Lifestyle and Health

Editor-in-Chief Lecture

Author

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran,Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In today’s world, the issue of health is divided into different sections. The developed country is a healthy country and divided health into four sections which are physical health, mental health, social health, and spiritual health. Health is fundamentally related to lifestyle. Different elements of lifestyle such as nutrition, sport, social interaction, sleeping time, dental hygiene, education, worship, trade, misuse of cell phone, architecture, nature friendliness, environment, energy consumption, forgiveness, medicine consumption, etc. are the elements that guarantee health. For instance, Avicenna’s famous slogan that “our food should be our medicine” is a great word of wisdom. In today’s world, this slogan puts forward the important issues of nutraceutical and functional foods whose consumption prevent disease contraction. The other issue is sleeping time. Most people conceive that sleeping is only to get a rest. However, widely unknown that most of body detoxification as well as hormone and biomolecule synthesis take place while we are asleep. But sleeping at what time? The most appropriate time of sleeping for the abovementioned mechanisms to occur is certainly the time when UV radiation decreases or stops, i.e., after sunset till dawn. The youth, today stay up at night and sleep during the day. Hence, they are deprived of effective sleep to meet their physiological and biological needs and this can bring about various physical, mental and psychological problems. Another issue is the misuse of cell phones. Cell phone emissions in enclosed areas with short roofs together with emissions from other devices such as computers, TVs, and microwave ovens synergistically increasing harm the body and even cause damage to DNA which can lead to reproduction problems. Apparently, the average time for the intermittent use of cell phone in a day should not exceed 23 minutes for healthy people. This time is definitely less for the ill and depends on the type of illness. Therefore, lifestyle is an important element for the health of people and society and new lifestyles should be taught to people. It is; however, necessary that universities and scientific centers teach lifestyle for staying healthy to students and publicize their scientific achievements through the media.

Keywords