The importance of taking care of your body:

The inextricable link between your physical health, and your mental health:

“Healthy body, healthy mind” is as true a cliché as you’ll ever hear. Looking after your body is as important for your mind as it is for your body. So today we’re going to explore three well known and important ways to keep your body in good condition, and thus go a long way towards helping you feel as vibrant, both physically and mentally, as possible.

As a sidenote: I try not to come across like I’m trying to lecture people, so please don’t take it that way. My goal is simply to lay out some facts that I think people need to be reminded of a little more often than they are. This is a topic I feel very passionately about, as it has helped me get through some very tough times and come out the other side stronger and wiser. To get through our most difficult trials, our mind needs to be strong, and for that to happen, we must also take care of our bodies.

It is a proven fact that poor physical health increases the chances of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, alongside the obvious physical issues such as heart disease and stroke; with all that in mind, you’d think that taking care of one’s physical health would be of the utmost importance in everyone’s life. Yet for a lot of people, it isn’t, and I can understand why… We’re all busy, stressed, and have a lot on our minds. Ironically, it’s for these very reasons that maintaining our physical health is so important.

No matter what the situation you’re in, if your body is healthy, has the rest it needs, has the nutrients it needs, your muscles are strong, and your heart and lungs are well exercised, then your brain, and subsequently your mood, will benefit. If you commit to a relatively healthy and active lifestyle, you’re giving yourself the best chance of consistently feeling at your best, which will increase your chances of successfully navigating whatever life throws at you.

On the flipside, an unhealthy and neglected body is likely to lead to low motivation, low energy, and an inability to concentrate. Over time this can create a lifestyle that leads to feelings of inadequacy and low morale, caused by a lack of productivity and an inability to deal with your problems.

I teach my junior students to view their body like a 3-legged stool. If you have a 3-legged stool, and you remove one of the legs, what happens? That’s right, it falls over, it’s useless, so you need to make sure that all 3 legs are solid and well looked after. When it comes to taking care of your physical body, there are 3 main areas – like the 3 legs of your stool, that you need to look after. These are food, sleep, and exercise.

FOOD:

A famous line that has had a great impact on my own personal lifestyle is: “you can’t outrun a bad diet”. It doesn’t matter how much exercise you do, if your diet is poor, you will still be unhealthy, you won’t feel at your best, and you’ll be more prone to illness. Your body runs off of what you put in it. If you feed it rubbish, it will run accordingly. You don’t notice the symptoms as much when you’re young, but as you get older, you really do… Your body needs nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, certain good fats such as your omegas, amino acids, healthy absorbable proteins, and, of course, a lot of water. It needs all these things to build muscle, maintain a strong immune system, and generally to keep your body and mind functioning efficiently. If you starve it of those things, by choosing to eat nutritionally dead (but tasty) junk food on a regular basis, then you’ll become podgy, your skin will look bad, you’ll have no energy, and your thinking will become cloudy. I don’t say this to shock you, the chances are you already know this – but, sometimes, something of this importance needs to be spelled out to us before we take it seriously.

I am always amazed at how differently I feel in both my energy levels and my sharpness of thought the day after eating predominantly healthy food, compared to how I feel the day after eating a load of junk. It’s really quite the juxtaposition, and always serves as a potent reminder of how my body and mind react to the food that I eat, and how essential a healthy diet actually is.

Exercise:

Our bodies thrive through movement and challenge. If we don’t exercise they grow weak, and a weak body often leads to a weak mind: these are inextricably connected. This is why it’s so important to keep yourself fit, and why we focus so much on fitness at my martial arts academy. Not only will being fit and strong contribute to keeping your body and mind healthy, but it will also increase your chances of winning a physical altercation should you ever get in one.

Being physically active will help you manage your weight and keep your body in shape, but it does more than that: as we’ve already discussed, it improves your overall brain health, and has an immediately positive impact on conditions such as anxiety and low mood. On top of all this, it helps to keep your muscles healthy and well-conditioned, and it strengthens your bones. Perhaps most importantly of all, though, it helps to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain common cancers. If you wish to maximise your chances of living a long and healthy life, regular physical exercise is vital.

Sleep:

If we don’t get enough sleep and our body doesn’t rest properly, we feel tired and sluggish, and cannot be at our best. Sleep is vital for keeping us healthy, and if we don’t get enough, it’s that much harder to fight off viruses and other illnesses when we’re unlucky enough to catch them. Being tired also makes us more irritable and less able to get on with others. Getting a regular good night’s sleep also reduces stress, allows you to think more clearly, improves your mood, and reduces the risk of serious illnesses.

Conclusion:

I wrote this article to gently remind people of the importance of looking after their bodies, because it’s so easy to forget, procrastinate, or push this to the back of one’s mind. I’m convinced that some people think they’re invincible, and that the health problems they often hear about happening to other people, won’t happen to them, which is a dangerous mindset.

I talk with my students a lot about the importance of respecting others, and being kind to others, but you must also be kind and respectful to yourself, and that involves looking after your body and your health, and keeping yourself in shape.

With a little bit of disciplined practice, a healthy lifestyle can become habitual, and if you are habitually healthy and you habitually take care of yourself, you will experience the benefits that go along with that.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, of course. Unfortunately, even if you take care of yourself and give your body exactly what you believe it needs, it doesn’t mean you’re never going to have health problems, but it will minimise the risk, while simultaneously maximising the chances of you feeling mentally and physically at your best for as long as possible. It is, therefore, well worth your time.

So, to wrap up, the 3 areas that are key to keeping your body in balance and maximising your chances of a healthy, long, and vibrant life are: Number 1: The food that you eat… Number 2: Regular physical exercise… And number 3: A regular good night’s sleep.

Next week:

Now, I appreciate these habits are all easier said than done, and some people have far busier and more hectic lives than I do, so next week, I will be discussing some very simple tips on how to integrate these habits into your lifestyle. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not trying to lecture anyone or tell anyone what to do. I discuss these topics out of a genuine desire to help people improve their lives, which is the sole purpose of these newsletters, my book, and the work I do at my martial arts academy.

Thank you for reading this article. If you enjoyed it please leave a like as it greatly helps the newsletter!!   

ONE LAST THING…

I am the author of the self-development book Building Warriors, The Life Skill Training of a Dedicated Martial Arts Instructor (above), which was published in June 2021, and is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle and various other eBook platforms. The book is based on the life-skill-based mindset training that I teach to my young students at my academy. You can find out more about this book, including the Amazon reviews, by visiting rainvalleypublishing.com.

Thank you, Graham!! 🙏