The key to good health is lifestyle rather than medicine.

How far do you

agree?
Medicine had been practiced in ancient Egypt well before the 5 th century BC.
Never did I do any evil to any persons was an ethical code inscribed on the
tomb of the chief physician, Nenkh-Sekhmet. The Hippocratic Oath, named
after the father of western medicine, Hippocrates, is the rite of passage for the
practitioners of medicine even to this day. There is no question about the
importance of medicine for the last 2500 years in treating illnesses and
bringing good health to the people in any societies. However, there is a
growing concern that achieving good health through a regime of heavy
dependence on medicine will lay an unsustainable burden on the welfare of
governments and their peoples. Regardless of a countrys wealth or culture,
the trend and key to good health is moving towards preventive and lifestyle
medicine. There is a fast changing attitude in employing the correct lifestyle
choices to achieving good health.
In the United Kingdom, according to the Health and Social Care Information
Centre, 61.7% of adults are overweight including 24.8% of them who are
obese. The rise in obesity or overweight problems has been attributed to an
indulgent lifestyle of inactivity and, more significantly, a high calorie diet.
These conditions greatly raise the risk of many health problems including
heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and cancer to name a
few. It is no exaggeration to say it is the biggest public health crisis facing the
UK today, Professor Stephenson from the Academy of Royal Medical
Colleges wrote. In the United States, more than 100 million Americans are on
some kinds of diet but nevertheless nearly 70% of the adults remain
overweight or obese. By one estimate, the United States spent USD190 billion
to treat obesity-related health care problems in 2005. The ancient Greek
physician Hippocrates said: Let food be your medicine and medicine be your
food. While diet and abstinence can give respite to weight gain or temporary
weight loss, a change in lifestyle consisting of the correct eating habits is still
the key to long term weight maintenance and good health.
It has been proven that regular physical activity or exercise is one of the most
important things you can do to promote good health. Not only does it control
your weight and keep you in shape, it is the best medicine to reduce the risk
of heart diseases, diabetes and some cancers. It is also the potent medicine
for improving mental and social health. Studies on the psychological effects
have found that regular physical activity can improve your mood and selfesteem. Researchers concluded that exercise can help you to manage and
reduce depression and stress. Getting in shape also enhances the emotional
quality of your life in a social way as it gives you the opportunity to interact
with others while building a body that makes you feel good. In this respect, the
benefits of physical activity or exercise extend far beyond weight
management. It is a kind of lifestyle that holds the key to good health as it can
reduce your risk of being inflicted by sickness and improve your overall quality
of living.
The importance of medicine in treating illnesses and saving lives has its roots
way back thousands of years in early human societies, whether the Egyptian,
the Greek or the Chinese. There is no denying that the increase in our overall

The key to good health is lifestyle rather than medicine. How far do you
agree?
life expectancy and, the decrease in pain and suffering of our physical or
mental dysfunction must be attributed to advances in modern medicine for the
most part. Modern medicine has reduced infant mortality rate drastically. The
use of vaccines and antibiotics has wiped out many of the causes of early
death. People suffering from acute trauma can be treated and healed by
advanced medicine. The use of stem cell offers the possibility of a renewable
source of replacement cells and tissues to treat all kinds of chronic and
hereditary diseases. Shripad Tulja, Professor of Biology at Stanford
University, said that advances in medicine could help to raise life expectancy
by 20 years before the year 2050. Medicine is not just aimed at making us live
longer, but more importantly letting us live better.
Medicine can help treat your health problems and prolong your lives, but any
reliance on medicine to ensure good health and longevity would appear very
shallow and counter-productive. The direct cost of health care and the indirect
cost of lost work and wages, and rising insurance premiums, will be too heavy
a social burden to bear in the long term. That being said, the key to good
health is still to begin down the right path of appropriate nutrition, physical
activity and lifestyle. With emphasis on awareness, education and action, a
good lifestyle can greatly enhance the good health and well-being of people
into old age.
17 JUL 2016 (803 words)