We perform a number of activities in a day. They can be classified under food and rest, personal care and hygiene, 'labor for livelihood', cooking and other domestic chores, sports and fitness, travel and commuting, recreational activities and idle time. All these different activities leave both positive and negative impacts on our health based on how and in what environment we perform them, the state of body and mind with which we perform them, and the external objects we deal with.
For example, food that we eat can augment our health, also lead forth to disease. The nature and quantity of food, combination of foods consumed, the time interval between two successive meals, the level of hunger when we sit for a meal, activity prior to the meal like workouts, etc., may contribute to proper metabolic activity and absorption of nutrition or their imbalance.
Sleep is another factor that affects our health. Lack of sleep, even excess and untimely sleep, and sleep drunkenness can result in impaired health conditions. They may result in conditions ranging from poor metabolic activity to malfunctioning of various systems of the body. Likewise, every activity we do, during the course of our day-to-day routine, even bodily posture while at rest and in motion, effects changes in our health. These changes remain in a state of flux. Sometimes they become evident to perception. Sometimes they grow within us subtly or subdue over a period of time.
Periodical health check-up is a way to know the state of our health. While that is recommended for people who have been diagnosed with certain health conditions, another essential practice to keep a tab on our health is to become conscious of the body.
Though human body as a mechanism is common to the entire human race, the micro level functioning of our body differs, even from that of our blood relatives, and is as unique as our personality. Only we the individuals, can observe them in continuum and stay conscious of these dissimilar traits in us, and correlate with how our body responds and reacts to factors external to us, in an ongoing period of life.
The moment we go to a doctor, the first thing he/she may ask is, "how do you feel?". The doctor may be able to precisely diagnose the cause and prescribe medication based on the diagnosis, but it's we who can know how we feel. In fact, we sense our condition even before we go to a doctor. But how accurately can we sense?
If we can keep our senses alert or sharpen the senses, we may be able to observe every minor-perceivable change that happens in our body, and identify a cause and effect pattern in them, provided we keep away from unreasonable assumptions. We may also be able to develop a candid understanding of our bodily strengths and weaknesses, adjudge factors influencing them (like food, sleep, and lifestyle) and modify them to suit our body constitution. And if we harness our senses further to decode even subtle bodily symptoms, many common ailments can be easily checked and reversed prior to the stage where these conditions develop rapidly.
Our human body keeps sending out a number of signals, day in and day out. And our senses are capable of detecting them. For our part, we simply have to become aware of them. Some of our ancient medicinal practitioners like the Siddhas were able to, to a deeper extent and combine them with their awareness over things in their surrounding. That's how they were able to find herbs and metals that could heal diseases. Even human generations prior to us were able to classify what plant is a food and what's a poison, and that's how we know our food.
One way of looking at it is: "Perhaps they didn't have the aid of laboratories and gadgets like we have today, so they had to depend largely on sense perception." The other way of looking at it is: "Since they were not totally dependent on external instruments of knowledge, they were more self-reliant." There is no magic or myth in how they cultivated their cognitive ability. Neither does it require any celebrated master to learn from. We too can, if we sharpen our senses, and heighten our sense of awareness.
For example, food that we eat can augment our health, also lead forth to disease. The nature and quantity of food, combination of foods consumed, the time interval between two successive meals, the level of hunger when we sit for a meal, activity prior to the meal like workouts, etc., may contribute to proper metabolic activity and absorption of nutrition or their imbalance.
Sleep is another factor that affects our health. Lack of sleep, even excess and untimely sleep, and sleep drunkenness can result in impaired health conditions. They may result in conditions ranging from poor metabolic activity to malfunctioning of various systems of the body. Likewise, every activity we do, during the course of our day-to-day routine, even bodily posture while at rest and in motion, effects changes in our health. These changes remain in a state of flux. Sometimes they become evident to perception. Sometimes they grow within us subtly or subdue over a period of time.
Periodical health check-up is a way to know the state of our health. While that is recommended for people who have been diagnosed with certain health conditions, another essential practice to keep a tab on our health is to become conscious of the body.
Though human body as a mechanism is common to the entire human race, the micro level functioning of our body differs, even from that of our blood relatives, and is as unique as our personality. Only we the individuals, can observe them in continuum and stay conscious of these dissimilar traits in us, and correlate with how our body responds and reacts to factors external to us, in an ongoing period of life.
The moment we go to a doctor, the first thing he/she may ask is, "how do you feel?". The doctor may be able to precisely diagnose the cause and prescribe medication based on the diagnosis, but it's we who can know how we feel. In fact, we sense our condition even before we go to a doctor. But how accurately can we sense?
If we can keep our senses alert or sharpen the senses, we may be able to observe every minor-perceivable change that happens in our body, and identify a cause and effect pattern in them, provided we keep away from unreasonable assumptions. We may also be able to develop a candid understanding of our bodily strengths and weaknesses, adjudge factors influencing them (like food, sleep, and lifestyle) and modify them to suit our body constitution. And if we harness our senses further to decode even subtle bodily symptoms, many common ailments can be easily checked and reversed prior to the stage where these conditions develop rapidly.
Our human body keeps sending out a number of signals, day in and day out. And our senses are capable of detecting them. For our part, we simply have to become aware of them. Some of our ancient medicinal practitioners like the Siddhas were able to, to a deeper extent and combine them with their awareness over things in their surrounding. That's how they were able to find herbs and metals that could heal diseases. Even human generations prior to us were able to classify what plant is a food and what's a poison, and that's how we know our food.
One way of looking at it is: "Perhaps they didn't have the aid of laboratories and gadgets like we have today, so they had to depend largely on sense perception." The other way of looking at it is: "Since they were not totally dependent on external instruments of knowledge, they were more self-reliant." There is no magic or myth in how they cultivated their cognitive ability. Neither does it require any celebrated master to learn from. We too can, if we sharpen our senses, and heighten our sense of awareness.