My Health & Wellness: Spanning the Spectrum
  It’s true what they say—if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. Or, to put it another way, when you have good health, you have everything.

Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t recognize the importance of maintaining and sustaining good health and wellness until it’s too late. For some us, the importance could hit home after a trip to the doctor’s office, where we find out we have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. It’s then we recognize the need to have a healthier and well-balanced diet and may decide to drop lose weight so we give ourselves the gift of feeling and looking better.

Or maybe a loved one has cancer and that serves as a vehicle for us to take a closer look at our own health and wellness habits.

There are definitely times in life to concentrate on different aspects of living a healthy life. Here’s a run down of some of them that can ensure you and your family a smooth path to your good health and robust wellness!

Healthy Children
The beginning years are the best time for sound, healthy nutrition to take hold. Limit sugary snacks and have plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables around. Smart adults lead by example so children can follow not only what parents say, but what they do, too, when it comes to nutrition choices. Now is the time to follow a healthy physical plan too, and keep in touch with doctors and pediatricians so children are properly immunized.

Teenagers on the Go
The teenage years are a time where healthy exercise habits are established. If you have teenagers, make an effort to involve them in after-school sports. Or conduct weekend family activities that center on sporting activities like bike riding, hiking or playing Frisbee at the park or beach. Worried that your teen is sleeping too much? Don’t be. It’s been shown that the teenage years are when we need the zzzzzzzs—and it’s perfectly healthy.

Those Career Years
When we’re in our 20s and 30s, we all have plenty to do and need enough energy to do it. One of the best ways to sustain good energy and wellness is to get plenty of rest and cut back on stimulating substances, such as caffeine, refined foods and overdoses of energy drinks, which can cause even stress and anxiety in over-taxed lives. Sound nutrition rules still apply and choosing whole-grain and natural foods over processed and fast food meals can help the busiest person sustain energy morning, noon and night.

At the Peak?
This is the time of life, in our 40s and 50s, when we sometimes get a wake-up call from our health care practitioners. As the body ages, it’s more important than ever to take good care of it by reducing stress. Studies have connected stress with cancer and heart disease, among other major illnesses. It’s also a good idea to eat nutritionally-sound meals and get plenty of exercise. Take the time to slow down and incorporate healthier and natural stress-reducers, such as yoga and tai chi, into your daily activities.

Long Live the Baby Boomers
Today’s version of a “senior citizen” is much different than decades past. Men and women of all ages are taking up not only golf, but dancing, aerobics and other activities that lead them to keep a healthy and youthful glow. In addition, new therapies in pain relief and illness prevention mean today’s 60+ person has the opportunity to sustain good health, wellness and activity for decades to come.

Good health doesn’t happen naturally—it’s something that is built and sustained over a lifetime. Step by step, however, good health and wellness habits can be incorporated into daily living to make life peaceful and enjoyable.

Have questions? My Health and Wellness gets you real-world answers from local health and wellness professionals. Take the first step--click a market below to visit any of our local specialists.

From all of us--here's to YOUR good health!