Intro

Heath today is a sensitive matter. Even with medical advances, there are still many dangers to our physical health in this world. And there are now almost more dangers to our other types of health than ever. Technology threatens to distance us from our family, friends, and God. The earth is also becoming increasingly polluted. Maintaining our health is crucial to living a happy life, and this issue is to help you stay more conscious about your current condition.

            When most people hear the word “health”, they think of things such as nutrition, diets, and exercise. There is more to a guy’s health than just his physical condition, though. There are, in fact, five other types of health: mental, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual. It is important to keep these factors of our lives in good shape, or it might affect how our lives will play out in very terrible ways. If we have poor health, we would not be able to do our very best and live up to what God has planned for us.

            Here’s a brief explanation. Mental health is how healthy your state of mind is. Things such as irrational fears, mental disability, trauma, and other psychological hindrances may adversely affect your mental health. Social health represents your relationships with others. If you hang out with your friends often or spend a lot of time with your family, then your social health is in good condition. Emotional health, as the name suggests, deals with emotions. Are you feeling stressed? Do you often feel sad or angry? Do you express your emotions or hold everything in? Environmental health is the condition of the environment, and whether or not you are comfortable with it. Spiritual health (for us Christians) deals with our relationship with God. To save you the trouble of having to imagine how these factors become apparent in a person’s lifestyle, here’s an example:

            “Tony, at the age of 15, was a pretty happy boy, though he was more conscious of his health than most others his age. He lives in a more quiet part of town that’s greener than the rest. He usually begins a day waking up at 7:00, since he lives near his school. He often has some bread and a glass of milk for breakfast. Tony attends track meets with his friends after school once a week to get some exercise, and is physically fit. He gets home by 5:30 and tries to focus on his schoolwork. He admits that he isn’t a particularly brilliant student, but he usually attempts to try his best. He does surf the Internet (and occasionally games) when he has the time, but he tries to prioritize his schoolwork and knows that he shouldn’t be staying up too late. On weekends he often spends time with his friends, playing soccer or just hanging out. He does not ignore his family, though, especially not his sister. She looks up to him, and he tries his best to set an example. He goes with his family to church on Sundays, and though he is a believer, he still has his doubts.”

            As you can see, Tony is physically healthy, and has pretty good relationships with others. His academic ability isn’t the best, but he doesn’t have any particularly serious difficulties. Seeing that he has doubts about his faith, his spiritual health probably has issues, but overall he’s pretty healthy, and is a happy person.

            The above example might be a little to extreme, and many of us probably won’t have as balanced a life as him, but that was just an example. Most of us will not be as lucky as him, but it is still important to try to maintain our health in all forms. As such, I hope you enjoy reading the rest of the site and that it will help you adjust your daily life for the better.

A Letter to Albert Alco . . .

“Dear Albert,

            My dad has been drinking a lot lately. Until the last two months, he only drank a little, and usually none at all. However, ever since we moved to China for his new job, he’s been invited out to drink a lot. Sometimes, he comes home barely able to walk, and wakes up with a hangover the next morning. He says that he’ll look rude if he refused, as it is rude to them to refuse the drink without a good reason. I’m worried for my dad’s health. Do you have any advice?”

Dear Reader,

            I understand that alcohol is a major health issue in the modern age. It is now attributed to various medical conditions occurring in nearly all of the body’s vital organs. It can cause severe damage to your liver, which processes all nutrition the body requires except vitamins and water. The liver is also in charge of glucose conversion and storage. In serious cases, your liver may completely cease to function due to several alcohol-induced conditions. As such, alcohol can cause serious damage to several different parts of your body.

            High levels of alcohol consumption can also damage the kidneys. They cause fat deposits to accumulate in the kidneys. This slowly causes the kidneys’ functions to degrade. They begin to filter out less of the toxins in the blood, while accidentally filtering out more actual nutrients. This can cause great damage to your body’s nutritional balance as well, and may result in increased risk of food poisoning and other such symptoms.

Believe it or not, alcohol can actually damage your bones. High levels of alcohol in your blood can interfere with bone formation. This causes a severe decrease in bone mass and density, which may lead to the skeletal structure to weaken and become brittle, easily fracturing or breaking.

The most affected organ of all, however, is the brain. Alcohol causes certain chemical reactions in the blood stream that can cause the blood to thicken, triggering an increase of blood pressure, and potentially cause the thin blood vessels in the brain to break, exposing the nerve cells in the brain to the blood, causing a stroke. Alcohol itself also causes some brain cells to die with each consumption, so even after you’re no longer drunk, your mind will never function at full capacity again if the drinking continues.

            However, alcohol-related issues often only become truly serious after an extended period of excessive drinking. If your dad refrains from drinking too much too often, he should generally be safe. Paul and many other biblical writers state that excessive drinking will only lead to failure in life. However, Paul once said in 1 Timothy 5 that small doses of wine can actually have healing properties. Modern alcohol may have far more devastating effects, but this shows that alcohol is mostly safe in small dosages. If your father still has issues with the social connotations of refusing the drink, he can try to claim medical complications if he truly has to. I hope I’ve provided you with helpful insight in this issue.

Sincerely,

Albert Alco

A Short Dialogue on the Effects of Smoking

James: Is that guy over there smoking? Does he even know what that does to you?

John: It’s pretty rude to say something like that in public, you know. Besides, it can’t be that bad.

James: But it is that bad for you. After a while, it starts to reduce your lung functions, and also prevents the lungs from clearing out the poison that will damage your lungs afterwards. That kind of damage to the lungs can’t be fixed.

John: Really? It’s that bad for you?

James: That’s not the only thing. It also increases your heart rate and blood pressure, and can cause damage to your artery walls, possibly increasing the risk of atherosclerosis and heart attack. On the other hand, it disrupts the immune system, making infections more frequent, and causing disease symptoms to be more severe and longer lasting. It also tightens your muscles, reduces bone density, and disrupts reproductive functions as well, reducing fertility. After prolonged smoking, there is also the high risk of chronic lung disease, heart diseases, stroke, and cancer in various areas.

John: Wow. I didn’t know it was that serious. Thanks for the heads up.

James: No problem.

John: That was still pretty rude, though.

James: Yeah, I guess. Hey, want to go buy some drinks? My treat.

John: Sure.

James: Smoking for too long also causes reduced blood circulation, which might give you gangrene in the limbs, which will require you to be amputated . . .

John: You know what? Stop. You’re making me lose my appetite. 

Some Sweet Dating Advice (Suitable for all Religions and Atheists)

I wrote an email to a friend recently, and I believe this would help all of you readers with your social health. My friend wanted me to give him some dating advice, so I dug some up for him and wrote this email (this might look like Christian advice ,and you'd be right about that)\, but Christian advice often works great for non-christians as well. It's your call):

            “Hi, Tom. You were asking for some advice on your relationship, right? Well, I took some time to dig something up for you, so I hope you find it useful. If you don’t, well, I’m sorry, but I had deadlines to meet.

            “First of all, as a Christian (though I think this should apply to everyone), you should avoid physical relationships. Sexual activities before marriage is something we weren’t supposed to do. Indeed physically-oriented relationships often don’t seem to last very long most of the time. Having sex is a lifelong commitment with your girlfriend that you can never take back, so you have to be prepared to be with them for the rest of your life in marriage if you wish to go to that point.

“It’s not just having actual sex; any other arousing physical contact should be avoided. Often, doing something again and again would not give the same satisfaction after a while, and you would feel compelled to go farther. First, you start touching each other in places. A bit afterword, you may find your hands going underneath each others clothes. Eventually, the clothes come off. Chances are, by the end of it all, you’d find yourself having sex with your girlfriend anyway, so you should do the smart thing and completely avoid sexually arousing physical contact. Also, if you start taking PDA in front of others a little too far, people start thinking what you’re willing to do in private. It cheapens the both of you in the eyes of others, which is also a good reason to avoid it.

“I’m not saying sex is bad, here. In fact, God made it to be enjoyed, just not in a context outside of marriage. It shouldn’t be the focus of your relationship, either. You should like the person for who they are, not for how good they make you feel in bed (or possibly elsewhere). The original point of being in the relationship was to know more about them and their qualities, both good and bad, so that you can decide if you’re willing to make that life-changing choice. Also, don’t let it get in the way of other important things like your relationship with God, your other friends and family, or work. At the same time, don’t let other things get in the way of your relationships too much.

“On another note, don’t have the same intimate relationship with another guy. God intended marriage as a joining between a man and a woman, not two of the same gender. People may argue that they have the right to be in love with people of the same sex, but in the Biblical perspective that’s a big no-no. God would not approve of it. To be fair, he doesn’t approve of a lot of things, but the reasons are all pretty solid.

“Well, there you have it. I’ve got other articles to write, so that’s all I’ve got for now. If you need more, feel free to ask.”

Life Essentials

 Ever wondered what nutrients your body needs and where to get them? Heres your answer:

	Why?	Quantities needed	Excellent sources
Carbohydrates (Simple or complex)	It is the body’s preferred source of energy. Fiber helps move waste through the digestive system.	55-65% of your daily calories (mainly from complex carbohydrates)	Simple: Fruits, some vegetables, & milk Complex: Grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, & tubers
Protein (complete or incomplete)	Help build and maintain body tissues. Nearly all important structures are made from protein.	15-20% of your daily calories	Complete: animal products and soybean products. Incomplete: various seeds
Fat (saturated and unsaturated)	The most concentrated form of energy in the body. Can provide twice the energy of carbohydrates per gram.	30-35% of your daily calories	Saturated: Animal fats, tropical oils. Unsaturated: fish oils (omega-3), various other oils
Vitamins (water-soluble & fat-soluble	Helps speed up reactions in the body, some of which produce energy. Every vitamin has varying effects.	Varies widely by type.	C: citrus fruits B1: Whole-grain B2: Milk, cheese, spinach, eggs Folic Acid: Nuts, green vegetables B12: Animal products Pantothenic Acid: whole-grain, milk, poultry. A: Dairy products, green vegetables D: eggs, sardines, salmon. Produced by skin when exposed to UV radiation. E: Widely distributed in foods K: Spinach, eggs, broccoli. Produced by intestinal bacteria.
Minerals	Helps regulate many vital body processes. Effects and uses vary.	Varies widely by type.	Iron: meat, shellfish, egg yolk. Calcium: dairy products, leafy vegetables. Phosphorus: milk, peas, liver, meat, fish Magnesium: whole grains, milk, dark green leafy vegetables Sodium: table salt, prepared sauces, milk Potassium: legumes, potatoes, bananas Sulfur: table salt, milk, meat, fish, egg whites Iodine: iodized salt, saltwater fish Zinc: shellfish, meat, milk, eggs Selenium: grain products, milk, eggs, kidney, liver, seafood Copper: beans, brazil nuts, whole-meal flour, seafood Fluoride: fluoridated water, fish with edible bones Manganese: whole-grain products, nuts, green leafy vegetables, kidney, liver
Water	Carries nutrients to cells and transports waste. Lubricates joints. Aids in digestion, waste removal, and nutrient absorption.	6-8 cups a day.	Fruits, vegetables, dairy products, juice, milk, and water itself.

 . . . long chart, eh?