so what the hell, it is my health. 🙂

How do you keep yourself healthy?

Today is 3 months since I broke my bones due to an accident on a bike commute to office. I’ve probably spent half my life time on earth and it’s the first time ever I managed to break a bone. Not quite the timing I would have wanted to break a bone, but nobody can prevent the inevitable, can we? The crash changed a lot of things in my life, some for the better and some for the worse. Its been a very eventful three months and I have come to learn quite a few things which I wouldn’t have realized even existed had it not been for the crash. One important learning is what I want to share, may be this will ring some bells for you too.

Our body is the most ignored aspect in our lives. We take it for granted that it will work the way it is supposed to. We keep taking it for granted till the time it stops and gives a trouble or shows some symptoms. Two months of trying to restore the left leg back to its normalcy reminds me only one thing. Despite being a healthy and an active person who spent at least 6-12 hours on the bike commuting, I never had realised how coordinated an activity such as bending your knee to pedal the bike is. It is just mind blowing to feel how many muscles, nerves, blood vessels and brain cells it requires to coordinate an activity such as bending the knee which we have come to take for granted everyday. The first day off the cast was very bad, so much that thinking about bending the knee hurt. Two months since then, I can cycle now, but some postures like Vajrasana hurts so bad that I can’t hold that pose for more than a few seconds. May be I am rushing my recovery too soon, but I just can’t stop thinking how coordinated the body used to work earlier and how I had failed to appreciate its beauty then. I have learnt the hardway that the human body is the most efficient piece of creation worth admiring. It is easily the most important thing one should take care of in their life.

These days I thank my body each day for how it helps me be what I am and I consciously make an effort to not abuse it, be it by feeding it Junk food or by depriving of sleep. I try to keep myself active, healthy and flexible as much as possible. Do you?