We have all desired to have nothing but a glowing skin and a healthy body,  it does not matter what race you belong to and what culture you are used to, having a healthy body is one of the most important matters we all mind.  Nobody can deny the fact that we simply want to be desirable each time we go out in public,  we want to see good things and we want to feel and look good every time. However, we need to be mindful and considerate in some inevitable yet important factors which directly affect our health. These are: UV Rays, Water, Food and Diet, Lifestyles and Stress. It is proper to manage these factors on our own advantage to achieve holistic health.

Ultraviolet Rays (UV Rays)

The abnormal count of ultraviolet rays coming in through the earth’s atmosphere does not only concern our skin but everything here in the planet.  It is an invisible electromagnetic radiation catapulted by the sun, stronger than the radiation we can get from having an x-ray procedure.  Now who wants to be exposed with these as if you are having an x-ray everyday?  We may not feel the effect immediately but they will all soon manifest beginning on our skin as it is the first one to get hit.  On its lightest effects, it can cause wrinkles, dark spots, or skin discoloration (not just a simple sunburn) while the long term effect exhibits greater damages such as skin cancer and other degenerative skin disorders.

How to manage

Avoid directly exposing your skin on the heat of the sun especially during its hottest time of the day (this depends on the location), or the least that you can do is to use umbrella, sunglasses and cap/hat when going out during day time. Sun screen can also be useful to protect the skin from the heat of the sun.

Water

Water is in fact needed by our body to function well specially our skin that needs to be moisturized 24 hours a day 7 days a week, however, it is also important that we are at least aware of the quality of water that we drink and use to wash our face and body.  Almost nothing is left uncontaminated nowadays and that is one sad fact that is also the reason why the rise of purified water is necessary for us to be on the safe side.  How about the water for bathing?  Yes, you are right!  Today, even simple daily tasks like taking a bath became quite hazardous, contaminants or harmful chemical residues that are able to slip through our water supply pipes are highly capable of poisoning us affecting our skin first

How to manage

Drink appropriate amount of water needed by your body. At least 8 glasses a day. Make sure that you are using clean water for drinking, boiled or purified is advisable. For bathing, use clean water not recycled or contaminated that might affect your skin.

Food and Diet

It is sad to realize that even our most loved activity, eating, became unhealthy.  Though we should not exaggerate and stop eating, only the fact became pretty much established that we have been exposed to the culture of “not eating the right food” or perhaps our choices of the food that we eat have turned unhealthy.  Come to think of it, hundreds or thousands of years ago people are not aware about junk food, they do not have a term for snacks on their daily menu.  Cholesterol, preservatives, and other chemicals (industrial chemicals) these are the things that we have on our food nowadays.

How to manage

Eat nutritious food. There must be vegetables and fruits every meal.  If you are hungry avoid eating junk foods. Try to satisfy your hunger by eating the right food you have cooked and prepared. Though, cooking your food is time requiring, it is all worth it once you have tasted your specialty.

Lifestyle

Most of us nowadays would rather go for some foods that are easy and quick which will then compromise our daily food nutrition requirements.  Not only that, we are very much used to living our lives like there is nothing else to mind but work which makes us neglect the needs of our body for some healthy activities to the point that doing an exercise became a sense of fashion rather than being a conscious effort for health improvement.

How to manage

Go for a healthy lifestyle amidst your busy schedules. Make time to exercise, have enough sleep everday, consider good diet and avoid vices please. If you are a smoker, drug dependent and/or alcoholic, this is the right time to decide to withdraw from it–it’s a choice, help yourself. Seek also help from health professionals if needed.  Remember health is wealth and it begins with your lifestyle.

Stress

Ironically, our desire for better and easy life somehow made things a little bit harder than how it was years or decades ago.  As we all strive for a prosperous way of living, we have also forgotten to take a step back to take a good rest.  If you will hear closely how people talk nowadays, it is for sure that you will hear them complain 80% of the time rather than plan on things that will make them feel good.  Stress is actually the leading cause of death for our generation nowadays, deadly diseases are just part of the complications if you will analyze things out.  Stress is greatly manifested on skin, it would be easy to point people who are experiencing stress just by looking on their skin condition especially on the facial area.

How to manage

• Try to escape in a stressful condition for a while by having massage or spa, watching movies, dating with partners, malling, etc.
• Have a good mind set, renew your mind from negativism then your “aura” will surely radiates from within
• Be thankful to our Creator. Appreciate yourself and others. It is more stressful  if we look on negative things around us. So focus on things that are worth thanking for.

Actually, there are lots of solutions that I can enumerate to manage stress but it’s another topic. Just try to apply the above practical ways to deal with UV rays, water, food and diet, lifestyle and stress, then it will surely help you achieve a better and healthy being.