The three pillars of good health

​The three pillars of good health refer to quality sleep, good nutrition and regular exercise. For optimal health, it is good to be doing all these three things well. Let's look at each pillar in more detail and how you can optimize them in your life.
 
1. Quality sleep
Up to one-third of your daily routine is spent sleeping. Often dismissed or overlooked, getting adequate sleep is actually one of the most important things you can do for your health. Sleep affects everything from energy and appetite, to performance, mood, attention, memory, and decision making. During sleep, your body is actively working to support healthy brain function by removing toxins while the body repairs itself. On the other hand, regular sleep loss maybe associated with feeling fatigued, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and cardiovascular disease.
 
2. Good nutrition 
It's clear that good nutrition is an essential cornerstone for optimizing health. The key is to find a balance between what we like to eat and what foods nourish our bodies best. Designing your diet wisely not only enhances health and enjoyment of eating but also can relieve feelings of guilt or worry that you aren’t eating well. All of us appreciate the occasional takeaway, but it’s the overall eating pattern you choose day in and day out that matters most. Choosing an array of healthy foods most of the time, allows you to have less nutritious foods on the odd occasion without harm to your health.
 
3. Regular exercise 
While your daily food choices can greatly affect your health, the combination of good nutrition and physical activity is an even bigger deciding factor in your overall health. Simply put, your body is built to move. Lack of movement can be a possible predictor of developing certain chronic diseases, and also leaves you feeling sluggish and uninspired on a daily basis. In fact, people who regularly engage in moderate physical activity live longer, healthier lives on average than those who are more sedentary.