The ogibidigibo talking drum is sounded in proverbs, only the wise can dance to it and only the experienced can understand it. (Yoruba saying).

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            There is just so much information and with our busy lifestyle, there is not enough time to process it all. Who needs medical advice with Doctor Google just a click away? You can spend a lifetime going through the many health blogs and websites and thanks to the internet we have all become robots virtually connected with absolutely no feelings and emotions. The virtual  world is so fast and gives a quick gratification and self-importance. In just 5 minutes, one may browse through a corruption case in Africa, a rape case in India, some racial profiling in the United States, a hurricane then end it all with a cute puppy or cat video (stirring a broad spectrum of emotions). Of course we owe a lot to technology and the internet, there is a rising global advancements in health and research leading to all kinds of break though cures. I mean, we live in a time when babies can be genetically modified, oh yes you can have a perfect baby. (Hilarious). The internet is an illusion but a great scapegoat from reality and our very complicated lives although it is greatly affecting our health. This is a deterrent to our happiness and hence the wide spread misery. The virtual world is indeed one big amusement arcade.

            To be healthy is when the body and all its different organs perform their functions in an easy regular manner. And in order for  us  to live a healthy life, we have to follow the physical laws of nature because every living being that goes against their physical laws of their nature daily should expect to be out of health.  Health is vital, and yet we often treat it as something so sophisticated and out of reality left for only the vain ones to worry about. We busy ourselves accumulating a lot of wealth with hopes of being happy only to cut our lives short and die without enjoying our collectibles. I can only but imagine, how different our perspectives towards life would be if our goal was  to live along healthy life.  We need to take responsibility for our health by obtaining it when we are out of health, maintaining it and preserving it when are healthy, paying attention to what we eat and drink, paying  attention to how we dress, physical activity, air quality, hygiene, maintaining inner peace and our conscience.The human body was made in such a way that, it should tolerate any kind of bad climate and even be strengthened and hardened by it. The stomach should be able to digest any kind of food and our bodies should be able to perform any kind of labor. Noteworthy moderation in eating and drinking, great personal hygiene, waking up early, fearless and frequent exposure to weather and all its un pleasantries and a total abstinence from intoxicating liquor are all essential.

To begin with the quantity and quality of food and drinks; It is proper to chew a moderate quantity of food well, mix it with saliva before swallowing it. Being mindful when eating is important and no remedy or amount of medication or doctor checkups can substitute for that. Although there is no universal system that can properly determine a diet fit for all, there are a few simple rules we could all observe; like eating three times a day, drinking pure cold water at room temperature not iced, eating a fiber rich diet and raw organic vegetables, among other things. The main objective for eating is to supply the system with proper amount of nutrients, which in the end will be beneficial for our off springs. It is everyone’s responsibility to  observes their diet in order to provide for their off springs accordingly.                   

Next is Clothing; Clothing is meant to protect the body from cold, bad weather, to adapt to the climate and the season of the year and age. However, not wearing the right clothing like say dressing the children improperly is said to weaken and relax their immune system rendering them subject to colds and such a like. Children should be an accustomed to wear but little and loose clothing when in doors because very tight clothing like say around the neck or any body part interferes with free circulation of blood. Little clothing would be required if we were in good health but because we are often out of health, then we are forced to keep ourselves warm with heat and stimulating drinks which exhausts  our body until it is worn  out  and it gives up the  struggle to  sustain  the  requisite  quantity of heat  that later may lead to death.  “Let our dress be as cheap as may be without shabbiness; attend more to the color of your shirt than to the gloss and texture of your coat; be always clean as your situation will, without inconvenience, permit; but never, no, not for one moment, believe that any human being, with sense in his skull, will love or respect you on account of your fine, costly clothes." (Colby)

              Also physical activity; likes walking, Gardening, Running, Gym dancing, yoga and so on; although it would be better to exercise in open air, indoor exercises can be just fine. There are thousands of YouTube videos one can choose from. It is the law of nature that a certain amount of active exercise in open air must be taken every day but with technology came too much comfort but less physical activity and therefore we cannot rely on work as a means for exercise anymore because most jobs do not require physical activity. Driving and sitting too much is partly to blame for coldness of extremities, headache, indigestion, lowness of spirits and other conditions, which then we worsen with over medication causing premature death. Dramatic though it sounds, it does represent the reality we live in. “ I cannot stress how important exercise is, thus  the  more exercise one takes, the larger  the amount of oxygen he inhales, and the warmer he becomes  while a person who takes little exercise, inhaling little oxygen, loses in great measure it’s warming ,vivying and strengthening agency. When there is defiency of oxygen in the system, the air in the lungs changes the black blood from the veins and if by any chance unchanged blood flows through the body; it may lead to a failing in health like say chilliness, languor, low spirits, and headaches of different kinds, faintness, palpitations, stupor, and apoplexy”. (Colby)

In addition to the above, Inhaling pure air is important because many are the consequences of inhaling impure air among those include pulmonary complaints, colds, coughs, to mention but a few. Global warming deniers all suck!We are polluting the air and it is destroying everything. Air pollution destroys the oxygen rendering it unfit for respiration. Not only that but it is essential to have our bedrooms well ventilated because we spend more time in the bedrooms than we do the living rooms. Rooms that are not properly ventilated are not life sustaining; it is assumed that the oxygen contained in a gallon of air is consumed by one person in a minute and when the air cannot be renewed   then it can be harmful and therefore in order to be robust and healthy we should constantly live in clean open air and live in houses with good ventilation. According to Dr. Arbuthnot's calculation, three thousand human beings, within the compass of an acre of ground, would make an atmosphere of their own steam, about seventy-one feet high; which, if not carried away by winds, would become pestiferous in a moment. It should be remembered that the same air cannot enter the lungs more than four times without carrying with it properties harmful to the principles of life. A moment's consideration of the state in which the air must be, that is confined all night within bed-curtains, and is respired innumerable times, will explain how it is that many persons rise in the morning with pale faces, bad taste in the mouth, lack of appetite. Considering our jobs where we spend the whole day in offices seated at desks with little or exercise circulation, digestion, cerebral action all powers of life.

       Next is Hygiene; Bathing the body surface in cold water is important to preserve health. It invigorates and strengthens the body system, cleanses the surface and makes the body less liable to get a cold.  In the in the morning on rising from bed. Take a bowl, with a hand bathe the whole surface, and rub briskly with a course towel. Those who cannot tolerate cold water can use tepid weak lye-water, followed by a brisk fiction. 

Lastly inner peace and conscience.  I have known quite a number of people have nose jobs, butt implants and so on  and it doesn’t make sense  at all .Many of us overvalue what we are not and undervalue what we are, and that involves accepting both our strengths and weaknesses .When we accept who we are, then we will be more accepting of others. Treat thy neighbor as you treat thy self therefore is only advisable when we are loving, kind and caring to ourselves and therefore we should restrain from anything that can compromise our conscience if we are to be healthy

By  Anna T Athieno( Herbalist)
 she is  a student of  Classical Chinese medicine at  the NUNM 

www.miraclehealingherbs1.com

Take charge of your health, health is wealth

References

Colby, Benjamin, and Samuel Thomson. A Guide to Health: Being an Exposition of the Principles of the Thomsonian System of Practice and Their Mode of Application in the Cure of Every Form of Disease .. Hammond Book Co., 1940.

Cook, Joseph. Lectures on Conscience, Heredity, Marriage: with the Preludes on Current Events and Analytical Indices. R. Dickinson, 1881.

Doan, Tuan. Achieving Inner Peace: a Practical Guide to Living Peacefully with Oneself, Others and God. T.Q. Doan, 2013.