DR DAVE GLASS: Lifestyle Medicine – Boosting personal energy availability factor
The vital ingredients to vivacious living are the rainbow spectrum of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and some nuts and seeds; regular enjoyable exercise or increased physical activity; sufficient restful sleep; good positive social relationships; effectively managing stress; and avoidance of harmful substances.
The older I get and the more I learn about the functioning of our amazing bodies, the more in awe I am of the complexity and intricate design that makes up this organism called ‘my human body‘.
Every millisecond, very advanced chemical processes are occurring to build proteins, metabolise carbohydrates and fats, repair damaged DNA strands, manufacture new cells, block leaky capillaries, develop antibodies against new microbial threats, develop new neural pathways to store memories, the list goes on and on.
With such a complicated machine, it is amazing that it functions most of the time without hitch. We are only too aware of the wear and tear of man-made technology and engineering that lets us down so often – we only need to think of Eskom and the daily challenges we face as a result. And yet if we care for our bodies appropriately they can serve us well for many, many years.
Of course, we live in a hostile environment and things do go wrong from time to time. But how can we optimise the functioning of our complex organism to minimise disease and ill-health?
How can we boost our energy availability factor (EAF)? (The EAF of many Eskom power stations hovers around 30%).
The good news is that there is much each of us can do personally to accomplish this and it does not come from some much vaunted supplement or magic potion. The vital ingredients to vivacious living are pretty simple, and available to almost everyone. They include: the rainbow spectrum of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and some nuts and seeds; regular enjoyable exercise or increased physical activity; sufficient restful sleep; good positive social relationships; effectively managing stress; and avoidance of harmful substances.
Of course, the biggest challenge is not knowledge, but motivation to implement them. And that is where boosting your EAF can help. Once you start implementing these changes, you start to feel so much better, have a clearer mind, sleep better, are more productive and your relationships improve – your energy availability factor has dramatically improved! That gives added incentive to adopt more changes.
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